UDSpud

Recently I have been thinking about changes I would like to see (especially related to my scheduled March 20 Trans-Atlantic sailing).  Note that some relate to a very recent

Cruise Critic News article on possible cruise ship entertainment changes.  My thoughts follow:  Some may be Marina/Riviera specific.

1.  Sea day lunch seating, with spacing, in one or more specialty restaurants.   This would include limited and possibly little of no related specialty menu items (ie. little or no Asian

     food at Red Ginger Lunch)  This would permit greater table spacing in the Main restaurant and the Terrace.

2.  One half hour before lunch at Waves clear out some deck chairs and widen the table spacing forward.  Design a paper order form based upon the menu with a table number

     and changes section (ie "no fries) to limit lines

3.  Evening reservation times for the Terrace.  (6:30, 7:15 & 8:00 ?)

4,  Bar service at the back outside of the Terrace after food service closes.

5.  Show Reservations, including specifically assigned and spaced seats.  (Also try specific seating times with front rows early and back seats later.

6.  For production show staff, Marina and Riviera, two-four fewer dancers and add one singer-dancer.  One singer- dancer would then perform at Horizon's while the production

     show is on in the main show room.

7.  Consider a nose covering only mask, so one could eat/drink with the nose protected (I can already fold up and under a standard paper (one time use variety mask) to protect

     other from my nose exhales and sneezes).

I would welcome any and all other suggestions (other than I quit making suggestions as my wife has already done this.

Perhaps a lot of this back and forth can be avoided with a few extra words such as the following:

  1. "please consider"

  2. "weigh your personal situation"

  3. "discuss with your significant other or travel companion"

Unfortunately, most things in life (and cruising) are not "one size fit all".

I have not seen the following suggestion -  try a port intensive 7- 10 day Oceania European cruise, especially if you can compromise on lunches for local food.  Consider any foods you especially like in the cruise schedule choice.

My wife loves duck breast and had two excellent lunches outside Tallinn Estonia and Riga, Estonia.  Both were at a local resort (seaside) location where the big city locals would spend on good/ great food.  Another tip is to be nice to the top Oceana food and beverage officer on your cruise.  I was and she gave us a excellent restaurant reference for our over-night stay in Bordeaux France.

Finally, Oceania O class ships offer cooking classes.  If you are lucky, you could learn how to cook and modify a personal favorite dish.

B-2Bs Best

In case you do not know -  There is a very good Oceania Roll Call for this cruise.  I believe it is up to 23 pages.

Well, hopefully we don't have to worry about smaller seat sizes, fewer bathrooms, poorer foods and less food and bad passenger behavior that you can not escape easily.  Edit out the poorer foods comment if you wish.

Hawaiidan has topped himself  with the first comment.  His response is measured and thoughtful.  Today's Wall Street Journal has an article about share prices of cruise line corporations and airlines having severe drops.  Oceania will adjust and NCL, Inc. will also.  Cancelling now all cruises in Asia (or some part thereof) until the  third quarter of 2020 is a bold step. (If I remember right this  involves 16 Norwegian cruises, 10 Oceania cruises and 6 Regent cruises.)

As an individual passenger, I have learned not to evaluate a cruise line based upon a single cruise.  Sometimes  on this board, I have read a person who proclaims they have sailed regularly on Oceania.  They  have a poor recent cruise and end the post with "I am done with Oceania", "No more" or "I am switching to brand X, C, V, S, A or other."  

Personally, I had booked two Oceania cruises for most of April.  Unfortunately, they involve a lot of Italian stops. I will try to make the best of the situation.  In retrospect, I have generally been treated well by Oceania, its employees and

my fellow passengers. This includes a few times I did not deserve such good treatment.  The sun will continue to rise in the East and set in the West.

At the risk of damaging Hawaiidan's reputation, I usually agree with his opinions.

Just a thought -  If you are considering, or have booked an upcoming cruise, have you gotten a flu shot since last summer?  (this flu season)

I have not seen any news comments about American citizens that have been confirmed to have the coronavirus that answers this question  -  Did they have a current flu shot ? 

My next Oceania cruise is in April  (TA and Med) and I intend to get a booster flu shot to follow up on my October 2019 flu shot.  It may not prevent the coronavirus, but may decrease the effects. 

As far as other issues discussed in this thread, I note the following.  There are many times on cruises and shore excursions, before I start, that I remind myself that I am 75, not 25. (and plan accordingly).

chrisrich68 - Glad you enjoyed your Oceania cruise. Believe you were on the Marina.  Happy you enjoyed inter-action with the entertainment troupe.  I have found Oceania entertainment troupe individuals from England, Scotland and Wales to be very pleasant, especially considering Oceania's somewhat older demographic.  

Thanks to "Rob the Cruiser"  for the additional hygiene suggestions.  These seem mild upon hearing that an entire

China city is quarantined.  

