Alcohol, Laundries, Library, Internet

[roothy123]

I'm writing something up for a first time O cruiser.  She'll be on Sirena in May.  Some of the ships, including Sirena, have been refurbished since I cruised.  Therefore I'm wondering:

 

Is there still a library on the R ships?

 

Can you still bring alcohol on board to keep in your room?  If you want it chilled, where do they store it, and can you get it out when you want, or how does that work?

 

Do you still need to get tokens for the washers and dryers?

 

Is the (regular) internet free or is there a charge?

Edited July 8, 2019 by roothy123

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, roothy123 said:

I'm writing something up for a first time O cruiser.  She'll be on Sirena in May.  Some of the ships, including Sirena, have been refurbished since I cruised.  Therefore I'm wondering:

 

Is there still a library on the R ships?

YES

 

Can you still bring alcohol on board to keep in your room?  If you want it chilled, where do they store it, and can you get it out when you want, or how does that work?

Do you mean wine or spirits?

You can store it in  the fridge or if wine you can ask the Wine stewards to store it for you

 

Do you still need to get tokens for the washers and dryers?

NO  the laundry is complimentary  now

 

Is the (regular) internet free or is there a charge?

Free for all   ..1 account per cabin  1 device at a time  unless you are in a top suite  then you get more

[roothy123]

8 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Free for all   ..1 account per cabin  1 device at a time  unless you are in a top suite  then you get more

great; thank you!

[Hokapontas]

Hi, we just came off Sirena. 

 

There is a library, it's quite nice and quieter than on the O ships as it's quite separate.

 

The laundry is very busy now that it has no tokens, we found it full of up to 6 people lurking for a machine most days. 

 

I didn't have much success asking for particular mixers only in our fridge, but was content with a Ginger ale a day. Maybe I wasn't persistent though. 

 

I like that usb charge points are in the room, 4 of them - 3 are trickle ones which will charge overnight, and one is a fast charge port which means it is done before you leave the room. Leaving devices charging in the usb ports still has stewards disconnecting them while you are gone. The have been useful to everyone we talked to. 

 

Anything else, just ask. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, Hokapontas said:

Hi, we just came off Sirena. 

 

There is a library, it's quite nice and quieter than on the O ships as it's quite separate.

 

The laundry is very busy now that it has no tokens, we found it full of up to 6 people lurking for a machine most days. 

 

I didn't have much success asking for particular mixers only in our fridge, but was content with a Ginger ale a day. Maybe I wasn't persistent though. 

 

I like that usb charge points are in the room, 4 of them - 3 are trickle ones which will charge overnight, and one is a fast charge port which means it is done before you leave the room. Leaving devices charging in the usb ports still has stewards disconnecting them while you are gone. The have been useful to everyone we talked to. 

 

Anything else, just ask. 

How is the "on demand" TV working out?

[Paulchili]

4 hours ago, Hokapontas said:

The laundry is very busy now that it has no tokens, we found it full of up to 6 people lurking for a machine most days. 

Interesting.

There were those that argued here that the laundry being free would not make any difference; I thought otherwise.

I guess it is just human nature - free things for some reason seem more attractive & popular than paid ones. 😊

[clo]

51 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Interesting.

There were those that argued here that the laundry being free would not make any difference; I thought otherwise.

I guess it is just human nature - free things for some reason seem more attractive & popular than paid ones. 😊

I wonder if time of day matters.  We met a couple traveling on our little bitty 100 pax Hurtigruten ship who were all over Europe riding bikes and doing all sorts of other things and traveling SUPER light.  He was up doing laundry pre-breakfast.

[Hokapontas]

The conversations outside the laundry while waiting were noisier than the machines. I was 4 doors away. It was only twice, but I couldn't believe it!

[Hokapontas]

10 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

How is the "on demand" TV working out?

