PelicanLvr

I strongly suggest you make a "Plan B". You wouldn't want to be closed out with no plans. Also, this could be a huge positive for you, as many of us stay away from ship tours as too large and slow-moving. Once you go on independent tours.....you won't go back to ship excursions. OP (btw, that's original poster), I see you are brand new to CC today. Welcome! This board, your sailing roll call (do you know what that is?) and the Board on the ports you're visiting are probably full of great independent tour suggestions and reviews. Enjoy planning some great days in Port! PS: OP, Where are you going? Some ports you can even do on your own and don't need a tour....Dubrovnik comes to mind.

When a serving team works hard to make a meal an outstanding experience, I want to make sure they are rewarded for the effort. In that instance, I tip over the X imposed tip amount collected when booking the specialty dinner. I wonder how much of the 20% amount actually goes to the staff that waited on you. A small amount extra means alot to those hard-working folks.

Highly recommend the BCN to Canary Island itinerary in November. Just did it a few months ago (11/2023) and the weather was perfect. Sunny with temps in the 70s. The Canaries has some of the most perfect year-round weather on Earth. Europeans love to vacation there....just too far for us USA folks. Also the weather in the ports in Southern Spain has cooled off from the extreme summer hear and are delightful. Sitting in the sun on sea days was lovely as long as you were protected from the wind.....like around the pool. Open decks were a bit chilly for that. Do not hesitate to go!

I believe it boils down to: deeper balcony (Hump cabins) vs. wake view (SV). Which do you prefer?

Yes, we have done the "Ultimate Dining Package" multiple times on 14 night cruises on M class ships like Connie. Even before some suites got specialty dining for free, there were always several people like us that were there every night. If you like a "nicer & slower" dining experience, it's great! The MDR is just too crowded, busy and chaotic for us. We are not likely to go to "the show" at night and a nice dinner is our evening's entertainment. In our experience, after a few nights, they will cook (within reason) off the menu for you with a day's notice of what you would like. So even with just one restaurant, it was a pleasure. We asked to sit in the same area and have the same service-team each night and that was no problem. Did this last for 12 nights on Summit in 2019. We ate only (12 nights) in Tuscan grill (not LPC fans) and it was great. Had the same table and wait-staff every night. Really got to know them...which is nice. Things have changed a bit in the "post-covid" years....so I can only rely our experience. If you think you would enjoy eating in the specialty dining rooms each night...go for it. Highly recommended!

As someone once said to me: "Cash is always in good taste".

Agreed. Last month we were on Nautica to the Canary Islands. Port intensive with stops the last 3 days of the cruise. No interest in filling out a survey during that time and expected it to remain online in my account. I was wrong. Oh well, I guess O only want to hear from the "cheerleaders".

The changes in survey completion procedure are all "enhancements" "to serve us better".

My conclusion (after experiencing the price increases & "deterioration" of X) is: If cruise lines are no longer loyal to their repeat passengers, why should I be loyal to any particular cruise line? After 12 X cruises, we just returned from a lovely Oceania cruise to the Canary Islands. As many know, O had a great sale several months ago and I grabbed this itinerary. That's my plan going forward. Whoever offers what I want at a good price....they will get my business. Like the cruise lines....I am done being loyal. It's everyone (passengers and cruise lines alike) for themselves these days! I can play that game too!

TERRACE CAFE FOR DINNER Was looking forward to trying the Terrace Cafe for dinner last month on Nautica. Read so many great things about it here on these Boards. Yes, it's popular....too popular and (IMHO) not open long enough. The Terrace opens for dinner at 6:30 (same for the other restaurants) and closed promptly at 8:30 when all food was removed. So basically you have from 6:30 to about 7:30 to sit down. Walked thru at around 7:30 a few nights and it was a complete zoo. No empty tables to be had and packed. Hope O decides to keep the Terrace open a bit longer and perhaps spread out the "rush".

Off Nautica last month. DW and I walk the track for an hour each evening around 6-7pm. Hardly ever saw anyone in the pool or even on the pool deck at that time. Usually had the walking track to ourselves too. Funny, every night at 7pm the colored spotlights around the pool would come on .... and never anyone around. A few nights the pool net was up and the pools were closed for deck cleaning...but that I think was only a few nights. Pools usually open and no one in them at that hour.

You booked a great stateroom for the Canal. Excellent views from a really big balcony. Enjoy!

To help our international members understand American tipping a bit more.......Yes, America has always been a tipping culture, but now (post COVID) it has even increased. Anyone who worked through the pandemic in hard-hit areas (like our's) was "handsomely" tipped because they kept food in our homes and the whole society running. That mentality waned, but some post-covid increased tipping remains. Now, 20% tip in restaurants (here in the New York City area) is the norm. Used to be 15...but even receipts that show "tipping suggestions" now seem to start at 18% and go up to 22 or 25%. Now, many credit card machines for simple transactions are programmed to ask "tip amount ?", and you have to affirmatively press "no tip". It has gotten a bit "out of hand" and there have been news reports about it. One report claimed that employers are paying "customer facing" employees less and encouraging more tipping to cut labor costs. I know when we travel we are out-of-step with many other countries on tipping amounts....but it just feels wrong to leave so little after good service. This year we had trips to Germany and also to Spain. I tried to be tip-restrained.....but it's hard for us. Is it hard for non-Americans when they travel to the USA to understand our tipping standards? I'll bet it is.

