We're The Groupnors

On 9/19/2023 at 4:36 PM, schmidlapp said:

Our first Oceania cruise is coming up this December.  Just noticed the dress code regarding tennis shoes in the dining room. My wife was in a bad auto accident in 2012. After 2 reconstructive foot surgeries she's able to walk reasonably but very limited in footwear.  She has about 10 pair of identical except for color tennis shoes that she uses a custom orthotic insert.

She dresses beautifully but lives in these shoes.  Hopefully there will be no issues when she walks into the dining room. Wondering if I should speak to manager in advance or not worry about it?

I personally wouldn't worry about it, especially if she's well put together, and the need to wear specific shoes is for medical reasons.

On 8/24/2023 at 7:39 PM, Pandazoo said:

I will never understand the reason why people want to go into a nice dinner venue in jeans, tees, caps…especially on vacation where they may be dressed casual all day.  To me it shows a lack of etiquette and is inappropriate.  

From the Oceania website:

"Recommended on board clothing is resort or country club casual. For evening dining, elegant casual resort wear is suggested. We request that casual jeans, shorts, t-shirts, baseball caps, sandals, or tennis shoes not be worn in the restaurants after 6 PM. Baseball caps may be worn in the Terrace Café after 6 PM. "

Only "casual jeans" are excluded.

On 7/30/2023 at 4:44 AM, PinonNoir said:

Actually my comment was more of curiosity regarding dress code enforcement. I would prefer to wear jeans myself, but opted to remain respectful to the code. I'd be happy if they changed the rule to allow clean un-torn jeans. We are spending three extra weeks in Iceland and I'd have preferred to not have to pack dress pants that I won't use the rest of the trip.

The Oceania website specifically requests "casual jeans" not be worn in the dining room and specialty venues in the evenings.  To me, this would indicate that nicer, designer jeans are welcome in the evenings.  While I typically wear a dress to dinner my husband will often wear designer jeans with a collared shirt, a blazer, and dress shoes.  He always looks great, and in fact looks more put together than some others who are in chinos or slacks. 

We have wanted to do this itinerary for a long time and decided to book for February 2017, but when we looked at Celebrity pricing it was very high. We wanted a suite as this a special cruise and ended up booking Princess for $7,000 less for a comparable suite from what the Celebrity Suite on the Infinity would have cost. The fare does not include beverage packages or tips, but those things certainly won't cost us $7,000 over a two week period! As for weather, we know a number of people who have done this itinerary on various lines, and have been told to expect hot in BA and Valparaiso, and anything in between. Layering is best.

We are in our mid-forties, and on our first Oceania cruise last October we were nicknamed "the kids" by a number of our fellow passengers. That being said we had a fantastic time! Ours was an active European itinerary, and we found the ship full of very youthful, active passengers, so age really didn't matter. Go and have a great time!

Another thought: When we sailed to Hawaii on Celebrity we did some scenic cruising around the big island once it got dark and were able to watch the lava flows into the Pacific creating new land. I thought at the time that it would have made a beuatiful backdrop for a balcony dinner. If your cruise is doing a similar scenic cruise as you leave the Big Island and you wish to dine later this could be a lovely option.

My BFF and DH both have severe eating restrictions, with BFFs being a gluten intolerance due to Celiac. Neither she nor my husband have ever had a reaction from cross contamination on Celebrity. They send in their forms ahead of time to Special Services, then meet with the dining room Maitre d' on board. They typically pre-order for the next night, and we like to have traditional dining so our waitstaff get to know the special needs. The Maitre d's have also assisted when we let them know about any specialty restaurant reservations we've made, calling ahead to those restaurants to ensure no issues. FWIW my BFF took her third and last NCL cruise last summer when she got violently ill from a gluten contamination while on board.

We've been on both lines and find them more similar than different. I agree with Pam that the pizza on Princess is outstanding; much better than on Celebrity.

Definitely try Sabatini's at least once. It is outstanding, and at $25 pp the Princess specialty restaurants are better value than the specialties on Celebrity.

Enjoy your girls cruise!

The show usually is at 9:30 pm & usually dinner is mostly done

unless you eat very late it is not a problem for most

 

We walk around the pool deck or on the deck above the pool depending on the winds

We like to eat dinner at 8:30 or 8:45 pm, similar to the traditional late dining time on X. Lounge entertainment was done by the time we went for drinks at 7:30 to 8:00 pm, and the show was taking place while at dinner. Many people are on a similar schedule to this, and we do not consider it very late. As the OP is a regular X cruiser it's very possible that they have this same evening schedule.

