MEFIowa Posted July 12 #251 Share Posted July 12 48 minutes ago, iowananny said: ... I never, ever know what someone else is drinking on a cruise unless I'm sitting by them when they order. Some people asked if the Prestige Package was worth it and people gave their opinion. I don't see that as bragging. I have yet to see anyone who is bragging about how much they have drunk during a certain day or what kind of liquor they have in their drink, I like the Prestige Package because I prefer how good can I drink; not how much can I drink.... And this is what "Robjame" wrote on that same thread as you about 18minutes earlier than your comment: "I have seen the three drinks a day or the 2 drinks a day and even a 5 drinks a day justification for the Prestige Package. None of these are correct IMO. I was drinking Oban 14 scotch @ $18 a glass which includes the 20% gratuity $21.60 per. I would order a double as my pre dinner drink with this package totalling $43.20. Even 2 glasses of champagne will pierce the $30 a day upgrade." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrammieK Posted July 12 #252 Share Posted July 12 Why does this bother you so? When people speak about what they’ve purchased or what they’ve done, do you really think they are bragging? They’re on a beautiful ship on holiday. Sometimes the extra $$ spent make the experience special for them. Just like low priced drinks consumed in your cabin make you happy. To each his own. We all enjoy life differently, don’t we? k🚢 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising Maryland Posted July 12 #253 Share Posted July 12 13 minutes ago, GrammieK said: if I’m correct in Basors meaning, they are outside the time to arrange dinners. I think they said 60 days before cruise is the timing for their reservations. You are correct, I read the original post incorrectly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEFIowa Posted July 12 #254 Share Posted July 12 5 minutes ago, GrammieK said: Why does this bother you so? When people speak about what they’ve purchased or what they’ve done, do you really think they are bragging? They’re on a beautiful ship on holiday. Sometimes the extra $$ spent make the experience special for them. Just like low priced drinks consumed in your cabin make you happy. I think we're discussing selective opinions on what is and is not "bragging". How people can "brag" and about "what". So for me that started off of this, her ire, what "bothers" her so much (from above, earlier in the thread). A selective ire about money discussions in only one particular direction: "But the worst are those who go on and on about how little they spent for the cruise and all their expenses. To be honest we're going on a cruise next week and I couldn't tell you what we paid for it. I know I could look it up but it's paid for and frankly it's no one else's business, The amazing thing is those who may be staying in an upper-class suite never brag. We see little of the bragging about prices on O although it has occurred but when we were on Celebrity that was usually the first thing that was brought up. It may have changed." You buy that "amazing thing...in an upper-class suite never brag" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basor Posted July 12 #255 Share Posted July 12 42 minutes ago, MEFIowa said: THIS is what YOU wrote on Wednesday this week at 1:39 PM on a different thread: "I agree that you don't have to drink that much to get your money's worth from the Prestige Package. I like premium tequilas and rarely drink them at home. I'm not on a cruise to drink rock gut liquor. I want the good stuff. The Prestige Package is a good way to get it at what I consider a reasonable price." (emphasis added) Unfortunately you are quoting someone else not me as we do not drink anything but wine which we bring onboard or enjoy provided with dinner,....we have never purchased the Prestige package.....perhaps your other quotes are also misquotes due to lack of clear reading or listening 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay S Posted July 12 #256 Share Posted July 12 Not to side track here, but bragging about the cost of the cruise and the brand of liquor, etc. happens on every cruise line (at least in my experience.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMHuntFerry Posted July 12 #257 Share Posted July 12 3 hours ago, baloo75 said: We will be on Vista in November and first time on Oceania (coming from mainly Celebrity). We are traveling with two other couples (6 of us total) and all are Concierge class. Is there a way to coordinate the dinner reservations? We are outside our time to get reservations (60 days) so can't see what the options are on the website yet. Thanks! You can coordinate dinner reservations, although how you go about this will depend on your group's dynamics. When your dining reservations open up, there is an option to enter other people's booking number when doing each reservation (so you can have all or some shared reservations). It's probably simplest to have one person doing all of the bookings, but that requires everyone to allow that person carte blanche when choosing days/times. