edgee

Yes, but the cheapening/lessening of the menu will soon spread around the fleet.

Some on Vista were upset that waygu burger meat replaced real beef filet.

Same items as on this "experimental" menu rolled out on Vista.

There are negatives and there are dealbreakers that may only apply to the reviewer/complainer. Examples of dealbreakers for us across many cruise lines include smoking casinos and lack of a dedicated walking track eliminates Seabourn for us. Dining room opening not until 7 or later eliminates Silversea. Tiny bathroom in cabins below PH eliminates Oceania's R ships. "Thin wall" noise issue will eliminate Vista for us. Then there are negatives which are more preference related but would not keep us from sailing on a particular ship/cruise line but could affect our choice if another ship or cruise line has similar timing and itinerary. Examples: no informal evening dining option on Regent, Oceania's very frequent announcements, high cost of Oceania ship tours. That being said, there is a lot to love about Oceania..food, lack of crowds, beauty of ships, the magic of string quartet playing as you walk to GDR in the evening, Baristas, nice libraries...there are so many.

I think you can enjoy cruising on both cruise lines. For us each have their pros and cons and the variety/adds to the enjoyment.Last winter on Super Bowl Sunday we disembarked Vista in Miami and went directly to Port Everglades for a 7 nighter in a Sky Suite on Celebrity Ascent. Enjoyed both cruises. In July we are looking forward to 25 night cruise on Oceania Marina and in October we are doing 12 night Transatlantic on Celebrity Apex. Wishing you great cruising on Oceania or wherever you choose to spend your cruising vacations!

Creperie will be not be near the Terrace. It will be around the corner from Baristas on Deck 14 where gorgeous large library is on Vista. Moving library to forward area near computer classroom and Horizons means it will be much smaller than Vista's. So for folks who love the library all the press release puffery about its location on Allura is probably putting lipstick on a comparative pig 🐖 💄 .

I really like Oceania and am looking forward to a long cruise on Marina this summer. In concept, I do not disagree with your philosophy/acceptance with good grace of SM. Concept is generally okay with me. Problem is that O has almost a reverse Midas Touch with the way they roll things out. IMHO the way they have implemented it has an unnecessarily complex and punitive touch. Not having any way to reimburse guests when SM funded excursions are cancelled at the last port irritates many. Initial roll out was poorly done in that staff did not understand the complexities and the rules. Folks feel that a finite amount of funds is taken away from them under the circumstances when shore excursions late in the cruise are cancelled. Similar things can be said about new penalties for cancelling cruises, even far out from cruise date. Future cruise booking rules and deadlines have become more complex and less flexible. I wish they could get their act together so that the bean counters who are doing their job at NCLH holdings are better in sync with folks that interface with the guests.

Problem with Sky Suite cabins on S class ships is that they are all ether under the noisy Oceanview Cafe or for slightly higher charge you can book Sunset Sky Suites at the rear of the ship. There you are subject to soot on the balcony and some vibration issues. Just open up and look at the S class cabin spreadsheet at the top of this forum and you will see many happy satisfied guests and some not so satisfied. Because the noise and soot/vibration issues are a deal breaker for us, our choice of suites on S class ships like Equinox starts at the Celebrity Suite level which for a 9 day Med cruise we are considering has about a $2100 per person higher charge than lower suites which we consider problematic.

You were very lucky. On two recent Vista cruises, two different cabins on two different decks ( 9 and 10) we could only sleep when neighbors' TV was off. On one of the cruises neighbor showed me that his TV volume was as low as 7% and still I kept hearing his UK sports channel...could even distinguish the words. I slept when he turned off his TV..about 11:15 p.m. and ..woke up when he decided to continue to fufill his TV addiction...usually about 7:15 a.m. Spoke to reception desk and GM about it. Was told there was no point in changing cabins because the problem is pervasive throughout the ship. I even said I would pay an upgrade cost to a PH...perhaps that would be quieter due to possible differences in construction/design/location of TV. Was told that that complaints tend to come from all levels of cabins. Seems that only escape is luck of having pretty quiet neighbors who do not watch much TV.

Any feedback about changes in public areas of the ship...carpets, Grand Dining Room, etc would be appreciated.

