ToxM

I am surprised Tunisia is on the new itin.

I am sorry you are upset, the world is a troubled place at the moment, that area many times more so. 

37 minutes ago, ORV said:

Was there a question there? 

not at all 

1 hour ago, halfapair said:

My one concern about Regent is the dress code. My husband really enjoys the casual attire on Oceania. He is very comfortable in khakis & a polo shirt at dinner. Wearing a jacket will make him uncomfortable. I think he would do it to make me happy, or if the cruise itinerary were something we really wanted and it wasn't available on any other cruise line. But I don't want him feeling irritated at dinner.🪰🧴

From my research on the Regent board, I’ve suggested to marital Unit to brings nice slacks and collared shirts for the evening, and I am going with trousers and a nice top. Doesn’t sound too different from O tbh. 

5 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Hmmm... I just looked more carefully at the Deck Plans.

It looks like the balcony has a good windbreak... along with *not* having any forward views (unless one peers forward over the handrail?).

Being able to "see where we are going" is important to us (yes, even if it's just sea and more sea 😉 ).  At least a balcony further back has some "vaguely forward" diagonal views.  (Our favorites are forward facing accommodations, no surprise.  But there aren't PH suites like that on the Riviera or Marina, alas.)
We had noticed 8000 due to what seemed to be an unusually quiet location for the R ship PH suites.  So, maybe not after all.

 

OTOH, the more we think about the small size of the Penthouse "Suite", and reports of the bathroom size, maybe that's not for us anyway.  Too bad, as there is at least one itinerary we've noticed that is not (yet?) offered on the larger O ships.

Plus... we'd seriously miss the regular Specialty restaurants.

And that great therapy pool on the Riviera spa deck.

 

I guess we'll stick with the Riviera, and perhaps Marina.

 

We haven't returned to cruising post-Covid, so we are *really* missing it!

 

GC

I would say that if you sit on the right hand side of the balcony your view would be the same as any other PH view looking forward. 

8000 is a penthouse - if you aren’t troubled by seasickness its a great cabin. I have done a TA on it and its location is great - nothing above that is noisy and nothing below to trouble you, close enough to the lifts to make everything accessible. You don’t hear anything from the officers quarters and as those cabins don’t have a balcony there is a good windbreak because of the layout so it’s lovely to sit on the balcony whilst at sea. 

My favourite cabin! 

Edited to add: I am surprised it is available - as it usually snapped up 🙂

8 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

ToxM, do share!

Capetown to Rio - with the elusive St Helena, which has been top of my bucket list forever. 

2 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

ToxM, Oceania is my favorite cruiseline; I have been on 3 O cruises and have 3 more booked. Last November I went on my first Regent cruise on Mariner. WOW! Over the top FABULOUS! So, better than O, but also more expensive (you get what you pay for).

You’ll love Regent! I still prefer O’s pricing model…….but my next cruise is on Regent’s Voyager….

We are on Voyager - I am very much looking forward to it - possibly as a one and done, but I am a little sad at the lack of buffet in the evening! I have high hopes though, and it’s a lovely itin that I have never seen the like of from O sadly. 

I’ll do a good side by side review 🙂

I am very interested in LHT’s review of their cruise. 

O isn’t perfect, but for us at least it is a much better fit than anything else we have tried. Regent is our next cruise, I am interested to compare - already the evening food offering is looking a little sparse from my research. We shall see. 

Also, and whilst a small point, an important one. It is a forum, not a blog. Some on here would do well to have their own blog. 

PH on R ships are fine, bathrooms are a serviceable size and the cabins are very nice.

25 minutes ago, jimmcs16 said:

They did charge me for the A2 category. On website it shows that cabin as a B3

if you try and book it online on the Oceania website you have to select an A2. I filled out the future cruise booking and put down B3 and 7131 cabin. Handed to future cruise ambassador onboard the vista. Was not aware it was really changed to an A2.

work in progress for resolution 

Good luck, seems like thy are at fault , but … well you know how that can go. 

1 hour ago, Sthrngary said:

The more on am on this Oceania Blog, the more we all learn about each others styles of writing, commenting and debating.  We are each unique in our approach especially for social media.  I find it very interesting.  Some folks are somewhat critical always calling out the brand for one thing or another.  Yet for some reason, stay with the brand.  Kind of like correction ones children.  I can do that for my kids but you keep your words to yourself. Other are very direct and in your face. 

 

Other only focus on the good like everything thing is perfect with the brand. This also is just as good information but just a bit to unrealistic.  A balanced review, comment or focus knowing not brand is perfect in every way is most folks. I would ask the long time faithful of Oceania to understand the effect that purely negatives comments have for those newly interested future clients.  Play fair, be balanced and if you have huge issue, tell the brand since only they can fix it. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

You haven’t been here very long - the cheerleaders are strong on this board, it has got better lately, but this board is famous on cruise critic for it. 

I think a better MO would be to use critical thinking, harvest the information, file it away and compare and contrast. 

It’s relatively easy to strip down the information and peel away the layers of +ve or -ve. 

Due diligence is so important. 

