terrydtx

Charla, I should have added the Mccallan was available in Michaels club and my BIL and I finished it off the day before the cruise ended.

We canceled the week of the invasion, not knowing what Oceania would do itinerary wise and before the 180-day free cancelation window closed. A couple of months later Oceania dropped the St Petersburg port and added a sea day, so we were glad we canceled when we did.

Charla, loving your live from blog. We will be on the Apex in September and in a Sky suite. Last year on the Reflection I was able to get Macallan 12-year-old scotch and it was in the Premium drinks package. From the list of premium spirts this year I do not see this, can you ask if possible, to see if it is available on the Apex? Thank you in advance.

From what I have been told the Volendam was refurbished in 2022. The biggest thing dictating keeping older ships may be the resale market for them. CCL during the pandemic got rid of many of their aging fleet built prior to 2000. A couple of their older ships even went to the scrap yards during Covid. HAL still has some interesting itineraries that the smaller R class ships are ideal for that without them might not happen, like our Volendam cruise next year.

What is more frustrating for me is that we can't even book our reservations yet for our November Koningsdam cruise. I called HAL and was told about 4 months out they will open up online specialty restaurant bookings. This makes no sense whatsoever, considering we can book reservations on our Celebrity cruises over a year out.

The only cruise we have ever canceled on our own was last year on Oceania for a Baltic cruise we cancelled after Russia invaded Ukraine. We got a 100% refund for that cruise.

Not when I can book Oceania for about the same as a Sky Suite with Celebrity. On a cost per day Oceania can be a better deal than a retreat SS and I am getting much more of a premium experience with Oceania. If you are content to be in cabin categories less than suites or Aqua on Celebrity, then Celebrity is a better deal for you. For us we want at this point in our lives something more.

For a much higher booking price. For our Equinox cruise in June the difference between a NRD and a fully refundable deposit is $1579 for the two of us in a Sky Suite.

I am afraid the smaller ship cruises of the future will only be on the premium or luxury lines. Cost per passenger ratios are too favorable for the cruise lines on bigger ships for mainstream cruise companies. I am surprised the Volendam and Zaandam are still in the fleet. We are booked next year on the Volendam for a Boston to Montreal cruise in a Vista Suite for about half the price on Oceania for the same length and itinerary.

The refundable deposit on O is not the only enticement to book with them for us. The Retreat product is the ONLY thing that has kept us loyal to Celebrity. When Celebrity started pricing future Sky Suites at premium cruise line prices, we had no reason to not look beyond Celebrity for now. You would be surprised how many former Celebrity CC members are now on the Oceania forums and booking with Oceania. I know several fellow CC members who like me, regularly book Celebrity Suites, who are booking Oceania this year and next for the first time, because of future suites pricing.

IMO the Vista and R class ships do not have the variety of specialty restaurants that the Signature and Pinnacle class ships offer. I read that HAL is experimenting with a Tamarind light concept on the Westerdam that replaces Canaletto for several days on its cruises. I would love to see this go fleetwide to the R and Vista's. We sail on our first Pinnacle ship in November and we hope one is available in 2025 for Alaska cruises.

I have found that to be true. We book Sky Suites with Celebrity and we can book a top level verandah on Oceania on a similar itinerary for less than a Sky Suite. Our 2025 South America cruise on Oceania for 18 days is a little less in cost than the Equinox 14 day cruise in a Sky Suite. We get 4 more days and 3 more ports than the similar Celebrity cruise for about the same price.

Not when you book more than 6 months out, the $250 penalty starts at 6 months out, so it is much more friendly than Celebrity. I am booked for March 2025 on Oceania and cancel up to September 2024 with no penalty. That is still better than Celebrity.

We also have 2 cruises booked with HAL and their deposits are also 100% refundable.

Just more reason to look at more premium lines, we have Oceania booked for 2025 and their deposits are 100% refundable.

The Celebrity app has become so totally useless. On our September Apex cruise the only specialty restaurants that show up in the app is Le Grande Bistro. No Eden, RTG, La Petite Chef and Fine cut steaks show on it. The suites room service menu now shows no menu and just says "menus subject to change"

We booked the RTG for our September cruise on the Apex, but had to do it online in our Celebrity account. It doesn't show up on our app either.

As others have said just write in the items you want and they will be delivered on room service. We did this last year on the Reflection in a Sky Suite and got eggs benedict and the fancy omelets delivered with no questions asked. BTW I just checked the app for our June Equinox cruise and all of the specialty breakfast items show up on the app.

You are so correct, I remember the first time we tried Canaletto 4 or 5 years ago and it was IMO no better than Olive Graden. Last year on the Oosterdam it was actually excellent and more like any upscaled Italian land restaurant.

That is good to know. Hopefully we can do that on the Volendam as well next year.

The best Ossobuco I have had at any restaurant is in Rome at Virginiae Ristorante. It is loaded with fresh porcini mushrooms.

However, from reading in other forums, it seems that this "law" is only enforced on Celebrity ships. Makes one wonder why?

I hope this is something that goes fleetwide this year. The Ossobuco is delicious and we will be on the Koningsdam in November.

I learned by asking that on that breakfast RS card you can write in things like Eggs Benedict on the card and get them in Sky Suites. Also write in Bloody Mary's and Mimosa's and they will be delivered too. Our very first butler told me that when ordering omelets and scrambled eggs to write in "Fresh Eggs Only" to avoid the premixed eggs mixtures that IMO are not so good. About the only thing I have been turned down on was asking for Turkey or Chicken breakfast sausage last year on the Reflection, I was told the RS kitchen did not have access to them. I prefer stronger coffee and our butlers have accommodated me by adding a couple of espresso shots to the standard RS pot of coffee.

All above are good reasons why we always take anytime dinning, no wasting time to find our table and if we don't like the location we just ask to change to another location.