Gray Eagle02

We’re in an aft suite and with minimal exceptions the WiFi has been adequate. I suspect—given previous posting—that location on ship makes a huge difference. I have seen people sitting the hallways and on staircases trying to get connections so I suspected that reception in other areas of the ship is poor.

On 10/24/2023 at 5:15 PM, corinna121 said:

GreyEagle02,

I am so happy to hear that you are having a wonderful cruise onboard the Mariner. We will be boarding on November 25, and we are really looking forward to this cruise. Please let us know any stand out activities or dishes that you have enjoyed. We are looking forward to doing trivia when possible. My husband enjoys working out, how is the gym onboard?

Our favorite restaurant was Compass Rose where I found the steaks better than the Prime 7 and the service was as good as the specialty restaurants. We ate in the Sette Mari only once as it always ( on all the ships) struggles with service. I loved the avocado toast in the Compass Rose and my husband loved the Cronuts available everywhere. However, we enjoyed every meal in the Compass Rose.  The food and service— especially wine service—was so much better than our recent Splendor cruise. A standout at the Pool Grill was the Ahi Tuna burger, done perfectly (rare) with an excellent sauce. The gym is well equipped but does not have a rower as does the Explorer and Splendor, which was a disappointment to me as I have a water rower at home that I use daily. We did not use the sports deck as the weather was not conducive to outdoor activities most of the time.

Hope you enjoy your cruise as much as we enjoyed ours.

3 hours ago, CJANDH said:

Can you tell us who is the Cruise Director on Mariner now?

Jude

We were served by Dennis in the Compass Rose twice. We recognized him from previous Mariner cruises. He’s very good and has been with Regent for years. But the entire staff, both familiar and new faces have been wonderful. Our last two cruises were on the Explorer and the Splendor. This cruise is really the RSSC of old. And I do not feel the ship is tired or dated. And the internet is a pleasant surprise. I am able to download the WP and NYTs with no difficulty. In the past I had to wake up in the early AM to be able to read the paper.

12 minutes ago, ginny123 said:

Thank you for posting!  We're on the Mariner in a couple weeks.  Do any particular servers stand out in Compass Rose that you could recommend? 

We’re on the Mariner. Food and service excellent— better than our Splendor cruise in January of this year. What is truly remarkable is the WiFi is  better than any ship on any line we’ve been on. I asked our butler if Starlink was connected. He told us it was installed but he didn’t think it was functioning. He directed me to the computer specialist but he wasn’t there when I checked. Regardless the WiFi is better than we’ve ever had. Hope it’s this good on the Voyager in April.

1 hour ago, Sthrngary said:

, Luxury or Ultra-Luxury brands which surprisingly cost about the same as the Haven. In most cases they provide more as part of their initial fare.

Not sure I agree with that statement. We decided to book a Haven DOS on a Caribbean cruise as we have had multiple Regent cruises over the last ten years and the Regent costs  have escalated astronomically since the Pandemic. The Haven DOS was roughly half of the cost of a comparable Regent cruise. We are going with old Navy friends who are old hands at the Haven. I have never gotten a bill at the end of a Regent cruise and after reading CC and watching the Ben and David review, I have no idea what the final cost will be, though I doubt it will double the cost of the room.

On 8/22/2023 at 9:24 PM, Ballwin Babe said:

Just for the record, we do not routinely buy travel insurance for our "routine cruises".  However, if $60K was at stake (no chance of THAT happening) it would be insured.   The premium would be VERY high. 

I have my first Haven cruise coming up but have been cruising on Regent ( plus one Seabourn, Oceania and Viking cruise) for 11 years. I would never go without insurance, though it’s not primarily for cancellation; it’s for medical and medivac coverage. I can afford to eat the $30,000+ for the cost of the cruise( after all, if you paid for the cruise you can obviously afford it) but can’t afford the cost of medical care in a foreign country and especially for medivac coverage that can run into in excess of $100,000. For that reason I choose my policies very carefully. If the coverage for medical is not at least $100,000 and medivac  at least $1,000,000, I get supplemental coverage from Squaremouth. Incidentally, I never get cruise ship coverage ( except for Seabourn) as it is almost always universally inadequate. And, yes these policies are very expensive as they are based on the cost of the cruise. I usually pay around $2,000 for the above noted coverage.  In addition to this I have an Medjet annual policy that covers medical evacuation from any hospital worldwide to any hospital near my home. Maybe all this is overkill but I was an emergency room Nurse Practitioner and know how bad things can happen anywhere; the cost of the cruise—even a very expensive one—pales in comparison to a serious accident or illness. 
And, yes, I had one claim after we missed a Regent cruise 7 years ago after my husband had a bad accident and received a check for $25,000. 

29 minutes ago, Kwaj girl said:

No rowing machine on Mariner.

Thanks.

Does Mariner have a row machine? We’re on the Splendor now and there are two; on the Explorer in 2019 there was one. It’s been a few years since I was on the Mariner and we’re scheduled for a cruise in Oct’23; last time  we were on the Mariner there was no rower. Can anyone give me an update on the equipment.

