rubysue

We’re on this Sirena cruise (been on since Athens on August 19) and knew the risks going in during Hurricane season. Captain Vitaly S. made the right call and the conditions have been very nice during the entire crossing considering Florence, Isaac, and Helene are lurking in the area. We have one more day at sea tomorrow. Nassau is not a favorite but you go with the flow. We’ve enjoyed the cruise very much (a few nitpicks here and there), which was our 8th on Oceania and first on Sirena.

Hi, I haven’t posted on CC in a long time; we’re also on the Athens to Miami cruise (would love an upgrade offer on our eighth Oceania cruise before we make the final payment next month, but no such luck so far, although Oceania keeps offering 4-category booking upgrades on the Rome to Miami segment for some reason and correspondence from our TA and us falls on deaf ears - I guess that’s fodder for another thread sometime). We have $1800 in shipboard credits but may have to pull the trigger on a drinks package because we also both want internet for the cruise. We’re not big spa fans, but maybe it’s time for some spa time. After 22 days in 2016, even the best wine on the premium package was not very good, but with the premium at least you can toss in mixed drinks whenever the bars are open. With those sea days looming at the end of the cruise that might be a good option. Hope to see you onboard!

No Yellow Fever vaccinations are required in the Caribbean, as far as I know, except for the circumstances described above.

We are having our vaccinations soon as recommended by our health care provider for a trip from Rio to Miami. The yellow fever vaccination is highly recommended (e.g., "mandatory") for a cruise from Brazil INTO the Caribbean.

Yellow Fever, unfortunately, is pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa again and may start moving north into the Carbbean.

Thanks for all of the comments. Let me respond by saying that my veteran TA, with a long-established agency and huge Oceania business (among other cruise lines), processes many Visas every year. The agency uses CIBT for visa processing and they have a 25-year partnership with the CIBT in Houston and other consulate/embassy locations. The CIBT representative in Houston said that the Brazilian consulate representatives are changing the rules on the fly. Today, we took more passport photos because they didn't like the ones that were only 6-8 months old (taken for our passport renewal). They claim this is the last impediment to our Visa processing, so they will be FedExed tomorrow.

I also understand that some rules are necessary, but some of these rules are arbitrary. I also understand that our benighted country is the worst, hearing from my DH who has many friends in countries that are under the scrutiny of the Visa process for the US (while we have porous borders - go figure).

I sincerely hope troubleclef (new to CC) will be able to get their information processed in time.

This may explain the horse apples going on with our Visa. We are on the same cruise as Bobocasey. We sent our passports through our travel agent to an experienced "expediter" in Houston the first week of August.

We are still waiting. We have had the usual "families and coaches and media" excuses from the Olympics/Paralympics. They have asked for copies of our driver's licenses (mine, unfortunately, expires in October. I renewed my license last Friday, but don't get the final license for two-three weeks, but that doesn't work for these cretins). They wanted information on where our parents were born (mine are long-deceased and my in-laws are memory deprived).

So today, we sent our TA copies of MY birth certificate, my passport card and global entry card, and our marriage certificate. They have enough stuff to totally steal my identify now. I am thinking that they are completely crazy, completely incompetent or don't care. I don't want to eat $25,000 of travel but would love to tell the Brazilians to stuff it. I guess I could send in my DNA report from 23andMe. Very upset...

Greetings to folks on this thread. I have sailed on the American Queen and Delta Queen (12 years ago) and knew that Don Horner ("Hondorner") was a fan of the American Queen, a knowledgable cruiser and very good at answering questions. Although I never met Don and his wife, I found out today, while looking at the Oceania Cruises board, that Don passed away on February 20 while on a world cruise on Insignia. This occurred while off the coast of east Africa. I am so sorry that his knowledge and kindness have passed from the world of cruising.

I don't post much anymore here, but am devastated to hear of Don Horner's passing. He was a kind gentleman who dispensed great information to folks. My prayers are with his family in this difficult time.

