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There’s absolutely nothing wrong with reviews, but one must temper one’s comments with respect to comparing things like how apples are arranged or the crispness of a Parmesan decoration.  We’ve been on Regent Explorer and LOVED it, especially the fantastic Master Suite, which we liked a bit more than the Owners Suite on Oceania, but one thing we learned is that food is so personal and subjective, and even one night from another, the quality of food varies.  We found that one one night, the food in Jacques was fantastic, but a few nights later, it wasn’t all that.  It was the same for Polo.  
 

Keep posting your great photos and your comments. Everyone will live vicariously.  

Did anyone actually get off the ship in St Thomas?  If not, why even bother to stop there?  According to Cruise Mapper, the ship docked at 8am and left at 11am.  So, when you add in all the work it takes to dock, clear Customs and all the rest, I don't see how anyone could have left the ship.

Also, Puerto Plata had the Sky Princess there, so what weather problem caused Riviera to pass it by?  

Sea Dream has reported that a passenger has tested positive for COVID during the first cruise in the Caribbean.  Despite doing what appears to be doing everything right with pre-testing, a passenger complained of feeling sick once on board, and was tested, which came back positive. Passengers are now quarantined and the ship is heading back to Barbados, where the cruise started.  According to reports, once the ship docks in Barbados, it looks like they will take over whatever needs to be done. This does not appear to bode well for cruises starting back up and might cause ports to rethink allowing ships to dock.  I feel terrible for the passengers and crew on board. 

Oceania does carry caffeine free Diet Coke.  Just returned from 3 weeks on Riviera and had caffeine free every day.  They have it in the restaurants, buffet and in all cabins.  

Thank you for the responses.  Mira, what are “the troubles?”

Is it possible to go from the cruise port to the Old Town using a mobility scooter?  We'd just like to go around the area without taking a tour, but we have no idea if there's a way to get there with no stairs.  

Thank you

It's not Customs, but US Immigration.  It's simple and doesn't take long at all.  You will have  to go through US Customs in FLL, even though they don't have those blue Custom's forms anymore.

Can someone using a mobility scooter get from the cruise port to the Old Town?  We've never been to this port before and would very much like to just walk(me) and scooter(DH) around the old town if it's possible.  

Thanks

Oceania isn’t much of a late night cruise line basically for a couple of reasons:  the passengers are usually an older group and if you’re on a port intensive cruise, people tend to turn in early to get ready for the next port. On most of the cruises we’ve been on, Martinis is virtually empty by 11. 

My DH has a Pride GoGo Elite Traveller and its a tough fit in a regular balcony cabin.  We have to remove the arm rests on the scooter so it can fit through the cabin door. The other thing is you have to maneuver the scooter so that it’s a straight shot into the cabin or else you can scrape the doorway and the scooter.  If you can walk a bit, you might want to consider taking the scooter apart to store it in the cabin. 

Petra will be very difficult with a rollator.  It’s uneven and quite rough and a lot of dirt walkways.  If you go to places like The Royal Tombs or The Monastery using a rollator will be nearly impossible.  

Wow.  Thank you all so much for this information.  I did check out the Alilaguna site but I didn’t see anything about accessibility.  It did say something about a floating dock, but nothing about whether a scooter would be able to use this transport.  Any ideas about that?  

We will be visiting Venice on Riviera this summer and we’re wondering how far is it from the place where the ship docks to the vaparetto station. We want to take the Number 1 vaparetto to Piazza San Marco.  My DH uses a scooter now, instead of a wheelchair, so we have to be prepared. 

Thanks for all your information. 

We just recently returned from a cruise that stopped in Havana, and my husband is full time scooter user.  We were not able to get off the ship at all because the gangway could not handle scooters——at the end of the gangway there was a 7 inch step, so obviously a scooter can’t do that.  Some friends that use wheelchairs did leave the ship but returned very quickly because their streets were impossible with no curb cuts or anything disabled friendly. 

