On Board Vista, July 23 - August 2, Turkish Ovation

[chloemonkey]

3 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

Why not order a glass of champagne and a glass of orange juice with a wedge of lime, then grab an empty glass make it yourself?  That's what we've done

 

3 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

Why not order a glass of champagne and a glass of orange juice with a wedge of lime, then grab an empty glass make it yourself?  That's what we've done

Well In Terrace Cafe during breakfast I would not have to "order" orange juice...as it is there as part of the buffet offerings.....It is the "champagne" part as in any bar order during breakfast seemed to STUMP the waiters.....

[1985rz1]

27 minutes ago, chloemonkey said:

 

Well In Terrace Cafe during breakfast I would not have to "order" orange juice...as it is there as part of the buffet offerings.....It is the "champagne" part as in any bar order during breakfast seemed to STUMP the waiters.....

Well, that is a new one for me.  They should have a bottle on the ready.  I hope it's one off, but I will find out as we leave in a week for an O Norway cruise.

[ORV]

I think this is the new application of “at lunch and dinner”. In my experience it’s always been hard to get a drink in the Morning before 10am, unless it’s at a brunch and it’s an extra charge. 

[chloemonkey]

35 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

Well, that is a new one for me.  They should have a bottle on the ready.  I hope it's one off, but I will find out as we leave in a week for an O Norway cruise.

Wishing you Bon Voyage....and as many "bubbly" as you desire!  I just am not good at standing up for myself.....which is why I order a TON of GOOD champagne to have in our cabin......and then I CAN make a Mimosa when I wish.....(or just drink champagne! lol!0

[DENIE]

We had the upgraded beverage package on Vista in January, and most mornings we enjoyed mimosas in the Terrace Cafe.  

[FetaCheese]

7 hours ago, lorimay said:

Yes, it was a surreal experience. We drove along the no man’s land and could see all the empty buildings. Our guide told us they even built walls inside buildings to split them. She, of course, had a very pro-Greek Cypriot viewpoint and was very bitter about it. We were warned not to take pictures. 
 

When we crossed, first we went through the Greek Cypriot passport control. Then we walked about 20 yards through no man’s land. Then passport control for Turkey.  They did scan our passports pretty thoroughly. Then you do it in reverse. 
 

The checkpoint cuts a main street in half. We asked our guide if it was any different on the Turkish side. She said no but all the women would be covered up. It wasn’t true- everyone looked the same. 

 This year, 2024 is the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion.  Curious if there was any evidence of commemoration on Greek side, or celebration on Turkish side? 

 

Was well publicized in Greek community here in the States.

[vipro]

12 hours ago, lorimay said:

Yes, it was a surreal experience. We drove along the no man’s land and could see all the empty buildings. Our guide told us they even built walls inside buildings to split them. She, of course, had a very pro-Greek Cypriot viewpoint and was very bitter about it. We were warned not to take pictures. 
 

When we crossed, first we went through the Greek Cypriot passport control. Then we walked about 20 yards through no man’s land. Then passport control for Turkey.  They did scan our passports pretty thoroughly. Then you do it in reverse. 
 

The checkpoint cuts a main street in half. We asked our guide if it was any different on the Turkish side. She said no but all the women would be covered up. It wasn’t true- everyone looked the same. 

We had a similar tour but we only visited the orthodox church of virgin mary, the Cyprus museum (which was quite good) and then the tour guide dropped us at Ledras street where we could cross the border. It must be a different border crossing as we didn't see any deserted homes. There were nothing much on the other side except a few cafes and restaurants. The no man land had fences on both sides so we were like walking inside a tunnel. The only interesting thing to see on the other side was the white Turkish flag that was unique in the world.

 

[lorimay]

Yesterday we were in Antalya, Turkey. We had a Simply More excursion booked to the Perge ruins, but since it was predicted to reach at least 102 degrees, we decided to skip the tour. The heat has been so debilitating and we decided to save ourselves for Ephesus. 

