scifimonkey

7 hours ago, flviking said:

As a frequent Celebrity cruiser we decided to try O based on the pricing for Sky Suites becoming similar to PH suites. We know how we’ve been treated by Celebrity when they changed itineraries. We’ll see how this goes. 
if it truly is the case that time needed to be carved out for industry familiarization then some number of people should be fired for scheduling a new ship without that time built in. 

We were also ‘transitioning’ from Celebrity to Oceania partly out of a desire to check out something different but also due to the loss of Sky Suite Butlers and retreat standards dropping plus there was the lure of the new ships. This was to be our 3rd Oceania Cruise (previous one on Vista and one to come later this year on Insignia). We will await to see what we are offered but as was mentioned earlier, as UK residents it’s a long way to come for what has become such a short cruise with a relatively ordinary itinerary. This change and the fact that the sky suite butlers on Celebrity are returning may just change our direction back to Celebrity for 2025 and beyond.

30 minutes ago, slw207693 said:

On each side of bed is 1 US socket, 1 USB (old style) slot  and 1 USB lightining (newer electronics) slot

 

on shelf near dining table there is 1 US plug, 1 European plug and the two different USB slots

 

under makeup mirror across from the foot of the bed is a US plug and 2 sets of the different USB slots

 

Further down on counter next to phone is a European plug and American plug

 

pictures in order from descriptions above

 

Thanks very much for that, much appreciated

12 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

THIS!  Exactly!

Oh, how wonderful that big closet is, for a multitude of sins, er, uses! 😁

So nice to push <whatever> in there quickly, and... shut the door.

And voila!  It's gone....!

 

 

You really should not treat your partner that way😂

19 hours ago, slw207693 said:

Order of pictures

 

terrace before deluge of guests

Privee (seating for 14)

Polo 

Waves grill

aquamar Cafe (extremely popular today, but it’s a sit and be served restaurant)

Embers

Toscana

Favorite Barristas

Lync digital Center (located on deck 14 forward behind Artist Loft) - formerly Oceania @sea internet area

Barristas bakery and seating area

Really dull question but kind of useful to know. What and how many electrical sockets have you got in your PH2. Are they US, EUR? Also what is there in terms of USB sockets? Will be joining next week and want to check if I need to do a quick run to the hardware store.

On 12/7/2022 at 2:54 PM, LHT28 said:

Never  had an issue  getting  a 2 top  for 6:30 pm   we book B cabin & C  on the R ships

But now that  more  pax are new to Oceania it may be a problem as people think the food is like main stream lines & you need to eat in the Specialties  to get good food

We actually prefer the variety in the GDR 

We try to avoid  the mayhem in the Terrace 

JMO

6.30 is a late lunch for me😆

1 hour ago, Fionboard said:

The promises are broken!

Seriously I would choose another ship this year and see if this horrendous litany of failings can be sorted before booking on Iona. 

1 hour ago, SarahHben said:

I can confirm that Iona is limping back to Southampton on part power and that P&O are flying in a part from Italy with a view to fitting it during Saturday.  I  assume if they cannot get it fitted then the next cruise will be delayed until they do as on limited power they would again have to miss multiple ports on future cruises. I wonder if it is still under warranty?  Compensation was £100 per cabin for what is essentially a 25% reduction in the amount of Norway the passengers got to see. Not clear if this would affect the ability to claim on insurance I guess it will depend on the dreaded fine print. The way they are

going this summer the insurance companies are going to want a premium surcharge for P&O as virtually every Norwegian cruise on Iona seems to have failed in some way or other  

If the current Norway season is anything to go by then which ports you visit now seems to be nothing more than a lucky dip and whether you get 2 3 or 4 ports on your 7 night cruise a matter of chance. As does which restaurants and bars might be open and when. As their new flagship Iona limps back to Southampton after yet another failure to fulfil its published itinerary it seems like the comparison with Easy Jet may be generous. 

Anyone know why Iona diverted to Alesund. Is it because of weather or protests about it going into the Fiord or what!!

