doubledobles

Try reserving Jacques restaurant early in the cruise. They serve a wonderful dish of mussels, which by the fourth or fifth day are gone. This has happened to me twice.

people are just being funny now, but...

some posters display terrible spelling of everyday words, misuse of words, and lack of grammar in their everyday posts, despite English being their native language, and no one corrects them.

Let's not further embarrass the original poster, who was only trying to be of help.

Misspelling a brand name is a small sin compared to some posts I've seen here!

Thank you.

I too get up set by all these self-centered things... perfume and smoking.... even breathing......all that inhale and exhale. How selfish of them breathing on me and in my space too.

A while ago someone requested information on the availablity of Chanel perfume. I responded with an answer that, at this time, is incorrect. I am merely updating that information as a courtesty.

There was a post about Channel perfume in the shops on board from someone a while ago. I was just on the Riviera (disembarked Dec. 22) and the store did not have any Channel at that time. I suggest you shop at Duty Free in the airport.

Do you take out the table and chairs at the foot of the bed for the scooter? Otherwise I don't see how you can get it between the chair and the wall. Only about a foot or so there.

When the scooter is delivered to the room, I am sure the table and chairs have to go. I am not concerned about it. I'm sure this has been done before.

We love the PH for the extra room, larger closets and the butler. On our Sun Splashed Isles cruise this upcoming week, my husband will be recovering from an illness and we will use the butler to pack and unpack his belongs and make life for him a bit easier. We also ordered a scooter and the PH will give us plenty of room to store it. Regardless, we've been traveling in a PH for the past 7 out of 10 years on Oceania and love the perks it provides.

Does anyone know if the shops stock Estée Lauder make up or Channel perfume? These are often good value for us UK folks. I need to decide whether to purchase at airport or wait and see if they are available on board.

Yes, I bought Channel perfume and cologne on board.

I requested diet tonic for our trip in December. I called my TA and she took care of it. She didn't call me back and tell me that there wasn't any, so I presume it will be in our room when we arrive.

All this talk about Coast Guard and CDC inspections is making me nervous. We are due to end our Riviera cruise on Feb. 12th. Supposedly, arrival time in Miami is 6AM. We purchased non-refundable plane tickets for a domestic flight home leaving at 10:15 AM. Are you saying we may not even be off the ship by then?

Your departure flight at 10:15 a.m. is cutting it VERY close. We've done the roundtrip to Miami many, many times and never book an outgoing flight before 12 noon.

My friends got one and had it shipped to Arizona. They love it! They found it at Global Resources as mentioned above.

We've taken this cruise for the past ten years. It's one of our favorites. This year my husband was taken ill in the fall and my grandson's bar mitzvah is happening in Seattle, WA on Nov. 22....boo hoo. Instead we're taking Sun Splashed Islands (Carribbean for ten days). We're already booked for next year's transatlantic. Enjoy.....wish we could be with you!!

We've taken this cruise for the past ten years. It's one of our favorites. This year my husband was taken ill and we had to cancel....boo hoo. Instead we're taking Sun Splashed Islands (Carribbean for ten days). We're already booked for next year's transatlantic. Enjoy.....wish we could be with you!!

Do not miss the shopping area in Casa del Campo. This is a beautiful use of old stone edifices that house small individual shops that feature art and craft student goods. These items are a world apart from the typical tourist souvenirs. The view from the top of the hill where the buildings are located is beautiful. We just paid a small amount to take the shuttle up and down the hill. This area remains a favorite memory of the Dominican Republic!

 

I remember laughing when I saw that the vendors in the town square bazaar were selling coffee at $12 per bag. I walked to a local grocery and the exact same bag was less than $3.00.

Thanks for the information, we will be there in December.

We did three Uniworld river cruises and the only one that was worthwhile was the China trip - and most of that was on land. We would not do another one.

We purchased the relatively inexpensive MedJet plan, which will fly us to hospital of our choice on private jet from anywhere in the world under the circumstances that you described, or whenever hospitalization is required. (The plan would not pay the $5000 hospital expenses that you described, however.)

MedJet is great except it won't insure you if you are over 80, which my husband is. This past year we had a medical emergency with him so now we travel a lot to the carribbean so we won't be too far away from the states and we purchase travel insurance with cancellation coverage that also includes our airfare.

Of course it's up to your discretion, but we always tip the butler for his excellent service, and our housekeeper and her assistant because we like our room made up early in the day.

We always buy insurance that includes cancellation insurance. I've used it once for some injury on the ship (my back). I am in my 70's and my husband is 89. Since Medicare doesn't pay if something happends out of the country, it's wise to have a policy that does. I just purchased it from our travel agent (for our next trip in December) who has fabulous rates. It also covers your air fare in case you need to cancel your trip.

We just had a friend who didn't buy cancellation insurance, had a very bad car accident a week before a trip. They lost all their money when she was hospitalized for two weeks.

We always take cash and euros with us and store them in the safe in our room. We travel on tours with enough cash to buy trinkets on shore. I've never had a problem.

Do not book a flight so early in the morning. I've seen it take until 9 a.m. for the ship to clear. We always book our flight after 12 noon and we've been to the Port of Miami many, many times.

We would only do a segment or two. My husband couldn't stand more than 35 days on a cruise. We're going to wait and see until they have more explicit information on segments, etc. before we choose what to do.

We were cruisers with Regent and are now dedicated Oceania cruisers. I think you will find the layout of the ship much nicer, the food better and the rooms just as nice. If you are a reader, the library is far superior to Regent's.

We always book a PH3 on the 10th floor, you can't go wrong with that floor. You did well in your choice. Enjoy your trip and let us know your opinion when you return.

I'm sensing a possible promotional tie in :D

 

http://www.regattagingerbeer.com/shop.php

I love you guys! You have the answer to EVERYTHING!

All Crystal public bathrooms have permanently mounted dispensers with paper tissues for opening the door upon exiting, with a bin for disposal. Do the Oceania ships not have these?

The answer is yes.

I can tell you that there was Norovirus on the ship, the captain announced that 2% of those on board were affected, whether that included passegers only or passengers and crew, I don't know. But I was on the ship and it was announced on the last day of sailing, by Luca Manzi, the captain.

I think they arrive on the 29th in Miami

They will not be getting off very quickly

 

We had the CDC inspection & ship was not cleared until after 9am

Oddly enough, this was one of our best disembarkments. EVERYONE was off by 9 a.m. We've done the TA every year on Oceania since its inception, it's our favorite cruise....very relaxing. Last year it took forever to leave the ship, this year, it was easy. Go figure!