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Two cruises both on Onward, 8 day Greece and 12 day TA Both ‘upgrades’ were $2500 for two inside to balcony. We declined…and slept like hibernating bears in our cave!

Gulp. The food won’t be close to Luminae and more like two stars below. I recognize everyone has different tastes but if you’ve had higher end cruiselines with great food (Oceania, Windstar, Azamara for us) then you will probably be disappointed BUT maybe not. Our first YC was Preziosa and their food was the worst, a British chef who seasoned nothing (even the Brits were in an uproar) and their reason was hilarious, they actually said everyone has different seasoning preferences to which I answered but shouldn’t you try to season something? One woman showed me her purse of seasonings she brings on MSC and truthfully, our next time we came onboard with our six pepper blend! The YC experience is good but sadly food is not their forte, I hope you find differently on Divina. For us I look at it as dropping a few lbs, glass half full. 😉

We just did that, called in the order and once delivered to the room brought the pizza upstairs to sundeck. Easy peasy lunch and honestly, I can’t imagine how they would manage pizza delivery on this very large sundeck.

We are on Seashore right now and most YC people are complaining about the food, quality and temperatures both. Zero hesitation I assure you and you start feeling bad for the staff after awhile. They know they have a problem so I don’t think people not complaining is the issue, it’s just the MSC way unfortunately. Sometimes it’s good but more often it is not. They will offer to make you some thing else, we always decline because I consider this my MSC diet but we have asked a couple of times upfront for some Indian curry or simple spaghetti olio. I fear for a supposed high end experience they just don’t meet the bar. This is our third MSC YC experience and I think we’re putting them on hold for a few years because the experience has been diluted in our opinion, actually cancelled our spring TA with them while onboard. Food is always a wild card but I can say that it’s usually average at best. Then comes the bar issues. I ordered a simple Kahlúa and milk and nine times over nine days it came wrong despite me describing exactly what it is and being told to go take a seat and then having it delivered to me incorrectly, twice it was served as a hot drink and backstory, former bartender and server here. The same with a rum and Coke and people I know with vodka and tonics, the rum and vodka were served separate alongside the Coke and tonic water. This is bartending 101 and you really have to laugh about it cuz otherwise your head will explode. I stopped with the girly drinks up here because they were absolutely tasteless and it’s hard to imagine that a piña colada or a strawberry daiquiri wouldn’t be sweet but for some reason they do not have dedicated bartenders in YC. My solution is to go down one level to the AUREA bar where they do have bartenders that know how to mix a drink and get it there, it’s worth leaving a tip and having a tasty cocktail but I’d prefer ordering it from up here from the comfort of my lounge chair, unfortunately that’s not possible with their abilities, at least on this ship at this time. Or get wine and beer and you’re good to go!

Just watched EDGE leaving Marseille, bound for Rome!

Do they still have a library? Inquiring minds here…

Felt the same way on Tahiti to LA cruise in April. Condescending to boot and frankly not the nice Canadian he liked to joke about BUT we booked another one for the extra OBC, clearly I could overlook my distaste for him. When I chose OBC over excursions he told me I was wrong to make that choice. Well Michael, unfortunately it’s no longer a choice but how pompous of you to decide what’s right for me. I just repeated OBC please and he stopped talking. Not a fan but I did laugh when he muffed the top cruisers name completely at the O club cocktail party and the old guy corrected him huffily, I applauded that fun. So few responsibilities yet he couldn’t master Mr. Johnson’s name, priceless. Shoutout to Peter on Azamara however, the best next cruise guy!

We had to use RCCL after a Windstar to connect (fun culture shock!) and I can say that was one of the few perks of that line but love Hurts way too. Give customers the option to listen or not.

I loved your review, read it out loud to my spouse and we laughed with you! If it helps we felt the same regarding a Windstar owners suite, underwhelmed. Thanks for sharing!

Royal Caribbean does and Hurtigruten does it thru the phone if you choose the option. Beats running to open your cabin door and listening!

Not to my knowledge, just one for many timers aka Oceania club members of which you will become after your first O cruise!