 

Took the free shuttle into Antalya instead. Antalya is a big city, not one of the charming little port towns we have been visiting. The bus dropped us off in the old part of the city, near the harbor and on a main shopping street. We walked around for a while and then got on the bus to go back to the ship. It wasn't a very charming town but I'm glad we at least saw it. Back on the bus, we were waiting for more passengers before returning to the port. Luckily the air conditioning was working great, but we watched as the temperature gauge at the front of the bus went from 38c, to 39 and then 40. 

 

Back on the ship, we went to the Terrace for a reliably good lunch. I had a regular hamburger from the grill, but my husband and the surf and turf (lobster and wagyu patty) delivered from Waves. The best part of the meal was a Tiger prawn salad with carrots. Every once in a while, there is a dish that gives you a mix of unusual but delicious flavor combinations. 

 

After lunch we went up to Horizons and grabbed a couple of the chaise lounges that face the front of the ship. This seating is genius, because you really can stretch out and have the great view forward. I love Horizons on this ship. It's clearly intended to be a multi-purpose space and not just a cocktail lounge.

 

We hung out until trivia, then went up to Martinis to discover that they were having a martini tasting class in the middle of Martinis while we were having trivia. Horizons was having tea and then a cocktail event for Oceania Club, but there have to be enough spaces on this ship that Martinis didn't need to be double booked. I would have been angry if I had paid for the martini tasting.

 

One space we find a little awkward is the Grand Lounge, which really is just a corridor between the Grand Dining room and Martinis. The string quartet plays there, but they are lined up against the outside wall and you have to walk in front of them to get through the area. The other side of the ship is the casino and it's hard walking through there. The Grand Lounge just doesn't seem to be designed well, but it does have a lot of comfortable seating.

 

The LYNC lounge is always empty. One crew member complained to us that it's not used very much and most of the classes they offer are so basic that no one needs them. The other day they were offering Instagram basics. I wonder if they will rethink that space since the average age of their cruisers does seem to be getting younger. We have not done any art or culinary classes.

 

Dinner was in Red Ginger last night. It's usually my favorite, but I had reached that point in the cruise where I just am not hungry anymore. I ate a light dinner and had the chicken ramen. The broth was delicious but the noodles were a little overcooked and the chicken slices were slightly rubbery. I know it's not the best thing on the menu but it was all I wanted. My husband had the red curry which was spicy but not overpowering and it was delicious.

 

The show last night really displayed the talent of the four singers in the production cast. It was called Music Triangle and was supposed to be about American music that came out of the area from New Orleans to Memphis to Nashville. Their voices and harmony were great. The music history was not very accurate and some of the song choices were very odd. And when they added in bluegrass, which wasn't developed anywhere near that area, they kind of lost us - but that doesn't take away from the great staging and performances.

 

I have some refundable credits on my account and after the show I tried to cash them in at reception. The crew member told me I would have to pay a fee unless I had a letter. Went up to the stateroom and the credit letter was there. It was ridiculous. I will cash it out today or apparently the process is that it goes from NCLH to our travel agent and back to us. I'll  just take the cash.

 

Back in our room, the thumping noise had gotten worse. It's definitely not coming from the neighbors. It got louder during the night and is really annoying. We tried to get our room attendant to hear it but of course he only could hear a bit before it stopped. We told him we have now lost our status as "low maintenance" guests because we have an issue.

 

We are on the way to Kusadasi this morning, not scheduled to dock until noon. Hopefully we will not get heat stroke at Ephesus. Luckily, we booked a private tour so we can cut it short if we need to.

 

[elmsliebev]

14 hours ago, Harters said:

When you went to Nicosia, did you get to see the No Mans Land in the centre of the city? There's a viewing platform at the end of at least one street. Spooky, looking out to the deserted street and buildings that havent been touched since the invasion in the 70s. . 

I like to read a novel set in the area I'm visiting Not been to Cyprus yet but The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak is superb, I learnt so much about the conflict there.

