jondfk

Hi ORV We are aboard with you, and, never reluctant to share an opinion, I’ll add a few thoughts. I know we’ve sailed together before on other LA sailings. Overall impression, little changed from prior O experiences, all of which have been on Regatta. For the most part this is a very good thing. We have an excellent steward and butler, more attentive steward than last sailing. Our butler though very good falls just short of the excellence demonstrated last sailing. We did a butler letter, our first, and this made a positive difference, though our requests are quite modest. Elsewhere service has been mostly good though it’s a people based product and performance does vary individual to individual. We have felt the ship is more crowded than our prior sailings some of which were post Covid capacity limited. Those fretting that I service has slipped would leave us struggling to say where. One change for the worst imho is the closure of Baristas after dinner. The venue is now strictly a bar, espesso drinks are absolutely refused. We have been redirected to the Terrace which would be fine except requests there are fulfilled, reluctantly. Okay I found a gripe, but I think we can agree it’s a minor one. If other noteworthy highs or lows present themselves, I’ll post further.

We too have booked another sailing, on Sojourn over Christmas 2025. It’s 20 days RT Los Angeles, no chance it can be sold in segments due to the PVSA, so hoping for the same, every day, every meal operation we experienced with you on Ovation. Hope you have similar luck.

I’m not sure they will actually reject you at the entrance to the dining room, but you will be in the small minority. Earth and Ocean and Colonnade are other options, the thing is, particularly E&O, will be swamped with similar minded passengers. In the same circumstance with SB in Alaska last year we ended up with room service one night and E&O the other. You didn’t ask but I’ll add another comment, we were totally shocked by the limited availability of the Restaurant for breakfast and lunch. It operated only 4 of 14 days for lunch and only 6 of 14 days for breakfast. We generally do not like buffets and were stunned to be forced there so often. By way of explanation we were told the SB don’t operate the restaurant on short (7 day) sailings with many ports. This left a very negative impression with us and we will never again book an itinerary that is also sold in shorter segments.

And I’ll find out tomorrow, lol. We board Regatta in about 24 hours…

Okay, I’ll comment here too. The portion of our sailing in FP was really quite calm including the day long run north to Nuku Hiva. Thereafter however the 5 day run to Honolulu was quite rocky with seas of 20 ft plus for several days which caused the captain to slow the ship which in turn caused us to arrive about 7 hours late into Honolulu. DW suffers in rough seas and this leg was challenging for her (though she has agreed to do it again next year so….). Again I wouldn’t expect any of that on your FP sailing, but just so you know.

Sounds great, just doesn’t match my experience, simple as that.

Well, let me restate then to make it clear that in OUR experience a full cruise booking did NOT assure a particular cabana. We never had the same one two days in a row, though we were ask each day which of the available cabanas we preferred. We did develop a favorite two or three over the course of the 14 days. Given that there were never more than six used on any particular day the choices were fine. We were one of only two full cruise bookings and the only one purchased pre boarding, or so our host told me.

I’ll offer my opinions on #4, #6 and #7. #4. The Retreat. I have no Celebrity or NCL reference but on Ovation the Retreat is a semi private area of about a dozen cabanas surrounding a large hot tub. We booked this for our Norway sailing last June and throughly enjoyed (although it was too chilly to fully enjoy about 3 days). We enjoyed knowing we had a place to go without any question as to whether we’d find a space to settle. We also enjoyed having lunch delivered to our cabana allowing us to avoid the Colonnade on busy days. Is it worth the considerable price? We thought so, many others do not. Be aware that you are not booking a particular cabana rather a space somewhere in the Retreat, on a given day cabana selection is first come first serve, this was no issue on our cold weather sailing, on busier sailings I can imagine keen competition for preferred cabanas (they are all quite similar though some have sea views and others do not). #6. Boarding. The ships are small so all of the land side procedures tend to run fast and smooth. Still, once onboard you will be funneled towards the Colonnade for your first and least pleasant lunch. I highly recommend either a) boarding a bit later, after 1:00 and avoiding the madness or b) turning around at the entrance to Colonnade and walking forward on the pool deck to the Patio where you’ll find many less people and a far more pleasant experience. #7. Men’s dress. On the non formal nights my attire is slacks and an open long sleeve shirt. Offends no one and accepted anywhere onboard. On formal nights I add a sport coat, again accepted without question. hope this helps a bit.