I just read this email on the FB sight. I never received the email and checked both trash and junk. I have two cruises scheduled- Jan 23 an Oct 23. I filled out the GIF with our middle initials ( that’s how we sign our names) and not with the full names as listed on our passports. I made my own air reservations for the Jan 23 cruise and the Oct 23 cruise is too distant to have the air reservations made. According to how I read the email I could be charged $2000. After reading the email on FB I immediately tried to edit the error on the RSSC site. Can’t be done. 
I certainly understand Regent’s position and I should have read the directions more carefully. However, I think that to charge me such a steep fine when I never received the email, which gave those that did receive it very little lead time, is certainly not reasonable. And to not allow people to correct the error prior to airline tickets being purchased when the trouble is minimal is also questionable. I attempted to call Regent as soon as I discovered all this but their office was closed. Note I never saw this email until the evening of 31Oct and It goes into affect 1Nov.

We got off the Riviera on 7 Feb. in our Vista suite the bottles were all 1L.

3 minutes ago, seawitch1 said:

Confused now. Thought that PCR or Antigen test requirement recommended for next Riviera January sailing out of Miami stated 72 or 48 hours before embarkation according to Oceania 12 January update. Appreciate if someone could clarify this. We have booked our pre-testing going by the 72 hour understanding. Starting to panic. 

You are correct. And if you’re wrong we are in the same boat. We scheduled our PCR on 25 Jan for 28 Jan sailing as per Sail Safe January 12 update. 

19 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

You are correct. It’s all crystal clear in the SailSafe FAQs (check the newest version!): 

Test positive (PCR or Antigen w/i 2 weeks of embarkation and you get full refund. Test negative (PCR or Antigen) within 48 hrs (was 72 hrs for US departures until this week) and, if you then test positive at pier, O will issue refund/FCC and cover your quarantine plus return home travel costs. But, w/o that 48 hr negative pretest prior to positive pier test, you’re SOL on O $$$/help.

 

January12 FailSafe still says 48-72 hours prior to embarking for recommended PCR testing. Hope that’s correct as I have already scheduled my test for 72 hour prior to the Riviera 28 Jan cruise and these appoints are not easy to get . Made it 72 hours as the testing return time is not guaranteed.

According to the Sail Safe document online the testing prior to embarking (ie PCR 48-72 hours before )is recommended, not required. Should passengers fail to do this and subsequently test positive immediately prior to embarking they will not be reimbursed for transportation back home or quarantine. It does not state you will not be reimbursed or receive FCC for the fare.

12 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

OK - now I am confused. 
On the current O Rivera thread “Onboard Riviera,” someone has posted that he had to “register with Eurofins” apparently(?) for the pierside embarkation test(?) ???

We’ve got our boarding passes from the online check-in and there was zero information regarding registering for the Covid pier test.

 

Can any of you shed light on this?

I think he meant the test he got 72 hrs prior to boarding.

33 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Don’t get me wrong. FDR has proven time and again that he will do what’s best for the company while demonstrating care and concern for its customers. But, even if unconsciously, O will always have some measurable degree of greater latitude.

I agree completely. I always get a kick out of the Regent board, where the Regent sycophants insist in call Regent “ family”. They are primarily a business and good customer service is part of good business practices. And while I generally enjoy the luxury cruise segment, I never forget that profit is the primary motivation. But unless I’m completely blown away by the Oceania product, this will be my only Oceania cruise. 

We are scheduled for our first Oceania on the Rivera on 28 Jan. We have multiple cruises on Regent and decided to try Oceania.  We scheduled this cruise nearly a year ago after the vaccine became available. We, as well as many others, thought cruising would be safe when this was scheduled. Our final payment was due prior to the emergence of Omicron. We will go on this cruise unless it’s cancelled by Oceania. However, given the opportunity to get a cash refund I would grab it; we are not interested in FCC as there are no cruises we are interested in between now and 31Dec22. Cancelling now would mean loosing > $20,000.00 as we booked a Vista Suite. I am not impressed with Oceania’s customer service after following CC. And,yes, I did read the ticket contract, but the situation under which we booked was very different than the present. Given the available rooms (that I checked every day on the web site) prior to the cruise being waitlisted I can’t believe that this cruise will turn a profit for the company. At least that decreases our chance of exposure.

3 minutes ago, espmass said:

I noticed the same thing this morning for my 2/7 Riviera cruise.  I wondered if perhaps O is trying to keep a limited number of passengers so blocking any new bookings?   

Maybe, but I doubt it given on the 28Jan cruise there was availability across all categories except the top three suites and the two bottom categories. I’ve watched closely as I wondered if they would sail with all those vacant cabins. Additionally, if you check the CDC site virtually all the ships are now yellow. I suspect, given what is posted here and elsewhere, most of those affected are crew members. Just hope, if the cruise is cancelled, I get my money back. 