Edited July 30 by elmsliebev

[Sojourner02]

On 7/23/2024 at 4:33 PM, lorimay said:

Hello from the beautiful Vista. We boarded today after a few days in Athens before the cruise. We traveled on Friday and luckily did not have any airline delays, but made the mistake of having a transfer at London Heathrow. This was discussed recently in a different thread and please read it if you are considering a transfer that requires going to another terminal at Heathrow. We had a 90 minute timeframe which was barely enough, but the the hassle of the whole thing made us decided to never do it again. The ordeal includes very long walks, a bus transfer, many, many escalators, multiple security screenings if you aren't lucky (I got screened three times and had a major issue over a very small bottle of hand sanitizer I forgot was in my suitcase), then a train ride and many more escalators. 

 

We had been on the Marina and Riviera but this is our first time on the Vista. It is stunning and very reminiscent of the Regent Grandeur, which we sailed in December. I love the cool colors. Embarkation was the easist we have had on Oceania, although we did have to take a shuttle bus to the ship. But they had lots of staff doing checkin and it probably only took 20 minutes from luggage drop off to getting on the ship. We arrived early because our check out time at the hotel was 11, so our A2 stateroom wasn't ready. Ate a light lunch in Terrace Grill, did our muster check in, then spent a little time in Martinis waiting for the room. Since we don't drink alcohol, this is probably the only time we will be there. The string quartet was playing and they were very good.

 

The ship seems very well staffed and everyone is very happy. Great service everywhere. The food at the buffet was good, but my Oceania complaint is that they have almost no ingredients at the salad bar. I noticed that on our other cruises and clearly nothing has changed. 

 

Concierge staterooms opened at 1:30. We have an extended balcony cabin on deck 8. I really like the cabin, but feel that there the storage was not very well thought out. Not enough deep drawers. Most of them are so shallow you can't fit much in them. Another minor complaint - the hangers in the closet do not have grooves to hold shirts on them. All of my stretchy shirts keep sliding off. I know, first world complaint, but I just can't understand why no one thought about that.

 

Our room steward Luka seems wonderful. The cabin is very clean and we like the deep balcony. We had a penthouse on the Marina with a horrible butler experience, so we have gone for veranda cabins since then. However, I don't know if I could do a long cruise in this cabin. Maybe I'm spoiled after the Regent cruise, where the standard veranda cabin we had was full of storage and lots of space - probably the same size as a Vista penthouse. We were offered an upgrade to a PH for $1000 each this week, but didn't feel like spending the extra.

 

I decided to do a load of laundry since we sweated through our clothes in Athens. If you aren't aware, they are having a heat wave and the temperature has been in the high 90's and above. Sightseeing was miserable. First time in Athens and probably the last as I was not impressed. We love history and the ruins are great, but the rest of the city looks like it was bombed out with lots of abandoned buildings and graffiti everywhere. The laundry was hopping but I got a washer and put my clothes in. I was delayed by our room steward so was about five minutes late to get my washing and someone had already taken it out of the machine. I got dirty looks when I started putting it into the dryer. I have previously had some weird encounters in the Oceania laundry room, so I wasn't surprised.

 

The passengers are a very international group. Have heard a lot of non-English language. It's fun to try and guess what language they are speaking in the elevator.. I think Americans may be in the minority. It is also a much younger crowd than on our other Oceania cruises and we have seen quite a few well-behaved children.

 

We ate dinner in the Terrace. I just couldn't face a long sit down meal in the GDR, which is not our favorite place anyway. The sushi station is excellent and I think a great addition. I had lamb chops and lobster tail from the grill - what can be better than that?

 

We went to the show at 9:30. Did I forget to mention that the cruise director is Julie? I am not enjoying her at all. My husband told me not to be mean so I won't say anything else about her. The entertainment staff seems very talented, much more talented than the staff on the Regent cruise, and put on a nice show. The show band is great.

 

Apparently there have been a lot of issues with the excursions and the heat. We received advisories about three of our booked excursions. One was changed from moderate to strenuous activity, and the the other two had heat advisories. We are rethinking some of our choices. We found the heat so oppressive in Athens that it is dangerous, even drinking a lot of water.

 

Tomorrow is Santorini. We plan to get off the ship late afternoon since there are supposed to be a lot of other ships in port and we're hoping the cable car line will be shorter. 

 

I'm happy to answer questions if I can.

 

[Sojourner02]

We got off the beautiful Vista, Barcelona to Athens, right before Lorimay boarded her cruise.

