ToxM

Do you know which terminal at Southampton? I would have a look on the Port website and see what they have to offer. If not remember you can do parking at hotels for set periods.

Find the worst flight connection wise you can on SkyScanner and thats probably close to it.

Don’t do it, book your own! Honestly so easy and you control your journey!

With regard to breakfast items turning up randomly and not altogether - I think is a perfect example of institutionalisation of staff who complete an order without regard for the final product, and is something Oceania can be very guilty of. The crew fulfils the order, the manner of presentation and a moment of looking at what the end result will be are not thought about because that’s not part of the silo existence they are in. This is merely robotic work with no thought towards customer care. I don’t think this is the fault of the crew, I think it is the fault of management who want things done double quick. Another example is offering a pot of water at afternoon tea and not thinking that the water might not be warm enough to be useful, but the process is to offer tea bags and then tea, so that’s what is done. Also two rounds of the afternoon tea carts and then the clear up is done - guests may not be done, but this is the process. The process controls the actions, not the needs of the guest. In a perfect world, or a world where every member of staff was encouraged to think about the end result being a happy guest then this institutionalism would change, maybe.

Not much difference then. I don’t think it is a bad idea, I wonder what the price differential will be. No inside cabins on Vista either I believe..

HAL used to fill 1250 ish sized ships for their ATW’s. Then they sold two of them to Fred Olsen, who are now filling one of them for their world cruise. if would certainly make ATW more accessible for those who are put off by the R class bathroom size and who can’t quite cough up PH and above prices. Allure (is that what it is called?) class are slightly smaller passenger number than O class aren’t they?

The return journey sounds like a nightmare. I really prefer doing my own air, I have control of the booking, I can research transfer times if the flight is indirect and make decisions based on that. I also can pretty much guarantee that I can get premium or biz class cheaper than O can. I’ll hand over control to the cruiseline once I am on board, but I’ll get myself to the port as to be honest I don’t really trust O to look after me if I need them to off the ship - they seem to have a disconnect with duty of care there, but I do trust myself.

Well, I have just priced my current Nov ‘24 Sirena TA for the same PH3 grade (without airfare for both) we have more OBC than would be offered for just tours with Simply More and the difference from my invoice price is an eye watering total of £4900. Now there are some caveats to take into account with this. When I booked, the price was for 12 days, then they had to extend the cruise by 4 days which meant an embarkation point change (Amsterdam instead of Bilbao) O did not charge us and gave us 4 extra days free. For us OBC is pretty much just used for drinks, not sure we ever really use it all either as we are not big drinkers, and we just don’t do O excursions anymore, so the Simply More version of OBC for us is useless. I am glad we have more OBC than Simply More guests will have for tour credits. I realise the price differential from the advertised cruise and mine being the bargain of 12 days paid for 16, but thats still a hefty difference. Quite shocked at this. O may have priced itself into the Regent level.

The most pertinent example and a favourite memory of mine was our first evening onboard Oceania. Marital Unit generally leaves me to deal with the details and research of cruises and cruiselines, so blunders into our holidays blind, and it’s fun to see his reaction. We decided to do the buffet our first night onboard, we had embarkation lunch at Waves when we first got on board, so he hadn’t seen The Terrace at all. I take him in, we find a table and sit down. He looks at the table setting, the table cloth, how just very nice it is and his first sentence is “Are you sure this is the buffet?”. I assure him it is, drape the napkin over the backs of our chairs which elicits more shock from him - expecting one of us to have to stay and guard the table (ex Celebrity cruiser here LOL). We come back to the table very happy and he is amazed. This was the start of many many wins from my very grumpy Marital Unit about Oceania. It was a joy for me to watch his enjoyment unfurl. My very favourite was March 2022 Sirena Transatlantic Barbados to Barcelona. Sirena’a first restart cruise, everyone embarked worried about covid, then as we made our safe bubble across the Atlantic we were transported to the heady times of 2019 and before, a bubble of safety and fun which none of us had enjoyed for a long time, it was magical. I think you will find that for a lot of people it’s not the specific memory that makes O special, it has managed to create a special atmosphere which envelopes you as you board. It is by no means perfect, but if you want a grown up atmosphere and relaxation, it’s pretty close.

