ak1004

We were on the same cruise lol.. I agree, but my comment was about full capacity numbers. This is what every line advertises.

They never advertised 2 staff to 1 guest. No line has more staff than guests. Riviera has 1,240 guests and 800 crew. That's 1.56 guests per 1 staff member.

Thanks as always! I just realized that we actually were booked on this cruise lol.. had to cancel for family reasons, but we will be on the Riviera on May 22 from Barcelona.

@ORVthanks so much for posting! The ship looks great, maybe you can also share some first impressions about food and service? A lot of complaints lately, would be really interested to hear your opinion.

Yes I am aware of both lol.. but I realized the typo much later.

This was obviously a typo (autocorrection by the ipad) and CC does not allow to edit posts. If you are still wondering, the intention was to soap.. Under no circumstances, do NOT drop your soap in the Sirena shower. It will be lost forever. 😀

They forgot the afternoon tea..

Some would call it first world problems, and say that we should be really grateful that we are able to cruise on those ships. But I don't think that expecting your water to be re filled is unreasonable. btw, we had a similar issue on our last cruise on SS in December (and SS is considered a true luxury line). They always try to blame Covid, but I'm getting tired of this excuse. Re filling water in a timely matter has nothing to do with Covid..

maybe they have different prices inside each category depending on location? In any case, there is current no option to book online, this is why “call for quote”.

As far as I can see, "Call For Quote" and "Join The Waitlist" are the only two options available on all sailings and all categories. And I did not see a single sailing that had all categories waitlisted.

Very true. We usually book with Aeroplan points, but I really feel for people who have to pay cash. Business to Europe is over $5-6k CAD those days.

Yes, I understand it's only for TA flights.. but $499 per direction makes it really not attractive. I remember it used to be $199-249..

I just checked few random itineraries to Europe, and they show $499 for premium economy upgrade. Is it per direction or total?

Looks pretty clear to me. Only 3 categories are waitlisted, including 2 top suites (which is expected on almost every sailing)

Premium economy upgrade with O is usually an excellent deal. Business - not so much. Each time we asked a quote for business it was significantly more expensive than the market prices. With the current crazy prices, not everyone can afford business, but premium economy still offers significant improvement compared to economy. Well worth the extra $400-500.

To set the expectations right, I assume you are aware that concierge verandah on the O small ships are same size as veranda, OV or inside. Pretty small, and the showers are ridiculously small. Don't drop your soup while taking a shower.. This is one of the reasons we personally prefer O large ships (Riviera/Marina), but many O fans actually prefer the more intimate feel of the smaller ships. Just something to be aware of to avoid disappointments and surprises.

I never said that those things are not important - I would take the smallest cabin on any of the luxury ships over the largest cabin on Carnival. Being price sensitive doesn't mean sailing on Carnival - we are price sensitive inside the luxury category. Yes, every line has its hardcore fans, but most people who sailed on any luxury line would agree they all provide great experience. So now it comes to itinerary and price. That's all. P.S. I do like afternoon tea, but on port intensive itinerary, I probably wouldn't have many chances to attend it anyway..

Agree 100%! Just look at the current Celebrity "promotion" - save 75% on the second guest. The only problem? The first guest rate is inflated by at least 200%.

You are my brother from another mother! No Red Ginger for us, and yes, having to choose between Waves and those afternoon tea scones is painful..

Well, Seabourn is owned by Carnival and Regent is owned by Norwegian, so according to this logic, all luxury lines would implement the same tactics? We booked our first SB cruise 2 months ago. Since then the price has changed 3 times already. First it jumped from 7,900 to 9,500, then decreased to 8,400 and now increased to 9,900. I guess all lines doing those pricing adjustments. btw, the only line that I have never seen price decreases is Oceania. They do other promotions (Ultimate sale, included gratuities etc) but not direct price decreases. At least I haven't seen any.

Why would they add it? They compete with other cruise lines, not with restaurants on land.

I'm one of those people who consider O food fantastic, after sailing on 11 different lines, including luxury lines like Silversea and Crystal. Yes, I would give O food a slight edge over Silversea and Crystal and rank it as best at sea overall. Now, comparing to land restaurants is a different story. But why it's surprising to see different opinions about such subjective area as food? Just read some of the reviews of land restaurants.

I completely understand what you are saying, but maybe it's just matter of wrong expectations? Maybe those people should understand what they are paying for (larger cabin, butler services, more reservations in specialty restaurants, exclusive access to some areas on the ship, priority embarkation, complimentary laundry and more), but not better/different food (like on Celebrity on Cunard).

Agree. I can only talk about my experience. I travelled on SS in December with 5 other couples. All of them are in their early to mid 50s. All of them first time cruisers or upgraded from RCI or Celebrity. They took the cruise mainly because of the itinerary and pricing. Of course all of us enjoyed the ship experience, and two couples already booked another SS cruise (we booked two). But the price on all the cruises we booked was under $400 USD per night (including excursions). None of us would book any cruise that is over $500/night. P.S. According to Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X: "the generation being generally defined as people born from 1965 to 1980" That's early 40s to late 50s. Most people in this age range are still very price sensitive. There are many exceptions of course.

I think they meant that the expectations are different if you paid double..