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

[Humane]

Safe travels to everyone leaving today!  Looking forward to the next group!  It was wonderful to meet many of you!  

[basor]

Our close friends are boarding today to celebrate their anniversary.  Our (and theirs) first O cruise was together many years ago to also celebrate their anniversary - Nautica - Venice to Barcelona.

[Vertygo]

Boarding yesterday was smooth & relatively quick, just long distances to walk through Galataport. While standing in line I struck up conversation with a gentleman from England, who turned out to be Yorkshirewanderers-Nick & his lovely wife Liz!

Was able to get another reservation for Red Ginger for 1st night. Food, of course, was absolutely fantastic, with shared sushi plate, watermelon duck salad, tempura soft shell crab & yuzu sorbet for dessert. We scheduled a wine tasting for $60 & wine lunch for $160 with our sommelier.

There were no envelopes with excursion or culinary center tickets in cabin. When I spoke with Reception they blamed Housekeeping but printed out all the tickets. Our room steward, Luka, said Reception makes many mistakes & puts the blame on them. Either way, I’ve got my ticket for the Bosphorus cruise today 😆.

I’m in 8120, a cabin with extended balcony & 2-sided glass fencing facing forward. So far very quiet. Luka was able to put a lounger on the veranda, keeping our 2 chairs & table & still have plenty of space.

so far, so great………

 

[1985rz1]

35 minutes ago, Vertygo said:

Boarding yesterday was smooth & relatively quick, just long distances to walk through Galataport. While standing in line I struck up conversation with a gentleman from England, who turned out to be Yorkshirewanderers-Nick & his lovely wife Liz!

Was able to get another reservation for Red Ginger for 1st night. Food, of course, was absolutely fantastic, with shared sushi plate, watermelon duck salad, tempura soft shell crab & yuzu sorbet for dessert. We scheduled a wine tasting for $60 & wine lunch for $160 with our sommelier.

There were no envelopes with excursion or culinary center tickets in cabin. When I spoke with Reception they blamed Housekeeping but printed out all the tickets. Our room steward, Luka, said Reception makes many mistakes & puts the blame on them. Either way, I’ve got my ticket for the Bosphorus cruise today 😆.

I’m in 8120, a cabin with extended balcony & 2-sided glass fencing facing forward. So far very quiet. Luka was able to put a lounger on the veranda, keeping our 2 chairs & table & still have plenty of space.

so far, so great………

 

Facing forward?

[Vertygo]

1 hour ago, 1985rz1 said:

Facing forward?

Yes, towards Vista’s aft the decks jut out & 8120 is at the beginning of that, so glass wall on forward facing side as well as standard glass wall.

[lorimay]

3 hours ago, Vertygo said:

Boarding yesterday was smooth & relatively quick, just long distances to walk through Galataport. While standing in line I struck up conversation with a gentleman from England, who turned out to be Yorkshirewanderers-Nick & his lovely wife Liz!

Was able to get another reservation for Red Ginger for 1st night. Food, of course, was absolutely fantastic, with shared sushi plate, watermelon duck salad, tempura soft shell crab & yuzu sorbet for dessert. We scheduled a wine tasting for $60 & wine lunch for $160 with our sommelier.

There were no envelopes with excursion or culinary center tickets in cabin. When I spoke with Reception they blamed Housekeeping but printed out all the tickets. Our room steward, Luka, said Reception makes many mistakes & puts the blame on them. Either way, I’ve got my ticket for the Bosphorus cruise today 😆.

I’m in 8120, a cabin with extended balcony & 2-sided glass fencing facing forward. So far very quiet. Luka was able to put a lounger on the veranda, keeping our 2 chairs & table & still have plenty of space.

so far, so great………

 

Please tell Luka hello from the “easy” people from the last cruise. He will know who we are! 

[WildWanderers]

Hi All,

 

We were on the Athens to Istanbul leg, now enjoying Istanbul as if we had never left from our visit some 6 years ago.  Enjoying the 30 degree weather, much more bearable that the 40 degrees in Athens.

 

Disembarking was the smoothest experience ever.

 

We very much enjoyed our cruise, with the exception of overabundant, unsupervised, misbehaving children, and people talking loudly or shouting on cellphones and on videoconferences on computers in the dining and bar areas.

