chloemonkey

But still on hold again......7 minutes and counting......geesh!

You all are GREAT! I will try calling again....

Cannot remember if we can book and PAY for Shore Excursions before final payment or not...and I DID try calling Oceania and was on hold for 10 minutes...so thought I might just ask you all.... Thanks!

I totally agree! And I have been asking my husband (who has Type 2 Diabetes) why he insists on going into the Concierge Lounge on our way back to our suite....to grab these TASTELESS cookies! I mean for Pete's sake.....there are other ways to misbehave and blow your diet!

OMG! Count me in for a mutiny, strike....whatever needs to be done to get a better champagne by the glass onboard! Not sure if you are paying by the glass but I have been paying approx $58 per day to drink this stuff......and would love anything better! Geez....even NCL serves Veuve by the glass in the French specialty restaurant...or at least they used to?

Yes

Not as of late March....as we still had them on a B2B trip.

But isn't that what Terrace Cafe is for? I know it's not table service....but seriously.....I am beginning to think that some of those pundits that espouse the idea that the "old timer" Oceania customers will soon be a thing of the past....as you hear more and more "I don't want to dress up"...."I want a quicker meal service".....just seems as though people are moving in a different direction....or maybe those "old timers" are moving onto other true luxury lines? I will try Vista once.....but as we are not fans of Red Ginger.....and were fans of Jacques.....I am afraid that we will find it lacking somehow.....I mean one of the things that I SO looked forward to was escargot.....We ate at Jacques SIX times on our last cruise.....Polo five times....Toscano five times.....Red Ginger once.....

I have routinely asked for and received $20,000 to $30,000 credit lines while applying with CAS....and did not necessarily have that amount in my checking account at the time. I think it has more to do with your bank's recommendation as they DID contact my back each time......and also I did have the amount of my approved credit line in my checking account come cruise time....as I had been told that they do recheck and that it matters that you can write the check at the end of the trip for the total amount of your credit line....

Interesting....as we have been Casinos at Sea members for almost 30 years now and enjoyed tremendous savings on NCL cruises. But ever since switching to Oceania, the discounts have not been so good at all. And for the record, we have always been given future cruise certificates at the end of each cruise on Oceania which states a dollar amount....so I am not sure what your "bounce back" offer amounts to. On a side note, the agent from Casinos at Sea who handled Oceania just managed to LOSE the second reservation in one year for us...and I am really angry about it. Seems she got a "promotion" and no one took over her position.....and her response was "all I can do is apologize....." which I find severely lacking as I have been more than patient with this gal..... Ok - that's my rant and I need to find out who if anyone I can complain to.....as Oceania is such a SMALL player in the casinos at sea game.....but then we are pretty BIG players and probably among the top for Oceania! So I would think that they would care a "bit" about losing two trips in one year....each of which was a stateroom only charge amounting to over $50K.....as we cruise only Vista Suites.... I am truly close to jumping "ship" no pun intended.....as Oceania does close to nothing in terms of discounts for our gambling.....and the food over our past two trips has been sub par.....AND then to add to it that this gal lost TWO reservations! Which are truly hard to find for 21-30 day cruises in a Vista Suite...... Ok - rant over! But DO call and see what they are offering and then call Casinos at Sea directly to see if they have a different offer for you......

Spent three weeks on Riviera last month and got Champagne instead of Prosecco....sometimes you jst have to ask...

Lost the "real" point of this post ages ago.....but for the record? Last cruise 3/2/23....next was already booked for 9/26/23. And not positive that I would have booked this one after the March trip....due to lack of food quality, shore excursions, etc....Still debating whether to cancel or switch to another luxury line....as I have been shopping...but HATE to ditch Oceania! But maybe once I have a go or two on another line...I will feel as devoted to them as well......stay tuned.

Sadly we have booked it FOUR times and each has been cancelled due to lack of sufficient reservations to go ahead with the dinner. We have enjoyed the other two options a couple of times and thought them to be totally worth the cost. And although the DP one is substantially more expensive....I AM a champagne girl! So this added cost is nothing for me....just wish more people would book it so that we could give it a try! Fingers crossed for next sailing.....

On our past four cruises on the Riviera in Vista Suites have all had the whirlpool on the balcony. Last year there was also a TV - but that was not present on our most recent trip which was last month. Only problem is that the water never got that hot (not an issue for us as we were in the Caribbean and cool water was just fine for the hot days we experienced) and the water DID drain out as it appeared that the closure feature was not working perfectly. We happily had more sea days than normal....especially as we also got "diverted" on our second portion of the B2B and spent a LOT of time just sailing SLOWLY....lol! So we got much more use out of the lovely balcony than we normally do....as it is NOT possible while at sea. I STILL love having this lovely balcony AND whirlpool/hot tub.....and also love the vantage point you have while sailing into ports. Any other questions, feel free....

Not sure if this is pertinent....but NO changes in the Vista suite onboard the Riviera as of last month.

