Cruise-y

Butler service is an amenity for gracious living, No one need rack their brain for things for them to do; let that happen organically. Just be aware that they are available to you and they are willing and able to do whatever is needed to make your cruise better, even if, or especially if, that thing is unique to you.

Excellent point

Hey I love Miami a ton - everything about it - and I don't want to be a party poop about the airport. But while we're on the subject, I do want to say the only time I've ever had anything stolen from my checked luggage has been in Miami (twice). And that's after years of flying all over the world, literally. We were always in a hurry in the Miami airport, so I don't know if that is a factor or not. Just sayin'.....

This has been an interesting and witty and fun thread and I thank everyone for their smart replies. I can see why some people love the butler system, for sure.

Personally, I sure don't want anyone to pack for me because I have too many embarrassing things to pack. I want to know RIGHT where that book is when I have to fish it out at the airport before the suitcase disappears. Like HawaiiDan, I can't get my head around the feudal thing and I don't like people bugging me for trivialities I can do myself. But that's just me. I get up when I want to and I walk down the hall to the concierge lounge for my coffee when I feel like it. On the way, maybe I step out on a deck and look at the sea or maybe I take a couple jogs around the track for some exercise. Maybe I walk the loop to see the 360 degree entrance to the port. Maybe I get a pastry and maybe not; I'll decide when I get there and look at them. I don't need anyone to deliver lukewarm coffee to my room while I sit and wait.

To each his own. Totally. Which is why I probably won't be doing a PH on O.

OK, I know this is a subject that has been discussed heavily in the past and many of you have been on this forum for a long time and have strong opinions. But the latest discussion I could find was over a year old and I'd like a fresh perspective.

Everyone's wants are totally different and I understand that. My reasons for wanting a PH are 1000% for the extra room and larger balcony. We live in a huge metropolitan area and have ready access to steak houses and French restaurants so honestly don't crave the ship's specialty dining. At any rate, I can make my own reservations as fast as I can ask somebody else to do it for me. After 30 years of grueling solo business travel, I have no burning desire to eat in my room. We are very ad hoc and happily adhere to no schedule (unless going on excursions of course). So, I definitely don't want to plan ahead of time when I'm going to have my coffee or breakfast the next day, or when I want my canapés and drinks delivered or even when I'm going to get up. We are very DIY, don't feel comfortable with somebody waiting on us and frankly aren't always dressed decently in our room. (Again, I totally realize this is a personal choice.) However, in short, I don't want or need a butler, but would like to have the extra space of a PH. I don't want to insult these highly-trained, wonderful individuals by ignoring them and I don't know if I'm paying a lot extra for something I'm really not using.

I know the responses are going to be "if you don't want him don't use him" but it's a bit like paying for air travel or an all-inclusive drink package that you don't use. It seems like such a waste. I'd rather have a cheaper "no butler" option. Does anyone agree with this or am I the only rogue here?

Thanks for these comments. We will be in Kotor on a Sunday. Will the shops and restaurants be closed? Would appreciate any insight. Thank you.

After two cruises with O we are very happy with the on board product. I am less than happy with the way they handle the air arrangements, however. So much so that it's putting me off O for future cruises. So I thought I would ask what others think to see if it's just me, or are others ticked off?

 

Without getting into the gory details of individual experiences...

 

1. If you have used O's included air, are you happy with the routing, flights, schedules, and seating?

 

2. If you've used O's air and paid for a deviation are you happy with the result? I'm specifically asking whether you ended up getting reasonable flights, routing, seating, and are you satisfied with any up charge that was applied? Do you feel that the $175 pp fee was reasonable for the service you received?

 

3. If you took the credit and made your own air arrangements, are you satisfied with the amount of the credit offered?

Sopwith -

IMO, the difference is International vs Domestic. I always want to fly business class internationally (because of the longer/usually overnight flight) and I always want to fly in a few days ahead to enjoy the city. I also want to make my own arrangements so I can leave and arrive at my discretion. (I'm not a fan of 6 am flights). I use FF miles, so the credit is what it is and I just take it. I don't worry about it. I realize not everyone has FF miles to use, but it really comes down to what price you put on comfort and convenience.

For a shorter domestic flight, I might be more inclined to put up with the hassle of having a flight dictated to me. You probably can't buy a coach seat for the credit they give.

