What are the best tips for a newbie to make the most of Oceania?

[paradiseken]

I recall that the QE2 had a free laundry, with about a dozen machines (i.e. 12 washers, 12 dryers). Then again, NCL removed it's guest laundry!

 

I'm not sure at all which lines (if any) actually have free machines these days. I checked at Cunard but they don't really address the issue as far as I could tell, other than saying that "incidental charges such as laundry" are not included in your fare. But it isn't clear if they are referring to laundry done by ship's personnel as opposed to laundry you do in their laundry room -- they didn't even mention if they have laundry rooms on the current ships. (Or if they do mention it, I didn't see it.)

 

Mura

 

Free laundry on the Insignia 180-day world cruise!

[Paulchili]

Free laundry on the Insignia 180-day world cruise!

 

"Free" is a relative term in this case. Included would be more like it :D

Edited July 6, 2014 by Paulchili

[kazu]

Azamara has complimentary laundry

 

What ships have complimentary laundry??

 

The only one we have had free self serve laundry was the AQ

 

Prinsendam also has free laundry (washers & dryers)

[newbie60]

On a 21 day cruise on Regatta with lots and lots of Aussies and Kiwis on board, the funniest conversations I've ever heard took place in the laundry room :D

[2tsquared]

They work fine. Laundry room can be a great place to meet people. Lol

 

Yup -- it was quite "the party" in the laundry room on our AZ cruise! :D

[CAG]

On some of the longer cruises, Oceania has offered a 20 pieces for $20 deal for a set number of days, where they do your laundry. It really is a wonderful service and they do a fantastic job.

 

Cenia

[cotto22]

Silversea and Regent had complimentary laundry facilities. The machines were a little odd compared to what we were used to, but there were facilities on each floor on Silversea. It has been 5 years since our last Regent, so am not sure the # of rooms. We will be on a TA on the Insignia, so will need to do some laundry for sure, and am not all that comfortable sending it out.

 

I do agree about the LR as a great place to meet people. On a Regent TA, we kept bumping into the band leader and managed to get a few requests in for our favorite songs.

[digtexas]

We actually like the fact that Oceania charges a nominal fee for the washers and dryers. My wife likes to do laundry often when onboard. The machines are free (included) on Crystal, and on some cruises it can be really difficult to find empty machines, and hassles break out when people don't remove their laundry from the dryer, others remove it, etc. It is amazing how a nominal fee for services causes less use and leaves the washers and dryers available for those who want to use them.

[Mura]

There have been stories on Oceania about "Dragon Ladies" ruling the laundry room and actually PREVENTING people from removing their laundry when they came back "late" ... which doesn't sound really helpful, does it? Fortunately I've only encountered very helpful people in the laundry rooms!

 

If I were to meet one of these "Dragon Ladies" I might be reduced to violence ... and generally I'm not at all violent!

 

Re Insignia's World Cruise having the benefit of free laundry for the duration -- I should hope so! It might get pretty rank after 3-4 months if they didn't ...

 

Mura

[bob278]

We have our first O cruise booked for next July and are already looking ahead for a possible second one in 2016.

 

How far in advance do new schedules come out? I don't see anything past December and Viking Oceans and Azamara already have their summer 2016 cruises listed (although the ship for Viking's isn't built yet, but I love optimism).

[LHT28]

We have our first O cruise booked for next July and are already looking ahead for a possible second one in 2016.

 

How far in advance do new schedules come out? I don't see anything past December and Viking Oceans and Azamara already have their summer 2016 cruises listed (although the ship for Viking's isn't built yet, but I love optimism).

 

Usually the new itineraries come out in Sept & Mar usually 18 mths out

[bob278]

Usually the new itineraries come out in Sept & Mar usually 18 mths out

Thank you. Hopefully I'll be able to see what they will do for the North Cape Itinerary since looking at 2014 and 2015 is confusing since they are noticeably different.

