Roland4

Back in the "bad old days" of two seatings, they did one for each.

Actually now until almost the end of January, at least up here in the (currently not-so-much) Frozen North. Been doing this for almost 20 years and January is usually my slowest month for departures.

One of the things we liked on Silver Moon back in February/March was the SALT Lab/SALT Kitchen/SALT Bar. The Lab had the cooking classes, the Kitchen was the restaurant, where the menu changed as the ship moved to different regions. As a bonus, the dress code was always casual. And for those who have not been there, SeaAirLandTaste. It would be great if Crystal could replicate this on a new ship.

I asked Scott Peterson about this in September, and it is "permanent", at least while on this side of the pond. USPHS and Health Canada rules for ships require a hand washing station at any buffet to allow for self-service. He said they looked at numerous ways to do this for the Bistro, but none worked/made sense.

Keep the guest count at +/- 650 to 700 people. We just returned from Oceania Vista with 1200 of our "new best friends", and yes, it was a full ship. Even though it is virtually the same size as Serenity, it always felt crowded.

We are on Oceania Vista on our last two sea days before heading home Friday. Other than some showers in St. Bart's, and possibly again tomorrow, the weather has been pretty much perfect, lots of sunshine and temps in the 27/30 C range each day. Have a great trip!

I will never forget that 2005 Alaska sailing! I developed a horrible case of gout in my right knee and old people in walkers were passing me in the halls like I was standing still and asking me to get out of the way!! 😮 😮 😮

From reports here, it seems to be a "hit & miss" thing. We did not get ours for Reykjavik in September, but they wrote our room number (only) on the tags at the pier and that worked fine.

From 2000 to 2003, and then a couple more before she left in 2005.

Why does it matter?? The original topic of this thread was exhausted months ago, so it's not like we are anymore off-topic than normal! 🙂

We have not had to pull our cards out as often as I had feared we might. We have the Premium Package, and after our first pass through the various lounges, the barkeeps know we have it, so we only pull it out when we leave. Have not had to use it for any of the evening dining venues, though the MDR and specialties do ask for your room number. You don't even need the card to get on and off the ship. They are using a facial recognition system that apparently compares your face to the photo on file. It is faster as you don't have to stand there waiting for the person at the head of the line who apparently forgot to take out their card in advance and is now rummaging through all their worldly posessions to find it!!😁

A slight correction if I may. Under the Simply More pricing programme Oceania does include the basic beverage package and the internet package, but not gratuities. It may be a bit more inclusive, but it is certainly not "all inclusive".

We are on Oceania Vista at the moment, and if it is "all inclusive" then someone forgot to tell the staff onboard. You can get a basic beverage package that includes beer, wine and soft drinks only in the dining room/specialty restaurants for $39.95/person/day. After that you can upgrade to the $69.95/person/day premium package, which includes everything up to $18.00/drink, which includes almost everything except the high end single malts. The alternative is a la carte. And the $18.00/person/day gratuities are still getting charged to our onboard account. If that is your idea of "all inclusive" ............

The view from our balcony on Oceania Vista on our way to San Juan. We are doing 20 knots into a 30 know wind, so needless to say it's a bit of a bumpy ride up here on Deck 11!!!!! 🙂😁🙃

Our dinner this evening at Trulucks Miami, courtesy of Moecker and Associates. We would have had the same meal anyway, but it tasted so much better knowing it was paid for with money we never thought we would ever see again!!!!! We board Oceania Vista tomorrow for 12 nights in the Caribbean.

We are booked on Symphony in April for ten days Athens R/T. I received an e-mail on my agent account today saying that out of an abundance of caution all stops in Isreal and surrounding countries were being replaced until further notice. Our overnight in Haifa has been replaced and we will have an overnight in Istanbul, along with other adjustments to the itinerary to make that work. Having never been to Istanbul, we are happy with the change.

We received ours in today's mail, so they are finally getting to Canada!!

All of the lines do these "new ship" junkets for TAs (mostly) so this is nothing new. We have only done one, on Harmony of the Seas in 2016, on the night Trump won the election, but that is another story! The cruise is "free", but everything else, is at your own expense. They do take good care of you, and the booze flows freely, though you inevitably end up having dinner with a rep from the line who tries to tell you how wonderful everything is.

Have a great time!!!!! 🍾🍾🍾

On our Reykjavik/Quebec cruise in September, with only 150 of us, it was closer to 5:1crew to guest!!!🙂

I have been following the Explora board since the ship started sailing, and it would seem that once you "back out" the numbers of "freebies" (TAs and "influencers') it would appear the actual number of paying guests was right around the 150 we had on Serenity!!🙂 We will at some point try Explora, but not until we see what happens once the ship is sailing closer to capacity. I remember all the negative comments during the first sailing(s) about crowding and the unavailability of restaurant reservations in certain venues, and that was with maybe 300 guests?? What is going to happen when that number gets up to 750 - 900?? I asked that same question of an Explora rep at an industry event, and the response was "It is going to be interesting"!! I wish them success, as we do need additional options in the "luxury" end of the market.

It is indeed. The Viking Crown Lounge is a dead give-away! Looks like a Freedom Class ship, a mere twice the size, plus some, of Serenity!!!

"Bug Light Park"?? Having never been to Portland, I am intrigued by such an unusual name!! 🙂

On many of the newer ships, if you want a room of a certain size, you have no choice. One of the things we really liked about Silver Moon is La Dolce Vita lounge obviated the problem, as we always went from our room to that lounge before dinner! 🙂

When we were on Serenity a month ago I had an interesting conversation with the Onboard Consultant. Crystal fully expected these low numbers through the Summer and Fall. They were so late coming to market with the 2023 itineraries that most people, like ourselves, already had made bookings with other lines. We actually "squeezed in" the sailing we were on. She said that numbers would start to increase significantly starting the beginning of November and right through into 2024. Anecdotally, many of the cruises around the holidays are close to fully booked.