Paulchili

3 hours ago, pinotlover said:

And they know this skeleton is the Vista how?

 

 

That’s a silly question. It’s Vista because some on FB says so.

Have you ever seen any rumors, misinformation or out & out lies on FB?😇

3 hours ago, kitty9 said:

They’ve had caffeine Diet Pepsi on every Oceania cruise I’ve been on.  

As well as CFDC in our fridge (as per my DW’s) request prior to boarding

53 minutes ago, GeorgesGal said:

I agree 100%, Pilgrimage!  After the first time ordering the tail at the grill, I stand there and tell them when to turn mine and when to take it off and serve to me. Probably think I'm nuts 'cause they are the experienced cooks, but by inserting myself into their timing I get a perfectly cooked lobster tail every time.

Donna

Can you tell when the tail is ready by just looking at it without “‘touching” it for tenderness? If that is the case, I need you when picking the freshest hanging Chinese BBQ duck as I always have trouble with that 😜

I am assuming that this is cruise originating in Venice (with what was described as smooth embarkation).

Is there anyone here that disembarked in  Venice or is on a B2B continuing from Venice.

The reason I am asking this is because our cruise in 2023 will end in Venice and I would like to know how this is handled beyond the airport transfers). Is it overnight stay before disembarkation? If so, are there any tours offered the day before getting off?

I know that this is new topic with little prior experience and hence any info about Venice embarkation/disembarkation is appreciated

29 minutes ago, MVPinBoynton said:

Thanks so much for your very generous words.      They are appreciated.  I would love to cruise on the Vista and might, even though the itineraries are mostly repeats for me. 

I am sure that eventually you’ll find a Vista itinerary that will appeal to you..
We are looking forward to a Riviera cruise in Nov 2023 that visits Jeddah.

Talk about a new POC for Oceania (plus they still have our favorite restaurant - Jacques). Fingers crossed.

Fair winds and following seas for you future cruises.

MIKE, you set the standards for a cruise review exceptionally high and to your credit you always live up to the standards you set.

We are the beneficiaries of such wonderful information and pictures.

Speaking for myself, I am thankful and most appreciative of your hard work.

Now - if we only could talk you into doing the same for Vista 😀

We all should get together and pay you to go on the maiden voyage of Vista to get the “heads up” on her😀

12 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Despite the “published price” of any O Life tour cancelled by O, your onboard account will be credited the “original value” of O Life tours which is $100. Of course, you can book an allowable O Life tour replacement (e.g., most priced up to $199).

Additionally, I believe that the $100/O Life shorex refund is in a form of a NON-REFUNDABLE OBC

11 hours ago, Hlitner said:

As we posted, we did ask our cruise agent to formally request a complete refund and did write an e-mail (forwarded to O) setting forth several reasons.  This was elevated to a higher level at O and they took about 2 days to approve our request.  The funds have all been credited back to our credit card.  So at this point we came out of this Marina mess absolutely whole.  Delta Airlines was very nice and gave us back our miles (and taxes) for our booked flight from Lima to BWI.  And we changed our flight to Florida (where we were going to join the Marina) to one day earlier so that we could get to our Princess ship (replaces the Marina cruise).  

 

 

 

Hank

I find it interesting that your complaint abour Oceania;s treatment of you was posted by you voluntarily while the positive outcome (full refund) took someone's prodding. I would have shouted that great outcome here instantly without being asked.

Also, Delta has no possible way not to refund your miles and taxes if you cancel ahead of your flight - no favor from them. The question is whether they charged you for the redeposit of those miles.

PS Glad that you were able to get a full refund. I know the elation as we were able to get 4 full refunds vs FCC early on in COVID

41 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Apparently they figure that if they change the end port to a different country and port it is just too bad.

I imagine you think Oceania did this just to spite you and that there is no other reason for this change.

2 hours ago, jagoffee said:

Thanks.  I was just trying to understand why a person would pick O’Life if they were going to choice SBC as the option.

No good reason that I can think of.😀

4 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

I “sort of” congratulate you for finding the “sort of” exception to the “pick the excursions O LIfe option.” 
You are correct that IF none of the allowable O Life tours appeal to you, you can still get the YWYW 25% discount if you buy the minimum tours required for your itinerary.

