wristband

Or...much worse! Notoriously bad food & extortionate prices.

Al Covo & Corte Sconta are also very casual, not stuffy or pretentious (vs. Danieli which boasts great views of the canal but its snooty & the food is only average). Both are quite small so reservations are needed for lunch & dinner.

Enoteca S.M. is pleasant, on a well trafficked calle, but its a wine bar. I have eaten there and its okay but a wine bar operates on a different level than the other two restaurants in terms of adhering to Venetian culinary traditions, having a very high standard of choice for ingredients locally sourced, combing good innovative cooking with a very welcoming personal atmosphere...in other words, Al Covo & Corte S. are very different experiences than an enoteca or San Marco specifically. Not upscale - but the focus is on food and providing a setting which is informal but celebrates the freshest local items daily.

The consortium of 14 special Venetian restaurants is the "Ristoranti Buona Accoglienza Venezia." In November, we ate at nine of the 14 (all privately owned). All our meals were superb in a city sadly known for dreadful, overpriced food & a multitude tourist traps.

The site for the association is http://www.veneziaristoranti.it You can see the list of the other 12 places and contact info for Al Covo & Corte Sconta. After years of visiting Venice & being so disappointed in the meals, I can honestly say I was bowled over by what this group is doing.

Several others in the association are well known: Fiaschetteria Toscana, Da Gigio (mentioned above), Gatto Nero, Alle Tiestere (which is the only storefront restaurant I have been to that has a Michelin star and serves only seafood!). If you enjoy Donna Leon's mysteries set in Venice, her Inspector Brunetti often lunches at Antiche Carampane which is also part of the association. An excellent lunch there but its farther from the Bauer & other hotels near San Marco (easy walk but much more than ten minutes).

I will second Corte Sconta, also a member of that small consortium of "special" Venetian authentico restaurants. A big further down the Riva from where Al Covo is, it is still a pleasant walk from your hotel (about 15 minutes).

Al Covo is closer but both are excellent options.

Could anyone please recommend a good Restaurant very very nearby, within a very short walking distance

Al Covo is an excellent option. Unlike the Danieli, it is far less expensive and pretentious and a much better choice food-wise. Al Covo is operated by husband and wife Cesare and Diane, a Texan transplant. The restaurant is part of a small elite consortium of Venetian restaurants committed to excellent customer service, the integrity of maintaining local traditions and locally sourced cuisine, esp. seafood and the slow food movement.

About a five minute walk from the Danieli, along the Riva then down an alley. Google it for reviews and location. Menu changes daily, they welcome tourists staying at nearby hotels and speak English fluently.

Having been situated in a PH3 cabin close to Globevest's location in November, I totally agree with his/her assessment. You are far better on deck 10. The overhang & early morning noise from above on 11 in PH3 was really annoying...and Oceania is well aware of the noise issue.

We knew several folks in PH3 cabins on deck 10 who had no such issues and loved their cabin locations. Go for it and enjoy!

Dieter - lovely photos & the YouTube video were nicely done.

Curious: was that spinach & some sort of fish sitting atop the waffle? Missed that on the menu.

We were on Oceania last year and took Dong Pham's tour with others onboard. It was an independent tour and Mr. Pham was conscientious about communicating in advance by email.

As those said above, it was great! We highly recommend it - a full day seeing everything old & new (including a nice lunch) in a very interesting, bustling emerging city. The only negative was the morning rain - bring an umbrella or parka and anticipate puddles. Well worth it!

We tote onboard a small box of pre-packaged Purel sanitzer wipes (about 50 packets). Purel gel bottles present problems with TSA for carryons. So, in addition to the ship automatic sanitizers, we pop out a small packet each to throughly wipe our hands when we are seated for a meal. You can buy these at any supermarket or Office Depot.

No odor, no stickiness & very convenient to wipe down the table at Waves or Terrace. Of course, if menus/food handlers/passengers have "issues" wipes will not suffice.

Despite taking sensible (not obsessive) precautions - using O's sanitizers, our Purel wipes, washing hands when entering the cabin - we were sick as dogs on Riviera. I got the virus twice (!).

I would like to say its better to be safe, than sorry. But I was sorry 2x!

I thought the prevalence of (auto) hand sanitizers was very good & O made sure public bathrooms were well stocked with tissues available to open bathroom doors when exiting (rather than using just-washed fingers on the door handle).

