GeorgiaPeach51

Enjoyed your thoughts and your very comprehensive review.  We will be trying O in October, on the Marina, and you filled in some gaps in my understanding, and certainly helped with adjusting expectations.  I appreciate you taking the time to share your cruise thoughts.

 

Joanie

I can’t believe you are just finding out that cronuts are a food group all on their own!  Now that you have had one, your culinary experience is complete!

 

loving this review, and the wonderful photos.  Thanks for taking the time to post.  You have seen so many intriguing places that my bucket list has now expanded. 
 

Joanie

@Gpilon  We were blessed with only much needed rain.  I’m glad u are unscathed.  I feel for our Florida friends.

 

Joanie

I hate that a good trip was marred by a messy ending with the airlines.  Ugh.  With the Wi-Fi challenges you had, you did an amazing job posting so many great photos for us to enjoy.  Appreciate you!

 

Joanie

Yay!  Looking forward to this!  Thanks for entertaining us!

 

Joanie

Wonderful review!  So glad you had a good trip.  Travel blessings on the way home.  And thanks for that cronut photo!  It was a thing of beauty!  
 

Joanie

I just caught up on your WONDERFUL trip report!  It is fabulous to read, and the photos are really great.  The food photos are killing me.  Some great memories!  But you seem to be lacking  in posting cronut photos! 😵‍💫😜

 

I love the miso cod SO much, that I was able to have it three nights in a row on one cruise and a happier person you never saw!  I’m glad to see you enjoyed Chartreuse.  We didn’t love it last time, but I’m willing to keep trying!

 

thanks for taking the time to do this report.  It is no small thing to do it diligently and with an honest balance of kudos and critiques.  Looking forward to the rest!

 

Joanie

On 8/15/2023 at 8:02 PM, Jancruz said:

I know for a fact that O is not difficult to deal with if you know the right people..if you need help with this contact me and I will see if I can do anything.

Jancruz1

@Jancruz

 

if you can point me in the right direction I will be ever in your debt.  My email is rjsoderberg@tds.net.

 

Thanks so much,

 

Joanie

@Jancruz I will take you up on your kind offer, and would be grateful for any suggestions you have.  One reason for our desire to wrap this up is is that my twin sister and brother in law are going on this trip with us.  He has just been diagnosed with kidney cancer and while his prognosis is good, and surgery is scheduled, this has been an ongoing irritant and aggravation that he does not need.  So, it would be a blessing to take this issue off his plate of worrisome things that need to be resolved.

 

Thank you SO much.

 

Joanie

Many thanks for all the replies.  You are so helpful!  We have contacted our TA five times since full payment and he is supposedly contacting O but it has been radio silence with the only communication coming from us and nada coming from the TA.  No amount of contacting him results in any information.  So frustrating. 

 

He says O is really difficult to deal with.  Regardless, we just cancelled a cruise we had booked with him for next April due to the lack of communication.  And we are no further along with our tickets for this O cruise.  But your answers help me to identify where the issues lie.  
 

Joanie

We are on the Marina, Istanbul to Barcelona in November.  It is our first cruise with Oceania.  The cruise is paid in full almost three weeks ago and our TA says he cannot get the O Air Dept. to give him our seat assignments for our Business Class flights with Turkish Air.

 

Is this common?  Or is our TA just not in the know about how to deal with O Air?  I am mystified as to why this is so difficult, so if anyone can enlighten me I would be very grateful!

 

Joanie

Happy to see this!  Looking forward to your impressions of the Voyager.  We have not been on Voyager or Mariner and I am curious to hear your thoughts.  What a great itinerary!

 

Joanie

Looking forward to reading about your trip!  There haven’t been too many comprehensive cruise blogs lately, so now we have something to read with our morning coffee.  🥰

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

Once you are paid in full  Oceania can ticket you  but if any  changes happen  flight times port location you are on your own

We have been ticketed at 75 days out  by asking 

If you wait  then O will ticket you  45 to 60 days

IME

Can’t thank you enough!  I finally understand.  I appreciate you!

 

And I appreciate all of the responses from everyone!

 

Joanie

@LHT28  so our final payment is due on August 3.  That is well before the 60 days that the Oceania rep said we have to wait for the TA to request early ticketing.

 

it seems you are saying tickets can be issued as soon as the final full payment is made?

 

still not sure which is correct.  I’m trying to do the investigation because clearly, our TA has no clue.  Would you mind clarifying in case I am misunderstanding you?  Thanks,

 

Joanie

@basor  Thanks for your response.  So from your response, the 60 days request is actually what the TA should do?  My concern is that he doesn’t know what or how to do what needs to be done for some reason.  We have Business class booked, BTW, so there are not many seats to pick from.  I’m not sure I understand what you mean by the penalty phases?

We are new to Oceania and I am boggled by how difficult it is to figure out how to get airline seat assignments.