 

Had a great dinner with @Humane!  Great conversation.

 

Looking forward to our next venture on the Nautica in December.

 

Continuing to wander wildly.

 

 

 

 

[Vertygo]

31 minutes ago, lorimay said:

Please tell Luka hello from the “easy” people from the last cruise. He will know who we are! 

Will do. And thanks for all your wonderful posts Lorimay!!

[RiverCruiseKing]

5 hours ago, Vertygo said:

Boarding yesterday was smooth & relatively quick, just long distances to walk through Galataport. While standing in line I struck up conversation with a gentleman from England, who turned out to be Yorkshirewanderers-Nick & his lovely wife Liz!

Was able to get another reservation for Red Ginger for 1st night. Food, of course, was absolutely fantastic, with shared sushi plate, watermelon duck salad, tempura soft shell crab & yuzu sorbet for dessert. We scheduled a wine tasting for $60 & wine lunch for $160 with our sommelier.

There were no envelopes with excursion or culinary center tickets in cabin. When I spoke with Reception they blamed Housekeeping but printed out all the tickets. Our room steward, Luka, said Reception makes many mistakes & puts the blame on them. Either way, I’ve got my ticket for the Bosphorus cruise today 😆.

I’m in 8120, a cabin with extended balcony & 2-sided glass fencing facing forward. So far very quiet. Luka was able to put a lounger on the veranda, keeping our 2 chairs & table & still have plenty of space.

so far, so great………

 

interesting to hear about the "blamed housekeeping" comment... I found that any time I asked a question about something on board this ship (regardless of what) the very first reaction every time was to blame someone else whether it be another department, a travel agent, the system, etc.  The absolute worst offender was the tour department, but it was not limited there.  The Concierge Level concierge on deck 9 did the same.  It was shocking.

[jonthomas]

5 hours ago, WildWanderers said:

Hi All,

 

We were on the Athens to Istanbul leg, now enjoying Istanbul as if we had never left from our visit some 6 years ago.  Enjoying the 30 degree weather, much more bearable that the 40 degrees in Athens.

 

Disembarking was the smoothest experience ever.

 

We very much enjoyed our cruise, with the exception of overabundant, unsupervised, misbehaving children, and people talking loudly or shouting on cellphones and on videoconferences on computers in the dining and bar areas.

 

Had a great dinner with @Humane!  Great conversation.

 

Looking forward to our next venture on the Nautica in December.

 

Continuing to wander wildly.

 

 

 

 

I am pretty much the only one that sees kids on O as a problem. Thank you for pointing it out as well. Yes of course there are other issues but to bring children on a ship with no programs for them and then not supervise them is unconscionable. 

I hope many brought this concern to the GM and were compensated for it. That is the only way for O to see this as a problem. To see toddlers in diapers in the hot tub is more of what we saw on Celebrity. Yes I wish O had an adult only ruling but it doesn't, thus parents who don't want to discipline their kids  bring them and ruin it for others. 

[Harters]

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

ruin it for others

I suppose if children being children is a problem for someone, then I can see how it might be ruined. 

[jonthomas]

Yes it is a problem.

 

Hoping it is just seasonal.

But even then, O needs to enforce the rules and consider the other passengers.  A meeting with the GM may help.

[WildWanderers]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

I suppose if children being children is a problem for someone, then I can see how it might be ruined. 

 

Hi @Harters,

 

In my view, it is not so much that children are a problem.  There were several adorable, bright kids.  One little boy was proud as punch to tell me that he could speak Chinese because he was from Hong Kong.  Cute, or what?

 

The problem is the parents who don't set limits on the (screaming, shouting, body-checking) behaviour.  I suppose that the more children there are, the greater chance of absentee or abdicating parents.  I was surprised that the kids running around, into people, never knocked an older or mobility-impaired person over.

 

On the previous Vista cruise to ours, so we were told at a dinner with senior officials, there were a brother and sister who ran around intentionally misbehaving (e.g., ringing as many doorbells in a corridor they could before being seen, going into restricted areas).  The little girl went into a dangerous room with heavy equipment and could not figure out how to get out.  Crew were told to down tools and look for her.  She was finally found and the whole family had to pack up and get off at the next port.

 

So...there can be consequences.

 

Went to the "new mosque" today, and looked longingly at the Vista on the tram back to the hotel.