Many, many years ago I took a cruise with air included (different cruise line) and we were not given seat assignments - but I was assured it was no big deal. The cruises get discounted group fares so you are at the bottom of the pecking order. The flight was overbooked and we would not have been able to board except that the airline kept announcing requests for people to give up their seats (for more and more incentives as time went on) and finally a couple took pity on us. Otherwise, we would have missed our cruise. We had taken a week off of work (which at that time was precious) and had a young child who would have been crushed. I'll never forget how panicked we were.

I swore I'd never book a flight on the same day as a cruise again. In fact, I usually avoid cruise lines that include air for that reason.

I'm going to weigh in for those who may be stressing about not getting an extended balcony. It is deeper (not wider) than a regular balcony. That means you DO have more balcony floor space (with room for a chaise), but it is either darkened by the floor above (so you are in a tunnel) or is open (with less privacy) so that the people in the balconies above can look down on you. These rooms are also located at the front and the back of the ships, so may affect people who are prone to seasickness.

I'm not saying these things are bad, I'm just saying that the extended balcony that everyone covets may not be the greatest thing for some people.

On Royal Caribbean, the Junior Suites have WIDER balcony space than the regular staterooms, so that you have room for a private chaise right up by the ocean. Their Junior Suite balconies are larger than Oceania's Terrace balconies for a similar price.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

 

 

 

Once again: Yes. Yes. Yes.

 

You may get push-back if you ask to speak to a supervisor. The agent will try to intimidate you by saying there will be a wait for a supervisor. Your immediate answer should be "no problem!" It will be much easier to be on hold for a bit rather than miss your trans-Atlantic flight.

 

If you have any kind of physical limitation, this is the time to mention it. As in, "Sorry, but if I have to walk from gate to gate under stress and at top speed because of my tight connection, I'm going to have an asthma attack."

 

If you want to try the technical approach, look up the on-time departure percentages for your flight into Chicago. If the percentage is low, mention that as a reason for wanting to build more time into your layover between flights.

 

Make the phone call prepared to counter any resistance you get from the agent.

Thanks to everyone above for all their help and advice. I appreciate it very much!!

Since everyone is so helpful here about a number of topics, I'm going to post this to get some advice. I know this isn't a "cruise" topic, per se, but all of you fly to get to your cruise destinations so I hope you can advise.

I'm flying to Rome in August (to take an Oceania cruise, but with 2 days in Rome first) and have a connecting flight in Chicago. I've paid for, earned (through copious travel over many years) and saved enough frequent flyer points to fly first class. I booked my flights 8 months in advance, including a a 7 hour layover in Chicago, because I wanted to make sure there were no delay issues. I figured I could sit in the Admiral's club and relax and read for the duration. I'm on vacation, after all.

After a few months, American automatically canceled/changed/whatever my connecting flight to Chicago and automatically re-routed me with only a 55 minute layover in Chicago. I called to try to change back to a different flight with a longer layover, and I got a ton of grief. They told me they couldn't change without canceling the entire trip which would throw me out of first class to Rome, and that every time a flight adjusted itself by a few minutes I would be re-routed to the "best" connection all over again, because that is how their system works. Apparently, the "best" connection is a 55 minute layover.

So my question is two-fold. One, do I have any recourse with American? I sent a complaint to customer service and just got a form letter reply that if I didn't like the flights they'd refund my frequent flyer miles. Yuck - thanks for all the support to your frequent customers. My second question is this.... do you think 55 minutes in Chicago is enough? I know I'm being totally anal but I've spent MANY nights on a cot in the Chicago airport over the course of my business career and all of those experiences sucked.

Thanks for your help and advice.

We are taking an Oceania Riviera cruise in August in the Mediterranean. One of the excursions we have booked is the KRKA National Park and Cruise (docking in Zadar, Croatia). We love the outdoors and always book lots of hiking and swimming excursions wherever we go. However, I can't tell from this excursion's description whether or not we should bring our water socks and swimming suits. It looks beautiful and I hope we can swim and walk in the water, but the description doesn't say that. Has anyone taken this excursion and can you expound a bit here for me? Thank you very much!

Hello. Can you tell me if you are allowed to walk in the water? I was wondering if I should bring water socks. Thank you

I think in some ways this is kinda moot. I never wear jeans in the Caribbean or the Med because they are too hot. I like to cruise to warm climates in warm months and do lots of pool time on sea days. To me, that's the whole point of being on the ocean. Plus, jeans take up too much suitcase room. But I know some people like to cruise to Alaska, the Norwegian fjords, etc. I don't know how I'd do nice-but-casual on those cruises.

This topic has been over-discussed already, but it is just too fascinating to not reply.

