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Yes. Food is served by staff. Of course there are a few examples of locations where guests touch shared food surfaces, like coffee machines and self service cookie trays in lounges, but O is for the most part a staff served group of ships. I personally have a 180 degree different viewpoint. I am currently on Regent Splendor which has fewer guests on the ship and buffet area is all self served and very efficient. No crowding around areas waiting for staff to make salads etc. Is O any more sanitary due to staff served food? I personally do not believe it is..in fact out of 45 cruises the ONLY experience I have had with a noro virus outbreak was on an Oceania ship. However, many folks feel better with O staff served model..we all have choices in cruising!

Two cruises on Vista. Two bad experiences with neighbors' TVs turned very low still keeping me awake ar night. Staff acknowleges it is a pervasive poblem. IMHO nearly everybody will experience the "thin wall" problem on Vista if they cruise her frequently. It is a matter of luck depending on neighbors..not really what cabin you are in.

Thanks. I am on Regent Splendor now and reception desk supervisor helped open Vista and spent many months on the ship. (In fact I have met many staff who transfer back and forth between O and Regent.) He told me he is going back to O to help launch Allura. He said that the noise issue on Vista is one of the priority items they are addressing during construction to make sure it does not repeat on Allura. Hopefully, also for Allura, they will also rectify the bad design issues of the theatre.

Just bring your ear plugs and white noise machine.The noise bleeding issue between cabins is a damn shame on that ship!

A little more onboard reporting on Splendor's Starlink. Ran into the contract workers from Miami installing Starlink as we cross the Atlantic. They were closing a men's room just as I arrived to make use of it..needed access through the area to run some cable. We had really crummy internet on the old system today..worst of the cruise...still do not have an answer why it will take till at least mod summer for Starlink to go live on Splendor.

Agree! Seems that if they have to go through this on Vista, they would take same or similar measures proactively on Allura.

Great news! They could also address part of the issue by adding a sound bar facing toward the viewer on the TVs. Part of the reason the TVs are so audible in adjacent cabins is that speakers are in the back on flat-screens pointing right at adjacent cabin walls.

On Regent TA now. Food is better in O Waves absolutely. Other dining venues .. Regent is much better, especially main dining room.

April 17

Here is a pic of Vista Waves menu. Some differences than what is on other ships in this "test" menu.

Strongly, strongly agree! Sounds like Peter is carbon copy of the infamous Dottie, who is the champion of over announcing.Most dangerous place on the ship is between her and a microphone.🤣 Ray Carr handles the job in a quiet and classy way!

I was on Vista six weeks ago and Waves menu differs from other Oceania ships in that they have replaced beef filet with waygu ground beef to go with the lobster. Was told this is an "test" along with some other changes in the menu.

Interesting discussion, but the OP has already disengaged, saying they are going to cruise on Celebrity.

I was referring to Waves when I mentioned the pizza option. It is equally informal to Terrace..same dress code..and in the evening it operates more as an adjunct to Terrace IMHO serving pizza, flatbreads and a few other options, which most folks choose to consume inside the Terrace Cafe.

I answered your question on the Oceania board, but I am actually a passenger on Regent right now. Neither Oceania or Regent are ideal for kids, but IMHO Regent is even less appropriate for kids than Oceania. No activities for kids, potential negative reaction from guests plus the fact that Regent has zero casual dinner options. All dinner service other than room service is seated service in a fairly formal restaurant surrounding. At least on Oceania there is a very nice casual really good buffet like setup with pizza options. On Regent the area which is buffet during brkfst and lunch turns into a waitstaff served Italian restaurant. Highly recommend against Regent for kids if you have other options.

Pool and the area around them are pretty small, but if the itineraries are what they are most interested in, that is most important.

Generally there are zero kid focused activities on O and very few kids travel on O. Only you can decide if that is the environment where your teen can be happy.

After 10 Oceania cruises, I can tell you that too many long announcements is a pet peeve of mine. I sometimes complain in the mid cruise survey with exactly your point about guest's ability to read the schedule in Currents themselves. Sometimes I will get a voice mail from the CD saying "Miami office makes me do it." In the post cruise survey, I object to this "Carnivalization" of Oceania. Good news is that some Oceania CD's are more into the long frequent announcement thing than others, so how big a deal this over announcing thing is depends on the CD.

Hello, We are a few days behind you on Regent Splendor crossing from Miami to Barcelona. Familiar story for us also..left Miami Easter Sunday...had Bermuda and Horta cancelled due to predicted bad weather..substituted stops in Nassau and Funchal, resulting in 7 straight days at sea. Regent, like corporate cousin Oceania, will cancel and change ports seemingly for nearly any reason .legit or not IMHO...but still a lot to like about Regent just as we enjoyed our recent cruises on Vista. Wishing you a great cruise..and thanks for your informative posts!

And clear U.S. Customs. and immigration prior to boarding? Probably just okay, but far short of "plenty of time."

Yeah, well I go by results, not percentages of satellites. Since 2020 I have cruised on 5 ships with Starlink in locations including the Mediterranean, Alaska, Pacific Coast/Mexico, Panama Canal and Caribbean. All have had near perfect internet similar to what I would experience in a hotel in the U.S. I have cruised on two ships since 2020 without Starlink and the internet was equally iffy on both..same old cruise ship internet quality we had grown to (unfortunately) expect pre Starlink.

Not ridiculous. Location is one important variable but observations can be instructive. I was on Oceania Vista with Starlink for nearly 30 nights. Near perfect internet in a variety of locations. Sould tell you something.

Well, after just 24 hours on Splendor I am already missing Starlink excellent service I enjoyed on Oceania Vista and Celebrity Ascent in the last 6 months. Not throwing a "pitty party" for us dealing with this first world problem.....really really enjoying the Splendor, our first Regent cruise on one of the newer ships!

DUO Delights. This is how they are identified in tomorrow's passages. I will ask them when their contract ends and report back.

So on a different note, from your point of view, are the walls on Grandeur so "thin" such that you hear conversations and tvs from neighboring cabins?