New Oceania Guest Initial Impressions "Pre-Cruise" events

[Sthrngary]

I rate luxury on a vacation as ANY enhancement to what I felt or received on previous experiences.  So far, pre-cruise, Oceania is doing pretty well. 

 

My wife asked me to do the grocery shopping a common accordance post retirement and when I came home, I had a large envelope waiting from Oceania Cruises. In it was the "Oceania Cruise Vacation Guide." Most unexpected based on my past experiences even in the VIP sections of Mainstream cruise brands.

 

 

I had heard something about this document but it was not clear if they were still being sent out.  In it is a Cover Letter that is somewhat generic, luggage tags, and a large booklet customized with my wife and my name.  All of this was a nice touch if only to build excitement for my upcoming vacation.  I have gotten luggage tags in the past from cruise brands but usually about 15 days before my cruise.  My approach is to print my own luggage tags, put them into heavy duty luggage tag plastic holders and put these fancy tags on the luggage at the port side.  I have had these kinds of luggage tag ripped off during transport and almost lost my luggage due to that on more then one occasion.  All that said, nice touch if not a bit generic, on Oceania's part with the packet of information. On to other impressions.

 

Specialty Restaurant Online Reservations: This was a much easier process then I expected.  When I made my reservations, I included my friend booking number so they were in the same table, day, time and Restaurant.  My wife and I upgraded ourselves to a "Vista Suite" so we have an additional pre-cruise reservation for each of the specialty restaurants. I am hoping to add our friends joining us to our additional reservations once on the ship. The point is, the online experience was simple and seamless on this topic. 

 

Booking Cooking Classes:  This is a new activity for my wife and me on a cruise ship.  I knew from past experiences, the spa always sold out on sea days.  I figured the cooking class on the Sea Day would sell out as well.  I was right.  Two days after I booked it for the only sea day, it was waitlisted.  The online booking process was again, seamless and easy. I would book another class if I knew which of the ports was going to be cancelled in advance. Sorry, I am being a little sarcastic.

 

Pre-Cruise Communication: I booked with a cruise travel agent, therefore NOT directly with Oceania.  Yet, to my surprise and delight, I received a phone call from a Riviera Ship Pre-Cruise Concierge.  The general questions were on food allergies or requirements so the ship could be stocked if we had special needs before our cruise. This call was a surprise especially when it happened so far in advance of the cruise.  I have come to find out, this is NOT normal and I have no idea why it was done for me.  Not complaining, just impressed.  I would got a letter from other brands 30 days out with a phone number or email address.  Never a call. 

 

Issue Resolution:  I had an issue which does not have to be rehashed now.  When my travel agent could not resolve the issue, I wrote a letter and was contacted no later than 48 hours after the correspondence was received.   My issue was resolved to my satisfaction within a day from it being acknowledged. Mistakes happen. When they do, it is how the mistake is handled.  If done, quickly to the guest satisfaction, the guest rates the brand better then if an issue never happened.  If it is drawn out, the guest increasable loses faith in the brands value proposition. 

 

Pre-Cruise/Post Cruise Hotel and Airfare:  I had Oceania initially do my Pre-Cruise Hotel and airfare.  Within a month, I booked both directly with the Hotel and Airline respectively.  Taking it off my booking was quick and easy.  I read to many things online that gave me the feeling I was better off doing it myself.  The hotels especially were much more affordable when I booked them on my own. 

 

Drink Package Selection: Please remember, I booked this cruise over a year ago.  At the time, there was no "SimplyMore" program.  The program then was choose one of three perks.  I choose the onboard Credit Offered at the time for $600.00.  Learning about the ins/outs of the Oceania Beverage Packages was NOT the easiest thing I did.  With the help of the members here on CruiseCritic.com on the Oceania Board, I learned.  My decision was to purchase the Prestige Drink Package for both my wife and myself.  I applied the $600.00 of On-Board-Credit and paid upfront another $600.00 to fully pay for the package. For me and my previous experiences, this was not an outrageous amount.  When I upgraded my drink package with NCL to the Premium Plus Drink Package, just the upgrade would by $300 for a seven day cruise.  So, $600.00 per guest for a 10 day cruise was in my opinion fair. Free would have been better but as we have all found out, free does not exist, your fare goes up. 

 

Mobile App: There seems not to be one.  That is a bit disappointing however even when I had one in the past, it was never very stable so not a deal breaker. Still, this needs to be on the Oceania Things-To-Do-List.  Just please do it right wo don't do it at all. 