I am often flabbergasted at the pickles some people get into when just doing a bit of research or even just reading all the material presented to them regarding a pretty major purchase is just not done. 

In all fairness, the information you quoted would have given me the plan to do a simple search online, find the best route to take to get the visa and job done. 

If I didn’t feel confident or were nervous about doing such things, I would have let O do it for a few dollars/quid. 

So there are two option - O can’t sort it for you, or help you sort it, or you can sort it yourself. Some people like their apple unpeeled, and some like to buy it peeled, I suppose. 

If I want to wash my car myself, I do it myself, if I can’t be bothered, or have a bad back or don’t know the best way to do it, I take it to a car wash. 

The same thing applies here. The companies that offer services that we could do ourselves wouldn’t exist if people didn’t use them. 

This is why you can buy peeled and sliced apples as a snack. 

Edited to add: This is really the same as people allowing O to arrange airfare to an extent, we always sort out our own airfare as I do my own due diligence around flights. 

This is really down to the due diligence people are prepared to do for their trip. I am an over diligencer (!), so this works out in my favour - I understand that people don’t realise or don’t want to do this, and this is where O sees this as a profit point and takes advantage (as is their right). 

I don’t know the answer to this, but I would imagine the logistics of meeting everyone arriving early at all different times, and different airports would not be cost effective - plus organising transportation and the logistics involved would also be prohibitive. 

So I put a hold on a cabin for a trip in ‘25, and will follow it up with a call to O tomorrow to find out when the ATW itins are out, and to find out if they have a policy about a cruise cert deposit  cancellation if they can’t give me a definitive date about ATW itin availability. 

It seems silly that I am using a certificate to leapfrog bookings, the ATW 26 announcement seems to be later than normal. 

10 hours ago, basor said:

Was this for an Oceania cruise?   There was a bit of an excitement when someone did not read the email they received from O on the upcoming Vista Panama Canal cruises.  The email was noting that there was a change to arrival in a port or two and since the day we will be transiting the canal was listed as a "sea day", she automatically jumped to the conclusion that the canal transit had been canceled.   But, as people pointed out, unless O is going to pick the ship up and lift over the isthmus Vista is transiting the canal to be on the Pacific for a port and on the Atlantic for a port 2 days later..  The itinerary on the website specifically shows our canal transit as usual,

Yeah it was … not sure the outcome, as she was ,owning so much I had to stop reading. 

4 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

booked a panama canal for dec of 2025, will have to be careful if they change the itin since canal is very dry...dont want them to do more of mexico or more of pacific coast...

 

will see what they are doing about canal this year....

 

anyone have their itin change? to what?

 

maybe will post it as a new topic....

I saw a post complaining about this on the other place - no canal …. Just around Mexico. I am unsure of the date of the trip though. 

I’ve just put a cabin on hold, with the intention of using it as a placeholder for ATW segment. So I will cancel this one without penalty (as I have an FCC I will be using for the deposit), my question is this:

IF the ATW segments offer me nothing I am able to use, will I be able to get my full deposit back from this FCC if I then cancel this booking? 

2 hours ago, basor said:

Isn't this a "promotion/sale" offering so not fleet wide...with SM everyone has the select beverage package and $$$ shore excursion credit on the select cruises listed so this is adding onboard cash/credit that can be used for anything.  It is basically like the "old OLife" ultimate sale where you received all 3 perks on select sailings.  Another way to fill up slow selling itineraries/dates...

I suppose, and maybe this explains why they bought in SM, so they can then add this “extra” in. 

Just seem a spam mail from my TA - up to $1000 onboard spend.

Maybe the non board regulars are quite unhappy with SM. 

It’s quite an interesting move. 

That quite a back step if they include onboard credit as well as excursion credit. 

15 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

Do not lose hope! I love sweets, but not in the morning so I have not tried O sticky buns. However, I heard many positive comments about them on Regatta in September and they seemed very popular, no negatives overheard (was I eavesdropping...maybe 🤫). I do like pastries in the morning (mostly croissants and danishes) and they were yummy, although there was a thick layer of sugar on top of the almond croissant and there was chocolate in a later almond croissant but both were easily removed.

Yeah they have til next November to get themselves sorted out as I am jumping ship to Regent til then LOL 

Maybe we need a thread regarding the hot buns at breakfast, what was a very happy memory that pretty much kept me going during the height of covid was a sad shadow of their former self and possibly the only letdown during my glorious Sirena restart cruise. 

On 9/28/2023 at 6:58 PM, Sthrngary said:

Way to go CruiseCritic.com board.  But until I taste them, daily, for 10 days straight, I reserve the right to challenge this comment.  I trust NO ONE with my cookies.  PERIOD.

 

Cruise well and at least we have Cookies.

Imagine if you reserved judgement on everything until after your cruise 🙂

Does anyone have any info on when the 2026 ATW itin will be released? 

I have a FCC expiring in December, and nothing taking my fancy for 2025. 

If I can’t book something by the end of December I lose the deposit, so need to get a shuffle on or I may just cancel and get my money back. It’s probably going to be South Pacific on a segment of ATW or Vegas for me in 2026.