Torquer

Interesting but I'm not sure if I understand what it is saying. What does open seating have to do with "Open seating will be offered as normal; however, due to the number of guests requesting to dine at 8:00pm." If it is 8PM, wouldn't this be affecting fixed seating not open seating? Or maybe the group is so large and they all want to eat at 8PM, that it totally fills the upper dining room so they are going to use part of the lower dining room for the group as fixed time seating?

We were on Oceania. We had an option of carrying our luggage or have them do it. In either case, you have to take a bus from the ship to the terminal building. When we left the ship, around 9AM, it really wouldn't have mattered if we had carried our bags or picked them up in the terminal. There was really just a couple minutes to find our bags. The big delay was the bus, and then waiting in line to exit the building. Now there were 3 ships in port for our disembarkation; it probably goes faster if you are the only ship. I see you asked someone else if you can disembark at 7AM and make an 8:50AM flight. I would say you should absolutely not plan on that. As I said, in our case it took about 1 hour from leaving the ship to leaving the termina. Then it is a long drive to the airport. We took a tour of BA, and then they drove us to the airport in the afternoon. In our case it took about 50 minutes from downtown until we got to the airport and there was significant traffic delays at times. Then you have the check-in and security lines at the airport. If I was doing this, I would want at minimum 4 hours from disembarkation to my flight.

We were on the larger Marina ship which had a total of 9 singers/dancers in its production company. They did 4 shows on a 20 day cruise. BTW, the point of my earlier post was not to compare HAL and Oceania. It was to say that HAL's entertainment has significantly declined over the last 5-10 years, whereas Oceania's has maintained the same level of entertainment they always had.

We have had 3 HAL cruises post-covid, and just got back from our 1st post-covid cruise on Oceania. It was very depressing to see how HAL has regressed in their entertainment compared to Oceania. We enjoyed many nights with the string quartets on O. We liked LCS on HAL, and hope the classical music returns consistently on all ships; our last two cruises had zero classical music since LCS ended. In addition, O has a singing and dancing production company for its shows. Step One is good, but how many times can you watch the same four shows; we really missed the ship's singers HAL used to have. And finally, O has a live 7 piece band that plays for all shows, whether it is accompanying the ship's production company or guest entertainers. HAL really needs to improve its entertainment, like it was years ago.

Probably not. But we have seen it not very strictly enforced. They will definitely not be able to use the priority check-in line with you, and depending on the port, this may mean you are sitting at a different location in the terminal waiting to board.

Twice on another cruise line where we overnighted before disembarkation day, the ship moved to a different berth in the middle of the night. In one case it moved a couple miles to a different port. They made it clear there was going to be a several hour period in the middle of the night when no one can get on or off the ship. I would definitely get it in writing from O that this middle-of-the-night departure will be permitted at this port. As others have said, I don't think 4AM is early enough and you also need confirmation that customs will be available at that hour.

I was going to say a definitive no. On our recent cruise to South America it was clearly stated in Currents that they do not do this. However, I decided to google it and came across this FAQ from a few years ago, so now I am not sure: https://oceaniacruises.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005405954-Can-I-exchange-my-money-for-local-currency

Not true. On every recent HAL cruise we have been able to connect our laptop to an HDMI port on the TV and watch our own movies. Now it does take some work. It will likely be very difficult to reach behind the TV to connect the cable, but it can be done. Then I believe we have needed to use our own personal small universal remote that we carry when we travel to switch the source to the HDMI port, since it was not possible with the in-room remote. I have no idea if any of this is applicable to an iPad, but it is possible with devices that have HDMI ports.

You say you want three real beds. I am not sure if the king bed in the Neptune suites can be split into two smaller beds. I know it cannot be split in the Pinnacle Suites, but I'm sure someone knows for sure. So although two people can sleep very comfortably in a king bed, it depends on your relationships if you really want to share a bed.

This is dependent on your ship and cruise line so you should ask on your line's specific forum. On our recent cruise that disembarked in BA, we could have done that, but decided to have the ship handle most of our luggage. Note that everyone was required to take a bus from the ship to the terminal since it is an industrial port. It was a mess in the terminal building with a very long line to get out of the terminal building; I believe it took about 1 hour from the moment we left the ship until we were out of the terminal. It was the most disorganized disembarkation of any cruise we have been on.

Over numerous HAL cruises over the years, I have never noticed anyone give a tip in the CO dining room on Pinnacle Class ships nor in the lower MDR (anytime dining) for other ships. It might be different upstairs in the MDR where you have the same servers every night, but we have never done fixed dining.

We just got back from a tour we took on disembarkation day with a private guide, so we didn't stay overnight by ourselves. The city seemed very safe to us, and we would not hesitate to stay there by ourselves in the future. It seemed and felt just like a major European city. So if you have done that in the past where you don't speak the language, you should be fine in BA.

@Mike B LandlubberThanks for the excellent report on the Nazca lines, including the photographic equipment you used. A couple follow-up questions (I'm trying to talk my wife into doing it with me since she is hesitant to fly in small planes). From the photos, it looks like you had two pilots...is that correct? Did you feel the plane was relatively new and in good condition?

Then what exactly is free? I though air deviations was the thing that allowed you to chose your own flights? Of course, I don't know much about O's air program since we have never used it; we found we could book flights just as cheaply ourselves.