 

Gaining Detailed Information On ALL Amenities: This was not the easiest thing in my planning.  I like to know what all the rules are to the game.  Brand marketing department deal in broad stokes that seem more important then they really are.  I hate that and wanted the real scope.  This took the longest time to gather and sometime the information was very inconsistant.  I wish cruise brands would learn we the guest want to know the rules to the game and so make them easy to find out.  Also, marketing department need to learn to "Under promise and over deliver" in order to create guest delight.  It is my intension to take all I learned, verify it while on the cruise, and post it after I return.  My way of saying thank you to every one on this great CruiseCritic.com board.

 

Those are some impressions and observations based on my decades of cruising over 30 + cruises on many brands.  No company is perfect, I was not expecting an Ultra-Luxury Experience because I did not book a n Ultra-Luxury brand.  What I did receive so far has exceeded my expectations.  On to the the cruise which is the real test.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[LHT28]

TIP

Do not put the luggage  tags on until you disembark your flight

 

[Sthrngary]

6 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

TIP

Do not put the luggage  tags on until you disembark your flight

 

I fully agree. Thank you

[WildWanderers]

Hi Sthrngary,

 

First let me say I enjoy your writing.

 

In August I asked our Oceania representative to book the upgrade to the drinks package on a few future cruises, and when double-checking our invoices, realized he had booked the full Prestige Select, as if we did not already have the basic drinks package from SimplyMore.  He adjusted the charges to be the upgrade only, and the costs went down substantially...but suddenly the 10% decrease for silver level oceania club members disappeared.

 

He is currently trying to get the 10% deducted.

 

My point to him was that the Oceania Club benefits clearly indicate a 10% discount on the Basic or Prestige Select Packages.  Now that the Basic is baked into SimplyMore, the 10% discount could only ever be applied to the upgrade.  So, either apply it, or drop it from the offerings.

 

While we were on a back-to-back in August, we turned "silver-level" on the second cruise.  Toward the end of the first cruise we were offered the upgrade to the drinks package in advance of the second cruise.  When we did not receive the 10% discount on the upgrade, I was first told that it was not available for the Prestige Select.  I brought the documentation to Reception to prove the contrary, and was told by a different Reception agent that it would have been covered if I had booked it in advance.  I said, great, I did, because you were so kind as to provide me with the option before the onset of the second cruise.  He then said, o, no, you can't be onboard when you book it.  I explained all of this to the Executive Concierge who said...you next would have been told that you had to be wearing a red shirt when you booked it.  She wrote to Head Office to say that the 10% is or is not a thing, and this runaround was inconsistent with the Oceania brand... and the General Manager onboard agreed with her assessment.  There was no resolution to the issue by the time the cruise ended;  she gave me an email address to follow up on the issue...but frankly at that point I had had it and gave up.

 

I'm still a very big fan of Oceania, but they need to update their Oceania club benefit descriptions.

 

Another example on the August back-to-back was that no one knew what was meant by the Oceania club offering called something like VIP boarding for excursions.  In fact, the manager at Destination Services asked me "where did you get that"!  When i said that it was on the Oceania website, she asked why it was there...and all I could say is that I have no control over the website content relating to the Oceania Club. 

Later, the Oceania Ambassador said...o ya... that thing...no, they don't do that...they tried to get me to go to the Insignia lounge to pull out the silver and above members for priority boarding for the excursions, but I actually have a full-time job.

 

Either define and offer VIP boarding, or drop it.

 

End of rant, and I feel better, and Oceania is still the best.

 

Greg of WildWanderers.

 

[Sthrngary]

1 hour ago, WildWanderers said:

Hi Sthrngary,

 

First let me say I enjoy your writing.

@WildWanderers Thank you for your kind words. 

 

I believe that every cruise brand had their pros/cons.  They attempt to complicate things to make it look better then it might seem.  It is clear, Oceania is no different.  Much of the issues for all cruise brands is the leadership do not empower the team member to make guest friendly decisions.  Instead, the guest feel in many ways disappointed. They might get the issue resolved but it took way to much time, aggravation and effort to do so.  

 

My M.O. is to learn how many folks like you, who are brand loyal, get disappointed on some aspects of the brand.  Then I attempt to avoid it like the plague. That is why I don't do excursions with cruise brands. Why I did the full fare Prestige Drink Package pre-cruise is instead of upgrading on the ship.  Why I did my own air fare and my own hotel bookings. Because of that, I controlled what I could control and it reduced my stress and disappointment level. In my own and very personal experience, every time I did something thinking if I did this quantify, I would get a % off, I got disappointed. So I stop. I am not good when I am angry, not good at all. 

