sunlover12

On 11/3/2021 at 7:08 PM, njhorseman said:

 

c. If the scheduled port of embarkation or final destination is changed, We will arrange transportation to the new port from the originally scheduled port. 

On our first Oceania cruise, the port of embarkation was changed from London to Dover.  O emailed the passengers about 15 hours prior to embarkation.  There was no offer to arrange transportation. We had to scramble to hire a private car which was quite costly. I wish I had known about this at that time.  I know it now and will keep it in mind if it happens again.  Thanks.

11 hours ago, Petoonya said:

@Mocamps

You may have seen my post on the WS board. Have a contact who will be returning to the US from Wind Spirit late this week. It must have you a bit frantic trying to figure all this out. I don't know what the US requires but know that the Tahiti board on TA has great up to the minute answers on Tahiti travel and where to get PCR COVID testing close to SFO. Although even though the cost is probably much higher I'd just have it done in the airport, as it's easy albeit expensive. Check with UA if a consideration. The other thing you might consider is checking prices for car rentals on Costco.uk if you have a membership- best prices anywhere and currently fluctuating 100-200 US on the weekly rate. And it changes from day to day. So check daily. MIght be less costly to scope out a few places you'd like to visit that have walking touring and you can Uber to. SF driving is a nightmare.

Thank you for the very helpful information directing us to the Trip Advisor board. My cruise isn't until March and no one knows what requirements will be in place then but I'm already trying to figure this all out.  We are flying United and I have read that FP does not accept the rapid PCR test so SFO is not a viable option for us.  If the same requirements are in place in March we'll probably go to our local pharmacy and hope we get the results in less than 72 hours. 

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

 

I read that many people like the R ships. We took one cruise on Azamara, and while we liked it overall, in my opinion the ship experience cannot compare to Riviera/Marina. Smaller ship, no actual theater, tiny cabins, and the ship while still in a decent shape, starts to show it age.

 

I'm curious what people like in R ships?

I've been on both R and O ships and they each have advantages and disadvantages.  The R ships may have better access to more ports.  As I said in my post above, starting in 2022 French Polynesia is favoring ships with a maximum of 700 passengers.  In some other ports, the smaller ship may be able to dock closer to the city.

We tend to choose a cruise based on ports, not the ship.  

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

 

In a previous post on this or some other thread, I shared my hope for the future: Vista basically replaces the Marina schedule on the Atlantic side and Marina moves to a home port  in San Francisco (or L.A.) to service the Pacific.

 

I don't see the Marina moving its home port to California.  Pure speculation on my part, of course.

Currently the Regatta serves the Pacific with 3-4 cruises per year sailing around the islands of French Polynesia.  FP has stated that starting in 2022 they will be limiting the size of cruise ships and they will be favoring ships no larger than 700 passengers. Bora Bora in particular has said they will allow no more than 1200 cruise ship passengers per day.  

Oceania's R-class ships are a better fit in the Pacific however maybe the Alaska ports are better equipped to take larger ships.  Again..this is speculation and JMO. 

57 minutes ago, Calypso54 said:

We where looking at a October 2022 cruise from Lisbon to Miami that looks awesome. Since we are pretty much planned out until May of 2023, we thought this would work for October of 2023. Looking today it appears this cruise is not repeated in 2023. The ones that are coming back then are not that interesting.  Which leads to the question. How does Oceania do their schedule? Do they repeat some cruises every year and others on a 2-3 year cycle? Is every year different?

We are waitlisted on a section of that Sirena cruise, Lisbon to Barcelona.  It's been waitlisted in every cabin category for at least 7 or 8 months.  It's obviously a popular itinerary and I've been wondering the same thing.  How does Oceania determine their schedule each year?  It's a mystery to me.

I know that particular itinerary was on Sirena's schedule for October 2020 because we had a confirmed booking.  Unfortunately we were too late for the 2022 cruise. Our TA has been keeping us informed where we are on the waitlist. Hopefully we'll get on.

On 10/2/2021 at 5:49 PM, ORV said:

 There is a band in Horizons around Happy Hour time and later in the evening, sometimes really good. There will be guest artists for some of the shows, I've heard some good things about them, I go to sleep early on cruises. Maybe someone that actually goes to the shows could chime in for you. I personally am a rock/blues guy and that just don't happen on Oceania, with the exception of occasionally on the Muzak around the pool in the afternoons. 

A Marina cruise that I was on featured a guest band that did a Beatles tribute in Horizons one night after dinner. They were quite good. That was the most people I've seen in Horizons that late.  150-200 people.  This band also performed on the pool deck on some of the afternoons.  It was mostly rock music.

1 hour ago, Tutuma said:

Well then...you probably haven't been on O  voyages and experienced Martinis when my husband arrives.  He is a Red Sox diehard fan!  Every evening, everybody, joins in a rollicking "Sweet Caroline".  It's a tradition!!

