Psoque

I was thinking about the same. I’m wondering these “cruise only” fares are old contracts before Simply More!!! entered our consciousness.

We haven’t been to Barbados recently, but there are a few very nice gardens you could visit there. You might be able to hire a driver to pick you up at the ship and give you a tour of some of the gardens before dropping you off at the airport. The gardens we enjoyed in Barbados include: Hunte’s Gardens (Highly recommended…one of our favorite gardens anywhere!) Andromeda Botanic Gardens Welchman Hall Gully (more of a protected mini-forest) Orchid World Flower Forest

I was on Riviera last year in November. There was just one rower. It looked like a Concept 2, but in a terrible shape, with broken screen, broken-off rest for the pull bar, and most of the electronic functions not working. I was still able to use it, but I thought it was very odd that nothing was done to fix it.

If that’s the case, I’m not sure how ecologically sound this practice is. Perhaps there should be a way for a passenger to “opt out” of this onboard.

I agree. It almost looks like this is some sort of an IQ test to see anybody is silly enough to pay more than $700 per diem for such a short cruise on such a short notice, especially when there is a huge question if this will even happen. Same with the 5 night Rome to Monte Carlo itinerary. Not sure why this one was created, but it is also overpriced.

It is unfathomable that a person working for Oceania would just say something like that without checking. Makes me wonder if Oceania does any serious vetting on their new hires and if they actually do any decent job on training their employees.

I’m just wondering what happens to all of the water bottles left behind onboard. Are they cleaned properly and re-provisioned? I certainly hope so. We took our water bottles home with us, since this was our first Oceania cruise. We have another one for 2025, and if they continue this program, we are not sure what we will do with the ones we get onboard at that time. We already have more water bottles that we can ever use (they are very popular “gifts” from companies, etc. right now). Do some of the more prolific Oceania customers have a stockpile of these bottles in their homes??

Actually found the answer myself. https://www.oceaniacruises.com/assetlibrary/email/_emails/sales/ocapp_program_details.pdf So not all travel agents have access to this program?

What does OCAPP stand for?

I guess this thread has been hijacked much sooner than I expected.

If I were you, I would consider filing claim with the secondary insurance company now, before the 1 year limit is up. There would not be any harm to your primary claim, but you could just contact the secondary insurance company and explain the situation.

I’m not necessarily liking this particular itinerary, but 5 day cruise plus 5 days of land-based vacation might be something we might consider. However, Crystal is not pricing this 5 night cruise at a reasonable price point.

I see at least two online travel agencies selling a few Oceania itineraries with two options: -Cruise only -Cruise + beverage package + internet I cannot post their website for the obvious reason, but something funky is going on here.

I was just browsing a few online travel agency websites and noted that I see at least two companies are (appearing to be) selling Oceania cruises without Simply More. Is this something that is easy for a travel agent to negotiate? Or is this limited to group bookings?

I just received a direct marketing e-mail from Crystal Cruises about a 5-night Greek Isles/Turkey cruise on Crystal Symphony for this coming April. Is this a part of a longer cruise. I know, in the past Crystal has tried to sell unfilled cabins by breaking up a longer cruise into two (or more?). When I did a quick search, there is another 5-night cruise in the Mediterranean (Monte Carlo to Rome or something like that) in 2025.

I think it is very reasonable to contact Oceania before you even board the ship to see if the “Simply More!!!” excursion credit can be used for a private excursion arranged by the concierge. Not sure what Oceania would say, but I think it is a reasonable question.

I hope this gets resolved soon. My concern, however, is that your Kaiser Permanente Medicare Advantage Plan (I’m assuming) may not really cover (part or all) of the cost of overseas ambulance/evacuation, since the original Medicare certainly does not. It’s possible that submission of this critical document may result in just official denial of coverage. I know for a fact that insurers are not required to give their customer a guarantee of coverage until they are about to make their decision. However, if your Medical Advantage Plan covers it, that’s great. If not, you will then have to go to your secondary insurance companies, whichever volunteers to be the next one. I don’t envy your position. Our interaction with our primary travel insurance plan was much easier, and we are grate for that.

