Hello from Marina!

[Vallesan]

7 hours ago, sirtom said:

Are there a night lights in the veranda cabin bathrooms?

Yes

[Vallesan]

Coming towards the end of this cruise now.

 

Overall it has been really enjoyable. The food, in all the restaurants we have tried has been 96% ok. Picked one or two items that were not to my taste but that doesn’t make them ‘bad’. For instance last night I thought I would try the miso glazed seabass in Red Ginger, only because the waitress poo pooed the red snapper. Anyway, the fish came. It was perfectly cooked but just a little too sweet for me, which I knew from my last encounter with ‘miso glazed seabass’! I think on our next cruise I will ask for an unglazed piece of fish the day before we eat in Red Ginger!
 

We have a sea day today and whilst it’s ‘busy’ it’s not really ‘overcrowded’ anywhere. 
 

There seem to be a lot of ‘lanyards’ around peoples necks and I’m guessing, maybe wrongly, that they  might be some of the ‘new to Oceania’ cruisers as cards aren’t used on Oceania in the same way as they are on ‘mainstream’ lines.
 

Really wanted to book a cruise for autumn but everything seems to be ‘waitlisted’ so that has to be a good sign, even though it’s not for us!

 

We’ve enjoyed our trip despite the promised upgrade not happening. Definitely won’t stop us sailing on the Marina again but given the choice we would take the Riviera first then maybe the Vista, with the Marina being our third choice.

 

The one really strong constant are the staff. In every venue the staff have been marvellous. Really couldn’t ask for anymore. They deserve high praise in every department.

[Harters]

12 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

despite the promised upgrade not happening.

Hi V. Good to hear you've been having a nice time.

 

I can't recall you previously mentioning a promised upgrade that didnt happen. Can you fill in the details, please?

[Vallesan]

24 minutes ago, Harters said:

Hi V. Good to hear you've been having a nice time.

 

I can't recall you previously mentioning a promised upgrade that didnt happen. Can you fill in the details, please?

Sorry I wasn’t clear ….. I meant the original ‘upgrade’ to the Marina which only materialised in part!

[Vineyard View]

Thank you Vallesan for this thread and taking time from your holiday to update all of us. I very much appreciate your balanced reviews and comments. I enjoyed following along with you, only wish we had actually been ‘with’ you as originally planned. It sounds as if, other than the non upgraded cabins as promised, all went quite well.
I am curious as to comments about excursions. Comments you may have heard about how they were, as well as how it worked with SM in effect?

Safe travels. 

[Harters]

1 hour ago, Vallesan said:

Sorry I wasn’t clear

No worries and thanks for the info, V. 

[Redtravel]

No grapes?  Every day after breakfast, I bring a plate of grapes back to my cabin.  Three days ago, asked for grapes. I was told that there weren’t any onboard. Ok, that can happen.  Yesterday we were in Athens.  I figured that the ship would get provisions.  Today I asked for grapes. Again, I was told that thee weren’t any.  They only got strawberries and blueberries.  

[mauibabes]

Actually that represents 55-60% Returnees and that is right on the Oceania averages. We heard a presentation last year from FDR and he said O was running 56%. We are glad to see more and more Cruise Refugees on board so O continues to grow and these are experienced travelers and people who can enjoy the quality of the O experience. We certainly have met a lot of Newbies in our more recent sailings.  
Just Enjoy,

Mauibabes

[mauibabes]

We certainly have experienced certain fresh fruits, vegetables and meat and fish outages and when we asked the people who actually know, we find out the Provisioners were unable to deliver the shipment at that port and time. We have also seen entire pallets of fruits and vegetables left behind because they were substandard and the Chef would not allow them aboard. Quality is very important to O and its guests and fresh products do spoil.  
I am still amazed to see my local grocery stores with reduced supplies of vegetables or fresh fruits and berries, bananas, etc.  I was talking to one of the managers yesterday and he was lamenting how difficult it was to fill shelves like they used to. Call it Supply Chain issues or whatever, things are just not the same as yesterday. 
I guess we will just have to enjoy what we have and not worry about what we don’t because we really have no control over things, especially in todays market environment. 
Mauibabes