Consider the following  -

1. - If Oceania cruises in the past have been good to very good to excellent, are some expecting too much?

2. -  Has Oceania been neglected by Norwegian Inc?.  An example is new ships for Norwegian and Regent since the merger/acquisition.

3. - Has there been some ship specific, or cruise specific, changes to the Marina, that are not reflected on the Oceania fleet?  Note the Viking board comments about the Viking Sky.

4. - Are Lawyers and lawsuits decreasing fun on cruises in general ?  Will Oceania follow the Viking lead and not allow children under 18 to avoid lawsuits such as "open window" issues?   Are we as Oceania passengers at fault for similar  issues?   How many of us ignore the shore excursion warnings often related to age mobility and strength issues?  It has been my impression that more than half my fellow male Oceania passengers do not wash their hands or us the small tissue on the bathroom door handle when exiting.

5.  If so many are unhappy, why do prices stay high and ships rooms often book up early?

tote bags -

Use mine - which  I have received from  many sources - at the grocery.  I try to help  the environment with less plastic bags and they work better with lots of canned goods.  My wife puts her purse in one to carry more things in an Airline Personal item.

To LHT28 (Lyn?) re: posting 11/21/2019 at 3:04.

Based upon recent comments on this board (if not this topic), you may have all  ready had your last "Oceania plastic straws".  

By the way, my middle name is Lynn, sorry if I took one of your "n's

Re: Oars   Since their are only passenger cabins of one side of the ship on deck three, unless the crew on the other side has oars, you will possible row the ship in a big circle. 

Warning - We had one of these cabins, which I liked.  But when the waves got bigger, my wife thought the water level appeared to be higher than the porthole (even though the water did not hit the porthole), which she did not like.

WHY?   The passengers, the officers and the crew (short version - the people) 

Response for tocruiseguy - Something that may effect your decisions re: entertainment.

On the Riviera and Marina, the Oceania production company (dancers/singers and singer/dancers) help with the deck games and possibly some other Big O points activities.  If you are pleasant and aware of the age difference, you can, especially on longer and more sea day cruises, get to know them to the point that they recognize you.  I like to see production shows, with my wife, where I know, to a small degree, some  of the performers.  This can, rarely, extend to a direct smile, look or point toward me during a production number ( a subtle hello ). Seats in the front row or on the aisle near the front work can make this possible.

Keep in mind that these production crew singers and dancers are rarely "seasoned, experienced professionals".

Usually they try hard and some will surprise with their advanced skills.

To ricka47 -  Thanks for a balanced and well written review.  Had you sailed on Oceania before?  If so, how about the Marina and Riviera?  When you booked, were you aware of the age of the Insignia?

Will look forward to your next review.

Assuming that Oceania and NCL corporate types read the Oceania Board, it may be time for users of this board to make improvement suggestions.

I will get  it started with the following:

1.  A daily sheet, or page, of things going on in the port stop that day.  Special exhibitions at museums, farmers markets, daytime sport events, concerts that fit the ships

in port time, etc   This would be especially helpful for things one could walk to from the port.

I have others, but want to hear from others.

Advice - take it or leave it.  For the events (Oceania club members and Captains) in Horizons, I always dress upscale.

For me that is a sports coat, dress shirt (with tie), a dressy vest, appropriate non- khakis dress slacks and dress shoes with appropriate socks.

.

Is it necessary? - no.  Is it appreciated by the ships officers in the reception line and the well dressed production company singer/dancers? - definitely yes.(IMO and experience)

While part of the high survey results for Viking Ocean are deserved, their "what we are" and "what we are not" helps limit poor reviews.  Some will complain about an Oceania cruise if there are children under 18 on board and Viking does not have to worry about this.  The same situation exists with casino's.  People who want them may not sail Viking and will not  complain about  "no casino's" (or any casino related complaints)

My new Travel and Leisure cruise survey as Viking rated highest in their category and arrived several months after I received a letter from Viking requesting I vote for  them in the Travel and Leisure survey.  I chose to vote for Oceania with my $$,$$$.$$.

While timing and noise levels may be the main reasons for the MDR vs Terrace Café decisions for many, I like the quick sample approach and creativity possible with the Terrace Café.

I can request a very small cup of a new, to me, soup and go back and get some more if I really  like the sample.  I can also create a salad out of several basic choices and many add on choice items.   Oceania's Terrace Café usually(or always?) has a small serving plate of small unusual sandwich to try.  Desserts, you get to see and request the portion size you wish (the young server will often position the knife or ask the count to verify your request). A similar portion of carved meat exists as you can ask for more or less and often light or dark. They even served me the ear of a cooked pig  after verifying that I really wanted to try it. The aforementioned may be reasons why the Terrace Café may get crowded. 

 It is not unusual to see ship officers there later in the dinner hour.  I have also occasionally seen passengers leave the MDR for dinner desert at the Terrace Café.

