pinotlover

Canceled ports and port times are important items for us. As far as other ships, I have friends that rave about Tauck. Some of their itineraries are probably better than Oceania’s. AZ is again another consideration. Looking for more responses from very recent cruisers and if they long term are going to play the port cutting game. We’ve never done Seaborne and will have to look at them. If we depart from Oceania, we will not put money in FDR’s other pocket (Regent). We have two Oceania cruises booked we will do. Marina in Feb-Mar and Vista in June. We have two other booking dependent upon O’s performance on those two cruises. We have already received port time slashes for one of those future cruises along with our upcoming cruise. Not positive.

Condolences! 😢 We are scheduled for the Falklands in early March and have Volunteer Point booked with a group of others. Praying we make it. Never been there. If we miss again, there won’t be another attempt. Is Oceania giving you an extra day in Ushuaia or puerto Arenas, or just floating around with another sea day?

Excellent News!! Sorry for those having cruises cancelled, but in the BIG picture, Excellent News!

The Marina ran aground either entering or somewhere going up the Amazon in December. Perhaps someone aboard can give more information. I don’t believe extensive damage was reported, however…..

His numbers, and he captained the ship since O bought it. I’m guessing, on smaller ships, that hotel operations/dining/etc operations eat up a far higher percentage of total fuel than does a 6000 passenger behemoth.

If one continues to watch and manage the waitlist, your odds are fairly good. You’re 21 months from cruising and a long time from final payment. Some people talk about the rush to cruise again, but other than the rush to use up expiring FCC, that isn’t really showing up. Still lots of availability on multiple cruises, even ahead of Final Payment. Oceania isn’t having an Anniversary Sale because the cruises have sold out. Book another cabin on the cruise if the itinerary excites you. Place a deposit on the Waitlist. Watch for openings and movements regularly. Both you and your TA should be extra observant come FP if something hasn’t opened by then.

Can’t do online. Call your TA or O rep if you don’t have a TA. I let my TA do it. This is especially important if the cancellation affects your YWYW discount.

During our cruise in Oct/Nov, Oceania was offering a $300 OBC amount for any book cruise or FCC booked abroad. I don’t know when they reverted back to $100.

A bit hasty there LHT28. Neither the shops nor the casino can be open while the ship is in port. It is my understanding that rents paid by those vendors are determined by, or correlate with, the number of hours they are open. Shorter port times equals more hours of operation for those vendors. Just consider how much more Oceania can charge/earn for retail space versus AZ with all its overnights and late departures.

Captain Max told our ship that 70% of fuel consumption ( that was on the Nautica) went to hotel and dining operations. Only 30% went to propulsion. Therefore, any savings via reduced speed would only affect the 30% number not total consumption. Any savings in fuel consumption, plus the larger savings from reduced port docking fees is a significant number and a company with a mountain of debt ( NCLH) will want to capture any of that possible.

Charles; Walmart went into many US towns and priced the local companies out of business. After the competition was virtually gone, they raised their prices. I believe, short term , starlink will provide a cost competitive product. Long term, when they become market dominant, probably not.

Yep. Been on O cruises where a lot more complained about not having organized Knit, Darn, and Gossip groups on port days than ever complaining about shortening port time. I never realized the purpose of a cruise for some was to find bridge participants 10-12 hours per day. Port? We were in Port?

A contrast of Cruisers vs Travelers. The Cruisers could care less, while the Travelers are upset. A simple glimpse of how lopsided the balance in numbers in favor of the Cruisers: look at the huge percentage of people gleefully headed to Boardamania and the maybe roast turkey. They don’t care about any of that Etalian or Spanish food in port, why they can eat at Olive Garden or El Toribbo whenever they want at home. Meanwhile, we Travelers, in the obvious minority, show up to empty boarding lines at 2:30-3:00. The odds are stacked against the Travelers in this affair.