We watched a couple movies, and it worked well. It was a good set of choices. Captions worked as well. Someone said here that there weren't many movies - under each first set of 4 or 5 across, there was a band marked 'more', when clicked, there were maybe 20 or 30 in a genre. If you were a heavy consumer, you might have seen them all already though??

I didn't watch news or TV, but BBC news was often playing in the laundry, looked alright.

Checking our account on the monitor was easy and very useful.

[Hokapontas]

I might add that we used the bag wash twice - three shirts were shrunk. One expensive. We didn't make a fuss, as my husband doesn't like to. We washed them again and stretched them out, fixing it a bit.

If they had read the laundering directions, they would have seen not to put them in a dryer. And with 3 day turnaround, they had time to dry them another way. I washed after that in the laundry, hanging our cotton shirts. I complained in the end-of-cruise questionnaire. Be careful with what you send!

[Hoyaheel]

4 hours ago, Hokapontas said:

If they had read the laundering directions, 

Why would they? When you send out laundry, you get wash & dry (often hot hot hot which is one reason I never send out my laundry). Do they say on Oceania that they will launder everything separately and per each item's instructions? That seems contrary to every other laundry service I've seen....

[LHT28]

5 hours ago, Hokapontas said:

I might add that we used the bag wash twice - three shirts were shrunk. One expensive. We didn't make a fuss, as my husband doesn't like to. We washed them again and stretched them out, fixing it a bit.

If they had read the laundering directions, they would have seen not to put them in a dryer. And with 3 day turnaround, they had time to dry them another way. I washed after that in the laundry, hanging our cotton shirts. I complained in the end-of-cruise questionnaire. Be careful with what you send!

why would you not complain at the time you received  the items back

at least bring it to their attention

why wait until you are leaving the ship 🙄

[Classiccruiser777]

Presently on Insignia, 22 day cruise, post “Next” refurbishment. The ship looks great, we like almost all of the changes.

 

Laundry without tokens hasn’t been an issue, every time I did laundry machines were available.

 

The on demand TV system has worked well. Live TV, on demand movies, dining menus, on board account, CC, different languages, no problems.

 

Internet is free, one account per cabin, additional accounts available for purchase. It’s faster during certain times of day  and seemed faster at different ship’s locations during the voyage.

 

I suggest leaving the steward a note on how you want your fridge stocked.

[roothy123]

I forget, do all rooms have a little fridge?  We're in an inside cabin. 

 

And is there still a small computer room on the refurbished R ships?

 

And where is the library now?  I'm remembering two Oceania libraries - the one next to Polo or Toscana with a very nice ceiling and the one that was just set in the side of the ship.  I don't remember which was on R ships and which was on O ships, but I guess it really doesn't matter now anyway.  With the refurbishment of Insignia, Sirena, etc., just where is the library?  Can I assume it's still a pretty place, with the usual assortment of books?

 

[Mura]

Back to the problem with clothes put in the dryer that should not have been -- most of our items are cold water wash so I always specify that on the paper that lists the items you have in the bag.  It should be easy enough to say "do not put in the dryer".  And if only one or two of your 20 items should not be put in the dryer, perhaps you could just pin a piece of paper to the item in question.

 

We have used this 20 item service several times now without a problem ... but then most of the clothing we bring with us on a cruise is generally not expensive. 

[LHT28]

10 minutes ago, roothy123 said:

I forget, do all rooms have a little fridge?  We're in an inside cabin. 

 

And is there still a small computer room on the refurbished R ships?

 

And where is the library now?  I'm remembering two Oceania libraries - the one next to Polo or Toscana with a very nice ceiling and the one that was just set in the side of the ship.  I don't remember which was on R ships and which was on O ships, but I guess it really doesn't matter now anyway.  With the refurbishment of Insignia, Sirena, etc., just where is the library?  Can I assume it's still a pretty place, with the usual assortment of books?

