pinotlover

True. We typically wait until around 7:00 to go to the GDR or Terrace. This gives ample time for all those with walkers, scooters, and/or other mobility issues to get easily seated and for us not to be in the way. Even at 7:00, on most nights in either venue, we can still get a two top when desired. Might be more difficult in the TC , but we rarely eat dinner there. We most typically tell the hostess sharing and are seated immediately in the GDR. Often, even with the sharing request, we still dine alone because of a lack of others accepting to do so. We don’t have to dine alone, we don’t have to have a special specific table, and we don’t have to have any specific waiter if on duty. If any of those qualifiers do apply, one may want to arrive a bit earlier.

What a concept! Look at Oceania’s website! 😂

IMO, the biggest downside for most of us , with this unfortunate occurrence, is the aftermath. Disembarkment on Oceania is a Charlie Foxtrot on a good day. Far too many people that shouldn’t be attempting to disembark with their luggage in tow, do. They read about these few unfortunate incidents and refuse to utilize the regular luggage services. I don’t have a solution because none of us can manage the dock workers, but being diligent on O’s part in responding to issues such as this could go a long way.

We are doing an O cruise to Japan starting on 4/1. Doing private land tours on both sides of the cruise. Will report back experiences late April.

Azamara does more overnights and late departures than Oceania and is less inclined to skip ports. For some of us this is important. I had a fairly lengthy conversation about Azamara with my TA who sells a lot on both lines. She says that even though Azamara certainly has its issues, the overall satisfaction level of her Az clients has been significantly higher than that of O customers for the past couple of years. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. A simple how do you personally compare. Oceania still has the edge on food although the differences have narrowed. However, Azamara does a lot more late departures. Most of her clients don’t go to Japan to eat Americanized Italian, Americanized French, and Americanized American. They can get all of the above at home. The late departures mean they eat dinner ashore and get authentic local cuisine that’s not available at home. For those customers, the late departures more than compensate for any edge in ship food. Ship food is something they eat when local cuisine isn’t available. Cruisers versus Travelers, to each their own.

It is my hope that the Riveria replaces the Regatta, with the next new cruise release, and starts doing the OZ circumnavigation, NZ, and the route to FP. Then it can do the seasonal swings and stay in that part of the world. Until then it has to find new homes.

Martinis is right there and convenient! Putting in a crepe place or other food and beverage joint in the main atrium would make the ship look like a shopping mall and detract from the elegance of the ship. Just imo.

Purely luck of the draw. Purely. On our Vista cruise our neighbors were like us, rarely turned the tv on. Peacefully silent. Other cruises we had to call the front desk near every night. TV blared 24/7. Large commotion one night with security. They had received multiple complaints and were pounding on the cabin door while the obviously near deaf inhabitants slept away. The smart TVs should have a connection to the central control area where volumes can be adjusted from central control. Most assisted living facilities already have this. They don’t pound on quarters doors, they drop the volume from the front desk. Good Luck. You don’t get to pick your neighbors!

I was being a bit facetious 🙃, but even Egypt, a mostly Islamic country, isn’t going to bleed revenue indefinitely. I expect something to happen there.

As of January 2023, Egypt made $743 million per month on the Suez Canal. For Egypt that was a helpful chunk of change. Now, not only have they lost a major portion of that, but tourism is now way off. Won’t take long before Egypt decides to invade Yemen and straighten things out. I will highly recommend Uniworld River Cruises for a trip on the Nile and Cairo. They take security seriously, conduct great tours, and the food is overall better than on Oceania. They also have a pre/post cruise extension to Petra.

The short moral of the story: No one can tell you what either the weather or the Internet service will be on your cruise. It’s highly obvious, from multiple posts that both change regularly. Additionally, what is “ good or acceptable “ internet service is far more subjective than any food discussions. Good Luck!

We took one of our few O tours there. Went up into Patagonia, had the barbecue mutton, local wine, etc, . interesting landscape and fun to get away from the coast. Some had never seen a sheep sheared. Lots of interesting local history along the way.

There has also been a construction delay announced since that 9/23 booklet. Lots of time for changes.

So now you are a well informed future passenger. Being so informed means that all these matters, that may occur, are of your choosing and choice. Good Luck and Happy cruising. ps there’s a reason we do our own air.

They are relocating and apparently downsizing the library to make room for the crepe and ice cream venues.

A few small facts about veal. In the US, and much of the world, veal comes from male diary calves for which there is little other need or use., or occasionally young beef calves injured in transport or handling. As the consumption of milk has declined significantly in the States, the resulting decrease in diary herds has occurred. This has made veal more difficult to find and far more expensive. It has practically disappeared from many grocery stores and likewise even up scale restaurants. To be classified as veal a calf can be no more than 20 weeks nor weight more than 450 lbs on the hoof. So a tidbit, if you believe a 45 Oz tomahawk steak can come from a calf weighing up to 450 lbs on the hoof, I have a bridge to sell you! 😂😂. It may be a delicious 45 Oz tomahawk steak, but from a veal calf it’s not. Another example of using a term inappropriately to describe a dish.

