Please join us - Spain to the New World on a new ship - LIVE from Oceania Riviera

[janecambridge]

Hope they are cleaning the " mouse" on each computer after each use!

[LHT28]

Oh too bad those that were affected did not just stay in their cabin for a day or so

 

We know people that had it on our cruise but still were out & about :eek:

 

Just makes me annoyed as I stay in my cabin when not well

Edited November 28, 2015 by LHT28

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking us on a tour of some more parts of the ship.

Great pictures.

[Cruseforme]

Jacqui,

Thank you so much for posting everything, and being honest with your appraisal of food, etc. We are due to embark on the Riviera on the GV on 12/2 so watching your updates diligently about the Noro, and the status of everything.

In fact I know many on our roll call are anxiously watching, to see what we have in store for our upcoming voyage. Your food porn is outstanding, and thank you for going above and beyond, to document the ship for folks! (Thanking the other several onboard also, for their posts!) Tina

[ronrick1943]

To take the time to do this writing and photo's--than post during your vacation one must say you are truly a wonderful person. Hope to meet you two on a cruise someday. Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise.

Rick

[kazu]

I have been told by numerous people that the specialty restaurants (a couple anyways) are 1/2 empty and the tables are not filling later on.

 

So, at the recommendation of a frequent O cruiser I went down to the Reservations desk to see if I could get one last night. The only thing available was a 9 pm sharing table which I turned down (graciously).

 

When I met up with my fellow cruisers today I told them I had no luck and they asid that the restaurants were again 1/2 way empty and there were four two tops that were never occupied and then cleared away.

 

hmmm? We are guessing that some of the sick people have reservations and are just not showing up? Or people just don't keep reservations?

 

Not sure if I will do it tonight or not but we are debating just going down without a reservation around 6:45 p.m and see if there are some that didn't show.

 

Have to convince DH first though :)

 

I would happily do another Jacques. :)

[kazu]

Sorry but quote wasn't working for me (grrrr)

 

I checked out the library and I didn't see any magazines of any sort there at all when I looked.

 

There are some magazines in the executive/concierge lounge but they are basically printed off copies of select articles from magazines.

 

This seems to be the limit of the magazines on board from what I can see so your DH may want to bring a few of his own or pick up a few in ports.

 

hope this helps :)

[LHT28]

Specialty restaurants are never fully booked could be a staffing issue not sure

but in our experience over the last 10 yrs with O I have never seen them full

That said we dined in the Pinnacle & Canneletto recently & they were not full either :confused:

 

Maybe the NORO issue also has some effect as well

[kazu]

here is the "infamous" smokers' section at the pool

 

 

deck 14 (the deck above the pool where the walk around area is)

 

 

and views from that deck

 

 

[kazu]

Specialty restaurants are never fully booked could be a staffing issue not sure

but in our experience over the last 10 yrs with O I have never seen them full

That said we dined in the Pinnacle & Canneletto recently & they were not full either :confused:

 

Maybe the NORO issue also has some effect as well

 

I am just going by what exerienced O guests are telling me - that they are not as full as usual (I probably didn't word it well). One of them got in last night at an earlier time by just showing up without a reservation even though they had one for a later time.

 

I think you are right as to crew capacity. There are a number that are sick.

 

Bingo was very late starting today.

 

Our social hostess is sick and apparently her back up and the other back up are both sick as our Assistant CD was on the phone until nearly 12:15 trying to find someone to help sell cards.

 

Finally the CD Ray Michaels came up and helped pass out cards.

 

Sadly that meant that Ray was calling Bingo instead of Edward. Edward is much better.

 

Poor Ray - I don't think he has called Bingo since they had bouncing balls - LOL (he said so himself).

 

But he was a good sport about it or tried to be.

 

Sadly Kazu was the infamous 1 number away and didn't win. GRRR.

Edited November 28, 2015 by kazu

[ski ww]

Thanks for taking us a short tour of the ship. It sure sucks when Noro hits half the ship. On top of that you miss a great port of call. Hope the rest of your cruise is better. take care.

Allan & Marlane

[LHT28]

Thanks for taking us a short tour of the ship. It sure sucks when Noro hits half the ship. On top of that you miss a great port of call. Hope the rest of your cruise is better. take care.

Allan & Marlane

I think they are a long way from half the ship with NORO

:eek:

 

If it was 50% they would be heading straight to a US port to be quarantined

this is how bad rumours start

[RJB]

I think they are a long way from half the ship with NORO

:eek:

 

If it was 50% they would be heading straight to a US port to be quarantined

this is how bad rumours start

 

Do we really know what the number is? Is it 6% or 20 or more? Will they tell us? Guess they do not want to scare everyone. Sounds like a lot of the staff are sick. Hope it starts to get better soon.

[kazu]

Thanks for taking us a short tour of the ship. It sure sucks when Noro hits half the ship. On top of that you miss a great port of call. Hope the rest of your cruise is better. take care.

Allan & Marlane

 

I think they are a long way from half the ship with NORO

:eek:

 

If it was 50% they would be heading straight to a US port to be quarantined

this is how bad rumours start

 

 

I can say WITHOUT a doubt that 1/2 of the ship DOES NOT have Noro.

 

I don't know the numbers and the ship is not communicating with us on them sadly. So everyone is wondering guessing and pondering.

 

But certainly we don't have that many people sick on the ship.

 

I think the one beef most people have is the lack of communication. We don't know if it is being curbed or not other than the captain telling gigianne that the cases were down.

 

We didn't know how many new cases there were and the only thing I have been told is that we are "over 2%".

 

The poster who posted on Orv's thread (I think it was his thread) and reported it at 6% got information that the rest of us have not somehow.

