Information from Oceania..

[Jancruz]

4 hours ago, RJB said:

Thanks for the good info.  Any idea when Marina is going into dry dock for upgrades?  We are looking at Oct/Nov 2022.   Would be nice to know.   Thanks again.   

Per O SR.VP

She just came out.  The OS have been updated, Baritas was added and the suites and staterooms have new carpets similar to RVA’s DD.

Jancruz1

[PaulMCO]

If you are an Elite -- there are no charges to cancel FF Ticket.  I have lots of UA FF cancellations since I have to now play a game with them to get saver flights.  Book a flight when they first come out.  Later on maybe cancel and book another with lower miles.  Of course COVID has factored into this -- with cancelled cruises.    Like a FF Game.  Same with Delta and Virgin where I have multiple 100K accounts.

 

Here's the standard winter that she does every year -  EU or Dubai to Capetown, Cape Town to Capetown, then Capetown to Singapore, then in SE Asia to Japan, Japan to Japan then back to the EU from Sing or HK.  Have done all the segments except the Japan one.  Best ship in the fleet.

 

The Nautica delay is the Asia situation.  The situation in Africa is definitely improving, but if Asia remains closed then where to??    The Capetown to Sing has a bunch of stops in India which is now COVID central.  The Maldives is under a dusk to dawn COVID curfew.

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

14 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Capture any screen shots of Vista?  The official preview info has been very enticing, but now more than ever I want stuff to whet my dreams [no pun intended, hah!]

 

32 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

Sorry I cant post

Jancruz1

I understand.  Thanks for all you have posted!

[Hunding]

Thanks, jancruz, as always.  We, too, are in the "December 1st Marina Quandary" -- though we plunked down a lot of money yesterday on air reservations, all of which must be insured today!  We would certainly be open to a revised/new itinerary, but...

 

...there we are.  😕

[Aloha 1]

Thank you, Jan. Great info. We are on Marina, 12/19, Lima to Buenos Aires so hoping that's a go. Did you mean the Owner Suites were updated or the Oceania Suites?

[GeorgesGal]

17 hours ago, Hlitner said:

   We could get a great deal on air now if we use miles.  If we wait the good deal may not be a good deal.   

 

Hank

Just a suggestion, Hank, but if you book the good deal right now and take that advantage instead of a maddening wait, should the cruise not take place you can cancel and have your miles restored to your account.  At least I know that's how Delta works, don't know about other airlines though.

[GeorgesGal]

Hank, I should have continued reading since you posted that you ARE Delta.  So you should be in good stead if you book now.  If it were me, though, I'd call Delta to be certain they still do the restoration of points and if so, book it with them while on the phone.

 

I know wait times are horrific but they do have the 'call you back' service, at which they are pretty good.  Usually get the call back before the stated interval has expired.

Donna

[RJB]

3 hours ago, Jancruz said:

Per O SR.VP

She just came out.  The OS have been updated, Baritas was added and the suites and staterooms have new carpets similar to RVA’s DD.

Jancruz1

Thanks a lot.  I know you did not think so much of me in the past, but you are the best.  Have great week end.  Richie

[Hlitner]

Appreciate the advice on Delta and I will obey :).

 

Hank

[Host Jazzbeau]

@Hlitner please let us know how things work out with Delta.  I thought they were allowing cancellation and redeposit of FF flights/miles with no penalty.  If you have to pay $200 that would be [bad] news.

[Jancruz]

3 hours ago, RJB said:

Thanks a lot.  I know you did not think so much of me in the past, but you are the best.  Have great week end.  Richie

You make me laugh  It was I didn't think you liked me and now we have a mutual admiration society!!

I am really happy to answer anything you ask to the best of my ability!! Would be fun to meet on a trip..

Hi to Sue,

Jancruz1

[Jancruz]

3 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

@Hlitner please let us know how things work out with Delta.  I thought they were allowing cancellation and redeposit of FF flights/miles with no penalty.  If you have to pay $200 that would be [bad] news.

I used Chase miles with BA on JAL 1st Class for the return on my October LA to Tokyo trip and when I canceled it British air would not return my miles and will not give me first class on their partner AA to Miami..so I used a ton of them for two night hotel Intercontinental in Miami which now if ships dont leave from there again I wont be able to use ..

Jancruz1

[dszrew]

3 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

@Hlitner please let us know how things work out with Delta.  I thought they were allowing cancellation and redeposit of FF flights/miles with no penalty.  If you have to pay $200 that would be [bad] news.

I booked a flight with miles on Wednesday. then on Thursday the price went down. changed the booking and got the extra miles back, no fee. 

if you pay with $$, you get a flight credit, not a refund (I did that too just the other day and saved $38). some parts of Delta's website say international flights must be used in a year, but right now any flight credits are good through the end of 2022. I'm looking at flights to South America in February, and figure if the cruise is canceled, then I'll get a flight credit/redeposit miles and use that for an Aug 2022 trip to Europe.

[Hlitner]

7 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

@Hlitner please let us know how things work out with Delta.  I thought they were allowing cancellation and redeposit of FF flights/miles with no penalty.  If you have to pay $200 that would be [bad] news.

I thought I would try calling Delta late tonight (about 11:30pm EDT) to chat about this issue.  Big mistake as the wonderful Delta Customer Service system estimated "less then 2 hours on hold" and for some reason did not offer the usual call-back option.  But I don't want them calling me back in the middle of the night so perhaps I will try again tomorrow during daytime when we will be home for 5 or 6 hours :(.   Nothing more fun then trying to deal with airlines.

