globevest

Well said and thank you for the reviews Jane.

Thanks Andy. Take care.

Thank you for the interesting review. Good price comparison. We enjoy S. It was our first Celebrity ship and got us hooked on Blu.

I'm assuming it can be used to purchase drink packages once onboard?:confused:

True...

Lots of NCL spin. The article uses info from the NCL press release of May. So there is nothing new.

 

What O needs to do is to modify their software to automatically disconnect users after a period of inactivity. Other cruise lines do this.

Exactly....

Sabbycat......On July 3rd we flew Barcelona to Toronto on Rouge after disembarking from Riviera. I had never heard of Rouge until my TA, a few weeks earlier, told us our seats were Air Canada Rouge 4 C & E. We had paid $199 each for 'Premier' seating which I thought was just a extra few inches of legroom in economy. A little research on 'seat guru' showed that we were in the forward cabin which seated 24 passengers.

What a very pleasant surprise when we boarded. The seat spacing was similar to first class seating 20-25 years ago. A drink, free of charge, was offered before take off. Can you imagine my amazement when a table cloth was placed on your drop down table before serving dinner on china and utensils were stainless steel. After dinner I stretched out (reasonable recline on the seat) and slept 3 hours:D Alcohol was served throughout the flight.

More research, when I got home, showed me that the $199 extra was clearly an O subsidized extra. However as best I can tell the real price for Economy Rouge Extra (not sure if that is exactly the term) was nearer $400 pp.....well worth the service provided compared with the price of business class on AA, United. Delta etc.

As we live in central Ohio Canada Rouge is now on my list of flights to be checked when traveling to Europe.

I asked and was told that if you add additional gratuity to your onboard account it goes to the 'pool'.

If you give a tip directly to cabin staff, restaurant staff etc it is a personal tip and is kept by the receiver.

Thank you for your review. Like other O regulars I prefer being served in the Terrace Café.

I'll second the rec' for Terrace for dinner.

 

Several of us on ATW16 dined there every night....imagine seeing the sun setting and casting that golden light on the Sydney Opera House, or watching the evening fog envelop Table Mountain in Cape Town....I won't bore you with other examples!

 

We all agreed that one can often dine in restaurants like the MDR, but dining al fresco in Terrace at some of the most beautiful cities in the world is why we like to cruise!

I agree and even when we join 'O' in Miami for a simple mid winter we love to start our cruise sitting outside in the Terrace looking at Miami. It puts us fully in the mood for the following 10 or so days in the Caribbean.

An excellent report. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience.

The fact is that Luminae is closed for lunch on port days. Although you may not be going ashore most passengers will. It makes no financial sense to open Luminae, Blu or the MDR on port days. We too stay on the ship on some port days but find lunch at the Aqua Spa cafe delicious and with no crowds very relaxing.

+1 we also go to the Aqua Spa Café on some non port days.

We were on the same cruise with Mura.

I agree that she is kept in great shape due to constant and thorough maintenance by Oceania.

Paul can you clarify.....are you referring to Mura or Nautica. :D:D sorry I just could not resist. I hope you do not mind Mura and if I may add I am an avid follower of your informative posts.

Barry

This is not correct. It is tied to where you reside.

So with a UK address and a US passport you can book UK rates.

The above statement is correct. For me it does not depend on where my PASSPORT is from. Booking in the US has nothing to do with what nations Passport I hold. I am a British citizen and have lived in the US for 38 years. I am a permanent US resident. I do not have a UK address. My US TA fills in the required Oceania Guest Registration Form for me which states my residency as the US .... Citizenship, Passport and Passport Number as GBR. A copy of the Registration Form is included in the Oceania issued Blue Book. I have sailed multiple times with Oceania.

Do you know what the earliest time was for disembarkation, I assume that the ship docks before 8am. We have a flight out of Barcelona arranged by O at 11.05.

On 3rd July 2016 we chose the 7.30 am disembarking time. I think the ship docked about 6.30 am. No problem, quickly through customs etc. took a taxi to the airport and was there before 9 am for a 11.15 am flight.

Had a similar experience with our Dec 2nd 2015 Barcelona disembarkation.

Maybe they are going to refund port charges when they miss ports :rolleyes: I don't think....

I will find that soooooo annoying.. It's not like port charges are optional! I don't mind paying them, I just don't want to have to do the adding up.

I don't mind the total of the port charges being shown, but I don't want it taken out of the base price as if it was optional when it isn't.

SellaVee, I fully agree with you. It looks as though they want to follow some of the airline practices.....low price then watch out for the 'hidden' fees...Ugh! :eek: not what I expect from a premium cruise line.

Working on an AK cruise. Thank you for your quickie review.

I must concur that the location of the table and chairs at the foot of the bed in the Marina/Riviera PH suites is less than ideal. The table in the "R" ship PH cabins is much more convenient for us. (We aren't six feet tall so our feet don't run into the table or chairs on the "O" ships but I can see where that would be an irritation for taller passengers!)

OTOH, love the larger bathroom and walk-in closet ... so you win some, you lose some. Mura

Yes I have to move the table and chairs away from the bed or I bump against the back of one of the chairs and the edge of the table...and I am a very still sleeper. We never use the table or chairs. The butler leaves the afternoon snack on the table and we move it to the table in the sitting area against the verandah.

Nice review. Thank you.

Good rearrangement...

Many thanks for your review. I am looking at S for one or two future cruises. I think I will wait a year or so before sailing her. Plenty of other cruises on the other R ships to choose from for now.

Buryfan, thank you for your review. We are checking out Sirena itineraries.

I am a Radcliffefan from many moons ago.

globevest,

 

sextant not needed....he's pretty sure that it is the difference in what was reality and what was the original posted itinerary-- and we didn't follow it as you know.

I am much relieved;)

Thank you so much for your wonderful reports. My DW and I enjoyed travelling with you and Mr Wonderful.

for those of you interested in such things, Mr. Wonderful has done a count of miles covered re: nautical v. statute miles and believes that O is off in their count of nautical miles and tells why.

 

He includes detailed notes for those who like this stuff--including a GPS "picture" of the entire world route and a couple of excursions.

 

For the rest of you that take a look at what he's done and think...why?....remember this is what engineers like to do, so welcome to my world!!!

 

http://drdavebradley.blogspot.com/

Mr W.....Accepting your analysis and math the clear conclusion is that the Captain and navigation officers let the ship wonder around for 1,999 nautical miles and as they didn't know where they were they only recorded the miles when they were positive of their location.:rolleyes: Mmmmm! a troubling thought. I am taking my own sextant on our next cruise :D

Good to hear. Thank you.