pinotlover

Consider all we O passengers that live North of Florida and South of the Mason Dixie Line. Going out of Tampa changes the economics of flying to Miami, takes multiple hours out of the driving and traffic issues, and opens up multiple lower costs hotels for pre cruise overnights. My brother worked at NASA and retired there in Titusville. Have you for even an instance considered how convenient, for all those Orlando, Titusville, and even N. Florida retirees, Tampa is? That doesn’t include those of us living farther north. His area is full of Canadian Snowbirds. Tampa is sweetness compared to going to Miami and back!

This provides another perfect example on why a cruise line shouldn’t publish and set its schedule to far out in advance. All those with posted cruises through 26&27 will now miss out on these new possibilities . Probably already too late for Oceania to adjust for 2026, but 2027 may bring different adventures.

To put it in perspective, you need to read many of the posts saying their cruise(s) didn’t make Bermuda for a variety of reasons. I would likewise recommend to anyone that truly wanted to visit the Falklands to do so by air. While some, possibly such as yourself, may talk about the delightful relaxing cruise out to the Falklands, most don’t make it. Some places and/or islands are more practically visited by cruise ship. Bermuda can be easily reached by air . They have great resorts and wonderful restaurants ashore. Ship accommodations aren’t required. Therefore, I still believe that if visiting Bermuda is a goal, doing so by air is the best choice. If you’re mostly after the cruise, then take your chances on getting there.

Bermuda is such a delightful place to visit. Easy to fly into from the Ststes without the vulgarities of any cruise line. The only reason to take a ( maybe) cruise there is because you really just want to sit on a ship, and Bermuda really doesn’t interest you.

Nothing derogatory at all. Purely a matter of taste and preferences. A significant portion of Oceania’s customers want their dishes with No onions, no garlic, no basil, no thyme, no oregano, no paprika, no curries, no peppers, and no rubs on their meats. No, No, No, No-Nos. They prefer their foods what many of the rest of us consider bland and mostly tasteless. So the challenge for the kitchen is how do they satisfy both groups with the same dish? A Margherita pizza, for example, comes naturally with fresh basil , and one has an expectation that is does. Should you be served one with out, because the NoNos prefers it that way, or should they have to pick them out? A dilemma.

These two new “A” ships different from earlier O ships in one important category. As opposed to being “stick “ built aboard, all the cabins are prebuilt modules which are lifted aboard, slid into place, and then utilities are connected up. Adding insulation to those not yet installed modules shouldn’t be a problem, only costs. If any of those cabins are already installed, then that’s a different issue. In that production delays are common, much like the Vista, we chose not to book a cruise aboard the Allura until 3 months after its original scheduled launch.

I had earlier ( during the Pandemic) heard a report that the Nautica hadn’t been in U.S. waters for years. Interesting that the US Coast Guard would have jurisdiction as it isn’t a U.S. flagged vessel. Perhaps since it’s a U.S. flagged territory??

Authentic foods, from regions of origin, with fresh ingredients including appropriate herbs and spices, is extremely difficult for ship food to surpass. When preparing food for the masses ( including the NoNos) aboard ship has to compete against those only concerned with excellence, the judged winner ( except by those NoNos) is easily predicted.

Perhaps I’m confused on location, but I thought that the staff for GSC was locally sourced. The bartenders, cooks, waitstaff, etc, were all local hires and it isn’t primarily ship staff. If this is correct, why would a quality and taste of a hamburger be different depending upon the ship?

The challenge is the potentially cancelled cruise through the Suez and Red Sea must be of equal length to the time the African sail around takes. If not, they messed up more than one cruise. Unfortunately, booked during Covid and then cancelled, I had Istanbul-Dubai booked twice. I’m not sure O could schedule that today because of alternative cruising times. I did read that some lines are considering round trip cruises through the Suez Canal and going no further than Jordan port for Petra and the Egyptian port . Avoid going further South towards the Straits.

Meanwhile, we have people clamoring for Oceania to declare a segmented 2026-27 schedule with multiple ports and routes either on or off the schedule. Patience is still a virtue.

Let me add that every cruise schedule they lock in early, means other ports are locked out. Two years out do they schedule a ship, or ships, through the Suez Canal? What if they do and nothing improves. People complain bitterly about the changes. How about Israel? China? If another line offered St. Petersburg Russia in 26, are you going to sign up for it? Perhaps waiting another six months could give them a far better view of the world in 26 than today.

