ORV

3 hours ago, EJL2023 said:

And I know that Riviera was misspelled in my post above,

Ouch, and I'm usually such a good speller. Must have been drinking that day. 🍸

10 hours ago, mauibabes said:

In the past, Destination Services has included a short day tour transfer as a part of the Disembarkation process. Bags are with you or stored in a box truck and then delivered to the Airport with your arrival. I think it was $69-79 range pp and it worked out great. Any tour beats sitting at MIA for HOURS. We will be testing this out again in November when we return to Miami on Marina. 
Mauibabes

We did this once with a Hop On Hop Off tour. Worked just the way you say. We did return to the Bayside area to collect luggage and then went to the airport in smaller vans. 

10 minutes ago, roberts2005 said:

Not sure it matters about the spa terrace access.  On our recent 21 day Regatta cruise, no one checked cards or cabin numbers when going.

And on the Regatta there is no card reader to open the door. I'm not sure about the other R ships. I'm pretty sure the O ships have card readers on the door. 

Although things have changed over the years I'm thinking that's a fairly new perk for that level to try to make it more attractive. 

Is it necessary to book the 1 category? What's the savings to go to an A3 as opposed to an A1? 

To me the rooms are all the same, with a few exceptions that you have to know about. We're one of those that are ok anywhere on the ship, so I can't see paying more for the next number up unless there are no other options. 

10 hours ago, daydreamer62 said:

They aren't like what I remember from the previous 2 cruises  I was on where they tasted very watered down

These were on another cruise line?

2 hours ago, clo said:

Thanks for your reply. I'll be sending in my claim ASAP and will keep my fingers crossed. It's voluminous!

Are you having to cancel your upcoming cruise? 

3 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

No wonder NO one follows any rules, whether pool/lounge chairs or alcohol consumption or more.

 

I do remember handing my invitation to the crew outside a lounge. And also at least showing it. But that's at 3 different repeater parties for us since 12/2021.

 

Do you encourage people who bring their own alcohol to just put it in a container so no one can see into and then just go out and about drinking? I doubt it. But I enjoy the privilege bringing my own alcohol on board and drinking it in my cabin as well as FREE alcohol at the Repeater Party. Hate to see either taken away. 😞

In all fairness the policy says you can only bring on 6 bottles of wine, yet we know that's not enforced. BUT, it is the rule. So, at what point do we decide what rules we should follow and what ones to break?  From your past posts we all know that you bring on beer & hard spirits. I do also.  I've never been to a newbie party, but I have been to multiple repeater parties on the same cruise, sometimes invited more than once, sometimes not. But once again, they really don't care. I agree with Mauibabes. To me this falls in the same category as the bringing booze onboard policy. Of course others might decide that reserving a lounger is ok. We all have to decide what we're ok with. 

1 hour ago, clo said:

Does your OH use the same thing?

No, I'm the only one that carries anything in ports. I take out all money except for a minimal amount, $50-$100 or some local money, and one credit card. I also have color copies of our passports folded up in it. So far we've been fortunate. Now if someone pulls a knife or a gun on me they can have it, none of it is worth my life or injury. 

14 minutes ago, clo said:

I'm hoping it's safe in the ship's dining venues. Off-ship I carry something bigger. Need more.

 

BTW we were both pickpocketed at the same time in Barcelona some years ago. Didn't even know it until we got ready to pay for a not cheap lunch. Gratefully the manager/owner was very kind.

I have a clip security wallet I wear on the inside of the front of my pants. If I have that taken away from me then it's time to hang up traveling. 

When I've used Spain Day Tours in the past it wasn't my obligation to fill their tour. We just booked with them and then went on the tour. 

38 minutes ago, clo said:

I like that a lot! It can sit on a table or hang on a chair. Thanks.

Yeah, hanging it on the back of your chair is a real good plan at a sidewalk cafe in Barcelona. 

28 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

Sorry no in answer to your first question. There is a set ‘room service menu’ unless you are in PH or above when you can order anything you want.

 

Can’t answer your second question … sorry.

Didn't they make a change in the last couple of years where you can order dinner from the GDR in most rooms? Or maybe Concierge? 

