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I can see there are not enough bar stools at the bar in Martini's.

Emily, thank you for your suggestions. Can you walk from the ship to these places? Are they near each other, in other words? I am not sure if we tender off the ship or not. Bill

Not really my cup of tea! The DW might be interested however.

Thanks for that information. I wrote my first response before seeing this one. Enjoy.

I am always amazed at the different flavors of Lays potato chips overseas, especially in Europe. That beer looks delicious.

I just think that ALL cruise ships should have at least one or two local beers on board, that is, in Greece, a few Greek beers or in the Caribbean, a few island beers. I can live without my favorite beer but like to taste/enjoy a local beverage. A part of traveling, as I am sure you are well aware, is trying new things, and that includes beer and wine. I am enjoying your ongoing review. I will be a first time WS cruiser and your insights, etc. are very helpful. Thank you.

We will be in Melaka on the Oceania Riviera on Jan. 23, 2024. This is a replacement port for Yangon, Myanmar. To date, I cannot find anything interesting to do there. Our times there are 11 AM to 6 PM. Does anyone who has been there know of anything interesting to do there? Thanks, Bill

Thank you for the live review. We will be on the Star Pride on Nov. 18-Dec.2 (Caribbean) of this year. I am sure, or someone can correct me, that the menus are basically the same for both ships. The wine list is interesting. The beer selection, not so much. I may have to bring my own beer on board.

If, and you should, get a survey email from Enterprise Rental, tell them in detail what happened. A CSR will most likely call you and give you a pretty good credit for the cost of the rental. It happened to me and I was quiet pleased.

Was the fire at the Damneon Saduak, the largest and most colorful floating market in the Kingdom of Siam? We have a tour that is supposed to go there in February 2024. Thanks.

Well, at least they cancelled way before final payment for your cruise. The O Riviera cruise this Jan. 2024, Myanmar was not cancelled until last week, after final payment. Now, folks are hustling to get new excursions as some new ports were added, dates at ports changed, and, like Phuket, it is now an overnight. O could have done this months ago. Personally, disappointed we are not stopping in Yangon but the new ports are interesting.

That is interesting. Please let us know what you find out. We are on the same cruise.

Today, Oceania Riviera canceled its' port call to Yangon. Dear Valued Guests and Travel Advisors, I am writing to you to inform you of an important change to your planned Oceania Cruises vacation. After careful consideration of the continuing and escalating political instability in Myanmar, we have come to the decision that, at this juncture, the most prudent course of action is to amend our itineraries and replace Myanmar. Please see below for the revised portion of your itinerary. You can review the full itinerary by visiting OceaniaCruises.com. If you have the prepaid Myanmar visa confirmation on your reservation, this will be removed and automatically refunded. We appreciate that this change might be disappointing and kindly request that all guests remain cognizant that this is the itinerary as planned today and that additional revisions may be required as the safety of our guests and crew are always our top priority. We look forward to welcoming you on board and the team remains at your disposal for any queries you may have. Warmest regards, Carlos E. Ortega Vice President, Global Guest Services Date Port Country Arrival Departure 15-Jan-2024 Colombo Sri Lanka 14:00 16-Jan-2024 Colombo Sri Lanka 19:00 17-Jan-2024 Hambantota Sri Lanka 7:00 17:00 18-Jan-2024 At Sea At sea 19-Jan-2024 At Sea At sea 20-Jan-2024 Phuket Thailand 8:00 21-Jan-2024 Phuket Thailand 18:00 22-Jan-2024 Langkawi Malaysia 7:00 16:00 23-Jan-2024 Melaka Malaysia 11:30 18:30 24-Jan-2024 Penang Malaysia 12:00 20:00 25-Jan-2024 Port Klang Malaysia 10:00 19:00 26-Jan-2024 Bintan Indonesia 10:30 20:30 27-Jan-2024 Singapore Singapore 9:00 28-Jan-2024 Singapore Singapore 18:00 Some on the cruise critic roll calls for this cruise like the new itinerary. None were surprised that the port call in Yangon was cancelled. I, personally, am a bit disappointed. But you have to go with the flow. The most aggravating thing is that the change is after final payment, so they kind of got you. I had no intention of cancelling one way or the other. If anyone has any information regarding Hambantota, Sri Lanka, Bintan, Indonesia, and Melaka (aka: Malucca), Malaysia, please pass it on. Thanks.