A few comments here. We previously sailed on Regatta from Papeete to Los Angeles in April ‘22 shortly after the restart. Unfortunately, I had a frozen shoulder at the time which limited my abilities somewhat. Nonetheless I very much enjoyed the swim with stingrays and sharks on Bora Bora even if I couldn’t venture far from the excursion boat. As it happens we will sail on Regatta two sailings before you in July of ‘25 and will be sure to post our experiences for your benefit. If you have any specific questions, please ask.

Well, I can only speak for myself, but I was tremendously disappointed with the release. We had been waiting and waiting for O to release their winter tropics. We wanted a westbound PC ideally in January or February ‘26. There is not a single one, aside from one single sailing just before Christmas. We did entertain doing the LAX - Colon back to back in November on Regatta but my god the prices are just sky high PH fares are $35k RT something like $1500 per day. Soooo O has in this instance lost us to Seabourn who have a westbound sailing at an all in price more than 1/3 less. We do love O and have 4 others booked with them in the next 15 months, but you can’t force it.

Aloha to those onboard Regatta, very much enjoying the live from reports. With 5 sea days ahead I hope you might share any particularly noteworthy crew members be they wait staff, bar staff or others. We board in Los Angeles on Saturday and always like to look towards staff who have demonstrated great service. Aloha and mahalo, Jon

At least when last we sailed with a drink package (Sept ‘22) my Belvedere and soda was included.

The taste the world menu is on the lower right of the lunch menu in the MDR. It’s a collection of regional bites (6 or so). My favorite is Lebanon which has hummus, lamb, some pita, etc. Many of the items also appear at Terrace cafe but the presentation in the GDR is just lovely. A great starter for two too.

We shall try the request for same server when we sail in three week. Previously such request was shrugged off. As for crowding all of our experiences have been on full 90%+ sailings on both O and SB. We felt crowded around the pool on both Regatta and SB Odyssey, rarely crowded elsewhere. On SB Ovation we booked “the Retreat” which is an extra cost cabana venue which is very provocative on the SB board we enjoyed knowing we could come and go never wondering whether we’d find a seat, was it worth $100/day, perhaps not. As for crowing in the restaurant SB smaller ships all can seat the entire ship concurrently meaning waits for a table basically never happen, on their larger ships they actively recruit guests to “officers” (mostly junior) tables to help manage table demands this is usually effective, but not always. We’ve only sailed Regatta on O and rarely waited for a table though we’ve seen waits at turnover time around 7:00. As to other venues we found Martinis difficult to access on our trans pacific voyage, 9 sea days had folks turning up well before 5:00 to stake out space, we gave up and focused towards Horizons for pre dinner drinks, this was less a factor on our other more port intensive sailings O sailings.

I’ll weigh in on question two comparing food to SB. We sailed thrice on O in 2022 and twice with SB in 2023. We strongly prefer being served so most of my food comments will apply to the MDR. Our thoughts: O is the clear winner at breakfast. The vastness of their menu (compared to SB) is apparent at first glance. All hot food was clearly prepared to order whereas on SB it was quite obvious that things like pancakes and French toast had been prepared hours in advance and kept warmish. The only sure way to get freshly prepared hot food was to order a custom omelette or deviation such as eggs Benedict with American bacon. Clear winner O. Lunch is a tougher call. I truly love the Taste the World offerings on O, basically a tapas menu which is reliably spectacular. Elsewhere we found the O lunch menu a bit lacking. SB lunch offerings seemed a bit more varied and generally more satisfying. It’s a toss up, a good TTW menu gives O the win, if ordering al a carte we probably favor SB. Dinner. Here the vast O menu outs them in the lead for most nights. One exception, the steak on the SB everyday menu was spectacular, exceeded Polo Grill standards, starved on a blazing hot plate with excellent bearnaise I’ve rarely had a better steak, but one can’t live on steak alone so we give the nod to O overall. Service was essentially equal across the two. We had an easy time getting a regular service team on SB (meaning the same server night after night) something we’ve never managed on O. We will be tryin again for this when we sail on the 20th. Should any of our impressions change after our upcoming sailing I’ll post an update.