[mauibabes]

Hey folks, #108 is way out of sequence from when I originally wrote it weeks ago. For some reason it was pulled but this a.m. it was released so I reposted it relating to others comments about having 500 Returning Guests and seeing lots of newbies aboard cruises. New guests trying Oceania is critical to their success and I think when we are speaking to these Newbies on board, we need to educate them and make them feel welcome to the Oceania family. It is sure the family that makes us come back and those families are made up of guests and staff. We really look forward to seeing those familiar faces and look forward to reconnecting. 
Enjoy,

Mauibabes

[Vallesan]

15 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Thank you Vallesan for this thread and taking time from your holiday to update all of us. I very much appreciate your balanced reviews and comments. I enjoyed following along with you, only wish we had actually been ‘with’ you as originally planned. It sounds as if, other than the non upgraded cabins as promised, all went quite well.
I am curious as to comments about excursions. Comments you may have heard about how they were, as well as how it worked with SM in effect?

Safe travels. 

Sorry you missed this trip. We missed out in January and April so it’s third time lucky and I’m just glad to be sailing. I try to be balanced but to be honest I’m probably glossing over the ‘minutiae’ life’s too short to worry about a steak that’s maybe only 90% to your liking or the number of ‘less able bodied’ on board!

 

Sorry can’t help with trips, apart from heresay. As per usual some great and some not so great. Complaints about a trip in Athens mainly due to spending hours on a bus due to traffic…. welcome to any large city in Europe. ‘Historical sights’ = crowds of sightseers and traffic! Haven’t heard anything about SM specifically. 
 

Chair hogs … two chairs by the pool were left ‘occupied’ but empty for all of yesterday morning, sea day, but there were plenty of others in the sun if that’s what you wanted but just no others by the pool. So really no problem

 

Missed ports …. none so far with just one more to go!
 

Annoyances … man playing radio station on his phone for all to hear. I told him, politely, that his radio was annoying and asked if he could he use earphones. He was slightly aggressive, said he had no earphones but did turn it down and put it close to his ear. Never bothered us again so all well. 
 

As you can see I’m really ‘scraping the bottom of the barrel’ to find ‘issues’. All in all it’s been a lovely trip for us. Other ‘experiences’ may vary!

 

 

Edited May 30 by Vallesan

[rheasue38]

Hi!

 Who are the Future Cruise Ambassadors on Marina? We will be sailing on her on a b2b.

Thanks.

Rhea

[roothy123]

On 5/29/2024 at 8:27 AM, Vallesan said:

Coming towards the end of this cruise now.

 

Overall it has been really enjoyable. The food, in all the restaurants we have tried has been 96% ok. Picked one or two items that were not to my taste but that doesn’t make them ‘bad’. For instance last night I thought I would try the miso glazed seabass in Red Ginger, only because the waitress poo pooed the red snapper. Anyway, the fish came. It was perfectly cooked but just a little too sweet for me, which I knew from my last encounter with ‘miso glazed seabass’! I think on our next cruise I will ask for an unglazed piece of fish the day before we eat in Red Ginger!
 

We have a sea day today and whilst it’s ‘busy’ it’s not really ‘overcrowded’ anywhere. 
 

There seem to be a lot of ‘lanyards’ around peoples necks and I’m guessing, maybe wrongly, that they  might be some of the ‘new to Oceania’ cruisers as cards aren’t used on Oceania in the same way as they are on ‘mainstream’ lines.
 

Really wanted to book a cruise for autumn but everything seems to be ‘waitlisted’ so that has to be a good sign, even though it’s not for us!

 

We’ve enjoyed our trip despite the promised upgrade not happening. Definitely won’t stop us sailing on the Marina again but given the choice we would take the Riviera first then maybe the Vista, with the Marina being our third choice.

 

The one really strong constant are the staff. In every venue the staff have been marvellous. Really couldn’t ask for anymore. They deserve high praise in every department.