I live in Dallas, an area with great upscale dining venues, and fashion jeans are always welcome in the 4 and 5 star restaurants. That means dark skinny jeans with a luxury silk blouse or, for men, pressed/creased jeans with a sport coat. There are a few of the older, stodgier places that won't accept, but they are the rare exceptions.

I chose Oceania over Crystal solely because my husband and I don't want to dress up for dinner. That doesn't mean we don't want to look nice and groomed and well-presented, that just means we don't want to wear ties and nylons and chiffon in the warm climes of the Caribbean or the Med.

Since we seem to have (sort of) segued into comparing Crystal and Oceania, I'll throw in my 2 cents. In planning an autumn Med cruise, I looked at both lines very seriously. In the end, I chose Oceania. Partly because the itinerary matched what we wanted, but also because Crystal has 2 formal nights. This particular European trip of ours is 2 months in length, with train travel in Italy, a Paris apartment and the 8-day cruise in the middle of it all. We didn't want to pack suits, shined shoes and other formal attire since we need to travel light. And, I guess we're just slobs at heart and feel more comfortable in business casual, nice sundresses and sandals. We live in a big city and can dress up to eat any time we want, so that formality just isn't an appeal on vacation.

Also, personally, I'd rather use my online credit to choose the wines I want with dinner. It might be nice to have wine included in the price (Crystal), but my experience is that the free stuff is always something I don't particularly like. I don't want to be stuck with a cloying Chardonnay if I don't want it.

We are in our 60's but our cruise selections over the past 30 years have always been totally itinerary, food and cabin based. Even in our 30's, we didn't care about discos, casinos, nightclubs, shows, or any of that stuff. Frankly, I've never seen a cruise show that was all that good anyway, and that includes many with celebrity (albeit B celebrity) entertainers. On sea days, my favorite pastime is a high-class pool, a good view of the passing ocean, a gourmet buffet lunch and a good book or NY Times Sunday Crossword. So, to each his own; I don't think it is age based. JMO

We have just published the review of our Recent southern Caribbean cruise on the Riviera to our website, which you can get to by clicking the link in my signature.

 

Since it was a Code Red cruise, I did include photos of how the disinfectant was sprayed and wiped on so many surfaces. Although some people did not enjoy their cruise, particularly those that contracted Noro, we had a great time and only had minimal inconveniences. I appreciated that Oceania did everything they could to protect us from getting Noro; although it was a lot of extra work for the crew, who still provided great service and friendly smiles.

 

The reason we went on this cruise was because most of the ports were new to us. We had some great private tours; as well as a couple ship tours on these interesting islands. I hope you enjoy the review and that it helps in your cruise planning.

Would LOVE to see your review because they are always so great (thank you!) but cannot get the "hand" to appear over the ship and therefore cannot get in. Have refreshed, restarted, recached, all that re-stuff. Nothing works.

As long as we're on this whole subject, I guess I'll ask a question too. To me, the extra room (both inside and out) is the only reason to upgrade. It's a great reason by itself.

The lounge is nice to be able to have close, ready-made coffee in the morning, so I can whip down the hall in 2 minutes and be back to my balcony with it while the spouse sleeps in. (I don't want to troop up 3 levels and down multiple corridors to find it and wait for it - and I don't want to fumble around making/spilling it in those yucky room machines.) But cruisers get that perk on the Concierge level too.

But I don't get the butler thing. I don't mind going to the restaurant to eat. We always sit at a table for 2 anyway. The food will be fresher/hotter there and I don't really want to eat crowded in at the foot of my bed. What does the butler do, exactly? He brings you room service in the middle of the night? He double-checks your shore excursion reservations? He brings you snacks? What? We like luxury but we're very independent and I can't think of anything I need a butler for.

So, other than the extra room (which I totally get), help me understand the rest of it. Thanks

Thanks for your input everyone! We will be in a balcony this summer on Insignia but I have been thinking about a world cruise so I thought we would try an inside in March. We were in a mini suite on Princess and it was noisy constantly. We must have been near something may be it was a generator. Very annoying - so I am kind of leary of "white spaces" on deck plans.

 

Thanks

Hi Deus -

Everyone has to do what they need based on frequency of cruising and budget restrictions. 30 years ago when my son was small and we didn't have much time off of work nor much discretionary income, we booked interior cabins and were thrilled to have them. Back then, most cruise lines had a lot of interior, lower cabins. On one trip, we stayed in a Windjammer Barefoot cruise cabin the size of a closet, that had to be accessed by a ladder, with bunk beds only... but oh my, what a great, great itinerary to teeny, unknown, rainforest islands in the lower, lower, lower Caribbean! As time went on, and we had a little more money to spend, we worked our way up from small port holes to larger windows, to balcony cabins and finally to suites. Today, it seems that the majority of most cabins are balconies, because that is what everyone wants. That is certainly true of Oceania.