While this is indeed marginally true, the reality is Oceania just did a new release of cruises barely four (4) months ago. They literally currently have hundreds of current release cruises with thousands of unsold cabins. I’m currently booked on a Nov-Dec 25 Singapore -Sydney cruise that has availability in every cabin class. What possibly could be their motivation to release the 26 schedule with the exact same cruise? They still need to sell the 25 cruise. I’m on a Jan 25 Vista cruise that except for the upper cabins is wide open. They need to sell 25 cruises before worrying about 27. I’m willing to bet many of we regulars can tell you precisely where in the world the Riveria, Marina, and A ships will be Fall 2026. Can pretty well tell you where most will be Spring 27. The only question is when the R ships start disappearing from the fleet. I still don’t believe we’ll see a Fall26- Spring 27 release until after the ATW 27 Release. Until then, book 2024, 2025, and early 26 cruises!! Lots of availability.

For business class, I always get two bags included at 70 lbs max each. I’ve never needed the second bag, but 140 lbs of stuff is a lot of stuff. Perhaps an assessment of what’s being taken is in order.

The question was “ how do you handle or respond to loud neighbors “. It was not whether you have personally had loud neighbors. Do you deny that loud neighbors may exist on any of the ships?

I believe the original question asked revolves around the assumption that on occasion noisy neighbors do in fact exist. Whether any existed next to you on any given cruise is not relevant. At times they do exist, and it’s not totally related to the Vista. Hopefully no one is trying to deny the oblivious. To answer the OP’s question, I call the main desk and don’t start a personal confrontation. A perfect example of this, we had friends cruising with UN in 19 to Papeete. Their cabin neighbors played the tv LOUDLY every night and went to sleep with it that way. Security would come, and knocking/pounding on the door only resulting in bothering even more guests. Security had to physically enter the cabin to deal with the issue. Repeatedly. After about three nights it finally got stopped, but my friends, standing in his night robe pounding on that door, would have had no response. Best to just call the front desk and have them deal with it.

All correct. My point is people, playing coy, post here with profound statements yet refuse to give very pertinent facts that may explain a situation. Absolutely, one’s butler can help them get additional reservations others can’t get. Absolutely being able to book Specialties 75 days out instead of 45 days gives more flexibility. We all know this. Why then purposely refuse to disclose your cabin level when it’s hugely pertinent?

Still didn’t answer which class of cabin you were in. In upper suites, yes you’re able to book early two tops. In lower cabins, on a full ship, not very often. Just because someone wins the lottery, doesn’t make it a common occurrence for all.

This brings back remembrance of those cruising during the Pandemic. Due to distancing restrictions, elevator occupancy was greatly reduced. On some of the larger ships passengers would start lining Up for elevators an hour before dinner and waiting. Perhaps PPPPPP applies if elevators are a necessity.

I believe it’s much more elementary. Some cruisers enjoy a nice leisurely dinner talking with fellow cruisers. Some cruisers prefer to sit alone and shove it down as quickly as possible and leave. Oceania offers venues for both. Some cruisers only want fairly quick showers and others enjoy nice long soaks in a tub. Oceania offers cabins for both. People having choices is a good thing. Cruising isn’t a government operation, one size truly doesn’t fit all. Choose your cabin carefully from the deck plan.

This exact same question has been asked multiple times having their own thread. On one of those threads it was posted, a different FCC, on a different current cruise, reported a different date for that new release. As we know, past performance does not guarantee future actions. Historically, a new release of late year cruises also have included first half of the following year. This means a release of 2nd half of 2026 cruises would include several months of early 2027. This is what we currently see via the last release. Not all cruises, on all ships, are shown through Jun 26, but most are through March or April 26. Since early 2027 is involved , it has been Oceania’s history to first release its ATW cruise for that year, along with possibly some long extended Journey on other ships, before the release of the segmented schedule on the remaining fleet. This was a reasonable practice in that they wanted the ATW sold first and not competing with all the segment cruises. Well folks, I haven’t seen nor heard hide nor hair of a 2027 ATW. Does that mean there won’t be one? Is it about to be released? Is this proclamation of a September/October release going to be late 2026 only, which would be out of character? Lots of questions still remain, for me, as to what this new release might be. I will remind readers that late 2025 and 1st half 2026 cruises were released in April of this year (2024). The 2026 ATW was released last Fall.

OBC from your TA is refundable . It’s only ship and/or status provided OBC that is not.

I have found a very distinct difference in taste between Fever Tree and the other brands and greatly prefer Fever Tree. I have likewise requested it aboard ship before and been told they don’t have that brand. As I often deal with people that can’t differentiate the flavors in a Pinot Noir versus a Merlot, it all tastes like red wine to them, I’m not surprised that all tonic tastes the same to some. Lots of reasons for the loss of tastes.

Our last three cruises were filled by Silent Sales. Only via the TA, but no price matching.

In that: (1) These issues have all existed for years on O’s website; (2) The overall system is rather simple with little or no complexities and can be easily fixed ; It can then only be surmised that Oceania finds the current system to be in their best financial interests and has no interest in improvements to the system. Personally, I have a wonderful TA and no how to use her. I have zero interest in spending any time , on the phone , with any Oceania clerks. If it gives others pleasure, then by all means enjoy yourselves.