Good grief! We are on Nautica in a mere two weeks, with our journey through the Irish Sea at the end of the cruise (early July). I have to register my foreign travel at work and received an advisory that there were predicted 115 kph winds across this region June 1 and 2 with travel advisories (as confirmed by folks living there, etc.). This "conspiracy theory" nonsense is just that, nonsense. In 2012, we did a cruise on Marina from Dover to Barcelona. We had to skip Casablanca because of the 9/11 terrorist and unrest activities and also skipped Oporto due to wildcat dock strikes at that port. The "experts" on board were livid: "We can't find any evidence of problems in Oporto. Why are they skipping that port?". As much as we wanted to visit this port, we found out from our private tour guide in Lisbon that, yes indeed, the dock crews would help dock a ship, then walk off the job for hours to days. That doesn't help a cruise line to be in a port, then be unable to move. Also, the decision to skip Casablanca was very wise, indeed, but you wouldn't know it from the whining going on by the passengers. I wrote up this cruise as a wonderful experience, except for the unbelievable "special snowflakes" on board who obviously knew better than the captain. Ports will be missed - the ocean is not interested in the personal emotions of the people on board. I'm glad they play it safe.

I guess that in addition to being brutally honest, I am also politically incorrect in my statements - but, so be it :)

After having seen the Pergamon Altar from 2nd century BCE (currently in Berlin) with its intricate frieze in high relief, I have trouble paying too much respect to the Mayan temples constructed a millennium later.

I've been to M.P. twice and given the chance, I'd go and admire it again. But I would keep it in proper prospective.

To each their own.

I agree with you! We are doing a Lima to New York cruise in 2016 on Marina and will do the obligatory MP trip to say we've been there (challenging for someone who is partially disabled). I do look forward to seeing this legendary place and would like to see others in this part of the world (I have seen many Aztec ruins, by the way). But my heart goes back to places in the Med, including Corinth, Athens, Ephesus, Rome, Sicily and others in the "cradle of civilization". I guess I'm not properly trained in diversity. I don't have Mayan, Incan or Aztecan ancestry (have been checked with 23andMe), so I tend to gravitate to the foundations in western Eurasia.

Well, let's see if I can end a thread again, as I usually don't post that often and found this post intriguing, but it seems to be winding down.

We seek out snooze feasts on every cruise we have been on, including a very enjoyable week on Oasis of the Seas a year ago with 6200 other people and six fun cruises on Disney as a childless couple (gasp!). Our only recent experience that was less than stellar was our first cruise on Celebrity (Infinity), but my 48-hour quarantine for respiratory influenza probably influenced my perspective.

We are early to bed folks, don't dance or party too much (rather have a glass of or three of wine in our cabin and read before retiring) and our main activity on Oceania is trivia. We like the ambiance, the food, the country club casual approach, the low-key crew and the lack of "activities" to keep people amped up all day. On our cruise on Oasis last Christmas (done to see the ship), we laughed at the packed daily activities schedule and tossed it in the trash and spent our time relaxing in the solarium or in Central Park, or watching people having fun on the Sports deck. We had a great time!

We don't look for perfection. We can enjoy a small ship or a packed Disney World park (coming up at for the holidays). Watching people can be a joy and the small things make a great trip.

With that said, probably the worst group of passengers on any cruise we have taken (25 total) was on Oceania in September, 2012 on a cruise on Marina from London to Barcelona. We had a great time, but many other passengers made it clear that they had been deprived of something really important in their lives by being on that ship. This has not been our experience on other Oceania cruises, so perhaps that was a particularly grumpy crowd.

Oceania is our top choice these days, but we just enjoy cruising and seeing the world.

We just got off Regatta last Tuesday in Miami and had time to kill until a flight at 3:00. Destination Services offered the HoHo (Big Bus) package for $69 a person. This included baggage storage, pickup at the ship by the Big Bus, one or two ninety-minute loops of the city, depending on your time constraints (with the option to get off and catch the next bus) and transfers to the airport from Bayside Marketplace. It was very fun and we had a quick break at the Marketplace between loops to use the facilities, etc. We saw Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Little Havana, and South Beach, among other attractions.