[ORV]

This is a couple of times I've noticed the "ringing of doorbells" statement. Does the Vista have doorbells on all the rooms? I know on the other ships that most upper suites and some accessible rooms have them, but not the regular rooms. 

[osandomir]

4 hours ago, Harters said:

I suppose if children being children is a problem for someone, then I can see how it might be ruined. 

It looks like the person is looking for “problems” to be able to complain and ask for a compensation, according to his posts. I’ve never heard of anyone receiving a compensation for complaining on Oceania other than a bottle of wine. But if I correctly recall that poster doesn’t drink.

[basor]

I can attest that the concierge verandahs on VISTA have them and I believe all rooms have them

[jonthomas]

You are only correct about the non drinking part.

[vlthom]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

This is a couple of times I've noticed the "ringing of doorbells" statement. Does the Vista have doorbells on all the rooms? I know on the other ships that most upper suites and some accessible rooms have them, but not the regular rooms. 

Yes, all the cabins have doorbells on Vista

[osandomir]

Not saying that misbehaving children are all the way wonderful but an appropriate ring on the doorbell wouldn’t “ruin” my vacation. 

Edited August 3 by osandomir

[vlthom]

38 minutes ago, osandomir said:

It looks like the person is looking for “problems” to be able to complain and ask for a compensation, according to his posts. I’ve never heard of anyone receiving a compensation for complaining on Oceania other than a bottle of wine. But if I correctly recall that poster doesn’t drink.

I think that the poster is encouraging people to inform O regarding the disruption of children onboard when it happens so that O does not decide to become a more family-oriented cruise line.  Personally, I have no problem with well-behaved children being onboard.  I emphasize, "well behaved".  I don't personally enjoy being around children who are running wild, blowing off steam and taking over the pool  or other public areas onboard (not to mention the unsanitary part about diapers IN the pool).  I've cruised on O for many years and have enjoyed that there are few children onboard.  A policy banning children has not been necessary as there have been few and they've mostly been well behaved and looked after by their parents.  If that changes, my enjoyment with cruising on O will also change and I will likely either stop cruising or look for another line.  Truth be told, even ONE poorly behaved child can impact the ambience of a cruise.  We were on a lengthy cruise aboard Regatta last Fall.  There was ONE 3-year-old onboard with her parents.  They were in one of the owner's suites for the full 77-day cruise.  The poor child was bored and well, she acted like a 3-year old.  The parents did not come prepared to entertain a child for 77 days and were constantly handing her off to staff, which became a problem.  They'd go to the spa and hand her off to someone there.  They'd go to the gym and the little girl would be running around, which could have been dangerous.  The manager of the Terrace would be enlisted to "babysit" while they ate dinner.  Each afternoon when returning from port, the poor little girl would have a melt-down in the hallway on the way back to their suite.  The entire thing was very disruptive -- and that was but ONE child.  Parents who bring their children onboard need to come prepared to be fully responsible for them all of the time -- in my opinion.

[jonthomas]

Your first sentence is exactly correct.

 

We have really suffered on the many Celebrity cruises, unruly kids, challenged by adults and then arguing with the parents, when they show up. And that is on a ship with a program.

In a couple of instances we went to the GM with 4 other couples, one was a honeymoon couple who would never go on another celeb ship for that reason.

Many Celeb patrons have now decided to sail O.

As long as O does not have a kids program, I am hopeful this is a seasonal exception and NOT a trend. Thank you for understanding my concern.

On a lighter note, perhaps taking up drinking of alcoholic beverages, would result in a kind of euphoria where nothing matters,  not the unruly kids nor the obnoxious adults.

