ToxM

I do enjoy those delicious few days before a trip. So close they so far. I am lucky as i enjoy all the precruise planning and like to have all my ducks nicely in a linear fashion. I love being at the airport, the flight and every aspect before stepping foot on the ship. Marital Unit is sadly exactly the opposite, and he has confessed to me that he is a grumpy sod until he steps foot in the cabin. He’s a terrible packer - I once watched almost three episodes of Stranger Things on the day we were leaving for the pre flight hotel as his “this will take me 45 minutes to pack” turned into “I can’t fit anything else in my case and I forgot to wash my jeans”… He has no idea about the facilities on the ships we go on unless he has been on them before and generally has no interest in the details of where we are and when. So I have to be a good planner, and make sure I can keep him out of ultimate grump mode til he can manage to become his normal wonderful self. I don’t over plan though, there is a fine line - we know where we are and when and if its a port we have a tour in we get off the ship and see where the adventure takes us. Of it’s a sea day the only thing we know we are doing is playing poker in the afternoon. Plan how to get there and get back, but leave a little room for spontaneity.

We used a taxi service from NCE to MC. it was about an hour, and a pleasant trip with beautiful views.

AirTags would have also been useful here. My stuff always travels with them now.

A few people also use the specialities for starters in room before going out for dinner instead of canapés to the room. We haven’t done this, but I may try it next time. You can order off the canapé menu as well .. we asked for crisps one evening (Chips for my colonial cousins) and this was happily supplied.

Wear what you are comfy in, there are no such conventions in Europe.

All cabins were refurbished, some of the cabins retained their bath, the majority had showers replacing the bath. I found this vid which may whet your whistle. I think this is the class of cabin you have booked? This is from 8 months ago so will show post refurb.

All the cabins were refurbished, I think what you are referring to is the fact that some retained their baths.

This is a TA on one of their smaller ships with an iron we have always wanted to do.

No idea yet, I am a Regent virgin and an O devotee. I suppose the lines are now blurring slightly because of Simply More. I am very curious about how Regent will perform compared to O.

Thank you for your very thorough (as usual!) review. I think your site kept a very large number of cruisers going through Covid as we could go look at the menus and dream, so thank you!

If I had my way I would only do TA’s, I love them.

I’ve got two TA’s next year - we are also re-evaluating whether our next holiday after that will be a cruise. First TA is with Regent and then second is with O for them to give me a good measure. I cruise for sea days and the ship, hubby cruises for new destinations and relaxation. We both enjoy a game of poker in the afternoons on sea days (and make money from them, which we offset against the cruise cost). We can do biz class to Vegas and stay in a hotel that will give us good access to poker tournaments and a good budget for food for a couple of weeks cheaper than the same length of cruise in a standard verandah on an O class ship. We used to do 2 two weeks trips a year to Vegas just for poker before we discovered cruising (before anyone comments, it’s at least 12 hours to vegas for us and an 8 hour time difference, we go a for a long time to justify the distance/time, and we only play poker, I have done the sightseeing in the previous 15+ trips to Vegas). I love cruising - and O ticks all my personal boxes on what a cruise should be - I’ve never felt like a product was more suited to me, but O is pricing itself out of our value league. We don’t drink that much and we always felt O’s tours were too expensive. Regent is all inclusive. But the itinerary was what won that one for us . I have a cruise cert with O to use or get a refund on, waiting on news from the ATW segments for 2026. They may lose me as a customer if they don’t get them out before December. January may change all that - Regent may make us jump ship to them, it’s a very first world conundrum that I know I am lucky to have.

Whoever above said that the only guarantee you really have at the moment is the cabin has it bang on. The supply chain is still messed up from Covid, and current events are going to have a huge impact on this for the foreseeable future. Staffing on cruiselines is still suffering from a lack of staff, the ability of people who want to work on ships to get to ships, and the challenge of losing seasoned staff and taking on new staff to get them to the level of service and culture required for their chosen cruiseline. Country states and individual ports are tightening up entry requirements for environmental reasons, or dealing with natural disasters (See Maui), or just rethinking how they want their tourist spots used by cruise passengers (Venice and soon to Amsterdam, Barcelona etc). There is a widening conflict that has and will continue to affect large portions of the world. All of the above are effecting ALL cruiselines, not just Oceania. I think if you can cope with all of the above or varying elements of the above during a trip then go for it, enjoy the cruise and hope for things to get back to how they used to be (unlikely). If any or all of the above will ruin your trip, then it may be time to assess how and where you take your annual/biannual holiday.