However, the reason I say “sort of” is because taking the “O Life SBC option w/o air” is exactly the same as the “cruise only price” to which you add the value of the SBC.
 

It’s a “wash.”

 

If there is any usefulness to paying the up front cost for the O Life SBC, it would be like a “forced savings account” assuring the money will be in your account for onboard spending.

 

BTW, though I only know for sure that I don’t ever see myself using O’s air department (since even they will tell you not to buy bizclass tix from them),  it’s been my understanding that even if you select the “cruise only” price, you can still purchase O’s air as an add-on.

 

So, will someone (anyone) please tell us all why ever (other than prepaying some/all of your onboard spending) would someone take the  “O Life” SBC option???

I agree with your entire post.

Why take the O Life OBC when you get no advantage from it?

$400 = $400

By taking the OBC you are obligating yourself to spending it as it is non refundable in case something should change once you are onboard

On 10/30/2021 at 1:14 PM, LHT28 said:

Sad but that is the way things work 😞

Worse than that. We took a 21 day cruise for our free 20th cruise (good price, itinerary)

We ACTUALLY paid for and sailed the extra 7 days yet got no credit for a 7 day cruise which by itself would be 1 credit ☹️

Thank you Mauibabes.

Boy, I am really going to miss Jacques on Vista.

I wonder whether they'd be willing to special prepare some of those dishes for en-suite dining if you are staying in a named suite?

?

9 hours ago, Kate-AHF said:

Yeeeaahhh... the luggage tags.  I'm joining up with Marina on 11/2 and JUST got my blue book/tags by mail yesterday.  36 hours before we are to leave.  Thank heaven they didn't mail them to our TA to send to us.

Kate - have a great cruise and please let us know how the “new” Marina, staff and. food compare to the past.

10 hours ago, mauibabes said:

Riviera has the T pool, seeing people in it everyday. Marina does not have a T pool.

Ciao, and life is great aboard Riviera, we are blessed to be on her post pandemic inaugural voyage. 
Mauibabes

 

Thanks for the update.

Enjoy the post COVID. inaugural on Riviera.!

23 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

Your spin is not entirely true, and what is true depends on the specific policy.  Our annual policy, like Medjet's, sends one to the nearest hospital which is appropriate for treatment. Then, after admission, if treating doctors agree one is medically stable for travel, the company will arrange for transport to a medical facility near your primary residence or in a location of your choice in the U.S.

Totally agree - MedJet is not the miracle solution that one would hope for it to be.

We have traveled with MedJet for many years and fortunately never needed them  ...... until we did and they were not there for us.

We were on the second half of a Northwest Passage cruise when M became very sick. It was another full day of sailing till we could disembark and it was a tiny Inuit settlement. Needless to say that there was no hospital or anything even close to that in that settlement. We had the ship contact MedJet a day in advance during sailing for assistance with evacuation and they flatly refused.

At this point we made our way home on our own straight to the hospital's OR.

As this was an exceptionally expensive cruise I decided to take out additional insurance which ended up covering all of our expenses.

You might think - how often will I find myself in the same situation. I think you might be unpleasantly surprised how something like this may happen to you.

There are a number of places in the third world that either do not have a hospital or have one that I would not trust spending first 24 hrs of my illness in as that is often the most critical and crucial time for severe illnesses. I am sure many of us have seen images of ERs and hospitals all over the world during this pandemic and hoping never to need them.

We now travel without MedJet as they were not there when we needed them but always with adequate insurance.

7 minutes ago, tgg said:

I've had to rely on their coverage twice, and we were totally reimbursed for both. We do buy Medjet coverage too.

I am glad that Chase insurance is working for you. No need to fix something that ain’t broken.

Just a caveat about MedJet in case that you may not be aware.

You have to spend 24 hrs in a local hospital before you can claim your benefits - including transfer to your local hospital of choice.