38 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

Did you see the of people streaming up and down the hill to get to and from the St. John's Fortress overlooking Kotor? We did that off Riviera 11/2023. Absolutely amazing views, but a very strenuous hike indeed.

We climbed to the top, and yes it's not for anyone with mobility issues. The funny thing is we were walking around the town looking for the entrance to the path, and this little dog came up to us, then took off, then came back like he wanted us to follow him. So we followed him and he led us right to the start of the path. He stayed with us about a 1/3 of the way up then went back. It was a fun day. 

The problem comes down to the size of your room. Anything less than a PH would be pretty crowded except for snacks or handhelds. 

I like old fashions which use a cherry. So you can buy the nasty maraschino things for 2-3 bucks or you can get the special ones that are anywhere from 12- 25 bucks a jar. These are 5 to 7 oz. Just nuts. 

1 hour ago, mauibabes said:

hey flipped decks for Hoizons and the Aquamar  Spa and Gym and encountered this major problem. It is not a similar issue on Marina or Riviera since Horizons is two decks up. 

So who designed that and couldn't they foresee the problem? Seems like a no brainer. 

1 hour ago, Harters said:

Some non-alcoholic cocktails were chargeable on Vista. For example, the "No-groni", which uses Lyre's non-alcoholic substitutes. Similarly, a Lyre's "gin" and tonic is chargeable. And, IIRC, perhaps even more surprisingly, "San Pellegrino Cocktail", served in Baristas Aperitivo 

And this is something I think we might see more of in the future. I expect these brands and options to spread to all of the ships. 

3 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

If we're staying in or near the port, we tend to go back to the ship for lunch. But if we've got an all-day tour or excursion, it's a big breakfast for us and then maybe Waves at 1530 or TC at 1830. Psychologically, I'm just not designed to pay for meals I've already paid for. But then we're cruising for excursions and doing things. Off the ship early and back late if we can keep ourselves busy. Almost always bringing back some beer, hard liquor and wine!

 

BUT for the SM Excursions, I think many people buy into the marketing hype, thinking they've somehow actually received a significant benefit. Yet, we're seeing excursion price increases (essentially eating up the credit) and non- or limited-availability for specific excursions, as well as cancellation issues. For this SM Excursion credit is limited to excursions and is use or lose. It feels as if O knows that they don't have enough desired excursions to be used by the passengers. But that's how they make money on the generalized price increase that is SM.

When is your next Oceania cruise? 

It’s a hard cardboard door hanger card. Either blue and white or gold and white. 

33 minutes ago, daydreamer62 said:

Oh one more thing about the internet. While it's fast for browsing, it won't upload photos to the cloud which is not annoying as I like to edit on the go with a tablet but use a phone and a DSLR. I guess it's understandable as they are decent sized files but I thought they would eventually upload slowly but it seems like they just don't go at all

That's probably because the systems see it as streaming, and that's blocked unless you pay the extra fee. 

Enjoying your thread, thanks for the report. 

Not knowing your TA and their methods and response time it's hard to answer this. My first inclination would be to say do it yourself. You might give them some dates and times that might possibly not be available, and you might end up with just what's easy for them to book for you. 

Changes can be made prior to being onboard and can be changed onboard. Whether or not we share tables depends on what time is available. Our first priority is eating early as possible, which usually is 6:30 on the specialties. Then it depends on what's happening that day, did we have a tour, what time did we get back, how long is our cruise, etc. We also like to spread our reservations out over the cruise. We prefer to not do specialties two nights in a row. We also prefer to not do them the night before embarkation, especially if we're traveling home the next day. 

Bottom line is I'd do it myself. It's not really that difficult. 

1 hour ago, Vallesan said:

it was interesting to learn that a lot of the new to Oceania cruisers thought that they could reserve one evening in each speciality restaurant, but that there would be a charge for any further reservations! 

I would think this is due to the misinformation you see on other social media. I've seen this concept before. 

It helps when asking about rooms to list which ship we're discussing. 

Here I always thought it was a song by Boston, but apparently it's a new tag line for Oceania commercials. They haven't retired Your World, Your Way, but they seem to be pushing More Than A Feeling. I've seen the commercial on PBS and Saturday & Sunday Morning CBS news shows.

1 Chef for every 10 guests they claim. Apparently they're counting the servers in Terrace in that.