I have a large behind and the rest of me is on a scale to support it and i know I wouldn’t cope in the R non suite shower. I am definitely plus sized for clothing, if you need a scale. PH bathroom I didn’t feel was cramped or small. O class bathroom non suite is fine. As my fellow plus sized brethren will attest my guide for life in most situations is: ”Will my bum fit in this”

Just went and made dining reservations for our January Voyager cruise - took a bit of hunting for a non 9pm non sharing table, but mission accomplished. Very easy process - certainly easier than on my usual line Oceania. The countdown definitely starts now!

Sounds to me like all lines are now avoiding Maui and there is a lot of competition for port berths. I wonder if the South Pacific islands are getting stricter with ship numbers in their waters. it might be worth having a look at the what’s in port website to see if other ships are having the same issue. You will be travelling to these places when a lot of ships will be visiting especially if a lot of lines are doing west to east circumnavigations. Not making excuses for O, they are notorious for shortening times in port lately.

Sirena has Red Ginger and an amalgamation of Polo Grill and Toscana so in reality 3 specialities. Cabins under PH grade have very small bathrooms/shower, PH and above are fine. Sirena is my fave of the three Oceania ships I have been on (Marina, Riviera and Sirena). Do your due diligence regarding cabin size. I prefer the smaller ship size of R class. I did and chose to cruise in a PH, if itineraries were identical and cost was not a consideration I would choose R class in a PH.

Her announcements drove me crazy, her disinterest in everything apart from the battle of the sexes trivia and her husband’s borderline racist comedy were the only negatives on my wonderful Sirena TA in March 2022.

H10’s in Barcelona will be a good fit, we stayed after our TA last year and it was very nice - there are multiple locations, but they are all nice.

I am on Voyager in January on a TA (where I hit maximum relaxation). As a regular O cruiser, this is the one thing that seems incongruent for Regent. I want to have a dinner buffet option - my understanding is that on Voyager we have the specialities, the GDR and Sette mari (which is a walk in, but busy) - all of which means Marital Unit and I have to formal up a little for dinner. I am not a slob, but I relax on TA’s, I can see us ordering room service. I will report on our experience.

Good choice, regular cabins are fine on O or A class, PH and above for optimum comfort on R class.

Make sure to ask for fresh hot water - they carry around tea pots with what was hot water, and this won’t do the biz to get you a proper cup of tea.

When someone is released to a port agent that person is contracted by the cruise line to continue service. Not through duration of treatment but certainly not to defraud the passenger. The same should go for pre and post cruise tours paid for as part of the cruise by the cruise line. I certainly don’t think that the cruise line is responsible for anything before I am onboard if it’s not offered as part of the trip (that’s why I book my own airfare). I do think there is some duty of care if there is an emergency and passengers are debarked before the conclusion of their cruise. in the case I mentioned the port agent was derelict in their duty.

One thing I have learned which is more of a caveat emptor: If you are off the ship O (and I would suspect all other cruiselines) then consider yourself on your own. A couple I am friends with had a truly terrible experience when they were removed from the ship so one of them could be admitted to hospital. The port agent defrauded them, one of them was placed in a very substandard hotel, no real help from O and it cost them a lot of money and even more stress. Both of them had covid, one of them was in ICU, the other was then admitted to hospital when they didn’t need to be. O literally washed their hands of them. They have vowed never to cruise again because of the experience. I now consider the cruiseline to only be responsible for me when I am on the ship, and plan accordingly. I book my own airfare, I overinsure, I have contingency in place at every port.

I think OP may possibly feel aggrieved no matter the cruiseline in this situation - they all appear to be having to make difficult decisions. The world is a pretty terrible place at the moment, there is literally faeces hitting the fan all over, I think having your itinerary changed because of a war is quite reasonable. If the cruiseline cancels the cruise then all the people who would have been happy on a changed itinerary would be unhappy. So they changed the itin and you and I am guessing a % of other cruisers are unhappy. I am sorry this has happened to you, it’s certainly not optimum, but I think only you are in control of the experience you are going to have on this cruise. Certainly be upset, but if you allow it to colour your whole cruise - I’d cancel. I just get the impression you have written off the whole cruise, when the experience you have on the ship is going to be no different no matter where you physically are. Life is too precious to be angry or miserable, when you could be having a lovely time.