 

I am NOT saying I am right. What I am saying is I know what has detracted from my past cruise experience and I do my best to avoid it in the future.  To highlight my point, if I were on the NCL Encore, in the Haven VIP suites, I could NOT order a drink to my suite without paying for it in full even though I had the upgraded Premium PLUS Drink Package.  I hated that but I knew the rules so I never had to see that fee on my stateroom accounting.  One of the first things I asked over a year ago on this blog was, "If I had the Prestige Drink Package, could I order  drink to my suite at no charge?"  That answer was YES.  For me based my my past experience, that was a value. Not to everyone, but to me. 

 

On my upcoming Oceania Cruise, something WILL go wrong. I have no clue what that will be and it most likely won't be in my control. Maybe it will be: 

 

1. A port or more will be cancelled
2. The Oceania cookies will be tasteless or bad
3. They won't have a Bulgari Gift Set In My suite
4. The Oceania Beach Bag will not be provided
5. The meat at the polo grill will be over cooked, under cooked so god forbid, to small or large
6. I will not be able to get more sandwiches' from the rolling cart, during the afternoon tea
7. The lobster will be to chewy, over cooked of stringy
8. No one will be refilling our drinks in a timely manner
9. Room service will not provide a folk to me
10. My spoons for ice cream will be dirty
11. My Hot Tub on my Balcony will not work
12. The exercise equipment in the wasted exercise room in my suite will be broken

 

The list of third world problems will go on and on.  It will happen and I will be disappointed just like everyone else. 

 

With all the planning, research hours, days, weeks and months of planning I have done; something will go wrong, it always does.  All I hope with all my heart is less will go wrong then has gone wrong for me in the past.  That would be an enhancement to my cruise vacation experience.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Sthrngary

[LSuzQ]

Sthrngary,

 

I enjoy your posts, and look forward to hearing about your cruise experience! Something you may find amusing:  every time I see your “nom de plume” my brain reads “Stingray.”  I don’t know why that is, but In my view it seems somewhat appropriate!

 

Thanks for sharing with us!

Susie

[ToxM]

I will be interested to see what you think of the need for an app after/during your trip.

[Sthrngary]

9 hours ago, LSuzQ said:

“Stingray.”

@LSuzQ I grew up on Long Island, NY.  As a child, I remember a neighbors around the corner had a "RED" Stingray.  It was the bomb.  I asked my mother for one of those little metal stingray cars that used be be sold by a UK company.  This little toy car was my favorite toy until my mom got me the Aston Martin DB from James Bond.  

 

So "Stingray" sounds good to me. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

[Sthrngary]

Thank you to everyone on the kind feedback on this post.  I always attempt to be balanced and fair with my posts.  Give the good, acknowledge the not so good from a personal perspective.  Blogs like this one tend to point out the bad parts of cruising, a brand, a ship or some aspect of the industry. Human nature when a guest is upset/frustrated with some aspect of their very expensive vacation. 

 

I remember communicating with a NCL supervisor to gain permission to upgrade my wife and my Drink package without doing the same for my two adult children.  It was confirmed, it showed online, when I got on the NCL Joy in the Haven, we went to lunch at the "American Diner".  My kids ordered a drink.  When I got back to my Suite, I check and sure enough, they were charged.  I went to the Haven Desk and was told they did not have the standard drink program.  I took out the email, documentation and handed it to them.  I was "UPSET".  I did my due diligence, saved my documentation and still the cruise line could not get it right. It was about to really negatively effect my entire cruise, THEN!!!! My wife said, "Gary, they will handle the issue if you just give them some time. Be upset if they don't handle it.  Right now, you are on a vacation that took 3 years to sail.  Don't mess it up on day one." 15 minutes later, it was all fixed. I have a wise wife. 

 

Being straight up with opinions and comments is so very important.  Some guest feel, sharing only bad stuff or only good stuff is the way to go.  This approach is helpful to a point by giving future guest a heads up on what to avoid or diffuse.  To be truly helpful, the same comments have to have happened on other streams unsolicited, with lots of people to make it a true concern. 

 

One person with a complaint does not make a cruise brand.  One person with glowing reviews does not make a cruise brand.  Lots of guests showing a trend towards a cruise topic whether positive or negatives is much more credible.    