People don’t want to pay for my booze, I don’t want to pay for their fancy dancy internet. Charge those wanting the upgrade.

We cruise based primarily upon itinerary. These port times cuts, along with missed ports will definitely go into the analysis of which offered itineraries are actually the best. Having said the above, I feel we are in a very small minority of actual Oceania cruisers. We see a large percentage of Oceania cruisers that either rarely get off the ships, or only do so for 2-3 hours, 4 max. The ship being in port 1-3 hours less has zero impact on their planned activities. They are the ones crying if their tour gets back after the Terrace closes for lunch. I’m merely guessing Oceania knows where most of its guests are. They can save more money from reduced port times, with a majority of guests not caring. The rest of us have to figure it out.

They maybe telling you the ship is expected in later than originally planned. Biggest part of your question revolves around where you are boarding. Some ports will not allow you into the terminal area until your prescribed boarding time.

When we were aboard, on the electronic placard they first told everyone about using facial recognition and then about using thermal imaging technology to take everyone’s temperature.Perhaps they have dropped the later since November. However!m, Passengers were fully made aware of the utilization of both technologies, IF they merely read the large placard upon boarding. No secret at all.

It’s neither. Oceania runs multiple 7 day Carribean cruises out of Miami during the winter. The vast majority of those cruisers are only doing single segment itineraries, therefore especially on the O ships it’s harder to facilitate everyone’s guaranteed bookings. Thus the adjustment in times. One will occasionally see seven (7) day segments in Europe also. However, the turnover on those cruises is often far less than the ones out of Miami. As an example, our recent fully booked Sirena cruise consisted of a 7 day segment and a 10 day segment. A 10 day cruise segment preceded us. We were told about 300 boarded with us. Of that 300 maybe only 100 were there for only the 7 days. Therefore, the ability to ensure those 100 their guarantees in that time frame was simple. The normal dining schedule was not altered. Totally different story than when an entire boatload has to be accommodated.

I would never have noticed it either, in the Lounge , while going through the reception line if we hadn’t circled back behind the greeters for a table on the upper level . Sitting there discreetly against the wall with all entering in plain sight.

Absolutely! Plus passengers should feel some confidence that it isn’t all left to the integrity of the individual passengers to report if they are feverish or sick or not. Not going ashore won’t hide you from the equipment being moved around the ship to monitor the passenger’s health.

+1 with passport visa express. I used them several years ago for China and they were excellent. Quick and efficient.

We had fully checked in on line, including uploading our pictures. They still took another picture of us at check in at the dock. For those not oblivious to the electronic placard upon boarding, Facial recognition is used aboard ship when boarding AND in conjunction with the thermal detection device for taking and monitoring a passenger’s temperature. We saw that device moved around the ship appearing at not only the boarding area but also discretely at the entrance to the Terrace and in the Lounge at one of the receptions. We later learned from unfortunate guests that those setting off the thermal tests received invitations they couldn’t refuse to visit the medical clinic.

Actually a crapshoot. Uniworld offers a 5% discount for paying upfront. Glad I took advantage of it. My stock accounts lost a lot more than 5% last year. I could have paid for multiple cruises in an OS for what disappeared. 😢🥺. Paying upfront reduced the amount I lost. Life’s a gamble. This year’s market might not be pretty either!

In 2019, we did Southampton-Southampton, 20 or 21 day cruise. It included two stops on the North side of Iceland and an overnight in Reykjavik. The later was after a scheduled 2 stop In Greenland. It was on the Nautica, and I believe they only ran that itinerary once per year at the time. The cruise typically filled quickly upon release. That cruise was combined, with many aboard, with the 21 day Copenhagen-Southampton cruise that went up the Norway coast and over the top to Archangel. The Russian portion of that itinerary has obviously been eliminated, so not sure what’s happening now.

Just received notification of port modifications for our Dec OZ circumnavigation. Email only includes changes for first leg to Bali. It does not include 2nd leg.