I feel compelled to respond as I was the OP for this topic. For the record? We were on the cruise that rec'd press coverage as having to put two people ashore....and to be honest - my hubby started with cold symptoms near the middle of our "second" cruise....as we were on a B2B. I had brought along Covid tests just in case....and we tested him twice per day instead of going to the health center which had lines that lasted up to an over 45 minutes to an hour and a half. We know this as hubby also cut his arm pretty badly and the lines were SO long....complete with people coughing and sneezing....that he just left the line and relied on our bandaging the wound ourself until he found a window where the lines were not so long..... Glad to say that we continued to test negative.....he had a few more days of coughing and sneezing but continued to test negative for Covid. I tested once a day....but never developed any symptoms. We were quite prepared to bare the burden of hotel quarantine or whatever...as the e mails previous to this trip pretty much stated that Ocania/NCL were NO LONGER footing the bills for Covid and that they relied on passengers to have obtained trip insurance. We arrived home safe and sound....and happy to have had a wonderful trip -despite those awful days of NO STrawberry jam! lol.....and luckily, hubby's cold symptoms were gone in a few days and he is back to work making enough money to take me on my next cruise! lol.... Just wanted to let you all know that if you are still trying to respond to MY original post....that it's all "good" and I do not need any more updates....but of course there are others who may... Thanks all!

Not the case in Terrace Cafe or WAVES..... and on two occasions in the GDR. Maybe your options were different....but we inquired and our poor waiter was trying SO hard to find some. Maybe it is who you "know?" lol.....certainly not a deal breaker....but I had heard about the previous cruise also having preserve shortage issues......again, nothing to turn me against Oceania. I just am telling you our experience.

Unless of course you wanted Strawberry 😉

After three weeks on the Riviera, I told my husband that this lounge (as well as the Executive one) was really a waste in my opinion. The Concierge was there only a couple hours twice daily....the only snacks, drinks that we ever saw were sodas, and juices.....coffee....and those rock hard cookies. I kept peeking in there while passing by to see if anything changed....but never found that to be the case. I guess is you are not able to use the internet for rebooking shore excursions of flights....and do not want to stand in any lines at Guest Services....this person may be of use. I saw people just sitting in there READING and could not figure out why you would choose this space with all of the other options available onboard to sit and enjoy a book.....Just my opinion....but I found myself shaking my head over this lounge.

We were on this cruise and actually had to wait for a tender as they were bringing the person affected from the ship. And as I understood the current situation (I believe we received e mails to this effect pre-cruise) we were on our OWN so to speak when it came to Covid. This is of course separate from the care onboard and quarantine assistance i.e bringing food, nurses etc. to the cabin. At least this was my take on it all. For the record, we do now take out insurance for all travel...... My main concern is that all of the people that we saw onboard and being offloaded....are now safely at home and recovered. This did re-affirm the fact that it is worth the cost to pay for travel insurance....although from what I saw the personnel onboard did try to truly care for those affected....but at some point, people may need hospitalization.....which creates a whole other ballgame.

So happy to hear that your experience is very similar to ours having disembarked the day your cruise began....we did two cruises B2B and the last week had resorted to nothing but Polo or Jacques, a few times at Toscano or PIZZA! Thankfully we qualified for so many specialty options....as we had become pretty much over the Grand Dining Room or Terrace Cafe options.....but of course each time that I mentioned this - I received so many responses arguing. As you said, food is subjective. But although we love great food, Michelin Star options on occasion....we are truly happily satisfied with just regular food prepared well....which we found to be hard to find on our last three weeks onboard - with the exception of the specialty restaurants mentioned. Not sure if I am quite as anxious to book that Around the World cruise right now....but of course love the service and suites on Oceania enough to give them another chance or two.

We WERE on the same cruise and will sail Oceania again...but I do totally agree with your sentiment about the fact that the responses that you have received have been impolite at times. But I have found this to be the case on this particular board on many occasions. Best of you with your future cruises!

That cat is "hairless" and considered allergy free....at least that is what I have been told. One family member also has one of these unique creatures...

We were also disappointed in the revised itinerary....but were happy to have been on the cruise prior during which we enjoyed perfect weather and sea conditions. And we were also respectful in our responses when communicating our displeasure at the "new" ports after having lost both Bermuda and Great Stirrup Cay...and we also witnessed people actually yelling at the poor entertainment staff young lady who was merely at the front of the line expressing wishes for us all to have safe travels as we exited the ship. I just had to shake my head in wonder as to what these people possible thought that they were going to achieve by yelling at this poor gal "NEVER AGAIN OCEANIA!"......She was dumbfounded and tried her best to be understanding.....people never cease to amaze and or disappoint me. I felt that there were many on this trip who just could not resist wanting to be heard regarding their displeasure....and many of us who were also disappointed...were just forced to listen....

Not sure if your service will be the same....as this was a while ago. But in Seattle - the bags were put outside of our cabin the night before but they were tagged with the appropriate flight info, etc. We did not see them until baggage claim at our final destination. So the service that we used was not the one that goes from door to door......