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Vallesan Posted July 12 #258 Share Posted July 12 1 hour ago, GrammieK said: Why does this bother you so? When people speak about what they’ve purchased or what they’ve done, do you really think they are bragging? They’re on a beautiful ship on holiday. Sometimes the extra $$ spent make the experience special for them. Just like low priced drinks consumed in your cabin make you happy. To each his own. We all enjoy life differently, don’t we? k🚢 👍👍👍👍👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clo Posted July 12 #259 Share Posted July 12 1 hour ago, GrammieK said: Just like low priced drinks consumed in your cabin make you happy. And I'm guessing there are lot of those beverages, i.e., beer, wine and spirits, IIRC 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising Maryland Posted July 12 #260 Share Posted July 12 1 hour ago, AMHuntFerry said: You can coordinate dinner reservations, although how you go about this will depend on your group's dynamics. When your dining reservations open up, there is an option to enter other people's booking number when doing each reservation (so you can have all or some shared reservations). It's probably simplest to have one person doing all of the bookings, but that requires everyone to allow that person carte blanche when choosing days/times. The person with the higher cabin can control the reservations. For example, I have a suite, and I was able to make reserations with my friends now. Friends can't make reservations until October, 60 days prior. Their reservation had to be paid in full before I could include them on my reservation, but I could do it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Harters Posted July 12 #261 Share Posted July 12 5 hours ago, iowananny said: My theory is to never talk politics unless someone brings something up and you find out their views are similar to yours. So, on the first night of our last cruise, we started chatting with the American couple on the next table. Obviously, from our accents they knew we were not from that side of the Atlantic. Almost immediately, they asked for our opinion on the state of American politics. That's a tricky one to answer when you don't know who is asking - particularly when you know that American politics is very polarised. My recollection is that we gave a suitable bland neutral answer - we have experience of dealing with issues such as Brexit, so know the need for bland answers at times. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay S Posted July 12 #262 Share Posted July 12 58 minutes ago, Harters said: So, on the first night of our last cruise, we started chatting with the American couple on the next table. Obviously, from our accents they knew we were not from that side of the Atlantic. Almost immediately, they asked for our opinion on the state of American politics. My answer is always "I'm allergic to politics." Then change the subject or remain mute until they move on. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volterra24 Posted August 7 #263 Share Posted August 7 We are on Vista August 24, 2024 cruise out of Monaco. So far I am extremely unhappy with the online navigation particularly dinner reservations and excursions. So to respond to the initial topic here on reservations.... I guess I should have gotten on at 12:01 am to make dinner plans. But I went on at 9 am and it appeared that all but Embers was booked. We are a party of 6. Apparently that is a nightmare too. We are on the Concierge level so my trusting husband said our Concierge is going to take care of this for us. So that same morning we got our rep on the phone, we had an hour long conversation and the rep, who has been lovely, took all the information and said he would take care of it. The first night is our anniversary and we have discussed since the day we booked and paid in April or May that we wanted a special dinner that night. I trusted too. I failed to check our dinner reservations until this week when I went on to look at the excursions again. Only one dinner reservation and not on our anniversary. We have called and emailed for three days our lovely concierge....nothing. I have called Oceania and no one will talk to me. They said they cannot access the booking because it is Concierge and assigned only to our Lovely rep. I am starting to say the word Lovely with a growl. Although when he is on the phone he is awesome. Too bad I feel so negatively prior to boarding this cruise in two weeks. And that is in part because my spouse is blaming me and the online website is not user friendly particularly if you have multiple rooms and are planning for the whole group. Wish I wasn't even going. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ORV Posted August 7 #264 Share Posted August 7 52 minutes ago, Volterra24 said: We are on Vista August 24, 2024 cruise out of Monaco. So far I am extremely unhappy with the online navigation particularly dinner reservations and excursions. So to respond to the initial topic here on reservations.... I guess I should have gotten on at 12:01 am to make dinner plans. But I went on at 9 am and it appeared that all but Embers was booked. We are a party of 6. Apparently that is a nightmare too. We are on the Concierge level so my trusting husband said our Concierge is going to take care of this for us. So that same morning we got our rep on the phone, we had an hour long conversation and the rep, who has been lovely, took all the information and said he would take care of it. The first night is our anniversary and we have discussed since the day we booked and paid in April or May that we wanted a special dinner that night. I trusted too. I failed to check our dinner reservations until this week when I went on to look at the excursions again. Only one dinner reservation and not on our anniversary. We