We overall had a great cruise from Buenos Aires to Lima last year, but there were definitely hiccups. The larger question is does the whining have merit? We had three skipped ports, one announced when we got on the ship. Set a tone for the cruise, especially with the late port arrivals and consequently shortened port stays. Made some grumpy, while others could care less. Outside of that, I have found that most of the dissatisfaction with Oceania comes from over hyped expectations. As a veteran O cruiser, I try to minimize those expectations and take positive actions. A few examples: 1. I book my own air, for the itinerary I want. Some use O Air and get good connections, others have horror stories of 3 connections and long layovers, thus exhausting them before they even arrive. 2. My experiences have taught me that I’ll have some excellent meals, some mediocre, and on a rare occasion a poor one. Others read CC posts where all the meals are outstanding, every bite succulent, and the restaurants Michelin star quality. Some Newbies have paid monies outside their comfort zone to learn for themselves the hard truth. Same goes with wine. Being a drinkable or even good wine doesn’t make it an outstanding or premium wine. Words have meanings. 3. This cruise in question is on an O ship, but some new Oceania cruisers , after paying the big bucks, aren’t prepared for the R ship OV bathrooms. My experience is those that are the most unpleased are those that came with oversized expectations. The Cheerleaders and Oceania Influencers here in created a lot of those expectations unnecessarily.

Let me rephrase for Clo: Vegas is wide open with expansive entertainment and other activities all night long. There are numerous tremendous shows and nightly entertainment to see. Vegas has a wealth of fabulous restaurants where one will never get anything but an exceptional meal. Now, if you prefer to be in bed by 9:00, aren’t interested in any type shows ( especially if they keep you up past 21:00), and are OK with meals that may be very good or not, then Vegas isn’t the place for you and stick to certain cruise lines. So to the OP, sometimes people want a ship that approximates their sedate lives. Some people want a ship that is more Vegas or Manhattanish. For us, sometimes we go to the country, sometimes we go to the big city. People do the same with cruise lines. A mega ship this cruise, a 100 passenger sailing vessel the next. Lots to choose from.

I believe you misread what I said.

Different airports, different parts of the world are hit with specific security alerts on a regular basis. Airlines and/or airports implement differing precautions and procedures without unduly alerting or alarming passengers. Differing precautions used this week may not be in effect next week..

I wrote this back several years ago on the cruise air forum, but here goes again. One of the Lufthansa owned airlines, and Star Alliance partners is Brussels Airlines. We flew them Prague to Brussels, then UA back to the States. That Brussels Air flight was one of the best and easiest boarding experiences we’ve ever experienced. One carry on ( excluding a purse) per person. Max carryon weight was 8 kilos. Every bag and carry on was weighed at the checkin counter and checked for appropriate size. One’s single carryon was given a color coded tag attached by the attendant. When you boarded, one was only allowed that single carryon. If you tried to slip something else through at the gate, it was gate checked to final destination at 100 Euros per bag. Airport purchased items were exempt. Boarding went fast and smoothly. No searching for overhead space, no one trying to cram in carryons. Imo oversized suitcases being dragged down the aisle. I wish every airline did this. p.s. All those people playing the “ live out of the carryon “ game will need a different airline.

A couple of things; If you have a TA, they also got the email on the cancellation. The credit card use to book the tour will shortly be refunded. Your TA is probably waiting for O to decide what they’re doing in the new port before reacting. I’m surprised the email on the cancellation didn’t come via your TA. Lazy work on their part. Good Luck!

Yep, Vegas isn’t a place for wanting to go to bed by nine, not interested in great production shows, or interested in possible iffy food.

FT; Oceania bought two separate round trip tickets for us. One for each carrier., with their own distinct codes. UA had no knowledge, in their system, of the SAS ticket. When we checked in at BNA, we had to show our SAS tickets to get the flights put together for baggage purposes. What we didn’t catch was our Oceania UA ticket allowance was two checked bags each, while our SAS ticket only allowed for one. On our return flight we had to pay charges on the one additional bag we had. Had we booked this flight ourselves, it would have all been with the marketing carrier ( UA) for the entire itinerary as you suggested.

I’ll add another scenario one must understand and get specific information on. On which airline (s) will you be ticketed? Point in fact; I paid a deviation to be booked on a specific itinerary on United Airlines from BNA-Copenhagen then Stockholm-BNA. All fine a good until seat selection.Oceania, using its contracts, booked me on the UA leg round trip to EWR, but booked the two international legs on SAS. United had no knowledge of my SAS connections, and I could only book the UA seats for their legs. SAS had its own rules on seat selection, and that was a far harder and different scenario. Oceania had indeed booked and ticketed my flights, but not in a method that was originally apparent. This led to some original confusion on both my TA and my part.