BarbaraM

Take some time to read through the the World Cruising board on Cruisecritic also. Many tips re: world cruising that apply despite what line you travel. Oceania does include things like laundry, visas, medical on board that other lines don't , however.

When do they have the lifeboat drill?

We just booked a cruise today, a true "cruise only". My TA seemed reluctant to book that fare, and gave me a sales pitch to do do O life.. For a 10 day cruise it didn't make sense for us. The O Life fare without air is $300 pp more. The only thing you get with the OLife is the free internet. The TA dropped his agency OBC by $50, when we made that choice. But, we saved $300 pp, and have the flexibility of not having nonrefundable OBC.

We also enjoy Oceania and Celebrity -- just returned from a week on Harmony with our 11 year old grandson and his mother. This was a July sailing, and the ship was packed. It was impossible for him to get in the pool on sea days. We checked out the little kids pool, and it was also packed. The lines for the water slide, zip line, and flow riders were very long, an hour for the zip line. The hours for the zip line and flow riders are very short. It was better on the port day when we stayed on the ship, but the hours were even shorter and they don't open all the slides. He managed to go down the zip line once (hated it), and missed the cut off for the flow rider. We paid extra for specialties a couple of nights, and they do offer a kids menu for $10 for under 12. The dress code is very casual now, so that was a positive for him. He enjoyed the shows, surprisingly. We took him to the kids program once, and he passed on it. most of the kids were at the low end of his age range. We took two shore excursions, and found them reasonably priced when compared to Oceania.

I found the ship to not have much soundproofing in cabins -- people seem to yell in the halls at all hours, kids run around and unaware of other people in their path. There is a charge of around $8 for room service, plus extra fee if you want a hot breakfast. The buffet is insane, peak times like breakfast on a port day there are no tables. This was in no way a relaxing vacation. I had a plan of taking all of my kids and their families on a ship like this, but that is not going to happen now. Yes, it had the wow factor, but it came at a price. I wondered if one of their older, smaller ships might have been a better choice for us. We chose this for the slides, etc, but ended up being a minimal activity for us. You might get lucky and it won't be as crowded as our sailing. Also we talked to a Pinnacle member, and she said that she prefers Allure and Oasis, the cabin size and soundproofing were issues for her. Sorry for the lengthy reply.

Kpun: The cost for a taxi vs paying for 2 for the ship's shuttle is close to the samel-- plus you avoid the hassle of bus loading and drop offs. I think we paid $35 for the taxi on that same cruise.

Horizon is our go-to spot for early morning coffee.

Calabaza, we've done it twice!! Highly recommend.

Longer cruises tend to have fewer children and teens in general. Celebrity fewer than some other cruise lines, such as Carnival, NCL, and RCL. After so much traveling, you might be ready for a relaxing cruise, which either itinerary would give you. I personally like the first itinerary -- but agree that not knowing your interests it's hard to have an opinion.

The main complaint about Oceania tours is the price. Your roll call may give you opportunities to join private tours, at a fraction of the cost. I'm taking my O life perk in OBC.

Booking an entire World Cruise will likely get you more "perks" than booking separate trips.

There are also the intangibles-- such as creating relationships with others taking the journey with you -- both staff and other passengers. Unpacking once -- my favorite :)

I personally do not know of a scheduler-- sorry.

Once deciding to take a world cruise.. It's so hard to make decisions.. It is so much time and money! We booked Crystal initially based on itinerary, and number of port stops vs. sea days on the other cruise lines. Then Oceania opened up their first world cruise, and it was so many more days and a true around the world, we ended up taking that cruise. I would say, we didn't have so many sea days that we ended up looking forward to them when they did come up! The one thing I would never do again is taking a world cruise cruise that travels to the east, rather than west. The loss of time so often was not good. Making up a day was not worth it.