 

We are on the Marina, Istanbul to Barcelona, November 1.  When we log in to Turkish Air with the record locator, it pulls it up, but with no seat assignment and no ability to change or choose the seat assignment.  Called Turkish Air.  They said to call TA.  Multiple calls to our TA…..he says when we are fully logged in on the Oceania website, Oceania will be able to issue tickets.

 

We are fully logged in, both of us, on the website.  Still nothing. I called O and they said they do not issue tickets till 60 days out, and early ticketing has to be requested by the TA.  If so, he seems unaware, so I passed the information on to him.  But I question all this because we have friends on the same flight who booked thru Turkish Air independently and they already have their seat assignments.

 

I’m still not sure we have the right information about this.  Can anyone pick box A, B, or C for me and tell me which is the right one?  I really appreciate your help.

 

Joanie

2 hours ago, Rainbow3fe said:

As O lovers we tried Celebrity Edge last Fall and raced to book 4 additional future Oceania cruises. Hopefully you'll enjoy Oceania as much as we do.

Enjoy 🎶🌻😎🌊

I hate to say we did so many Celebrity cruises that we ended up Elite.  I wish I had that money back!  

@D. B.  Thanks for the reassurance!  We are going on this trip with my twin sister and BIL and had to do some strong persuading to get them to move away from Celebrity, so we are hopeful that they will be happy….so it is nice to see a positive response.  Looking forward to the trip so much, not only to travel with them but it has many bucket list items….Istanbul, Jerusalem, Cairo.

and it’s always fun to try a new cruise line.

 

Joanie

Frankly, we got off the Navigator for the first time not too long ago.  I really sat and thought about the ship and your question, and I would tend to say it’s not the best mix.  I have twin 7 year old grands that I take care of weekly and it is challenging to keep them happy and occupied every day during the summer.  I do a lot of planning to keep them occupied with fun things to do, and they are both actually pretty undemanding.  I think two five year olds would be harder.  The two year old would just require ongoing high maintenance.

 

I guess I would look at it from the parental perspective and I would say it would be the least enjoyable way to take an expensive R cruise because there is no children’s area.  (That I know of.)  And from the children’s perspective it would be like doing what you do at home but with less.  Those ages are certainly not going to enjoy or remember the magic of being on a ship for more than a few minutes.

 

Frankly, if I saw parents cruising with these ages, with no child care facilities or program, I would feel sorry for them!  You don’t mention where the stops would be or the number of sea days, and while ports would be a diversion, little ones don’t love being on buses…you could find kid friendly stuff in each port probably but then the parents aren’t getting to see and do things that are part of a cruise.

 

so, no, I don’t think it is a great idea….I personally wouldn’t care if kids were on my Regent cruise unless they were allowed to run around unsupervised and wailing at meals nonstop without being removed to either calm down or have an attitude adjustment,  🥰

 

I will also be interested to see what others say.  Disclaimer….we have been on only three R cruises.  Navigator, Splendor and Explorer.

 

Joanie

Thanks for posting your trip review!  It takes time to do it while on vacation for sure.  We will be taking our first Oceania cruise in November, on the Marina, and I appreciate the information you shared.  We have recently done three Regent cruises after many on Celebrity, so it will be interesting to compare the two lines.  We tend to just go with the flow and don’t have expectations regarding O vs. R…..I’m like you…hoping to enjoy the trip!  Thanks for all the good info!

 

Joanie

Thanks for taking the time to post during your vacation.  Wonderful to see the photos.  Safe travels home, really enjoyed reading about your trip!

 

Joanie

@Roxydog15 I’m glad it helped!  And I hope you enjoy R as much as we do.  I’m a big fan of not having to haul out the suite key every time you need a drink or water.  I hope you’ll come back and share your impressions!

 

Joanie

I haven’t updated in a while…here you go!

 

BOOKS AND SERIES TO READ

 

Georges Simenon Series 

Gideon Oliver -Aaron  Elkins series 

Louise Penny’s Gamache series.

Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey series

Any books by Josephine Tey

Barbara Hambly - Benjamin January series, if you like historical mysteries!

JD Robb books and Robert B Parker

The Scarapetta series by Patricia Cornwell 

MC Beaton books 

Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley Series.  

Donna Leon’s Brunetti series. 

Any books by Tana French

Any books by P. D. James.  

Greg Isles, a writer from Natchez, MS.

Snowblind” by Ragnar Jonasson.  (Book 1 of 6 - DarkIceland)

Cork O’Connor series by William Kent Krueger.  Also non-series books.

Brad Thor.

JK Rowling (author of Harry Potter series), writing under the name Robert Galbraith -- the Cormoran Strike series.

Andrea Camilleri -- the Inspector Montalbano series.

Helen Fields -- the Perfect series.

Karin Slaughter -- the Will Trent series, Grant Country Line series. 

Daniel Silva - Gabriel Allon series

James Crumley —should be read in order

Winston Graham—Poldark series

Janet Evanovich—Stephanie Plum series.  Fox and Hare series.

