PirateShark

If you like Pinot Grigio, the world standard bearer is Santa Margherita, which will cost about $17-20 at total wine.

 

You also mention Pinot Noir. There are many excellent Pinot Noirs from the area around Northern California's Anderson Valley (at just under $30, I'd opt for Navarro unfiltered "ancient method" Pinot Noir though it may be hard to come by other than through mail order from Navarro (Philo, CA). For the most part, stick with Anderson Valley production. Oregon is also great for Pinot Noirs and you'd do fine with Argyle's offerings.

 

How about a Rosé? No, not that "rot gut" white Zinfandel from Beringer. Find a "Rosé of Pinot Noir, also from somewhere in Sonoma County. Speaking of Zinfandel, try a bottle of Seghesio. Even their lowest price non-specific vineyard Zin will be ver pleasing and cost less than $20.

 

You haven't tried Chardonnay? I know total wine carries Martin Ray and, at $25-30, look for their Santa Cruz Mountains varietal. Grgich from Napa (about $35) is a great example of classic Napa "butter/oak" Chardonnay.

 

You'll need a sparkling wine - At less than $20 for top flight sparklers, try Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noir or Shramsberg Mirabelle.

 

You don't have to spend a fortune to get decent memorable wine (though some Goldeneye or anything by Helen Turley is nice once in awhile). In fact, there's always the better boxed cheapos like Black Box and Bandit (acceptable but not memorable). Great for the ultra- budget conscious.

 

As for transport, if you are not going on a plane, total wine should have four and six pack cardboard carriers. Store them under the cabin bed (stick whites in cabin fridge as needed. For air transport, you're talking weight. In a checked bag, you could use the sealable bubble wrap bottle-shaped sleeves.

I second every single one of these suggestions. Especially the Navarro :) the Roederer NV brut, if you like bubbles, also from Anderson Valley, can be had for under $20 and is excellent.

Yet another vote to bite the bullet and book a room ASAP.

YEP or Marina but was very dissapointed that the Pappette to Lima will not be an option after April--we are on Az then---

Also, the Sirena is taking over the French Polynesian route and I am afraid the entertainment will more to the other smaller ships!

FRANK

We were on the Marina in FP and frankly, we spent so much time snorkeling and hiking that we were never "up" to see the entertainment :) if you are not quite so active I can see where lack of entertainment can be an issue. I'll be on Regatta in May so I can compare the two ship sizes and see what the differences are.

Obviously not the designers' best effort.

That's an understatement :(

Beautiful pictures LeeAnne! Thank you so much for posting them :)

I agree with the 1:20 flight. I fly through YVR regularly and customs can take anywhere from one to two hours depending upon how many U.S. departures total are taking place. I will say that last time only took 45 minutes but that is the exception and not the rule.

Edited to add: time frame above includes waiting to check in with the agents, get boarding passes, etc plus doing security and customs

It seems that most people did not read the ENTIRE single spaced, fairly small type of the letter we got, as only about 8-10 people showed up for the Suite Party. If I had not read about this on CC, I would have missed it as well.

 

With such a poor turnout (which wasted bottles and bottles of champagne and wine due to being poured ahead of time and the basically idle 4 servers in attendance), HAL should discontinue this party IMO.

 

Either do it right, or else do not bother IMO.

If all that was wasted was the lovely Pol Clement, is that so bad? :p.

Happy New Year Host Andy :) Best wishes for 2016 - hope its chock full of wonderful cruises!

There is a Trader Joe's and a Safeway near Bay Street off Embarcadero I.e. Fisherman's Wharf area. Have the cab take you there prior to the pier.

The only "emotion" I will show is annoyance and the only "need" I will have for one of these robots is for them to go away. What a waste of money.

I am elated after learning Regatta will be sailing Alaska in 16 and 17. My husband and I sailed our first Alaska itinerary last year on Holland America's Oosterdam and although I was previously a devoted Holland America passenger we were drastically disappointed. We are drastically younger in age than the average passenger on Holland America and most of the luxury lines such as Seaborne, Regent, Silversea and Oceania. We are a same sex couple, 34 and 45 and by no means hi-browed. We come from the Piney woods of East Texas and what some may refer to as "cowboys." We work in construction and security respectively and are humble about our lifestyle. We are not a couple of means, however our sons are grown which does leave us the ability to travel well. My question is this, will we be uncomfortable or out of place on an Alaskan sailing on Oceania? We are very flexible and enjoy meeting a variety of new people, but I dont want to book ourselves on a cruise where we will be perceived as "rednecks." The last thing I want is to stick out like a rooster wearing socks.

Welcome to the Oceania boards (or should I say "howdy" :D). I really do NOT believe that you will be out of place on Oceania or Alaska. The itinerary is active, the scenery beautiful and there will be a core group on the cruise who likely will be staying up for cocktails after dinner (such as me for example) regardless of how active our excursion was. My prior Alaskan cruises on different lines had all types of people from all over. I think you will have a wonderful time on Oceania :)

I sure will miss Jacques on my Regatta cruise :( you should ask your wonderful butler to get another reservation there pronto.