With all that said, I will tell you this... once you have had a balcony, you will not want to go back to an interior cabin. Especially for a long world cruise.

The classes accommodate 24 students so book early they fill up fast.

I have the handout and notes from the course prepared by Chef Kathryn Kelly. The class is very hand’s on and you get to eat everything you make. Don't plan a big dinner the afternoon or day you take the class. Each team of two has a cooking station with everything needed. Flavors, nutrients, ingredients are all described. The class varies by the chef instructor and the ports of call if specific ingredients are needed or local technique is unique. The recipes featured include: Pan-seared Lacquered salmon, Wasabi Mashed potatoes, Coconut pan-fried shrimp with chili garlic sauce, Shallow-poached fish with creamy butter sauce, Golden semolina-quinoa-spinach cakes, Deep poached salmon salad, court bouillon, Baked Chiliean sea bass in miso sauce, Baked Shrimp scampi, Brazilian scallops with coconut lime glaze and coconut rice, Aquavit-cured salmon, Tropical beach Ceviche.

 

The techniques covered in the class were: Pan-searing/sauteing, Pan Frying, Poaching both shallow and deep methods, Grilling, Curing, Baking fish.

 

The chef’s tips included: instant polenta, acid marinade, entertaining tips on advanced prep, buying fish.

 

 

 

We are fairly good cooks. Our son is a chef and a chef instructor in a public school vocational program. We have owned a restaurant with him and worked both front and back of the house, while we worked at our professional careers. We are retired now, thank God, and enjoy learning and cooking. We learned something new at every class or demonstration we have been fortunate to attend on board (12 so far). The learning is very differentiated so that beginner to experts can enjoy and learn new skills. Highly recommended for foodies.

Thank you Bill! This was very informative and helpful!

I did want to mention that the drinks of the day, normally priced at $6.50 each are not eligible for happy hour. You can order them, but you only get one for the price. Also, when you order a drink at happy hour, they will bring you the first one and then ask you when you want the second one brought. This keeps the drink from getting warm. That is if you are a slow drinker. :D

Mike, I'm sure you've had many tell you this but let me also add that I really appreciate the photos and information you have posted on your website about the Riviera. It has answered many of my questions about the room storage space, the layout, the terrace views, the pool amenities, etc. Thank you so much! It's superb and has been a big help.

Has anyone taken the onboard culinary class called "What Mermaids Know"?

I realize this is an old thread but it is a subject that I have been searching lately, so I assume others may be as well.

The "extended" balconies sound great, but it seems that you are just getting the same vista width with just a longer tunnel to it. It is more room, and yes, you can have a lounger, but that lounger is parallel to the divider so you still look at the sea through your toes.

I'm more concerned about the cabins above. If I upgrade to a PH3, it looks to me that I am on top of one of those extended balconies so I am looking down onto somebody's cleavage and drying beach ware instead of looking down onto the sea.

I like privacy on my balcony. Sometimes I sit out in my nightie or less (if not in port).

Just sayin....

The chance of getting an up grade your self just aint gonna happen...they go to agents In addition, this is an out of the system accounting problem...gotta cancel one refund, then book a new

 

While its your choice whether to use an Agent or not....you do realize that you buying always at full list with the absolute min , if any benefits? And any potential benifit you might get, will never come close to what even an average agent could get for you... A look at the past 5 yeas booking with an agent is literally thousands upon thousands of dollars saved vs your self.

OK, so you are saying that the cruise lines charge LESS for an agent to do the booking, even though they have to pay that agent a percentage fee? Sounds odd to me.

Is there any way to do a cabin upgrade from your online account? I've always booked everything myself online and don't use a TA. Thanks

Thanks for your report. Appreciate the photos.

I haven't been on the Riviera yet (countdown 4 months) but that looks like a walking/running track that goes all the way around that top deck. Most cruises I've been on have that feature and I use it every morning to power walk 2 miles and enjoy a 360 degree view of the latest port before the day's excursions. It has to be "grippy" so that you won't slip while walking or running. Therefore it can't be teak. If that is what it is, then I'm thrilled because with all the anticipated good food, I'm going to need it.