We are scheduled for a Rivera Miami-Miami cruise on 28Jan. I have checked my booking every day and until this morning the was availability it all room categories except the top suites and the two lowest categories. This AM all categories or waitlisted. If my memory serves me correctly, this is what happened during the height of the Covid epidemic right before they cancelled a cruise. Can anyone shed light on this topic I have already emailed my TA.
This is our first Oceania cruise and we booked a Vista suite. We generally sail Regent and RSSC has cancelled Jan 22 cruises on the Navigator, allegedly because of low bookings. We were initially excited about this cruise because of the Vista suite, however, we have lost enthusiasm given the current problems with Covid.

52 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

12 hours ago, cruisingxpert said:

 

That you! Either their upper suite made the difference or that 31 Oct sailing was so empty, they hadn’t initiated the change

Sorry for the confusion. My sail date is on the Riviera departing on 28 Jan. My ability to make dining reservations opened up at final payment which was 30 Oct. I made those reservations either on Oct 30 or 0ct 31.

I had no problem getting 6:30 PM reservations on 31 Oct. I had eight reservations ( we’re in a Vista Suite) and with the exception of the first night, when I made a reservation for 7:PM— when we wanted to be in our suite for the sail away--all of my reservations were at 6:30PM.

We have multiple Regent tours and one Viking Ocean tour— around Cape Horn. We did this as we were traveling with another couple, who ended up not going because of a medical emergency. We had a upgraded room and the drink package. Here’s my view: 1) The first level suite is still way below a Regent concierge cabin. Storage appeared so limited in regular veranda stateroom I knew it wouldn’t work for us. 2)Food and wine was good but not near the level of Regent. 3)What I was most unhappy with was that tables for 2 were crammed so close together that you were essentially eating at a table for six, unless you got a window table, then you were eating at a table of four. 
I doubt I would take another Viking cruise except to travel with others who won’t pay Regent prices ( most of our friends) or for a special itinerary that was only offered by Viking.

44 minutes ago, Jockocruiser said:

Well, I too live in N. Florida, but when I drive to Miami my compass says I'm going down - south! 😀

LOL. I’m so used to driving North I misspoke. Yes, we will be traveling down to Miami.

We’re on the Riviera 28 Jan Miami-Miami. Got the email today with reference to my up coming cruise. We were undecided regarding getting the test as we live in suburbs of Jacksonville and we’re driving up the day before. Because we’re driving we really weren’t concerned about the ramifications of the embarkation test. Guess we’ll get it now on Wednesday and hope the results are back prior to our leaving.

 Got this email from Oceania this AM:

Dear Valued Guests and Travel Advisors,

We want to provide you with an important update to our pre-embarkation testing policies and procedures. 

Currently, we strongly recommend that our guests obtain a Covid-19 test 48 to 72 hours prior to embarkation. This is in addition to the mandatory pre-embarkation testing that Oceania Cruises conducts at the embarkation terminal prior to boarding. Beginning in January, we will be amending our testing protocols to streamline the check-in and embarkation process for our guests. 

For voyages departing on and after January 17, 2022, in lieu of on-site testing at the embarkation terminal, Oceania Cruises will require that all guests arrive at the embarkation terminal with a negative, third-party (laboratory) verified Covid-19 test result. Guests may present either an antigen or PCR test not older than two (2) calendar days prior to boarding for voyages embarking from a U.S. port and not more than three (3) calendar days old prior to boarding for voyages embarking in a non-U.S. port. Guests not in possession of a negative, third-party Covid-19 test result will not be allowed to embark for the voyage. 

Should you need to locate a testing provider prior to beginning travel or while traveling prior to your cruise, please visit TestForTravel.com, an easy-to-use online tool for locating Covid-19 testing providers around the world. Simply enter your zip code, or city and country, and the website will display locations, contact information, and testing hours. It also allows you to search by test type – PCR or Antigen.  

Given that the vast majority of our guests are already undergoing testing prior to travel in addition to testing upon arrival in-country for international travel, we feel this will provide for a more comfortable and efficient embarkation experience to begin your Oceania Cruises vacation. The online check-in process and staggered (“reserved”) boarding times will remain in place.  

Oceania Cruises will continue to evaluate and adjust pre-cruise testing requirements as the global health map evolves and we will communicate any changes in as timely a fashion as is practicable. Additionally, should local requirements in any embarkation ports require pre-boarding testing, we will notify those guests in advance of travel. 

For voyages departing prior to January 17, 2022, there are no changes to our current protocols and processes. 

We will continue to update our SailSafe protocols and policies along with the latest up to date Travel Requirements at OceaniaCruises.com and through individual communications which are emailed to both our valued guests and travel partners. 

Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. 

On behalf of the entire team at Oceania Cruises, we thank you for your attention to this important update and we look forward to welcoming you onboard in the near future. 

Warmest regards,

Carlos E. Ortega
Vice President, Guest Services

Should you have any questions, please contact your Travel Advisor or Oceania Cruises at:

United States and Canada 855-OCEANIA (855-623-2642)

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