pinotlover

Did you ask to be upgraded when you booked? It doesn’t happen automatically. Did you DIY or use a TA?

I concur with a similar experience on the Nautica. Only thing left unsaid was on a full ship, attendance after 11:00 was maybe 50 people and dwindling. By midnight, maybe 35-40. Those of us left did have a good time.

Two different insurance policies. One individual, another for the cruise line. Corporate policies are typically year to year, and no longer. That new corporate policy may well persuade the cruise line to cancel ports/countries.

Thanks; I remember we didn’t go at the same time as Oceania on that cruise. I was thinking before, guess it was actually after. 🍷

At one time, back in PCH days, both Oceania and Regent utilized the same computer systems. They didn’t want their systems cratered with multiple people hitting the system at the same time. Think speeds during cruises at high volume times. Solution: Space everything out. Regent customers pay more to go first. I doubt much has changed in Miami and the IT systems .

I believe a valuation of $320-$400 on the credit is fairly inline. Enjoy your cruise and consider the total package provided by Oceania along with the total costs. SM is a price increase. IMO, people are getting too hung up on the mechanism of the increase. Just view it as the new cost of cruising O, and decide how that cost of service meets your wants and needs. At this point wasting time on this mechanics of the increase is just wasting time.

As susiean replied above, the cruise lines will only go as far as the insurance companies leash allows.

I put the two areas in different paragraphs. No comparison intended. I will only reply to my friend’s current ( in the past week) experience: their tour operator cancelled all tours to Israel scheduled for next year (2024) and is returning deposits for such.

Last decade, when Turkey started acting badly, it took 3 or 4 years before cruise ships started going back into Istanbul again. I’m guessing it will be at least that long, or longer, before cruising to Israel resumes even if the violence there ends fairly soon. Friends, booked with a church group going there next summer, have already found their tour cancelled. Liability is too great, especially in sue happy America. We may not see a cruise line returning to Russia for a decade. The mutual animosity there will take a long time to heal. Even if needing the tourism, I don’t believe travelers will find the welcome mats out for them. I’m On a personal note, we were fortunate enough to do a wonderful 14 day cruise/tour of China in 2016 with Uniworld, then another visit to Hong Kong to embark the Nautica in 2018. A different era indeed. Even the changes in HK, between 16 and 18, were highly noticeable. With current affairs, I have zero intention of ever returning to any part of China again. I even refrain, as much as possible, from buying anything “ Made in China “. I’d hate to be in one of those ports, or even their waters, when that powder keg goes off.

People need to get over it. SM is a price increase. That’s all it is. Oceania attempts to take part of the sting out by giving everyone the basic drinks package which costs them very little. They take part of the sting out by giving everyone credit on taking hugely overpriced, and often boring, shore excursions. If neither rock your boat then it’s just a needed price increase. That’s it: a price increase. Time will tell how successfully the price increase sticks. They already do almost a continuous slew of differing Sales to fill the ships. Wait, watch, and catch a sale can be a strategy. In the end, there’s going to be a price increase. Customers just have to pay it or move on. I’ll add to this a bit of uncertainty on my part. Perhaps those of us that don’t want to get off the ship and/or go on ship excursions ( I’m definitely in the latter), are no longer the targeted customers. Besides needing a price increase, maybe Oceania has indeed done extensive marketing surveys and that upcoming generation ( under 70) primarily wants a more all inclusive experience. Perhaps those new customers will gladly use the credits and jump on even more ship shorexs. KaChing!! If knitting, darning, and gossiping is your current favorite cruise pastime, you’re now going to pay more to do it on Oceania. That’s it:SM is just a price increase.

Midnight, that’s 00:00 , Eastern Time in the US. One cannot log in until after midnight, so wait until 00:01 or 12:01 am depend upon how you tell time.

1. Even in a suite, I often shower and shave in the Spa facilities on an R ship. 2. Bermuda is a wonderful place to visit, with great restaurants, and easily reached by air from the States. I can’t imagine passing up their great hotels ( with triple the space of cruise ships) and terrific restaurants with local flair and fresh food for ship’s food.

The ships are identical except the Sirena has different Specialty Restaurants. Nautica was the last , of the three, to be refurbished, so might be a bit shinier, but Oceania maintains all their ships well. Except as above, absolutely no difference but itinerary.

Nope, not allowed. On our Sirena cruise last Fall, the lead wine steward at a tasting asked “ What kind of tasting would we ( the group) like to see?” I recommended that since we were headed to Madeira, then the Canary Islands, she pick up a few representative wines from the area and we have that tasting. We were quickly told that was impossible. Shipboard personnel aren’t allowed to buy wine for any reason. Only Miami can buy wines for the ship. Our choice for a Tasting was from wines already offered by the ship.