When we were on board last month they were going to totally redo Baristas, the casino, the speciality restaurants,  the Martini Bar and other public venues.  The Polo restaurant manager said it’s going to be a pain because they have to totally clear the room and lock everything away to prevent theft.  All cabins and suites will be redone with fresh bedding. If there is any furniture that looks worn, that will be replaced too. 

Sorry, double post

Bliss has the following charters on Celebrity:  Infinity---April 8-13, 2019

                                                                                 Infinity---April 20-25, 2020

                                                                                 Infinity---April 19-24, 2021

So, not Summit, but Infinity 5 night cruises.

When you have as many passengers as Celebrity ships carry, of course they’re going to have a lot more choices in the buffets.  In more than 40 cruises on Celebrity, I’ve felt their buffet quality was sub par.  Quantity doesn’t necessarily equal quality.  

We will be visiting Venice on our Riviera cruise and would like to know how to get to Central Venice, aka St Mark's Square, from the port.  My DH is a full time wheelchair user and cannot walk, so we're looking for accessible options.  I know those shuttles are not accessible so we need to find out if getting there is possible.

Thanks for all recommendations.

18 hours ago, StanandJim said:

At 9:OO AM?   I like a drink, but it sounds like they had bigger problems than missing a flight.  😲

You know those breakfast Bloody Mary’s.  

We are on Riviera now and signed up for a B2B for summer. When we were signing up I asked the gentleman about the upcoming refresh.  He said they will focus on the Owners Suites and all soft items in the other cabins.  That means new color schemes for bedding that will reflect the colors that will be on the new ships——-like  blue/pale gray/white   They are completely redoing Baristas, and the engineers from Italy are already on board with their blueprints.  The biggest upgrade will be in technology.  Interactive TV’s and other things.  He said they will be doing and trying out things that they want to use on the new ships. 

Just received a mailing today about the upcoming Edge-ification of Celebrity's entire fleet. Millennium, Summit and Equinox will be Edge-ified in 2019 with the rest of the fleet going through the changes from 2020 to 2023. They are spending $500 million on these changes which will include redoing all cabins (the suites will be amazing), building The Retreat Sundeck and the Retreat Lounge for suite passengers. All restaurants will be totally redone as well as the casino.

The one negative I see with this whole thing is an expansion of the "class system" within their ships with X building venues only for suite passengers. While some say that those in suites pay a lot and deserve these perks, others don't like the idea of a class system on their ships.

Kloos, just remember the old saying: “There but for the grace of God go I”. You never know if either you or your husband will turn into one of those elevator riders that you seem to decry. Even at your young age, one false step or accident could put you in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. You’re very lucky to be healthy and active, but that might not be the case forever.

You must consider yourself lucky to have lived in 4 countries and visited many more at such a young age. The only way my husband lived in so many places was because he was military, and not an easy life.

But one of your comments puzzles me. How can one not understand a comedian? Jokes are jokes, are they not? We’ve laughed at comedy shows done by older comics as well as comics in their 20’s, with age making no difference. Funny is funny, regardless of age.

Please don't read things into my original post that weren't written or intended. I never said I was annoyed or bothered by the offer, nor did I ever say that people here were ranting about receiving offers to change. I did say that some here have reported that they've been called to change their cruises because of overbooking. I never said I was getting numerous phone calls to change our cruise---one phone call, and we politely refused the offer. My question was, does Oceania routinely or intentionally overbook their cruises----simple as that. No ranting, no being bothered and no need to call our TA.

As I said, may have changed by now. That was on Reflection in 2013, and we could not order from that pool bar. I distinctly remember having to walk all the way back to the stern bar to get drinks when we were at that pool.

Seriously, I really have no idea what you're talking about. We were on Reflection in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and there was never a bar at the pool that was off limits to anyone. We were in your basic accessible balcony cabin, and we got drinks from the pool bar all the time.