“LIVE FROM” 2019 Oceania Insignia World Cruise, Jan. 11-July 11

[brownblonde]

Liked the pictures,did not recognize any one, crew could have changed several times,but we got off in Nov 2018 when it went in to be refurbished (Insignia)

 

[Books4U]

On 8/13/2019 at 3:01 PM, Go-Bucks! said:

 

That's why we all did it!   Very cheap 3 extra cruise credits that got us to the free cruise...and we didn't have to fly somewhere, we were already on the ship. 😉

Thank you for taking us around the world with you.  It was a pleasure to meet you on the July 28th cruise. You were missed on the August 11th voyage.  Looking forward to our next voyage together.

Bill & Arlene

[Go-Bucks!]

2 hours ago, Books4U said:

Thank you for taking us around the world with you.  It was a pleasure to meet you on the July 28th cruise. You were missed on the August 11th voyage.  Looking forward to our next voyage together.

Bill & Arlene

 

Thanks for the kind words...really enjoyed you guys too!  I enjoyed the passengers on the July11, July 18 and July 28 cruises SO much!!  What a fun bunch! Hopefully we'll meet up again.

[tvlbum]

On 7/25/2019 at 4:11 PM, tvlbum said:

 

Go-Bucks,  This is from post 1138 several months ago.  Now that you have re-cooped at home do you feel like posting you home prep list for those of us that are newbies on the long cruises.

Thanks.

Pat

 

Just following up for your home prep list for those of us that our newbies.  Now that we have two world cruises booked.  We booked 2021 on our cruise to Bermuda on the Insignia.  Any help will be appreciated.  What to pack and what NOT to pack.  Got an e-mail yesterday that was scary said only 140+ days to you big cruise..  Thanks.

[tvlbum]

On 7/26/2019 at 7:13 AM, Go-Bucks! said:

 

First extension was 7 days to Western Caribbean...current 2nd extension is 10 days in the Eastern Caribbean. Love staying on with such a great crew and a few other world cruisers.

 

The 2021 WC has a nearly identical itinerary as ours did, but some great additional places (Turkey) plus 2 fantastic ATW events in Italy and Ireland. If it were me, I'd switch to the WC.  Whatever you do, enjoy!!

We did it.  Booked the 2021 World Cruise while on our cruise to Bermuda.  Lots of planning, still working on our 2020 World Cruise, just returned from Greenland - beautiful.  Made all three ports in Greenland plus St. John, Newfoundland.  Missed this port due to seas and wind on several past cruises.  

[tvlbum]

Did your cruise go to Dubai?

If so can you tell me the best time to get tickets and the best type of tickets to buy for Dubai Burj Khalifa tickets.

[Go-Bucks!]

4 hours ago, tvlbum said:

Did your cruise go to Dubai?

If so can you tell me the best time to get tickets and the best type of tickets to buy for Dubai Burj Khalifa tickets.

 

I bought the ticket on the Burj Kalifa website. To get there, go to the Dubai Mall and follow the signs. It's wonderful! My ticket also included the Aquarium which is in the lower level of the mall...totally worth going!!

 

I also bought a ticket to the Afternoon Tea at the Burj Al Arab hotel...an AMAZING (but expensive) experience!! I had a window seat and 2 waiters just for me!👸

[Go-Bucks!]

On 9/6/2019 at 9:45 AM, tvlbum said:

 

Just following up for your home prep list for those of us that our newbies.  Now that we have two world cruises booked.  We booked 2021 on our cruise to Bermuda on the Insignia.  Any help will be appreciated.  What to pack and what NOT to pack.  Got an e-mail yesterday that was scary said only 140+ days to you big cruise..  Thanks.

 

Here's some things I learned...

 

1) I wore most of the clothes I took but bought a whole lot more! I love the styles that I found around the world...so classy and beautiful. American fashion is so casual and verging on sloppy. But I only bought things that I would realistically wear at home. I  brought quite a few shoes but ended up wearing flip flops almost everyday. 

 

2) I took too many "what-if" items...first aide things, OTC meds, etc. 

 

3) One good thing was that I took 2 suitcases that I packed just half full each. After using up toiletries and other things, I had nearly one empty suitcase. But...I bought so many clothes, shoes and souvenirs that I still had to buy another suitcase...oh well.

