zalusky

We just went through this exercise worrying whether Bali would come down on us. My wife is on a lot of meds for transplant and nerve pain issues. We got doctors notes, took pictures of all the bottles, carried them in our back packs. We just walked through the airport and nobody asked or stopped us. I suppose because we looked like old geezers and wife has a limp. That being said everyday is a different day!

The trick is not to be loyal. Try them all. Make the cruise lines will try harder! If they know you will put up with all the cost cutting thats on us!

Oceania also has daily happy hour (at least on our cruise) 2 for 1 drinks albeit with a more limited drink menu. Oceania does not charge extra for specialty restaurants. There are a lot of differences between the 3 bigger Oceania ships and the 4 smaller Oceania R ships. The O ships have 4 specialty restaurants, and culinary center, and 12 people in the production company vs 2 specialty restaurants and 6 people in the production company on the R ships. No culinary center on the 4 R ships. I felt the food was a little repetitive and boring frankly on our recent R ship cruise that being said I was able to get a surf and turf (filet and lobster) sandwich at the waves pool grill everyday included. We would often order it double portion with no bun.

Another example of overplanning for us was Bali. We read a lot of stories about drug issues. My wife is a transplant patient and also currently has neuropathy from messed up surgery and as a result she is on Gabapentin. SHe is also now diabetic so add lots of insulin to the mix. We have read a lot of stories about keeping meds in their original bottles and copies of prescriptions etc. She cannot afford to lose her meds as they are life saving. Our doctors said we are over thinking thing but still stories. We would have been gone a month and she has to bring along extra just in case we get delayed somehow. That would have been a lot of bottles and the OTC meds from Costco are in giant bottles. We eventually decided on pill strips with lots of pictures. Now the good news is we sailed through Bali immigration with no issues but there was the last stop at immigration where they could kick you into X-ray and they are very strict about CBD and other stuff which we did not have. So were we overplanning or just protecting ourselves?

We just cameback from Regatta cabin 8065 which is below the Terrace Cafe. Never heard a peep from above.

I think Oceania learned their lesson because next year they are nowhere near New Years week when they port in Fremantle.

Beware that excursions right now are not that reliable. We had 3 cancelled before our cruise even started and then on embarkation day we were given a notice of 2 more cancellations. We booked an excursion last minute on the ship to a resort island last minute that turned out to be a bit of a disaster because it was a local holiday and lots of locals were at the island basically messing up the excursion events like bus rides. Oceania did not properly guarantee ferry seats and bus seats on the excursion rather a tour guide would say let 30 people on. A lot of tour operators are having problems finding staff or had to sell stuff like buses and are having problems getting back up to speed. We never got clear answers why our selections were cancelled. Be prepared to be flexible especially if your ports get modified/cancelled which is happening a lot in Australia/New Zealand.

Perhaps the mooring lines had lots of biofoul on them which can be easier to see than diving and looking at the hull.

On the other hand before cell phone apps, I remember arguing with my wife about how to get places and the big map books. Never knowing about the new restaurant in town. Having tons of different mail order catalogs and still not finding what I was looking for. .........

Ww are using Viking Air Plus and have a trip that starts in Athens. They booked a business Air France that connects in Paris which is fine but then we have a 5 1/2 hour layover and arrive in Athens at 1AM embarkation day. What do they expect us to do at 1AM? Do they take us to the ship at 1AM and check us in? Do we sleep in the airport? Waiting to hear what my TA finds out!

Service was great as mentioned but I thought the food was somewhat repetitive. The mussels when available really skimped on the garlic. I know it was Australia but it was too south asian focused. For a long sailing like this I would have preferred more around the world like some Mexican and barbecue nights. More variation in the soups as well. For example they had a Chef seafood night in Terrace and they would repeat it the next night.

Is that the only complaint about Viking - there payment policy? What about the ship, the tours, the food, the service? How do they compare?