Agreed, we are not ship excursion people either BUT now that it has been included will you still not engage? Or just not sail O? I don’t know what we will do when it comes to booking our next O cruise, we are cruise only people with a few already booked and no desire to go Simply more (and hoping cruise only somehow comes back and yeah, I know, doubtful but I have dreams!) I’m just thinking I wouldn’t leave $2000 of excursion money on the table and that we would find some overpriced ship excursion(s) to partake in but I guess I will cross that bridge when we get there. No judgements from me, O needs money and this is just their newest idea which I happen to not like.

I hear you but I fear you’re in the minority! 😉 Agreed it’s a wait and see and happily I have no skin in the game but instead a casual observer who would indeed snag a spot on the one or two excursions amidst the many sooner rather than later. You can always cancel if you decide against it but happily there are a few years before it’s ship wide and I’m hopeful they will have it all figured out.

We were on Regatta from Tahiti to LA in January and they had a lovely woman, June, teaching jewelry making. We completed three separate pieces (each within an hour) on three separate days and they were beautiful shells, not low cost beads, etc. Quite striking pieces. It took place in the Terrace Café and she had approximately 70 people in each of her two sessions so if you are on a longer cruise with lots of sea days they will likely have something similar.

My thinking also, lots of never ever excursion folks are going to be doing them now because it’s included. If I’d booked a simply more cruise I definitely would vs leaving it unused on the Oceania table. Simply more is going to benefit tour operators because O is going to have to provide more excursions for the increased volume of people (eventually the entire ship) taking them albeit the pick and choose of which one, two, or three are your ‘free’ ones. It’s going to be interesting to watch the logistics of this but it looks like a boon to tour providers which is money into the local economy so yay!

Hi Jane and Ed, We are and we are going to have a great time, this itinerary on Marina around fabulous South America is wonderful and then to have Antarctica and Falklands is the cherry on top…accompanied by great food, what’s not to love?!! See you in six!

As does Azamara, we enjoyed them RT from Buenos Aires in January and we did make Port Stanley but we’ve heard of many folks missing the Falklands repeatedly, one couple missed out three times. Our trip was so incredible that we booked an expedition cruise with Hurtigruten in February 2024 from Santiago but prior to that we will be jumping on the Marina from Rio to Santiago via the Falklands and Antarctica. The entire area is just incredible (birds! whales! penguins!) and we can’t wait to go back so if you can only afford the drive by it’s still an incredible experience, you won’t be disappointed. This time we need to get on the ice, however, and looking forward to these two incredible trips.

Yes, we wear masks on the airplane and in the airports and on any public transportation whether it be trains, buses, Uber, etc. We don’t do excursions but again, any crowd and we wore a mask including standing in the crowded lines to get off on the tenders. No to Covid. We’ve had all the vaccines and boosters. I love hearing people declare this is over but it’s not and forget Covid, I am happy to not come home with the URI that was so prevalent on many cruises. We also bring a mask with us to the theater and the minute we hear someone coughing that phlegmy cough we relocate ourselves. We also ate mostly at the Terrace so we could be eating outside. it works for us. What surprised me was the lack of washy washy going on at the entrance of eating venues, very little which was slightly disturbing but happy they still have the staff serving at the Buffet so I’m good.

Buy your cabin steward or favorite waiters something nice, a necklace or cologne or shirt or or or. Plenty of possibilities to make some days and touch these hard working staff with your meh OBC. I’ve done it and it’s nice, I always have a plan for that OBC!

Love Windstar but never had an open porthole, feels like a recipe for wet disaster but I too wish they did open. Seems I missed the good ole days. Alas.

Never knew about this ITA Matrix, GREAT information, thanks!

This is a big reason why we cruise, to get the taste of a city and then, yes, we do go back for an extended time so thanks for the reminder. Now I’m smiling at some of those tastes that led to a much fuller meal. That and our love for lots of sea days! 😉

WINNER, someone who actually answered the posters question, good job jlowe! 😉 Plus I learned something, who knew?!

OR you choose to cruise a different cruiseline. You are right about corporate not caring, that is UNTIL enough people jump ship, but Cliff didn’t say that, he merely stated what many of us are saying which is we will not just be O only cruisers but will look into other lines to find the value we seek. It isn’t to cruise or not but rather more judicial choosing of our cruises. I shall still look at O along with beloved W and AZ and when the value is there we’re booking but there IS a price point for some of us, O may be challenging ours.

Windstar is lovely and our top line, highly recommend.