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Celebrity cruisers considering Oceana


DENIE
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3 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Please note that the Basic Package is for lunch and dinner only.

 

We can’t remember ever seeing anyone getting a mimosa or Bloody Mary at breakfast. Adult beverage service in the Terrace is problematic even at lunch and dinner. There are no bars open that early, so at breakfast it’s highly unlikely one might actually get a drink delivered in the Terrace before they get up and leave. Maybe possible in the GDR, if you sit and wait long enough.

 

In the dining venues, orders for adult beverages are taken and delivered by a dedicated staff, not your regular waiter. Good luck finding one of those at breakfast in particular.

No doubt it's an issue. I think we might have had a mimosa at breakfast, but I'm not sure. I do remember one poster here that said they were charged for a drink before 10am because there were no bars open at that time. They did have the Prestige package. When we do have mimosas it's usually on our balcony after breakfast with a bottle we've picked up somewhere. That way you can control the amount of OJ vs bubbly. 

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3 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Please note that the Basic Package is for lunch and dinner only.

 

We can’t remember ever seeing anyone getting a mimosa or Bloody Mary at breakfast. Adult beverage service in the Terrace is problematic even at lunch and dinner. There are no bars open that early, so at breakfast it’s highly unlikely one might actually get a drink delivered in the Terrace before they get up and leave. Maybe possible in the GDR, if you sit and wait long enough.

 

In the dining venues, orders for adult beverages are taken and delivered by a dedicated staff, not your regular waiter. Good luck finding one of those at breakfast in particular.

 

2 minutes ago, ORV said:

No doubt it's an issue. I think we might have had a mimosa at breakfast, but I'm not sure. I do remember one poster here that said they were charged for a drink before 10am because there were no bars open at that time. They did have the Prestige package. When we do have mimosas it's usually on our balcony after breakfast with a bottle we've picked up somewhere. That way you can control the amount of OJ vs bubbly. 

We enjoy mimosas at breakfast, although not every day.  Our strategy for one morning is to save the welcome bottle of champagne in the fridge and ask the butler to leave the champagne flutes for later in the cruise.  We had lime slices added to our breakfast request on the designated morning.

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38 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

 

We enjoy mimosas at breakfast, although not every day.  Our strategy for one morning is to save the welcome bottle of champagne in the fridge and ask the butler to leave the champagne flutes for later in the cruise.  We had lime slices added to our breakfast request on the designated morning.

I guess the byob option may be available at breakfast, just pay the corkage. However, in a personal note (a) I love champagnes and other sparkling wines and have mine without the oj. (B) any champagne that I would buy and bring aboard, I certainly wouldn’t pollute with oj! 😂 Be worst than adding coke to Blantons! 😳 3. Outside of bringing the cabin supplied bottle, why would you pay $25 corkage on a $15 mimosa quality sparkling?

 

It will be difficult to get in any of the breakfast venues.

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6 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

I guess the byob option may be available at breakfast, just pay the corkage. However, in a personal note (a) I love champagnes and other sparkling wines and have mine without the oj. (B) any champagne that I would buy and bring aboard, I certainly wouldn’t pollute with oj! 😂 Be worst than adding coke to Blantons! 😳 3. Outside of bringing the cabin supplied bottle, why would you pay $25 corkage on a $15 mimosa quality sparkling?

 

It will be difficult to get in any of the breakfast venues.

Agreed.  Top level champagne or sparkling wine shouldn't be sullied with OJ, but fortunately, that's not a problem with O's welcome bottle.🥂🙃

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7 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

Agreed.  Top level champagne or sparkling wine shouldn't be sullied with OJ, but fortunately, that's not a problem with O's welcome bottle.🥂🙃

+1

 

I sincerely hope Oceania gets rid of that Germain champagne they were providing before shutdown. Absolutely the worst sparkling plonk they have ever served.

 

After years of serving a changing selection of decent champagne it was a huge disappointment.

Edited by pinotlover
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7 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

+1

 

I sincerely hope Oceania gets rid of that Germain champagne they were providing before shutdown. Absolutely the worst sparkling plonk they have ever served.

This is what we had on our California Coastal Cruise on the Sirena, last year (2019):

 

image.thumb.png.1d723409a65fb5ab07a310302d9ea67e.png

Edited by 1985rz1
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One topic that has not been addressed is that Oceania, on the Marina, has a wonderful art class with a dedicated instructor and included supplies that are included for no fee.  My last cruise, I came home with many paintings on canvas that were really fun to do.  There was also a photographer who gave complimentary classes.  There was a special kitchen set up where classes were held where we got some great recipes and ate our creations.  I really enjoyed all of this.  It is something that Celebrity has really reduced in the past several years.  I am Elite Plus on Celebrity, but I'm switching to Oceania.  