 

This is our second trip on the Vista this year.  We sailed on the Vista to the Caribbean in January.

 

This was our eighth cruise with Oceania.  I cannot say enough about the outstanding  level of service, kindness of the staff, cleanliness of main areas and the very good food. It's nice to hear from the staff how wonderful Oceania treats them. The staff could not do enough for us.

 

We decided to book the Penthouse this time.  It was just beautiful.  So much space. We had our own closets. A big bathroom, beautiful veranda.  I could go on and on about the perks.

 

What we thought was unnecessary was the butler.  The room attendant and housekeeping staff are good enough.

 

We were selective as far as tours went.  We have been to many of these ports and opted out of some.  We went instead with off the beaten path tours.  Loved them.  Considering the complaints that were made about the traffic, the guides, the heat and people getting lost on trains and seasick on boats  to Cinque Terre, we we so happy we made that decision.  Some tours lasted twelve hours. Some vow never to returned to the Med in the summer months. WE did not get heat warnings.

 

This was the biggest diverse group of passengers we have ever been with.  We loved meeting  different people from around the world. So friendly.

 

The downside of this trip was the 130 kids onboard.  We were stunned Oceania is now allowing kids.  

There were babies, in the pool and hot tubs with diapers. This is allowed in the concierge hot tubs too.  This was not a ship for kids.  Not enough to do.  They had a little room for them to play in.  Kids will be kids and some do not behave. It's the parents obligation to make sure they do. 

 

We didn't bother going to the shows.  The auditorium was not filled at night.  Everyone was exhausted.

 

All in all, we did enjoy our time on the Vista. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ORV]

2 hours ago, Sojourner02 said:

The downside of this trip was the 130 kids onboard.  We were stunned Oceania is now allowing kids.  

FYI, in my experience in the last 15 years they've always allowed kids, it's just very few people bring them, and rightly so. 

 

 

[lorimay]

One thing I haven’t mentioned are the terrible sight lines in the Vista Lounge. I’m tall and yet every night I can’t see around the head of the person in front of me. The stage is too low and the seats aren’t pitched enough. I can’t believe they didn’t think about this when they were designing it. The performers deserve better. However, it does feel very intimate. 

[sistersbrothers]

3 hours ago, Sojourner02 said:

The downside of this trip was the 130 kids onboard.  We were stunned Oceania is now allowing kids. 

We were on the Barcelona to Athens cruise too. Whilst Oceania does allow children, we have never seen so many on one Cruise. Partly the time of year of course, but also there were a couple of large conference groups on the ship who brought family with them. I have never really been aware of Oceania marketing its ships as conference venues before, but one group was 300+ and another group of several dozen with lots of young children. That makes for a different dynamic.

Edited July 30 by sistersbrothers
Typo

[sistersbrothers]

25 minutes ago, lorimay said:

One thing I haven’t mentioned are the terrible sight lines in the Vista Lounge. I’m tall and yet every night I can’t see around the head of the person in front of me. The stage is too low and the seats aren’t pitched enough. I can’t believe they didn’t think about this when they were designing it. The performers deserve better. However, it does feel very intimate. 

The Vista lounge is much smaller than the show lounges on Riviera and Marina (seats 319 vs 678). The stage seems much smaller too. Surprised they have room to dance.

[Harters]

1 hour ago, lorimay said:

One thing I haven’t mentioned are the terrible sight lines in the Vista Lounge

I'd read about this on here before our cruise and had thought "Nah, it won't be that bad". It was. We are not tall and quickly realised most of the seating arrangements were going to end up blocking our view, even if the person in front also wasnt tall. There were seats in the room (mainly off to the side) where you had a reasonable chance of not being blocked but even there it was not guaranteed. 

[jonthomas]

"The downside of this trip was the 130 kids onboard.  We were stunned Oceania is now allowing kids.  

There were babies, in the pool and hot tubs with diapers. This is allowed in the concierge hot tubs too.  This was not a ship for kids.  Not enough to do.  They had a little room for them to play in.  Kids will be kids and some do not behave. It's the parents obligation to make sure they do. "

 

Have not seen that on the 10 O cruises we have done. Hope it is not a trend. I dont want to see that on ANY O ships. This reminds us of the many nightmare with kids cruises on Celebrity. 