 

"Sweet Caroline" is also played at every U of Wisconsin home football game. It's been a tradition for many years.  I'd love to be on an Oceania ship and join in the fun with that song. 

I haven't had a manicure on the ship but I had a pedicure on Marina in June 2019. It wasn't difficult to get the appointment but I suggest making it the first day or two of the cruise.  After that, you would need to be flexible.  It was an excellent pedicure, very relaxing,  and she was good with listening to what I wanted.

This was when it was still Canyon Ranch.  I can't speak about Aqua Mar.

20 hours ago, Empehi said:

Thinking of booking one of these cruises but have a few concern (2022 Tahiti in Feb):

 

1. COVID testing prior to flight from US to Tahiti ... if you use O flights you are at the mercy of the flights O books and will not really know when you are going 

until just before departure. Makes planning the COVID test problematic. Does anyone have any opinions on what the flights would be?

 

2. Mask wearing for what could be close to 24 hours if the flights are such. Does anyone have any concerns as such that would keep them from taking this cruise?

 

3. I'm hearing that Tahiti may be restricting cruising in the foreseeable future.  Any thoughts on this especially tours that must be so called 'bubble tours" from the cruise line?

 

Any other thoughts or observations would be greatly appreciated.

 

e

 

 

We have a March 2022 Tahiti cruise booked. We're flying UA, SFO to Papeete and arriving 2 days before the cruise. I see that you're in Chicago. We'll be flying Chicago to SFO the day before we depart for Papeete. Two reasons for that:  United's flight to Papeete departs at noon and we wouldn't be able to get there from Chicago in time on the same day. We're also planning on doing the Covid testing at SFO when we arrive.  SFO-PPT is 8 hours and ORD-SFO is 4-5 hours so breaking it up into 2 days doesn't make mask-wearing a huge burden.

I don't know what airline O would choose if you book through them but I agree that you should pay the deviation fee in order to arrive early.  For us, United is really the only option because we're using miles for business class seats which is saving thousands of dollars.

I haven't heard anything about shore excursion restrictions but if it's restricted to only ship's tours, I'm fine with that. 

Enjoy your cruise!

On 8/29/2021 at 2:39 PM, mauibabes said:

I can hardly wait to get one of Vista’Brochures  in the mail, the e- brochure was GORGEOUS. 

IF I may suggest, it is going to be a ZOO come September 15 and I would be willing to bet the computer system will be overloaded as people try to book those Vista Inaugural cruises in Spring 2023.  Since she is being built in Italy, I am sure she will spend the summer in Europe showing off to everyone and then a Trans Atlantic like we did on Riviera in 2019, Southampton to Iceland to NYC and on down to Florida and the Caribbean for the winter.  
 

I wouldn't book one of the inaugural cruises because things happen. We learned that with Riviera back in 2012 when her schedule was delayed because of a backlog at the shipyard in Italy. We were booked on Riviera's 3rd cruise and it was cancelled. We rescheduled to later in the year.   It was probably just a fluke but.....   I'd love to cruise on Vista but I'll wait awhile.    YMMV

18 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Have you checked the same ports on earlier sailing?

Sometimes the excursions  are out later  & maybe more now post covid

Things are changing daily  in some Countries

JMO

Can't check it unless you're booked on that cruise. On the cruise before mine, there is a list of potential excursions but no prices which is most likely an indication they are not taking bookings.  The same is true for the cruise I'm on. When I log in, the ports are "greyed out". Nothing can be booked.

We have a March 2022 booking on Regatta.  When I log in, it shows that in 2 ports there are no excursions listed to book.  My guess is that Oceania is having trouble securing shore excursion vendors.  Pre-pandemic in my experience, 7 months out there would be shore excursions available in every port.  I will keep checking it but I trust that Oceania is doing everything they can to secure vendors.

1 hour ago, mauibabes said:

Sunlover12,

If you really want that PH, also Waitlist PH 1 and 3. Extra insurance 😁. If you move up you can always keep the PH 2 Waitlist request active.  You are right, FP dates and life changes will generate some movement but on an R Class ship there are fewer PH’s available. Good luck and enjoy French Polynesia, it is beautiful. 
B and G

I inadvertently omitted that we're also waitlisted #3 on PH1. This is for a Mediterranean cruise in October 2022 on an R class ship. We have a confirmed booking for the French Polynesia cruise in March.

Thanks for the well wishes.

We are #3 on the waitlist for a PH2 for an October 2022 cruise.  We have a good TA who is optimistic about it.  Once the penalties start kicking in I think we'll move up that list quickly.

On the subject of TA's, we've had a bad one who claimed they book a lot of O cruises but their service was horrible and they gave us no perks whatsoever.  We've now found a good one. It pays to shop around. 

I haven't been on Insignia but I have been in a PH on Marina and it did not have a freezer.

I didn't receive it.  Have been on 4 O cruises and booked for the 5th.  But then I've never received one piece of snail mail or e-mail from O in the 13 years since our first O cruise.   We are definitely not on their radar.  

