pinotlover

SM is a price hike. You’re wanting to sweat the minutia. It’s the new cost of cruising Oceania. Take it or leave it. I typically eat ashore in every port. We like to enjoy the local fresh cuisine of the countries we visit, not everyone’s bag. We never got OBC, or other credit, for all those unconsumed ship’s meals, nor for all the wine we didn’t drink while on a drinks package. We still had to pay $25 corkage to not drink their wine on a premium package! Notwithstanding any of that, we still ate where, and drank as we please. Same goes for shore excursions. We’re not traveling half way around to world to feel obligated to take an Oceania shore excursion which we often don’t enjoy. We’ll look at all our alternatives and choose the tours that best satisfy our wants and desires at each port. If shore excursions credit is left on the table, then it becomes just like that ship lunch I choose not to eat because I found far better elsewhere. SM is just a fare increase. In 2025, when we have our first SM cruise ( all our 24 cruises are OLife) we can decide 1st hand if SM is worth the price hike for us. Maybe, maybe not.

Why do you believe good wages aren’t already built into the fare? Do you know what their wages are? All the workers are paid by their rank. If O’s wages weren’t competitive, they wouldn’t attract workers. Only a few of the senior staff are actually Oceania employees. Most all others are on contract through often a maze of employment headshops that take a tithing out of that pay. Oceania isn’t a party to those arrangements anymore than I am to what our landscaping company pays its employees. Even if Oceania increased rank compensation levels, there is absolutely no guarantee that would flow down the maze to the actual workers. Much like the wine industry in the States. What you pay for that glass/bottle of wine in a retail store or restaurant has little to do with what the vineyard workers make.

Perhaps confusing, but don’t confuse cruise credits with cruises. One may receive multiple cruise credits on a single cruise based on length of cruise. Or one may only receive one credit for a b2b ( extended voyage) again depending upon length of cruise. We recently did a b2b that was 17 days= 1 cruise credit. Have done a single 24 day cruise = 2 credits. There is a chart for this.

While some do receive compensation from the cruise lines including Oceania. On a cruise, pre Covid, had a gentleman laying out the benefits they received from his wife’s diligent on line CC efforts and blogs. Mixed bag. After awhile one will get strong indications. They come and go. Not a job they can do for too long without arousing suspicion.

Why does this matter to anyone? I mean really, why does it matter? We always have PPG , by status, Some we tip extra, some we don’t . I’m satisfied with what we do. I never worry about what others are doing or have done. Here’s the most important part: I’ve never felt, on Oceania, that the excellent service we receive was based on our level of tipping. Don’t Worry, Be Happy!

Just to reiterate a few of the rules: 1. It is only available when the Specialty restaurants are open. That’s typically 6:30, so don’t expect service ( food delivery) until at least 6:45. 2. All requests must come from the same kitchen. PG and Toscana share a kitchen so both menus are available. You can’t do one PG and one RG order however, as an example. 3. Best to check with your butler as early as possible. You don’t want to be his 12 th couple wanting to dine en-suite on any given night.

I posted over a month ago that changes were coming to the program. We don’t know when or what yet. Only thing I was told was 1. You’ll have to cruise to maintain status 2. All Double dipping, like with PPG /OCCAP OBC allowance will disappear, etc. The changes will be out, and in effect for, the new ATW release, and subsequent cruise releases. Shouldn’t affect already booked cruises, except perhaps the double dipping of perks. Time will tell on all others. As to Bob’s comment above about days versus cruises. Oceania has a partial system like that now. The biggest issue for Oceania is they have a lot of seven (7) cruises, against a host of competitors, in the Carribe every winter. Lots of partially filled ships ply those waters and Oceania is an expensive alternative. Taking away cruise credits for those cruises, could make the price delta look even larger. Time will tell.

