BarbaraM

You should see the docking location on your itinerary— in the (**) if there is an alternative docking. We once had alternative docking, a shuttle was provided to the heart of the old town, and was 20 minutes maybe.. definitely not ideal, but still better than Le Verdon. It can be confusing— as stated above, the ship might make a stop in Le Verdon due to tides, but leave later the same day up the river to dock in Bordeaux. Many tours (ship and private) can depart in Le Verdon and drop off in Bordeaux.  The river journey is a bit boring, and long. I highly suggest taking a tour on arrival at Le Verdon. Once we took a 6 hour tour and still arrived in Bordeaux before the ship. 

FF, I understand what you are saying, but I have never had to use your language when booking multiple cruises onboard. We rarely take just one cruise, typically 3 consecutive.  In either case, why we do it this way is personal.  Regarding nonrefundable OBC, it is always rolled over until the end of our last "segment" "cruise" --  we don't have to try , it is automatic.  

Re: booking SM excursions -- we are able to do this each "segment" whenever the date opens for booking (365 days before each cruise) , just as we do with specialty restaurant reservations.   We are restricted to those opening dates, while if we booking as one cruise -- we could do it all at once.  We don't mind the restrictions of having to do this 3 times. 

We take back to back cruises all of the time-- When we booked our last cruises in January, I asked the same question to the "future cruise consultant" and the destinations desk.  The woman at the desk went back to the head of destinations with no answer.  It was so new at the time that they had not encountered that question yet.  

 -- we currently have a bookings for this fall  that are 3 consecutive ("back to back") cruises, each with their own booking number and deposits.  These were also available as a a single cruise in different combinations of the three.  My invoice states back to back savings applied -- Perhaps the OP has the same experience of back to back cruises --  I also have the same question.  With all the reports of canceled port stops and shore excursions canceled -- would love to hear from an actual report than speculation.   It is possible to prebook excursions a year out -- but once on board they typically do not let anyone book for the next cruise until the current cruise is over. 

1 hour ago, judi666 said:

There may be 33 wines by the glass in the dining rooms ( I will have to look this evening, it seemed to be less) but at least half are not interesting to me. Several are wines that retail for $6-10. 

The wines by the glass at the terrace cafe and waves grill are maybe 6-8, certainly not 33. 
After the first few days, the wine folks know we aren’t going to upgrade and don’t ask again.

 

 

 

No change in wines by the glass if you upgrade to Prestige.  

I was able to see the online brochure yesterday, a link on a social media site.

We stayed in a stateroom on Vista recently, 9048 at the forward elevators -- never again! It was very noisy from people in the area in front of the elevators, as well as in the corridor...never heard the alarm, however.  

We were in #8048 in January -- B2B  -- didn't hear TV noise on the first leg, very noticeable on the 2nd leg.  I don't think they had a loud volume --  I do agree with previous comments that the fan noise was very low in the cabin. For a short cruise, the sound proofing was not a deal breaker, but we gave it serious thought if we were to book a much longer cruise, such as an ATW.

I used small magnets on the wall in my stateroom on Vista— unlike on the refurbished ships.

We were charged an extra tax for a bottle of wine while still docked in Miami. The ship didn’t leave until 7pm. 

21 hours ago, Redtravel said:

Vista has real problems. Those big beds take too much space. Not enough shade.  Last Vista cruise had many chair hogs even on port days.  Sat on my own veranda more than I liked.

I’ve never experienced the chair “reserving” as I have on Vista— too many specialty seatings that don’t occupy more than a couple— the area around the pool seems smaller.  Daily announcements to be considerate of other guests — deaf ears?

*Do they offer any flavored waters onboard specifically any Vitamin Zero water?

well, we always request this in advance as they have had it -- but rarely is it available -unfortunately.  There are other sports drinks available -- if you ask your stateroom attendant - or pick up some from the gym/spa area.  Last cruise it was rarely stocked -- 

On 12/8/2023 at 12:52 PM, Harters said:

Seems unlikely that O would rely on chance that someone volunteers their time for a required service to passengers. It would be no way to  run a professional operation. 

