Pre-Cruise comparison of Oceania Regatta - Vista Suite to Celebrity Millennium Royal Suite

[Jim_Iain]

On 8/20/2024 at 12:25 PM, mhdesno2 said:

I agree with you 100%! If we can order excursions online, we should be able to cancel them the same way as well! What I like best in the Celebrity App is the ability to look up menus later on in the cruise and being able to plan where we will eat. It's also really practical for activities planning. The only "electronic option" to view menus in Oceania is through the stateroom's interactive TV. I believe it is only for the day's menus, nothing in the future although I am not completely sure. For all activities, you have to refer to the paper dailies. I haven't traveled on NCL in about 15 years but they must have better technology than what is found on Oceania.

 

My situation was a bit different and very frustrating.

 

We booked a fairly expensive excursion and Oceania changed the port.   One would think it would be no problem.    I called and said it would automatically be cancelled and refunded and to wait 2 weeks.    After 2 weeks I had to call back and they manually cancelled.  

[Jim_Iain]

On 8/20/2024 at 12:53 PM, iowananny said:

What is even more irritating is that you can't see the evening meals in the Terrace Cafe or Dining room until after lunch.  Sometimes they have a menu that has something on it that really sounds good, but we've been on an excursion and it's too late to cancel our specialty reservation as the desk is closed.  If we knew in the morning, we might cancel that reservation and someone who really wanted it could have it and we'd eat in the dining room.

 

It's time for O to start using the technology that's available to them.  Yes, they have an older cliental but the vast majority of them know how to use simple apps.

 

Living in the middle of Silicon Valley I have to say that locally most seniors are very comfortable with technology.    Technology improves all of our lives and the beauty is that if someone doesn't wish to use it they can rely on the current technology which really appears to be missing on Oceania.

 

Another example of Oceania being slow off the block is switchover to Starlink.    I got an email earlier today that Regent will have all their ships upgraded by the end of the month. 

[MEFIowa]

7 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

... Technology improves all of our lives and the beauty is that if someone doesn't wish to use it they can rely on the current technology which really appears to be missing on Oceania.

 

Another example of Oceania being slow off the block is switchover to Starlink.... 

Though there is "technology" and there is now lots of computer code applications. Airplanes fly no higher or faster than they did in 1965, for example. Go to Wright-Patterson AFB and see the XB-70 bomber designed to cruise for thousands of miles at Mach 3 and 80,000 feet. And I don't equate artificial hearts or satellites or microwave ovens with Facebook, Twitter, Tic-Tok, and the like. IF all those went away, GDP wouldn't budge. They are mainly advertising platforms disguised. The impact of social media on our kids is devastating. And oddly, we seem less intelligent overall and more prone to falling for bad information in 2024 than we were in say 1994.

 

I'd like to think O is out to ensure a great relaxing VACATION. I don't barely turn my CP on during the cruise. I'll be without most modern CP tech for 22 nights on Sirena starting Aug 28th and I can't wait. I struggle to process people who can't enjoy their time without constant CP use and streaming. Some talk about trying to do business during their vacation. Not us. No need to obsess about some MINOR bits of information that make little difference in your cruise or life.

 

Fascinates me how people who may sit down for a 2-hour meal in an O restaurant (even in the GDR), seem to whine that they need the menu in advance. Part of enjoying a meal back in the day was studying the menu at the start. NOT already having read, reviewed, and critiqued it days in advance.

 

But that's just me. The XB-70 first flew in 1964, the year after my birth.

[MEFIowa]

26 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

... Technology improves all of our lives ... rely on the current technology.... 

And sadly the lack of real serious industrial technology development is seen and experience by us all in air travel, to get to and from our destinations.

 

The then FASTEST large jet airliner, the Convair 990A, first flew in 1961. The Ferrari of the skies. Then the Queen of the Skies, the Concord, will first fly in 1969. ("During May 1961, one of the pre-production 990 aircraft, while demonstrating the margin between its operating speed and its capability during a dive at .97 Mach from 32,000 ft to 22,500 ft, reached 675 miles per hour (1,086 km/h) at an altitude of 22,000 feet (6.7 km): the fastest true airspeed ever attained by a commercial jet transport at that time."

 

Guess when the Boeing 737 first flew? 1967. Still being built today. And we're all crammed into them for short-haul routes at rather mediocre speeds.

[Harters]

12 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

NOT already having read, reviewed, and critiqued it days in advance.

