vtgumby

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!

5 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 This is rather disappointing to hear as we are looking for a replacement for sailing in the Retreat on Celebrity and one of the things we really like is Luminae.  We've always had excellent service and food served at the proper tempreature, with very minor exceptions (steak more medium than medium rare). I refuse to eat food that is supposed to be hot served cold. Sorry, I just can't do it.  

 

 As for the bar service, if the bartenders are not on their game with my drinks, I have no qualms in going to another bar elsewhere on the ship and enjoy my drinks there.  We're going to be on a smaller ship, Divina, so maybe that will help us.  

 

I do not know why I am not seeing more reviews of people's experience on Divina.  Most of the comments seem to be Seascape and Seashore and of course the Maragervila.  

 

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. 😉

28 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

My understanding is that they do not allow the pizza to be consumed in the lounge, which seems reasonable to me, but it is OK on the pool deck.

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.

On 11/6/2023 at 9:22 PM, DaKahuna said:

 

 I have to ask if you (1) sent the drink / food back because of the incorrect tempreture, (2) said anything to anyone regarding the luke warm drink and food?  

 

 It's hard for them to know something is wrong if no one says anything.   I believe we would have sent back the drink / food and if not corrected, said something to someone in authority.  

 

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!

On 8/15/2023 at 10:47 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

Onward differs from the other Azamara ships in that the Library has been turned into a trendy Cocktail Lounge.  Get the Ultimate Package and that becomes a Good Thing!  [Especially because after a few stiff ones, you can't read anyway!!!]

Do they still have a library? Inquiring minds here…

On 6/1/2023 at 7:23 PM, Snaefell3 said:

 

 

I, for one, had an urge to count my fingers after shaking hands.  😞

 

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!

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

never been on those   so cannot comment

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!

On 7/26/2023 at 6:50 PM, LHT28 said:

Do cruise lines  still have that option??

Have not see that in many years

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

48 minutes ago, SATaxman said:

Is there an event for first timers? When is it usually scheduled?

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

4 hours ago, Classiccruiser777 said:

Not in our case. In about 45 cruises we’ve taken 3 shore excursions in total. We prefer the freedom to go our own way. Simply more is simply a fare increase for us and makes O less attractive.

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.

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

I believe we’ll have to wait and see.

 

On my Viking cruise, we had ship tours provided at every port. Many didn’t interest us, so we took private tours. Most all of them were filled by like souls via our Roll Call. Some people, even with the free provided tours, opted to stay aboard ship and relax.

 

I believe both of these scenarios will continue on Oceania at about the same rate as current regardless of SM. We are NOT going to fly halfway around the world, to visit a possible bucket list port/site, and then take a ship tour we have no interest in! Those that just want to primarily cruise will continue to do so, tour credits or not. Likewise, we may have had the drinks package and still either bought a bottle of wine ,or pay corkage on a bottle . We don’t feel obliged to only drink what the package offers.

 

We have the option of converting our next cruise to SM. Oceania doesn’t offer enough tours we’re interested in to eat up the credits or cover the added costs. We’ll stay OLife for that cruise.

 

For future booking, where SM is the only option, SM merely reflects a portion of the total cost of the cruise. The question becomes:Is Oceania offering the best itinerary and offerings with that cruise. Just because SM is our only choice on O, we don’t feel obligated to take any tours with them or to drink their wine on any given night.

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.

On 7/22/2023 at 8:54 AM, cruisinsusin said:

New to Oceania and appreciate all the shared info on this board! I can see that Marina and Riviera have artist’s loft and Insignia has classes on world cruises but what about the other ships? We will be on Sirena for 3 weeks and would love to have an option for that.

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.

34 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

I would book early. With Simply more, everyone has credit.

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!

2 hours ago, SophieM said:

If you are sailing on 1/21, we’ll look forward to meeting you on board. Only slightly jealous of your expedition cruise, but we’ll buck up. 😊

 

Jane & Ed

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.

7 hours ago, SATaxman said:

Did any of you wear masks on airplanes?

Crowded excursions?

Had you had Covid previously?

Vaccines?

Not trying to be nosy, just interested in the risk.

If this is too invasive, feel free to ignore my questions.

🙂

 

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.

2 hours ago, TIMONEY said:

Exactly the way we feel.. With SM the Shipboard Credit from Loyalty Club useless. With SM yes you pay more and  basically get a shore excursion credit? Yes get a wifi and drink package, we don't drink so no gain for us previous wifi was just fine don't go on vacation for internet Service? Yes sure we can wonder around shops, ships services and spend money? (Not the best way to spend money) So if you were getting $250.00 $400.00 $500.00 What are you going to do with you it? Is it what it once was?

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.

3 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

 

I assume you know that they’re the same websites. ITA Matrix is the far more detailed one that shows you all ways to get from A to B (and/or C, D, etc). Many of the prices you’ll see on ITA Matrix require separate tix (particularly if you want to mix cabin classes). Most, if not all, airlines will not do ticketing for mixed cabin classes unless they publish it and may not issue tix for the mix of non-partner airlines with your primary one.

With only the exceptions of a few airlines who don’t subscribe, what is the benefit of ITA Matrix is that it shows you every possible way to do an itinerary.

And, BTW, the choices and pricing you see on the actual airline site may not be accurate nor complete. I know for a fact that, when you search “any time” for your chosen dates on United, it does not list all flights. That’s one of the reasons, I have the ITA Matrix list in front of me and also ask the phone rep if s/he can find anything better within my parameters. That one question alone can save you some significant cash. 

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

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

 

Yes, you definitely see more in each place than on a cruise, but also see less places. On a cruise you "taste" each port, and then decide if it's worth to come back. Some ports are overnight. We also arrive 2-3 nights earlier to each port, so we have at least one place that we learn more in depth.

 

There is a tradeoff to everything.

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! 😉

1 hour ago, jlowe420 said:

I have done this with NCL.  Basically you wire the money in and on the first day you come up with your ID and they setup your account.  Anytime you need money you go to the cage and get it, or you can ask the pit boss for a marker at the table.  Nice and easy.  On NCL there is like a daily withdraw limit -- they don't want you pulling all of your cash out in a single day.  You can pull it out and lose it, but they have like a 2k a day limit on cash withdraw that you keep.  In my experience it never really applied, if I asked for cash for the slots they gave it.  

 

On the last day of the cruse you provide your wire information back and they take care of it about a week after the cruise ends.

 

I've found it’s much nicer than carrying a large amount of cash around.

WINNER, someone who actually answered the posters question, good job jlowe! 😉

Plus I learned something, who knew?!

11 hours ago, julia said:

Well Cliff, I hate to tell you but.....

Oceania DOES NOT CARE if you move on.  Sorry.  Cold, hard, fact.

They are covering increased costs on EVERY LEVEL. As is every single cruise line, hotel, theme park, restaurant, grocery store, etc, etc. Bemoaning the increases will have no effect on the outcome. Either you CHOOSE to cruise or you don't.

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.

1 hour ago, Hanoj said:

Windstar? Im not familiar with them but was on their website yesterday and they offer a cruise only fare.

Windstar is lovely and our top line, highly recommend.