have called and emailed for three days our lovely concierge....nothing. I have called Oceania and no one will talk to me. They said they cannot access the booking because it is Concierge and assigned only to our Lovely rep. I am starting to say the word Lovely with a growl. Although when he is on the phone he is awesome. Too bad I feel so negatively prior to boarding this cruise in two weeks. And that is in part because my spouse is blaming me and the online website is not user friendly particularly if you have multiple rooms and are planning for the whole group. Wish I wasn't even going. Oh Boy, this is most unfortunate. Most of the problem stems from dealing directly with Oceania and not having a knowledgeable TA to guide you through it. It's too late now but coming here and asking questions and advice earlier would have saved you a lot of trouble. Definitely a cautionary tale for those that think the Customer Service reps are any more than appointment sitters and cruise bookers. Good luck and hopefully you'll get your situation resolved to your satisfaction. Try not to let your problems mar your enjoyment of a great ship and cruiseline. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMHuntFerry Posted August 7 #265 Share Posted August 7 @Volterra24 Please don't let your difficulty making reservations ruin the whole cruise. The Specialties are not better food on O, just different menus. We have actually cancelled specialty reservations in favor of the GDR or even Terrace if it's a special-menu night that we want to attend. The good news is that embarkation day is usually an easier (not guaranteed) night to get reservations, so with your O-rep's help you may get what you want for your anniversary. Enjoy Vista and all it's fantastic offerings! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hetzess Posted August 7 #266 Share Posted August 7 Hi @Volterra24 - you mentioned GDR or Terrace having special menu nights....can you let me know a little more about this? Is it like "asian" theme or "caribbean" theme nights? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruzin Terri Posted August 7 #267 Share Posted August 7 I am so sorry this happened to you. To tell you that you should have booked earlier does not help What I will suggest is that you go down to deck 5 as soon as you embark the ship and explain your situation. Tell them it is your anniversary and you wanted to make it special. Hopefully they may be able to help you. Too bad you are not in a PH and have a butler who might be able to work his magic. Be firm but nice and let the reservation person how important this is to you. If that does not work, I would go to Embers and ask the Maitre’d and ask if he could help. If it is the same one that has been there before (I don’t remember his name), he is a reasonable person, and met be able to accommodate your group. I hope you can celebrate your anniversary in style. If not, try one of the other specialties. Toscana is very nice and maybe that might work Good luck. Let us know what happens. Terri 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mauibabes Posted August 8 #268 Share Posted August 8 @Volterra24 Sorry to hear of your scheduling issues. Since it is only a couple weeks out, easy work arounds are not an option. You have seen the recommendations from others already about timing and reservation dates and other 🤞 I hope you have an early Embarkation Appointment and if not, go early anyway and hope they let you start boarding about 11:00. Once you have boarded the ship, GO STRAIGHT TO THE RESERVATION DESK and line up. Have the room numbers for your companions and ask the Rep there if there is ANY availability that night, ANY restaurant. You don’t get to be picky, it is all based on availability and time and a limited number of tables for 6. You can share it is your Anniversary that day and 🙏😇🤞. If you get a reservation, you can ask for a special cake for a desert momento as well. Please be flexible with your wants and hopefully they will be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat for you. It may cost you some $ but call Oceania, your person, and ask if you can book a special wine pairing dinner in either Polo or Toscana on Embarkation Day as both dining rooms have tables for up to 8 in a private room/area. When we have seen people eating in those rooms, they were special dinner parties and were about $95pp as I recall. Sometimes the rooms are held for the GM to host specific Suite guests or high level O Club guests. While it won’t necessarily be on your Anniversary, you could also enquire about a Gourmet Dinner in Privee one night. We always try to book Privee on Riviera or Marina and were fortunate to be able to eat in there one time on Vista. 🙏🤞❤️ Good luck and please ENJOY your anniversary no matter where you might be dining. Mauibabes 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising Maryland Posted August 8 #269 Share Posted August 8 Is Privee booked for that night? It does cost extra, but it is a private room with great service. Just a suggestion. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMHuntFerry Posted August 8 #270 Share Posted August 8 3 hours ago, hetzess said: Hi @Volterra24 - you mentioned GDR or Terrace having special menu nights....can you let me know a little more about this? Is it like "asian" theme or "caribbean" theme nights? I think you meant me...GDR doesn't do special nights, but some of the menus appeal to us. The Terrace usually has a special night (actually two consecutive nights) with a local theme; for example, Alaskan night on Alaska cruises. They have also recently introduced an Indian night in addition to the local theme, but I have not gone to it yet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volterra24 Posted August 8 #271 Share Posted August 8 Thank you all for the multitude of kind responses(mostly). Not much I can say except I goofed. I still have not received a return call from our cruise concierge, it has been four days. So I went online and just started booking dinners as best I could. There are 6 of us traveling together in three rooms so toggling between those bookings was a learning curve. Meanwhile I did not know that my husband was getting all the reservation updates by email. He never mentioned it! So I was busy creating a spreadsheet for each excursion by family member, port, hours, cost etc. Same for all the diner reservation by table size and time for each in our party. More redundant hours. Dinner wise, I reserved tables of 4 and a table of 2. Maybe they can be placed near each other. Only on two of the reservations could I get them at the same reservation time. So my sons can go earlier or later as the case may be. (You will probably recognise them as they are handsome and likely the only guests on the boat under the age of 60!) All available dinner reservations appear to be on the back end of the cruise.(Is there something I don't know that you all front ended your reservations??) As most of the reservations were late I have to assume we will miss the shows. My husband has not thought of that yet but he will and I will be in the dog house again. -I also did not know that this forum existed on Cruise Critic. Definitely would have been helpful. I only saw reviews of the boat. Too much on my mind at the time with other responsibilities as well. Back to the Oceania website: I did not really understand the reservation system as this was our first time on this cruise line and I don't think you can even see it until it goes live. I feel they could offer some video tutorials (maybe there is one on Youtube?!). But clearly I should have jumped on at 12:01 am the day they opened it up.(My husband could have too). I was concurrently trying to digest the excursion options for the ports and spent hours, days, weeks, researching each port, top activities and independent excursions to get a handle on what was out there and how best to approach each port relative to cruise excursion or independent contractors, with my husband in the background saying we will just walk around, who needs tours. More redundant time. Anyway no need to keep commenting. I messed up. I will board early on the 24th and hopefully be able to swing the dinner reservations we would like and the changes to the excursions I have already selected and paid for. See you on board..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adornme75 Posted August 8 #272 Share Posted August 8 Good luck to you and Happy Anniversary! Just so you don’t feel bad about not jumping on at 12:01, I did, and found the only reservations left were at 9:00 pm for shared tables and one at 8:30 pm which means we can’t see any shows either. It seems this system needs to be more accommodating to everyone. There will be so much food everywhere, no one will go hungry. Enjoy! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ORV Posted August 8 #273 Share Posted August 8 Just a FYI for those new to Oceania. There is generally only one show each evening. Usually at 9 or 9:30. Every once and a while there will be one at 5:30 or 6 for the late diners, but rarely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEFIowa Posted August 8 #274 Share Posted August 8 Fortunately, no matter where you eat, the food is quite good. You might not get quite what you'd hoped for, but once on the ship you'll enjoy the food. We so much prefer the TC to the GDR that in our 40 nights (Riviera & Sirena) we've never eaten in the GDR. We love to eat under the stars at our own pace. Stay positive and keep reasonable expectations. And enjoy a great ship, wonderful crew and interesting passengers with fun places to visit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunlover12 Posted August 8 #275 Share Posted August 8 9 hours ago, Volterra24 said: I still have not received a return call from our cruise concierge, it has been four days. So I went online and just started booking dinners as best I could. There are 6 of us traveling together in three rooms so toggling between those bookings was a learning curve. Dinner wise, I reserved tables of 4 and a table of 2. Maybe they can be placed near each other. Only on two of the reservations could I get them at the same reservation time. So my sons can go earlier or later as the case may be. (You will probably recognise them as they are handsome and likely the only guests on the boat under the age of 60!) Your sons will be happy to know that there is a good chance there will be other guests their age on the ship. I was on a Mediterranean cruise on Nautica last summer and there were a lot of 40-somethings and some 30-somethings. I'm in my late 60's and was way north of the median age. Of course each cruise is different but you may be surprised. It depends on the itinerary but the Med attracts younger guests. We had a large group and the specialty restaurants were very accommodating in sitting us at 2 tables next to each other. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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