I'm laughing.  People seem to love that sea bass.  I don't (but love RG in general.)  People seem to also love the string quartet.  I don't.  Most people dislike lanyards.  I don't.  Oh well, it's your world, your way, and I love the diversity.  One person on a FB post mentioned he or she found the white towels in the room "scratchy."  A trip to the pool followed, and the blue towels were found to be better.  I'm waiting to hear what the person thought of the Bulgari toiletries....crazy stuff....

[Redtravel]

Still no grapes!   
Some of the towels are soft. Some are rough.  They still dry.

 

Soap and toiletries are not replaced automatically. You have to ask for them. When you do ask, often you don’t get what you asked for. That is certainly different than other cruises. My soap is wafer thin.  I hate begging for stuff.  At the beginning of this 2 week cruise, there was a shower cap. I asked for a new shower cap after using a week. Cabin steward said that she wasn’t sure that she could give me a cap. She offered me trash bags.  Later, she did get a shower cap. This is so different from my previous O cruises. This is Simply More?

[lilybug]

On 5/29/2024 at 11:00 AM, mauibabes said:

We certainly have experienced certain fresh fruits, vegetables and meat and fish outages and when we asked the people who actually know, we find out the Provisioners were unable to deliver the shipment at that port and time. We have also seen entire pallets of fruits and vegetables left behind because they were substandard and the Chef would not allow them aboard. Quality is very important to O and its guests and fresh products do spoil.  
I am still amazed to see my local grocery stores with reduced supplies of vegetables or fresh fruits and berries, bananas, etc.  I was talking to one of the managers yesterday and he was lamenting how difficult it was to fill shelves like they used to. Call it Supply Chain issues or whatever, things are just not the same as yesterday. 
I guess we will just have to enjoy what we have and not worry about what we don’t because we really have no control over things, especially in todays market environment. 
Mauibabes

This is a show on tv, I believe it is a few years old, "Mighty Cruise Ships", it's more about the workings of the ships and what goes on behind the scenes.  So many episodes - and they cover just about every cruise line - they stress that the chef inspects all the provisions and often turns away what they consider substandard.  And they don't get provisions in all ports.  Sometimes they just can't get what they ordered.  It's just like planning a dinner at home and you go to the store and can't get all the ingredients you need.  Seems to happen frequently these days.  Also, I've found the quality of fresh fruit and produce can be disappointing, even in the higher priced food stores.  Just the way it is ....

[Redtravel]

1 hour ago, lilybug said:

This is a show on tv, I believe it is a few years old, "Mighty Cruise Ships", it's more about the workings of the ships and what goes on behind the scenes.  So many episodes - and they cover just about every cruise line - they stress that the chef inspects all the provisions and often turns away what they consider substandard.  And they don't get provisions in all ports.  Sometimes they just can't get what they ordered.  It's just like planning a dinner at home and you go to the store and can't get all the ingredients you need.  Seems to happen frequently these days.  Also, I've found the quality of fresh fruit and produce can be disappointing, even in the higher priced food stores.  Just the way it is ....

Not every port has provisions.  No grapes has been going on for over a week.  No grapes in Athens?  I went on an excursion in Athens that included lunch. Dessert was fruit. Those grapes were beautiful. 

[Vallesan]

On 5/30/2024 at 1:47 PM, rheasue38 said:

Hi!

 Who are the Future Cruise Ambassadors on Marina? We will be sailing on her on a b2b.

Thanks.

Rhea

At the moment Liviu Moldovan and Cecilia Grimaldi but of course that could alter!

[Vallesan]

So the cases are out. Time to pack up. Weather here in Sorrento is dull and overcast so good weather for packing!

 

So before I forget, my overall thoughts about this cruise:

 

Has the food been perfect? No.

Has the food been mainly good? Yes. A few meals I wouldn’t order again.

Did I go hungry? NO!

 

Speciality restaurants. We have had 5 additional evenings in the speciality restaurants. A few tips: ask early in the morning of the day you want a booking. Be flexible with restaurant, time and sharing. One evening we had a shared 8pm table but arrived at 7.40 only to find we could eat there and then on our own. Never give up, there are always possibilities!

 

Staff universally have smiled, been helpful and generally did as much as possible to make our trip enjoyable.

