Flatbush Flyer

My understanding is that, right now and for the time being, LaReserve can only be booked onboard.

Odd that you wouldn’t know. Check-in process is on the top of your list of action items (right side of your account management page for the particular cruise).

Out on deck or in Horizons, the locks are worth seeing “up close and personal” through a couple of opening/closing activities. IMO, any more than that is like watching paint dry. Of course, that comment comes after having done the transit several times.

Seriously, with or without a veranda, the truly best view is the Bridge Cam in your cabin.

No bribes needed. Agreeable personality and genuinely respectful attitude work wonders.

That appears to be the wine-by-the-glass menu. Yet another reason to bring your own.

Long gone. Once O figured out that savvy folks were buying seven of whatever was the “loss leader” on the list, they stopped the program. For example, whenever we saw Mirabelle sparkling wine (often more than $20-25 retail back in the US), we’d grab seven bottles. Often the Mirabelle would be gone within a few days. Most of the rest of the stuff on the 7 bottle list was usually similar to the wine-by-the-glass offerings- about $10+\- retail at home (for which they were charging more than $40/bottle plus gratuity. Occasionally though they’d put one or two better quality wines in the program - usually the end of the bin stuff - to make way for new stock. Speaking of which, the “bin end list” is still alive and well with discounts of up to 30% off the ship’s price. We’ll always check that out when we board and possibly buy a few to round out our personal stock.

Yes to the Gin - they’ve now got Irish Gunpowder! As for DP, I’m not a big DP fan. I find many NotCal sparklers to be more to my liking (and st far better prices).

If anything in particular affects GDR walk-in seating offers, my guess is that elite O Club status outweighs cabin class. Staff, particularly those who are long-serving, know many of those O regulars, know they interact with the GM and know that they will be back.

The average O markup for bottled wine is about 300%+/- over US retail prices at home. IMO, bringing cheap wine onboard is a waste of time and energy. On the other hand, carrying on even a few select items that, onboard, would run several hundred dollars each (plus gratuity) makes the best sense.

Exactly.

If I was a solo cruiser, I would be just as unhappy as would be/are many others. But, industry data is data. And thus, squeezing profit from any opportunity is exactly what O is doing. So, what is “nonsense” is disputing the lost revenue motivation (numbers don’t lie) to do what is perceived by some to be unfair. O is a business and it banks on the good results of its decisions outweighing the bad. It’s worked for them for two decades. (Haven’t you noticed that O policy/practice/promotion changes are few and far between (e.g., O Life vs SM)? Of course, IMO, there is still one major unknown factor: FDR Jr is not FDR Sr. And I get an unverified sense that he may prefer heading in directions that establish his own identity rather than “staying the course.”. Yes, he grew up in the O family. But, O is not HIS “baby.” Needless to say, that could be beneficial/detrimental to customers/regulars or not. Time will tell.

Already posted about using the “world clock” on, at least, an iphone. No need to turn off automatic time zone correction. As long as your home time zone in the world clock was/is correct, each port location you add to your list will show correct local time.

Perhaps mainstream lines have more opportunity to grab your cash. But, O passengers are not immune to onboard spending. And not everyone onboard an O ship has pockets full of SBC. If you go to enough shipboard O Club events over the years, you’ll recognize that an average of about 25%+\- of passengers on each cruise are first timers and many of them booked direct with O (so no TA’s SBC). All their onboard spending is “out of pocket.” For example, let’s not forget the cost of the Prestige Package upgrade (above the new SM basic booze inclusion) at $30 pp/day (used to be $70 pp/day if you chose a different O Life perk) or the cost of a haircut ($40+tip even for a bald guy😳). And, of course, there’s the significant cost of ship’s excursions above and beyond the included O Life allowance or SM SBC provided. The list goes on …..

O’s position would be that the No Show’s $ paid covered only the published Penalty for Cancellation. That’s a separate part of the equation. There still remains, at least, the “lost” fare itself which is then accounted for by charging the remaining passenger a “single supplement.” AND, there still remains the estimated lost revenue from onboard spending (as identified in my post above as approximately an average 28% of cruise revenue). That single supplement IS meant to be what covers the lost revenue from onboard spending. In essence, how “unfair” this is perceived to be by us passengers is irrelevant. We are bound by the Ticket Contract and T&Cs. Equally irrelevant are isolated anecdotal statements regarding “We rarely spend our own money onboard.”

Anyone who thinks onboard spending is not a significant revenue generator knows very little about the cruise industry. From a 2018 study by Port Economics Management (porteconomicsmanagement.com): Revenue. The base fare paid by the average cruiser accounts for 72% of the revenue, implying that cruise lines are able to generate an additional 28% revenue tranche with onboard services, such as gambling, excursions, drinks, and personal services. Additionally, cruisers are spending on goods and services at ports of call, which are not accounted for here.

You may want to think a bit more about this! Sure, you can look at it as “O has already been paid for the empty bed.” But, a “no show” potentially (and usually) means lost O revenue from a lack of the “no show’s” onboard purchases (e.g., booze, tours, shops, future cruises….). Don’t you think O is smart enough to do whatever they deem is necessary to maximize their revenue (within the dictates of the ticket contract)? The “No Show’s” basic penalty is a loss of their share of the paid double occupancy fare. And any resulting single supplement fee you are charged is to cover the associated lost onboard purchase revenue. That said, another way to look at this is that the No Show owes you the cost of your Single Supplement add-on charge.

