Oceania Regatta

[foreverr]

Hi, My husband and I are booked on the Regatta for the Feb. 8, 2005 saling out of Miami. Anybody else going? We are young retirees and have been on several cruises. This itinerary caught our eye, plus we live in the northeast so the carribbean is quite appealing in winter.

[plimsol]

Yes, you have six more to join the group on the Regatta Feb 8/05. We have heard good things about Oceania cruise ships. We with one other couple will be on deck six but since it sold out quickly, the other couple will be on deck four. All of us are avid cruisers - HAL, Princess, Norwegian, Celebrity, Silver Seas. My wife and I have been to all of these islands before except for Dominican Republic, which is new to all of us. This will be a good break to get away from our frigid, cold long Canadian winters, even if it is only for 12 days. Too bad it is not 12 weeks. Keep in touch although it is still a long way off.

 

Hoping that these islands have survived and/or rebuilt after all these hurricanes.:) Don (and Grace)

[foreverr]

Thanks for the response. We are on deck seven and plan to hit Miami on Feb. 6th. We are looking forward to the cruise and I think all the islands we will visit are ok.

 

We are not sure about excursions yet, but I think we have time to review what's offered.

 

We'll keep in touch. "R"

[plimsol]

From past cruises and land trips to the Caribbean, the following may help you:

 

LaRomana - This is a new destination for us.

 

Virgin Gorda - We have vacationed there twice before at Bitter End Yacht Club. While there, we have visited "The Baths" and will probably do this again with our friends who are cruising with us.

 

St. Kitts - We stopped here on a cruise this past February and took the ship's excursion the "Sugar Train". It gave you and excellent overview of the island. Years ago, we took a day's catamaran sail from St. Kitts to Nevis. Lot of fun but you have to like sailing.

 

Dominica - One of our cruise stops in Feb 04 and took the ship's "Emerald Falls" excursion. Found it disappointing. We were not impressed with any of the tours offered.

 

St. Lucia - We have travelled here numerous times since 1967 with some stays being three weeks at a time. The island has prospered from its colonial days and has become very tourist focused. Last visit was Feb 04 when we hired a driver and van with our friends and went to the top of the island - Pigeon Point for a swim. If you have not been here before, a tour over land or sea to The Pitons is a must. The island is very green, rugged and hilly and provides many vistas.

 

Antigua - DH first visit to the West Indies was 1961 and it included Antigua. He returned a few more times and we have vactioned there together several times since. We both enjoy visting Nelson's Dockyard and for a great view, go up to Hirley Heights. If possible, have lunch at "The Inn", a small hotel. Great view of the Dockyard and yachts in the neighbouring bays. If you are into swimming, Dickenson Bay is an excellent choice but then Antigua has countless bays that are perfect. It has 365 beaches, one for each day of the year.

 

St. Barts - Vacationed here for one week a few years ago. It has a definite French Influence. The town Gustavia has many upscale stores, boutiques and restaurants, and beautiful yachts bobbing in the harbour. Topless swimming is quite exceptable here.

 

We are not yet sure what our group of six want to do for any of the tours but will probably hire a van and driver at some of the above. If so, you may want to join us?????

[peggyann]

Hello to you folks from the Northeast. We are from New York and are also booked on the 2/8/05 Regatta. This will be our third time on this ship with Oceania. It is so nice and small enough to feel at home very quickly. Also our cabin is on deck 6. We are looking forward to a very relaxing warm interval during our NE winter!! Thanks to Plimsol in Canada for all the port info which I will take some time to review. We have been to the Carribean a few times but not to these ports, but truthfully, we don't care too much where we go since we enjoy the days at sea. But, we'll look into these suggestions and maybe get together with you folks for a tour or two. We are finished with taking the ship's tours, done that and have found that doing things on one's own or with another couple can be as rewarding and at lower cost .

 

We took the Dover to Stockholm cruise in June this year and did a lot of touring independently. Worked out well for us. By the way, I am hoping that you all will sign up for the Yahoo Party. If you don't know about it, go to http://www.yahoogroups.com, then "Oceana Cruiser" (mispelling intentional), then "Message Boards". It is a board for folks who cruise on the Oceania Line. The ship will host a nice complimentary cocktail party for those who sign up on that web site, as long as there are at least 20 people. Check it out. Right now there are only 2 signed up, me and my DH.

 

Looking forward to having some time to look over the suggestions you have give, and to communicating some more with all of you.

[plimsol]

Dear Foreverr:

 

:mad: We clicked on your suggested yahoogroup site but do not understand where to enter "Oceana Cruiser". Do we have to become members first? Can you walk us through the steps? We are interested in logging into this site.

[ClaudiaF]

Dear Foreverr:

 

:mad: We clicked on your suggested yahoogroup site but do not understand where to enter "Oceana Cruiser". Do we have to become members first? Can you walk us through the steps? We are interested in logging into this site.

 

Try this link to the board: sign up at the home page.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OceanaCruiser/messages

[KarlS]

We're booked on the same itinerary as yours, departing February 20th. We'll be anxiously watching for your posting(s) when you get home.