 

4) Before the cruise, I kept track (for 2 months) of how much toothpaste, hairspray, body wash, etc. that I used then bought them when they went on sale. I accurately estimated toothpaste and some other things but needed to buy extra body wash and hairspray along the way.

 

5) I also tried to buy souvenirs that are useable or I can display. One thing I'm happy I got is yarn (I knit) from France, England, Ireland  and Canada. They're gorgeous and unusual. I also bought Nativity scenes from many countries, each have characters that look like the local people! I also got Christmas tree ornaments and picked up a small rock from nearly every port...I keep them in a pretty bowl.

 

Hope that helps. 😊

[Mura]

Very interesting comments!  Thank you, even though I know I'll never take a 6 month cruise ...

 

I used to knit -- with the advent of the computer I tend to be there more than in front of the TV knitting.  Plus I used to have a lot of singing jobs where I could knit between numbers ... and I no longer have those.

 

BUT when I was an avid knitter I was always buying yarn wherever I went.  I still have some wonderful unusual yarns that I suppose I'll never knit up, but I enjoy looking at them.  If I WERE to be on a 6 month cruise, no doubt I'd buy yarn again ... and probably do a lot of knitting again!

 

Mura

[Jay23]

Body wash is provided by Oceania.  J

[Go-Bucks!]

On 9/16/2019 at 8:45 AM, Jay23 said:

Body wash is provided by Oceania.  J

 

Actually, it's not...they provide shampoo, conditioner and lotion. They tell you to use the shampoo as body wash! I refuse to do that...just as I don't use body wash to shampoo my hair with. So I brought my own body wash with me, then used their shampoo and conditioner for their true purposes. To each his own. 

[RJB]

1 minute ago, Go-Bucks! said:

 

Actually, it's not...they provide shampoo, conditioner and lotion. They tell you to use the shampoo as body wash! I refuse to do that...just as I don't use body wash to shampoo my hair with. So I brought my own body wash with me, then used their shampoo and conditioner for their true purposes. To each his own. 

They also give you soap to wash your body so you do not have to use the shampoo.   Pretty good soap.   

[Mura]

7 minutes ago, Go-Bucks! said:

 

Actually, it's not...they provide shampoo, conditioner and lotion. They tell you to use the shampoo as body wash! I refuse to do that...just as I don't use body wash to shampoo my hair with. So I brought my own body wash with me, then used their shampoo and conditioner for their true purposes. To each his own. 

We're with you!  We also don't like the combo of shampoo and conditioner.

 

On our last but one cruise on Marina (Nov '17 I think) we got our cabin attendant to bring us all the "pure" shampoo bottles she had.  I think there were all of four.  We may have gotten one or two more on Riviera in May 2018.

 

We also would never use body wash for shampoo or vice versa.

 

We have liked the products that use, but NOT the combo-products.  Wish they would go back to the real products they used to provide.

 

Mura

 

 

[Go-Bucks!]

6 minutes ago, RJB said:

They also give you soap to wash your body so you do not have to use the shampoo.   Pretty good soap.   

 

Yes, that is true.  They give that nice white soap and the smaller green one...I forgot about them. 

[Go-Bucks!]

1 minute ago, Mura said:

We're with you!  We also don't like the combo of shampoo and conditioner.

 

On our last but one cruise on Marina (Nov '17 I think) we got our cabin attendant to bring us all the "pure" shampoo bottles she had.  I think there were all of four.  We may have gotten one or two more on Riviera in May 2018.

 

We also would never use body wash for shampoo or vice versa.

 

We have liked the products that use, but NOT the combo-products.  Wish they would go back to the real products they used to provide.

 

Mura

 

 

 

There were no combo products on Insignia...just the separate shampoos and conditioners.

[RJB]

1 minute ago, Go-Bucks! said:

 

Yes, that is true.  They give that nice white soap and the smaller green one...I forgot about them. 

Yup, and they will give you as much as you want. Just have to ask. Very good about that.  Still have a few from last cruise. 

[Go-Bucks!]

2 minutes ago, RJB said:

Yup, and they will give you as much as you want. Just have to ask. Very good about that.  Still have a few from last cruise. 

 

Me too! My sweet asst steward gave me a HUGE bag full of the blue (my favorite) shampoo, conditioner and white soaps to take home! I sure do miss that wonderful crew and how they pampered me!🥰

[Mura]

We like the soaps as well.  I tend to prefer the smaller green ones for showering since the big white ones tend to fall out of my hands!  But I'll use the white ones if the greenies aren't available!

