the mice

Airfare seems to be up everywhere, and so are the miles required for award seats, assuming you can find those to line up with your dates, especially now that every mainstream publication is writing about credit card points for "free" travel.

Well, I will be sure to check your blog for great information. Your photos are amazing as are your descriptions. Sorry I didn't get to meet you on Riviera, but I think you disembarked as we were getting on in Bangkok. Maybe one day our paths will cross.

@DrHemlock FWIW, I was looking at various 2026 itineraries, including the one we booked. If you see a cruise you are interested in, open the itinerary and click on the port name, or on the link for Ports& Excursions above the itinerary list. You may see descriptions for excursions- maybe if the port was ever used before. Of course, no prices and these excursions could change by the time booking for any opens at 365 days, but some helpful info to glean some insight about the ports. For our Japan itinerary, a couple of ports only said "information coming soon" or some such thing. But there were ports that I have not seen on an O itinerary for Japan (maybe on Regent?) that had excursions listed.

Just booked Legendary Japan 24 days on Regatta. Has northern ports in addition to the southern ports Oceania usually visits. Only 2 ports are those we visited on our recent Riviera cruise from Bangkok to Seoul.

We were on Riviera for 5 weeks February into March in Asia. We prefer Pellegrino to Perrier. Both were available upon request in dining venues. When the server comes to ask if you prefer still or sparkling water, we politely ask for Pellegrino, but Pellegrino may have run out by the last week of our cruise as we were asked if Perrier was OK. Our stateroom attendants, once they learned of our preferences, kept our fridge stocked with small bottles of Pellegrino and the occasional bottle of Perrier, again because Pellegrino may have been in short supply.

Thank you for this. Much appreciated. As for the limited listing for European cruises, that section is labeled "2026 Europe Preview". This is similar to what they have done with previous versions of the Tropics & Exotics brochure. I found a brochure I had that is labeled "Tropics & Exotics Plus Europe and North America" but I'm not sure when it came out in relation to the "Tropics & Exotics" brochure. Knowing Oceania, I am sure there will be more brochures coming 🤣

We sailed on Onward in October 2022 and found the food quite average for the most part. We were also disappointed that while the staterooms had redone, the bed area and couch, they still had the old original dark wood desk and cabinet - not in the best shape, either. (Oceania did a better job of upgrading their R ships). We had one missed port in Corsica due to weather, but we were re-routed to Genoa (this re-routing also happened on our 1st Az cruise back in 2009). This happened to many other cruise ships which we saw in Genoa that day, including an Oceania ship. We also sailed on Oceania 3 times in the past year - Marina in June 2023, Vista in November 2023, and most recently 26 days on Riviera in February-March. We enjoyed all 3 cruises. On our Vista cruise, Prior to sailing, Ensenada was changed to San Diego which was a welcome change by most, and Nicaragua was not allowing cruise ships so we had a sea day. On our 26 day Riviera cruise, we did not encounter any missed ports and we had overnight stays in 6 ports, including 2 overnights in Hong Kong. Food on all 3 ships was very good, especially on Vista. We also found the service to be attentive on all 3 ships. We took some ship excursions on both lines (but not on the Marina cruise). Overall, the quality was comparable. We had one mediocre excursion on Azamara, and one on Riviera, but for the most part, more or less of similar quality. Itinerary is generally the main factor in deciding what cruise we book. However, we are booked on a Christmas cruise on Vista chosen for the dates and the ship, not for the itinerary.

Re: engine. We were on the next 2 segments (getting off tomorrow in Seoul). No problems AFAIK. Our only delay was when Shanghai held us up for hours due to fog. We made every port more or less on time. Looking forward to reading your review.

Why my husband leaves it all to me 🤣 Glad you finally got it to work! Happy travels.

Take a screen shot of the reference code - don't just write it down. You need this to access the visa once approved. You will have to wait a few days and hopefully the email indicates you are approved and it provides the link to get a copy. The interesting thing is, after all the angst with the photos, there is no photo on the Vietnam eVisa, just a QR code. Whereas our visas for Cambodia have the photos we uploaded. And at least you should have current photos if required by your cruise line for online check in. (although you might have to resize them again......😁)

Can't help you there. We are Androids (and Windows desktop). My biggest challenge was the photo size. Rest was easy. I scanned our passports, saved as jpg files and used crop to just include the data page with the photo. That worked.

US passport size photo is 2x2. You need to adjust the size to a 2x3 ratio which is same ratio as 4x6. I took our photos with my smartphone, loaded them to my desktop computer (Windows) and opened them in the Photos app on the desktop. The crop function displays the ratio so I was able to get it to 2:3 and re-saved it. Hope this helps.

I would suggest a taxi as well. I had mapped out a walk but I looked a bit convoluted and the taxi ride seemed longer than what Google maps suggested.