My friendly suggestion is for ship staff to promote more - in a positive, friendly way - use of hand sanitizers as folks enter dining spaces. This is mentioned in the newsletter daily but it astonished me to see so many passengers waltz into dining rooms without bothering to sanitize their hands (after holding stair rails, punching elevator buttons).

What grossed me out is passengers alongside me in the public bathrooms next to Terrace or Grand Dining Room putter out the door without even washing their hands in the sink after finishing up. In Terrace, I unfortunately saw some such "adults" soon after touching lemon slices and taking breads with their (dirty) fingers.

That's not Oceania's fault. But I think the staff could remind all of us the importance of washing with soap and requiring use of Purell before entering spaces that serve food.

Please, to protect yourself & others, wash your hands fanatically & pour Purell over your fingers at every opportunity.

You do not want to "get" the nasty virus that made the rounds on Riviera two weeks ago. My ribs still ache from the pummeling.

Let's be fair. I was on the cruise and heard clearly the captain's announcement. He was required by the CDC to state there was a virus outbreak onboard. But it was determined (at the time of announcement ) not to be Noro. Yes, that distinction is small consolation to those of us - myself included - who suffered sadly through the nastiness.

However, Noro is a very different virus than the gastro-intesintal virus which spread throughout Riviera this past week. I rely on what the captain specifically stated in his public address and what Oceania emailed guests boarding in Miami. This comports with my conversation with the ship doctor who stated the same (72 hours before Miami.).

To claim there was a Noro outbreak is just not correct based on what has been revealed publicly. If it was Noro, we would not have been allowed to disembark Nov. 29 without greater scrutiny of our health condition.

I believe you misrepresented my point. I routinely obtain travel insurance that covers medical expense. I would hope others do so but often (based on conversations onboard), many opt not to obtain coverage.

My focus is how to repair the ineffective feedback loop management needs to make informed decisions that will quickly respond to an outbreak spreading fast and aggressively. To do so, I suggested Oceania incentivize all passengers to go visit the ship doctor should they exhibit virus symptoms. Imposing fees on those without insurance discourages a visit which likely exposes passengers and crew to the virus.

I never accused Oceania of causing the virus. I did criticize ship management's delayed response, likely due to insufficient information from Medical.

As I noted, once ill I took sensible, obvious steps: remained in the cabin for several days, hydrated, rested and self-medicated until the virus passed. Others failed to take these steps which exposed others to the virus - perhaps from not knowing what to do.

You also miscontrued my point on visiting the ship doctor. Oceania offers FREE medical treatment if Noro virus is detected. Why is it "incredible" to suggest Oceania should offer free treatment when gastro-intestinal symptoms erupt? Free treatment for Noro virus is done so the Oceania can identify the presence of the virus, treat it and stem the further spread. Why not do the same for the nasty GI virus outbreak that affected so many onboard this week?

On Riviera, no medical charge if the cause proves to be Noro. But for all other viruses, there is a (substantial) doctor's fee. This outbreak was determined not to be Noro.

I appreciate Oceania must balance health and safety concerns against a desire to provide an enjoyable cruise experience and that harping on potential health matters can disrupt that enjoyment. However, Oceania could provide an adult, positive communication to each cabin encouraging guests to take specific, prudent steps should obvious symptoms appear (hand washing, drink clear liquids, stay in cabin to prevent spreading the virus to others, notify housekeeping so stewards are not infected etc.).

I suggest Oceania should encourage affected passengers to immediately seek medical treatment with the understanding NO - $0 - cost will be assessed for such symptoms. Build it into our fare. For heaven's sake, the current situation discourages passengers from reporting & seeking medical attention once a virus appears. That exacerbates the problem and serves Oceania poorly - our illness is what I will remember from this cruise for years to come.

Of the 20 people on Riviera I knew personally taken ill (plus two of us), only two opted to see the doctor. Those two were in Toscana when one vomited & passed out at the table, wheelchaired to the cabin. The other spouse contracted the virus, the ship doctor visited the cabin and put them on Cipro, a strong antibiotic that eased discomfort. Cost: $900+.

I believe Oceania would have been better served by communicating we should immediately seek medical treatment once symptoms of the virus appeared. That would have contained the wider outbreak. Importantly, the Medical Center should have been provided at NO cost in order to document, treat early on and then enabled management to take steps to curtail the spread of the virus much earlier (5 days+) then they went to Code Red.

