babysteps

The elevators on the R ships can also get a bit tied up. I generally don't take the elevator. On an R ship, I generally get to whichever floor with or a little before the spouse who takes the elevator. On an O class ship, if I'm going from lobby level to Baristas then the spouse will generally get to the top a little faster than me. Due to the number of elevators, having even 1 out of service can create a bit of a shortage. The last time we were on an O class, one of the elevators was out of service for the first few days - it wasn't terrible but we did all celebrate when it came back into service! This may come down to cruise line category - many mass market ships have folks report about elevator waits on a regular basis. I'm assuming luxury lines with more space per passenger also have fewer elevator issues/delays than premium or mass market lines. I haven't been on V, have friends who have and most love the experience but some won't go back due to back office billing policies or issues. V does seem to cost a bit more than O on an apples-to-apples basis when I've checked. @DrKoob were those possibly Canadian$ prices for O and US$ for V? At any rate, part of what you get for that may be shorter waits at the elevator on V!

For Saigon/HCMC yes there was a shuttle for us 2023 Feb on Nautica. Shuttle ran to the Union Square shopping mall near to the Opera House in the center of town. Union Square is also about to be the new home to a Mandarin Oriental Hotel, includes Hermes, Tiffany etc boutiques so not exactly the US suburban teenage hangout mall lol. The HoHo bus start/end with sidewalk-based ticket people is just down the street (directly across from the Opera House). There were bus company minders at the site at most times to help coordinate. We ended up taking the shuttle in 3 times (there on parts of 3 days) but took HoHo around a few times and got off nearish the port one day, took shuttle back one day, and found our way back on foot the third day. Not sure what ship you'll be on - Nautica and I assume all R ships come up the river and dock close in to town. I assume that Marina, Riviera and Vista might be downriver in/near the sea but I don't actually know that. According to Google, we docked at/very near 10°46'02.8"N 106°42'28.4"E

Yes it will be festive, in a somewhat subdued way - we had a great time Our experience was NYE 2019 so may have changed lol I don't recall dinner being much different. Terraces has the most leeway to have a special menu; specialties rarely vary (one exception: onboard for Thanksgiving 2021 you could get a traditional turkey dinner in any dining venue) Later in evening there were headbands/2019 goggles etc available plus I think some passed canapes and a midnight toast. We were anchored off Aruba (docked during day, but the fireworks barge was too close to dock for us to be there at night) and spent a lovely midnight out on deck watching the fireworks. There was pretty good attendance on deck, this was Insignia It was festive and also somewhat subdued - we had a great time. Not sure if there was special music, there may have been but we were more focused on the fireworks

@basorvery true. If I were considering not sailing a confirmed cruise, not sure I'd wait until after embarcation day to ask for compensation though. In this case I fear the OPs chance of getting a personal (vs general) settlement is low. But if you *are* seeking specific settlement (that is, an exception) does waiting help? If you are indeed sailing the changed itinerary, then waiting makes more sense to me.

There are indeed some lovely wines from the Finger Lakes! And a few truly awful ones lol - the standard deviation is still high. Even the best wines are quite affordable compared to many other regions. The soil and climate encourage food-friendly balanced wines. Think Alsace or Loire more than Willamette or Sonoma et al. The landscape is amazing with our lakes that are really land locked fjords. The dirt is so amazing we still have Amish and Mennonites farming in the area. If you (or anyone on CC) ever visit, let me know - happy to offer guidance 🍷

There are organizations that specialize in travel-related consumer complaints. Two that I know of are The Elliott Report and Consumer Rescue. Not sure how we got to page 4 without a mention of these yet - did I miss it? OP if you haven't yet, you may wish to reach out to such an organization - they will have good insight as to whether it's worth pushing for some kind of compensation or not. I do think it's possible for these 2 things to both be true at the same time: 1) OP's trip looks much different than planned at no fault of OP, and 2) O doesn't contractually owe OP anything

If your concern is, "is there anything drinkable on the SM included by-the-glass wines?", my answer is yes. Tastes vary, so your answer may differ! The by-the-glass list on O is perfectly fine - not an amazing "can you believe they have this" list, but plenty of food-friendly choices red or white. Spouse & I are both wine geeks if that matters. If you have a sweet tooth, there is a dessert wine on the list. Yes we usually bring on a case of wine - but in February 2023 when we were on Nautica in Asia, we didn't bring any wine at all. Wine lists at restaurants in Asia pleasantly surprised us, but we didn't buy any bottles locally to bring on the ship either. Onboard we did fine between the by-the-glass list, end bin list and regular wine list onboard. This was a short 10 day itinerary, so can't promise if our attitude would be the same after 20+ days onboard.