I am on Marina for 25 nights starting in July. Have been following multiple FB groups and CC. Sounds like cabins other than PH may have gotten new curtains and that's about it. Also there are indications that public areas were refurbished, but would love to hear more about the extent that was done in addition to changes in Waves and addition to Aquamor.

We asked for one after arriving on the ship. Delivered to our F2 suite same day.

I object to SM because it provides a finite amount of funds that is advertised as "yours" but limitations on its use make the message disingenuous. You have a point re: Regent, but we may differ from others in that we do not mind taking included tours on Regent. We find the selection of ship tours far more extensive than those offered for a fee on Oceania and tour groups smaller and better run. Also, we are at the point where we compare O PH pricing to Regent, so that makes it closer in the price comparison we do. Also, the degree of individual service, and quality, especially in non specialty dining and in most every way on Regent exceeds Oceania in our opinion. We do find that on O Waves menu and efficiency of service exceeds comparable venue on Regent and we do like the informal Terrace dining option some evenings for which there is currently nothing comparable on Regent.

Celebrity has restored butlers to all suites. I embarked in Sky Suite on Ascent in February on the first day they began phasing them back in...started with Ascent, now back on all ships AFAIK.

You can. For example if you are on Riviera, you get one advance reservation in each of the four specialties. However, if, for example you are thinking..."I love Italian and not French, so can I get two reservations in Toscana if I do not make one in Jacque?"...the answer is no. One in each restaurant in terms of advance reservations. On board you can check if they have openings for more reservations to book during the cruise.

True, but there are honest, straight forward ways to do business and there are tough, borderline deceptive, hidden agenda/hide the ball ways of doing business. Oceania tends to lean toward the latter. I will still cruise O if the itinerary and ship is right (no small ships or "noisy thin walls" Vista), but am gradually moving toward more cruises on other lines.

IME Celebrity is an exception and does it well. We recently boarded the Ascent about 11:45 and were instructed to go to our cabin immediately to pick up our room card where it was waiting for us outside the door. We dropped off our carry on luggage and went to lunch. Easy peasy. Not sure how they can do it when other cruise lines cannot.

I am 100 percent sure that was what I was told on Vista last November. Am I absolutely sure it is accurate? Would be interested if others can confirm🤔

I believe there are zero conditions where they provide any additional uses for SM due to excursions being cancelled. My understanding is that one can use SM credit for classes at any point, assuming they are available. Realistically they would need to be booked before the cruise because they are almost always booked full prior to the cruise IME.

Good advice on the seating issue, but likely easily avoidable.

We had a distasteful experience with SM. We made last port on our cruise, but our snorkelng excursion was cancelled. Did not find out til we got off of the tender at Grand Cayman. No opportunity to take another tour. Disembarkation port (Miami) was next stop. Tour cost was paid with Simply More credit. No way to use the $98 pp so $198 of SM credit lost. Reception desk gave us the brush off. Said to talk to Destination Services. Destination said to talk to Reception Desk. Purser confirmed that the SM credit is lost in situations like ours. Could not use for any other purpose on the ship except cooking classes which could not happen since they were full. Have one more booked cruise with O and we might be done. For us Regent is a better and not that much more expensive an option.

If you are booking an IV cabin or regular balcony cabin just book across the hall from an interior cabin. Best to book where interior cabin doors face the other side of the ship and you know your door is facing the back wall of the inside cabin. That pretty much guarantees no crew access or closet.

Thanks. We have cruised on Solstice and Eclipse multiple times. Once on an AQ cabin near rear of ship on Solstice and we asked to be moved forward due to vibration issues. Interestingly, on Eclipse I have never felt similar vibration, but have never had a cabin that far back on the ship.

Want to cruise on Eclipse in Sky Suite. Do not want to be in cabin under pool deck, nor cabin with connecting door. Looks like there is one cabin on the entire ship that meets my criteria and it us a deck 11 sunset sky suite. We normally like to cruise forward on a ship due to less engine vibration. Any opinions on if vibration is an issue for S class rear facing cabins? Thanks.

I learned on a recent Canal cruise that cruise ships pay for high priority due to a need to keep on schedule so shortages of fresh water to use in locks has, at least up to now, not had any effect on them. Improvement in water supply will benefit freighters which cruise through with lower priority, ...will not have to wait as long.