pinotlover

To begin with, the ships don’t go into fjords in Chile. It’s marketing hype.They sail past/through a series of off shore islands. If the weather is clear, it’s lovely sailing. If it is overcast, foggy, and rainy as it often is, then not much to see. There is a reason the area is a cool climate rain forest. Read up on the Humboldt Currents and fog and the weather patterns associated.

No. They picked us up at the ship. We drove to Valparaiso and did a half day tour. Then went to the winery and had a tasting and wine paired lunch. Villard is fabulous. We then returned to ship. He will take you to yout hotel of choice in Santiago or whatever you want.

Send an email to alramirezchile@gmail.com give him your information and he’ll take wonderful care of you. Tell him you want to go to Villard just like Sandy did.

In the past couple of States in which I’ve lived Real iD has been available for years. They cost extra, and take extra time to acquire. People don’t want to pay extra or take the time. Twenty years is long past enough time. As long as DHS delays enforcement, the longer people will wait to comply.

It’s called Boardamania! I wonder what time the OP opted to show up for boarding? A hint from a seasoned cruiser, always check the port schedule to see who else is embarking or disembarking on the same day as you. Some days merely getting a taxi can take hours! PPPPPP.

We did a wonderful tour of Valparaiso, then a winery visit with an extraordinary lunch in a spectacular winery. I’m sure they’d deliver you to Santiago afterwards. Greatest meal on our 20 day voyage, far surpassing anything on the ship! 🥰

The States are have problems getting people to convert from traditional drivers license to Real ID. The Feds, after years of system implementation, continue to push out the requirement for boarding planes. Saw a statistic that if DHS ever followed the Real ID requirements for air travel, over half of the passengers wouldn’t be flying.

We were on the Marina 2/27-3/19, so 20 days. We stayed in a PH2, and found the condition of the ship to be mostly fine. Most notable needed repairs were to the AC/heating system. Cruise before ours likewise complained of problems. Hopefully they invest and fix those issues before the retrofit. Food. We had some great meals and some poor to mediocre meals. Inconsistency is an issue. As a positive, the food on the Marina was overall better than on the Sirena last October. Destination Services is a disaster. They’ll look you in the face and lie like dogs. Book private tours and avoid as much as possible. The rest of the staff do a fairly good job and try to keep you happy. Communications from senior staff to the passengers are very poor. Probably one of Oceania’s greatest weaknesses. Always has been. I believe you’ll enjoy your cruise. Haven’t yet sailed the Yacht Club but plan to someday. Be careful to taper your expectations and I think things will go fine. Things have definitely changed on the New Oceania. Give it a try for the experience.

Going to Israel next month on Vista for 3 days. Lots of fellow cruisers overnighting In Jerusalem instead of making the long drive back to the ship every night. We’ll let management know.

Just today bought tickets to Tokyo for next March/April cruise on UA. I was able to get Saver BC miles. AA still wants 950K miles for the BC trip. Was able to get one stop connections each way with reasonable connection times. Now we’ll wait and watch for the multiple schedule changes! 🙄

An important point on returning food abroad ship. We most typically enjoy sharing at dinner. Part of the enjoyment of cruising and traveling for us the the wide assortment of interesting people we meet. Some of our table mates hate the leisurely pace of dinner we enjoy on Oceania. This opinion is consistently repeated here on CC, with some even complaining about people ordering four (4) courses! 😳 The last time I sent a steak back, it was ordered medium rare and came out near carbonized. The process, in a busy Polo Grill, took about 15-20 minutes to get our ( actually it happened to another of us at the table) replaced steaks. The third couple at the table were beside themselves! They had finished their course before our food had arrived and were mad at us because we were making them wait so long for dessert and to finish. I’ve never been hungry on a cruise ship. It’s far easier for me to forgo the dish than to inconvenience everyone else at the table. Additionally, having had Oceania Cheerleaders at the table in the past, they would pipe in and tell us how absolutely perfectly done their steaks are, and how we were probably just wrong on the steaks being well done plus. Easier to just move on.

Terri; I believe the largest issue presented by the OP was she made a significant financial reach, for her, to try Oceania and primarily its “ finest cruise at sea”. In the wine business we have Quality Price Ratio ( QPR). Is that $50 bottle of wine twice as good as that $25 bottle? Would you rather drink two bottles ( even over time) of the lesser priced, or one bottle of the more expensive? People’s perception of $50 ( price) often ends up being larger than quality. If $50 is mostly chump change, the $50 bottle will typically win out. However, if one stretches to buy a $50 bottle with great expectations from aggressive marketing and it disappoints, that’s another matter. I believe the OP reasonably explained her starting position and objectively discussed her experience. The Cheerleaders unnecessarily ravaged her.

Ordering room service between 4:30-6:00 is similar to complaining about rush hour traffic at major highway arteries. Unless a medical reason, best to avoid. Bad time to be on a highway, bad time to order room service. Some people don’t like, and avoid, confrontation. It’s just their nature. They still have every right to post reviews of their cruise experience. As a paying customer, for anything, I don’t believe it’s my/our obligation to give management a detailed review of my experience. You come aboard, or enter a dining venue, and absorb what’s around you. Either during the visit, or afterwards after contemplation, you decide if you ever want to return. You pay the bill and tip as appropriate and leave. The contract is fulfilled. Plenty of other people to give advice and opinions on things they know nothing about.