Disclaimer: I am not this organized. This may not ever happen. One idea: Find some wine friends on the rollcall. Meet for dinner night 1. Everyone order a different glass of wine and request an additional (empty) glass. Label the various wines and pass around like mini-carafes. (you are not drinking out of the mini-carafes, only pouring! ) Now you have tasted many/all of the wines 🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷

They no longer (if they ever did?) sell aspirin or cold medication etc.

5 years ago there was a iirc Days Inn near MIA with both airport and cruiseport shuttles included. It was an old building with cramped rooms - think tired, not historic. It was certainly wallet-friendly but we wouldn't do it again

TLDR - O may make more port changes but so far I'm willing to deal with it. Anyone for a thread to share / track actual changes? We have had times changed by O - both shorter and longer (roughly 2/3 vs 1/3). This does seem more frequent recently. Anecdotally O seems slightly more conservative vs other lines with weather issues. I think one additional factor compared to some other lines may be Os slightly more ambitious itineraries. If we had a "report here" thread for missed ports, I wonder what it would show? On 11 cruises we have missed 3 ports for weather. They were Punta del Este (world BBC lead story storm), Toulon (people ashore died in that storm) and Nah Trang (we got extra time in HCM City/Saigon). One recent O marketing piece compared themselves to an un-named competitor (guessing X but don't really know) and pointed out O had more total time in port over sample itineraries. I choose to frame this as O aiming for maximum port time and then correcting as needed based on port authority or other details. Os market position below luxury but above mass market may be at play. Especially when marketing positions closer to luxury. SS and SB typically cost more but often schedule longer times in port. Mass market lines will often have more sea days vs O for a typical Med or Carribean itinerary - so fewer ports to change lol. For O's hour here-or-there shaving down of scheduled stops, in many cases folks have reported that the independent tour operators knew before they did. We experienced that once ourselves - except one couple still showed up at the originally scheduled (later) time so ymmv! For independent travellers, O shortened visits still may mean missing one or two stops (or being more rushed) if you take the sampler approach, but at least it doesn't mean missing the boat. Or if it has, those folks aren't here on CC

I usually don't pay much attention to the name O gives each itinerary, but perhaps that name could provide inspiration? And/or you could ask your favorite language AI (chatGPT or similar). Put the "standard" text in your prompt and ask for it to be rewritten in (for example) a respectful, creative way with an inviting tone (or whatever guidelines you would like). Keep asking for a rewrite with further specific instructions until you are pleased with the results.

In practice O is fine with guests bringing on hard liquor to drink in their cabins. We have done so many times. We even ordered empty snifter glasses several times for our armagnac one cruise, no problem. True on the corkage.

As @Psoquesays, recommendations can vary for the same country depending on whether you'll be in the wilderness vs solely urban areas. At least this has been the case for us in Central and South America and in Asia

It seems that many ships' medical centers err toward over-treatment. And it will typically be pricey. Not saying it should be this way, but that it is often this way. I can understand OP's frustration! One small quibble - I think it's standard for the medical center to (re)test you for COVID before prescribing paxlovid. Not like they have unlimited quantities onboard. Agree with. @Heartfelttraveler- travel medical coverage is relatively inexpensive and has covered such costs for us. Good point @RPen63 We've used onboard medical on O and charges were indeed eye watering compared to those at home. But insurance made our net cost low. If we weren't travelling we probably would have let it run its course (this was pre-covid). For us, being on a much-anticipated cruise means we seek treatment sooner/at lower threshold than at home.

