bphman

It the YC tent obvious as well? Do we just drive past the luggage drop-off point? It seems to have moved from where a posted picture showed it. We plan on getting there Sunday around 11.

Hey JAGR. I certainly got your I-O quote. G-O. B-U-C-K-S! We will be sailing for the Penn State game. Hoping to catch some of it on board. I'll record it but seeing it live beats seeing a replay when you know the outcome. Needles to say, we are concerned about Penn State and that school up North.

We were Celebrity loyalists but the pricing for the suites and cutback is services had us looking to book elsewhere, Even AQ is getting ridiculous. We have our first YC cruise this Sunday and are looking forward to it. We live about an hour from Brooklyn. My wife was born and raised in Brooklyn but I married her regardless. I am very pleased to hear that low salt is not an issue since I, too, develop cruise cankles. Will report back upon return.

I, too, just got a second email to bid on a YC upgrade. We are already booked in a YC Deluxe and the offer is for a Duplex or Royal. The minimum bid for the Duplex is twice what I would have paid to book it at $1275pp and the Royal is about the same at $2985pp. Not what I would call a deal.

Thank you for all the responses. I can certainly turn down my bed at night as well as make the bed in the morning as I do at home. However, when on a vacation, I like a little indulgence. I usually hang my towels and, if changed, great. If not, they will be the next day in my experience. I do like clean glassware and my wife and I will have a drink before dinner and, with usually only 2 glasses per cabin, I would rather not have to clean them for a nightcap. I appreciate the extra effort and I tip accordingly. We also keep our cabin neat and everything put away. No dirty laundry or towels on the floor.

We will be sailing in a Neptune suite next year and cannot find anything regarding cabin. service. We sailed another line and had to choose between morning or evening service. We were not happy since any used glasses, food items, used towels were not addressed until the next time. Call me spoiled but we like coming back to a clean cabin prepped for the evening. All. of these cutbacks are affecting the pleasure of cruising. Thanks.

On our Baltic cruise, a number of us stayed at the Banks Mansion and, as others have said, it was fantastic. Rooms are small but very comfortable. The best thing is that it is pretty much all inclusive and they host an evening cocktail hour with hors d'oeuvres including bitterballen, cheeses, and other items and you can meet other guests. They have a self service bar in the lobby as well. In our room were liquor decanters which we did not use. Very close to the Van Gogh museum and Rijksmuseum as well as the famous Amsterdam sign.

A lot will depend on how large the group is. I have been on a few cruises where you didn't even notice a group and others were horrible. The larger groups take over restaurants and lounges and the pool can be a mess. I always check to see if there are any groups on board and decide. This one I would shy away from. They are coming on to party and party they will. Too many themed events. At least it doesn't appear to be a swinger's event...yet.

Was that every meal? Was the quality of the food bad? Why punish the wait staff who work hard to try and serve everyone and are working for peanuts to support their families while being away up to 10 months out of a year? How do you know they were the problem and not the kitchen staff? That is the ultimate of being cheap.

Thank you for answering my questions, Brighton Line. My wife is a Marine Park girl. We have sailed out of Red Hook a few times with Cunard and Princess. It was very easy with them unlike what I see with MSC. I won't be the only one looking for the tent, I'm sure.

We are a short hour drive to Brooklyn and I have a car service taking us. I saw the picture of the tent and have been following that thread. They apparently moved the location of the tent from the original location and was hoping to get more information. Is it easy to find and well marked? What time would it be good to arrive for early boarding?

I have reviewed the boards regarding boarding in Brooklyn and saw that there was a tent. Someone had a nice picture of the terminal with tent circled. I was told that things have changed and the tent is no longer in use. They said there is a table outside the terminal next to the regular boarding lines. Wanted to confirm with someone who recently sailed YC. Haven't gotten much information from MSC customer service. What is a reasonable time to get to the terminal for early boarding? Do you still drop luggage at the YC area or the general luggage drop? We are a month away and looking forward to the cruise. Thanks.

I found it interesting what someone said about the provisioning in different countries. We once did a Med cruise and had a blast but the food seemed a little off especially the dairy. We loved the ship so much that we sailed her again later that year in the Caribbean and it was a totally different dining experience. One gets so used to the products at home that there is a noticeable difference when traveling, sometimes better, sometimes worse. The produce in Europe was much better but the proteins in the U.S. were more to our liking. Both trips were good but totally different as th the food.