I was on Vista in November. I have a small dual voltage flat iron for travel, brought it and used it on the ship.

OK, understand the confusion. Point #5 above is to allow a 1 time CHANGE of cruise. Point #6 is if you cancel outright. This was a change effective Sept 1, 2023. New and high fee. The discussion in referenced thread seems to be about O trying to cut down on people doing placeholder bookings while they try to decide what cruise(s) to keep.

No. I copied that from the invoice I received a week ago. I believe this has been discussed on other threads in the Oceania forum. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2958035-new-cancellation-policy/#comment-65934277

Not any more. Changed a while ago. Did a booking about a week ago for 12/27 sailing on Vista. Here are the first 2 lines of the cancellation policy: Guest Cancellation Schedule The following cancellation charges will be assessed for all cancellations received prior to departure up to the scheduled time of departure. 181 days or more prior to departure $150.00 per person 180 to 151 days prior to departure 20-Jun-24 to 19-Jul-24 $500.00 per person

@Rick Derris We have cruised Oceania but never in Asia. We will be on Oceania and Vietnam will be 4 ports mid-cruise. On previous cruises Oceania has never kept our passports and I am not expecting them to do so now. They are also offering us Vietnam visa on arrival but at 4x the price of doing it ourselves.

Same here as well. Show up in Points History but not added to the total. (I have a log I keep).

Yes, we board on Feb 12 in Bangkok. Enjoy your cruise. Why would the dates need to be different - ie., add extra days before and after? Is that CYA on RCCL's part or just asking for trouble? Because you have to put your location address (the ship), don't you? And if you are somewhere else on those days... Life shouldn't be this complicated. 🙄

I think we are on the same Oceania Riviera cruise. We are doing the segments Bangkok to Seoul. Our 1st port on Feb. 18 is listed as Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) with 3 subsequent ports (Na Trang, Hue and Hanoi) all in a row, leaving Vietnam on Feb. 23. I'd like to get e-Visas for less than the $99 pp that O will charge, but I am concerned that if we get e-Visas they may not be correct. And then we are paying again onboard. It sounds like you successfully applied for your Vietnam Visa so I have some questions. 1. what is the correct working page for the e-Visa. Won't connect in Chrome. Edge doesn't take me to an page where I can input data. I think I got there once before but cannot now. 2. Single entry visa since it is 4 ports in a row or multiple? 3. Looked at the list of ports. On the list of ports I see this: Cảng TP.Hồ Chí Minh Ho Chi Minh City Seaport Is that what you put in as port of entry? And I see you used Chan May for the exit port We leave from Ha Long Bay which is not on the list. So did your application complete successfully? And, more importantly, are you sure your e-Visa will be accepted when we enter Vietnam on RIviera? Thanks.

We have done the Med on both AZ and O, and Greece/Turkey on Windstar, as well as traveling independently in France, Italy and Croatia. Enjoyed it all. Some cruisers prefer the country intensive itineraries that AZ offers. Some prefer variety of multiple countries, but it will be just a "teaser" of each country. The French ports offer much to see, as does Barcelona. Will you add any time pre or post cruise? What port(s) in Italy and on which cruise?

Is this for a special occasion? Have you cruised before? What are the specific ports and what are you interested in doing in them - historic sites, art, food, wine? Have you been to any of these places before? Since these are all short cruises, are there any seas days or are they very port intensive? More info about your interests / travel style would help in giving suggestions. Azamara is an older, smaller ship with more traditional decor, has smaller cabins, food quality can be uneven, only 2 specialty restaurants for a fee, overall excellent crew which is what makes Azamara special for most people, often spends longer time in ports if that matters to you. Oceania is a larger ship with 4 excellent specialty restaurants at no fee (can be a bit challenging to book on a 7 day cruise), a dedicated Culinary Arts center for cooking classes (popular-these book up quickly and not sure of offerings on a 7 day), wonderful afternoon tea daily, more contemporary decor and larger cabins, less crew/officer interaction but still very good service. Never cruised Seabourn, but it's considered a true luxury line whereas Azamara and Oceania are premium lines. Good luck with choosing.

Happy to help. The only way to not have a single ticket would be if you have an overnight stay between flights, but depending on the time of year that you go, even that has some risk. For example, we flew in October from NY to Vancouver and stayed overnight to meet friends. We flew to Australia the next day on a separate ticket, but both flights were on Air Canada. Not sure that would have helped if there were problems. Luckily no weather issues impacted either flight but it could have hsppened. Since you are flying from the east coast, and most people go to NZ in what is our winter, you have to take that into consideration. If you are flying to take a cruise, do plan to arrive a few days early. Auckland has lots to see and do. Good luck with your planning. Go and enjoy NZ - wonderful places to see.

They also loan out the iPads loaded with the digital classes so you can take them at your convenience. You do lose the interaction of the live class but it's a nice option.