[pacheco18]

Thank you. Hopefully I'll be able to see what they will do for the North Cape Itinerary since looking at 2014 and 2015 is confusing since they are noticeably different.

 

That is going to be s VERY popular itinerary for 2016 but it won't be out until March. I know many cruisers who plan to book that (including me!!). Book early.

[LHT28]

Thank you. Hopefully I'll be able to see what they will do for the North Cape Itinerary since looking at 2014 and 2015 is confusing since they are noticeably different.

 

They both look good ... not confusing just different ;)

[roothy123]

That is going to be s VERY popular itinerary for 2016 but it won't be out until March. I know many cruisers who plan to book that (including me!!). Book early.

 

Book early, especially if you want oceanviews, insides, or suites! Where does that cruise go, and what makes that itinerary so popular? That hasn't reached my radar screen yet, although I am a bit behind many Oceania cruisers....

 

Yep, Oceania changes its itineraries frequently. They don't want us "lifers" to get bored with the same cruise offerings year after year!

 

Would you believe I have a husband who loves to do laundry? Of course, hearing of lively conversations and meeting people and requesting songs, perhaps I'm getting a little closer to understanding WHY!

 

Yes, it's funny how much charging for a service, even a small charge, keeps the number of users down!

[LHT28]

Book early, especially if you want oceanviews, insides, or suites! Where does that cruise go, and what makes that itinerary so popular?

 

There is a clue in the name ;)

 

North Cape northern Norway spectacular scenery if you can stand the cold cruising the polar Ice cap

[corpkid]

One thing I wanted to add (and I'm not sure if they do this EVERY cruise, but it seems so) is that about 1/2 way through they offer a 20 for $20 laundry deal. This is just wash and press - not dry cleaning. We LOVE this as we pack light (and often spend many days pre-cruise in the departure port). It's an awesome deal. We send out our jeans, no-dry clean shirts, etc. The undergarments we do ourselves in the laundry rooms. Just bring dryer sheets if you like to use those. It's $4 a load ($2 for wash and $2 for dry). Really helps keep the luggage down to a couple rollaboards.

 

Also, their dry cleaning prices are ironically pretty fair. In fact, we are bringing a bunch of things to be cleaned (aka "dirty") just to send them out immediately. Think about it - NO WRINKLES all cruise!!! :) Plus packing gets a lot easier when you can just roll them up into balls and know in x number of hours they'll be hanging in your room looking like new. That's what we have OBC for LOL

[Hawaiidan]

Is there a charge for the thassalotherapy pool, steam or saunas?.... I don't think do

 

Are the specialty restaurants open for lunch? If so, is that part of the 1 guarantee per cruise? NO 6-930 in the evening. And on cruises of over 20 days I was able to book any speciality restauraunt any night I wanted as many times as I wanted....no problem

 

At the Terrace Grille, what do they actually grill?

Yes, steaks, fish chicken this is in addition to the selections from every specialty that are found there every night... so you can make a Polo/Toscana/Jaques dinner all in one stop. A sort of dim-sum type dining..... huge quanities of seafood daily from Calamari toLobster to Swordfish- to scallops- clams, shrimps, ...

 

Will there be a noise issue if our cabin is above the casino area on the Riviera?

No... very quiet

 

Does O have a Captain's "Welcome Aboard" and "Farewell" party?

Not really, like the big showboats... Oceania offers a very low key casual atmosphere and if they had them I never heard of it.. or took notice. No formal nites either.

 

Now here is a tip.... the most friendly enjoyable part of the ship is the smoking section where I discovered some of the nicest people I have ever met... Sounds crazy but I was amazed at the outgoing genuine people there.. Somuvh so that I spent 2/3 of my cruise in the smoking area.... Amazing people

[roothy123]

Well, the captain's party does kind of exist, but maybe not in the same way that other lines have it (not sure; been on few other lines). At Oceania's, there are hors d'oevres and free drinks and the officers are introduced. During at least a few of these I've attended, there is a reception line on one side of the lounge if you want to go through to briefly meet some of the top folks.

