CintiPam

I very much enjoyed this review for several reasons, including your (unusual but very much appreciated) sense of humor, but primarily because New Zealand and Australia have been on my very short bucket list for a very long time. (However, my marital partner of 48+ years has no interest.)

I particularly enjoyed every last bit of detail and accompanying photos from your tour of the Sydney Opera House. Its construction began in my early grade school years; and its progress (along with that of the Aswan Dam) are my two significant memories from that small newspaper my Jersey Shore school subscribed to for every one of us. Also, my one and only penpal of my youth was from Sydney, so I always wanted to visit her. Lastly, my best friend (and fellow nerd) and I simply adored Joan Sutherland (not to mention her spouse), and we convinced her father to drive us on a weeknight 90 minutes each way for us to hear her sing in person.

Thank you, thank you. 
 

Best regards to you and your DW.

47 minutes ago, HilsTas said:

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/oceania-cruises-tests-no-ncfs-plans-new-promotions-eyes-next-ship-class

 

Very interesting article in many ways. Thank you for the link.

On 5/25/2023 at 4:38 PM, Hlitner said:

It now seems likely that we will book a 35 day Vista cruise.  Not sure "love" is the appropriate word, but the only line we have recently cruised that rises close to that level is Seabourn.  But, we are looking at a TA cruise and Seabourn only has an itinerary similar to what we did less than 2 years ago.  TheeVista itinerary is a real winner.  For us it will be two new cruise lines in 6 months (Explora Journeys and O) which should be a lot of fun.

 

We truly appreciate the constructive advice posted here and even have a mild tolerance for the cheerleaders :).

 

Hank

Hi, Hank,

I no longer frequent these boards like I did when we first started cruising over a decade ago, so I seldom post anymore, but we just made our final payment for our Marina cruise around Iceland ending in Portsmouth in late August so I signed in tonight for a look at the Oceania board.

We sailed on Marina in early December 2022 for two weeks in the Caribbean and enjoyed it very much. I thought the food and restaurant service were as good as ever, and our fellow passengers as pleasant and interesting as ever. Our cruise director was blah IMO and the shows retreads so tired on the whole, but I am itinerary focused when I cruise and this Jersey Shore native took that cruise, our first since the pandemic, for the glorious beaches I was able to swim at either DIY or as part of some really lovely catamaran shore excursions offered by Oceania. 
 

Yes, the Marina needs a refresh, but the ship is very well maintained. We love the two “O” class ships, as you can see from my signature below: my foodie husband (Lancaster, PA native so not far from you I believe) in particular enjoys their four specialty restaurants. When we spotted this sail-around Iceland to Portsmouth itinerary, it filled my Iceland bucket list dream, and my husband’s yen to spend a week driving in England after many years of London-only theater and museum visits, the last of which was in January. 
 

I hope you give Oceania a try, our favorite cruise line since we started cruising, but if you truly have too many doubts, who needs the worry at our age? Best wishes.
 

Funny that you mention Seabourn because next May summer we will take our first Seabourn cruise, aboard Ovation on a special charter Hamburg to Dover itinerary for the 80th anniversary of D-Day by The National WWII Museum.

Thanks for posting your experience with Odysseys Unlimited. Friends we met on an Oceania cruise also have recommended it for its fair pricing and limits on group size.
 

It was fascinating to read what you were doing at the same time spouse and I took our first plane flight out of the USA since you-know-what for an intensive one-week art tour to Madrid (and Toledo) organized by our tireless art friend who prefers winter travel to avoid crowds followed by a week on our own at about 1/3 of the pace in London staying in Covent Garden and going to theater every day.

Eagle Beach is fabulous, one of the best in the world. Have the beach bar/restaurant where you rent your chairs and umbrella hold your bags and keep your valuables in your carryon with you.

If you are a swimmer, like this Jersey Shore native, Palm Beach, where all the huge hotels are, has a gross muddy bottom and too many noisy families.

My experience: If you are interested in excursions involving catamarans or lobster eating (the latter of which I do not understand because there is fabulous grilled lobster available until 4 pm daily at Waves Grill), I recommend that you book those sooner rather than later. 