I could write pages on why we dodge Oceania shorex even though certain threaders here push them adamantly. To address comments above. We have had tour buses park directly in front of bathrooms and had fellow passengers get lost on a bathroom break. We’ve had tour guides say repeatedly “ we’re going left here” while the oblivious ( or cognitive diminished) go off to the right. There’s a reason why the groups are herded like children , it matches some of their capabilities. On our last Vista cruise, with 13 port days, we took zero O shorexs. Two of our private tours had Oceania OE passengers along with us. Twelve of us paying $85 each for the private tour, and four (4) each paying $365 each to Oceania to ride along for the OE tour . 😂. Happens regularly. Hey! We only had 16! 🙄

From what I’ve been told from various cruise lines different ports work under different scenarios. In Europe, and other ports, most commonly it’s a seniority system. Priority is given on a seniority basis on how long the line has been docking at that port. They have up to a certain date to request docking and then it’s first come first. Some of the smaller ports are strictly first come first. There is no “ we’ll kick you out at 11:00 to get another ship in. The line makes their request and they reserve and pay for the request. If requests are made and altered, those are done 18-24 months prior unless emergencies happen.

We overall enjoy the food in Oceania, but it’s the itinerary that drives us. We had an overnight on Nautica in Iceland. A group of us did a great private land tour and we over night ashore. We had really great food and an enjoyable time. We’ve done the same on other cruises. Some people come back to the ship most every day to eat lunch aboard. That’s great. We didn’t travel to Turkey, Cypress, Santorini, Italy, etc to eat ship food or drink ship wine. Nor did we travel to South America this past Spring to eat ship’s food. Often times we are still so full from great local fresh cuisine from lunch, dinner is relatively minimal. The food on Az was fine, what we ate of it. Not superb , but we were mostly eating ashore , so neither O nor A compared to what we were having. Our problem with Az is I don’t think we’ll ever do an R ship again regardless of the name on the stack.

Cruisers vs Travelers Oceania is jockeying for the former. You’re their target clientele.

We boarded Vista and were informed of three shortened ports, some 10 days out. Our Captain’s Crystal Ball was really poor in that we had great weather the entire cruise. Obviously something other than weather going on.

In this particular case, shouldn’t the word marketers above be replaced by the words “cruise line “ or Oceania? For those of us still trying to figure out a picatta Marsala dish means, ( it’s neither) exaggeration and miss representation of terms is nothing new.

We were on a B2B last Fall. Julie was CD on the first segment and Dottie on the second. What a stark difference hitting you immediately! 😳 Let’s just say that Dottie seems to relish in the term “ burning up the airwaves “! 🤮🥹

Your tour is in November which equals short days. Doing both this time of year could mean you arrive Wadi Run after dark and just drive around in the dark. Check sunset and your specific tour schedule.

Actually there are some very lovely wineries in the area, producing a host of good quality wines. Several of those wineries have delightful restaurants with great views over the Greek countryside. Lots of things to do at that port stop.

Far too much waste. If they left a bottle on your table and it wasn’t finished, they wouldn’t be able to move it around to another table. Now the wine stewards can pour them dry!

Very good to know. Thank you FF. I never purchased enough O shorex to come close to the YWYW discount. Won’t cruise under SM until late 25 at the earliest. Guess the new guidance will be : choose wisely.

Just remember that housekeeping will unplug everything if/when you have left your cabin.

Typically shore excursions can be cancelled up to 24 hours pre tour. Be cognizant of how any cancellation can affect future tour discounts.

Leslie does a great job as CD. If I could only have him or Carr on all my cruises I’d be a happy puppy! 👌 If I never had Peter the Shoe again I’d feel blessed. Could just about him deters me from booking Marina thinking the Shoe could/would be CD. Well, booking through Fall of 2025 and no Marina. Hopefully that means no Peter the Shoe.

Conspiracy Theory. Riveria is being held in reserve until they are closer to launch and have a firm delivery date for the Allura. Just because they took deposits on Allura doesn’t mean the ship will actually be cruising. A lot can/will happen in eighteen months.

1. Marina is going through dry dock and updating next May. No such change has been announced. 2. Riveria has had a recent major update, therefore another one shouldn’t be expected for 4-5 years. No crystal ball for that far in advance.

I’ve only encountered Peter the Shoe on Marina in the past 5 or so years.

Though a fixable item, I hope those automatic doors on Vista work better now than in June. Oceania had removed the door handles for entrance into the bathrooms and was using the motion detectors. Some didn’t work well, or at all. A host of Jedi warriors waving their hands trying to get the bathroom door open varied between humorous and tragic. Oceania should have kept the handles!