Redtravel

Celebrity has changed. When I first sailed on the Zenith, it was delightful. Loved it. It had good food, great service, beautiful decor, and good service. Sadly, as time passed and RCL took over, modern luxury was the theme. It meant cutbacks, crowds, and mediocre service. Food selections were boring. Each time that I sailed on Celebrity, there seemed to be less amenities. Sailed on Celebrity until nothing could persuade me to do it again. Tried Azamara. While not perfect, it was better than Celebrity. We enjoyed the smaller ships with no crowds. When Azamara was cruise only, we were there. When they restructured and included beverages, we looked for other options. We seldom drink. Oceania and Windstar were a good fit. Have sailed both lines and enjoyed them. Both have great food, excellent service, spacious cabins( on Marina and Riviera), include several dining options with no surcharge, and didn’t include beverages in the fare. That was until Simply more. I like taking excursions in new ports. However, on Caribbean cruises, I prefer lounging by the pool, going to a beach, or leisurely walking through town. While I am booked on 2 future cruises, I am hesitant about Oceania. On European cruises, I usually book excursions. I prefer Olife options. Since Olife is gone, I am undecided if I will continue sailing on Oceania. I may only book if an itinerary has excursions that interest me. For sailing in the Caribbean to escape cold winter weather, I am thinking Windstar.

I had hoped that formal nights would be eliminated with the new Crystal. Gave away formal clothing. Optional formal doesn’t make Crystal an option to the more casual folks.

Have sailed on R ships on Azamara and Oceania. Public areas are nice. Cabins are small. Bathrooms are tiny. The best attraction is R ships can get into ports that larger ships can’t fit. Once we sailed on Marina/ Riviera we stopped booking R ships. We like the larger cabins and more choices of dining options. We love Jacques.

Eurowings is awful. They gave away our reserved seats on the aisle across from each other. Instead we got the middle of 4 seats. The legroom was very tight. I am short. Eurowings gave new meaning to feeling like being in a sardine can.

They gladly take dollars.

Even if you try to complete the survey onboard, you may have problems completing it. On my recent O cruise in June, my spouse did the survey. When I tried to do the survey, got an error message. Called guest relations.They told me to go to the computer area for help. I gave up. When I got home, I sent O an email addressing 3 concerns. Got email response yesterday that only addressed one issue.

Going in the day of the cruise can be very stressful. If you have time, going in early is a better choice.

Be aware that seat selection, equipment, etc. can change without notice. We flew on Eurowings Discovery in June. Couldn’t get seat assignments in advance. We were told that we could select seats when we checked in online 23 hours before the flight. I did the online checkin and was assigned an aisle seat. My spouse had problems trying to do the online checkin. We called Eurowings and were told the everything was ok. We were told that we were both in aisle seats across the aisle from each other. My TA was told the same thing. When we got to the airport, those aisle seats became the middle of a row of 4. Asked for a reassignment, told that nothing was available. Don’t fly Eurowings.

Using Oceania air can be wild and crazy. Your flight times sounds fantastic compared to our most recent cruise. Arriving at LaGuardia at 9:30 is excellent. You may have to wait for people arriving on other flights before you get on the bus that goes to the ship. It’s not a long ride from the airport to the ship. Keep in mind, that Oceania air guarantees gettting you to the ship. On our most recent cruise, we embarked in Southampton, UK. Oceania assigned us 2 flights flying into Gatwick with a 2 hour bus ride to the ship. When we arrived at Gatwick, we waited more than a hour before we were put on a bus. We arrived at the ship 2 hours before it sailed. That was too close for comfort. This time we asked to be flown into BCN a day early. You can fly in or depart up to 3 days before or after the cruise with no charge. Your return flight is also at a good time. They will take you to the airport early. A good book may help pass the time. Sometimes they offer excursions on the last day for guests flying on late planes. Relax, all will be well. Bermuda is beautiful.

yes, mailings off. I got a mailing just after a cruise in June. It had a coupon discount if booked a future cruise within 45 days of disembarking. Next day, got a sale brochure for past guests. We booked a cruise for spring 2024. Since then, we haven’t received anything from O. That was a month ago. Wondering if O is using the strange Viking marketing approach. Book a Viking cruise and your mailings will go way down. You will not see promos. It’s a ridiculous marketing strategy. It assumes incorrectly that you book one cruise, take it, and afterwards book another cruise. Many people, like me, have multiple future bookings.

You will find positive and negative comments. When everything goes right, great reviews. It’s when things go wrong, what they do matters.

Don't worry. Lots of good menu choices in all dining venues. On some cruises, we book ahead. On some, we wait and see what's available on the ship. Not all reservations are given out online. People often change reservations. On some cruises we decided not to use a reservation. We always call and cancel. Sometimes we get an extra reservation. Jacques is my first choice on any cruise. On cruises with warm weather, the outdoor deck at the Terrace Buffet is often my favorite choice.