So three of these cruises have now returned. No news of plague ships returning to Southampton but does anyone have any anecdotal news of how the test is going?

On 7/12/2022 at 1:32 PM, Ardennais said:

That’s what I would like to know too! 

It didn't tender as it has to unload over 5000 passengers and it would take forever……………………

what is more questionable is how does a ship supposedly designed specifically for the Fiords seem incapable of docking at Gerainger one of the primary Fiord ports, cannot dock at Flaam because it is too big and continually seem to have handling problems in a light breeze. Expect to see Arvia and Iona shipped off to sail the Med and the Caribbean before too long.

On 6/24/2022 at 6:32 PM, LLOM said:

Good Evening,

I am just wondering if Sindu, and the Epicurean restaurants offer discount on the first and second night dinning as they did before the pandemic, 

has anyone been on recently who could tell us please.

Thank you 

Just think yourself lucky if they are actually open…………….

18 hours ago, Nick&Simon said:

. 

 

 

I know I will get flamed for daring to say anything negative, but it is what it is.

keep telling it as it is. As long as you also flag the things that have not changed and anything that is good to keep some balance there should be no negative response.

On 7/4/2021 at 7:01 AM, Nick&Simon said:

 

There was a quiz scheduled for 7pm in Craft Social last night. No-one turned up (or to be more precise, no one wanted to join) so it was cancelled. I have seen a couple of tables of more than 6 people, although I don't think it is officially allowed.

 

 Big scoop for me is that you can sit at the bar outside Murano, and you can order via the bar man, however a server has to bring the drink to you. 

 

Max four people to a lift with X on the floor to tell you where to stand.

 

I have seen quite a few people with visors rather than face masks.

 

I would describe service as amazingly willing, but rusty. For example I asked for a Heineken in Craft Social and the waiter just didn't understand, I ended up with some hoppy ale. My room steward is unable to bring me sparkling water. He has brought champagne, instead  he has brought tonic, but water with gas he can't do. 

 

My only real gripe (anything else being a niggle) is the AI wifi. It's unusable for anything other than the Celebrity App and the odd message on Whatsapp. You can't browse this site for example, you can't send a picture on whatsapp. 

 

Can you get and open your email?

 

 

I am the OP and am still waiting. It is now almost 4 months since I was notified by NCL that my cruise was cancelled.......................They have clearly given up on my future business and that of all the people that I tell about this!

 Can really only compare two of these and both impressions are skewed by the fact that we were in suites on most of the trips. Comments are based on cruises on Ventura, Azura and Britannia on P&O and on Silhouette and Eclipse on Celebrity.

P&O is very good, but very British, occasionally a bit butlins but still possible to avoid this and have a good quality cruise with a bit of judicious upgrading. The suites, the Epicurian restaurant, the Glass house wine bar, and drink and excursion prices generally are all very competitive with Celebrity but the suite perks are very minor. Good set piece entertainment but focused in a few locations which can lead to areas getting overcrowded.
Celebrity is excellent as long as you avoid high season to the Med when it suffers from the same butlins mentality as P&O from too many guests. Significantly more expensive than P&O on every level from the base price to the on board spend and the excursions. Excellent perks for suite guests with lots of bolt on goodies like the Lumiere restaurant, the retreat lounge and sun decks . More speciality restaurants than P&O which are all of good and some of excellent quality and there is the brilliant martini bar. Set piece entertainment is IMHO not as good As P&O however there is more supporting entertainment spread accross the ship which seems to reduce the number of times that areas become crowded. More hassle from sales staff and ‘special offers’.

Carnival has always looked too brash for us to try it

NCL almost got our custom this year for a trip to Japan but in the event they quite understandably cancelled the cruise. Unfortunately after 4 months they have still not refunded our deposit and for that reason alone we will never be giving them our custom again.

Now over 70 days and still no refund !

Hallux

My post referred to the cancellation of a Spirit cruise to Japan and China by NCL of which I was notified on the 10th Feb and in the covering letter NCL stated:

 Please be advised that a full refund of the voyage fare paid will be processed automatically to the form of payment provided at the time of booking.