Also check on inclusions each cruise line offers. Oceania includes visa service, laundry, medical, all non alcoholic drinks, luggage delivery, unlimited internet and free transfers in most ports to the city centers. Also when you board the ship you are given your loyalty status.. Not when you finish your cruise. The ship is small, and is able to dock closer to city centers in many ports.

We took that tour 2 years ago. It was a quick walk through the Hermitage, not really much time to view the artwork. I would think if you had some type of walker with a seat or something like that you would enjoy the tour. I would hate to think you would miss out on this experience. There were some stairs as I recall, but not sure if there was elevator access. Oceania is used to dealing with mobility issues. The info on the tour recommendations is usually very accurate.

Agree with Cynthia. It was the best perk of the ATW! Wash and press only, no dry cleaning benefit. You can specify wash and dry temperature, line dry, or ironing requirements. all is returned on hangers. Not much need to bring your own wire hangers, unless you like the nonslip variety.

Do not forget to take a document stating you can make decisions for emergency medical care. I once took a friend of the family who was 18, and we were denied boarding until we could reach his mother who faxed over the necessary paperwork. Not sure if this is still the case, but wouldn't hurt to have it. I did find some info recently on the RCL website , as we are thinking of taking our grandson on a cruise this summer.

There is a Total Wine in Miami Beach, you could order ahead, and pick up on the way. Google map to see if it's that much out of the way. Our order was ready to go in a shopping cart, we just had to wait for them to box it. We've done the Publix thing before, but weren't happy with the selection.

I bought a Mobal for our world cruise and never used it. Just texted the kids using wifi.

Ignore..

Is the railing solid in the front? Can you see forward while sitting on the balcony?

Oceania offers free laundry for its ATW cruisers. This is similar to per piece.. Wash, iron if required, return on hangers. Dry cleaning is not included.

Oceania's ATW package includes visa services for all ports at no charge.

It also includes an unlimited internet account for the cabin, and no charge for medical care obtained on the ship. This includes. Medications for an acquired illness and X-rays.

The perks for their frequent cruiser program are given when you board..not when you leave the ship.

http://www.amazon.com/Desktop-Charging-PowerSmart-Technology-Compatible/dp/B011LSGMT2/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1454585429&sr=1-2&keywords=ANEAR

I'm happy with this.. Nice to leave the plugs at home. A quirky power strip, a desk top cord management holder, and everything is our of sight to the left of the desk, leaving an uncluttered area..

At least in Balcony cabins on Princess, there are no closet doors. Oceania has non-sliding doors

I don't think it's mayo, but miracle whip -- it's my pet peeve

If you want USD for your tours, this is on the Oceania website:

Can I cash a traveler’s check or personal check on the ship?

Traveler’s checks are cashed on board our ships. We do not charge a service fee for cashing the checks into US currency. A 5% transaction fee will be added to your onboard account if require foreign currency. Personal checks are not accepted.

On our recent cruise, I believe I saw in the flyer insert in the Currents advertising

"tax free spa specials" --

I"m not positive if treatments were taxed based on that,

Not sure if you have left for your trip or not, but we did the river tubing a couple of weeks ago. We booked privately through Antours, but the river experience is the same, in fact it looked like Antours was running the ship excursion.

Please be aware that your experience may vary from ours based on how high the river. Our guide made a few comments on the height of the water, and also made a comment about "it will be a very fast ride" there were 2 couples on this tour, and 2 young guides in the water with us. The recent hurricane was devastating to this area, and you will see evidence on your trip. Many roads were washed out.

The river has many boulders, as you may see from the photos posted here. In our case the water was running over them, which created hazard spots. I never fell over, but came close a couple of times. The current was strong, and it was not possible to do much other than hold on. It's common to get stuck on a rock or tree, the guides will push you off. I think I floated backwards a good portion of the trip. It is not 100% Rapids, but at least 30%(seems like more!) we were not injured, but I could see where it would have been easy to! I consider myself fairly fit for my age, and was surprised to talk to others on our cruise to find those in their 70's did this tour. There were reports of injuries, but this was second hand.

Hope this helps.