pinotlover

On many cruises, all aboard isn’t until 5:30-6:00. It’s still broad daylight, but people want to start eating before everyone is even back on ship! 🙄 Thursday is an American holiday with fireworks that won’t start until dark which is well after 9:00. We’re invited to an outdoor picnic at 7:00, then to watch the fireworks. It doesn’t start to cool off until 7:00. The entire event seems to be after many here’s bedtime! 🙄.

Perhaps it’s called work schedules!! If they slice off 1.5 hours to 5:00 on the front side, that means for their work schedule they’ll slice off 1.5 hours on the backside to 7:30. Or were you just expecting the crew to work an additional 1.5 hours. Going to Tuscany in September. Restaurants don’t open until 7:00 or 7:30. 6:30 isn’t late for restaurants to open . People get stuck in personal ruts and don’t want to change even in foreign lands on vacation. Guess this is the reason so many fly in and out the day of Embarkment. Can’t wait until the shore restaurants open at night.

All the passengers are on vacation. I don’t understand why some consider a 6:30 opening time late? All those wanting to eat earlier may do so via room service or high tea. Quite a few take that option. To answer the actual question, as addressed by a past Social Director: Oceania sails smaller ships, 670-1280 passengers , than most of the major lines. The fear is, with Oceania’s demographics and the smaller ships, the ships will become “ghost “ vessels by 7:30 or so. This may be received more negatively by more than a 5-6:00 opening would please.

All these benefits from AMEX are either paid for in fees by the merchants or the cardholders. Back to another thread one soon realizes why many merchants won’t accept AMEX cards. 🙄

I must say, I only experienced this once, and that was on the Sirena in 22. Using various excuses, the ship was overloading the 6:30 time slot and filling the Specialties. They had neither the waitstaff nor kitchen to handle the mass packing. Complete Cluster. People with 7:30-8:00 were left standing at the door until near 9:00. All those people demanding 6:30s thought they had a deal until they saw the results. Only saw it once, and hopefully never again. The strange part was Specialty Reservations Desk was essentially handing out 6:30s to all comers while knowing the system had to already be mostly full! 🤬

Exactly. The TC is designed for people wanting a quick meal. Still: Talk with your wait staff. I’ve told them to slow down before, and they graciously complied.

This issue has been beat to death. If one reads past posts, there are a significant number of cruisers that want to eat 3-4 courses and be gone in 45-60 minutes. Eat at 6:30, out by 7:15, in bed by 8:00. Rarely speak a word to their table mate. There are another group of cruisers that want a nice relaxing dinner in a more European style. Enjoy the he meal, the company, the atmosphere, so 1.5-2 hours is pleasant. Here’s my remedy. Tell the waitress what you desire, they usually aim to please. If they don’t, talk to the restaurant manager.

We almost never trade in currency particularly the Euro or British pound. We used left over Krona from a 2017 cruise on a 2022 cruise. In fact, a couple years back the Euro got down to .98 USD. We bought a couple grand worth and been using ever since. We bought the pound closer to par also. It’ll all get used hopefully eventually.

Depending upon volume, most restaurant ( non chain) are paying between 3-4% to Visa/Mastercard. AMEX charges over 7% in fees.Even in the States, many vendors won’t take AMEX. Another tid bit. Depending upon ownership policies, most venues subtract the credit card charges from the tip paid before distribution to staff.

I have always found ATMs to be convenient and easy to use throughout Europe. We always do a major bank ATM that doesn’t charge the excessive fees. Our credit cards have no foreign transaction fees. Speaking of which, we almost always find paying the restaurant, or other venue, bill in the local currency is less expensive than paying the intermediary the transaction fees to covert the bill to USD.

I believe that the restaurant mgr should address some of the noise issues. There’s a credit card commercial with Gary Hart and he’s yelling the entire time to neighbors. One guy finally says” Gary, I’m standing right here, why are you yelling?” Hart replies “ Because that’s what I do!” Too often that’s what a lot of people do! 😠. We have a friend we constantly have to tell him to tone it down! No one five tables away wants to hear, or compete with, our conversation. Often it just leads to more people shouting or talking loudly. There’s a survey going around the internet asking how people always identify Americans. Other than dress(often sloppy), the primary answer is they always talk LOUDLY! The restaurant managers need to tell people to tone it down quite often.

Thus sayeth the person that proclaimed they will only eat at two tops and seems to dislike intermingling with any of the other guest. Yes, some people do certainly enjoy sitting in their cabins drinking alone. For the rest of us that enjoy meeting and co-mingling with our fellow passengers, the Happy Hours particularly in Martinis and Horizons are a great place to do so.