1 hour ago, rbtan said:

It's getting the silent treatment once you're figured out that's most annoying. Only once was it really obvious, when this couple flat out refused to sit with us in Jacques. We were at the table when the couple was brought over. "We're not sitting here! was the response. The waiter asked why. The lady thought first & exclaimed it was too close to the entrance. I said "if we were any further we'd  be sitting in the ocean." I Asked the waiter to please find someone else. We dined by ourselves & couldn 't be any happier.

Purely anecdotal, but there were many more same-sex couples on our RT Miami Marina Caribbean cruise which disembarked December 18 than on our previous dozen Oceania cruises, the last of which disembarked March 11, 2020. (Very slow but hopefully steady progress.)
 

A brief walk down my Oceania memory lane: When we first started cruising, which was not until 2008, our shipboard friends Jim (may his memory always be for a blessing) and Stan really stood out. I never ever will forget the birthday lunch for me that  Jim arranged in Pontone on the Amalfi Coast or the birthday dinner at Polo that Jim arranged in honor of Stan. I never previously had sampled a different wine at every course like he ordered for that wonderful occasion. Great times!
 

Jim and the late Don Horner taught me so much about cruising and specifically Oceania on this very board.

Our tradition is to dine at Polo the last night of our cruise. Ergo, we dined there one week ago on Marina before our arrival back in Miami. Everything was fine until our entrees were served: my prime rib, ordered medium, was not even medium rare, and my spouse’s porterhouse, ordered medium rare, was well done and half the thickness as usual, a very weird-looking piece of meat.
 

After our server actually asserted repeatedly that my bloody red prime rib was medium and then argued with my spouse about it, my spouse requested to speak to the Polo maitre d’. Our server did not want to allow that either! Spouse patiently and quietly repeated this request twice. Finally he went off and got him. The maitre d’ took one look at our entrees and immediately had both removed. I ordered the filet and husband’s porterhouse reappeared twice the thickness and done perfectly.
 

It was so weird to have to argue with the server about such obvious issues. 
 

In general, IMO the food in all four specialty restaurants and the Grand Dining Room was excellent but there were a lot of service issues with both new and seasoned staff and clearly reduced staffing in both the Terrace Cafe and GDR.

BTW, we had a terrific cruise with wonderful weather and lovely fellow passengers except for the usual two or three know-it-alls. I simply am responding to some of the posts above regarding Polo by reporting our unusual recent experience. 

11 hours ago, Redtravel said:

Relax.  We have always been able to get extra reservations.  People change dates or cancel reservations. Each day, you can check with a reservation person to see what’s available.  On our December Marina cruise, we had no problem getting reservations.  

That certainly was the case on our Marina cruise that disembarked on Sunday. We ate twice at Jacques and twice at Red Ginger, my two favorites. The biggest surprise for me was how much we enjoyed both the food and service in the Grand Dining Room. I found its dinner menus more ethnically diverse and less “American bland” than our last cruises in 2019 and early 2020.

On 12/21/2022 at 1:22 PM, LHT28 said:

Let's hope  they are not putting those stands on the table

Crystal did that

What a waste of food

 

You do not need to wait for the trolley just go to the table  & staff will serve you

of course all could change  by next year 😉

 

On our two-week Caribbean cruise on Marina that disembarked Sunday in Miami, there never was any table (plus very reduced staff as well), only some tray service with a few small sandwiches and the two trolleys to service the entire room. 

Really enjoyed our Champagne and Lobster Catamaran Cruise shore excursion on Marina last week.

The Grand Dining Room menu on Marina indeed is on a two-week cycle for dinner. We just enjoyed our last evening meal there, the yummy Beef Wellington entree. (We always eat at Polo Grill the night before we disembark.) 

The lack of communication regarding the absence of bags is the focus of complaint onboard Marina on this subject. Many have plenty of Oceania (or other beach) bags at home but did not pack any because they were assured that one would be waiting for them onboard. A simple email would have prevented the loss of much goodwill.
 

i fortunately packed one beach bag but others are using the laundry bags to haul their stuff.

Personally I am much more concerned about the disappearance of the nightly dark chocolate on my pillow about halfway through this cruise!

Guest Services on Marina informed us that they had not had bags for six months. 

6 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Interesting. Waves is usually open until 4 pm.

And it is on the current Marina cruise. I eat lunch there every day around 3 pm. Today I returned from my delightful beach time at Harbour Lights on Carlisle Bay at 3:30 pm and enjoyed my later than usual “double surf, no turf, no fries no bread” with lettuce salad right before closing. One server came around to ask for any final requests at 3:55.