Yes, for those allergic to booking anything on the ship, this might not be an option, but we thought it was reasonably priced and fun.

We do a mix. I don't move well and can't stand for long periods of time, so quite often the easy or moderate ship tours are just right. We also do our own private tours for just the two of us or do our own activities in a port. We have also done tours with a small group, and that is probably our least favorite solution right now (yes, I know that is probably not a popular viewpoint). We booked sufficient tours on our upcoming cruise to get the 25% discount (we got our refund last week after some nudging by our TA).

I'm actually not really upset about the down sell, just have never been offered one before, so it seemed different. We know we don't have to take it. In 24 cruises, we upgraded once from an offer and have never been offered any deals on any of the other cruises we have taken, although we have had cabin upgrades (for free) at the last minute or when boarding. It was a good offer, but I didn't like the cabins. It does seem strange that this cruise still has cabins available in the lowest categories, since I thought those might go first.

Thanks for the input on the refund possibly taking a long time. That's a bit annoying, but we will monitor and keep bugging them. It would have been nice to have the refund as a shipboard credit but no such luck. Our TA, by the way, is thrilled with the NCL merger. She is of the opinion that it will improve the front office and may drive the costs down (and quality up) on shore excursions.

Oh, and my comment about the Aggies and Cheeseheads was in jest. Our first cruise on Oceania was through our alumni association and we were quite sedate, although the Wolverines group on that same cruise went crazy (just kidding!).

We are booked on Regatta on a cruise that leaves a month from now from Montreal to Miami. We booked this cruise way back in March, 2013 and are looking forward to the unique itinerary. It will be our fifth Oceania cruise and we like them very much.

However, two things have recently occurred that are a wee bit irritating:

1) Our Roll Call was quite "dead" for this cruise for a very long time. We decided to go ahead and book ship excursions in several ports. I am somewhat disabled and slow and have had difficulty on shared private tours on some past cruises due to the remarkable athleticism of some of our fellow cruisers. Yes, we know that this is not a favorable approach for the Oceania faithful to book ship tours, but please put that aside right now (I am not wanting that argument). We elected to book six excursions to get to the magic 25% discount. After booking the sixth over ten days ago through our TA, she said to look for the 25% credit shortly (alas, she couldn't get it as a shipboard credit). Oceania has claimed to have processed the refund at least three times in the last week (after we kept bugging our TA to check with them, including today) and it has yet to show up on our credit card account. Whatever the complaints about the NCL merger, improvements to the front office cannot be one of them.

2) Today, our TA contacted us about a "deal". Apparently, our cruise is wait-listed for every category above B1 (seems counterintuitive, based on the comments I read here). They wanted us to move from our A2 to a B2, with a fairly decent credit, but the available cabins are certainly not nearly as nice as our current cabin and, in fact, are either right above the show lounge or above the kitchen of the GDR and are much further from the elevators. I can't explain it fully, but I felt a bit sad that, after so many months faithfully waiting for this cruise (and booked in a nice concierge veranda) that they would think we wanted to downgrade substantially at the last minute. Our silly fear now is that they are trying to put a group together and we will be in the middle of a bunch of Aggies or Cheeseheads (we turned down the offer). Is this common? We have upgraded in the past but never been asked to downgrade, on any cruise.

Just looking for insights - these are obviously "first world" problems, but we would like that refund for the tours.

We sailed out of Lisbon in September, 2012 on Marina and had a starboard PH. We had great views of the Discovery monument (got many good close-ups) and the Torre de Belem from our balcony, plus could see other features of the city, including the monastery of Jerome and, of course, sailing under the 25 de Abril bridge.

While in Lisbon, we had a great private tour with Inside Lisbon tours (just the two of us, at a very reasonable rate).

