sunlover12

Prices are high but there has been no hard sell for products. It wasn't even mentioned.

+1 My experience has been that the ship doesn't start quieting down until 10:30 when the show is over. Especially if there is a guest performer that night, it is packed. On my last O cruise which was summer 2023, the casino and Martinis was standing room only after the show. I left at 11:00 and it was still going strong. Depends on the demographics of the cruise.

We prefer 6:30 reservations. A couple of reasons why we like dining earlier: *We don't go to afternoon tea although occasionally we'll order canapes that arrive at 5:00. So on most days we are hungry at 6:30 because we haven't eaten since lunch. *We go to the evening show at 9:30 and with a later dining time we'd be rushing through the meal. *Going to bed at 10:30-11:00 on a big meal that hasn't been fully digested because I ate a late dinner is not a good feeling. I would choose GDR, Terrace Cafe or room service if I couldn't get the early reservation in one of the specialty restaurants. It's just my preference but everyone is different. I agree with @mauibabes that opening the restaurants before 6:30 isn't practical because of staffing issues.

Travel prices are up significantly regardless of what type of vacation it is. Cruising and land-based. Hotel and restaurant prices are up dramatically from just a few years ago. We all know that. Road trips aren't going to be cheap. As an example, we were recently on a road trip and stopped at Arby's along the interstate for lunch. 2 roast beef sandwiches, one order of fries and one soft drink that we shared was $20.50. No matter what type of vacation you are planning, be prepared to shell out a bunch of money. Just My Opinion.

My September cruise on Nautica is waitlisted in every category except inside staterooms. PH and veranda staterooms have been waitlisted for several months. There sure aren't many looky-loos for this cruise. Final payment is tomorrow but I'm not expecting any cabins to become available. This cruise has never been included in any of the sales. Not only that, but the price per day is the highest of any cruise I've ever been on. Demand remains high.

@MEFIowa Keep in mind that not everyone who is in a PH and above wants extra specialty dining reservations. We book PH and have never asked for extra reservations. We take our allotted reservations and that's all. We like dining in all the restaurants. It's hard for me to believe that they're holding a bunch of slots open to PH and above just in case they ask for more.

I haven't been on Vista yet but I do not see eliminating Jacques and adding Ember as a form of cost-cutting. I see it as appealing to a different demographic. Casual and younger. I'll be on Vista for the first time next year and look forward to dining in Ember. The menu looks good.

I love good sushi so looking forward to the expanded offerings. I'm like ORV - I've tried Indian food a couple of times and just do not care for it. So I will pass on that.

@babysteps I'll be on Vista for the first time next year. I'll be following your reports. Thanks. @vlthom Thank you for reporting your dining experience. Regarding the bread (or lack of), that seems to be a thing now with restaurants. I've been to a couple of land restaurants recently that don't automatically bring bread to the table. They'll ask you if you want any and some restaurants will add an extra charge if you do. Must be an all-around cost-cutting measure in the restaurant business. I have found the salmon in the GDR to be very bland. Unfortunately that sounds like more of the same in Ember.

Hmmm…MILs getting a bad rap in a couple of these posts. I’m here to say we’re not all like that. We have a group of 10 next year to Alaska on Quantum. 3 generations. 6 adults and 4 children. I am the MIL and mother/grandmother. My husband and I have booked 3 cabins for our group. We booked early dining which we have all agreed to. We may or may not do 1 specialty restaurant. Other than eating dinner together each night, we have no expectations or requirements that we do everything else together. My husband and I booked a GS. The others are in a standard balcony stateroom. Ulterior motive on that is my husband and I want to eat alone in Coastal Kitchen for some lunches and all breakfasts! Bottom line is that we all have different interests. We are fine with everyone doing their own thing because our primary goal is for all 10 of us to have a memorable and fun cruise.

@CaptainCook808 The menus on Oceania’s website are samples only. As has been mentioned, it is going to change every day. If your cruise is less than 14 days, the menu in the GDR will be different every day. The menus will be posted outside the restaurant and will also be on the TV in your cabin. The Terrace Cafe has a made-to-order grill station in addition to a variety of entrees, pastas, salads and much more. The offerings also change daily. Look for the Chef’s Special which will be 2 nights in a row and feature dishes from the country you have just visited. When you board the ship, go to the dining reservation desk to request additional specialty dining reservations.

There is one port (Saguenay) on my Nautica cruise in September/October that does not have any excursions available. Several excursions are listed but they all state "this excursion is closed". When I called Oceania about it, he told me that they are all sold out. It is hard to believe that every excursion in that port is sold out while all the other ports on that cruise show lots of availability. I don't know what it means. They either cannot find tour operators for this port or it's possible this port is going to be eliminated.

It's probably going to depend on how full the ship is going to be. FWIW, I've been on 8 Oceania cruises and have never been offered an upgrade opportunity. For reference, we have been in concierge veranda and PH. We were on Sirena in 2022 in a PH. About 2 weeks before the cruise, we were offered quite a bit of money to downgrade to a concierge veranda. I think it just depends on your particular cruise. Good luck.

How big does the group have to be to get a group rate? I have booked Royal Caribbean with a large national TA and have not gotten any kind of group rate. It's the posted rate.

TAs are contractually not allowed to give discounts off the fares. A TA may give you OBC or some other perk like a bottle of wine. If booking a group, they may give you something like pre-paid gratuities. My TA did that for us last year when we booked a group of 10. It just depends on the TA and the cruise line you are booking with. I've booked directly with the cruise line and have used a TA.