How are babies with diapers allowed in hot tubs. I hope many complained, I hope many that use hot tubs took it to GM and asked for compensation, only then will rules be enforced. 

[edgee]

5 hours ago, sistersbrothers said:

The Vista lounge is much smaller than the show lounges on Riviera and Marina (seats 319 vs 678). The stage seems much smaller too. Surprised they have room to dance.

The architect who designed the Vista lounge should be thrown out of the profession for malpractice (along with the idiot who set specifications for the (non existent) soundproofing between cabins, the slippery floors in the Terrace and the aft stairway that does not go below deck six.)

Theatre site lines are awful and many rows off to the side have only one entrance/exit side, meaning lots of guests must be bothered to stand to let others in and out of rows.

[ORV]

31 minutes ago, edgee said:

The architect who designed the Vista lounge should be thrown out of the profession for malpractice (along with the idiot who set specifications for the (non existent) soundproofing between cabins, the slippery floors in the Terrace and the aft stairway that does not go below deck six.)

Theatre site lines are awful and many rows off to the side have only one entrance/exit side, meaning lots of guests must be bothered to stand to let others in and out of rows.

Since you've been there obviously you have a point of view on it. I haven't been on Vista, but enough people have complained that it's a problem. It would seem there would be CAD program for that when it was being designed. It's probably a matter of the space above and below being needed for other things they felt were more important. If you notice most theaters on larger cruise ships take up 3 to 4 decks. On a ship the size of Oceania's they don't have that luxury. Soundproofing and slippery floors have no excuse, or reason why, other than poor workmanship or cost cutting. The elevator issue has been explained as that is where one of the kitchens is. 

 

I haven't been on Vista, so I have no opinion on it. 

Edited July 30 by ORV

[osandomir]

7 hours ago, sistersbrothers said:

The Vista lounge is much smaller than the show lounges on Riviera and Marina (seats 319 vs 678). The stage seems much smaller too. Surprised they have room to dance.

We haven’t been on the Vista yet not until next summer. We’re not a big on the Oceania entertainment. Not going to the show every time but I can’t imagine that there’re only 319 seats in the theater on the ship with 1200 passengers on board. Would not be easy to get in. Anyone else can confirm?

[sistersbrothers]

2 hours ago, osandomir said:

We haven’t been on the Vista yet not until next summer. We’re not a big on the Oceania entertainment. Not going to the show every time but I can’t imagine that there’re only 319 seats in the theater on the ship with 1200 passengers on board. Would not be easy to get in. Anyone else can confirm?

If you don't want to believe the numbers from me, see Oceania document for source:

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/sites/default/files/2022-05/charters-fleet-guide.pdf

Edited July 31 by sistersbrothers

[osandomir]

42 minutes ago, sistersbrothers said:

If you don't want to believe the numbers from me, see Oceania document for source:

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/sites/default/files/2022-05/charters-fleet-guide.pdf

Thank you for posting. It is not a matter if I trust your numbers or not. I still don’t understand how Oceania can accommodate 1200 passengers in the theater of that size especially when just one seating is available. Maybe it was a typo in the Oceania document that you’re referring to.

[ChadnKate]

11 hours ago, sistersbrothers said:

We were on the Barcelona to Athens cruise too. Whilst Oceania does allow children, we have never seen so many on one Cruise. Partly the time of year of course, but also there were a couple of large conference groups on the ship who brought family with them. I have never really been aware of Oceania marketing its ships as conference venues before, but one group was 300+ and another group of several dozen with lots of young children. That makes for a different dynamic.

We’ve done 18 Oceanias. Usually one maybe two princesses or young princes onboard. Always have been well behaved. 

[ChadnKate]

We board 9/23. Who is the current Cruise Director and Captain ?  Thank you

[lorimay]

Even at only 319 seats, the theater is never full. We noticed that on our other Oceania cruises. I think with the only show at 9:30, it’s just too late for a lot of people. On this cruise with so many kids, I think they go to bed early. On our other cruises, the ship was dead after 10pm.