ak1004

For some reason, nobody here mentioned pricing and itineraries. People mostly focused on the ship experience. However, a lot of people in Gen X belong to a completely different category. Those are people who want to upgrade from the mainstream line to the luxury experience, or maybe they never did a cruise before and want to try cruising. Many of people in this category are itinerary hungry and price sensitive. They cruise to see the world. They don't care about cabins, butlers, afternoon tea, afternoon cookies, cabin size etc. They will be in ports most of the day, so don't care about entertainment or activities. They want to book the best itinerary at the lowest price, but still want to have a luxury experience on a small ship. Most of them probably never heard about CC. Now, they Google "luxury lines" and see four major lines, then go and check itineraries and pricing. They see that they can book SS and SB for 15-20% cheaper, and most of the time, better itineraries with more time at ports, not to mention newer ships and larger cabins. Which line do you think they will book?

So just to clarify: this will be your 10th cruise, but it already shows Silver (10 credits) even before you stepped on board? Or maybe one of your previous cruises was more than 25 days and you got 2 credits for it?

Why you can't ask them to give status to you and not your husband? You have 10 reservations with your name on all of them, don't you?

This thread went to a different galaxy long before you joined it.. like 4 page ago.. 😀 I kind of agree with Keith btw..

Completely agree about wi-fi. Unacceptable. But since the demographics are older, maybe O made a strategic decision that most of their guests don't care about wi-fi since they are retired? Not sure how to explain it. But wi-fi on our last SS cruise was also pretty bad.. I just re read on of the 3 star reviews. Here are some examples of the negatives mentioned in the review: Entertainment VERY limited - yes, like on most small ships (except the old Crystal). Well known fact. No enforcement of evening attire - what evening attire? Oceania doesn't really have any dress code. If you want a dress code, go to Silversea or Cunard. Overpriced tours, events and drinks - well, dah.. this is true for any cruise line. You can book private tours and/or bring your own wine. Constant nickel and diming for everything - for what exactly? except for alcoholic drinks, everything is included.

We completed 3 cruises with O and paid the final payment for the 4th cruise in May. In our account it still says 3 credits. I will check what it says while on board.

I learned not to pay too much attention to the reviews. Somehow it became very popular to criticize everything. If you look at Silversea or Seabourn reviews, they are not much better. Some of them are just silly. We did 2 sailings on O and one on SS after the restart, all of them were wonderful, and still got 1 start review from some people. After our last sailing on the Regatta someone posted a 1 star review complaining that we missed 2 ports. Dah.. ever heard about the hurricane? Or they expected the captain to take the ship into the hurricane? Our steaks were perfect on the Riviera and the Regatta. Maybe some people order them well done? Yes, entertainment and activities on O are so-so. This is a well known fact. Just know what to expect from each cruise line and you won't be disappointed.

Agree lol.. however, we never had a problem to be seated in Hot Rocks even without a reservation. Also, informal would be accepted at La Terrazza on formal nights; and casual (no jacket for gents) would be accepted on informal nights. Same for Seishin or Kaiseki I believe. Also, the dress code is only enforced in restaurants, not other public areas like the theater or lounges. At least this was the case on the Spirit.

Even many not loyalists don't mind.. we definitely not crazy abut SS dress code, but it's not a deal breaker for us. And there are always ways around it - at least 3 venues have more relaxed dress code. As for reservations - isn't it the same on most ships where some venues require reservations while others don't?

Not sure how you came to that conclusion. But i’m sure you will..

and yet they are cheaper than Crystal, with the caviar budget..

Are you sure you get the Silver benefits during your 10th cruise and not after you completed it? I couldn't find it in T&C.

We are very sensitive to smoke and cigarettes, never had an issue on the Silver Spirit. Also did significant number of rounds on their jogging track. I really don't understand those comments about Crystal jogging track. Yes, it's longer, so what? If you want to walk a certain distance, you just do more rounds on SS.. In fact, SS jogging track has much better views because it's higher, so this is a definite plus to me.

I believe the Spirit is similar size after the 2018 stretch as muse moon and dawn, similar number of dining venues. the main difference is the SALT restaurant on the muse class.

Things that matter to me don’t matter to you and vice versa. Kind of trivial Watson..

Maybe they don't want "cheap" customers like us anymore? Meanwhile "cheap" customer like myself already referred 8 couples to SS. That's 16 new customers who went to SS instead of Crystal because of Crystal absurd pricing. We might be the "cheap" customers, but all of us are in our late 50s early 60s and still have many years of travel ahead of us. Some of us already booked second and third cruise with SS.

P.S. Actually on some things you CAN put a monetary value. One portion of black caviar is around $50. 2 portions per day on a 10 nights cruise = $1,000 per person..

I agree. In terms of entertainment and enrichment, OC was in class of its own. But SS and SB have other things that OC didn't have (larger cabins, newer ships, unlimited black caviar, butlers on SS etc). It's hard to put monetary value on those things, and it comes to what's important to you. But overall, I would still consider those 4 lines comparable in terms of overall experience.

Yep! We were able to book at $6,700 CAD. It went to $8,400 CAD a week later (which matched $6,700 USD on the US website), and on March 1st it went to $9,200 CAD.

First, let me say that I'm not a cheerleaders or Advocate. We sailed on 11 different lines and not loyal to any specific line. We book mostly based on itinerary and pricing. Currently booked on 2 O, 2 SS and 1 SB for the next 2 years. We sailed on O 3 times: one per Covid and twice post Covid. Maybe it's a limited sample, but personally I didn't see much difference. The food was consistently excellent, the staff very friendly and the service very good. Our last cruise was on the Regatta last year and it was a great experience. A few weeks later someone posted a 1 star review about the same cruise. The reason? It wasn't food or service. It was because we missed 2 ports. Which is true - we missed Mexico because of a Hurricane. Did he really expect the captain to take the ship into the Hurricane? And no, it's not always possible to find an alternative port last minute.. Missing ports is one the risks of cruising - don't cruise if you are not willing to take that risk. Such reviews probably tell you more about the reviewer than the ship (I would use some strong words, but don't want the post to be deleted). A similar thing happened after our SS cruise last December. There is a current tendency to be very negative - you will see those silly negative reviews across most cruise lines, including SS, SB and Regent. And this is what I meant by "take the reviews with a grain of salt". I think even the most loyal O customers will never claim it's perfect. No line is, including much more expensive lines. But to me, O offers an excellent value for money by allowing me to pay only for things that I need and not to pay for things I don't (like alcohol). I don't expect great entertainment and/or activities from O. I don't expect big cabins if I sail on R ships. I do expect great food and service, no crowds, no lines etc. Everyone should be doing their homework and know what to expect from each line.

I completely agree with you. This is why we don't book lines like Celebrity anymore. But to me SB and SS are not less luxurious, also have excellent cuisine and included drinks, and in many cases are significantly cheaper, at least for the entry level cabins. And they are still profitable.

Thank you very much! It's not cheap, around $1,000 USD for 2 nights, but all hotels in Zurich are pretty expensive. I could see from the description that the rooms are not large, and Alden hotel which is actually 5* has much larger rooms and also a bit cheaper.

The old Crystal used to have theme cruises, like Broadway. We were actually booked on one of them. Does anyone have any indication or knowledge if the new Crystal will have something similar?

Everyone has different definitions of waste of money. We book the cheapest cabins but fly business class. Sometimes our flight costs more than the cruise. we all need to respect other people’s choices and priorities.