I have been known to start to write a restaurant review before I've been there. Of course, that "start" will be about what I know of the place - location, style, hype even. It's the bits about it that have made us decide to go and eat there - and I rarely find I have much to change in those opening paragraphs after the meal. Poring over an online menu is all part of the anticipation and the fun of eating out. But, of course, you do run the risk of anticipation and then find the restaurant has changed its menu, so that delightful sounding pigeon starter is no longer on offer.  Not on O, though. 

 

I do agree with you about putting technology to one side while away on holiday. I well remember some years back being in Tenerife and expecting a reply from my publisher as to whether they were going to take a new book I'd written. The reply came and I opened the email - to find that they had rejected it. It was a huge disappointment. Since then, I stick to a complete "no technology" policy - whatever it is will wait a couple of weeks. 

[Yesimapirate]

3 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

 

Guess when the Boeing 737 first flew? 1967. Still being built today. And we're all crammed into them for short-haul routes at rather mediocre speeds.

Bit of a stretch to say a 737-Max is the same thing as an original 737.

 

I guess the electric Ford Mustang of today is the same thing as the rag top version of the 60s.  They have the same name after all 🙄

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

I struggle to process people who can't enjoy their time without constant CP use and streaming. Some talk about trying to do business during their vacation.

 

4 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

Fascinates me how people who may sit down for a 2-hour meal in an O restaurant (even in the GDR), seem to whine that they need the menu in advance.

 

As the adage goes.   We each enjoy a cruise in a different way.

 

I'm a non-drinker due to medical reasons but I don't sit around and disparage others who may enjoy sitting around a bar and drinking.    I also don't enjoy sitting around a pool basking in the sun.   

 

I live in a connected world and spend lots of time producing videos and live blogs that some enjoy.    All I ask is you not disparage others for not falling into a cookie cutter mold on what we should all do or not do.

[EJL2023]

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Living in the middle of Silicon Valley I have to say that locally most seniors are very comfortable with technology.    Technology improves all of our lives and the beauty is that if someone doesn't wish to use it they can rely on the current technology which really appears to be missing on Oceania.

 

Another example of Oceania being slow off the block is switchover to Starlink.    I got an email earlier today that Regent will have all their ships upgraded by the end of the month. 

Per their website, all ships should have Starlink by the end of the year. No schedule for each ship, but when last updated it said currently on Vista, Riviera and Marina. I’ve seen in other threads someone noted it was on Nautica when they were on also. 

[iowananny]

  5 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

Fascinates me how people who may sit down for a 2-hour meal in an O restaurant (even in the GDR), seem to whine that they need the menu in advance.

 

I never, never, never whined.  I just said that if I did know the menu I might change my meal plans for some of those who do whine all the time because they don't have a reservation for a specialty restaurant.  Just thought I was trying to be a nice person.  I guess this isn't the place to do that.

[GrammieK]

48 minutes ago, iowananny said:

  5 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

Fascinates me how people who may sit down for a 2-hour meal in an O restaurant (even in the GDR), seem to whine that they need the menu in advance.

 

I never, never, never whined.  I just said that if I did know the menu I might change my meal plans for some of those who do whine all the time because they don't have a reservation for a specialty restaurant.  Just thought I was trying to be a nice person.  I guess this isn't the place to do that.

I certainly didn’t think you were whining! 

[Jim_Iain]

19 hours ago, EJL2023 said:

Per their website, all ships should have Starlink by the end of the year. No schedule for each ship, but when last updated it said currently on Vista, Riviera and Marina. I’ve seen in other threads someone noted it was on Nautica when they were on also. 

 

I'm not holding my breath for my Cruise on Regatta in 3 weeks.  It would be nice.

[flviking]

To browse a menu in advance to consider if this is the evening for a specialty then check available reservation times for the specialties saves me time and effort while enhancing my vacation. YMMV. The option to use technology is a benefit 

Edited August 23 by flviking

[larry_s_taco]

43 minutes ago, flviking said:

To browse a menu in advance to consider if this is the evening for a specialty then check available reservation times for the specialties saves me time and effort while enhancing my vacation. YMMV. The option to use technology is a benefit 

I enjoy technology. I use it daily. If it is not available I adapt. Every cruiseline that I've sailed has posted menus on boards outside the dining rooms, so I just swing by and check it out there. I haven't been on every line so I don't know if they all do it across the board.

[durberville]

5 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I'm not holding my breath for my Cruise on Regatta in 3 weeks.  It would be nice.

Someone currently on Regatta told me it hasn’t been installed. They said they were told it is now scheduled for October (changed from May). I’m not holding my breath either - and we sail in October. 