Never seen it done! Let me add. These are all very low priced wines overall. Most all of them are varietally correct. So if you know what are Syrah or a Merlot tastes like, that’s what you’re getting. Even the blends such as the CdR is typical of that blend. There are no silly CA cocktail fruit bomb wines on the wine by the glass menu. They are more food oriented. For Chardonnay, they typically have two selections: one more classic; and more more buttery and oaky than the other. They will allow you to sample both to see which you prefer. However, I have never seen a flight tasting offered of all the whites for instance.

I don’t believe Oceania is concerned. I believe they are weeding out the low net customers to make room for the higher net revenue customers. Older customers can get on the revenue train, or not. I’m sure they have done the math on replacing high perk/low revenue customers with newer low perk customers also.

Ditto!!! Oceania is buying wine in multiple shipping container quantities that they have shipped to their multiple world wide resupply locations. It takes months or years to rotate through some of the wines. Anything left over from one cruise season is just warehoused until the next. Nothing on the current “ by the glass “ wine list will change for quite some time. As ORV pointed out, absolutely nothing changed on 10/1 as far as the wine list was concerned.

With the dire financial straits that NCLH is in, it should be expected that Oceania would be grasping at cost reductions. Shaving port time is a cost reduction. Corporate and Communications can’t be used in the same sentence with Oceania. Not one of the things they do well. On our Vista cruise in June, we don’t believe the Captain decided on Embarkment Day to shave port time on three upcoming ports. There was zero reason why the passengers couldn’t have been informed of those changes well in advance so we could make alternate arrangements with our private tours prior to boarding. We’re disappointed in the cuts, we’re angered by the unprofessional way they chose to notify their customers. Case in fact, they didn’t actually notify us of the cuts. One had to take the schedule given upon boarding and compare it with the previous itinerary to identify the cuts. Ship staff never brought the changes to any ones attention.

ORV; Unless there has been a recent change, Oceania’s casinos are 3rd party operators. I would be extremely surprised if some type of POP arrangement isn’t in effect therefore giving Oceania motivation to be at Sea. Captain Max gave a lengthy detailed summary of vessel operating costs on one of our Nautica sea days a few years back. Hourly port fees, along with port navigation people, is indeed a huge cost. Ships are charged by tonnage, not by passengers aboard. This is a disadvantage for Oceania ships. Some of the port fees quoted by the good Captain seemed outrageous. Oceania could never sell enough tours to come close to paying the port fees. However, some of those more expensive ports are where the ships have to bring on additional supplies because of logistical infrastructure. They can’t do it at anchor or remote ports. There desire to stay in those ports longer than necessary is nil. While the many cruisers don’t care, others of us sign up for cruises strictly for the stated itinerary. Period. It is the marketing departments job to put together interesting itineraries to draw us in two plus years before sailing. Operations then determines how to maximize profits by eliminating controllable costs . Extended port times are controllable costs. Shave an hour here, and two hours there; and the savings can be significant. Don’t forget the store and casino POPs, the alcohol sales, etc, once at sea and/or all aboard.

Oceania is not Liberty Mutual Insurance. One may well pay for amenities they don’t want. Get over it! I don’t care if you don’t drink, under SM wine & beer will be included for lunch and dinner. I don’t care if one goes to bed every night by 8:30, the evening entertainment is included in the price. Et. Ctc.

When we disembarked in Civitavecchia in June, the free shuttle went to the train station in town, not to Rome. The shuttle is ran by the port on their schedule. Oceania has nothing to do with it. It does run regularly and it stops at the terminal for other ships. It will be packed when it leaves the port. Very packed. It’s free. It got us to the train station.

I always bring a dress jacket for this purpose. Easy to pack and very convenient and comfortable to have when need demands. Same reason my wife always brings a sweater or wrap.

You leave out an important item. Have you cleared English immigration before arriving in Southampton? We have disembarked three times there. Immigration Services were always either late arriving, slow processing, or both. They do an eye to eye on the ship. All those people insisting upon dragging their luggage creates a cluster. I would never haul my luggage off there again. Once was enough.

This is the way I view the Original Question of this thread. I have friends that bought condos in FL or AZ. They go to those condos every winter, meeting up with the same Snowbirds, eating at the same restaurants, doing the same activities year after year. It’s what they want to do. I have other friends that rent seasonal condos in AZ one year, FL, CA, CO, HI, a Carribean island, New Zealand, Bali, plus/and/or get on a cruise ship part of the season in another year. They never go to the same places year after year. It’s what the want to do. People are different and so are their comfort levels.

Dinner time normally starts at 6:30 as stated above. However, one size doesn’t always fit all, so there are occasional exceptions. Everyone is guaranteed at least one reservation in each of the Specialty restaurants. On a full ship this can be hard to accomplish on seven (7) day cruises. Therefore, on those short cruises, Oceania will often start at 6:00, which creates additional dining times to accommodate the Guarantee. So if one is on a seven day cruise, or a cruise with a seven day segment, they may see a 6:00 pm start time. Otherwise, typically not.