mancunian

It seems to me that nobody has any sympathy with the cruiselines in this matter. Whatever they do one side of the argument will lose, so the only thing they can do is to limit both sides to parts of the ship. This argument which has taken 20 pages here and will probably go on to 40 or more is totally pointless. The people who like to dress up have Atlantide, La Dame and probably Kaseiki and the informal people have the rest and there is really nothing the cruiselines or anybody else can do about it. Let us practice the live and let live way of life

Looking forward to this. We have not been on moon yet but booked on her for December Have a great cruise.

We went on a five day cruise on SOD earlier this year as an experiment. I normally use a rollator on board ships but on this occasion we decided to take my mobility scooter to see if I could cover more distance. We had to obviously book one of the adapted cabins and were looking for the standard cabin version. I was under the impression that all the cabins were large and of the size of the deluxe cabin which was certainly the size we were given and it was ncertainly not 50% more. Strange. It was certainly large and comfortable though the downside was that to give as much floor space as possible you lost the chairs. In a cabin of the deluxe size this seemed a little over the top. I do wonder if the insistence on one of these cabins is to prevent damage to the ship. The wide automatic doors certainly were great and even with just a rollator or wheelchair it is easy to knock into a standard door. bWe were well cared for, the only blip being we were told that staff members would collect me at the boat drill, only they did not. Then when we went out later found apiece of paper on the door stating inspected but unoccupied. Interesting. We mentioned this later in the day at guest services who just shrugged their shoulders and said it did not matter and an instruction sheet would be given the next day. It was not! Incidentally I am back to my rollator. My mobility scooter was not really a success. Not easy to go ashore as excursions, shuttle buses and taxis do not work and ports you are not usually able to travel through.

Hi Lois. Yes we have already met up there. I am disappointed. We originally booked a vista suite on Dawn for late August. We werei initially upgraded soon after to 705. Had rather mixed feelings. Yes it gave us a veranda but as I use a rollator it seemed a long way to walk. Actually on SS we are happy with the vista cabins as near dolce vita where I can break my journey to the forward elevator and as we love sitting at the aft are more inclined to sit in Arts Cafe or Panorama. However we quickly got used to the idea and then on going on to My Silversea noticed we had been moved to 528 and we were delighted. A veranda and a very convenient cabin and confirmation on here it would be good. We have just discovered we are back in 705 and now very disappointed. Had someone made a mistake I wonder. Anyway we will survive. We will probably be found with me sitting on rollator taking a rest halfway. LOL!

Delighted to hear that the 520’s range of cabins and the two thumbs up for 529. We are on the UK cruise on 27th August in 528. Not long now Lois - looking forward to possibly having a chat.

Our two cruiselines are Silversea andOceania. Never had a butler on O as we are in balcony cabins. Our first time on SS we had our first butler which bothered us. What on earth would we do with him. Turned out to be her and she was great. We declined the unpacking - did not fancy a holiday with the hunt the thimble game wondering where things were. She served two dinners in our cabin, sorted out my wifi, cleaned shoes, sorted dining bookings. One thing I have noticed on SS is how few people use guest services including us. Butler seems to sort most queries. I believe on Silver Dawn they draw you a special bath too as part of the new Otivum package. Waiting to try that in August. One butler and cabin steward on SS used to dash to unlock cabin door if they saw me approaching (I am disabled). The butler used to always ask if I would like a pot of tea at this point. Husband thought we ought to accept her offer once to show we appreciated her which we did. Not sure of reasoning here. Not accepting was probably more appreciative. Our last trip we came to earth with a bang as we got a poor butler. Our two first and main requests of the cruise is now always for one of the deep egg crates for the bed for my spine and a stool for the shower. This time the stool did not appear and the egg crate cover was the narrow one. We pointed this out and the egg crate was replaced, but went into bathroom and still no stool but he had brought a raised toilet seat instead!!! By this time I had realised that the cabin steward, whose English was in fact not as good as the butler was in fact brighter. Within ten minutes the offending article was removed and I had a stool in the shower. You cannot win a good butler every time but three out of four times is pretty good I feel.

We are currently on Vista one week into a ten day cruise. Good food, excellent staff and nice ship but still some things we prefer on Riviera. I have thought the wifi to be very good. We particularly like the library, light and airy and loved the new baristas and bakery. We are finding the dining rooms and Terrace noisy. We have had calm seas yet often in midship cabin, horizons and Terrace but particularly in Horizonsthere is an odd movement a bit like stabilisers but sharper. Interesting about the aft elevators. We are opposite the front ones and we have been surprised how one or other will be out of order, in fact for hours on embarkation day two of them were stuck. Incidentally if your cabin is near the lifts you cannot hear them at all. I am disabled so glad we are not at the other end. We enjoyed our meal in ember spoilt only by people having to speak loudly because of the taped vocal music.