Very true. But the Disney ships are much bigger and have space for both. That being said we would not go on a Disney cruise if we were not going with kids or grand kids. :):)

Not to belabor the point here as I usually don't post much anymore on the main cruise boards, but we are two older adults (late 50's), with no children, who have done six Disney cruises and thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. There are many attractions and areas for adults on DCL and everyone is having a fantastic time. There are a few things to avoid, like Deck 5, the teen hangouts and character autograph sessions. DCL also treated my late Dad like a King on a Mediterranean cruise in 2007 (he turned 93 on that cruise) and many of the kids became his buddies.

In contrast, I can tell you that our one and only HAL cruise to date (Westerdam, Alaska, 2006) had a large mob of unruly pre-teens and teens who took over the main pool area without any intervention by parents or the crew. Also, we had a very unpleasant dinner in Polo last year on Nautica when I had the temerity to mention that we liked Disney Cruise Lines and had a "gentleman" from Australia at the table for six we shared berate both of us for the rest of the dinner for being unsophisticated. This was certainly not the only time on Oceania where our cruising choices (which include Oceania, obviously) were questioned by other passengers. I also hesitate to mention that we had a most marvelous time on Oasis of the Seas last Christmas, with 6,212 other passengers and many families and children.

I think the point is that cruise ships geared to all ages handle those situations the best. If folks go on Oceania to avoid families and children, then perhaps the Alaska itineraries are not suitable.

thanks for clearing this up--certainly didn't want to come across as a bully. I know the feeling of falling prey to a small handful of responders to various threads on this site who tend to be a bit abusive and attack others for their opinions or comments--been the victim of some of these zingers.

Oh, goodness, no! Your question was very appropriate and led to some interesting replies. I'm a bit shy on the Oceania board, too, as I have been down some interesting bunny trails. Hope you have a great cruise!

So good to hear from you!! Hope you both are well!...we did have a great cruise...didn't we? LuAnn

Hi, LuAnn! I really didn't need the very nasty respiratory influenza and quarantine and the food on Infinity was nowhere close to Oceania (in fact, it was dreadful, except for Qsine). In fact, Infinity continues to have many problems with rampant illnesses (go look at the Celebrity board). We did totally love the service on that ship!

Having said that, I will never, ever forget the thousands of adorable Chinstrap penguins in the water off Deception Island! We really enjoyed Puerto Madryn and the amazing wildlife in the Valdes peninsula. Buenos Aires was a dynamic city and we had a "meal of the ages" at i Latina. Ushuaia was gorgeous, and Antarctica was so forbidding but stunningly beautiful at the same time. Yeah, it was an interesting and memorable experience.

Hi, Mura - I'm not blaming Oceania for the low turnout on the Roll Calls. We have had very active Roll Calls in the past and perhaps it was itinerary-dependent. I am surprised at the Montreal to Miami cruise being so dead, because this is a fantastic itinerary. The OP was wondering about low Roll Call turnout and I came back with my recent experiences. Also, being told right away on the new Roll call today that I joined that any idle conversation, including discussion of private tours, may make people accuse the OP of the Roll Call or other folks of "hijacking" the thread was completely bizarre. Why have the Roll Call?

I'm glad we could tell you about our other cruise experiences. Unfortunately, we have had the opposite reaction from quite a few Oceania passengers in the past, and have had some unpleasant moments or even full dinners spent defending our choices.

Thanks to the folks for their perspectives on "having fun" (hi, LuAnn). We always try to have fun on every cruise (even the last one where I was in quarantine due to the influenza). However, the Roll Calls for the Oceania cruises do seem to be very minimal for some of the cruises compare to other cruise lines. We are going on Regatta this October from Montreal to Miami and there have been a total of 13 responses to the Roll Call. We also planned to go on the Mayan Mystique cruise next March and had no response to the Roll Call at all (we're moving our deposit to a Nautica cruise that is more appealing - we don't get to go as often as other folks so we're trying to jump on the most interesting itinerary once or twice a year). Sadly, on the Nautica Roll Call thread, I've already found out that idle chit-chat is considered problematic and the thread "owner" wants all communication through email. That's not very welcoming, IMHO, especially when I compare it to the thorough craziness of the Roll Call for our Infinity cruise.