Red Ginger wasn't our favorite either Kazu. I chalk that up to being a spoiled NorCal girl and getting fabulous Asian fare in SFO :). I will also avoid the chicken in Polo ( probably wouldn't have thought to order it because STEAK!).

Enjoying the blog and again, thanks for doing this.

Dang! Now I must plan a trip to Spain when I finish figuring out the British Isle piece :eek:

Beautiful pictures Kazu.

Bon voyage to Kazu and the rest of the HAL gang on their first Oceania voyage :) You are all in for a wonderful treat.

I think the value OLife really depends on your cruise pricing, itinerary and how many times you have been to that destination. For example, this is our third cruise to Alaska and have "hit" all the grand and expensive excursions. This time we were just going to go out and explore on our own, maybe take in the Raptor Center in Sitka (the only item we really wanted to do and haven't yet) and call it a trip.

But, with OLife, we decided to take some of these excursions anyway and still have plenty of time for DIY at the ports. Once you added in the price reduction savings from our original price, the credit for the air fare (doing our own), the PPG and free internet, well it is a relative bargain when compared to some of the other cruises we looked at during the same time period. Even with the Prestige Beverage package ;) So we are very pleased with OLife but realize that this is our perception and for our next O trip, it may not make much sense.

We took the 6 hour catamaran to Tracy Arm on our Regent cruise and enjoyed it immensely. I would definitely recommend it and agree that the scenery is gorgeous. Also went to Glacier Bay with Holland - also gorgeous. Next year is Hubbard on Regatta. Personally I don't think you can go wrong on any cruise to Alaska. Enjoy :)

How about a Californian discount? Our water situation is such that we are forced to drink more alcohol and it's driving the prices up. Perhaps O could give us a big break (or free) "prestige packages."

:-)

I'll drink to that! :D

Sorry to belabor this, Flatbush Flyer, but we booked the 8/31/16 Panama Canal cruise in June 2015, without O Life. O Life is now available for new bookings only, if booked before September 30. We would have to cancel and rebook our cruise to get O Life, at an additional cost of $775 pp.

 

My point is that you cannot book this cruise, or most of Oceania's other cruises, right now without O Life. Happily, we booked this cruise early and didn't have to take O Life, but you cannot book it today without the added cost and added excursions.

 

I do hope it goes away after September 30 or becomes an option like the drink packages.

I think is depends which cruise you pick for summer 2016 and the OLife perks. As an example, I booked the cruise in my sig line last September and the cruise is now $300 pp less! So I called and got the new OLife perks AND a total of $600 savings for the new price. I'm sure you will have a fine cruise :)

Mura,

 

Do you mean the real stuff with more red peppers and garlic than meat? :eek:

Not to speak for Mura, but that IS what I'm talking about! Red Ginger was just too "meh" for someone used to getting Chinese food in San Francisco and to the degree of heat to my liking. Chalk up another passenger that is disappointed it's not Jacques but I will survive - I'm on a cruise afterall :D

As a professional Microbiologist I have forgotten more about food safety that you have ever understood so your comments on contamination are factually incorrect as well as not where my comment was directed; to the lack of space and organization of the room!

:rolleyes:

ok, I'm still learning. But from a logical point of view if room service is only available to the upper suites for course by course dining, one would think the same rule would apply for ordering from the specialty restaurants.

 

No worries on my part - I couldn't even find the ordering from specialty restaurants for in room dining on the O site and wouldn't have known if I wasn't reading this very helpful board. Course by course is not a biggie with me unless I have the suite to go with it (dining room table).

 

smooth seas :)

Kazu, we had course by course service from the specialties in a PH on the Marina. The size of the table did not interfere with our dining pleasure nor excellent service from our butler. Go and enjoy :)

The Cointreau is the better version of triple sec. Get rid if the grenadine and use the classic ingredient: cranberry juice.

 

In fact, skip the Cosmo and have an Aviation:

 

Bombay Sapphire

Maraschino Liquer

Lemon juice

Creme de Violette

Garnish with a Bada Bing cherry

Love these! Unfortunately, not many bars on land stock all the ingredients let alone a ship. I do keep these on hand in my own bar of course ;)

thanks Mura :)

 

that's wonderful to hear they will tell us - we will just listen. :) and learn :)

 

thanks so much for you help :)

You will love your butler - trust me ;) once you disembark, you will realize just how spoiled you where! Trust your butlers advice and enjoy your cruise!

Thanks for the info on Pier 27 computerworks :) We love Astoria, have been there several times via land and will look forward to sailing into the Columbia River in 2016. Sometimes "quaint" can be used in a derogatory fashion, but it applies in a positive way (IMO) to Astoria. Being originally from Oregon, I can't disparage any part of it :D