pinotlover

Why? Just hit delete and move on. If from O, and they happen to get their back side together, you’ll probably get another request. Otherwise, you wasted no one’s time including your own.

Be careful, you’ll be branded for your negativity!! 😂 Spot on on analysis however! 😇

You will find that many of us wait until 7:15 or later to go the Terrace or the GDR to give those with mobility issues plenty of time to accommodate their needs .

Be advised that the promenade deck is more narrow than you may be accustomed to, and will thus be closed much quicker than on other ships in comparable seas. It can be great on pleasant sea days, but quickly shut down on any signs of inclement weather.

Milt request to do a survey looked suspicious. I deleted immediately and never opened.

I only see a few negative reviews here. Perhaps if food is subjective, then negativity is likewise so. When I give a cruise review and say we had a great cruise; here are 9 things that went very well; and here is one shortcoming, I view that as a positive review. Others pick up on the one shortcoming and call it negative. I relate this to the quagmire in Education with its outrageous grade inflation. GPAs went up while national test scores went down. In 2022 88% of graduates had a 3.0 gpa or above with a median of 3.42. How did a C become a bad grade? Why is near anything lower than straight A’s suddenly looked poorly upon? A “C” is good and good is good. The world isn’t either an A or an F! If someone says something is good not excellent, that’s not intended to be a negative response. It’s OK, it’s acceptable. Not every meal is, or is going to be, excellent and that’s acceptable, especially since most are good. People often read negatively into things that aren’t intended to be negative.

20/?? Absolutely a few of us would go, but your example testifies how few. On Az it’s nearly the entire ship. I’m just saying different cruise lines have different vibes and different clientele. That clientele often segregates because of those differences into the various lines. Trying to superimpose one culture onto another is difficult at best.

Would never work on an O ship unless a promise was made to have everyone back to their cabins before 9:00 pm. Different lines have different programs. Though interesting this won’t work on many O ships. The 9:15/9:30 show is well past the bedtime of many O cruisers.

Now, for some, the upside of the above changes being fair to O. With the different booking numbers for those long segments, one can now make their full allocation of dining reservations for each segment separately. Likewise, now with SM, they actually get more SM tour credits than on an extended journey.

I just believe we’re all so different it’s impossible to please everyone. Some cruise for the ports, others for the ship. Some are happy with a perfectly quiet sedate ship atmosphere, others become bored by it. Some are NoNos , others definitely aren’t. We have a multitude here locally that go to Gulf Shores, Al twice per year. Only place they ever go and haven’t been South of Tallahassee. Others travel the world. My b-I-l goes to the exact same restaurant and orders the same meal every week. We love to explore the variety of restaurants, and food groups, and rarely hit any restaurants more than once a year. He’d be much happier on a cruise line than I that hasn’t changed their Specialties menu in 20 years. Others are the same. Can’t keep everyone happy. Going to Freeport, ME, Charleston, SC; or Gulf Shores doesn’t have to mean one is necessarily better, it means they’re different. Going on O, Viking; SS, or EJ, versus always sailing O isn’t a case of which is best; but doing something different. Similar to my b-i-l, some don’t like different. How does Oceania account for that in its daily operations and loyalty programs? For those of you watching, Oceania did sneak in a new policy this year. The sum of the segments can now be less than the credits awarded, but not more. If you now book a 10 day + 10 day cruise = 20 days = 1 extended journeys = 1 cruise credit. Been this way for awhile. However, if you now book a 20 day segment + 17 day segment = 37 days or oops, no longer. Now just separate back to backs and 2 cruise credits. You don’t get the 3 credits as in the past.

Here’s my view. Except on the international nights in the TC, both the TC and the GDR now offer the same dishes at dinner. If one prefers to eat their meals quickly and leave, the TC offers the best option. If one prefers to be served and have a nice leisurely dinner, the GDR is there for you. The GDR is not staff to provide diners the quick turnaround meal. Asking the staff to do so means you’re interrupting the flow for the other customers. Rather selfish, imo. Go to the TC and chomp down at your own pace, or enjoy the meal at a leisurely pace as set by the kitchen and staff in the GDR. What’s so hard about this? Just don’t expect it both ways.