As is, there is little incentive to seek out the ship doctor for virus symptoms. Obviously, if other health issues are in play (dehydration, renal or cardiac) that requires a trip to Medical. But not providing access to this service for free - on all Oceania ships - fosters a much larger and more serious problem...wider and faster dispersion of the virus among passengers and crew.

Eliminate the medical cost to treat GI viruses = ability to document & confirm the problem earlier = taking pro-active steps with crew and guests far sooner = containing the virus before it further spreads and legally requires notification to the CDC and major distress with Oceania guests.

I also just got off Riviera (boarded in Venice, on for the Barcelona - Miami leg) and got smacked twice by the virus. My better half was nailed the day before disembarkation. We are diligent about washing our hands each time entering the cabin and relentless about using hand sanitizers around the ship. But we got it big time. Nasty, nasty.

We personally knew 20 passengers on board - plus out housekeeper - who were knocked down by the outbreak. Yes, viruses occur in confined spaces but my criticism is of ship management for being lax and aloof while the virus continued to spread for nearly a week. It was obvious there was a problem just after Thanksgiving but Code Red did not go into effect until the last two days of the voyage (ice buckets removed, cookies & sandwiches out from lounges etc.) but the delay in response only encouraged the virus to spread.

I appreciate the problem faced: management can't act on assumption so they rely on documented proof based on visitors to the Medical Center. But if you do not seek out the ship doctor, management is oblivious to onset. Many taken ill, myself included, know the proper steps to take - rest, stay hydrated, remain in the cabin, take Pepto or Immodium. Why go to Medical to be told to do exactly that & get an $800 bill (as several were)?

We and others tried to inform the front desk of our illness a week before disembarkation but they could care less. We wanted them to be aware there was a problem - not to set an appointment with the ship doctor but to inform management know there was a problem on board. Again, the front desk was clueless and Medical had the attitude of "make an appointment to see the doctor."

My positive suggestion is for the ship to encourate those taken ill to inform the front desk so it can collect this information in addition to the passengers diagnosed by the ship doctor. While this is not empirical evidence, such reports from passengers may reveal a troubling pattern in tandem with what the ship doctor has documented...all of which will better inform management & allow them to sooner realize a problem is developing.

My point here is simple: ship management was unnecessarily late in acknowledging the virus which caused the virus to spread aggressively for days. Once Code Red was put into effect it was too late.

Virus outbreaks happen onboard, that is the risk of cruising. But Riviera management let us - as their guests - down by dismissing the threat for so long and then once it took strong steps there was no formal communication as to what steps were being taken and why. Perhaps a letter to each cabin encouraging visits vigorous steps each of us could take to preserve our health and that of our fellow passengers?

Consider Ann's Tours based in Saigon. Family biz run by expats from the US who returned home from California - Ann's son Tony now manages the company. A.T. handle small tours in Thailand, Vietnam etc. I used them in 2000 for a private tour of Saigon - their pre-tour communication was excellent & thorough, the Saigon tour provided was terrific.

Last month, I was in Asia once again on an Oceania cruise. Based on my rec, Ann's Tours was used by others for small group tours in Ko Samui, Saigon and Cambodia. All I spoke with were very pleased with the results in Feb. 2012 for those different locations.

In Nha Trang, Vietnam, search this board for raves on Mr. Pham's city tour at nhatrangrivercruise.com. I can vouch for the experience. Phamcan take up to 50 people on a tour. Personally, I will not take a tour with more than 20 - that emulates the ship tour stuffing so many people on a bus and degrades the experience.

John Bull's post is on the money. You can easily tour on your own Saigon & Bangkok. But if you are on a large ship which must dock so far from the city, perhaps a tour company would be wise with your limited time. Small cruise ships dock right in the city and its easy to get around both cities. Bangkok has excellent public transportation and the cabs are metered and cheap. Saigon is walkable but a crazier with the traffic and frantic activity.

I agree with Joel. The market is not worthwhile unless you are itching to buy cheaply made t shirts, fake watches or the usual crappy trinkets, then relishign the idea of negotiating down absurd prices by a buck or two for such questionable quality.

Spend time elsewhere - many more places of greater interest to explore in Nha Trang than the tourist market.

Its BOGUS and we all know it. Princess should put a stop to this idiocy that preys on our insecurities. On Princess last month, a bimbo in the Spa was pushing hard the Detox program cheekily claiming it's "FDA APPROVED!"