If you look at the top of the current O website FAQs for the item where you found the erroneous info about “boarding times,” you’ll notice that it was last updated on July 2, 2018.😳 The “closest to embark” regular communication you will receive from O prior to embark is now the Boarding Pass which will include your selected check-in time (when you did the online check-in) and the port berth info. NOTE: even that Boarding Pass berth location can be weeks old when you show up on embark day. IMO, it’s always smart to check with the port authority (website or call) regarding that location within 24-48 hours prior to embark day. (We’ve had a couple last minute berth location changes over the years).

“Noon?” Noon for what? And from which source document? I can’t remember ever seeing O “always tout noon.” in the Blue Book, Cruise Vacation Summary (final docs) or newer Boarding Pass.

At the bottom line, potential “issues” and/or “what happens when” mostly depends on your embark port and how its own personnel handle check-ins. That said, there’s also multiple distinct “times” associated with embark day including: “arrival time” at the port on changeover day. That scheduled time for when the ship will tie up or set an anchor is listed in brochures, on the O web et al. It should not be confused with “disembarkation time” which is when it is your preselected/predetermined time to depart the ship (that has been identified several days prior to the end of the cruise). “check-in time” at the embark port terminal. That time is the one you select (from what slots are available) when you do your online checkin within three weeks of embark day. ”embarkation time” is a somewhat theoretical target for when you have completed the terminal checkin process and are expected to board the ship. This term is often misused by all sorts of folks. “departure time” is the scheduled time for the ship to leave its berth or anchorage. Like the arrival time, it appears in brochures, on the O web. The Blue Book (which is no longer blue) “embark” time was/is mostly an estimate of when your check-in at the port should happen. The relatively new Boarding Pass process attempts to pinpoint at what time you should be available in the terminal to begin the process that leads to embarkation. IMO, this is the time to aim for. Again, a lot depends on the embark port personnel. For example, in a port like SYD, staff at the terminal may not let you enter the terminal until the time stated on your boarding pass. In other ports, you can enter whenever you show up. But those times have little to do with when you’ll actually be allowed to get in your cabin category line for check-in and how attentive staff are to following the plan. As a rule, we try to pick the earliest available check-in time if for no other reason than to get a good seat while we figure out how “today’s” process will actually work. It’s also great for people watching and for renewing old acquaintances with passengers and crew alike.

Not to ruin your day but… I don’t even have to read the language of Celebrity’s “contract” (including the actual Ticket Contract and Terms & Conditions) which were available for your review in the Legal Section of the Cruiseline’s website or at your request (directly to Celebrity or via your TA) before making a deposit. Among its tried and true responses to your suit, Celebrity will argue successfully that the “contract” documents which absolve them for future changes to pretty much everything not related to “MarOps” (deck and engineering maritime operations) responsibility to get you from the advertised port of embarkation to the advertised port of disembarkation), were available for your review in numerous ways both prior to and after you made an initial booking (which probably didn’t even require an immediate “cash” transaction to get an initial time limited “hold” invoice). BTW, I’m neither a Celebrity cheerleader nor a Celebrity customer. But, I am an avid cruiser who, even after cruising almost 500 nights on our preferred line, still reviews the Ticket Contract and T&Cs before making a deposit. I may not like all that I read about the company’s liability/responsibility. But, whenever they do make a change to the original deal, I know what my options are and I know the best strategies to get what I reasonably need from any negotiations. I wish you good fortune with your quest and do hope you’ll let us all know how it turns out.

OP should look at the positive of this experience. Like so many other former Celebrity cruisers, this may just provide enough impetus to book his next cruise with Oceania. (Yes, disgruntled Celebrity regulars often end up becoming O regulars and never look back.

You may want to reread your Ticket Contract and T&Cs. I expect you’ll find language that absolves the cruise line from responsibility for anything not directly related to the mechanical operation of the ship in the act of transporting you from Point A to Point B.

Oops! Meant to say: …few ships (cruise or otherwise) use anything other than local time.

In my experience, few ships (cruise or otherwise) do not use anything other than local time. Local time is the easiest for all concerned to understand and follow. As a passenger, if you’ve got an iPhone or something else with a World Clock and a true GPS receiver, know that the GPS functions even with no cellular or wifi. However, on its own, the GPS may take a bit longer to get a “fix” (particularly at sea). Might I suggest that, if your ship uses local time and you don’t want to make manual adjustments for each time zone encountered during the cruise, make sure your phone is set to do automatic time zone adjustments. While home, double check that your date and time align with the reality at home. Once that’s verified, add your home city to your World Clock app. Then add each port you’ll encounter as well as exemplar cities on your known or guesstimated midnight longitude for each sea day (e.g., Alaska time for one of your sea days enroute to Hawaii from San Francisco). In that way, even without cellular and wifi service, your phone’s World Clock will always show the correct time in each port and each sea day’s estimated longitudinal land location. The attached pic shows the beginning of a World Clock setup for a transPacific cruise (just needs a place listing for each missing hour.