Cbb,

I agree.  Regatta also sails to Australia, NZ, Asia and the South Pacific and there has been no announcement that I am aware of regarding cancellation.  I'd be interested in hearing about Hunding's information too. 

I've noticed that they have taken down the link at the top of the homepage regarding the scheduled restart for each ship.  I don't know what that means -  maybe they're just working on an edit.  I am booked on a Regatta cruise in March and I see that every cruise is waitlisted until April. Don't know what that means either. I'm not getting my hopes up about actually cruising in March. 

I know that Oceania is in a very difficult position but I have to wonder how long this can go on without major changes happening.

21 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

They are waiting to schedule Regatta and Nautica to see what is happing in Australia and Japan thats Regatta and I forgot what Nautica itin they are waiting to see about..

 

I know that no one has the answer to this question yet but I'm wondering what they're going to do with the Tahiti cruises on Regatta in March. That's the next destination after Australia and New Zealand.  French Polynesia is open to cruise ships.  I wonder if they would sail to Tahiti from North America or just scrap it and start with the North American cruises.  We've been waiting to do a South Pacific cruise for years and as much as we'd like to go with Oceania, we would strongly consider a competitor in 2022 if O cancels the itinerary.

Thank you, Jancruz, for the information.

4 hours ago, nikless said:

That CDC card doesn't show a signature by the agency who administered the shot.  Only shows the facility  name, lot number of the vaccine, and your personal info; in my previous profession in the pharmaceutical industry,  this would not have been valid proof of anything.  Hopefully the facilities have uploaded everyone's info into a master database that has been validated and is retrievable.

Otherwise, the chance for forgery reduces the effectiveness of the CDC card.

But then, if required for entry into a foreign country, not sure whether the "checkers" there will be conscientiousness enough to spot a false card.  Same principle applies to negative testing results that are required prior to entry into the EU.

IMO, the "card" is useless and doesn't prove much of anything.  It's too easy to forge and the "cards" are not even uniform. I got both vaccinations at the 2nd largest pharmacy chain in the US (Walgreens).  I didn't receive a "card". I received a piece of paper with Walgreens name on it, not the CDC.  It does have all the pertinent information on it.  Walgreens uploaded the information to my healthcare provider's MyChart and I'll assume that it has been uploaded to my state's DHS.  If a foreign country is going to require proof of vaccination, there is going to have to be a uniform digital record. It's going to be quite interesting to see how all this is going to work.

Just My Opinion. 

For a 10-day cruise we'll bring 2 bottles of wine from home and drink them in our cabin. For dinner in the restaurants we will purchase from O.  I agree that they're expensive but, what the heck,  we're on vacation on a beautiful cruise.  When I think about the total cost of the cruise with airfare and everything else, the upcharge for the wine that you buy from O is a small fraction. 

It's good to have options so we can all do what we please. 

On 5/16/2021 at 11:16 AM, LHT28 said:

Never have a problem getting early  seating with a 2 top  when we are in B cabins

 

I find the lounge  a waste   I would rather go to Barristas for decent coffee /snacks

It also depends on the length of the cruise.  On a shorter cruise it will be more difficult getting what you prefer in the specialty restaurants.  We've been in A level and PH and there were definitely more options when we were in PH.

This has been my experience only.  YMMV

21 minutes ago, zteamtwo said:

Concierge level is the way to go.  In addition to the Spa Deck (very uncrowded), the best perk is the Concierge lounge located on each floor.  Maybe try and get a cabin close to that lounge. It has large TV, newspapers, and lots of food and drink items all day long, also a nice place to hang out when your room is being cleaned.  Also there's a person there for various times to help with any travel problems.  Be sure and sign up for the premium restaurants when that comes available online--I think 90 days for Concierge level.  We have traveled in the Haven and it's very nice, but I think you get "more bang for your buck" by booking the Concierge level.  

My experience with the Concierge Lounge has been that there was very little food. I've been in there late afternoon-early evening expecting some appetizers but there was none. I think they bring a few out but when they're gone, they don't restock. There were a few pastries for breakfast. There is a small refrigerator with soft drinks and there is a coffee machine. It's quiet with newspapers and a TV but that's about it. 

Being able to book the specialty restaurants earlier is one of the best advantages of concierge level.

3 hours ago, ORV said:

I think they booked direct with O. 

Yes, we booked direct. I called O in November and the cruise was cancelled in December.  It was an easy process to apply the deposit to March 2022.  All done with one phone call.

We knew it would be cancelled and wanted to rebook before the cabin category we wanted was waitlisted, which it was quickly afterwards.

14 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Perhaps two different scenarios.

 

1. Oceania cancelled our cruise last year and rolled our deposit over to an identical 2021 cruise.

 

2. Perhaps a different scenario when someone cancels a cruise themselves.

 

It was 5-6 months ago when I called to rebook and Oceania had not cancelled it yet.