I am still waiting for this’ automatic’ process to happen.

By comparison, due to the NCL cancellation,  I had to cancel hotel bookings for a pre cruise stay in Tokyo of almost equal value to the NCL deposit.
Expedia, through whom they were booked refunded my monies to my credit card within a couple of days.

Why can Expedia act so quickly and yet NCL be so slow, it’s the same process.
In fact Expedia were responding to my cancellation, which might have been expected to be more difficult.

I accept that I may be somewhat biased being many thousands of pounds out of pocket so I sought the views of others as to whether this represented a fair way for NCL to act.

As OP I would respectfully point out that I have been waiting since the 10th of Feb.

 By my maths that slightly longer than 6 days!!!

They are now producing rapid tests for CV19 which take less than 30mins. Maybe we will all have to undergo an enforced waiting time at boarding to be cleared of having CV19. Frankly if they took the test on arrival at the port they could probably have your results by the time you get through the registration process. I guess the only problem would be that your luggage would have to be held back pending clearance which might muck up the boarding process. 
Having said that it would be a pain if this had to happen on rejoining the ship at every port.

In answer to the question of what they told me when they wrote cancelling back on Feb 10th, no time frame was mentioned.

My expectation was that it might be a few weeks and bear in mind that at that point only China and a few locations in SE Asia were affected.
When nothing had happened by the end of the month I phoned to see what was happening and just got the run around and a bland commitment that it was being processed.

I then patiently waited a further month until a couple of days ago when because the deposits ( some thousands of pounds by the way) had still not been refunded I contacted them again. It was at this point that I was told that it could be up to 90 days. 

I will give them another week before reverting back to the CC company however I am concerned that because NCL have quoted a specific time period the CC company will use this to swerve their payment protection obligations. 
The cancellation of a bucket list first trip to Japan and China was bad enough ( though I do not blame NCL for that of course) but not being able to retrieve my deposit just adds insult to injury.

Had never considered the size of the deposit in 20 years of cruising but it will sure be near the top of my list when I can finally get around to booking the next one.

15 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

EASILY it will be up to 90 days.  They are not simply reversing charges, and absolutely not simply to your account.  There are in excess of 100,000 refund or future cruise credits to calculate and process.  Ninety days is easily within the acceptable and normal time frame for such mass refunds to be completed.  Remember that a vast majority of these people are working form home.

Me too and everyone in my company but that is not an excuse for not getting things done electronically ( people being ill with the virus and unable to work, that’s a different matter, but relocating computers to new locations should not have a massive impact on a global business. They should have, and be enacting, the disaster recovery plan that any self respecting business of this size should have had in place)

 I don’t think my companies clients would remain clients for long if I used home working as an excuse for not dealing with my account obligations in 2020.

My heart bleeds..... they cancelled the cruise not me and this was weeks before the main shut down. That was a specific business decision not to send the Spirit to Asia of which a known consequence was the requirement to repay deposits. Other companies seem to be able to reverse credit card payments within days, not months. This experience has seriously dented any faith I have in NCL. I don’t expect them to be angels, they are a business but I do expect them to meet the same standards as other large travel companies which was brought into sharp focus by the contrasting behaviour of Expedia.

18 minutes ago, hallux said:

Seems like a perfectly reasonable question to me and clearly the OP was not the only person who suffered the symptoms on this cruise. All the cruise companies were slow on tightening down the pre cruise checks hence the large number of cases on cruise ships however arguably most governments have been equally slow. I don’t think that there is any particular reason to blame NCL who like everyone else were running to catch up with the threat that this virus posed and although in hindsight it is clear that they should have figured out that just like norovirus, the contained environment of a cruise ship was likely to be much more difficult to manage than on shore the fact is they didn’t. Hopefully when operations are resumed checks and provision for containing viral passenger illness will be much improved.

Given the OPs symptoms I would definitely get an antibody test as soon as they are generally available. You may be ‘lucky’ enough to find that you had CV19 and can now go about your life as normal again.