 

Just my two cents, and I am sticking with it. 

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

[dock]

@Sthrngary, I’m waiting patiently for your cruise so I can read your observations. Ive enjoyed your pre cruise posts. 
Have fun. 

[Sthrngary]

18 minutes ago, dock said:

@Sthrngary, I’m waiting patiently for your cruise so I can read your observations. Ive enjoyed your pre cruise posts. 
Have fun. 

@dock Thank you.  42 days away and counting.  Our only challenge now is to keep the weight we lost off and maybe even lose an extra pound or two.  However, Murphy's Law is against us.  My wife and I are going to a Three Day Driving Event at the S.C. BMW Driving School on Sunday.  They have a restaurant dine-a-round, buffet breakfast/lunch.  CHEAT. My friends 70th birthday party is right after. CHEAT and dare I say it, Halloween candy. CHEAT, CHEAT, CHEAT. 

 

Wish us luck.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

[shepherd really]

6 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

@dock Thank you.  42 days away and counting.  Our only challenge now is to keep the weight we lost off and maybe even lose an extra pound or two.  However, Murphy's Law is against us.  My wife and I are going to a Three Day Driving Event at the S.C. BMW Driving School on Sunday.  They have a restaurant dine-a-round, buffet breakfast/lunch.  CHEAT. My friends 70th birthday party is right after. CHEAT and dare I say it, Halloween candy. CHEAT, CHEAT, CHEAT. 

 

Wish us luck.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

You'll be a two-hour drive from my home when you arrive, but probably only a one-hour drive after your class.  😁

[Sthrngary]

1 hour ago, shepherd really said:

You'll be a two-hour drive from my home when you arrive, but probably only a one-hour drive after your class.  😁

@shepherd really My wife is afraid to drive the M Class.  She claims she will watch.  I am simply not buy it.  If it is not your car, floor it. 

 

Cruise well and stay in the speed limit MAYBE!

[shepherd really]

1 minute ago, Sthrngary said:

@shepherd really My wife is afraid to drive the M Class.  She claims she will watch.  I am simply not buy it.  If it is not your car, floor it. 

 

Cruise well and stay in the speed limit MAYBE!

The skill of the driver is not limited by the M class, the M class is limited by the skill of the driver.   

 

Drive well and enjoy every MPH. 

[DavisFLSt8]

22 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

@WildWanderers Thank you for your kind words. 

 

I believe that every cruise brand had their pros/cons.  They attempt to complicate things to make it look better then it might seem.  It is clear, Oceania is no different.  Much of the issues for all cruise brands is the leadership do not empower the team member to make guest friendly decisions.  Instead, the guest feel in many ways disappointed. They might get the issue resolved but it took way to much time, aggravation and effort to do so.  

 

My M.O. is to learn how many folks like you, who are brand loyal, get disappointed on some aspects of the brand.  Then I attempt to avoid it like the plague. That is why I don't do excursions with cruise brands. Why I did the full fare Prestige Drink Package pre-cruise is instead of upgrading on the ship.  Why I did my own air fare and my own hotel bookings. Because of that, I controlled what I could control and it reduced my stress and disappointment level. In my own and very personal experience, every time I did something thinking if I did this quantify, I would get a % off, I got disappointed. So I stop. I am not good when I am angry, not good at all. 

 

I am NOT saying I am right. What I am saying is I know what has detracted from my past cruise experience and I do my best to avoid it in the future.  To highlight my point, if I were on the NCL Encore, in the Haven VIP suites, I could NOT order a drink to my suite without paying for it in full even though I had the upgraded Premium PLUS Drink Package.  I hated that but I knew the rules so I never had to see that fee on my stateroom accounting.  One of the first things I asked over a year ago on this blog was, "If I had the Prestige Drink Package, could I order  drink to my suite at no charge?"  That answer was YES.  For me based my my past experience, that was a value. Not to everyone, but to me. 

 

On my upcoming Oceania Cruise, something WILL go wrong. I have no clue what that will be and it most likely won't be in my control. Maybe it will be: 

 

1. A port or more will be cancelled
2. The Oceania cookies will be tasteless or bad
3. They won't have a Bulgari Gift Set In My suite
4. The Oceania Beach Bag will not be provided
5. The meat at the polo grill will be over cooked, under cooked so god forbid, to small or large
6. I will not be able to get more sandwiches' from the rolling cart, during the afternoon tea
7. The lobster will be to chewy, over cooked of stringy
8. No one will be refilling our drinks in a timely manner
9. Room service will not provide a folk to me
10. My spoons for ice cream will be dirty
11. My Hot Tub on my Balcony will not work
12. The exercise equipment in the wasted exercise room in my suite will be broken

 

The list of third world problems will go on and on.  It will happen and I will be disappointed just like everyone else. 

