LaCroisiereS'amuse

14 hours ago, basor said:

Glad you found a acceptable solution.....

Probably not acceptable to those actually entitled to use the spa terrace i.e. Concierge & above.

1 minute ago, basor said:

Unfortunately, as many of us are finding, there is no comparable cruise line that has not morphed into the same drinks and excursions inclusion.  At least with O, you have a $$$ credit that you can then use on any excursion instead of a "no choice included excursion - usually bus or walk around town"...we are not writing off O yet.  We have our 2024 cruises booked under "OLife" so will face this when getting ready to look at 2025.

I'm still doing the '24 cruise that I have booked under O Life and if I could use that OBC for anything other than excursions I would stay with O....I like a drink when on holiday so that isn't an issue for me and I'm now looking at Crystal & Explora.

Only just caught up on Simply More due to a protracted house move & am a bit late to the party.  The only O excursion I have ever taken is one of the culinary whole day class/market tours in Bilbao, but this type of tour is rarely offered, so I am afraid that O have lost me as I don't want to pay for tours that I will never take, as I prefer to go independent and at my own pace rather than that of the lowest common denominator.  O Life worked perfectly for me and it just seems that O are morphing into Regent Lite.  It's a shame as I've been loyal since year 2 & the whole draw was that the product really was "Your world, your way" - I'll always be fond of O, but its time to move on.

4 hours ago, jorfin said:

Thank you again. Yes....it didn't help an already very disappointing situation. The Faroe  and Lofoten Islands were the primary reason for booking. We will try again hopefully but not by a cruise ship. CHEERS🍷

One way of seeing the Faroes (& Eastern Iceland) at a reasonable price is via the Smyril Line ferry that leaves from Hirtshals (easily reached by train from Copenhagen) - the Norrona is the size of Marina/Riviera and has a wide selection of cabins & facilities.  Some of the dishes in Munkastova, the premium restaurant on board exceed anything on Oceania.  The ships excursions are well put together and make the most of the time in port.  I have been twice & the trip was magical on both occasions.  As well as being a very well appointed cruise ferry, the Norrona is designed to be the island's lifeline and sails regular as clockwork year round.

6 hours ago, GoSpurs said:

I’m not sure about the disembarkation procedure in Southampton. I’ve booked an Oceania transfer to LHR. Should I be safe for a 12:50pm departure from Heathrow?

Allowing 2 hours for check in (unless your airline says otherwise) & 2 hours on the road (journey will probably only take 1hr 20, but you will be travelling towards the end of the morning rush & the coach may stop at other terminals before yours) the latest time transfer I would book would be 0845, but I would go for earlier if available.

Electric kettles aren't common in countries that use 110V for domestic power as they take so long to boil.

15 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

Grandfather was.  (Where did you get the triskelion emote?!?)

 

Some folks talk about "strong enough to hold your spoon vertical".  Gandmother was always muttering about the spoon dissolving.

 

It's probably long gone, but enjoyed the "Inner Mann" restaurant in Douglas -- the menu was the day's catch on ice in t

he lobby.

Inner Mann is long gone sadly but the food and drink scene has improved considerably over the last few years.  I've lived "across" for the last 20 years or so, but moving back permanently in September - I do visit frequently though & always come back with a stash of "Fairy Bridge" tea bags which make a good cup of "builders" 😁. I'm posting this via my phone so I get the 🇮🇲🇮🇲🇮🇲 from there.

2 hours ago, Snaefell3 said:

For tea ...enthusiasts brewing water needs be at 99.99°C.  They "hot the pot" = fill the teapot with hot water and discard before filling it with the hot water they will use to brew.

 

I even suspect they want cabins on the lower decks because water boils at a lower temperature when at altitude, no?  😉

I'm guessing you are a fellow Manxie?? 🤔🤔🇮🇲🇮🇲🇮🇲😁😁 Can't be many of us on "O"!

It might be "O"s rule, but it is not a safety issue - if it was then the likes of Fred. Olsen, P&O, Saga....even RCCL & Celebrity on ex UK cruises wouldn't have them in their cabins.  I have used my own travel kettle on pretty much every "O" cruise I have done (Russell Hobbs do a great one £20 at Argos) & never had any comments from chambermaid or butler on the odd occasion I have left it out.  I hate the long life milk they have on board in my tea too so buying a fresh pint has always been a ritual on port days! 

On 5/24/2023 at 5:24 PM, travelingJimmy said:

So for whatever it is worth, Marina is in OPorto today but we didn’t dock in Oporto. We are currently docked in Matosinhos about an hour away from Oporto. Usually they will call that out but they didn’t. Seems kinda odd. We didn’t have a private tour today but if we did that might have been problematic. 

Leixoes/Matosinhos is the regular port for ocean going ships visiting Oporto & ocean going cruise ships don't enter the Douro.  The city centre is easily reached by line A of the metro in 35 minutes.  There are some amazing fish restaurants by the port gates in Matosinhos.

