Visitors4

I will be sailing with Oceania for first time this Fall 2024. Here's what I did for booking my ship excursions - Called customer service to obtain copy of the detailed descriptions of the ship excursions for my sailing, which includes prices. I had a copy emailed to me. Booked excursions via phone with customer service. Being new to the process, I wanted to make sure my ship credits and 25% discount were applied correctly to excursions. For our booking, the 25% discount required booking 5 or more excursions per person; the discount is described in the above mentioned ship excursions description document. Reviewed the excursions description document and decided which ports I needed a ship excursion vs. self or local tour guide. In the end, booked 5 excursions - had the 25% discount applied, applied all my ship credits, and paid the remaining balance. Customer service was very helpful. There are different types and levels of excursions - general tour, smaller group size, focus/ theme of tour, etc. - all with different prices. Read the tour descriptions carefully to see if fit for you. Enjoy!

I was on the 2/25/24 Meraviglia sailing in YC and spent a wonderful day at Ocean Cay. The loungers and umbrellas at the YC beach were plentiful and comfortable. Practically one umbrella per lounger given their size and the way they were positioned. Beach towels provided, so I didn't have to bring from the ship. The YC cabanas didn't look luxurious and I thought were on the small side. Large sand beach in front of loungers for families to enjoy. On the beach side, the cabanas we saw are located behind the loungers. Throughout the stay, staff walked the beach to check if guests needed anything. Everything was super convenient. We had lunch at the YC beach restaurant which is located right next to the beach area. It was very nice with a large deck and some tables inside for dining, and with full table and bar service. The day I was there, the YC beach loungers were barely full in use and it was a great weather day. Perhaps guests stayed on the ship or at the other OC beaches? It made for a gloriously serene and quiet beach day! Bimini Beach (which two staff said it was the one they like) was less than a 5 minutes stroll directly across from YC beach. Good snorkeling spot. When we were on the beach in the morning, there were no lifeguards yet, but well worth spending some time. There were lounge chairs but no umbrellas when I was there in the morning. I only went to check out the snorkeling and then returned to YC beach. The lagoon beach was very calm (bit too calm for me), busy and popular with families. This area too is a short stroll from YC beach. So, I used YC beach as my base, and strolled to the other nearby beaches. If you wear water shoes in the YC beach ocean, you should be ok, and the water was warm and appealing. From what I observed and in my opinion, the YC beach cabanas didn't seem to worth it but if one has a need/preference, then go for it! I too have enjoyed cruise island cabanas in the past, and had considered it for my MSC YC experience. FYI - the last shuttle from YC beach back to ship is 4:00 PM - gives time to check out the rest of the island and beaches if ship has late departure. Our sailing had 2 lighthouse light shows - 8:15 PM and 9:00 PM (pre-daylight savings time)! Enjoy!

We were on the 2/25/24 sailing of this ship in YC. To your questions 4 and 5. Show reservations, including the Carousel shows, are made on board; unfortunately, the MSC app is not well designed compared to other major cruise lines and can't make reservations in advance. We saw the Carousel Rock of Circus show, and frankly, we preferred the regular theater production shows. The show was good, but didn't see purpose of charging a fee for it. The cocktails included in the Carousel show were undrinkable for our taste - very watered down. Older children may like the Carousel shows. To your question 7 - I recall linking credit card when check-in opened on the app. If you do, also recommend checking on board that the credit card has in fact been linked, and always get printout of your account statement the evening before disembarkation. Enjoy!

Thank you for this very good, informative cruise report! Your itinerary is one that we had booked in the past but had to cancel for variety of reasons including the pandemic. We hadn't consider booking it again as we weren't sure from reading vs. reality how accessible the countries were to travelers. Now, we're definitely putting it back on our radar for future cruise! Happy new year and more wonderful and exciting travels to all!

We sailed the Summit in May 2023, and Luminae was delicious from day 1! We just sailed the Infinity and food improved for the better over 12 nights, and the Luminae staff was very attentive to our dining experience. Agree that the veal canneloni on the Luminae menu is an odd execution and very heavy for a starter. Try the orecchiette pasta and the veal chop entrees! The Blue Wave is a new fave martini for us!