 

With all the planning, research hours, days, weeks and months of planning I have done; something will go wrong, it always does.  All I hope with all my heart is less will go wrong then has gone wrong for me in the past.  That would be an enhancement to my cruise vacation experience.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

 

 

 

 

I have enjoyed your posts. DW and I are looking forward to our first cruise since 2004. I, too, know something will go wrong. I base this on the fact I have been on the hotel industry for my 25+ year professional career. As you say, it will be how the team on ship reacts that will make the difference.

 

Cruise well.

[techteach]

@Sthrngary We are on board the Regatta now, 1st time Oceania cruisers, and I’ve had to remember your post about having realistic expectations. I don’t want to highjack your thread, but here are some of my unrealistic expectations. #1) The service would be good. #2) The food would be the finest at sea. 😉 IMHO they lack the staff to provide the service I had hoped for. Yesterday was a port day and when we returned from our excursion the only place to eat was the Waves Grill which meant a mediocre hot dog and hamburger. Waves Bar was the only place to get a drink and had one bar tender trying to serve a very long line of people. Polo Grill had wonderful Queen’s Cut, yes 16 oz., Prime Rib, but I sent the crab cake made from smelly canned crab back. DH could smell it as soon as it was placed in front of me. Service in the MDR is slow and forgetful. 3 times asking for tea and coffee this morning. Multiple calls to get ice for our room and finally a trip down to reception, in a Vista Suite. Realistic expectations and it’s not all about me. 

[Sthrngary]

8 minutes ago, techteach said:

@Sthrngary We are on board the Regatta now, 1st time Oceania cruisers, and I’ve had to remember your post about having realistic expectations. I don’t want to highjack your thread, but here are some of my unrealistic expectations. #1) The service would be good. #2) The food would be the finest at sea. 😉 IMHO they lack the staff to provide the service I had hoped for. Yesterday was a port day and when we returned from our excursion the only place to eat was the Waves Grill which meant a mediocre hot dog and hamburger. Waves Bar was the only place to get a drink and had one bar tender trying to serve a very long line of people. Polo Grill had wonderful Queen’s Cut, yes 16 oz., Prime Rib, but I sent the crab cake made from smelly canned crab back. DH could smell it as soon as it was placed in front of me. Service in the MDR is slow and forgetful. 3 times asking for tea and coffee this morning. Multiple calls to get ice for our room and finally a trip down to reception, in a Vista Suite. Realistic expectations and it’s not all about me. 

I don’t believe in the concept of hijacking the thread. Topics, take on a mind of their own. I assure you that when I am on board, I am in a vista suite as well, if some of those things happen to me, I will report it clearly and concisely just like you did. I hope you have reported it directly and personally the leader ship on the ship. Also, You will make sure that you share it directly with the corporate office at the end of your cruise

 

Cruise as well, and enjoy every moment.

[sunlover12]

@techteach  Sorry to hear this.  Regarding Waves Grill, there is much more on the menu than hot dogs and hamburgers.  There is surf (lobster) and turf (steak), panini sandwiches, salads, ice cream, shakes, among other selections.  When you are eating at Waves Grill, order your drinks from the server and then you won't have to stand in a line.

Room service is available 24 hours.

I agree service in the GDR is unpredictable.  Sometimes good, sometimes not.

Talk to the GM onboard if things don't improve. 

[techteach]

@Sthrngary I didn’t say enough good things. We are in a Vista Suite, and while we’re definitely feeling the 10 foot swells, but we slept well and the suite is fabulous. The best bathroom (shower) we’ve ever had and of course, a second bath makes for a happy voyage. Bed and pillows and great, lots of lights and controls that are easy. Breakfast room service was on time and hot. Wine tasting was the best we’ve had on a cruise ship. If you want to gamble this is not your ship. Really small and really tight. MDR saga continued at lunch as they gave everyone the wrong menu, corrected it, and then didn’t have the desserts on the new menu. This sounds like a management issue. But, the tuna Niçoise salad was really good. The veal scallopini required a steak knife.