 

In any case, there are LOTS of healthy people on board and I count my lucky stars that I and our roll call (to the best of my knowledge) are among them.

 

pausing to knock on wood.

[kazu]

and here is La Reserve (it was taken through the glass so you will have to ignore some reflection - sorry)

 

 

 

this is the waiting area for when you are booked for La Reserve. The area is cordoned off and the tables are arranged so that different groups sit together and they serve you your champagne & a little bite while you wait for the group to ensemble.

 

The chairs look lovely, but they like many chairs here are not that comfortable (DH's and my opinion). They need pillows or something for support. They seem to have been designed for people with large girth and those of us without it are forced to lean forward.

 

[kazu]

Do we really know what the number is? Is it 6% or 20 or more? Will they tell us? Guess they do not want to scare everyone. Sounds like a lot of the staff are sick. Hope it starts to get better soon.

 

Numberw are being reported and will show on the cdc website (or whatever it is) soon enough where the reported cases show.

 

I don't think it is a ridiculousnumber of people but I do think it is higher than 2%

[LHT28]

I think the one beef most people have is the lack of communication. We don't know if it is being curbed or not other than the captain telling gigianne that the cases were down.

 

We didn't know how many new cases there were and the only thing I have been told is that we are "over 2%".

 

The poster who posted on Orv's thread (I think it was his thread) and reported it at 6% got information that the rest of us have not somehow.

 

They can only count the people that actually report in that they are sick ..there are probably others that may just avoid the medical centre

 

You probably will not know until after the fact from the CDC report is filed

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/GIlist.htm

 

I did not know what I had back in 2011 until I saw the report a year later on the CDC site ..confirmed as E. Coli

I do know a lot of people had something

 

All you can do is try to stay healthy ...keep on washing your hands etc..

 

Lyn

[Toranut97]

I believe that the butler can be a HUGE help in snagging you those extra specialty restaurant reservations. You might want to try it!!!

[RJB]

Numberw are being reported and will show on the cdc website (or whatever it is) soon enough where the reported cases show.

 

I don't think it is a ridiculousnumber of people but I do think it is higher than 2%

 

So what happens if Nassau says no? Stay at sea until the ship can return to Miami? Cut the cruise short? If people are still sick who says that Nassau will allow the ship to dock there. Could be a mess.

[buggins0402]

Kazu, I am enjoying your pictures of Riviera very much. They are making me look forward to boarding her in June next year. Hope you score another seating in Jacques.

 

BTW, your wonderful picures of the palace in Madrid were as close as we got to seeing it...it was closed for a special event (and for the following two days) so the outside and your pictures will be by memories.:). I guess when it comes to travel, the best thing is to roll with the punches.

[CruisingCleo]

Sorry but quote wasn't working for me (grrrr)

 

I checked out the library and I didn't see any magazines of any sort there at all when I looked.

 

There are some magazines in the executive/concierge lounge but they are basically printed off copies of select articles from magazines.

 

This seems to be the limit of the magazines on board from what I can see so your DH may want to bring a few of his own or pick up a few in ports.

 

hope this helps :)

 

Thank you, Jacqui!

I will tell him to buy some at AMS Airport when we fly to Miami, they have a wonderful selection. I loved your library pictures. Looks the perfect place for DH for a nap while pretending to read a scientific magazine :D

Mirjam

[Mura]

I am just going by what exerienced O guests are telling me - that they are not as full as usual (I probably didn't word it well). One of them got in last night at an earlier time by just showing up without a reservation even though they had one for a later time.

 

 

I'm no expert here but when we were on Marina last April/May when she had the same problems with Noro, we tried Jacques one night just in case there might be a table available. Not all tables were filled (to our eyes) but even so the Maitre d' apologized and said no. He had recognized us from our last cruise so I do think he was being honest. We just figured those empty tables we saw were being held for a slightly later reservation.

 

It certainly won't hurt to keep on trying! And if you have a butler, use him! They are far better at getting these reservations than we are ...

 

Mura

[kazu]

thanks Mura & Toranut. I will ask our butler.

 

It's no biggie if we can't do another reservation. Just a help to fill in the sea days.

 

The Main Dining Room (aka Grand Dining Room) does a nice job.

 

The Terrace Grill service is really suffering now. Our friends waited for tea for forever and finally left. I

 

We had the same experience last night trying to get our bottle of wine.

 

Normally this ship does the retrieval of the wine very well and I have been very impressed. So last night was a real shock. By the time we finally got it, our meal was over. And yes, it was a bottle of O's wine that we had ordered the night before and paid for.

 

I suspect they are suffering from a shortfall of crew.

 

Terrace Grill did not have many people in it so that could not have been the reason.

[kazu]

Kazu, I am enjoying your pictures of Riviera very much. They are making me look forward to boarding her in June next year. Hope you score another seating in Jacques.

 

BTW, your wonderful picures of the palace in Madrid were as close as we got to seeing it...it was closed for a special event (and for the following two days) so the outside and your pictures will be by memories.:). I guess when it comes to travel, the best thing is to roll with the punches.

 

You are absolutely right buggins, you do need to roll with the punches.

 

You just hope you don't get punched too much - LOL ;)

 

The Palace truly was beautiful and well worth the visit. We really enjoyed it.

[kazu]

Thank you, Jacqui!

I will tell him to buy some at AMS Airport when we fly to Miami, they have a wonderful selection. I loved your library pictures. Looks the perfect place for DH for a nap while pretending to read a scientific magazine :D

Mirjam

 

You are most welcome. Happy to help :)

 

He might as well join the crowd. The library seems to become "nap central" at least on this cruise ;)