Let me answer this way. We’ve sailed Regatta thrice. Once in 8042 (18 days), twice in 8046 (18 days). We join regatta in April in 8046 and again in August back in 8042. See the pattern? We love the quick access to the pool and Terrace and have never had a noise issue related to the elevators. I’d worry more about chair dragging noises on the odd side cabins from Waves Grill above.

Sure, I’ll weigh in. I worked for a British company prior to retirement, something like 100 UK entry stamps in my passport. Have also done 3 circumnavigation cruises so considerable experience both land and sea. To be completely honest the cruises scratch only the very surface, many of the most interesting cities are some distance from the port (exceptions for Liverpool and Dublin which are well served by cruise stops). One could easily spend many days or a week in Edinburgh, London and many others and still have highlights unseen. if I were making only a single trip, I’d probably make it a land tour. Just one man’s opinion.

You don't say how long your cruise is, but "Australia / New Zealand" suggests to me two weeks or more. That's good news because, in our experience, reservations onboard become much easier to get on longer voyages. Everyone wants their allotted days, but not everyone wants to go a third of forth time (in general). Book as early as your allowed, join the queue once onboard to get additional nights / "better" times. We love Polo Grill and are quite lukewarm to Toscana, others feel just the opposite, my advice try both and decide for yourselves. Also, once onboard it's well worth stopping by the check in desk at either near the opening time to check for cancellations. Quite a lot of folks make reservations, but then find themselves less interested on the day and either don't show up or go to the GDR instead, in the latter case, the GDR will cancel the reservation once they are seated freeing up space in the specialty. Happy sailing.

Just off Viking, no need to remove the TV, their TVs feature a forward facing sound bar which, if this is the issue, addresses the problem. New marketing campaign could perhaps be, “we considered your privacy, so your neighbors TV is oriented towards them rather than you” a bit wordy perhaps… We sail Vista in January and will report our experiences.

Sailed both Ovation (Norway) and Odyssey (Alaska) last summer slightly different experiences. Ovation. Seemingly in response to our midnight sun sailing the morning coffee bar got set up well before the official opening of 6 something AM, the self serve machine was set up first about 4:45 am. Odyssey. I struggled for coffee daily with the coffee bar routinely set up 15 or 20 minutes after the posted time. Again a self serve machine appeared early, but wasn’t operable since it wasn’t filled with water. After a few days of this someone (not I) brought a water bottle from the room, filled the machine, and invited us to make a cup, this brought a stern response from staff, “not allowed”, this went on a couple days after which the self serve machine never made another appearance. I began phoning room service to have coffee delivered to the lounge, on the 4th day, after RS delivered coffee to about 15, they got a clue and started to get the coffee bar set up a bit earlier. I find myself comparing these experiences to our just completed Viking Oceans cruises on which full featured coffee machines produced very acceptable espresso drinks 24 hours, a far superior option.

