Vallesan

Hank maybe ask if they could play ‘one more set’ they might just be able to do that! Sounds like you’re having a great cruise. Thanks for your posts and just ‘Keep Enjoying’!

We have not traveled to the US that many times and it has only been in Florida. I assume your pre-cruise stay wasn’t much better than ours! As you say it could very well be down to having very different social cultures. Glad you enjoyed your cruise on Vista!

I was just relating ‘my experience’ in Miami. I agree a hotel room not being serviced isn’t the end of the world but just a bit annoying when you’ve done a long haul flight and want to rest in the afternoon. Yes, of course this can happen anywhere in the world but that doesn’t really excuse it especially when you’re paying Intercontinental rates! Maybe your experience of ‘rudeness’ in Europe is partly down to differences in language and culture?

I was just relating ‘my experience’ in Miami. I think you may have misread my post as I was talking only about that experience, and those people, not ‘most Americans’. If you go to a restaurant that serves bad food or take a trip that doesn’t live up to your expectations, wherever that may happened to be, you probably wouldn’t repeat the experience, when there are so many other choices. I’m sure ‘most Americans’ would feel the same. A ‘bad’ experience wherever, is unlikely to entice you to go back!

I was just relating ‘my experience’. I don’t judge the entire country by my trip to Miami, which actually I didn’t ’pick’, rather it was ‘picked’ for me, as that’s where the cruise was departing from! We actually had an amazing time in Sarasota several years ago but that was a place we did ‘pick’!

We have gold and BA blue. There are usually airline/ hotel offers but never seem cruise offers. Maybe I’ve just missed them!

OK! Very briefly we sailed from Miami February 2023. Arrived at the airport. I have assistance. Collected luggage, assistant called porter to take said luggage, 2 cases. He walked less than 50 yards to taxi stand. OH gave him $5, …” not enough” says the porter, “ it’s $10! Intercontinental. Toro Toro restaurant for dinner. Pretty empty. Waited on by pleasant lady. Towards the end of the meal a young man, who’d not served us, came up to our table…. “ Can you leave me a tip as the service charge is kept by the hotel”! I gave him a ‘tip’ …. but not to be repeated here! Not to do with tipping but added to our experience the hotel failed to service our room until 5pm and that was after bringing the issue to the attention of the front desk several times. When the room was eventually serviced the tray from the previous evening was left in the room. Expect far more from an Intercontinental! Anyway, the whole experience left us less than happy to return to the US. Not sure we would ever get used to the rudeness in general and the ‘tipping’ culture in particular.

Another perk we don’t get in the UK. Maybe Amex thinks we never cruise!

I agree with you. We always tip for good service unless there’s a service charge already added which is becoming more widespread these days. We also always tip over and above the gratuities on Oceania and other lines. However we don’t tip as a ‘bribe’! I won’t repeat our experience at the Intercontinental in Miami last year, but suffice it to say it has just about put us off travelling to the US again!

We have travelled mainly on the R class ships and would only sail in PH on them as the lower cabins are just too small. On the Riviera we have sailed both PH and Concierge. Concierge is ‘adequate’ but PH is just that much more spacious with a much wider balcony. We didn’t have much use for the butler on the Riviera, but then it was not only our first Oceania cruise, it was our first ever ‘modern’ cruise. We learnt as time went on that actually the butler was a ‘lovely’ extra. He would more or less bring what we wanted, olives, nuts and crisps instead of the canapés that we didn’t enjoy. One really rough night in the South China Sea we had tea and English muffins in the early hours of the morning. There were lots of other nice touches too. It’s just a case of ‘asking’ and it they can they will. However, in saying all that there is 24 hour room service. We just found the PH suites just that much more ‘special’. It’s a ‘bucket list trip’ and you can do PH so I would say go for it!

We travelled on the Seabourn Encore from Singapore to Dubai. We casually asked for Albarino for lunch but they didn’t have any on board. At the very next port they took Albarino onboard and we had it every lunchtime after that. Definitely ‘above and beyond’ especially as we weren’t even in a Spanish area! However, I must qualify this by saying this was back in 2018! Oh how I times have changed!

Both sparkling.

