pinotlover

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.

Oceania has neither published a 2024 date nor a later date for the refurbishment. Everything is pure speculation at this time.

Thank you! I’m getting very nervous about our booking for this cruise. A lot of money, both ship and airfare, for that many sea days especially on an R ship. The shorten port times adds insult to injury.

I have a request for anyone that did the circumnavigation cruise this year. How many total ports did you miss, and how many total sea days did you end up with? Thanks for your efforts!

Some officers are highly visible and attend all the functions. Some of the senior officers attend none of the functions . There is no requirement for any senior O officer to ever intermingle with guests. You were on a ship with the good guys! Luck if the draw.

+1. Won’t much affect a TA, but this will become a huge factor between the two lines, especially as Oceania slices more port times away. For those that care, some of Oceania’s senior staff, such as the ship captain, are invisible. They don’t even show up for the Captain’s Welcome Party. AZ’s senior staff intermingles with the passengers FAR more than Oceania’s. Never been a big deal for me, but others enjoy meeting and being coddled by senior staff.

I’ll repeat my comments while in my Sirena cruise. : I had some great meals and I had some very poor meals.It’s the Inconsistency that’s killing them.

Typically, when Oceania makes cruise cancellations, they do it before the air schedule opens up for that time frame. That’s 11-12 months depending upon airlines. Therefore, most all of 2024 is still in play. I will add that the ship yards appear to be fairly busy and it would be at least that far out to get a slot reserved. I still personally believe that NCLH’s financial condition is such that they need all the revenue they can get, and will delay extra expenses as long as possible. I’ll be on Marina next month. Will be interesting to make my own decisions. In Oct, our OCA on Sirena announced that the cruise schedule for the second “ A” Class ship would be announced in April for 2025 sailings. We’ll soon see if that actually happens. A new ship is a lot of money NCLH doesn’t have.

We found a total absence of tamarind in the Red Ginger watermelon duck salad. Eradicated much of the flavor. Then , they presented Tamarind Soup, after acknowledging they had no tamarind aboard. Disappointing to say the least. Going bland seems to be accepted alternative.

We are on the Dec23-Jan 24 circumnavigation. Looks mostly similar to your itinerary. Hopefully they figure out the descaling in advance. A lot of money for additional sea days we don’t want. As always will attempt to avoid Oceania shorex! Would love your information on the guide in Bali!! Was hoping to be there two days with an overnight, but only one unfortunately .

I don’t believe we actually docked, but was on anchor. There was only one major city in the Bay. We didn’t do the overnight to Hanoi, but spent one of the days touring through the remarkable Bay with its inhabitants along with a cave tour. The next day we walked around the town itself and visited a fabulous marketplace.