1985rz1

No cabins come with the upgraded beverage package included. The upper suites (Owners, Vista and Oceania) do have a full stocked bar with 6 full-size bottles of spirits or wine. The upgraded beverage package offers the same wines by the glass as the basic package, not any upgraded choices. I don't know what wines come in the upper suites, as the room descriptions simply say choose from the suite bar menu.

Why were you surprised by this? Was it something on top of the normal gratuities that are charged to your account, normally?

Yes, I remember our exchange there. But, I thought postive comments about A from a usual O cruiser might be worthwhile here on the A board. Part of the cramped feel on A was due to the desk being in the living area extending the wall furniture to the balcony. O doesn’t have that additional storage, so the cabin's accessible floor space is actually wider, giving us more room in the living area. Still, some folks might prefer the additional storage and flat surface. For us, we prefer the more open space as storage otherwise is sufficient for us, but it's not a deal breaker if the itinerary is right.

What's included are those items on the general bar menu: https://www.oceaniacruises.com/sites/default/files/2023-04/general-bar-menu-oceania.pdf

No. The SM beverage packages include gratuity. Drinks not covered by the package have the 20% gratuity added. The general gratuities ($18 per guest per day for Concierge Veranda and below; $23 per guest per day for Penthouse and above) are automatically add to your onboard account.

@Vineyard View We just completed a 16-day circum-navigation of New Zealand on Azamara Journey. Our go-to cruise line has been Oceania, so we were wondering how Azamara would compare to O's R-ships. We were pleasantly surprised. We booked a Club Continent Suite, as we usually book a PH on O, so the comparison is pretty close. We were pleasantly surprised. The Journey needs some refreshing, but nothing that detracted from our experience. The food was quite good, not quite as good as we had on O, but close. The entertainment and the lectures were better on A than on O, and we did have an off-shore AzAmazing Evening, as well as a terrific White Night. A's ship excursions were very good to excellent. Although the stateroom was of the same size as on O, A felt a bit more cramped in the "living" because of its layout. We prefer the sofa arrangement of O over the rather old fashion high back chair and desk chair which we did not find very comfortable. The butler was not as good as we've had on O. The senior staff was around and friendly, and the Captain very much involved with the pax, especially in keeping us informed, a big difference from O, where the officers seem to hide. Given the same itinerary, we would still chose O over A because we like the food, the feel and the slightly more comfort of O. But itinerary drives us and A has better itineraries. We have no qualms abut booking A again In fact, we have a 27-day b2b booked next year...and we have 2 O cruises later this year.

Only the O and A ships have self service laundries on most decks. On the R ships, it's only on one deck...7, I think, but I haven't checked the deck plans to make sure it's 7.

If antibiotics seem to have addressed the issue, then it was not a virus. So, I wonder what the source was.

I tend to discount the extreme posts, especially those who say "never again." Such posts tend to be outliers who want to rant and vent.

You convert to the existing price of the cruise. If there is a major sale, you can win, if not you can lose. Have your TA price out the difference.

Hmmm. I noticed that a standard visitor visa (not an eVisa) is NZD $211 which is pretty close to the $134 you quoted if you quoted US $. Could that be what you applied for? https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/visas/visa/visitor-visa

Agreed, But we've been doing R-ships on O lately (driven by itinerary), so we weren't bothered by the cabin/shower sizes on A.

Sounds like yor inadvertently used a visa broker. The evisa is NZD $17 or NZD $23, depending on whether you use their app or do it online, but there is an addtional charge of NZD $35 tourist fee tacked on when you check out. At least that was true when we got ours for our January cruise. https://nzeta.immigration.govt.nz/

We did a 16- day Azamara cruise around New Zealand this past January and February and were pleasatlt surprsed that the experience compared well with our Oceania experience. O won out in somecareas, but A actually exceeded O in other areas. We have no hestitation to book A again for it great itineraries. We have 2 upcoming cruises on the books on O and one one A, alll three selected for itinerary, since the sailing experience, while differ in details, are comparable. Fortunately A recovered from it's disastrous we site transition. It's still a bit clunky, but O is not known for its IT, either.

We did a 16- day Azamara cruise around New Zealand this past January and February and were pleasatlt surprsed that the experience compared well with our Oceania experience. O won out in somecareas, but A actually exceeded O in other areas. We have no hestitation to book A again for it great itineraries. We have 2 upcoming cruises on the books on O and one one A, alll three selected for itinerary, since the sailing experience, while differ in details, are comparable. Fortunately, A has recovered from its disastrous web site transition. It’s still clunky, but O is not known for it IT prowess, either.

I think most of us have been thinking about strategies when in the MDR or in the specialties, but in the Terrace (O's version of a buffet, but served by the staff), you can adjust the amounts of any dish to your liking. And the menu is more or less the same as the MDR, but with the grill option added. That may be a good option for you to consider.

We too often share dishes in restaurants...even down to the desserts, to my grumbling, sometimes 😉.

I also hate to be wasteful ( my upbringing, too), but one can always order half portions to help reduce it and only order one or two courses that meet your appetite.

Mine, too.

Interedting...but only the shore excursions are excluded, so it's not really cruise only in the traditional sense.

The email says "selected cruises."

Nautica does not have a Red Ginger.

But as I read the negative comments on other cruise line forums, I'm beginning to think it's a choice for frying pan or fire. Things have changed since the pandemic, and I find I no longer have the perfect line of previous years. Yet, I can't find one that is even close to my pre-pandemic experience in all areas. It's become a choice of what I am willing to put up with when I find itineraries I like.

It could be the difference between a premium line and luxury line.

Our physician also prescribed cipro as as backup on our foreign journeys as a precaution, especially in the more exotic places where bacterial infections could occur. For our recent cruise, he pescribed paxlovid as a precaution should we contract covid. We filled the prescriptions and took them with us, but we are aware that we need to be cautious when deciding they are needed.