Not staying at the Rui Hotel. Is there parking nearby or would a taxi be our best opinion? Looks like a lot of fun!

Clay, I guess I can only answer your concerns after we take his tours. We are also doing tours with Xuan in Nha Trang and Chan May (Hue) in February 2024. Four tours in total, small groups. I do not find his prices to be more expensive than others. We decided on Xuan based on the high praise from others on Cruise Critic. He has been very responsive to my emails. We did decide to stay overnight in HCMC after our Mekong Delta tour. It is a slight logistical hassle to get to our hotel but we should be able to work it out. Xuan will pick us up the next day at our hotel for our city tour before returning to the ship (Oceania Riviera). We decided to stay at the Silverland Jolie Hotel in District 1. We were thinking of staying at the Rex Hotel due to the historical significance of the place but the recent reviews were not very complimentary. We will be seeing the Rex Hotel anyway on the tour. I am sure you will make the right decision for yourself. I will try to remember to post something about our experiences with Xuan and his company. Bill

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Thank you for your answers and advice. Actually, I will let you know how my journey went. We leave on Sept. 3 on AA194 (PHX-LHR) if you want to track us on FlightAware. Bill

All great advice everyone. I will print out your advice and take it with me JUST IN CASE. I also have travel insurance and that should alleviate some of the extra expenses incurred. Bill

The reason I am asking is because the flight we are on, AA0194 from Phoenix to LHR nonstop, was cancelled at 9:30 PM, which is 3.5 hours after scheduled departure. There were no other flights out that evening that would put us into LHR on 4 September. The BA flight from Phoenix that evening had already departed. What we could possibly do is get a flight to Dallas (DFW) and get an earlier flight to LHR from there, or another gateway city AA uses. There are flights that leave early on 4 September to LHR with one stop and arrive very early on 5 September. Same airline, American. They might work in a pinch if there is space. Yes, it is a worst-case scenario. But I like to have options. Just in case! I like the suggestion Sleepingcat has. Bill

We are on the Regal Princess out of Southampton on 5 September, leaving at 5:00 PM. We are arriving into LHR at @12:10 PM on 4 September. We are booked on the National Express Bus to Southampton leaving LHR at 1345 hours. I believe that we will be able to make the bus if we arrive in time or earlier. We do have "Change & Go" for the bus, just in case. My real concern is if our flight is severely delayed, canceled, etc. and we cannot get to Southampton in time to meet the ship, that is, get to London on 5 or 6 September. In that case, how do I get to Portland, UK, our first port of call, to meet the ship? There is a bus to Portland, but it does not run very regularly. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Bill

I gave you an answer on the other Oceania Riviera board. I found the tour company website I was thinking of using but went in a different direction. It is: Bangkok Shore Excursions (travelbangkoktours.com) They appear to be reasonably priced but you can check it out on your own.

In Arizona anyway, it is National Code Talkers Day, to celebrate the Navajo Code Talkers. There are only a handful of Code Talkers left.

On our last O cruise last summer, the regular coffee in the Terrace and the GDR was absolutely undrinkable. My DW always ordered a cappuccino in either dining venue and no problem. So I am sure you can get a double espresso if you wish.

The GDR and specialty menus are on the TV for that particular day. We check the GDR menu, if we don't have a specialty reservation (the menus for them rarely change). If we don't see something interesting, we go to the Terrace for dinner. On some sail away evenings we go to the Terrace, hopefully grab a nice table, and just, sit, drink, eat, and watch. Sailing out of St. Petersburg in the evening on the Terrace was fascinating. Same with Stockholm. Enjoy!

My suggestion would be, if the cruise overnights in, e.g., Bangkok, then get a private tour from the port and stay overnight in the city. That eliminates at least five hours (to/from) on the road in a crowded tour bus. We have done that several times in the past at different ports. I would do the same for Saigon. A good opportunity to experience the city at night. Just a humble suggestion. Have fun!

Agree. Good way to try a particular cocktail that you heard about. If you don't like it, leave it and get something you like.