As to the attitudes, we have learned now to be very cautious telling someone on an Oceania cruise that we have also enjoyed Disney cruises and we even had a thoroughly great time on Oasis of the Seas when it had 6,214 passengers. I agree with Hypercafe - the people on the Carnival ship look like they are having fun. Not everybody can afford $15,000-$20,000 cruises (we have to limit them ourselves). Some folks here would also probably hate the Disney ships, because they have some "over the top" decor and concepts in many public areas.

Six DCL cruises now, ranging from 3 days to 12 days on all four ships. No kids, but great fun! And we sat on our own or with other adults in the dining rooms.

We did this cruise in October, 2007, when the AQ was still being managed by Majestic America. It is a very scenic cruise, much more scenic than the flat lower Mississippi and features more than 25 locks, including a most impressive 38-foot lift in Keokuk, Iowa. We enjoyed it very much! We hope to do the upper Ohio next year (still waiting on 2015 schedules).

A dog trainer for Guide Dogs for the Blind views the world through his filter. That Chihuahua would make an inept service dog for a blind person but might make a wholly acceptable service dog in alerting the owner about the onset of a seizure. Anxiety dogs assigned to meet the needs of PTSD combat veterans is such an example. In those cases, the human has no visible impairment whatsoever. The list of services that service animals have been trained to provide covers disabilities not apparent to a casual observer.

 

The lady with the Chihuahua may well have been a fraud. The lady you personally observed "sprinting" may well have been a fraud. But here's where you and I part company. I would rather the frauds be allowed come on board if it preserves the opportunity for cruisers with legitimate needs to bring service animals on board.

 

When someone starts posting hard statistics about the number of service animals on cruises -- perceived to be legitimate or not -- then we can talk. When someone starts posting the costs of upkeep to ships because of service animals on board and their impact on the cruise prices for everyone, then we can talk.

 

Someone uses the following quote at the end of his/her posts: "The plural of anecdote is not data." You've posted the anecdote about the sprinting-scooter-fraud before, but there has been no groundswell of replies others sharing similar anecdotes. I've been on more than 20 cruises and I think I have once seen a service dog. That doesn't make my anecdotes any more accurate or relevant than your anecdote.

 

 

 

No, actually in this case the law has never applied to itineraries that do not include one or more US ports. The percentage of people who have sailed fraudulently with a service animal may or not be going up but that isn't going to change this situation one iota.

Thank you for your excellent post. Keep in mind, there are more than a few on the Oceania board who think that the use of canes, unattractive orthopedic shoes or other signs of impairment are all scams so you can skate the minimal dress code or get on the elevator first.

Hi, AC Stew!! Hope you had a good trip home. We never did eat in the main dining room, but as I noted above Blu was very disappointing. We ate there three times and the only thing I liked was a classic strip steak. Qsine was awesome, though, and we enjoyed the soups and sandwiches in Bistro on Five.

I think it probably was a provisioning problem. We noticed they put on a lot of food at Montevideo (I was in "flu jail" and could only see the port from my balcony), so the problem might be from there.

To GHStudio - sounds like your Drake Passage was similar to ours, although a storm came in just before we reached the Schollaert channel and we had 70 knot winds. I commiserate with the moaning balcony door! Thanks for the update!

Thanks for the live updates! Sorry you're having all the itinerary changes. We were on the February 2 sailing. Service was outstanding across the boards we loved Qsine and Bistro on 5, were very unimpressed with Blu.

Interesting that you mention the concern for hygiene. In spite of precautions (I don't shake hands, for example, and use towels or tissues on doors), I came down with influenza (respiratory) and was put into 48-hour quarantine on the last two days. Tamiflu worked well, I must say! And, yes, I did have a flu shot. It is a variation of the H1N1 strain that is now making the rounds.

Hope you have a Drake Lake!