 

...Karl

[ClaudiaF]

Don't worry.. there is always a full report ;-)

Can't wait though..

[foreverr]

You do have to join Yahoogroups.com (no cost) Once that is done they will guide you through the rest. I just signed up for the party and it's pretty easy. Also when you click in its "OceanaCruiser". That might help.

[peggyann]

To Plimsol and Foreverr: Hope you can get onto the Yahoo board soon and register for the "Onboard Party". Still showing only 2 so far, me and hubby John. Let's keep up this board so we can maybe do some tour info exchanging. We've not been to these ports. If you folks have any questions about the Regatta, fire away!

[plimsol]

We have registered but it will not accept us to join the "Oceana Cruiser" group. Our Yahoo comes up as .ca, and not .com. Maybe this has a bearing on our inability to log in to this message board. We have resigned to not joining. If we are successful at a later date, we will post this information. One question for when we do get on, can we register our friends that are travelling with us? Bottom line, this has been a frustrating exercise.

[peggyann]

To Plimsol: You must be very persistant to even get this far with the Yahoo board! When I have more time, I will attempt to get through to Laura who is the one to contact. Hard to understand why http://www.yahoogroups.com is not working for you.

[LNielsen]

To anybody having trouble with the party registrations please feel free to contact me at lpnielsen@hotmail.com I will help you through the process.

 

Laura

[foreverr]

This is what I did to join. It was easy. go into yahoogroups.com and join. Once you join designate OceanaCruiser - one word. then on left side of screen hit links. Then hit yahoo party and passenger info form. Hope this works.

[skinndog]

We are booked on the same cruise as KarlS and like Karl we will be watching for your report when you return. This will be our first cruise with Oceania and we are really looking forward to it.

[peggyann]

To Karl and Skindog, Although we are going on the Feb 8 Miami-Miami, we return on Feb 20, the day you embark so there will be no time for a report that you could read!

[plimsol]

We have registered 6 people for the Oceania/Yahoo 02/08/05 cocktail party. Hope we get the required 20 minimum registered so that this will be a go!!!

Our names are Don and Grace Cooper, Eddy and Lorraine Gurinskas, and Bill and Brenda Saunders. We are all old salts when it comes to cruising and look forward to this trip with great anticipation.

[foreverr]

Glad you finally got access to Yahoo groups. I hope I was helpful.

[plimsol]

Thank-you, Foreverr. However, we had to register directly with Laura Nielsen for the Yahoo/Oceania cocktail party but your encouragement got us there. We are now looking at country club casual wear.

 

We are busy perusing Oceania's website to give us ideas what to do in the various ports of call, although we have been to them all before except Dominican Republic.

[plimsol]

Excurions

 

This thread has been very quiet lately. Perhaps, we are all busy with the festive season. As time is getting closer, it might be a good idea to check out some excursions, especially for those who are going to venture on their own or in a small group. We would be interested in having you share your suggestions.

 

Here are some sites that I found and that may be of interest:

dominicanrepinfo.com/SouthCoastExcursions.htm

la-romana.net/attractions-en.html

caribbeanportreviews.com/Dominicanrepublic1.htm

caribbean-direct.com/St-Barth-Direct/Tours%20Sights/STBToursSightsM.html

islandshipping.com/virgingorda_map.htm

 

Malaria

The news in our papers and on TV have reported cases of malaria that has infected tourists mainly in the Punta Cana area although there has been mosquito infestation in other areas of the country. The latest report has been that tourists with bookings to DR hotels, can cancel their trip by a certain date without penalties. It has also been reported that there is a possibility of malaria pill shortage as there has been a run on them. Has anyone else heard of this?

[sailboy]

We are Mike & Jean from Virginia and will be on the 2/8 cruise. We are old Renaissance fans and this is our second Oceania cruise having sailed on the Insignia's Black Sea Cruise this past September. Looking forward to some warm weather in Feb and to meeting all. We have signed up for the Yahoo cruise party. Hope we have enough people.

[RetiredRuth]

We just returned last week from an identical cruise on Regatta. Having sailed before on Renaissance, we were delighted to be back on this "familiar" ship. The ambience was still as warm and friendly as ever, but the biggest improvement by far was the food! It was outstanding!!!!!!!! We ate almost every meal in the main dining room because the food was so good and the service was excellent. The breakfast menu was the most extensive we have ever encountered (the omelets are huge, and the fresh pastries were heavenly---do indulge in the chocolate croissants). We ate in Polo twice and Toscana once, and enjoyed both retaurants immensely.

 

The pool area is great---really comfortable loungers, and friendly bar servers who were always available but didn't bug you to order drinks.

 

We only took one tour from the ship (La Romana)---we did find many of the tours to be expensive (and not worth the price, according to many who did take them). You can usually do better on your own at the piers.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise as much as we did ours!

[foreverr]

Does anyone know if there will be a Yahoo Party?

 

I am so looking forward to warm sunny weather, can't wait for the trip.

[peggyann]

Last time I checked, yesterday, there were only 8 people signed up for the yahoo party. If there are not 20, no party. I think we only have a few days to get to that number. Doesn't seem likely.Too bad!