15 minutes ago, susiesan said:

Do we need to bring our vax cards to show anyone? Since the box is checked that says vaccinated, is having the card in hand still necessary?

I never leave my home without my vaccination cards, just like I always carry my medical insurance cards and driver’s license.

Could Oceania pricing be more confusing? It turns out that the 10% Oceania Club (returning customer) savings on yesterday’s price for our cabin category beats today’s lower price on that same cabin due to the four-category upgrade already being incorporated into the prices now appearing on Oceania’s website.
 

At least I think that is what I determined after our excellent TA booked our perfect for us cabin today.

Dare I tell you how much time this “recovering attorney” spent today trying to actually understand the pricing? 🤣

1 hour ago, CurlerRob said:

Yes, identical length. I presume you sailed down the length of the fjord, then spun the ship to return. Much of the early part of the fjord is narrower than the ship was long - the 'basin' at the west end is about twice as wide as the ship is long, but would need the use of thrusters to do an in-place spin to change direction. 🍺🥌

Yes, it was a thrilling experience, an incredible slow 180° spin that appeared to have little room for error. Captain Carl and his crew were amazing. Oceania Riviera and Marina are our preferred cruise ships but that all-Norway trip offered an unbeatable itinerary.

On 6/18/2022 at 7:53 AM, Redtravel said:

Oceania wouldn’t let us us fcc for a January 2023 cruise.  We had to cancel our January 2022 cruise due to Covid.  We figured just book a similar cruise following year.  We even picked a longer sailing which costs more. My TA contacted O and was told no. We had to use fcc by end of 2022.  We don’t normally travel in December since we like being home for the holidays. We booked early December 2022 similar cruise to the one we missed.  We booked most expensive cabin available and will still have fcc money leftover. Guess we’ll lose it.  After sailing last week on a different line and contracting Covid, we may choose not to cruise.  

I hope that you are feeling better and will stay on your December cruise. We were booked on the same January 2022 cruise, also cancelled and ended up booking that early December Marina cruise because Oceania seems to be shortening the length of its Caribbean itineraries to be 10 days maximum. I am looking forward to meeting you in six months. 

We sailed in a Marina Oceanview cabin on our first Marina cruise, a 2011 Baltic cruise, shortly after it debuted. There only are about 20, all together midships on Deck 7, which I found ideal for queasy traveler me. Picky notes: (1) one night there was noise quite late from the piano bar below on Deck 6 due to a special jazz combo event but that only happened that one night; (2) I also think that the sofa beds in the triples are harder than the regular sofa if you sit on it for long periods of time.

One floor down to the Grand Dining Room and two floors down to the Marina Lounge also are nice on the knees!

On 6/24/2022 at 3:25 AM, Cruise Wonderland said:

Trollfjord is quite narrow. Other than Hurtigruten and some small expedition cruise ships, I don't think any Oceania ships (O Class or even the smaller R Class) can sail into it.

We sailed Trollfjord on Azamara Quest, same size as Oceania “R” ships, in 2016.
 

We chose Azamara for our Norwegian adventures specifically because, unlike Oceania at that time, it had no stops in Putinland. (BTW, my travel options keep narrowing because political traveler spouse keeps adding more countries to his no-go list. I have been proposing an all-Turkey land trip since his 2018 retirement but with Erdogan, my chances continue to wane.)

We did not have to put any new money down to book a cruise that cost a bit less than the amount of our FCC. 

15 hours ago, Mura said:

Hi Laura,

 

Hope it works for you!!  Back then it was such a wonderful trip.  And Istanbul has always been a favorite for us. On that 2012 cruise, when we docked in Istanbul we went to the Modern Art Museum (a short walk away from the port), expecting not much, and we were blown away!

 

Mura, we also visited there on our last visit in 2014 and thought it was terrific! Although closed right now, there will be even more to view when the new museum building designed by Renzo Piano opens in that same excellent location so easily next door to the port.

2 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Pam 

Marina is an "O class"  ship

Lyn, thanks for catching my error.

My excuse is that I am starting my third week of a major reduction in sleep, a result of pain in upper back, shoulder and arm due to nerve impingement from degenerative disc disease.
 

Being in the USA, my first physical therapy appointment is not until next week!

No. 
 

I personally would be more concerned about the crowds (and heat) in August, the traditional vacation month in all three countries.