[WildWanderers]

7 hours ago, vlthom said:

I think that the poster is encouraging people to inform O regarding the disruption of children onboard when it happens so that O does not decide to become a more family-oriented cruise line.  Personally, I have no problem with well-behaved children being onboard.  I emphasize, "well behaved".  I don't personally enjoy being around children who are running wild, blowing off steam and taking over the pool  or other public areas onboard (not to mention the unsanitary part about diapers IN the pool).  I've cruised on O for many years and have enjoyed that there are few children onboard.  A policy banning children has not been necessary as there have been few and they've mostly been well behaved and looked after by their parents.  If that changes, my enjoyment with cruising on O will also change and I will likely either stop cruising or look for another line.  Truth be told, even ONE poorly behaved child can impact the ambience of a cruise.  We were on a lengthy cruise aboard Regatta last Fall.  There was ONE 3-year-old onboard with her parents.  They were in one of the owner's suites for the full 77-day cruise.  The poor child was bored and well, she acted like a 3-year old.  The parents did not come prepared to entertain a child for 77 days and were constantly handing her off to staff, which became a problem.  They'd go to the spa and hand her off to someone there.  They'd go to the gym and the little girl would be running around, which could have been dangerous.  The manager of the Terrace would be enlisted to "babysit" while they ate dinner.  Each afternoon when returning from port, the poor little girl would have a melt-down in the hallway on the way back to their suite.  The entire thing was very disruptive -- and that was but ONE child.  Parents who bring their children onboard need to come prepared to be fully responsible for them all of the time -- in my opinion.

 

Amazing about the 3-year old.  It was interesting however on Turkish Ovation that there were at least 4 nannies with one or two children in tow each.  No behaviour problems there, but they had what sounded like lots of crying babies in Horizons one day.  And yes, babies do cry, but it is not the kind of experience I was looking for in Horizons.

 

If the phenomenon of multitudinous children on Turkish Ovation comes from summer break (at least for the school-aged kids), then we won't have that problem in the future anyway, as we found that travelling in the Mediterranean in Summer to be too hot anyway.

[osandomir]

7 minutes ago, WildWanderers said:

 

Amazing about the 3-year old.  It was interesting however on Turkish Ovation that there were at least 4 nannies with one or two children in tow each.  No behaviour problems there, but they had what sounded like lots of crying babies in Horizons one day.  And yes, babies do cry, but it is not the kind of experience I was looking for in Horizons.

 

If the phenomenon of multitudinous children on Turkish Ovation comes from summer break (at least for the school-aged kids), then we won't have that problem in the future anyway, as we found that travelling in the Mediterranean in Summer to be too hot anyway.

This is very balanced approach to the “problem”. Much more valuable than demanding a “no kids” policy and the constant complaining about any children who are happening to get on the ship.

[Yorkshirewanderers]

Sorry to have been so silent over the past couple of days.  We have been having a good time on the cruise but it has been marred by a couple of incidents.  Firstly, two of our four cases which were in perfect condition when checked in at Galataport were delivered to the suite and they had been broken into.  The attempt had failed as we had secondary locks on the cases but they will need to be replaced.  Oceania’s response has so far been disappointing.  They want us to claim on our insurance but the reality is that their port agents caused damage and that could have been followed up on before departure (but wasn’t) and we shouldn’t have to lose money due to our insurance excesses.  We will hold Oceania responsible for this irrespective of what tha contract of carriage states.

 

Additionally, rather surprisingly, I had an expensive pair of new shoes ‘accidentally taken’ from the pool area on Saturday and replaced with similar but much older and damaged shoes.  I would like to be charitable and say that this was accidental but the reality is that it couldn’t have been because the difference between them was obvious.  Security are apparently been reviewing CCTV footage around the pool area but it is extremely disappointing that someone that can afford to go on a cruise of this nature thinks it reasonable to misappropriate someone else’s property.

 

I might have expected this on other cruise lines but certainly not Oceania.  I will provide updates later on during the cruise but I did not expect to be out of pocket due to events of this nature.  Damage obviously happens to luggage when you are travelling but you don’t expect locks to be levered off cases between the check in desk and the suite on a cruise line.  We travel a lot and have had the odd incident with airlines but their response has always been far better, usually with damaged luggage being immediately replaced at the airport.

[FetaCheese]

Sorry for both of your unfortunate incidents.

 

When you handed luggage over to cruise terminal porters, I assume it had been intact.  Obviously someone who handled luggage was responsible for the damage.  Doubtful it was any of O employees.

 

As for your missing shoes, it seems reasonable the O security will identify, and hold the individual accountable.

 

I have read the O Privacy Policy.  Speaks to pax surveillance.  Makes for interesting reading, and very enlightening.  I suggest all pax, current and potential pax, to read and understand the policy thoroughly.

 

Please pursue both issues, and come back to let us know the resolution.

Edited August 4 by FetaCheese