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Thank you for your responses. I have another related question. We received the 25% SM discount after having booked the minimum number of excursions. We are traveling to South America / Antarctica where several ports may get canceled due to weather. If Oceania cancels a port and we fall below the minimum threshold, do they still honor the 25% SM discount?

I just logged into Oceania to review our account and see that they have now added another pricing category for Shore Excursions labeled "Unlimited". We previously booked 5 shore excursions on our South America/ Antarctica cruise which allowed us a 25% "Simply More" discount from the ala carte pricing. I also used a $400pp OBC offered through their New Year's Sale. When I attempted to do a price comparison between "Simply More" and "Unlimited" pricing, I found that several of our choices are priced as N/A under the "Unlimited" category. My questions are two-fold. (1) Do you have to book a shore excursion every day you are in port with the "Unlimited" package? (We have an overnight at one port, so I would assume that I need to book 2 excursions under the "Unlimited" plan.) and (2) If the tour that we prefer does not have "Unlimited" pricing do we pay the SM price w/ 25% discount or ala carte pricing? We are new to Oceania, so any guidance or thoughts are appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Thank you. Still considering our options and appreciate all feedback.

Thank you. I tried that this morning, but it only said that I had none booked, but it would not allow me to book anything. I will keep checking back.

How far in advance of the cruise can culinary classes be reserved? We are booked on the Marina in February 2025. Any other information regarding the experience is most appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Thank you. I did not see the disclaimer. Fortunately, we looked 2 days later and they had availability.

We have been notified that we are waitlisted for the only excursion that Oceania offers at this port (360 days out). I am having trouble finding a private tour from this specific location as they all seem to come out of Puerto Montt, which is our next port of call. Has anyone been able to book a private excursion in Laguna San Rafael? We would love to get up close to the Glacier via catamaran, zodiac, or kayak. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I appreciate the above comments. My heart tells me to go to Volunteer Point, but my wallet is leaning towards Bluff Canyon Reserve (significant cruiseline discount). Thank you.

We are debating between the ship's tour to Bluff Canyon Lagoon and a private tour to Volunteer Point. Any suggestions and feedback are appreciated.

Thank you so much for your responses. This is exactly what I was looking for.

Our friends have the cabin next to us. do the veranda doors open to allow us to visit with each other?

Starting to plan for a pre-cruise trip to the Iguazu Falls. The cruise departs from Buenos Aires. We are considering flying from the US to Rio for a few days, then traveling to the Iguazu Falls for a day or 2, before heading to Buenos Aires. Does anyone who has done this have any suggestions? It appears that the cheapest airfare has us flying into the Brazilian side and out of the Argentinian side. Is there adequate transportation between these two airports to make this a reasonable DIY option?

As the OP, I genuinely appreciate all of the feedback. We ultimately elected to book with Oceania as it included several other South American ports that we were anxious to visit, as well as Antarctica. If we love it, we have the option of going back on an expedition cruise at a later date.

Does anyone have a picture of the extended verandas on deck 7 of the Marina? Specifically wondering if they have glass or solid railings. We don't mind the vibration, but we want the view. Thank you for your comments.

thank you for your quick response.

We are new to Oceania, so I apologize if this has been covered before. We are traveling with another couple and have reserved a B3 veranda which allows each of us one reservation in each of the 4 specialty restaurants. Does this mean that we have a total of 4 reservations per group or 8 if we are guests at each other's tables?

If all things are equal, would you book directly with the cruise lines or use a travel agent? What are the advantages and disadvantages to each option?

We have narrowed down our choices for a South America / Antarctica cruise to 3 choices, each of which has its pros and cons. Any and all suggestions are appreciated. Option # 1: Azamara Journey 23 nights: Great itinerary, but concerned that the ship may be too small passing through the Drake Passage (Drake Shake) and is there enough activity and space to keep us from feeling underwhelmed? It is by far the most expensive of the 3 options. Option #2: Oceania Marina 18 nights: Love the ship and have always wanted to try Oceania, free shore excursions seem to be a plus, but the itinerary does not include Ushuaia or Uraguay. Would I ultimately regret not seeing those ports as we are checking off bucket items and likely will not return to this area anytime soon? Option #3: HAL Oosterdam 22 nights: Great itinerary, older ship, but lots of add-on expenses. We love wine, but otherwise do not drink much. I love to swim every day. A balcony is a must. Stepping on land in Antarctica is not a prerequisite.

I have read several conflicting posts. Hopefully, someone can clarify the matter. We are sailing on the Allure in a few weeks. We are planning to take one bottle of wine per person on board initially. (We appreciate good wine and love to sit on the balcony and enjoy a glass before dinner.) Can we take additional bottles onboard with us at embarkation and pay the corkage fee, or does RCCL hold the excess until disembarkation?

We are using NCL air for our upcoming Dubai to Cape Town cruise and are very happy with our flights and the price savings. Our only concern is that our connecting times in Boston and London are both under 2 hours, so praying that we don’t have any flight delays. We even got upgraded seats on our return flights.

We are traveling from Phoenix to Dubai using the NCL BOGO Airfare promotion. We just received our itinerary which we are very happy with. The outbound flight is in 3 segments with the first leg on AA (American Airlines) and the last 2 legs on BA (British Airways). We were hoping to use miles from our AA account to upgrade the entire one way flight, but have been informed that we are unable to do so since each airline has a different confirmation code. Has anyone experienced this and found a workaround?

Anne, I have been reading your all of your posts and genuinely appreciate all of your recommendations. Some time has passed since your last comments, so I was curious if any of your recommendations have changed. We will be in Dubai for 2 days prior to a cruise departing on December 2nd, 2022. We were thinking of staying in either in the downtown area or on the Creek for easy access to most of the sites. Do you have any specific recommendations for a moderately priced hotel with good views? Is a HO/HO bus a good way to get an overall feel for the town, or should we focus on specific sites? Any other recommendations are most appreciated.

We booked (directly with NCL) within the last 10 days and made final payment a few days later for our December cruise. The price has now dropped by $400 per person. Has anyone been able to negotiate for an OBC? If not, what is the likelihood that I can negotiate for either an upgrade or a FCC. If a FCC, is it typically equal to the drop in price or a fraction of the value.

I appreciate ALL of the comments…funny and serious. I was thinking of undies and workout clothes as I would prefer not to stink up the gym😇😇😇. I also try to swim every day and the amount of chlorine used on these ships can destroy a swimsuit. I had not considered a ban by the cruise lines, so I guess I will continue to wash in the sink…but keep the ideas flowing as I still have a few months before we set sail.

We will be on an long cruise and have been researching collapsible washing machines. I was wondering if anyone has used these and could offer feedback. Some come with a small dryer function as well.