Yes I have similar feelings although we have on a couple of occasions used a cruise line package but I upgraded the transfers to private ones. Can’t see any fun in waiting around for a ‘bus load’ of people. We did have one unfortunate experience when a TA ‘unpackaged’ then ‘repackaged’ an Oceania cruise. I only found out when the flight times changed and I rang the airline only to find the ticket had been booked through a consolidator and not Oceania! Anyway, we live and learn!

Thank you. I misread the post I didn’t realise it was just airlines and hotels who don’t pay commission. From my not so good experiences with consolidators I find it better to book directly with an airline. I have far more control that way!

Glad you’re enjoying your cruise overall. It’s amazing how much can be achieved simply by ‘asking’! We have found in the past that many things are possible just by asking the question. Thank you for your reviews and keep enjoying!

In the UK agents earn commission from cruise lines etc. How do they earn money in the US?

We ‘cruise’ as our holiday. For us, and I’m sure many others, ‘cruising’ acts as a ‘floating hotel’. OLife or SimplyMore are in some ways irrelevant. We’d tend now to travel in the Med and have been to most ports. We just enjoy the ‘ambience’ of a cruise ship. Not everyone takes a cruise to ‘see’ every part of the world. When we travelled to ‘see the world’ it was always land based. We were lucky to see most places we wanted to see and now our ‘relaxed’ type of trip is cruising.

Yes you’re probably right! Memory could be fading! You could be right about another line. Certainly on our Silversea cruise at lunch times the sommelier wandered around with a bottle of each and got quite ‘snooty’ when I asked for something different. I was quite surprised to be honest. In the GDR however they learnt our preferences and just used to leave the bottle on the table! Nothing in life is ‘perfect’ but I’m sure we will all ‘survive’ with what’s on offer.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. We’ve not sailed with Oceania since February last year before SimplyMore was added. From what I remember the Terrace wine menu at lunch was much bigger and we were definitely able to have the Albarino at lunch. If my memory serves me correctly in the evenings they usually served a red and a white by the glass. I don’t recall a wine by the glass menu in the evening. If you had a drinks package they served their choice of wines but we often asked for another, maybe a Rioja or a Malbec and they always found us something that was acceptable. Maybe things have changed!

Or just add a ‘shocking pink or lime green’ luggage strap to your black, navy or grey case!

I would have thought with a ‘75 day window’ you won’t have any trouble getting the times you want even after a good nights sleep! We’ve never had an issue even with the 60 day window.

That’s really disappointing! What have they done with my Albariño? I can only see one wine that I would enjoy from that menu! SimplyMore, in this case really does look like SimplyLess! Are there other wines available with the upgraded package?

I agree with you 100% Some of the lasting memories we have are from sailing up the river into the centre of Saigon and similarly into Klong Toey in Bangkok. Last summer in the Norwegian Fjords whilst we were able to sail directly into Flam etc we saw some large, but not ‘monstrous’, ships anchored way out of the small towns. To me it would be really sad to see the end of ‘small’ ship cruising. Looks like the ‘luxury’ sector is building more expedition ships so maybe there is still ‘hope’!

I’m not sure which of us is confused here! Firstly, I’ve never sailed on Vista so have no thoughts about her and have certainly not classed her as the ‘be-all and end-all’ of Oceania ships. In fact I’ve not mentioned her at all part from asking a question about flooring. I have, however sailed way in excess of 100 days on other Oceania ships so am pretty familiar with them. Secondly, as I’ve never dined in Ember and I have never mentioned it in any post, you must be confusing me with someone else. When you say I’m confused about ‘fine dining’ and a ‘sophisticated’ setting. I have never mentioned Jaques in any post either because it’s my least favourite of all the speciality restaurants and I certainly don’t see it as a ‘fine’ example of French dining! However, when you have sailed on Vista please let us hear your ‘first hand’ reviews.

I really think, from what you are saying, that Oceania is just not a ‘fit’ for you anymore! Maybe you should try and find a line, on which you would want to spend $350-500 per couple per day, for superior food, service etc. You are actually paying bottom dollar for a ‘premium’ product and I wish you luck in finding better at your price point.