If you don't care about money than be spontaneous! I have often found that getting the getting the restaurant/better shore excursion/discount/itinerary/evidence to persuade friends requires some research. The last sailing we would have done a number of things very different had I researched a little more. Our post cruise hotel appeared to be a 3.5 star hotel but in fact was more like a 1 star hotel with AC that did not work etc. A little deeper dig into Tripadvisor and I would have seen that.

Does not make a lot of sense to allow a ship in with half untested starting in Bali and the other half originally started in Sydney so we have a mix Oh well!

We just finished an Oceania cruise Bali to Sydney and had no testing requirements. Go figure!

We haven't ruled them out. My wife was interested in the Culinary Discovery Excursion as well and was disappointed they are not on the R ship experience either.

Wednesday last week. Manly seemed to have long lines at all the cheaper restaurants. The more expensive 4 dollar restaurants not so much. Yea Circular Quay area was busy but not as bad.

We just completed our first Oceania cruise around southern Australia. It was a last minute cruise as our summer cruise to Norway was cancelled due to catching Covid. We are open minded and trying upscale lines out and may try them all. We are booked on a Viking cruise to Italy on May. Why Viking? Included excursions, retractable pool covers, cheaper drink packages and the ship is nicer overall. However I cant say much more till its over. We found things we did not like Oceania R class I mentioned in other threads: single self service laundry room, lack of bathrooms by lounges so I doubt we would do R class again. Seabourn, and Regent are some we might look at next. After that we will decide what next.

Is the pool bar open just during the day or all bar hours. On my recent first time Oceania I found that not all drinks were offered at all bars. The pool bar had things like daquiri and margarita variations not offered in the other bars due to some of the ingredients not available in the other bars. The pool bar was closed at night. I also kind of hated that the bars all had different menus. Of course Viking has the ability to cover the pool. Does that change the game and keep the pool bar open longer especially in variable climates?

We just returned last week from an Oceania cruise from Bali to Sydney southern route route. Dec 26 - On arrival in Bali the airport looked at our vaccination cards. The same day boarding Oceania they did not check for vaccinations or require testing . When we arrived at our first Australia stop in Broome - Dec 28 we all went through a walkthrough with Australia customs in the main lounge. There was no vaccination check or RTAM test required. However I did notice some people getting swabbed at subsequent ports boarding (possibly entertainment people).

We just got back from a Sydney cruise on the competition and one thing I will note is January is nuts in Sydney. We did a ferry to Manley and there were lines everywhere. The only restaurant that did not seem to have a line was the german Bavaria restaurant.

Excited to be going on my first Viking cruise this May. What do they have in the area of Chocolate Martinis and/or Ice Cream drinks? Is that something where you just ask the bartender to create something?

Cruise lines have to attract newer and younger customers as their older ones die off. It's just a fact. Younger customers expect and demand modern conveniences. In fact there are many services today you cannot do without a smart phone Uber being a classic travel example. I check my security system cameras on a regular basis when I am away. On my most recent trip I was negotiating and completing contracts to get my solar system upgraded. It's not always about Facebook although we did enjoy watching the Hockey playoffs one year from our stateroom balcony. And no I never used the phone to deliberately ignore my table/bar neighbors.

Maybe so I asked for a watermelon daiquiri and he said they did not have the ingredients. He could have suggested what they could have done but as you said. In Horizon I was looking for an ice cream style drink at one point and did not see anything available. They all have different menus and the pool bar is the only one with the big selection of margarita’s and Daiquiris. Which does not help when they are closed at night.

I have to disagree. Why did they redo the rooms recently that cost a lot of money. They could have spent that all on food. At a certain point we all die and they have to bring in younger people. I don’t even understand how not having bathrooms next to the Horizon even passed code. Of course they probably don’t have building codes. Now I am not a complete whiner. The staff and guests were great. Everybody was very friendly. Everytine I sat down I had wonderful conversations. Even the six plates of snack surprise in our room after the penguin parade was appreciated. Our butler was 0 to 60 in all our needs. However the things I mentioned detracted from my enjoying the cruise. I was also surprised that given all the hype about the food. I was somewhat unimpressed except for the Waves grill which I hit many many times. The Terrace grill had its moments but was also quite repetitive.