Okay, having stepped off our first Viking Ocean yesterday, I'll offer my opinions versus our two Seabourn sailings last year (Ovation / Norway & Odyssey / Alaska, both 14 day). Pro's for Viking. Covered pool which, I agree could be too warm in warm wet climates but would have been most welcome in our two cool SB sailings. The distinct Wintergarden area use for afternoon tea was also a very nice plus versus anything SB has to offer. The ship operated on a tight schedule and all schedules were held. A perfect example was getting off the ship yesterday, we received a letter saying independent guests with tagged luggage could depart "at our leisure" from 8:00. We hit the gangway at 8:15 and were in our car headed out of the parking lot a 8:30. Similar letters from SB resulted in stupendous waits to exit the ship and waits for luggage ashore of 45 minute on both sailings. Huge victory for Viking here (and in general on anything operating on an announced schedule - they just never missed). We sailed in a Penthouse Veranda on Viking which more or less compares to the V4 we sailed on Ovation. There were things to like in both versus the other but nothing that would constitute a show stopper. Towels were of surprisingly poor quality and small size on both Viking and SB. Win's for Seabourn. On Ovation, we purchased and used the Retreat and found it fantastic. I know this is a provocative point for some who object to the separation of classes by additional fee, I'm simply commenting on the service delivered for said fee - it's fantastic - had we a choice of itinerary between and Ovation class ship, and Odyssey class ship or Viking we would choose Ovation / Encore 1000% of the time. The main restaurant, just no comparison. Viking DR seats 400 (ship capacity 900), SB ships seat ~500 Ship capacity slightly more or less. Waits for dining on Viking were epic, waits on SB nil or minimal. Additional point SB aggressively fill their "officers" tables which lessens the load. Likewise, food quality, which I freely admit is subjective is just better on SB. The best example is the everyday steak with was served piping hot, of good quality, prepared to order and on a warm plate on SB, exactly none of these things happen on Viking. On the other hand, the Viking buffet is fabulous (it has to be, it has to be the first choice for half the ship or bad things happen, like long lines). The food was very good (for a buffet) and the space to navigate was generous. SB basically don't have a horse in this race. The ship overall felt much more spacious on Viking with a 3 level atrium a seat was always available. Their Living Room bar compares quite favorably to SB Square with excellent service and tasty treats all day. All and all we judge both to be good, high end products. We paid basically the same per diem for all three sailings (when we included the modestly priced beverage package not included on Viking). We would sail either one again, serious foodies and those who prefer (as we) to avoid the buffet (even a good one) might well prefer SB. But I caution you restaurant access is not a given on SB. On our 14 day Alaska sailing the restaurant opened only 5 days for breakfast and 4 for lunch, on Ovation it operated all 3 meals on all days, this alone would have us shun SB on sailings sold as shorter segments (we're told that's the reason Odyssey operated as it did).

Not sure of the question, sample menus are posted on the website. Once onboard, if Vista is like other ships, menus are posted the day of. On our R class cruises, only the current day, perhaps there’s more forewarning on the newer ships.

It was offered and I ordered it a few nights ago on Star. It was exactly as you describe, a disappointment, I’d never order it again and would gladly see it replaced with just about anything else. We had a nice meal at Manfredi but the chicken parm was by far the low point of the meal.

Well, we’ve now enjoyed 4 evenings on board Star enroute toward Hawaii. I’m beginning to form some opinion regarding the food versus Oceania and Seabourn. Viking stack up well overall for food quality, as noted elsewhere a bit bland / under seasoned but well within my acceptable range. The variety of choices on each given menu is fine but I’d have to say O typically offer more selections for each course with more dramatic flavoring options. Where I think Seabourn come out ahead is in their every day alternatives their steak was vastly superior in flavor and preparation. Overall, at this stage O remains my preference though it’s easy to imagine someone else ranking Viking at the top. The differences are not vast. Included wines have been acceptable though I prefer the O scheme which offer a choice from a small (fixed) menu, staff on Star have made it clear I can request a prior selection, but it’s on me to keep track, Seabourn was likewise. About the line up, this is a clear demerit for Viking, to be assured a seat a breakfast one must arrive 20 or more minutes prior to opening, arriving “on time” will have you redirected to WC. Nothing of the sort ever happens on SB or O. Likewise, at lunch and dinner, the line begins to form 30 minutes prior with choice tables gone well before official opening (seating typically starts 15 minutes prior to opening, also true on O, sometimes true on SB). The decision to limit capacity / guarantee disappointment baffles us. We’re told this cruise has skewed far older than usual, perhaps partly to blame. I counted 26 canes and 7 walkers in the line up for dinner one night, nothing wrong with that though perhaps Viking could use the demographics to decide how fully to staff the Restaurant. It’s quite unreasonable to redirect 10s of people with canes to a self service venue in 30 foot seas. Ill post again later in the voyage.

We brought a 12 pack of Root Beer on board, just taped a luggage tape on it, it was the first thing to arrive before other luggage. Why? DW doesn’t much care for Sprite and surprisingly root beer is caffeine free.