 

you are probably thinking of Azamara  where they took out  part of the library

check the deck plans  the Library  is still in the same location overlooking the pool  near Polo/Toscana  or TuscanSteak? RG on Sirena

AFAIK  all cabins have a mini fridge 

[Classiccruiser777]

2 hours ago, roothy123 said:

I forget, do all rooms have a little fridge?  We're in an inside cabin. 

 

And is there still a small computer room on the refurbished R ships?

 

And where is the library now?  I'm remembering two Oceania libraries - the one next to Polo or Toscana with a very nice ceiling and the one that was just set in the side of the ship.  I don't remember which was on R ships and which was on O ships, but I guess it really doesn't matter now anyway.  With the refurbishment of Insignia, Sirena, etc., just where is the library?  Can I assume it's still a pretty place, with the usual assortment of books?

 

 

Yes on the fridges, yes on the computer room and the library (almost untouched by the refurbishment) is in the same place on the R ships, near to the two specialty restaurants on deck 10.

[clo]

4 hours ago, Hoyaheel said:

Why would they? When you send out laundry, you get wash & dry (often hot hot hot which is one reason I never send out my laundry). Do they say on Oceania that they will launder everything separately and per each item's instructions? That seems contrary to every other laundry service I've seen....

I'm super picky about laundry.  I would only send out underwear.

[clo]

3 hours ago, Mura said:

Back to the problem with clothes put in the dryer that should not have been -- most of our items are cold water wash so I always specify that on the paper that lists the items you have in the bag.  It should be easy enough to say "do not put in the dryer".  And if only one or two of your 20 items should not be put in the dryer, perhaps you could just pin a piece of paper to the item in question.

 

We have used this 20 item service several times now without a problem ... but then most of the clothing we bring with us on a cruise is generally not expensive. 

I have something very similar to this but I know it didn't cost this much.  A little plastic, travel washboard. If something just has a little stain.  PS: I know I bought it in NYC years ago.

https://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Washboard-Non-slip-Laundry-Travel/dp/B01DKDGI3G

[Numer3]

Great info! I will be on my first Oceania cruise in September, on Sirena. Does anyone know if there is a sleep timer on the tv?

thanks!

Lara

[Hokapontas]

8 hours ago, LHT28 said:

why would you not complain at the time you received  the items back

at least bring it to their attention

why wait until you are leaving the ship 🙄

I agree, once I had them dryclean a top of mine that ended up with sticker adhesive on it after a bag wash, not ours as we hadn't had any ship tours or stickers 😞 But my hubby hates a fuss. Also we didn't realise for days, and I wanted it in writing. I do love getting things fixed but these weren't fixable...

[ORV]

24 minutes ago, Hokapontas said:

I agree, once I had them dryclean a top of mine that ended up with sticker adhesive on it after a bag wash, not ours as we hadn't had any ship tours or stickers 😞 But my hubby hates a fuss. Also we didn't realise for days, and I wanted it in writing. I do love getting things fixed but these weren't fixable...

If I remember right they put a small tag on them with adhesive cloth tape. 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Hokapontas said:

I agree, once I had them dryclean a top of mine that ended up with sticker adhesive on it after a bag wash, not ours as we hadn't had any ship tours or stickers 😞 But my hubby hates a fuss. Also we didn't realise for days, and I wanted it in writing. I do love getting things fixed but these weren't fixable...

HUH

You stated you rewashed the item & stretched it  in your post above  ??

Why not just talk to the Concierge or GM & let them know there was a problem

No fuss  just  let them know the problem let them fix it

 

[clo]

2 hours ago, Hokapontas said:

dryclean a top of mine that ended up with sticker adhesive on it after a bag wash,

You wanted it dry cleaned and they WASHED it?!?!?  Wow.  I didn't even know that cruise ships were set up for dry cleaning.

[Petoonya]

It's been 2 years since I was on Sirena and we used the machines for all our wash then. 

What's the charge for the 20 item service? Do they ever run "specials"? We'd be doing all T shirts and shorts- nothing that can't stand hot water and a dryer. And there's a 3 day turn around time?

TIA 🙂