Maybe because they receive tips that don't need to be shared -- just a thought. 

Someone told me once years ago  ( a very frequent Oceania cruiser) that room service delivery is by crew who volunteer to do this on their off time.  We always a tip a couple dollars after hearing this— 

The CD in March should be Ray Carr.. if that helps. The crew on the ATW are top notch— 

We have been to Madrid a few times -- have only taken one tour -- a Tapas evening tour.  It was fun, and helped us be more comfortable with the tapas culture as we took it the first night. We learned a lot about the city as well.  Other than that we  DIY--   the park, art museums, the palace, a football match, and even a bull fight.  It is one of our favorite cities. 

1 hour ago, BAMA_BOY said:

Just off the Riviera.  No problem ordering 2 for 1 and sharing with spouse

Both just have to be the same drink-- it's always no problem. as BAMA-BOY states

It follows the same cap when reserving prior to sailing for each segment.  We were able to make our reservations for all of the segments when they were open for our category cabin.   

17 minutes ago, the mice said:

How easy to get Uber or Lyft?  Special area for pickup?

Thanks.

In Miami—  easy. We wait across the street near the parking structure entrance, I don’t think there is a designated area. . I’m not sure what the experience is like if several mega ships are disembarking at the same time.  taxi’s are impacted by that as well.  

19 minutes ago, Cruisedreamer1 said:

Just found out from our travel agent that the stockholder benefit  can not be used with O Life. It can be used only with  the Simply new package. Bumper!!!

I think they are mistaken— some discounts/incentives aren’t eligible, but never heard of Olife not being eligilible— since you essentially paid for that perk.

We always book cruises as true B2B -- even if they are offered as a longer cruise. The segments are also available book separately when we do this type of booking.  We always received cruise credit and benefits for each segment.  We always pay a deposit for each cruise and always get separate booking numbers, with  b2b savings is posted later.  We go through a TA, but have also done this on board.   I have never had a problem in this type of booking. ( If one of the voyages is the milestone cruise, we must take the benefit then). For what it's worth, there is never any mention of Grand Voyage by either club ambassador or our TA.  The only time we don't book this way is on ATW cruises.  not sure if that helps.

 In the case of that 17 day cruises, we would have booked a 10 day and 7 day separately -- gotten 2 credits and benefits. Not sure how people are getting shorted, maybe it's a recent change?  

We got off the Marina on Sept. 29th. It was the fastest, most stress free disembarkation in all of our cruises.  Our color was called before our scheduled departure.  Minimal line to get off and face to face with Spanish immigration— luggage ready outside.  I wouldn’t blame all the problems on Marina— probably the port. 

Its very easy to politely decline the olive oil presentation in Toscana, as well as the description of all the bread in the basket-- we usually just ask for the brand olive oil  that we like, so even the cart is not necessary.  

I thought I read they were having wine pairing lunches in Ember, did you happen to notice that? 

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

I’m pretty sure that their revenue from excursions is few times larger than the port fees. Also I don’t know how port fees work, but it’s possible that they are not refundable if the port is cancelled on a short notice. So it’s entirely possible that in some cases the cruise line loses the revenues from excursions and also the port fees. Not to mention tons of angry customers who always know better than the captain if it’s safe or not to dock or tender.

According to a GM on a recent cruise, port fees are not refunded should a ship decide to cancel last minute. Canceling is not done lightly, and not done for cost savings if this is true. 

On 10/2/2023 at 7:33 PM, Tranquility Base said:

When you first woke up, was the navigation page on your TV showing accurate information ?

Yes it was. We were on this cruise and noticed the bad weather and the ship not slowing down (we were above where the pilot boards).  Knowing it was a tender port, we checked the map— very obvious we were skipping that port long before any tours would have had to meet in the lounge. The Captain could have made his announcement earlier, however— and at least the destination staff should have known. The same captain was on our recent Marina cruise and made an early morning announcement about schedule change once— I’m sure there were many who complained about being woken up so early.