[elmsliebev]

11 hours ago, durberville said:

Someone currently on Regatta told me it hasn’t been installed. They said they were told it is now scheduled for October (changed from May). I’m not holding my breath either - and we sail in October. 

we sail on Regatta at the very end of October. Be interesting to see if it has happened by then. BT - do Oceania do anything special for Halloween? There's been a move in the UK to make a lot more of Halloween in recent years and I wondered if it might be the same on the ship.

[Harters]

2 minutes ago, elmsliebev said:

There's been a move in the UK to make a lot more of Halloween in recent year

Yes, it surprises me just how quick it's been, now pretty much replacing our own Bonfire Night. Same with Santa Claus replacing Father Christmas. I reckon another few years, maybe a generation, and you'll only hear about Bonfire Night and Father Christmas in the history books. 

[Jim_Iain]

Well it's 21 days until we set sail.  

 

Just finished check-in which was fairly painless.   I do have to day that the Celebrity App makes it so much easier.   The main advantage the app has is that you just scan the bar code on you Passport and all the information is automatically loaded.

 

The most difficult part is getting Oceania to accept your photo.   They have restrictions on both size and number of pixels dimensions.    I've read the solution is to use an iPhone as many claim android phones fail.     I have a number of stock photos on my PC that I use for checkin and visa's.   

 

The work around is to go to one of the free Photo Resizing sites  like imageresizer.com      Just put in the dimensions by pixels or inches and done.

 

 

 

[FetaCheese]

11 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Well it's 21 days until we set sail.  

 

Just finished check-in which was fairly painless.   I do have to day that the Celebrity App makes it so much easier.   The main advantage the app has is that you just scan the bar code on you Passport and all the information is automatically loaded.

 

The most difficult part is getting Oceania to accept your photo.   They have restrictions on both size and number of pixels dimensions.    I've read the solution is to use an iPhone as many claim android phones fail.     I have a number of stock photos on my PC that I use for checkin and visa's.   

 

The work around is to go to one of the free Photo Resizing sites  like imageresizer.com      Just put in the dimensions by pixels or inches and done.

 

 

 

One can easily skip the photo upload, if desired.  Have uploaded photos previously, yet check-in clerks still take one's photo.

[elmsliebev]

7 hours ago, Harters said:

Yes, it surprises me just how quick it's been, now pretty much replacing our own Bonfire Night. Same with Santa Claus replacing Father Christmas. I reckon another few years, maybe a generation, and you'll only hear about Bonfire Night and Father Christmas in the history books. 

I don't really hear Santa Claus much, tends to be Father Christmas. Mischief Night was a big thing when I was growing up 🤣 For our non-UK friends it was the night before Bonfire Night so 4th November and consisted of thins like swapping gates round or tying door knockers together! 

[britfan]

8 hours ago, elmsliebev said:

we sail on Regatta at the very end of October. Be interesting to see if it has happened by then. BT - do Oceania do anything special for Halloween? There's been a move in the UK to make a lot more of Halloween in recent years and I wondered if it might be the same on the ship.

We were on Insignia last Halloween. I don't remember any special party as such but they did have some decorations and a special dessert option in the MDR.

[bjahil47]

Wow!  I’m late to the party!  Just caught up and you have not even sailed yet!  Looking forward to you and Iians new adventure!  
Bonnie

[Oceangoer2]

On 8/14/2024 at 2:33 PM, DaKahuna said:

 

Just take an extra bag and bring any leftovers home with you.  I am sure Iian will find something to do with them at home. 

 

On your Booking Terms slide - Celebrity now wants final payments at 120 days vs 90 days.  This is a very recent change. 

 

When did the 120 days final payment start?  We just booked for 2025 and it was 90 days.

[DaKahuna]

40 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

When did the 120 days final payment start?  We just booked for 2025 and it was 90 days.

 

 All bookings on Celebrity made after 2/8/24 now have final payment at 120 days.  

Not sure how you received a 90 day final payment date if you just booked your cruise.

 

 

Edited August 27 by DaKahuna

[durberville]

1 hour ago, Oceangoer2 said:

When did the 120 days final payment start?  We just booked for 2025 and it was 90 days.

Jeeez soon everybody will be using the Viking policy of over a year ahead or so. They wanted full payment for a cruise I was interested in 16 months ahead. Yeah, nope! Slippery slope. 😕

Edited August 27 by durberville

[Oceangoer2]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 All bookings on Celebrity made after 2/8/24 now have final payment at 120 days.  

Not sure how you received a 90 day final payment date if you just booked your cruise.

 

 

Booked Aug. 14/24 for Nov. '25....final payment due on Aug. 25/25  (on my booking confirmation).  Perhaps a TA requires 120 days?  This is with Celebrity CVP.