 

While there isn't really a Captain's Farewell party per se, but the "Special Guests Show" I mentioned before is pretty much the same thing in a show-based environment. I don't remember if drinks and food are present, although I vaguely remember some bubbly at the end.

 

Great to hear that the smokers are a social bunch!

[ORV]

Not really, like the big showboats... Oceania offers a very low key casual atmosphere and if they had them I never heard of it.. or took notice. No formal nites either.

 

Now here is a tip.... the most friendly enjoyable part of the ship is the smoking section where I discovered some of the nicest people I have ever met... Sounds crazy but I was amazed at the outgoing genuine people there.. Somuvh so that I spent 2/3 of my cruise in the smoking area.... Amazing people

 

Are you a smoker?

[TERRIER1]

Azamara entertainment was WORSE than Oceania (LOL) -- so you will see some measure of improvement.

 

I must add a note about the entertainment on my recent cruise on Regatta. Of the 4 entertainers there was one -- Haley -- who was absolutely Broadway calibre. She sang, danced, and ACTED -- truly exceptional. I would have preferred to watch her as a solo act the entire cruise. I spoke to her after the last show, wondering why she is not on Broadway or some venue other than a ship. She has gone to audition after audition . . She was unlike any other performer I have ever seen on O.

 

We just got off the Azamara Quest and found the entertainment very good better than that experienced on our 6 Oceania cruises.

[chrismch]

HawaiiDan said At the Terrace Grille they grill their standard food in addition to the selections from every specialty that are found there every night... so you can make a Polo/Toscana/Jaques dinner all in one stop....

 

Wouldn't that mean they were making 4 times the entrée options?

 

Does that mean I could conceivably have lobster every night?

 

Do the menus change daily at the specialty restaurants? My experience with other cruiselines is they stay constant and the main dining room changes.

[Paulchili]

HawaiiDan said At the Terrace Grille they grill their standard food in addition to the selections from every specialty that are found there every night... so you can make a Polo/Toscana/Jaques dinner all in one stop....

No - you must have misunderstood. They have a grill station with lobster tails, steaks, etc plus most of the food served in the MDR that night in a separate section (plus salads). The MDR offers nightly one selection from the specialty restaurants on a rotating basis

 

Wouldn't that mean they were making 4 times the entrée options?

 

Does that mean I could conceivably have lobster every night?

Yes

 

Do the menus change daily at the specialty restaurants? My experience with other cruiselines is they stay constant and the main dining room changes.

Specialty restaurant menus are constant and the MDR menu changes nightly

 

I hope that this helps

Edited July 11, 2014 by Paulchili

[Mura]

We just got off the Azamara Quest and found the entertainment very good better than that experienced on our 6 Oceania cruises.

 

I'm not arguing about YOUR opinion about the entertainment, especially since I wasn't on your cruise.

 

My point is just that we all perceive these things differently. I know from Lyn's comments that we would pretty much agree about the quality of entertainment on any ship.

 

A lot of this has to depend on individual tastes in entertainment. I'm not advocating that Oceania's entertainment is fabulous! And I'm not saying it's better than Azamara's.

 

JUST that many of us see these things differently.

 

That doesn't mean that any of us are wrong.

 

Mura

[Aloha 1]

That is going to be s VERY popular itinerary for 2016 but it won't be out until March. I know many cruisers who plan to book that (including me!!). Book early.

 

Laraine; Now you've gone and peaked my DW's curiosity :) I surmise that this itinerary involves northern Norway and the Arctic Sea. What cruises in 2014 and 2015 are posters referencing in comparison. The only one I see that comes close is the 2015 Northern Lights 20 day trip. Would that be correct? And you are saying that the 2016 cruise will be released probably March of 2015, right?

Edited July 11, 2014 by Aloha 1