Sharing an experience I had this past year at a shop on the Celebrity Summit. While browsing, my eyes were surprised when I saw a Lilly Pulitzer dress that I have owned for several years (more than 5 years) and had bought at an "outlet" sale. It was selling for full price and there was a stock of them in the shop. Caution when shopping expensive designer goods on ships, and if possible, do a bit of research before splurging!

Vikal is one of the best staff in Luminae on the Reflection! Attentive service!

I ditto that the oversized comfy lounger on the balcony is amazingly relaxing! We had a Celebrity Suite on Reflection for a Mediterranean cruise and it is one of our favorite Celebrity ships. Am interested in your visit to Malta as it will be one of the ports on our December Celebrity cruise. Enjoy!

Hi, our ship arrived in Santorini at 8:00 AM. The ship excursion to Oia included the tender to Santorini's new port, Athinios, and then the bus to Oia. Can't remember when our excursion left the ship; we arrived in Oia close to 10:00 AM. We left Fira about 7:30 PM before sunset was complete. There was no cable car line and we saw rest of sunset from the cable car.The tender also had no line, waited a bit for tender to fill up and we were back on the ship by 8:30 PM. We left before sunset was done because our thought was that after sunset, there may be more people waiting for the cable cars. For us, Oia was much more beautiful and scenic than Fira and definitely worth the visit. Oia was very crowded in the morning to early afternoon hours since that's when ships arrive. If your ship is one of the few staying until late night, then a late afternoon visit to Oia may be doable. Have a great time!

Hi Kiwigal117 - the return tenders are only at the old port - at the bottom of the cable car in Fira. So you will need to be dropped off in Fira to pick-up the cable car down to where the tenders are.

Haha! I must have been thinking about returning to Tobacco Bay in 2024! We visited last month, May 2023. Thanks for flagging the typo!

We’ve been all over the island of Bermuda on our prior trips. On our latest visit in May 2024, we decided to return to St. George’s as we found it to be calmer, quieter and nicer charm than areas like Hamilton and Royal Navy Dockyard. Our ship docked at the Dockyard and a Norwegian ship was also in port. We took the first ferry from Dockyard to St. George’s (9:45 am; $18 round-trip for 2 persons). This ferry doesn’t run daily so check the online ferry schedule for availability. Fares are purchased at the building facing the ferry dock. It was an easy, scenic 45 minute ride to St. George’s. Once off the ferry in St. George’s, we walked to our destination - Tobacco Bay Beach (TB). It’s about a mile walk with parts slightly uphill. There are taxis by the ferry dock that go to TB. With two ships in port, TB was almost full with guests by the time we arrived around 11 am. We got the last two loungers with attached shades. There are reasons to get to TB in morning, and getting loungers with shades is one reason. The other reason to get to TB in morning? For the clearest water for swimming and snorkeling! TB is shallow for the most part. From the water’s surface, one can see various types of fish! Later in afternoon, guests start to depart and loungers open up, BUT the water at TB and like most waters in the afternoon, clarity gets cloudy from the sand kicking up by people being in the water. So if you are planning to snorkel and seek sea life, go in the morning. Otherwise at any time, TB is wonderful for swimming. A live band was playing and they were absolutely wonderful! The best rum swizzle we had in Bermuda! After an amazing day at TB, we walked back to center of St. George’s to check out shops, and enjoyed another rum swizzle at Wahoo’s Bistro - the nicest staff and comfortable bar vibe. Check out Tobacco Bay! We found it so much more enjoyable than the busier beaches like Horseshoe Bay, even without the pink sands!

Hi Katherine, we didn't check out the offerings of the food vendors. The Kimpton hotel which is right next to the beach has restaurants.

Charla, our dining experience at Raw on 5 on the Beyond was below expectations. The seafood on the small tower was very, very small in size, overcooked and lacked flavor and sweetness. The sushi was bland. Maybe it was an off night for the quality of the seafood used in the dishes. Like you, Raw on 5 likely won't be a must do in our future cruises. I provided this feedback in our post-cruise survey. Eden was delicious!