I believe Mark’s comments above are right on. Dramatically over cooked meat was a problem on both our recent cruises. I’ll repeat earlier posts I’ve made. We believe that Oceania typically does a fairly good job overall. However, one must calibrate their expectations and ignore some of the marketing hype. Otherwise, disappointment is sure to follow.

Depending upon the port/terminal, from which you Embark, you may need a copy of the invoice, with boarding time, to be allowed into the port and/or terminal facility. Some ports/terminals from which we have embarked turn away cruisers arriving before their designated Embarkment time. We have witnessed this both pre and post Covid. This requirement is not mandated by Oceania, but the various Port Authorities to better maintain security and a managed flow of passengers through their facilities. It is highly recommended that you carry your documentation.

Massive numbers of Oceania dress code threads. Why start another one?

Part of the enjoyment of DIYers is having control and spending hours on the phone scouring for details. It’s what they choose. I have a TA and know how to use her. It’s what I, and multiple other posters here choose. Each to their own. Enjoy your experiences. I played 18 holes of golf today while someone here chose to spend the time querying Oceania. Each to their own! 🍷

You are confusing terms and definitions. Oceania no longer requires you to pay a deviation fee for flying in early or leaving late. This was once a perk for status members that has been extended to everyone. Anyone can request specific flights from O Air anytime after the 270 day marker. The various airlines place a certain number of seats in the discount pool. That pool is small for PE seats. One’s best shot at getting good connections is booking early and not waiting for all the other organizations ( think Princess Air or trip consolidators) to take them first. Here is the Black Box. Cruisers have no clue as to whether a requested airline and/or itinerary is in the discount pool or not. Oceania/NCL Air is the only one knowing that. They make the decision as to whether to offer you the itinerary with no additional costs, or whether to offer it with additional costs. Their game. Any upcharge for requested flights is NOT a deviation fee. It is purely an upcharge for that specific flight. Other flights for that day may be available with no additional fares. In today’s airline market, it is generally foolish to wait to book flights. Seat demand and supply are not in balance. Once a Travel Agent has been designated as your Agent, they will be involved in the negotiation and information exchange with Oceania Air. If you don’t want an Agent to be involved, don’t designate an Agent, it’s your choice. However, if you do designate an Agent for your cruise contract, the cruise line in contractually obligated to go through that Agent on most matters financially affecting the contract. Fairly simple, chose DIY or Agent upfront and live with the choice .

Immediately reported him to the locals and the tour guide.

A corkage fee is typically charged by a venue to compensate it for the loss of wine sales of in house products. While I can’t give you an exact answer, I can say it may lie in whether Oceania offers alcohol free wine thus causing them a loss of sale.

If you like the routing and ticket class, book as soon as you can. Cheap fares are often decisions. Last year, I booked Nashville-Buenos Aires. Early on a very inexpensive BC ticket became available BNA-JFK-EZE. It was $1K less expensive than either going through MIA or DFW. I didn’t want to fly through JFK in January. I’d rather continue going South. I waited. The routing I wanted continued to go up and the cheap routing via JFK disappeared. With today’s airfare, I’m rarely finding cheaper fares later.

They absolutely do not bring both drinks during Happy Hour at the same time! Would you want to sit and be enjoying a gin and tonic while watching the ice melt in the second one? Or, sit drinking your beer as the other one warms up before you? They are brought one at a time at your leisurely convenience. Important notation from above. Drinks from the Premium Package are available when the bars are open. No bars are open until around 11:00, so that Scotch won’t be available until then either. There isn’t 24/7 bar service.

I believe on our 2/23 Marina cruise there were in fact 2 Newcomers Parties. They split the 500 or so Newbies into two Groups and each was invited to a greeting party . The repeater parties are handled the same way. You’ll receive an invitation as appropriate at some point.

Our early check in for our June Vista cruise starts next week so will know then if any changes have occurred. However, for our Feb Marina cruise, and prior October cruise, they had eliminated all priority check in times by cabin category. When online check in begins, merely go to your account and select your desired check in time. From comments from fellow passengers, they all seemed to get whatever time they desired, even the opening 11:00 slot. We’ll be sightseeing in Istanbul, so will probably take the 3:00 time slot. We have 14 days to explore and eat aboard the ship, so no rush, and prefer missing boardamania.

They do have a limited selection of fine wines. They are typically priced at 3-4 times regular retail prices. So what would normally sell for $100 sells on the ship at $350-$400. A $200 bottle, you’re staring down $650 easily. The ships will typically have a “ bin end” list of wines that are nearing out of stock or past their drinking window. Sometimes these can be found at 1.5-2 times retail. Sometimes these can be good grabs, other times disappointing. Buyer Beware, no returns or replacements on these. There might not be much left, besides acid, in that 8 year old Cali Chardonnay on the list! 🙄