Just returned from a veranda stateroom on Nautica. We had a continental breakfast of cereal and fruit + coffee delivered to our room each morning. The attendant knocks, enters the room, places the tray on the table and leaves. I handed them 2-3 USD as they leave. Each seemed surprised to be tipped and appreciated it.

DW and I are 65...just off Nautica last month in November (Spain & Canary Islands). We had a great cruise with terrific staff and ports. But....we felt VERY young. Fellow passengers were.....quite mature. Makes me concerned about O's future. Felt way too "old" for us.

Interesting. This month on Nautica we found the coffee in Barista's only OK in quality and taste. Celebrity coffee house products are far better! Also, even in the early morning Barista's was never busy. Always just walked up and ordered. Maybe O's base is not part of the "coffee culture". Never a wait at any time of day.

No lids on Nautica this month either. Thought that was really strange....an accident waiting to happen!

Sorry, I have no experience with the B1s over the theatre. But we just got off sister ship Nautica this month and I can tell you that the nightly show (often with live/amplified music) begins at 9:30pm and lasts about an hour or so.. There is certainly the chance that you may hear something in the rooms directly over the show room. If the budget permits, I suggest you consider a one-level upgrade to A3. These rooms are one deck up on deck 7 so they are further removed from the public areas. We were just in an aft A3 on Nautica and the area is quiet. Also A level rooms get 3 free bags of laundry which was nice! Enjoy the planning!

That's really encouraging to hear.....unfortunately it was not the case this month on Nautica. Have a wonderful trip on Vista!

But I don't want to cut out the bread round and desset! LOL Seriously, this is not how specialty dining is supposed to be! O offers 8, 8:30 and 9pm reservations and that experience should be equal to that of someone who came in at 6:30.pm.

I'm pretty sure we saw you come in to Toscana on departure night!! We were forced into a 9pm reservation, and told onboard that day not to come earlier. We also arrived that first night about 20 minutes early. We were seated by the window in the front area of the restaurant. Everyone around us was well into their meal and many were just about ready to leave. But, almost immediately after we sat down, another couple arrived (I'm thinking that was you!) and my wife said "thank goodness someone else is just coming in". That couple was seated further back towards the rear of the dining room. No one else came in after that. We also thought the specialty dining was not that special, especially for passengers that don't want to eat at 6:30. Anyone who comes in at 8pm or later, it's a rushed event. O needs improvement here!

We returned this month from a 12 day Nautica itinerary to Southern Spain & the Canary Islands. It was a wonderful trip with great weather, interesting ports and outstanding staff. But we found the specialty dining rooms the "weak link" with an almost adversarial atmosphere. Background: We traveled in an A-3 concierge stateroom and dutifully booked our allotment of dining reservation at midnight on the appointed day they were first available. The only website reservation for the 2 sea days was 9 pm, so I booked them. We are "late eaters", so a 9 pm reservation was not a problem for us, although our preferred time is about 8:30. Upon Boarding the ship we stopped by the dining reservations desk and asked if we should come earlier than 9pm and was told: "the restaurants are very busy, so come at 9 pm". We nevertheless arrived at Polo Grill at 8:45 to find the restaurant half-empty already and the maitre d curtly advised "your table has been ready for some time". He continued "I called your stateroom, but you weren't there". His attitude seemed to imply that I should I have been sitting in my room hoping for his call. We were shown to a lovely window table for 2 and a rushed, unfriendly fast dinner followed and we were the last out of the dinning room in about an hour at 9:45. What an unsatisfying experience! The next day, we spoke to Ana, the Ship's Restaurant Manager, who was lovely and offered "the usual" additional reservation to "do better", but we stuck to our allotted number as we found the main dining room a more friendly, welcoming experience. We thereafter disregarded our specialty dining reservation times (8:30 & 9 PM) and arrived for our remaining specialty reservations just after 8pm. Lovely tables were always available. The pace of dinner was improved, but we were always to last to leave the dining rooms. One night we ate in Toscana and it was so uncomfortably empty at 9:30 that we took our coffee to the adjacent beautiful library....afterwards, we couldn't even return the coffee cups as both restaurants were closed and locked....I looked at my watch, it was 9:45 pm! Observations: Why does the O website force you into 9pm reservations, if in reality the specialty restaurants are closed down by 9:45? On our cruise we observed that literally no one came into the specialty restaurants after 8:15pm. Does everyone always eat so early? What actually happened to the 8:30 - 9pm reservation slots.... We saw that no one came in at those times. Why are tables available around 8pm after you are specifically told it's so busy you can't come before 9 pm? The system of a limited number of "free" specialty reservations creates an atmosphere of staff vs. passengers as the specialty restaurant staff maintains an unapproachable attitude as they zealously guard the reservations that are obviously available, but seemingly unattainable.

ROME- When the ship port is far from the city (ie Rome) we often book the ships "transfer" which is bus transportation only with about 5-6 hours of free time in the city to explore as you wish. You are told a time to return to the bus location for the ride back to the ship. No guided tour involved. Just did O's transfer to Granada from Motril earlier this month and it worked out fine.

Hi, Hi There, Simply put - With a cruise only fare all alcohol is for purchase.... I believe you would also be purchasing any bottled water, al bacio coffees etc. Welcome to CC!

I am the OP and I thank you for all your replies. The last thing I will do on vacation is take the time to complete a corporate survey. If O really wanted everyone's opinion ("to serve us better") they would make it easier to complete the survey. I'm sorry a few wonderful crew members will not get a mention from us. Yet another example of O's corporate ignorance of reality. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!