In terms of the pool deck, it's enclosed and does not have great views, with chairs being between the walking area and windows. The deck above has the walking track and is very windy when at sea. We like having an outside deck in the lower part of the ship near the dining rooms and lounges to take a stroll with great views of the water but protected from the wind.

Not looking to have a back and forth on this, but rather just providing the OP with our experiences having been on both lines.

We've been on many X cruises, and took our first O cruise in October 2015. O is "country club casual" every night, so no need for formal wear, which could be a con for you. The ships are smaller and quieter, with little to do in the evenings other than dinner and drinks. Our preferred dining time never seemed to be convenient for evening entertainment, as the shows were either while we were dressing for dinner or eating dinner. You can't even walk around the deck at night, other than on the walking track, as there are no lower outdoor decks on the Marina, which we sailed, other than your own balcony. Food was very good, but simpler or less rich options were hard to come by. Specialty restaurants were outstanding. Service was outstanding. No young children on our sailing at all; take this for what you will. We're looking at another O cruise for March since X will be overrun with kids during March break, and we're hoping to avoid that by sailing O.

English muffins and bagels are the only exceptions.

Also the gluten-free breads are pre-made and purchased.

Agree this was probably a scam. If you had said yes to booking with them they would have wanted a lot of personal info and your credit card number. At best a credit card scam, at worst identity theft. Did you call Oceania to ask them if they have provided your info to anyone to contact you about a future cruise?

We're still planning cruises, but for now not on Celebrity. They have priced themselves too high for the value at this point, so we are trying other lines where the pricing seems more reasonable for the product.

Yup, I knew this was coming. Quite a jump there, from cocktails to firearms! Not quite sure of the relevance to that comparison.

 

European young adults do have greater exposure to bars and pubs and adult beverages, far more than most North American kids. It's a cultural thing.

Make that American, not North American kids. In Canada the legal drinking age is either 18 or 19, depending on the province.

What more do you get for breakfast room service that you don't get in a regular cabin? We are in a regular balcony cabin. Thanks,

You can still get plenty of hot items, just not as much variety. For instance you can get eggs any style, along with a choice of breakfast meat, toast, etc., but not eggs Benedict, if I remember correctly. You also will not get complimentary premium OJ or smoothies in a regular cabin, but will in Concierge Class.

We like to get off the ship around 10:30 am or so, and grab a taxi (shared, the destinations are posted outside of the port shopping centre), and head to Maho Beach. We ask the driver to drop us at the farthest point from the beach entrance where there's a beach bar with great grilled chicken and ribs. They have the airline arrival times posted on a surfboard jammed into the sand next to the entrance. We have a few drinks and a nice lunch and watch lots of planes come in, then grab a shared taxi back to the ship before the crowds. As others have said the traffic is awful as sail away approaches! Enjoy Maho Beach!

If your friends are "into wine" they will find the free event not worth the price. :D There are several wine events for a nominal fee that they might be interested in. Just check in Cellar Masters or with any sommelier who will be happy to provide the list of events.

Agree! There is often a wine tasting event hosted by Cellar Masters that anyone can attend for a fee of $20 (if I remember correctly); it's called World Wine Tasting, or something like that. It's fun and interactive, and you can enjoy it with your friends. I have always liked the Select and above wine tasting, but everyone is just sitting at tables listening to the sommelier. At the Cellar Masters hosted event it is much more casual and fun with everyone mingling and exchanging opinions on the wines they're tasting.

There are some "for fee" items on the room service menu, but for those of us who do not want a New York steak for breakfast the included menu is adequate.

I have an emotional support animal. He's also known as my husband, and he can sometimes act like a turkey. Does this mean he can fly and cruise with me for free?

We really enjoy the Elite Cocktails, regardless of having a drinks package on most sailings in recent years. However, we always do traditional late dining, and find there's a long wait between the cocktails and dinner, since we don't often go to the shows. We would like to see it open for longer hours, or maybe do two; one early for early diners, and one later for late diners. Anytime diners could go to either.