 

However, I'm surprised that Go-Bucks had the separate shampoo/conditioners on Insignia when we were on "O" ships that did NOT before their cruise.  And we were in top suites.  (I'm not saying that top suites should have better choices than others!)

 

Perhaps because they were on 6 month cruises???  But that would be very difficult for cabin attendants, I would think, since while a very large percentage of passengers on world cruise 2019 were doing the whole itinerary, many were not.

 

I find this puzzling.  Not that I object that the ATWT people got the separate shampoos and conditions we prefer!  Good for them.  I would like Oceania to go back to the original products ... not that they are listening to me!  Nor should they, I guess.

 

[RJB]

9 minutes ago, Mura said:

We like the soaps as well.  I tend to prefer the smaller green ones for showering since the big white ones tend to fall out of my hands!  But I'll use the white ones if the greenies aren't available!

 

However, I'm surprised that Go-Bucks had the separate shampoo/conditioners on Insignia when we were on "O" ships that did NOT before their cruise.  And we were in top suites.  (I'm not saying that top suites should have better choices than others!)

 

Perhaps because they were on 6 month cruises???  But that would be very difficult for cabin attendants, I would think, since while a very large percentage of passengers on world cruise 2019 were doing the whole itinerary, many were not.

 

I find this puzzling.  Not that I object that the ATWT people got the separate shampoos and conditions we prefer!  Good for them.  I would like Oceania to go back to the original products ... not that they are listening to me!  Nor should they, I guess.

 

They should listen to you and me and all their guests.  If not why give out the comment cards mid cruise and the longer one's at the end of each cruise.  Waste of their time if they do not read them. 

[Mura]

43 minutes ago, Go-Bucks! said:

 

There were no combo products on Insignia...just the separate shampoos and conditioners.

I'm not doubting you!  Just wondering why it seems to differ ship to ship.  You were on board Insignia months after we were on Riviera.

 

Could it be that they want to switch over to the combo products and it's easier to get "rid" of the non-combo products on the smaller ships?  I'm just wondering ...

 

I wouldn't be if you had said that you had the same situation!  But clearly you did not.

 

Is it cheaper for O to use the combo products?  That's the only reason I could think of where they want to switch over.

 

Mura

 

[grmmybtty]

We were on both the Sirena and Insignia this past year and the shampoo/body wash and separate conditioners were the same as they’ve always been on both the large and small ships. The only difference in the products was that those in 

 concierge and above had a choice of Bulgari scents than those of us in steerage.

[Mura]

It remains strange to me that some of us had combo shampoos, etc., and others did not.  They really should be the same on all ships ... depending on cabin category, maybe.

 

It never occurred to me to complain about the lack of "mono" shampoos and the like when we got our ship review comments.  It should have!  My bad.  I wonder if it is too late ...

 

OR perhaps those of you were were sailing later than we were benefited from other passengers who DID complain!

 

Mura

 

[DeanoNorthPerth]

7 hours ago, Go-Bucks! said:

 

Actually, it's not...they provide shampoo, conditioner and lotion. They tell you to use the shampoo as body wash! I refuse to do that...just as I don't use body wash to shampoo my hair with. So I brought my own body wash with me, then used their shampoo and conditioner for their true purposes. To each his own. 

I reckon if they put the same product in 2 different bottles and labelled one as shampoo and the other as bodywash you would use them both and be none the wiser.

[RJB]

4 hours ago, DeanoNorthPerth said:

I reckon if they put the same product in 2 different bottles and labelled one as shampoo and the other as bodywash you would use them both and be none the wiser.

You are probably right. 

[Go-Bucks!]

13 hours ago, Mura said:

However, I'm surprised that Go-Bucks had the separate shampoo/conditioners on Insignia when we were on "O" ships that did NOT before their cruise.  And we were in top suites.  (I'm not saying that top suites should have better choices than others!)

 

 

 

When I went on a Cuba cruise in December, 2017 on Insignia, I also had separate shampoos and conditioners. Was in a veranda cabin. 

 

On the ATW cruise (January, 2019), in a Penthouse suite, I had the same.

 

On my 3 post-ATW extention cruises (July & August,  2019), I was in a C2 oceanview cabin and a D porthole cabin and got the separate ones again.

 

The only difference was that in the suite we could choose from the blue or green ones, but in the other cabin categories I got the clear ones.