Harters

30 minutes ago, Fam_Cruise said:

from TAXI Drivers (drumming up business)

No mention of the strike by taxi drivers trying to drum up business outside the port terminal. We were there for about 30 minutes waiting for our transfer to Rome airport (arranged by our TA). In the event it didnt turn up. We'd rung the company and spoken to the driver, three times. First time he said the was there. Second, that he'd be there in 5 minutes. Lying *****. Third told us to get a taxi. So we had to get the cab - cost around €200 on the meter. My partner is currently drafting the email to the TA demanding a refund. 

By the by, just back from the supermarket, where we were able to change our leftover dollars for sterling. No need to change the euros, they'll keep for the next two holidays (Cyprus in October and Spain in January).

We left the ship yesterday morning and were back home in time for a late lunch. The last fortnight has been a really pleasant experience. It's been an interesting read catching up with Hank's "live comments" this morning. I will write a review for CC and will also post that to a forum thread. Obviously, won't be as detailed as Hank's daily commentary but, hopefully, of some use.  Real life, as opposed to holiday life, is once again in play so it'll take a couple of days or so to find time to get round to that.

I'll let folk know how we got on in around 3 weeks time. I plan to do a CC review and will post it to the forum.

29 minutes ago, bchbum4000 said:

Over all food was awful.

That makes for a depressing read for someone about to board in the next few days. What with that and the reported soundproofing issues...........

9 minutes ago, clo said:

he "trademarked" a number of names so maybe that one.

It's possible that US trademark law is different to UK trademark law. But, if not, then I think it might be difficult to trademark a very common first name. It'd be different from trademarking, say "Jacques Pepin", which would clearly be much more specific. 

Thanks W.

1 hour ago, clo said:

I would think that Chef Pepin somehow "owns" that name.

But, if so, presumably only to the extent that his contract with Oceania applies. Clearly, whatever the nature of his original contract, it is adapting or being replaced as he retires from the role. Pepin obviously has no contractual claim to have a restaurant onboard using his first name, otherwise Vista would have a Jacques. Which doesnt take us any further about whether Marina will continue to have a Jacques. If I was "the person in charge", it wouldnt have one and it would look to the future, rather than  the past. 

Kay - for photos, check out the link I gave at post #3

38 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We were a little concerned about booking 8 (a normal time for us) because of the 9:30 show times.

We mainly booked 7.30 bearing that in mind. But, in any event, dinner at a speciality will be our main entertainment for those evenings

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We quickly realized that if were to only book 2-tops, we would need to accept some lousy times

We are in a concierge veranda and booked our specialities on the day reservations opened up for our class of cabin. We prefer 2-tops and had no problem getting one, for all four specialities, at our preferred time of 7.30 or 8.00. 

2 hours ago, elmsliebev said:

eek! That's huge. 

We've renewed with All Clear and there's been a big reduction so it's now down to £1000. We've taken off cruising (won't need it for the next 12 months) and taken off cover for the States, so much more reasonable. I suspect long haul holidays are now over for us. A shame -  but we can't complain as we've been fortunate to have many of them over the decades. 

45 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

Regent have an amazing sale on their oldest ships

My partner has a friend who cruises with Regent and has been urging us to take a look. 

We have in mind an O cruise for next year (Southampton to Southampton) - but dependent on (a) no soundproofing issues on Vista and (b) still thinking O is value for money.

I'd not previously come across this guy (but, then, I hadnt really been looking). Interesting stuff - particularly the move on the part of the industry to try and attract "new to cruising" customers and, in particular, a younger demographic. I wonder how much that industry push influenced O to introduce Simply More and, also in the UK, rolling gratuities into the SM price (apparently driven by a push from UK cruise specialist travel agencies). 

4 minutes ago, soccermom4 said:

getting the Aquamar restaurant added. I could eat almost everything there. 

I'll certainly be trying the lunch bowls in the Aquamar on Vista. Less keen on the breakfast offerings

Alicante is quite walkable if you stick to the main city centre area near the port. We were there last year and worked out our own walking tour using gpsmycity.com. You pick the sites you want to see and the system puts them into a route for you. Good resource, IMO. We doing the same for Cadiz for an upcoming Oceania cruise.