We just got off the May 11th Regatta sailing and I have to say that the food was not up to Oceania's standard. This was our third Oceania cruise and the food and service was off considerably. I have written a complete review that has not posted yet. We came back to Oceania based on prior experience and I echo the concerns of many that the food was just OK. We did not use room service so I have no comments. The Terrace Grill where we only had lunch had limited selections and some dishes were not good. The freshly grilled swordfish was not edible. The other grilled items were fair. The roast pig was exceptional but the baron of beef was tough as leather. The MDR food was OK at best. Prime rib was tasteless and cold. Lobster had been cooked out of the shell and my wife said it was fishy and the temperature was inconsistent. The last night, I had escargot and was rushed as we were on a few occasions. Never got our entrees and our table was cleared including the wine glasses and we were handed dessert menus. We had to wait even longer for our main course. For breakfast I ordered scrambled eggs and broiled kippers. The eggs (tasted powdered) came with CAPERS. I said I ordered KIPPERS. By the way, capers go well with eggs. I can accept language issues. But the kippers came long after we finished as we were getting up to leave. These are just a few. So, I have to agree with the OP that something is wrong and needs to be corrected. The wine selections were excellent as was the sommelier service but the food and service was not. Yes, I did mention all of this to the Maitre 'd and I completed survey but all I got were apologies but no improvement in service or food quality. So, for all those bashing the OP, leave her alone. The food was subpar on this sailing.

Astro Flyer, this was info that the tour company told me about the sentiments of the locals. The have not had a referendum but there is an undercurrent of looking at a ban in the future. The environmentalists have a very strong voice and want to preserve what they have. In many ways, I don't blame them. In the meantime, I will enjoy whatever time I have visiting. I saw the ship schedule a while ago which is what started my query. We are listed to arrive at 11 and leave at 7:30 with the last tender back at 4:30. I spoke with Angela. She was very friendly and explained everything to me. She is currently acting as the harbormaster who recently retired if I got straight what she was explaining. I'll follow the sailing the week before on Cruisetracker.com to see what their experience is.

Trust me. I went above that. I have a connection at Oceania and it was asked of their operations people. I can't change anything and am just trying to figure our the logistics of our port stop to maximize our experience. Santa Barbara is looking to stop cruise ships like Monterey did and I am sure Catalina will follow suit.

I think the harbormaster might have an idea about what is going on in their own port. By the time I get on board to ask Destination Services, it will be too late. I didn't just talk to "some clerk" at the 800 number. I guess people comment without reading my original post. I DID speak with the harbormaster. That is how I got this information. I checked the harbor website and then called to confirm.

Not driving myself crazy. Just trying to plan.

Hi Robroy. I didn't believe the time either until I spoke with the harbormaster. He said time is running out for Oceania to request earlier arrival. Oceania denies any knowledge of the change. Considering this is a tender port, we may not get into Santa Barbara before noon. We can only hope that things change. Oceania has some longer excursions so I don't know how that is going to work. I guess we can get an idea what will happen with the sailing a week before ours. Considering we lost Monterey, this would really be disappointing.

Hi hmorrow. As far as I know there are no other changes. Haven't there been enough? So much poor communication. We cancelled our winery tour and we are just going to the Funk Zone which is close to the pier and there are tasting rooms and breweries there. The zoo is apparently nice but, if we only have 5 and a half hours, don't know how much we can do. There is a Duck Tour as well. I got the name of a restaurant from a Fess Parker Winery salesperson that may work for lunch. We wound up cancelling the Ensenada excursion after the recent kidnapping. We did a wine tasting in Ensenada in 2020 and the wine was pretty bad. I lived in Mexico for 4 years and absolutely loved it but those were different times. On a Princess cruise in March, we met a woman who had been in Cozumel and there were armed guards on her tour. Of course it is hearsay but my wife is too nervous. I would still like to do it.

I am getting more and more disappointed with what is happening with this 7 night Pacific Coast cruise. We are no longer stopping in Monterey because the residents voted to ban cruise ships. This is not Oceania's fault but they are not offering any compensation, not even a refund in taxes or port fees. Now the issue is with Santa Barbara. We are scheduled to arrive at 8 am and leave at 6 pm. I was trying to arrange a private tour and the tour operator informed me that we were not scheduled to arrive until 11 and last tender back to the ship was at 4:30. I called the harbormaster and was told that Oceania was notified that they are to arrive at 11 but they could request an earlier arrival but so far have not. I called Oceania and they deny hearing any of this. The last tender at 4:30 is a hard departure because, every Wednesday, they have sailboat races and the harbor must not have any other traffic. Kind of bummed with this. Would have cancelled the cruise if I had know about this but, of course, this was after final payment. Oceania isn't that big that they can't keep track of these things.