 

Hank

[the mice]

4 hours ago, Jancruz said:

I used Chase miles with BA on JAL 1st Class for the return on my October LA to Tokyo trip and when I canceled it British air would not return my miles and will not give me first class on their partner AA to Miami..so I used a ton of them for two night hotel Intercontinental in Miami which now if ships dont leave from there again I wont be able to use ..

Jancruz1

That's the problem with transfer partners - once miles are transferred, they are "stuck" in the program to which the transfer was made, and are subject to award availability through that program.   

I've recently booked business class air for our March 2022 Nautica cruise.   Since so much is up in the air (excuse the pun), I opted not to transfer Chase miles to Singapore, but rather to use AA miles to book Cathay and JAL, knowing that if the trip doesn't go, I won't have miles stuck in Singapore's Krisflyer with a 3 year expiration date.   Just seemed like the safer choice during these still uncertain times.

[RJB]

13 hours ago, Jancruz said:

You make me laugh  It was I didn't think you liked me and now we have a mutual admiration society!!

I am really happy to answer anything you ask to the best of my ability!! Would be fun to meet on a trip..

Hi to Sue,

Jancruz1

The longer you live the more you learn and hopefully the smarter you get.     Regent this Dec.  and a T/A Nov.of  22.  Hope we make them and want to look at the new ship in Sept.  Thanks again for all the good info and will say hi to Sue. 

[Pearl64]

I spent the afternoon on hold with Delta. There was no option of a call back like in the past. I used the SkyMiles number. I needed to cancel our flight back from Singapore since we cancelled our October transpacific cruise on the Regatta. Miles are back in our accounts and the fees and taxes will be refunded to the credit card. No reloading fees. I needed to book our March Nautica cruise flights. Since I don’t have enough miles and no availability, I had to pay for the flights. If the cruise is cancelled and we have to cancel these new flights, I get an air credit for the entire amount and have until the end of 2022 to use it. No penalty fee. If one uses miles, they would be redeposited back to the SkyMikes account.

 

so, Hank, I don’t know if you have gotten hold of Delta, but my experience was good.

[msn123]

Jan:  Any idea how full the ships will be for the foreseeable future?  There seems to be a lot of waitlisted categories on Riviera (where I was looking) for late 2021 and early 2022 Caribbean itineraries.  Is that because they are not booking to maximum capacity perhaps waiting for more CDC guidance or  to see if they can get a full crew in place? 

 

 

[Jancruz]

11 minutes ago, msn123 said:

Jan:  Any idea how full the ships will be for the foreseeable future?  There seems to be a lot of waitlisted categories on Riviera (where I was looking) for late 2021 and early 2022 Caribbean itineraries.  Is that because they are not booking to maximum capacity perhaps waiting for more CDC guidance or  to see if they can get a full crew in place? 

 

 

They are booking the ships to Max capacity and full crews are in place or on the way for the four ships we have itineraries for..all crew must be vaccinated in US if not already done in their country of origin..

Jancruz1

Edited June 9, 2021 by Jancruz

[honumaui]

We are booked on the Riviera Dec.03 sailing. Booked back in Aug. 2020. Wishful thinking! Also wondered if it is sold out or fewer cabins are being used. TA didn't have any definite info either. She heard both scenarios from O.

[Jancruz]

1 minute ago, honumaui said:

We are booked on the Riviera Dec.03 sailing. Booked back in Aug. 2020. Wishful thinking! Also wondered if it is sold out or fewer cabins are being used. TA didn't have any definite info either. She heard both scenarios from O.

See above..

Jancruz1

[clairol]

18 hours ago, Jancruz said:

They are booking the ships to Max capacity and full crews are in place or on the way for the four ships we have itineraries for..all crew must be vaccinated in US if not already done in their country of origin..

Jancruz1

Hi Jan,

 

Sorry to be repetitive, but to clarify, does this apply to the first few cruises (we are on 1st Riviera out of Istanbul in October) or is this only for end of 2021 and early 2022? 

 

PS - thank you for being such a wealth of knowledge and sharing so generously!

 

Clare

[pinotlover]

We received a new Brochure in the mail today from Oceania. Under SAILSAFE, Oceania lists “ Controlled Guest Capacity “ twice. Oceania is advertising cruises through next summer with these protocols.

 

Perhaps Oceania needs to define what that means. Surely doesn’t sound like booking to the MAX.  Or, does it just mean required dining reservations in all venues? Reservations for evening shows and for loungers around the pool? Will you need a reservation to get into the library or wait in line to get in based on controlled guest capacity?

 

What is Oceania’s definition of the above which they repeat in every sales brochure?

Edited June 10, 2021 by pinotlover

[Jancruz]

2 hours ago, clairol said:

Hi Jan,

 

Sorry to be repetitive, but to clarify, does this apply to the first few cruises (we are on 1st Riviera out of Istanbul in October) or is this only for end of 2021 and early 2022? 

 

PS - thank you for being such a wealth of knowledge and sharing so generously!

 

Clare

I am checking again now to make sure I am correct and nothing has changed ..and thanks for the kind words..

Jancruz1

[Jancruz]

Sorry, I cant find out anything absolute right now..we will have to wait and see..I will post as soon as I hear..

Jancruz1