Jim_Iain - Live from Oceania Regatta - September 14 Vancouver to Los Angeles

[Oceangoer2]

16 hours ago, as3369 said:

We were on Explora Journey in Feb and Celebrity Eclipse last month...  Absolutely no comparison between the two.  Explora was new but we had a fabulous experience, especially with service.  Celebrity was so disappointing.   We have Regent Splendor booked for Apr 2025 and Oceania Marina booked for Jan 2026.  We won't return to Celebrity for the near future.

"Celebrity was so disappointing."  Was it the condition of the Eclipse, the food, the service?

[HaveDogWillTravel]

@Jim_Iain thank you for all the pictures of the menus and various information provided by the ship while onboard. I have really enjoyed following along. 

[ronrick1943]

Jim, enjoyed your post.  Safe travels home and enjoy your other planned cruises.  Thanks again for taking the time.

[topcat76]

@Jim_Iain thanks for sharing your cruise with us.  Enjoyed your posts and photos.

[Jim_Iain]

22 hours ago, as3369 said:

If we didn't have 3 cats, I would book my life on a cruise!  Enjoy!!

You can always get my daughter to Cat Sit.   She use to have 5 but down to 2.  

[Jim_Iain]

21 hours ago, maggie.1008 said:

Jim, I have been following you on both boards. So excited to board the Regatta tomorrow. 

Are you sure you don`t want to stay on for another week. 

My last two cruise were Celebrity Edge and Explora Journey1. It`s fun to compare all the different lines. 

We were saying that last night.  Only if they would allow us to get off of SF.  So close to home. 

[Jim_Iain]

21 hours ago, as3369 said:

We were on Explora Journey in Feb and Celebrity Eclipse last month...  Absolutely no comparison between the two.  Explora was new but we had a fabulous experience, especially with service.  Celebrity was so disappointing.   We have Regent Splendor booked for Apr 2025 and Oceania Marina booked for Jan 2026.  We won't return to Celebrity for the near future.

 I think that Celebrity has dropped to near bottom of list for us. 

[Jim_Iain]

20 hours ago, Gordoncruickshank said:

Thanks Jim, that ties up with what we have booked on MSC seascape for Feb/March next year. We are around £14k after discounts for 14 nights in a RS (in the UK we tend to get a discount off the cruise cost rather than obc which seems to be the way it works in the US). I suspect that the Oceana vista suite is a big bigger interior than our RS but we probably have more outside space. I suspect that the Oceana food is a step up from both MSC and Celebrity. I probably rate Celebrity as the better of the two but not by much.

The agent we use gives us a choice of up front, OBC and some lines that don’t allow discounts a check after the end of cruise. 

[Jim_Iain]

19 hours ago, cluso said:

Hi Jim and all,

The Starlink antennas are installed on Regatta, and were supposed to be operational last May.  They are hoping in the next month or so...

 

I noticed what looks like new access points in hallways.   The new looking ones don’t have a light illuminated.   

[cluso]

Bye, bye Celebrity...from an Elite Plus.  Booked another Oceania cruise.  🤗

[Jim_Iain]

6 hours ago, Harters said:

Between the cruise ports and the land trip, you should get a good feel for our country. Don't over do things though, trying to see everywhere. London will take some time in itself, so my suggestion would be to limit the rest of your 7/10 days to the south of England, so you're not losing days travelling between places.  We're a small country though - a bit smaller than Kansas and all of us live less than 70 miles from the coast. 

We will be skipping London.  Iain use to work there and we use to spend lots of time there.  
 

A couple of years ago we tested positive for Covid on a b2b and got tossed off the ship in Southampton.     Celebrity gave us 10 day accommodations, a car and 150 a day each for food.  We ended up booking a nice place in Lyminton.   One we were of a f quarantine we visited Stonehenge, Westminster and Isle of White.    We planned to stay in Lymington.  But our AirBnB cancelled due to having a 6 month booking opportunity. 
 