On 10/19/2021 at 10:50 AM, tgg said:

 

Paul, we too use the Chase Sapphire card because of the travel insurance benefit.  Have you found something to replace their great coverage? (As we've gotten older, the cost of travel insurance has gotten higher and higher.😡)  Toni

On 10/19/2021 at 12:28 PM, Jancruz said:

Plus 1

Jancruz1

While I still like the Chase Sapphire card itself and use it as my primary cc, I no longer am enthusiastic about their insurance policies and coverage.

For starters, they decreased the coverage limits and and are less than reliable in the fulfillment of their insurance promises & obligations.

IME their coverage is sporadic - I've had as many rejections from Chub as I have had payments.

The comprehensive insurances from one of the companies on Insuremytrip have been far more reliable IME

This of course is just my experience and my opinion - YMMV.

Toni, are you still happy with both Oceania and Azamara?

10 hours ago, ORV said:

Everyday Membership points, not even sure I know how it works. 

I used to think like you and used the Sapphire card for most expenses.

I recently got an offer to renew my Amex Plat with a bonus of 150,000 points after a given spending.

That made me re-explore the usefulness of membership reward points and found that these points can now be converted into more different airlines and hotel rewards than the Sapphire points

6 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

So I take it you won't be sailing on Vista 😀

Only as penitence - they'll have to drag me on (and off) 😀

Seriously - I'll decide after sailing on her rather than form an opinion now. It will be fun exploring the new dining venues and hopefully they might serve some Jacques classics in MDR?

3 hours ago, itzfitz said:

For those of you experienced Oceania cruisers, how should I prioritize my reservations?  Please rate them in order of preference

1 Jacques

2 Jacques

3 Jacques

4 Jacques

Oh, did I mention Jacques?😀

They are all very good. All kidding aside, my favs are Jacques, Red Ginger, Polo and Toscana - in that order.

Enjoy!

31 minutes ago, AlexCherie said:

thanks! A shame. We will plan for first day, then. 

....and every day thereafter 😀

1 hour ago, Robjame said:

 

Also Canada - the agency of our travel agent offered PPG on both legs of our Vista B2B voyage. An ad in the Globe and Mail made this offer to anyone booking Vista cruise.

This is a good deal ONLY if & when the cruise fare is comparable (or same) as in US.

If the cruise costs a lot more then PPG are meaningless for obvious reasons.

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Per Person Gratuities

That’s interesting. In my mind I always interpreted PPG as Pre Paid Gratuities.

On 12/25/2020 at 5:33 PM, Paulchili said:

You are correct although I am not sure if it had to be by the end of 2013 or 2014. People grandfathered by that date do receive full value of PPG as OBC.

Also, when staying in PH or above the gratuity is $23/day/pp - so the value of PPG is greater. One time we had 3 PPGs - that was nice 🙂

On 12/26/2020 at 4:07 PM, Flatbush Flyer said:

No.

if you decide to accept TA's offer to "pay" your gratuities, it appears on the invoice as the TA's "gratuities" (e.g., it may say OCAPP next to the $) and then any Oceania "in lieu" (of the usual O Club gratuities coverage) SBC (e.g., $250/cabin) will appear as $125 "in lieu" O Club SBC per each of the two guests in that cabin. And, none of this money is refundable.

 

BTW, If the TA also gives you refundable SBC (e.g., commission sharing), you will not see it on the Oceania invoice (but you'll want to make sure that you have it in writing on the TA's invoice and/or in an email. Then, on embarkation day, you'll get a card (or letter, etc) stating the gift of refundable TA SBC.

On 12/26/2020 at 7:37 PM, Paulchili said:

Thanks FF

As I said, I don’t really care. If I have 2 PPGs one goes to gratuities and the other as OBC in full value - it doesn’t matter to me which goes where as they are of equal value.

Does anyone have a recent experience with "grandfathered" PPG? Is that still available for those that qualify or is it now $250 for everyone that gets a second PPG.

If I understand my TA correctly, the PPG she is offering goes to gratuities themselves while my "status" PPG are converted into SBC (?non- refundable).

If grandfathering is still offered then I would receive $920 SBC - $23/pp/day in PH for a 20 day cruise).

There is a huge difference between $920 and $250 😀