Never buy insurance from the tour operator. If the operator goes out of business, you get nothing. Also, the cost of buying insurance from Viking is very high compared to other options. If you take more than 2 trips a year, look at a yearly policy. Years ago, I got injured on a trip with another tour company that sold tripmate. Getting reimbursed for expenses was terrible. They make it really tough to comply. Be sure that you know what the insurance co. wants before making a claim. Keep all receipts, get injury statements and notes on official paper signed by doctors, etc.

The Shangrila hotel is in a great location. Ask for room looking at the harbor on a high floor. At night, the lights show is great. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency across the street. It is very convenient with Lots of shops and places to eat nearby. Spring Deer was hole in the wall that had amazing food. We ate there twice. Make reservations. Bus terminal is a block away. Several train lines cross under the Hyatt. We were in Hong Kong a total of 7 days including 2 from the cruise. Buy a transportation card and get a map. You can use public transportation to go everywhere. It’s very cheap. At the end you can cash in the card or keep as a souvenir. Have fun.

I really enjoyed the Churchill war rooms. The audio guide is very good. Best part is you can go at your own pace. You can stop, look, and listen. If you’re on a tour, you move at the pace of the group. Before you go, look at the website for more info.

The 25% discount works the same as Olife. Each cruise has a set number of cruises that must be booked to get 25% discount. If you book that number of excursions or more, you get the 25% off of all of your excursions. For us booking the 6th tour kicked in the 25% discount. If we had just booked 5 tours, it would’ve cost us more. Since everyone nicks different tours, it’s up to you to decide what benefits you.

Yes, but they don’t have the lowest prices.

National express works.

We were slightly put off at first. We liked Olife. However, when we actually booked excursions, it was easy. We got $1000 credit. You can pick any of the listed excursions. You are not limited to those under $200. You can pick very expensive tours and get few tours. You can pick less expensive tours and get more tours. You have a choice. Also, if you book the specified number of tours to get the 25% discount, you may get more bang for your credits. We found selecting excursions to be easy. The only thing that annoys me about Simply More excursion credits is that there are some cruises that I don’t want tours. We usually do a winter Caribbean cruise. We have taken many tours over the years. Now we go for the warmth. There are some ports that we never get off. Last winter on a 2 week cruise, we stayed on the ship in 4 ports. There were lots of people who did the same. We are booked on Vista cruise only for winter 2024. Going forward with Simply More not selling cruise only, we will likely look for other vacation options that sell cruise only.

Do a little planning and you can see all the included places. The war rooms were amazing. Viking charges too much money for the tour.

Viking is amazing at making you feel good about your booking. Once you book, if you log on and check prices, you will see higher prices. Once booked, you will not get emails with promos for any cruise. There is a thread on this board that asks people to post promo codes. Since Viking gets full payment way ahead of cruise dates and doesn’t price adjust, you’re better off just booking at a price that works for you. It’s like buying airline tickets.

I would book early. With Simply more, everyone has credit.

The thing that made it work was checking the simply more box in the cart. Since Simple more has just begun, there were bound to be some quirks. Now that everyone has excursion credits, it pays to book early. On past cruises, when we booked late, many excursions were sold out. On our last cruise in June, we booked late. We took Olife mainly to get air. It included 3 excursions pp. The only excursions with availability were not really what I would choose if I had booked earlier. We enjoyed 2 of the 3 excursions. Enjoyed visiting new places.

Reading my posting, never say never. Flying O air in June arriving the day of embarkation was too stressful. We got to the ship 2 hours before sailing. This time we opted for arriving one day early. We chose O air this time because we are booked on the first cruise after dry dock. If for some reason the ship takes longer in dry dock than scheduled or gets canceled, we won't get stuck rearranging flights. We also requested the premium upgrade. TA said upgrades were sold out.

Sharing my experience booking shore excursions online. Today we booked shore excursions using Simply More credit and Oceania club credits. It started like previous trips until we looked at the cart. The cart listed all of our excursions with crazy prices. Some were $0. Some were full price. Some just made no sense. The total matched the full price for all excursions. It said that we owed full prices even though we booked more than the number to get a 25% discount. Time to call O. First time on hold got disconnected after 5 min. Next, left a call back number. Call back rep said that you have to check the "simply more" box to get the discounts. asked if she could book our excursions. She hung up. Checked the "simply more" and the cart looked different. Now there were full prices listed next to each excursion. Some showed a discount. Some showed no discount. The final amount with discounts applied less credits was correct. I paid the difference online. Got an email confirming transaction. Email amount paid reflected the full prices.