We have a nice place booked for a couple days in Newcastle on Tyne.   I need to work on what we do on our way to Ayrshire 

[Jim_Iain]

We were in the first group called and were curbside in about 10 minutes.    Uber was  a 5 minute wait.  There were a couple car’s holding signs for Uber XL no wait.  We chose the cheapest option and had a black Tesla.  Very comfortable.   With traffic it took about an hour.   20 minutes of that was at the airport to get to our terminal 6

[Jim_Iain]

Thanks to all that have followed and participated.   We are sold on Osiana

[Justpackingmybags]

2 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Thanks to all that have followed and participated.   We are sold on Osiana

And totally out of the blue, a lady from Oceania’s Uk office called me yesterday to see if she could tempt me into a booking. They have my number because a few years ago I had a cruise booked with them that had to be cancelled due to my husband’s poor health. Now if I can can find a solo deal I can afford…….. You and Iain have tempted me!! 😄

[Mike981]

10 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Thanks to all that have followed and participated.   We are sold on Osiana

 

Thank you Jim for a wonderful comparison review. We are sold and will look into Oceania for 2026.
So much of the food was reminiscent of our first two cruises back in 2000 on Celebrity (Mercury and Millennium). Good to know that the option are there.

 

Safe travels and we look forward to your next adventure(s).

[JDPCruisers]

9 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Thanks to all that have followed and participated.   We are sold on Osiana

So good to know and many thanks for all the photos and thoughts. We are now even more excited about our first Oceania cruise in Jan/Feb, due in part to your decision to "jump ship" from Celebrity to Oceania. Based on our upcoming Vista cruise and after our Celebrity Apex Scandinavia/Norway b2b next spring we will likely make the switch to Oceania and may branch out to try other lines, as well.  

[as3369]

5 hours ago, Oceangoer2 said:

"Celebrity was so disappointing."  Was it the condition of the Eclipse, the food, the service?

The menu selections in the MDR and food quality was worse than any previous Celebrity cruise we sailed on.  The most recent prior to this sailing was Celebrity Millenium in 2022 and we had a great experience.  All of the suites were booked so we opted for a Concierge cabin.  The canapes were inedible and daily we would see the canape trays untouched and outside the cabins on our floor.  We didn't meet our room steward until Day 4.  There were at least 3 days when he didn't clean our cabin until after 9 pm.  Not sure if they are giving the cabin stewards more than they can handle.  The disembarkation experience was the absolute worse than any of our other 40+ sailings.  Tender service was remarkably slow in Greenland.  We didn't get to leave the ship until 4 hours after docking even though we have priority tender service through Elite status.  We sailed with 3 other cruise mates and they too have sworn off Celebrity.

 

The best experience was the Happy hour in the Martini bar with great entertainment.

[cluso]

27 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

We were in the first group called and were curbside in about 10 minutes.    Uber was  a 5 minute wait.  There were a couple car’s holding signs for Uber XL no wait.  We chose the cheapest option and had a black Tesla.  Very comfortable.   With traffic it took about an hour.   20 minutes of that was at the airport to get to our terminal 6

We were in Gray 1.  Said hi to you as you were coming down stairs.  Quick baggage pick up.

Decided on taxi.  Third in line, took 2 minutes.  Nice new super clean United Checker cab #1429. Bottled water and all.  Estimate was $65.  Was rush hour, took about 40 minutes to Terminal 2.  Was $77 before tip.  Chilled in Delta Sky Club.  Hopefully, Hurricane Helene won't be on our doorstep when we arrive home.  🙄

[topcat76]

@cluso weather not too bad in Destin if you’re headed to Florida.  A little breezy and drizzly. Looks like Helene is staying east. Safe travels. 

[Harters]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

We have a nice place booked for a couple days in Newcastle on Tyne.   I need to work on what we do on our way to Ayrshire 

I don't really know Newcastle at all. But one of my favourite parts of the UK is the coastal area north of the city towards the Scottish border. Check out the Seahouses/Bamburgh area. I don't know if you have an interest in wildlife but, if so, a boat trip from Seahouses to the Farne Islands is highly recommended. North of there you have Lindisfarne (Holy Island) and then, just short of the border, you have England's most northerly town - Berwick upon Tweed. It's such a beautiful area.

[JazzyV]

Thanks for taking us along!

[SSFrance69]

3 hours ago, Justpackingmybags said:

And totally out of the blue, a lady from Oceania’s Uk office called me yesterday to see if she could tempt me into a booking. They have my number because a few years ago I had a cruise booked with them that had to be cancelled due to my husband’s poor health. Now if I can can find a solo deal I can afford…….. You and Iain have tempted me!! 😄

I believe Vista has solo staterooms.