I think there is yet another problem and it is to do with taped music, particularly vocal taped music. We are currently on the new Vista - beautiful ship, super food and best staff we have come across but ………. much noisier than we have experienced on previous O cruises. Last night we dined in Ember the new speciality restaurant. Good experience except for the taped vocal music which meant people had to raise their voices to be heard at their table making it a generally unpleasant experience. Yes OK we are towards the end of our cruising career and it is the oldies complaining again but I still think some balance possible. We enjoy live music but also like peace and quiet andcannot understand why there is so much taped music. People want a background nowadays. As the cruise goes on we are finding the level of noise quite a problem and will in future keep with our other favourite, Silversea. Of course we may find they are going the same way.

THank you so much for your help

Having now got and printed our boarding passes for our cruise on Vista from Athens on 1 June, I see it tells you to affix your luggage labels. We have not got luggage labels and cannot remember if you are given these at the port or should we have received them. Help please

Last year we were booked in a vista on Spirit and about 10 days before SS phoned and offered an upgrade to a veranda for £250 each. Not sure which class of veranda except it was on deck 7 midships. DH’s response to me was “you can if you want” so I quickly said yes! She also gave us onboard credit to have a meal in La Dame and the Japanese restaurant so I think we did OK. This had been given earlier not at the same time.

We boarded Discovery on May 1st having been told we needed the information in their email. We turned up with the six pages each and were surprised they were not then asked for. In fact we were not asked for anything other than our names and our passports.

Thank you. It looks wonderful. We are so looking forward to joining her on1st June.

Hi Lois Peter and I (Angela) are also on the 27 August Dawn cruise. It is a super itinerary as it goes to smaller places not the usual Belfast, Dublin, Liverpool, Edinburgh range which we know from land trips anyway. We visited Bantry Bay and went to the Italian Garden on the island on our honeymoon. It was lovely then over 50 years ago. i have put that down on the excursion list. Do say hello to us - I really enjoy your posts. I think I will be more recognisable to you than the other way round as I use a bright red rollator (push along) Hope we have good weather which can be only drawback to British cruises

We have sailed on Spirit three times la st year and loved her. As I understand it when she was lengthened she was modelled on Muse, so why when Dawn, Moon and Muse are bracketed together why is Spirit left out.

Ella. Do not worry about this. I did three cruises last year on Spirit using a rollator with no problems. Crew brilliant. On the gangplank one crew member assisted me whilst another carried rollator up and down. No problem with the same arrangement on the tenders and I did an excursion at most lports provided there was an excursion that fitted my walking abilities with said scooter. At only two ports in four weeks of cruising. did I feel there was nowhere in my walking capacity. Silversea are also good in that unlike most cruiselines where you gather in the theatre and all set off to the coaches together you meet at the coach so you can allow an extra five minutes to get there more slowly . Enjoy your cruise

Provided they do not get rid of the Illy coffee I am happy with other things!

dronn29 Than k you so much for your update. I do hope things improve next segment for you. I think noisy children would impact most SS passengers holiday so bad news for us all. I guess we will all need to keep clear of school holidays. Problem for doing that is that we do not all know school holidays for America, Canada, Australia and UK I have actually read some of your thread but short on time to read all threads on SS and Oceania boards

Sorry unlike some of you do not read all threads

dron 29 In what way is the current segment different. Which ship are you on?

We were on Silver Spirit three times last year and never once saw a scooter or wheelchair parked in the corridor. Perhaps they do not allow it. I use a rollator and have found SS to be great with disabled people. In the case of emergency you have two crew members assigned to you and your first day onboard they come to your cabin and introduce themselves and take you to the boat drill and remain with you. At home I use either my rollator or mobility scooter. I have only taken the rollator on cruises and that is fine around the ship and in the luggage hold on coaches but I am limited which excursions I can do. Apart from one coach doing an excursion from Fort Lauderdale I have never seen a scooter on a bus and think they would need a ramp to the boot for most models. Mine takes apart into seven pieces when we go out in the car but definitely too heavy to lift assembled. In a corridor in theory you could put the parts together but feel that that and going on a flight would be a nuisance and not something we will consider. We are actually going on a cruise with Saga in a fortnight - no flight and car to port so we are for the first time taking the scooter but we are in an accessible cabin of which they have 10. If you do not get one of these you cannot take scooter or wheelchair. I. am however uncertain if I have done the right thing as I think going ashore will be difficult and wishing now I had just opted for my rollator which just limits distance.

The problem with scooters and wheelchairs being left outside the cabin stops other disabled people getting past. I have not seen them parked outside SS but have come across it on some other lines. If you use a walker as Ido or a wheelchair you have great difficulty getting past a scooter.

I am with Bitob on this. Felt our cabin staff on Seabourn very poor compared with SS on both our cruises. Please keep butlers SS

Actually on this cruise flights would have made a big difference. The cruise goes from Southampton and the passengers on the charter make their own way there. Coming back there is a flight covered in the fare but only from Copenhagen which of course is quite short.

The arts cafe on Spirit also had scones on our three cruises last year.