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Agree 100 % with ORV concerning the Survey. Most of we Americans aren’t going to fly 24+ hours for a 7-10 day cruise. If the Embarkment or Disembark port is one we’ve already spent considerable time in, it’s a double no go. Get much beyond 20 days and the odds of the Cruise of the Ancients, which my friends experienced this past winter, increases significantly, especially on R ships.

Both of which are wines! 😂 Yes, cabs, Malbec, Chardonnay, and Sav Blanc, all wines on the wine by the glass list , are included. For both wines and beer, the package only includes those listed on the wine “ by the glass “ list and the beer list.

Fwiw , I’ve yet to encounter any children on an Oceania ship that misbehaved or caused any issues. Not the same for those passengers with dementia whose spouses abdicated their responsibilities and allowed them to roam.

Herein lies the problem. I was on an 17 day SE Asia O R ship cruise in 2017 with a lady that only briefly left the ship.she proudly proclaimed she had lobster 34 times during the cruise. Never ate in the GDR because lobster wasn’t served. Here’s the question: would 99% of us care if lobster was only served 3 maybe 4 times per week in the Terrace? Would that even be a cost savings if they did? I can get Oceania quality frozen lobster tails for as little as $5.99 each, regularly at $6.99 each. I rarely find ship lobster to be good as it is often grotesquely overcooked. Some people obviously love rubber band chewy lobster. Lots of reasonable cost savings are at hand. The issue is which can be achieved at the lowest volume level. I’m certain that lady would have squealed loudly if she only got lobster 33 times. Is that significant enough to overlook cost saving potentials?

We stayed at the Tokyo Hilton pre cruise and traveled around the City effortlessly from the subway system in the basement of the hotel. Post cruise we took the Shinkansen from Yokohama-Kyoto, then Kyoto-Kanazawa, then Kanazawa-Tokyo Central. From there an easily marked combo subway-elevated monorail right to our concourse in Haneda. Fwiw- elevators or moving stairs aren’t always available for all of the subway lines and the crowds can be substantial . I would doubt that Oceania would ever turn its demographics loose in a subway system in Japan. Expect tour buses to be the norm for ship sponsored tours.

So cabins available, that O wants/needs to sell, just none that you personally want. There’s a difference. Kinda like people that say they can’t get dinner reservations, but then admit that only two tops at 6:30 is acceptable. That new cancellation charge is chump change for many of O cruisers. May slow a few down, but not very many.

People need to take a look at all the sales continuously going on for 2024 cruises. Look at berths available, after Final Payment Date, after the Lookie Loos have been cleared out. None of my last three cruises have been near full , including an early sailing on the Vista.

😂. Do people really believe those wintering in the warmer climates are the ones working for tips back at home? 🙄🙄. Yep, Oceania is full of former service workers, garnishing tips, so to live the life of liesure. 🤔 I guess most of those O guests give their left over foreign currency to American service workers. It’s easy for a Chicago cabbie to convert that Argentina money. If you’re too lazy to convert even a small amount to local currency, why are you even tipping?

When we tip, we do it in local currency. Di you believe an American waiter would want to be tipped in pesos or yen? People should try not being the ugly American tourist.

Let me add to this that if I want to eat ashore, I do. I don’t worry about that provided meal back aboard ship. I have the option of scampering back for it if I choose. Likewise, we take the shore tours we want and don’t worry about SM credits. Just like those lunches, the credits are there if it suits me, not something I fill at all obliged to use.

In a realm where logic and some cognitive forces exists, this wouldn’t be a difficult situation. I have eaten at very upscale restaurants where symbols such as chili peppers (🌶️ for example) are displayed on the menu denoting the dish was either spicy or perhaps hot to a degree. People could choose, or not choose, to order a dish based on those parameters. The problem with this simple solution is that many of Oceania’s passengers continually prove they are neither logical nor capable of displaying much cognitive ability. Oceania attempts such a system with its ship land tours to little avail. Look at all the passengers that will continually ignore both the walker symbols and the tour descriptions and take off on tours they are physically unfit for, but expect to be facilitated. They believe they have a right to both take any tour they desire, and to be fully facilitated on that tour despite its impact on other participants. This attitude parlays into food selections. No matter how many 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Oceania were to put beside a dish, the NoNos would first order it , then shriek in horror, then demand it be prepared to their bland taste preferences. Oceania has a recognized history of cowering to the NoNos, just like they do to the passengers that day after day go on tours they aren’t physically capable of. I see little hope in this area.

Exactly, or Mexican and a host of other specialties.