Anything by Tim Dorsey or Carl Hiassen 

Old Archie comic books and Mad Magazine. 🙂

Ian Rankin’s Rebus series

Peter Robinson’s DCI Banks series

Nevada Barr’s National Parks series

Anything by Anne Cleeves

Richard Jury series by Martha Grimes - current times

Thomas Pitt series by Anne Perry - Victorian era(if you are planning a trip to Egypt check out theAmelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters)

Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City.  4 books.

The Longmire books by Craig Johnson.  Also suggest the fantastic series on Netflix.

David McCullough 'Path Between the Seas' (Panama Canal), and The Great Bridge

Caroline Graham Inspector Barnaby series. 

John Sandford , the Prey series and the Virgil Flowers series

Any books by Harlan Coben

Khalid Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Kite Runner

Cupcake Brown, A Piece of Cake

Andy Weir, “not science fiction but science plausibility”

Danelle Harmon Series

Caleb Carr -  The Alienist.

Anthony Horowitz, Magpie Murders/Susan Ryeland Series.  Also Horowitz & Hawthorne series

Rex Stout, Nero Wolfe books, later written by Robert Goldsborough

Ruth Ware

Stuart Woods, Stone Barrington series.  #61 just published.

Tess Gerritson

Lisa Scottoline.

Michael Connelly. Bosch books

Lee Child Reacher series

James Lee Burke Robicheaux

Patricia Cornell Scarpetta books, Andy Brazil series

Jonathan Kellerman Delaware books

Greg Iles

Jeffrey Deaver Lincoln Rhymes series

Nelson DeMille

John Grisham

Scott Turow

Pat Conroy...more family drama than mystery

The Outlander series

Brad Meltzer

Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six (same author)

I just finished American Dirt and loved it so much I bought two more of her books.  

Iris Johansen (EveDuncan series, and others).

Colin Dexter Inspector Morse series

David Baldacci—Amos Decker, Atlee Pine and John Puller series

JA Jance

Karen Rose

Carol Goodman, The Stranger Behind You, plus multiple other books.  Contemporary suspenseful fiction.

Chris Carter -  Robert Hunter Series -   I just started #5 One by One

Jefferson Bass -  Body Farm Series - Based on the Body Farm at UT Knoxville.    

Joe R. Lansdale -  Hap and Leonard -  probably one of the most politically incorrect novels you will ever read - two Red Necks as they take justice into their own hands.   Keeps me in stitches.

Sara Parestky - The V.I. Warhawski Series-just started "indemnity Only(1982) and is #1 of 21

Sue Grafton—the Kinsey Milhone series

Ethan Cross—-the Ackerman thrillers

Ginny Rorby—Like Dust I Rise

Jacqueline Winspear—Maisie Dobbs series

Carlos Ruiz Zafón "The Shadow of the Wind", set in Barcelona, with a walking tour at the end of the book. Cemetery of Forgotten Books—4 Book series. 

Mark Kurlansky—Cod (good for a Canada/New England cruise)

John U. Bacon—The Great Halifax Explosion 

James Patterson—When the Wind Blows series

Ken Follett—Pillars of the Earth series, Century series, Eye of the Needle

Stan Evans.  Maiden Voyages: Magnificent Ocean Liners and the Women Who Traveled and Worked Aboard Them.  Non-Fiction.

Danger on the Atlantic (A Jane Wunderly Mystery Book 3) by Erica RuthNeubauer

Steve Higgs—Patricia Fisher series. A sleuth on luxury cruise ships.

The Clifton Chronicles series by Jeffrey Archer - several parallels with Ken Follett series .

The Nathan McBride series by Andrew Petersen (shades of David Baldacci).

John Milton series by Mark Dawson, fairly easy read rogue/off grid MI6 agent but quite stark - there are LOADS of them, some, predictably, are better than others.

Matthew Shardlake Mysteries by CJ Sansom (historical fiction time of Henry VIII)

Marc Dane series by James Swallow 

CJ Box, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett series.

Martin Walker, small town France, Bruno, Chief of Police

Lindsey Davis, Falco series, also the recent series with Falcon’s slaughter, Flavia Albia

Kerry Green-wood, the Phryne Fisher mysteries and the Corinna Chapman series

James Clavell, Tai-pan and Shogun 

Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove

Herman Wouk, Winds of War, War and Remembrance 

Elly Griffith

Steve Burrows

Randy Wayne Wright

Vince Flynn.  Mitch Rapp series

Jeffrey Archer.

Kristin Hannah. Especially “The Nightingale”

Steve Berry.  The Cotton Malone series.

Lisa Ballantyne.

Hmmm, on our recent Navigator cruise we requested a second bottle and were given a bottle of white wine.  We didn’t pursue it, since it was near the end of the cruise.  Possibly a communication error, since we left a note requesting the second bottle.