We are definitely voting with our dollars! We have recently booked our first Princess cruise since 2008 for a South American sailing in 2017. Looking at an almost identical itinerary and comparable suites on the Crown Princess and Celebrity Infinity, a Celebrity Suite came out $7,000 more than the comparable top suite on Princess. I know I will not get a butler, suite restaurant or other perks on Princess, but for $7,000 difference I can eat a lot of specialty dinners and buy a lot of good wine, in fact much better than I'd get under the Celebrity Premium Beverage Package. And I never use the services of the butler, anyway. For us, Celebrity pricing has just gotten too out of hand, and we will be looking for alternatives until they bring their pricing back to what we feel is a reasonable level for the product they provide.

We always used to go full tilt on formal nights with me in a gown and DH in a tux. On smart casual evenings I am always in a tailored, usually sleeveless dress, and DH in a patterned dress long sleeve shirt and tailored slacks. For our last sailing for Evening Chic nights I just kept with the same tailored dress one evening, though it was black with gold embellishments, and the second night went with a red criss-cross strap dress. DH stuck with the same shirts and slacks and wore a blazer, though he was in the minority.

How odd! We were on Silhouette the week before Christmas and had the (old) new menu with the daily specials, prime rib, burger, etc. We loved it, but were also glad they still had our old favourite Hot and Spicy crepe. Are they maybe trying out the newer new menu on some select ships? If so and they are empty hopefully they'll go back to the old new menu!

On our most recent cruise we has an awesome main dining room team of waiter, assistant waiter and sommelier. Unfortunately we had less than stellar table mates. We dined at specialties a couple of times to give ourselves a break, and by the second last night we just could not take the fighting of the other couple any more and told our team that we would not be there on the last night. We also made a point of telling them how awesome their service was and that we has added extra gratuities to our bill for the waiter and assistant waiter, and made it clear to the sommelier that we would stop by to see him the following evening, even though we would be dining elsewhere. We also told them that we had put in a positive comment card for all of them at customer service. They could not have been more gracious and appreciative, and when we went to the MDR the following evening to thank them and give notes of thanks and an extra gratuity for the sommelier they could not have been more grateful. The maitre d' even came up and shook our hands and thanked us for making the effort to stop by. I think some people are naturals at customer service, and some are not. Clearly we were fortunate to have a dining room team who truly loves what they do.

It's so funny you suggested this...the PG has been on my list for AGES. I even sat my husband down to watch the Mighty Cruise Ship special on PG. I'm having a hard time convincing my husband on this one...he keeps saying, if you want a relaxing tropical vacation we don't have to go halfway around the globe...the price tag is also a little daunting (although now that I'm into my research, the PG seems like a bargain compared to some others!)

 

So this post was my, "okay, if we don't do PG...where else should I look?" Post. :)

So funny your husband said that about PG. Mine said the exact same thing, but I dragged him anyway and regretted it. A PG cruise is all about the itinerary, since the ship is very small and has little to offer when the weather is bad. Well, our weather was rainy for the entire 10 days and most of our excursions were cancelled since the lagoon areas are shallow and the water gets so churned up with sand from the rain that you can't see anything if you're snorkelling or scuba diving. You can't even sit on a beach in the rain, and also a lot of the roads are dirt in that part of the world, so even land based tours were cancelled due to roads being impassable. So, we spent a lot of time on the ship playing cards. The food was good, the service meh, the public areas dismal.

As to your original question, we have done Celebrity and Princess multiple times both in suites and in balcony staterooms. I like both lines, but Celebrity definitely gets the nod in terms of both food and service, as well as suite amenities. Princess has no butlers, suite dining room or free drink package for their suite guests, but that being said we just booked a South America cruise on Priness in a suite, since the same length and almost identical itinerary in a Celebrity Suite on X was $7,000 more than the Princess top suite. I can pay for shoe shines, eat in specialty restaurants every night and buy my own wine for $7,000 difference. We also just had our first Oceania cruise earlier this year to celebrate our 20th. We were on the Marina, which is one of the larger ships. Food and service were top notch and with specialty dining, all non-alcoholic beverages including bottled water and lattes included it was a good deal for us. It was definitely more sedate than Celebrity, but that was perfect for our busy itinerary, and I wouldn't hesitate to sail them again. Even the buffet was more upscale with proper table settings and someone to help you to your table with your plate. The buffet grill was also a nice alternative for dinner with steaks, chicken, lobster, etc., grilled to order each night.

Good luck with your choice, and have a wonderful Anniversary!