Well actually the topic of change got a bit of conversation over dinner one night on my Riveria cruise. Oceania is in the process of making two very intertwined changes that may affect us all a lot. First, the end of the R ship era. The major significance here: although there are occasional exceptions ( the ATW) the cheerleaders will quickly bring up, the demographics of the R ship passengers are typically much older than on the other ships. So much so that some refuse to cruise R ships on that account. A friend we’ve sailed with in the past was talking about his extended holiday cruise. He said “I’ve never seen so many wheelchairs, scooters, and walkers on one ship in my life. 7 days of sedate and quiet can be relaxing. 14 days of sedation can be tedious. 21 days of sedate and quiet and I’m screaming at the walls. 30 something and I need a straight jacket and a padded room. There’s more human energy in a morgue than on our cruise!” What happens when a large percentage of those R ship passengers transition to an A or O ship, joining similar passengers? Perhaps 1000-1500 more integrated in. Add in the transition to SM when all those passengers feel obligated to sign up for ship tours whether they’re able to do them or not! The OP is correct, times are changing. I believe the change may become quite noticeable.

Pinotage is one of the varieties that is uniformly poor in overall quality. An excellent pinotage might rate a 91-92. Many/ most are below that. Many of other varieties blow that away.

Absolutely! I love Pinot Noir. That doesn’t mean I always want to drink PN. Sometimes I want a CdP, or a Brunello, or a Rioja, or a cab. Additionally, some PN, are excellent, some okay, and some poor. Just because I generally love PN doesn’t mean I feel obligated to pronounce every PN as being excellent in some faux cheerleader mode. I’m leading a group to Tuscany in September for two weeks of museums and wineries. Part of our adventure is going to be the various great Tuscan food. It’s not going to be Americanized Tuscan or NoNo Tuscan, but Tuscan with all the local herbs and spices. Then my DW and I are off to Bologna for their food for three days! We won’t feel compelled to eat at a Subway or Burger King the entire trip! Afterwards, we may not eat Tuscan for awhile! We’re going to Germany for the Christmas Markets in December. Looking forward to some great authentic German, not the stuff pushed off here in the States as German.

I know their Martaella PN well. Actually they are better known for their Syrah and Zin than their PN, they typically do a good job with their PN.

I also challenge your assessment of the Baby Boomers. Oldest BBers were born in 1946 so at most 78 years old. Though part of the problem, I’ve been on several O cruises where being less than 80 puts one into the minority. We’re talking considerably older than BBers leading the pack of NoNos.

Do you believe the NoNos are able to control the ingredients at those Mexican food carts? If the NoNos were able to, how popular would they be? How many of the items on those food carts would the NoNos currently touch?

One can not log in early and wait. Best to wait until 12:01 ET.

I agree with you 100%, but am afraid we’d be in the vast minority. Other lines already do this, but boarding isn’t until 2-4 pm, a time when they have all the rooms turned around and ready. That means all those flocking to the ship at 10:00-12:00 looking for that lunch would be disappointed. I just have a peaceful lunch ashore and wait there until after the cabins are ready.

We fly from BNA so always must do at least 1stop. BNA-ORD ORD-HND non stop. sweet!

Fly into Haneda not Narita. Haneda is relatively close to the Yokohama port. We took a taxi from the ship to the Yokohama Shinkansen station. Relatively inexpensive and from there, Japan is at your bequest.

A thousand meals and never a bad one ! Can I get a lottery number from you or a pick on the the Preakness? 😂

Remember the pdf is not the Bible or the 10 Commandments. It is not written in Stone. It is only valid as of the day it was sent. Shore tours may be added to, or subtracted from, those early editions. If you’re into ship tours, I’d recommend requesting a new pdf around cruise final payment date if your old one is over 60-90 days old.

I find the term “ inconsistent “ to much better describe the situation. I had an excellent meal, some ok meals, and a poor meal on my last cruise as is typically the case. People here often rant about subjectivity. Rare are the issues subjective. If a steak or fish fillet is grotesquely overcooked, then it’s overcooked. If it’s properly cooked, it’s properly ( as ordered) cooked. Not much subjectivity in that unless one loves well done or beyond food. I you get a grisly steak and I get a great one, it’s not subjective, it’s inconsistent! It’s called inconsistency in either the kitchen, wait staff, or both.

One of the things butlers do: On our last cruise, the lady next door died of a heart attack on day 5 or 6. Starting the next day, while still attending to passengers ice and water needs, the butler had the pack every thing up of what was supposed to be a 51 day cruise by the couple. Not only did everything have to be packed, but a complete inventory made of what went into each suitcase. Likewise, security had to be called and the safe opened. Everything therein was inventoried and signed off by him and security. Those items, in the safe, were combined with valuable items such as cameras, iPads, and other items to valuable to go into a suitcase. The room stewards were only available a short amount of time to assist him, as they had other duties on a full ship in their areas. This was a tedious time consuming task. She was one of 5 that I know of that left the ship unexpectedly to not return. No clue who performed those functions for the other passengers. Sometimes, even when they try, our simple concerns aren’t at the top of their bucket list.