Celebrity jumper here. I like that O treats you like a grown up, there is no nickel and diming, it’s calm, peaceful and the service is great. Treat the staff as you would wish to be treated and for the most part the service is a world away. The food is honestly so far above Celebrity you will be amazed - even on the infrequent misses. If you are ready for chilled, smaller ship relaxation, you are ready for O

Too big, too stuffy, too expensive for what it is (from experience!).

As a Brit W-E suited us as no jet lag at the end of the cruise. Losing an hour most sea days was tiring, but its a sea day, it doesn’t really matter 😉

I have a future cruise certificate that I got on our Christmas cruise … now thinking I may need to have a good look at what is available for ‘25. I was waiting until the new itins came out but now it looks like I some searching to do this weekend.

it’s going to be interesting to see how this affects Caribbean itineraries, as I am sure I don’t want to have to pay for tours I am certainly not going to take when I could just organise a taxi tour myself for a lot cheaper, something I think most do. Maybe this new promotion is as Basor said to attract new cruisers (something O needs to do with it’s aging demographic) but it does seem it will aggravate repeaters (of which as we know the majority of guests are). I am eagerly awaiting the new pricing offer from O on my ‘24 transatlantic.

It reads as is the new deal will give that option. I hope TA’s/O are going to point out that specialities are included anyway.

Is there a particular reason you want to pack a carry on only? As much as you can pack is my motto, however after seeing the two ladies who were 8 days into our Christmas cruise without luggage has made me more mindful of packing a few essentials in the old carryon. Undies, a swimming costume, slacks and a couple of T-shirts and if the worst comes to the worst you will still have something to wear. Also one of the ladies who lost her luggage had packed her medication in her checked bag - please don’t do that - it’s asking for the gods of bad luck to have a go. For everyone that is worrying about it being chilly during a British Isles cruise i unless you are from Florida you aren’t going to notice it - bring a lightweight coat and then dress for summer. It may be wet, but it will be muggy and warm for the most part. I also attach AirTags to everything - they are amazing. I pack too much and do so with reckless abandon 🙂

I will be interested to see the numbers crunched for this for cruises people already have booked. Also I do feel that the way they have made a thing about speciality dining being a free perk is troublesome.

Southampton is great for embarkation, they do it right there. Following with interest. Keep having a lovely time!

Even Celebrity gets the kettles out in the cabin when it has a season from the UK. You colonials don’t understand the pathological need for tea some Brits have and in addition kettles are not common in US homes. I am sure there are some must haves you colonials need but feel to the rest of the world to be a bit silly. I only drink the stuff when I am at afternoon tea on O.

Can’t help with the room service/kettle issue, as I only drink tea when on O (and I am a Brit, possibly a heretic Brit, but whatever..) I will give you one good tip however - when going to afternoon tea, refuse the first offered tea pot and ask for fresh hot water, otherwise you won’t get a proper pot of tea as the water won’t be hot enough. I am sure that room service will be able to help you with hot water. Give explicit instructions and I am sure they will do their best to help.

I think that communication and being unreactive instead of proactive hurts Oceania terribly, it’s their Achilles Heel. I am always curious about why it is the mindset, and wonder if it is because everything that deviates from the norm has to be given the go ahead by Miami and they are often tardy in their directive or something like that.

It’s more often than not that ships fail to tender in Guernsey. No excuses from me, just a fact I happen to know. Perhaps the reason I like O so much is that I am all for unscheduled sea days, so I am happy to get them, and we always do on cruises worth O. I can imagine for some it’s very annoying.

hah! I left a few bucks in there for you 😉

Oh I know thats why I answer it seriously 😉

Small but perfectly formed ones which have consistently made me money 🙂