PhD-iva

I’m an X refugee for sure! Oceania (and sisterline Regent) have spoiled me for mass market lines. O is not perfect, and the occasional meal is not great, but you definitely won’t starve! The only way to get a better experience is to pay up and go on a luxury line (but who can afford that??!)

This neck of the woods has been a higher risk area for many years now.

ToxM, do share!

I placed a deposit on this itinerary 3 days ago (Thursday) for Oceania’s 2025 version. Now I won’t be able to get travel insurance from Allianz (my preferred vendor). My family was burned by another insurance company that markets heavily on CC, so I pay up to work w a reliable company.

ToxM, Oceania is my favorite cruiseline; I have been on 3 O cruises and have 3 more booked. Last November I went on my first Regent cruise on Mariner. WOW! Over the top FABULOUS! So, better than O, but also more expensive (you get what you pay for). You’ll love Regent! I still prefer O’s pricing model…….but my next cruise is on Regent’s Voyager….

Would travel insurance cover a decision to cancel this cruise if Regent doesn’t want to cancel? Israel has declared war, perhaps that will help this situation to rise to a level that a reputable insurance company would recognize? Has anyone called their travel insurance company yet? I couldn’t imagine traveling to this area without being insured (under normal circumstances). BTW, my Regent friends said their AAA contact said all of their clients have been evacuated from Egypt. Second or third hand info, but…….

Unfortunately, it is a well established practice for the website to be glitchy over the weekend when IT maintenance occurs. PITA, but there it is. Probably everything will be fine starting Monday..

Just to clarify, I was referring to Oceania‘s cancellation policy. I’m not as familiar with Regent.

If I’m not mistaken, Oceania recently changed the cancellation policy so that it is no longer applicable to a future cruise. I hope I am wrong.

Also consider sisterline Oceania. Not as over the top fabulous as Regent, but a good premium line. They have a sale going currently…. Check out the Oceania forum on CC for tips and ideas.

Your TA can find out how many are on the waitlist ahead of you for your preferred Suite category, then you can decide if you want to go for it. To be taken seriously, you need to make a deposit. Most who cancel will do so before final payment date, but even after that some more will drop off before embarkation. It’s an older demographic and life happens! Good luck!

Agree! Airport transfers are generally very large coach buses, often filled w people who get off the bus before you. Then you’re at the end of a LOOONG line of (mostly elderly) pax who are ahead of you and moving slowly! Zip ahead of the line by arranging your own transport. I’ll agree there are some ports (Civitavecchia comes to mind), where the airport or destination city is far from port. My advice still stands! YMMV

In the email we received, a reason was given for the change. Something like, no berthing facilities available on the scheduled disembarkation day, so have to arrive a day earlier. Don’t quote me - in one ear and out the other. I guess some of the other port changes were from a cascade effect of having to arrive earlier. However, there seems to be lots of changes - my scribbles don’t reflect all of them….. And people on the roll call were disappointed to lose Dutch Harbor.

My Tokyo to Vancouver cruise in APR2025 has already has been shortened by 1 day and several ports rearranged. When I posted my notes, I was informed I was missing several other changes. Of course, with this much advance notice one can modify private excursions…….

I’m glad that you were looking for guidance well in advance of your cruise. As you probably know, the port of Callao does not allow private vehicles (nor taxis, I believe) to enter the port area. The area outside of the port is very dangerous. When we disembarked last November, tourist police were very visible in the area where private pick ups are allowed outside of the port itself.

Looks like both Riviera and Sirena are scheduled in the vicinity in November. If you assume Turkey and Greece are also a consideration, then there are half a dozen cruises affected (besides Nautica).

O stopped refunding port fees from skipped ports when they stopped itemizing port fees on the invoice (Don’t shoot the messenger!)

Good thing I leave honey at home when I cruise. He “forgets” to use his hearing aids, and when I walk in the door, TV is blasting! No neighbors close by us …….

Thanks! This will help me for areas where the vaccination is recommended and not required. I might never get to any location where it is required. Appreciate this! do you mind if I ask whether you have any medical background? I Don’t mean to be obnoxious……

Absolutely! Great advice!

I have cruised solo on Riviera in November 2021, and on Sirena in March of this year. I was very happy with the solo activities offered, especially on Riviera. Our very sweet and young social hostess on Sirena was new to the position, and so I feel like not as many solo activities were offered to us as on Riviera. in both cases, a pre-dinner get together cocktail hour was provided the first night. This is nice because alcohol was provided, and I don’t always buy the drinks package. So that’s a nice benefit. You can expect there to be several hosted solo get together‘s over the course of your cruise, each one with alcohol provided. After each cocktail hour get together, you have the option to dine together as a group or go your merry way. On Riviera for solos that ate together at a table of 6, two bottles of wine were provided at each table. I don’t recall if the same was offered on Sirena. As I said, that social hostess was young and inexperienced, but she was lovely (not meant as a complaint!) I cruise solo these days, and Regent does the BEST job to host solos but it’s a much more expensive fare. Not comparable really….. You’ll have a smashingly good time cruising solo on O!

Actually, this is helpful information for me. I have tried to research this on the Internet for my own situation, but to no avail. In 1967, when I was about 10 years old, my family all received the yellow fever vaccination in addition to many others. We lived in Oklahoma City at the time, and we had to drive a very long way to go to a military base as that was the only location where it was available to us. We were moving to West Africa. So, now that I am 65 years old, would I need another YF vaccination? Unfortunately, I did not keep the paperwork that documents my previous vaccination. It was so long ago, I’m wondering if the serum has changed?, what is different now? Who knows? And it might be the kind of thing that my very nice PCP might not be able to answer. For now, not really an issue as I have not booked a cruise where it is recommended or required. But I am curious

Agree absolutely! But I can’t afford Regent’s pricing, and am not tempted by other premium/luxury lines. Lucky for O, I’m a “go-with-the-flow” kinda girl. But it really shouldn’t be acceptable.

Wineoclock, You’re going to LOVE your Regent cruise, but it will ruin you for other non luxury cruiselines. I will say the Regent forum on CC is a little slow, so I have to “cruise” on other fora to find interesting threads.

“Much ado about nothing” pretty much sums it up.