Traveller94

Thank you all so much for your advice. I’m excited about all the great sounding options. It looks like I have until the 3rd night of the cruise to cancel Privee, so if I end up with some wonderful people to share a meal with by then I’ll keep the reservation, and if I don’t I’ll cancel and see if our butler can get us in to one of the specialty restaurants. Or, I don’t think anyone said, but is it possible to have room service on the balcony? We could do a speciality restaurant room service meal on the balcony is that’s allowed.

Wow! Those soufflés sound awesome. If you ate at a specialty restaurant can you go to the main dining room for soufflé dessert?😁

Thanks for the tip about the goat cheese soufflé. I may have to try it. I do have an intolerance to goat cheese, so it would be living on the edge, but maybe worth it. 
 

I was able to find the cancellation policy on my main invoice. Strangely, I didn’t even think to look there. It says 36 hours or less is a 100% cancellation fee. I’m assuming that means any time before 36 hours is no fee.

Thank you all for the help!

Thanks to you all! It does sound like it’s really better for a group. I did see they menu includes cheese soufflé, which I love (although that changes if it’s goat cheese.) I didn’t see that on any of the specialty restaurant menus. Did I miss it or is this the only place to get a regular cheese soufflé?

I googled it, but I can’t find a cancellation deadline. Does anyone know? Thanks, again.

Hi All, I’m going on my first Oceania cruise next month to celebrate my 50th birthday. We’re regular Princess and Celebrity cruisers, but I wanted something special for the occasion and my travel agent suggested Oceania. I was discussing what would be a good special dinner on my actual birth date with my travel agent and she thought I wouldn’t like the wine spectator dinners since I’m not much of a drinker and am a somewhat picky eater, so she suggested Privee. She said we could eat either eat alone or invite 6 people we met on the cruise. I went ahead and had her book it. Now I’m having some second thoughts.

Regularly we meet plenty of people on board or at the meet and mingle to invite. However, with social distancing and not much roll call activity, I’m not sure we’ll have anyone to invite by the 5th day. If we are eating alone, is it worth it? Would it be better to have the butler set up a table on the balcony? Will they even do that? (We have an extended balcony PH on deck 7 of Riviera.) When do you have to give a final number count to the restaurant? Is it even possible to cancel?

Anyway, I thought some of you experienced Oceania cruisers would have some suggestions for a great 50th birthday dinner. Thanks!

5 hours ago, njhorseman said:

Yes, dressy sandals are fine. The rule really means no flip flops and the like. 

 

Great. Thanks for the clarification!

Hi, I’m a first time Oceania cruiser. I see in the photo that it says no sandals in the dining room. Is this just referring to sports sandals or does it also include ladies dressy sandals? I’m happy to follow the dress code, I just want to make sure I understand it correctly. Thanks.

15 hours ago, LHT28 said:

worse case  once you decide   you can call Oceania  for help sorting out the pricing

Enjoy

That’s what I did. We had three free and got the 25% discount with five. When I tried to put all five in the cart and clicked the YWYW button the pricing didn’t come out right. I ended up taking out the two purchased excursions, booking the free ones online for $0 and then calling Oceania to have them book the two with the discount. As a first timer on Oceania, I felt it was much more difficult to book online the other cruise lines, but the phone call was fast and easy.

Hi, We’re taking our first Oceania cruise in August. We have all our excursions booked (free O excursions and paid excursions) and have yet to make final payment.

I’m on my first Oceania cruise in August. We leave from Barcelona, at least I thought so. How do you find out the specific docking locations? My invoice only list the towns, in one case a choice of two (i.e. Amalfi/Positano). Thanks!

1 hour ago, Aknayt3393 said:

One more thing, if you go to the Monte Carlo casino, make sure to take your passport. Evidently there were a number of very unhappy Oceania passengers who were turned away because they weren’t told of this requirement. We had tickets but didn’t end up using them. Enough people complained that they were refunded $20, in shipboard credit. 

Thanks for the heads up. Are advanced tickets required now? Did you get them from Oceania or online?

2 hours ago, Aknayt3393 said:

@Traveller94I think you’ll have an awesome time on St Tropez for your birthday! The tour was nice for us but not sure I’d necessarily recommend it or do it again but I think it was fun in part because we ended up having some friends also on the tour. The bus ride back to the ship was along the coastline, a bit harrowing with the narrow winding roads but the guide was able to share a lot of the history of the area. It was a long tour though. 

Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like we’ll need a more laid back day by this point. A bit of sightseeing on our own, a nice cafe, and some shopping sounds like a spot on birthday from what you and others have said.

1 hour ago, su-arizona said:

Don't remember how long the tender ride was, but I do have photos of the Riviera from the fort above St Tropez, and it is not far from the port.  The town is not large, and easy to navigate on your own.  Lots of shops and restaurants.  We had a nice day wandering from the port to the fort, stopping for a wonderful lunch of moules along the way.  Didn't feel we missed anything by touring on our own...