I strongly suggest to OP to do a quick read on the Icelandic geography, especially that around Reykjavik/Keflavik and also a quick visit to the Kevlavik airport website re: local transport options. Perhaps we are a bit different from a typical cruise passenger, but we find our cruises more enjoyable when we know a bit about our destination before we get there.

Please let us know how your cruise went, and any details about the conditions of the ship. Thanks.

I agree with this suggestion. Now that the OPs situation was clarified, I can agree that the best course of action is the following: 1. Contact the actual service provider that did the evacuation. See if there is a bill or something that indicates what service was provided to whom and the amount charged. Send that information to your primary insurer. 2. Send the invoice from Oceania for the same service, and any supporting information (notes from the ships' medical center, describing the reasons for evacuation, etc. I'm assuming that you already have the documentation from the medical center that was available to you before you disembarked. Then contact your primary insurer to see if they need anything else. I'm in healthcare, and most "normal" health insurance do not cover something like this. The chances are, your primary health insurance will only cover part of it, it at all. Whether they deny coverage (and they have every right to do this even after you submitted everything), you need that plus what I outlined above to your next insurance carrier (probably the policy with your credit card, if that's covered). Then if that does not cover everything completely, you go to the next insurer, which is most likely your travel insurance company. Yes, it is tedious, but as long as you know what to do, the rules are not too difficult to follow. Finally, it is my understand as well that most policies do not reimburse you until you actually pay the bill yourself first. If your primary (or secondary or tertiary) carrier agrees to do this (which, from my understanding, is very rare), you need a letter from them doing so, for your records, just in case the people you owe money starts asking you for payment. I would not contact Oceania/NCL for anything unless you exactly know what your insurer needs, and for that matter, you might be able to get this accomplished without anything more from Oceania/NCL, which might be a better option. The trick is to get this done with least number of parties involved.

Maybe this is common knowledge (except for me), but what was done during this dry dock?

No. It is still not clear. It is completely unclear what this "Kaiser" insurance is. Is it a travel insurance they took out on their own? Was that through the cruise line? Of, is this their "regular" primary health insurance? Most primary health insurance do not (completely) cover something like this. Is this an annual/incidental travel insurance plan? If so, is that prmary/secondary? They all are very important details that are clearly missing in this post.

Just to add, I am not sure if the OP took out any travel insurance on top of the "Kaiser" health insurance (I assume) that the OP/his/her partner has. And if there was additional travel insurance coverage, was the medical care/evacuation coverage primary or secondary to your primary insurance. These details, unfortunately to the OP and everybody else, are crucial to know even before you board the cruise ship. And without knowing these snarky details, it would be very hard to advocate for yourself when dealing with insurance companies.

I am not sure if this snarky comment deserves a response, but it is somewhat unclear to me if the OP took out the travel insurance from NCL or not. I'm assuming the OP did, but the original post and the comments are not making it clear.

I think, to some, Marina could be perceived as less desirable to Riviera if the bathrooms on most cabins are not updated, but I'm assuming that Oceania will price the Marina itineraries accordingly. I always wonder what are the actual (long-term) economics of refurbishments vs. new ships, accounting for more than just the up-front costs of refurbishment vs. building a new ship. Some factors that come into mind are: marketing costs/benefits of introducing a new ship, costs/benefits of putting a functional ship on dry dock, the need to comply with ever-changing environmental/safety standards (the need for brand-new ships that meet these standards), and what features are perceived to be "up-to-date," mainly asthetically, to their customers. My assumption is that, based on long-term economic analyses, cruise lines have to make a calculated decision on the exact extent of refurbishments they make to existing ships. I don't think this analysis is cut-and-dry.