Huh? Personally, I think its insane to permit an acid applied to your skin for a peel, to swallow odd looking colored pills or to have injection of chemicals by an unlicensed, unsupervised high school student from Latvia in international waters.

Reminds me of those CNN stories where some dolt pays a garage hack for botox shots and ends up maimed or dead.

You get what you pay for.

Biara, thank you for such kind and detailed answers. I return to Funchal in November and wish to hike the laderas. Can you recommend an experienced guide who would do such an "eco walk" from the port up the hillsides? I can not find one on the Internet. Thank you in advance.

There is a very good wine shop across from the Government House grounds in Papeete, directly up three blocks from the port, catty-corner to the small Meridan boutique hotel. Nice French whites and reds. There are several other places to buy wine in port - ask for direction at the information office at the port, very helpful and pleasant folks there. Le Marche has no wine period and is a filthy pit.

There are several large discount French hypermarkets in Papeete that you can buy wine at (Carrfours is one) that are walkable from the pier. However, with the oppressive heat and humidity I do not recommend this idea. You can also buy wine in Moorea at a big market near the ferry port (but not where the Princess tenders - nothing near there except good French bread).

As a wine drinker, I thought the selection and prices on board were fine. The ship ran out of several choices and it is apparently difficult to replenish wine in Polynesia due to the erratic nature of government regs and, as I was told by someone with direct knowledge, due to the hostile attitude local authorities have to the cruise ships. I know that is backwards since we cruisers spend a lot in port. But there is a strong undercurrent rallying against "day trippers" and a bias toward longer stays for tourists at island hotels.

My vote would be not to stress yourself and just order what you want on board. Plenty of good choices at very reasonable prices.

MVP - I am really pleased to know you had a great experience on NH. We looked forward to visiting the Marquesas so not having an explanation of what we were seeing (or going to see) was frustrating.

On the other hand, we emailed a pensione in Hiva Oa and arranged for a full day tour with the owner. It was enjoyable and informative: driving up to the huge archeological sites in Puamau and Autona, having lunch in Iipona. It was a wonderful but arduous day. Feli had good command of English, was enthusiastic and her intimate knowledge of Hiva Oa made a huge difference.

The Internet is a great tool and Cruise Critic is wonderful shared resource for motivated consumers. When booking a one day tour at a remote site elsewhere on the planet, you win some, you lose some!

MVP - Thank you for your nice comment.

We did extensive research on Nuku Hiva and, based on CC recs for Claude, we contacted him as to what we hoped to see and the need for an English speaking guide. His pleasant emails confirmed our itinerary and an English speaking guide.

Our sour taste was shared by five others who joined us also having booked through Claude after reading CC raves. Our two "guides" were lovely but they were not guides. One admitted she did not speak English - the other struggled as much as we did with our limited French.

All seven of passengers had no clue as to what we were seeing, where we were going and the importance of any one stop. Oddly, our two "guides" repeatedly dogged TP tour trucks so we tagged along with the TP guide at several stops to understand we were looking at, say, the "Survivor" beach.

I brought sections of the Lonely Planet guide book, a detailed map and several articles which helped decipher where we were.

I emailed Claude over three weeks ago - no reply. A disappointment as really looked forward to NH. BTW, TP will not return to the Marquesas so future passengers can avoid booking through Claude.

I realize the Priesmans had a different experience but we relied on CC comments and booked with Claude who represents Pua on Nuku Hiva.

The tour was a disaster and absurdly expensive. We were promised English speaking guides. Did not happen. We were promised several stops. Did not happen. In fact, with 7 passengers (all booked separately) we all uniformly stated it was a rotten tour. We had no idea where we were going and our guides - rather, taxi drivers - were clueless. Why we were dropped at one sight or another was irritating.

Our one day in Nuku Hiva was a disappointment. I wrote to Claude to express our unhappiness but failed to receive the courtesy of a reply.

I recommend readers do not book with Claude. What was provided bore no resemblance to what was promised (and it was absurdly expensive to boot)

I second the comment on Nuku Hiva being unsuitable for tanning your backside and boogalooing on a sandy beach.

Almost all beaches in Polynesia (esp. the Marquesas) are rocky - not like idyllic sands of St. Lucia or Barbados. Plus, waters teem with sharks in Nuku Hiva and Hiva Oa.

If you enjoy swimming with sharks, hey, this will make your day.

BTW, roads & island infrastructures are a mess. Don't rely on map distances to time excursions on either island. You will need an experienced driver to get around and back to the ship by departure time.