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2 hours ago, DENIE said:

Thanks all for the info about the mimosa's.....well, that would not be a deal-breaker for us.  Was just a nice touch that we liked on our prior cruises......

Is that  all you base a cruise on ?

 

 

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On 2/6/2021 at 11:47 AM, ORV said:

On the 20th they gave us a bottle of the Vivue Cliquot, (probably didn't spell it right) I don't have a picture handy. We didn't put OJ in it. 

Oh, lordy, I hope not 🙂

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I am the original OP.  I think this has gotten off task.  No, it is not a big deal about mimosa's.  Just wanting honest comparisons between Celebrity and Oceania.  Most posts have been very helpful. I made a comment about mimosa's on Celebrity that have taken on a new life, apparently. 

 

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4 minutes ago, DENIE said:

I am the original OP.  I think this has gotten off task.  No, it is not a big deal about mimosa's.  Just wanting honest comparisons between Celebrity and Oceana.  Most posts have been very helpful. I made a comment about mimosa's on Celebrity that have taken on a new life, apparently. 

 

Hope you decide to give Oceania a try.

 

(Note that the cruise line’s name indeed is Oceania.)

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On 1/29/2021 at 11:10 PM, DENIE said:

It looks like Oceana might be a good fit for us?  Curious to hear from people with experience on both?  We also have experience on HAL, MSC (Caribbean cruise on Divina - really liked it), and Carnival (never again!). 

 

Dale,

We evolved from long-time Princess cruisers to long-time Celebrity (which we really like and consider much better than Princess) to Oceania (which we love and consider even better).  We like the relaxed feel of Oceania - no formal nights.  We especially like that passengers don't have their hands all over the food in the buffet; the staff spoon/serve onto plates.  And we like the absence of extra charges for dining in "specialty" restaurants.  Personal preference.

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On our last cruise, one thing that reminded me of Celebrity was pushing alcohol events.  We upgrade to the Prestige package, and like to drink, but I felt like they hounded us for the various wine, scotch, rum, etc tastings.  I don't mind them mentioning it, but it was much more than that.  Prior cruises, they mentioned it and when we said we weren't interested, they dropped it.  I dread to see what it will look like after this.

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13 hours ago, emd138 said:

On our last cruise, one thing that reminded me of Celebrity was pushing alcohol events.  We upgrade to the Prestige package, and like to drink, but I felt like they hounded us for the various wine, scotch, rum, etc tastings.  I don't mind them mentioning it, but it was much more than that.  Prior cruises, they mentioned it and when we said we weren't interested, they dropped it.  I dread to see what it will look like after this.

This was on Oceania? I've seen them pushing other things like Bingo that is way too reminiscent of Mass Market lines, but haven't really noticed it with tastings. I do see them in the Currents, but never go to them. I don't like that the last time I was on Riviera they had Port Talks, which was like Mass Market ships, with a dedicated "shopper" that of course pushed the stores that give them a kickback.  This was on a Caribbean cruise. I never saw this on Oceania until their joining with NCL. 

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1 minute ago, ORV said:

This was on Oceania? I've seen them pushing other things like Bingo that is way too reminiscent of Mass Market lines, but haven't really noticed it with tastings. I do see them in the Currents, but never go to them. I don't like that the last time I was on Riviera they had Port Talks, which was like Mass Market ships, with a dedicated "shopper" that of course pushed the stores that give them a kickback.  This was on a Caribbean cruise. I never saw this on Oceania until their joining with NCL. 

I agree

 Never  noticed them pushing the  tastings

maybe  slow sales on that cruise

 

Yes hate the  Port talks  for shopping  went to one  & walked out as soon as they started  talking about  the special stores

 

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1 hour ago, ORV said:

This was on Oceania? I've seen them pushing other things like Bingo that is way too reminiscent of Mass Market lines, but haven't really noticed it with tastings. I do see them in the Currents, but never go to them. I don't like that the last time I was on Riviera they had Port Talks, which was like Mass Market ships, with a dedicated "shopper" that of course pushed the stores that give them a kickback.  This was on a Caribbean cruise. I never saw this on Oceania until their joining with NCL. 

Yes, it was on Oceania last March.  We had not experienced that before, so maybe they were really slow sales as LHT28 said, but it was really annoying.  Hopefully it was a one off thing and not the way they will be trending.

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