Nautica ocean view ceilings worked fine with magnets. Most walls not-so-much to not-at-all. Back of hallway door worked great. Bath door pretty good. Assume doesn't apply to PH3, but in the I ran view the window wall is painted metal so very magnetic Don't worry I didn't have that many magnets, I was just curious lol

Simple-minded question alert! On O, can one choose to book a guarantee in a given category when specific cabins are still available? On O, we've only ever booked GTY when there were no cabins available to book

So maybe I'm too skeptical lol, but if the ship is still moving when I think we should be moored, I'll look at the map on the TV to see where it says we're at. So far the map hasn't been supressed even if the announcement hasn't come that there's an itinerary change. I also have a free GPS app on my phone that shows where we're at - as long as you've downloaded the map already, no cell or data charges apply. So it is theoretically possible for travelers to keep track and cruisers to sleep without interruption😊

@SATaxman yes this is very frustrating. I apologize, I wasn't trying to blame you. Sadly I suspect the airline doesn't care if your reasons are legit or not, they can just say "no". Airlines today rarely grant exceptions even for their super-best customers, but if you can make that happen go for it! I would suggest you consider having a plan of how you will deal with the itinerary and/or the seats in case an exception isn't granted. From what little I know of the details, I'd be very surprised - pleasantly very surprised - if an exception is granted.

This definitely does sound frustrating @SATaxman ! From what you have shared, it sounds like your "1 free change" has been used so Turkish has fulfilled their obligation. I am no longer an 'air warrior', but based on recent experience most airlines are unlikely to make exceptions and allow further changes for "free" these days unless the ticket requires them to That still leaves you with an itinerary that isn't perfect and possibly an issue with seat assignments. Your TA will likely have the best advice for seat assignments, and you can always check out the FlyerTalk forum for other flyer's experiences and advice. If you do ask on FlyerTalk, I highly suggest you share specific flight details (date, flight #s) & current seat assignments. Worst case, it is possible that without paying $$$ you will be flying as currently ticketed. If you are not able to update seat assignments until then, you may still have a chance at the airport or if that fails by asking to informally swap onboard. Informal swaps are a whole other long topic, reasonable people agree to disagree if it is even wise to ask.

So I am also an over-planner dedicated to spreadsheets lol Years ago we did a cruise with my folks. I translated my planner to a little booklet - letter size paper folded, so one "executive" page per day. Port info including times and expected (one week+ out) weather, any excursion activity, dining info etc plus room for notes. My mom (not souch a planner but likes to know whats up) loved it And yes figuring out which half-pages to combine for printing was an education lol

You are not alone. One upon a time in a prior century I arrived late evening on a business trip to a cigar-smokey suite. Back to front desk, took 10+ minutes to convince them a tiny but non smoking single room was better than the smokey suite

We've only done one B2B - in 2021, and on that cruise, day 1 of segment 2 restarted the 14 day menu cycle. All our 15-day-plus cruises were pre-covid, for them day 15 was indeed a restart. Also I haven't paid perfect attention but the " final night" menu might be the same no matter what day of the cycle? And at least in Terrace, embarcation day lunch menu is embarcation day only (does not repeat even on longer cruises). Happy dining!

I am celiac and O has done a great job with GF for me. There may be times that my pre-selection comes back as 'unable to accomodate' but that is perhaps 1 dish every 10 or 14 days, and they don't just leave stuff off to make it compliant. Not sure about GF bread at Terrace (I don't tend to ask), it's easy at sit-down restaurants. Sometimes they have GF pizza available but you have to arrange ahead by talking with the chef so not sure it's always an option. There are GF pancakes available in GDR, but the server may not know this. Terrace experience is most variable, some chefs will happily walk me through the buffet each meal and others I ask each server if something is (or is not) GF. The biggest gap has been food for wine tasting events, it has been better lately but that's the most likely place where even checking ahead of time may not result in a GF version waiting for me. They've always responded if there wasn't, but it's the most hassle I've faced to get GF. Overall very good GF experience on O

I have used a vpn on Nautica and Insignia and Marina at least and probably Riveria as well. Marina and Nautica both post-covid. It might be worth a try ☺