Thanks for the confirmation that it can be an easy and fun day on our own!

4 hours ago, Aknayt3393 said:

Our tour to St Tropez went well today, And our dinner at Toscana was terrific. I think I still like Jacques better but it’s a close second. The raspberry tiramisu was incredible, and I normally don’t like tiramisu - this had no soggy cake layers but was just completely delicious. We’ve also been enjoying the wine sommeliers at each restaurant, super knowledgeable and personable.

 

I have to say social distancing is almost impossible on the Oceania tours, with close quarters on the tender and the line to get back on was a bit intense. I am guessing it might be worth it to explore private tour options just for that reason alone.
 

I think some people are starting to grumble about all of the precautions when we’ve had vaccines and boosters, but I continue to be vigilant because I have an elderly father with multiple myeloma. Also we met a couple on board who got Covid in January after having all of the available vaccines and boosters, and although he had fairly mild symptoms, she got very sick and possibly should have even been hospitalized. And these are people in their 50s.

Our butler surprised us with some canapés and chocolate covered strawberries when we got back from the tour. He is really trying hard and doing a great job. We are off to Florence tomorrow! 

We are still trying to determine our day in Saint Tropez. About how long is the tender ride? Was it fairly smooth and easy? Would you mind telling us what tour you took and which sights you enjoyed? Do you think it would be a good DIY port or is a tour (Oceania or private) the best bet. We’ll be here on my birthday, so there’s a lot of pressure to choose right! Thank you so much for your live report!

28 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

On Riviera in December 2021, the pool hours were listed as 7 am to 10 pm (weather permitting) on the last page of Currents.

Thanks!

33 minutes ago, basor said:

We have enjoyed the hot tubs late in the evening, watching the stars and sipping a glass of port in the quietness

Thanks so much. I searched CC and googled Oceania’s pool hours with no luck. 

Hi BellaOnline,

Thank you so much for your review. We’ll be on the Riviera for our first Oceania cruise this summer. Could you tell me if they keep the hot tubs open late? We occasionally like to hit the hot tub before bed. Thanks!

jondfk, Thanks for doing this! We have our first Oceania cruise booked for August. We are also West Coast cruisers who usually choose Princess and have booked a PH on Oceania. I’m really looking forward to hearing what you think and any tips you have for first timers. Have a great cruise!

41 minutes ago, judithzuz said:

I posted this question in our April 9th roll call for the Enchanted, but has anyone noticed that pricing has been pulled from the Baltic sailings? I have no idea what this portends.

I noticed that with our August sailing. I have been wondering if the price will go down now that a major port that many people booked to see has been removed. I’m definitely going to keep an eye on prices.

8 minutes ago, F19810 said:

Does the Frio bag keep the meds at 8-10 degrees centigrade (about 45-50 Fahrenheit )?

We’ve never measured the temperature, but my husband thinks it does. He’s had it last a couple days, I think. Never had a problem gets meds from California to Europe.

My DH has used this Frio cooling case successfully for international travel for several years.

https://www.travelsmith.com/itemdy00.aspx?T1=MKF107+BK

I’d like to thank everyone for all the information you have given me. I‘m the planner in the family, my husband might say obsessive planner 😁, and I find of this information so helpful and exciting. My planning document has notes for each port, travel before and after, packing, and of course, the ship. I really think this is going to be a wonderful vacation.

I also think this thread will be really helpful for my mother. My sister’s family and mine picked out the cruise with the help of our travel agent. My mother is thinking of joining, but she’s just not sure. She’s a pretty die hard Princess cruiser. I think this will help her have enough information to decide.

Thanks again! I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday weekend.

Thanks to everyone. There is really great info for first timers here. I wonder if it would be worth a sticky? I know a few things are specific to my questions about the Legend, but most of it would be helpful to anyone planning their first Carnival trip.

Organized chaos, WOW! Great information.

The Carnival board seems to have great people. Makes me even more excited!

All this info is so helpful, especially since I’m still in that don’t know what to ask phase. As my notes and research grows, I’m sure I’ll have more specific questions to post.

Thanks, TNcruising02! Great information! I does sound like a great itinerary. I’m so excited!
 

I’ve started a document with all this good stuff, like order water, sign up for ship’s tour, etc. Thank you so much everyone!

Thanks, GLCM guy and coevan!

GLCM guy, kimma11 mentioned secret spots on some ships. Was there anything like that on Legend? My DH also was curious about the Legend buffet.

Does Carnival have any famous foods we should be sure to try? Do they do afternoon tea?

The ship tour and comedy club sound like they will be fun. Any other ship day activities that shouldn’t be missed?
 

Thanks again!