 

Tours … not our thing.

 

Other passengers. Have spent several evenings eating at shared tables and they have all been interesting and have added to our enjoyment. In general our fellow passengers are the ‘usual’ mix so all has been fine.

 

Survey: the new survey is accessed via a scan. Very easy to fill in and quite comprehensive with spaces to add comments at the end of each section.

 

SimplyMore: doesn’t seem any different to the OLife program to me. It certainly doesn’t put me off cruising with Oceania again. As I’ve said several times we don’t take the tours but we do drink wine, which by the way has never been an issue with glasses in all venues filled promptly. So for us, we look at the bottom line, not what was in the past compared to what is now or in the future. If we consider the ‘bottom line’ fits our budget and the itinerary suits then we go for it!

 

Overall we’ve had a really good 14 days aboard the Marina and we would sail on her again for the itinerary but prefer the fully upgraded Riviera ( just my opinion).

 

 

Edited May 31 by Vallesan

[roothy123]

Vallesan, thanks for being available to answer questions.  I think this was partially covered above, but in case it wasn't, and you see this and can answer: 

 

Did you eat in Aquamar Kitchen?  I saw the pictures, and I looked at the sample menu on the website in the Ships/Marina section.  But I was curious if you ate there and what you thought.  I'm not a big healthy food fan, though I know many people ARE).  But I'm looking forward to another breakfast/lunch option, since we have more than the usual number of sea days on our next cruise.  And if there's table service there and (now) at Waves, can I order something to take to the Terrace or Waves to eat? It's hard to get my spouse away from the Terrace at lunch time. I wasn't sure how that would work with a full ship and table service. 

 

Thanks, and have a great rest of trip, and trip home!

[Vallesan]

1 hour ago, roothy123 said:

Vallesan, thanks for being available to answer questions.  I think this was partially covered above, but in case it wasn't, and you see this and can answer: 

 

Did you eat in Aquamar Kitchen?  I saw the pictures, and I looked at the sample menu on the website in the Ships/Marina section.  But I was curious if you ate there and what you thought.  I'm not a big healthy food fan, though I know many people ARE).  But I'm looking forward to another breakfast/lunch option, since we have more than the usual number of sea days on our next cruise.  And if there's table service there and (now) at Waves, can I order something to take to the Terrace or Waves to eat? It's hard to get my spouse away from the Terrace at lunch time. I wasn't sure how that would work with a full ship and table service. 

 

Thanks, and have a great rest of trip, and trip home!

Sorry didn’t eat in Aquamar. I found the menu a little restricted. I tend to eat low carb so by the time I dismiss the tacos, sandwiches poke bowls with rice etc it really didn’t leave much choice. I found the variety at lunch time I the Terrace Cafe suited my needs better.

I don’t  know about Aquamar but you can certainly order from Waves and get it delivered to the Terrace Cafe.  Enjoy your cruise when it happens.

[basor]

When on Vista, we had items delivered from Aquamar to Terrace, etc. - same as Waves, give you a number.

Aquamar is table service with a menu and waiter....

[ronrick1943]

Sounds like you had a super nice cruise, happy to read about your trip.  Safe travels ...

[Redtravel]

Had a nice time in spite of the hiccups.  Met nice people, ate good food, etc.  weather was mostly sunny.  Yesterday in Sorrento, it rained.  Walking on stones in rain is tough.  Looking forward to home.

 

[Tranquility Base]

16 hours ago, Vallesan said:

So for us, we look at the bottom line, not what was in the past compared to what is now or in the future. If we consider the ‘bottom line’ fits our budget and the itinerary suits then we go for it!

A wise comment.

Makes the chances of having an enjoyable and easy going holiday far more likely.

[lilybug]

21 hours ago, Redtravel said:

Not every port has provisions.  No grapes has been going on for over a week.  No grapes in Athens?  I went on an excursion in Athens that included lunch. Dessert was fruit. Those grapes were beautiful. 

There may be grapes in Athens, but that doesn't mean O is at liberty to purchase them.  They contract with purveyors in certain ports, same as restaurants.