Just a  thought.   Many people on this thread seem to question, criticize, complain about the MDR on port days.  Since the ship personnel should know how many are on or off the ship, an issue for Oceania becomes one of timing and people changing their minds about coming back on for lunch.

My suggestion -  Oceania should consider a combination MDR for popular to medium popular port day lunches.  By combination I mean a limited menu service and a limited buffet.  Ideally, these offerings would be publicized as to the choices available ahead of time (at least the night before, like on the bed with the Currents) and advance warnings that menu service could be delayed if more passengers than expected arrive at the MDR that day for lunch.

Another Oceania labor planning choice would the first course and dessert from that MDR buffet and the main by menu, with waiter service and prepared by order.  This idea attempts to mimic the large occasional holiday brunches in the MDR (without the degree of show).

Additional cruise critic Oceania board user ideas are welcome.  This thread has highlighted a problem, lets hear some more solutions. 

Cheers  to Hawaiidan on his 6/29/2019 post.  Glad to hear there are a few Oceania cruisers who use DIY (do it yourself) in lieu of paid shore excursions.

I like interactions with locals when I travel.  I get to spend most of my year with Americans.  Yes, you should plan ahead and use common sense.  Our last trip on Oceania had a stop at Tangiers, Morocco.  The wife was worried and stayed on the ship.  I walked all over, but was careful to try and stay on main streets with lots of people and in the daylight. 

Another thing is to find smaller towns or suburbs near the port city.  Often there may be no shore excursions to them, but they have the benefit of not being swarmed with tourists.  Local public buses and trains can be reasonably priced and often have local passengers willing to help tourists.  Sometimes even foreign tourists will help you.  A  French couple once helped us get a special train fare from St. Jean-de-Luz FR to Sabastian SP for 20 Euro's round trip for both my wife and I (conversation with them was free)

My next Oceania cruise is a 10 day Baltic cruise from Stockholm in August which we will fly into after 4 days at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  At the Warnemunde port stop, I will get to do my favorite past DIY excursion to Stralsund via train from Warnemunde and Rostock.  It is a wonderful former East German town on the Baltic which was largely spared during WWII due to very little military or industrial value.

I will take Oceania shore excursions to use onboard ship credits that are not refundable.

One solution for the adventuresome - research nearby smaller towns, especially those with excellent (frequent) public bus and/or train service from the port city.

For example, on back to back cruises with Southampton in the middle, take the train from Southampton to Winchester.  The town has major tourist attractions, good restaurants and flat easy walking with frequent train service.  Since there are some passengers leaving the Oceania ship and others coming to the ship to board, Oceania usually has offered a shuttle bus from the ship to the train station.

Another is Dinard, France which is a short passenger boat ride across the harbor from St. Malo. 

We are taking an Oceania Baltic cruise in August and I have all ready noted small DIY (do it yourself) towns near Helsinki, Riga, Klaipeda and Tallinn.

The small town approach is best if you have seen the big major city tourist attractions already.

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My post - 4th from bottom on page 59 - re: MSN & Viking Sky "...some passengers were sucked into the ocean as the wave receded..."

I made this post last night just  before our library was to close.  After posting, I printed out the MSN page with the above quote.  At that time I learned that it was a Asheville NC Citizen-Times story. Per the story, two Asheville resident couples (the Umbergers and the Barkus's) were on the cruise and, I assume, were probably the main source of the comments.

Only the Barkus's were in the dining room muster station site. ( the Umbergers were in the forward theater muster station)  "Bruce Barkus said the couple isn't yet ready to discuss their harrowing experience - ' its all still too  raw' ".  Per the account - "But he (I presume Mr. Barkus) gave permission to his cruise companion Winslow Umberger to provide an outline of what the Barkuses lived through, according to conversations they shared about the experience."

I choose to assume that passengers in the dining were sucked around by ocean water as the wave receded, but were not sucked into the ocean outside the ship.

I am sorry for not making clear the original news outlet for this account in my original quote.   Perhaps Viking knows if any furnishings were sucked out of the dining room into the ocean and lost, but I still have not seen any report of people, crew or passengers being sucked, or swept, into the ocean.

I am posting this due to what may be at least a very poorly worded comment on this event I just read on MSN -Lifestyle

entitled " We survived the Norwegian cruise accident and still recommend Viking" .  Right under this heading was the name Elizabeth Anne Brown.

The third section of this report was called "Pinned down by Artic water"

In referring to the windows broken in the dining room ( I believe it was muster station B ) this appeared - " and some passengers were sucked into the ocean as the wave receded "

Having read most of the 59 cruise credit pages included before this and other outside reports, I have read nothing to indicate that any passengers were "sucked into the Ocean itself ( ie were sucked off the ship ).

Please advise if I am wrong or were passengers just sucked across the dining rom by ocean water.