[techteach]

@sunlover12 Well aware there are other items on the menu and I’m sure we’ll try them based upon the recommendations from this board. We have ordered drinks from the servers and it takes forever. Again, there aren’t enough of them. Yesterday they were also serving the card room. If you close the main dining room for lunch on port days and then lots of people don’t get off the ship or return to ship and want something to eat it forces everyone up. We haven’t tried the Terrace Cafe, but it will be our next option.

[techteach]

@Sthrngary I just reread your original post and see you’re in a Vista Suite. There is NOT a makeup mirror as shown in many YouTube videos. (At least on Regatta 6003) DH commented on how great it was to shave in the front bathroom because you’re so close to the mirror. Make sure you have extra room to take back all of the goodies: 2 water bottles, a 18x24” bag filled with 2 large towels, 2 hats, and sunbathing supplies, not to mention the large box of Bvlgari items. Regarding restaurants: We have interpreted that we would be able to book a second speciality restaurant. We have tried working through our butler and we are not encouraged. The table in the room is large enough for dinner and we may have to do that. Polo Grill last night had lots of empty tables starting around 7:45 or 8:00. Another good thing: 2 dozen long stem red roses on the coffee table. FYI - each night they come and remove the cushions from the chairs and loungers on the veranda. Then they tie up the chairs and loungers so they don’t blow off during the night.

 

[Sthrngary]

1 hour ago, techteach said:

There is NOT a makeup mirror as shown in many YouTube videos. (At least on Regatta 6003)

@techteach Thank you for such a kind post, much appreciated. We are on the Riviera suite 12001.  The video on YouTube is actually that very suite so I loved seeing it.  The first think I noticed was no lighted make up mirror.  My wife always brings her own and her Dyson Hair dryer which blows the circuits a couple of time each cruise.  

 

1 hour ago, techteach said:

Make sure you have extra room to take back all of the goodies:

I am so blessed.  I am a Delta Airlines Life Time Platinum 5 mil miler. I get two 70lbs bags and my wife gets the same.  My extra back is for all the items you outlined and the shopping we will do in Europe. Thank you for reminding me to have extra room.

 

1 hour ago, techteach said:

We have interpreted that we would be able to book a second speciality restaurant.

On this I want to be very careful how I say this.  For what ever reason, prior to upgrading my PH to a Visa, over 150 days prior to the cruise, I got a call from the Concierge for the Riviera. No clue why I got the call and just thought every did.  That was not the case.  I was asked if I had any food requirements or special needs.  I had none.  But I asked if they could book my specialty restaurants and they said YES.  So I booked the initial four using my guest booking number also and locked them in.  When I upgraded to the vista suite, I went back online and the other four potential reservations were available to book.  So for a 10 night cruise, I have 8 nights in specialty restaurants already reserved for the day and time I wanted. I got super lucky. 

1 hour ago, techteach said:

Then they tie up the chairs and loungers so they don’t blow off during the night.

That is GREAT to know.  I did not know that.  I have had stateroom in the front of the ship before.  If the ship is at sea cruising to the next port, that area is sometimes impossible to enjoy.  What you just did for me which is a great value is managed my expectations and I really appreciate it.  

 

Thank you again for taking the time to give me first hand information.  Much appreciated.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[FetaCheese]

2 hours ago, techteach said:

@Sthrngary I didn’t say enough good things. We are in a Vista Suite, and while we’re definitely feeling the 10 foot swells, but we slept well and the suite is fabulous. The best bathroom (shower) we’ve ever had and of course, a second bath makes for a happy voyage. Bed and pillows and great, lots of lights and controls that are easy. Breakfast room service was on time and hot. Wine tasting was the best we’ve had on a cruise ship. If you want to gamble this is not your ship. Really small and really tight. MDR saga continued at lunch as they gave everyone the wrong menu, corrected it, and then didn’t have the desserts on the new menu. This sounds like a management issue. But, the tuna Niçoise salad was really good. The veal scallopini required a steak knife.

Just off Regatta.

 

Had Grilled tuna Salade Nicoise 2 times at lunch in GDR.  1st time , lots of salad, 2nd time not as much.  Still very nice.  Tuna was grilled to my preference, well done, both times.  Fine item.

 

Wife had veal scallopini once.  Looked really nice.  Was envious, so I ordered it another day.  Both times was tender and very tasty, and crisp.

[techteach]

I think the person cooking makes a big difference @FetaCheese.