For Barcelona, I'd suggest the Hop On Hop Off bus (there are 2 companies both driving the same basic route and at the same price). Excellent way to see the sites, hopping off to take a closer look at places of particular interest. Or staying on the bus and just treating it as a sight-seeing tour. 

22 minutes ago, lakegirl16 said:

What is customary in Europe?

You cannot assume that what is the custom in one country is the same as the next country. We all have our own cultures and that includes different  relationships with tipping. Check out specific websites advising about tipping - and try to find one that isnt American led - they always over estimate the need to tip.

You've posted to a Spain related thread, so I'll offer an opinion about that country (which I visit every year for several weeks). Spain is a low/no tip country. Employees are paid proper wages so there is no need to tip. And, indeed, it would never occur to me to tip and guide or driver in Spain. 

18 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

tipping is not the norm in Europe.

Agreed that's the case for most countries. Spain is certainly a low/no tip country and, when we were at Barcelona last year, I'm sure we didnt tip the porter. Not least as the taxi rank was only about 30 metres away, almost immediately outside - had I realised that was the case I wouldnt have needed a porter. 

Very different from a story on a cruise Facebook page in the last day or so of a traveller being told by a porter at Miami port, when they were checking in, that they'd need to tip him to, ahem, ensure their bags got on board safely and didnt get "lost".

Cicar and AutoReisen are regularly recommended on the Tripadvisor forum, as being honest, reliable and reasonably priced. 

The OP doesnt mention how long they are visiting the south for. If just for a  day trip, whilst the cruise ship is in port, renting a car may give the required flexibility over the day, assuming there's a rental car office at the port (I  don't recall seeing one when we were there last summer - but then I wasnt looking for it). Bear in mind that most European cars have manual gear shift so, if needed, you may need to go more upmarket to get an automatic

Other options to get to the south would be taxi (about €125 each  way) or bus (€10 approx but probably not that practical for the day).

We sailed on Nautica last summer when there wasnt a separate vegan/veggie menu. We are omnivores so, whilst we'll order vegetarian food, I dont have much recollection as to whether it was vegan. Probably it was - these days restaurants seem to just find it easier to make their vegetarian dishes suitable for vegans as well. As you  are flexitarian when travelling, you'll have no problem finding a choice of dishes. 

This blog is very detailed about the couple's various cruises and always include photos of menus (including speciality restaurants and most days from the GDR). I'm linking to their menu page for a recent Vista cruise which should give you a proper feel for the food (the GDR menus are towards the bottom of the page)

https://www.thepreismans.com/vista23_menus.htm

A word of warning (based on our last stay) if you decide to have dinner there. They add a service charge to the bill, as is common in many of our restaurants. However, they also leave an open tip line. It's a disreputable practice that you can only conclude is intended to catch out foreign travellers who may not appreciate that  a service charge IS the tip - so end up tipping twice. If they're still doing this, just strike through the line to close it. 

9 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

I hope they keep the restaurant on the ship

I suspect the fact that Vista does not have a Jacques is an indication of the way forward. Although they could find that Ember proves to be generally unpopular and they reimage it as a French restaurant. I've yet to try Ember but I'm looking forward to it.  

As mentioned elsewhere, the "information pack", luggage tags, etc, received by Hank have not been available to British customers for some while. We didnt get them for our Nautica cruise last summer, nor had them for this cruise. However, on another thread, fellow Britons have mentioned they have received them for April cruises so it looks like O stopped sending them but has restarted. 

I wonder if feedback from British travel agents has suggested to O that as, seemingly, we are generally charged more for our cruises than North Americans we should get at least the same level of customer service. 

1 hour ago, basor said:

Perhaps they too walked to the restaurant to enjoy their meal.....and thus spent time in the neighborhood.

Exactly. It's part of the whole experience for us. I have in mind our forthcoming visit to Cadiz. I've worked out a walking tour round the city centre using gpsmycity.com. We'll stop for a coffee somewhere. And our walk ends near the Plaza de Flores. That immediate area has quite a number of seafood related restaurants and cafes where we intend to search out pescaito frito - the local speciality of fried fish. 

13 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

The other hand? - Oh, boy

Laugh? I nearly pissed myself

Probably a good move appointing two senior insiders, rather than another "big name".

FWIW, I'd never heard of Pepin until we took our first Oceania cruise in 2018. Nice that the company has given him what I assume must be an honorary position, so they can still play his name to an American customer base.