7 hours ago, the more ports the better said:

We never check in before 3:00 and many times not until much later and there are never crowds. If we can sit on the ship or see an interesting city, the interesting city wind 100% of the time.

 

You can check out of your hotel and they will happily hold your luggage.  Also, there are always day tours where they end at the port and will keep your luggage in the trunk of their car while you see the sites.  

 

One more thing, there are left luggage’s all over Europe, usually smaller hotels in tourist cities who store luggage for a small fee.

 

You can google “left luggage” and whatever city you are in then enjoy the sites!

We disembarked Marina in Barcelona and arranged for our bags to be collected in the morning by a left luggage service to have them dropped back with us at the Grimaldi ferry terminal for our trip back to Civitavecchia that evening, leaving us to enjoy Barcelona for the day - I've only done it in Barcelona, but I'm sure the service would be available elsewhere in the Med with other companies.

https://bagsandgo.com/en/

Last time I saw spiny dogfish/rock salmon used for fish & chips here in the British Isles was in the mid 70''s......most fish & chip shops will serve cod and/or haddock as the premium option, and pollock (or callig, as we call it here in the Isle of Man) or whiting as the standard fish.  As for sea bass??? 🤔🤔

On 5/10/2023 at 4:16 AM, DoulaAnn said:

O has different restaurants because people have different preferences.  No one is forcing us to do anything.  I would definitely suggest people try it once to see the reality.  All the reviews I've seen from those onboard the first cruise have been very positive about Ember.

The first cruise is all invited guests not paying customers so of course the reviews are going to be good - I'll wait to read genuine experiences.

2 hours ago, LHT28 said:

They  did  in 2019 from Southampton  or you can take  the train to Central London/LHR

 

Also check on your Roll call  maybe others  will share a  private transfer to  the airport or Central London  depending on where you are  going

the Bus  will get you there

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

No rail link direct to LHR from either Southampton or Portsmouth - you would have to change onto a dedicated RailAir bus service at Woking.  Direct trains to LGW from both though.

Brunches are only ever on sea days & even then it will be only on longer itineraries - seem to remember its only on 18 days & over.

I've done 16 Oceania cruises & have been with them since the beginning & have my first Azamara booked in Feb '24.  I know very few cruiselines have a decent proactive shoreside operation, but I'm particularly unimpressed with Azamara having had 2 ports of call cancelled & replaced with sea days on an already sea day heavy cruise.  I realise this part of cruising, but even Oceania with their poor shoreside operation manage to let you know of itinerary changes either directly or via your t/a, whereas with Azamara I've found out via Cruise Critic!

My travel agent asked the question & the Azamara call centre just confirmed that the call was cancelled on all cruises that featured Ascension, but they couldn't confirm why.

I'm also booked on it & it looks like they have dropped the calls on the equivalent 2025 itineraries too.  Ascension still shows as a Maiden Port for 2024 & the itinerary map still shows on the Azamara website, but when you scroll through it shows as a sea day.  

5 hours ago, ToxM said:

To be fair, Travel Agents don’t have the same level of clout with providers in the UK as they do in the US, but as I stated above the first port of call (excuse the pun) is O or the TA. 

Depends who you use.  I go with an Oceania specialist & they are brilliant - we had an issue that wasn't resolved on board & 2 days after we were back we were on a conference call with our TA, 2 senior managers of Oceania UK and our issue was resolved within 5 minutes.

If you do get to see Monsieur Pepin, then maybe ask him to sign a bookplate which you could then stick in your Pepin books.  It would save you the extra weight...... https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Dresmannst-Bookplate-Owl-Libris-Style/dp/B07QM2RNJL/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3IK9EN7F9V9GZ&keywords=ex+libris+sticker&qid=1675856351&sprefix=ex+libris+sticker%2Caps%2C83&sr=8-4

I lived in London for 30 years & to make this worthwhile I would pick one activity/place you want to visit & concentrate on the immediate area - its really not worth you trying to do any more than that as there are way too many variables with traffic & transport.  For example you could do the London Bridge area with Borough Market & the Shard, or maybe the Monument & Tower of London.

3 hours ago, beardedshark said:

I really liked Nolan Deane but he seems to have left the company

He's on Viking now.....

31 minutes ago, Travrat said:

We docked in Bordeaux overnight on the Marina in 2017. Not sure why they are docking at Le Verdon other than because it is probably cheaper for them. 

It is due to the tidal range on the Garonne.....

3 hours ago, TERRIER1 said:

There is a train station but it is a 2 hour ride to Bordeaux. The Marina and Riviera are to big to go down the river to Bordeaux. We ended up taking a private tour with others from our call to several wineries in the Medoc.

I must have imagined the 2 cruises I did on Marina which both had overnights in Bordeaux......😁

10% of fare or bill is pretty standard in the UK - many restaurants add service automatically; although it will be itemised on the bill, so check first.