What fantastic news! Step One was very good, but we have really missed live singers over the last few years.

@Mike B LandlubberWe are carefully following your blog, since we will be on the exact same cruise in March 2025. Thank you for doing it. So my first question...are you taking a flight-seeing tour of the Nazca Lines when you are in Pisco? If so, are you doing the HAL Shore Excursion or a private flight tour company and when did you make reservations? This is on our bucket list so we will definitely be doing it on our cruise.

Well actually for the top-level suites we stay in the prices between Oceania and Hal are very comparable and the lower cost cabins are not 3 times the cost of HAL cabins. And HAL has roughly 2x the number of passengers on its ships to pay for the entertainment cost. So the total price all passengers are paying for a cruise on HAL is more than they are paying for the same length cruise on an Oceania ship. But this misses my real point. Oceania maintained its level of entertainment over the last 10 years, whereas HAL has severely degraded its entertainment. We mainly go on cruises for the ports, but the food and entertainment are also important to us. We have two future HAL cruises booked and I think we are going to be disappointed with the entertainment after being on an Oceania cruise once again.

I also don't understand why they care. But several of the tour operators we used on a recent cruise said they wanted cash in US dollars and they had to be very clean with no marks on them. So before the cruise we spent 15 minutes with our very patient bank teller getting the exact denominations of bills we needed, since the tour operators can't give change, and trading back and forth bills to get clean looking ones. No tour operator or merchant on our trip to Chile, Argentina, or Uruguay refused any of our bills.

Back to the question that was asked about the HDMI port on the TV (not about streaming)...I had no success on a recent cruise on Marina. I travel prepared with my own small universal remote so that I can change the input source on hotel TVs when the supplied remote doesn't have the option. Although my universal remote could operate the Samsung TV, it would not change the source. So I looked on the back of the TV to get the model number and then found a PDF of the manual. It is a special hospitality model TV that runs its own operating system that displays all the Oceania menus (there is no external box); it is the TV itself doing the O GUI. In this mode, the source inputs are locked out. I found the remote control codes to take it out of this special hospitality mode and put the TV into normal mode, so that I could plug something into the HDMI port. However, I was reluctant to do it fearing I might not be able to get it back to the mode that runs the Oceania menus and info. BTW, the supplied remote control did not have one of the special buttons needed to enter this remote control code. So bottom line, if Vista is similar to Marina, it may be possible to use the HDMI ports, but it will take some work, knowledge, and probably your own universal remote control.

We have been on many HAL cruises over the years both pre- and post-covid, and just completed our first post-covid cruise with Oceania. It is embarrassing to say that they beat HAL by a mile in shipboard entertainment. And this is on a much smaller ship than most of HALs' with only 1,000 passengers. They have a wonderful string quartet that plays several sets in the evening. They also did their own interesting version of a string rock concert in the theater one evening. This really drove home to us how far HAL has regressed in terms of classical music, from Adagio, classical duets, LCS, and now mostly no classical music. In addition to the classical music Oceania ships have their own 10-person singing and dance company on the ship that performs with a live 7-piece band (like the HALcats years ago). In addition they had another band that performed dance tunes (similar to the Rolling Stones Rock Room, but not as good, in my opinion). Plus a piano bar singer. Although the Step One dancers are very good, it really made us miss the HAL onboard singers that used to perform with a live band.

There are also some items that are always available, even though they may not be on the menu every night. I know for a fact, since I often order it, that a fruit crisp is always available for dessert. I believe french onion soup is always available, though it has been a few years since I ordered it when it wasn't on the menu. I also believe a steak is available, but that is usually on the menu in some form every night. Other than that, I would not expect to be able to order anything you want, other than mixing and matching from the stated meals.

It's great to get a new question, rather than one repeatedly asked. Volendam is the only HAL ship we have not been on...I have only seen the quirky lanai cabins on the promenade deck in photos. Camp chairs are not on the prohibited list, so I would have to think it is allowed. But some things to consider: 1) how will you get them to the ship and 2) how will get them onto the ship. If you are flying, they can't go on carry on and you would have to check with the airline to see if you can check them. They are somewhat like a set of golf clubs, but the airlines might have rules. I would also be worried about them being damaged in checked baggage. Now obviously this doesn't apply if you plan to drive to the port of embarkation. But you have the same problem of how to get them on the ship, that they might get damaged. Did you ever see how they pack a load of suitcases on a pallet to move on and off the ship...I would be concerned about damage from the 3 suitcases that might get piled on top of your chairs.

Maybe you tried to have the hotel reserve a water taxi for you...that might be a problem since they might need a flight number to know when you are really ready to use the water taxi. But there is no need for a reservation. Just go to the water taxi desk at the airport. Tell them which hotel you are staying at and pay the bill. They will give you a ticket and you take the long walk to where the water taxis are waiting. You hand over your ticket and you will be directed to board your private water taxi. Very easy process. You will need to have good mobility to use the water taxis. There is a big step from the boat to the pier. And the boat driver may or may not help you with your luggage.

I believe it varies slightly by the particular cruise. I know 9:15 and 9:30 are common. I seem to remember 9:00 too, but am not sure.

NS and PS only. Usually, the Neptune Lounge concierge will talk to you a few days before disembarkation to find what your plans are and when you want to leave the ship, and make appropriate arrangements.