workstocruise

What kind of obstruction did you get?

We are looking at a Dec. 28 cruise on the Regal and this will be our first time on one of the newer ships. This will be our 5th cruise with Princess which is not our favorite line, but we like the itinerary and Princess usually has a decent product. I'm having a hard time figuring out the difference between a balcony and a deluxe balcony. Can anyone offer advice? Thank you.

Sorry, I didn't upgrade the flight. I upgraded my seats.

I tried to do it as soon as I knew the flight locator number but The airlines won't let you upgrade until the flights are booked. Oceania told me that would be 45 days out but it actually happened about 38 days out.

Final update: our flights got ticketed and I was able to upgrade the flight I wanted. Thank you everyone for your input.

Thanks to everyone for your replies, I contacted my TA for help so will see what he says. We cruise a lot but this is only our 2nd time on Oceania. I always upgrade my seats after receiving flight locator info but this is the first time I've encountered this problem.

Thank you all. We did not do the deviation, but final payment has been made. Oceania told me they would ticket 45 days out but it's now 42 days and they still haven't. Guess I will check every day till they book it.

We are less than 45 days from departure using Oceania's airfare to Reykjavik on Delta. The website says our flights are confirmed. I keep checking to see if that has changed to booked. Why will Oceania not let us upgrade through Delta? There are still seats in premium economy available and if Delta is willing to upgrade us, why would Oceania care?

Hello-

My DH and I took the Imperial Jewels trip with Viking in March 2016. I don't see any 2018 dates in their website but there are a ton for 2017. I did a search for Imperial Jewels and it brought up all the dates. We absolutely loved this trip! It was an amazing experience and while we have cruised over 20 times both ocean and river, this trip skyrocketed to the top as our favorite. I will tell you this, it will be very warm in July and very very crowded.

We did the Beijing to Shanghai route and loved it. It was very cold in Beijing but we brought the right clothes and never had a problem. No rain and no smog! And no crowds! Good luck with your decision. Any trip is a good one!

Celebrity gets my vote hands down! Our last Princess cruise had the worst food ever at sea and almost the worst entertainment. Princess does have good itineraries but we still prefer Celebrity overall. We were on the Constellation in October on an Adriatic Sea cruise and the food in the MDR was excellent.

On our last Oceania cruise which was also our first, we sailed on the Marina to French Polynesia. The weather was extremely warm and humid. One of our port days had a scheduled arrival of noon. There was a brunch buffet set up in the MDR and after eating we had a shore excursion booked. My husband wanted to wear shorts to brunch so we'd be ready to leave the ship when we finished. I had also read that no shorts were allowed in the MDR at any time, so I called the front desk and the person who answered said that shorts were never allowed. So my husband put on his slacks. When we arrived for brunch, he was the only man in pants. Everyone else was in shorts. So much for following the rules:).

I see traditional dining going the same route as formal nights. We just got off the Constellation on a European sailing. This was our second time on this ship. The first time Select dining was on the upper level in the smaller space. It was always packed and when looking down on the traditional dining area, there were many empty tables. This time Select dining has been moved to the lower level and Traditional dining is now upstairs. We usually eat between 7 and 7:30 and only had a 10 minute wait one night. We had the same waiter many times and they were all wonderful. And yes the Select dining was packed every night and there were plenty of empty tables in traditional. As Americans we were very much in the minority on this cruise. Tons of Brits and Canadians.

I booked 2 excursions 2 weeks ago and today both are 20% cheaper. I'm going to cancel and rebook. The other excursions I was going to book online are also 20% cheaper. I wrote all the prices down so I would know what the costs were when I booked online using OBC.

Thanks for your help and advice. You're right, I'll just wait and be surprised.

Does anyone have any recent dinner menus for the Insignia?

We also used SPB tours in St Petersburg and Berlin on our 2013 Baltic cruise with Celebrity. They were very easy to work with and our guide was great and our group consisted of only 14 people. Check on your roll call, that's how I booked our tour.

We sailed on March 6, 2016 from Beijing to Shanghai. Our weather was gorgeous. No rain, no smog. It was cold in Beijing but not unbearable. I did bring a warm coat that had a hood as well as gloves, but once we left Beijing, I switched to a light windbreaker. I loved going in March. There were no crowds and our ship was only half booked. Our tour guide told us the tourist season really gets busy from late April on. He said the wait time at the Terra Cotta museum alone could be 2-3 hours. We had no wait, just walked right in.

I have been enjoying your review very much mostly because we sail on the Connie in about 4 weeks to some of the same ports. Our cruise departs from Venice. I have to comment on the food and entertainment. You are right in that these two things are subject to each one's taste. We first sailed on the Connie six months after we sailed on the Allure of the Seas. As you can imagine the entertainment on the Allure was amazing! We saw Chicago as well as all the other wonderful shows that were offered. The Allure is an incredible ship, so when we booked the Constellation it was for the itinerary, we did a Baltic cruise on her which is at the top of our favorite cruises. I was worried for weeks before we left that all of us (we sailed with same friends on both cruises) would be so disappointed in this small and old ship versus the big,new and amazing Allure. Well I worried needlessly. The Connie was incredible from the Captain and his crew, to the excellent food in the MDR to the fantastic production shows in the theatre. I can only hope the next cruise will be as good as the first!

We also received the $500 credit from Celebrity on our credit card bill. I called my TA and he informed me it was a promotional bonus through Choice Air, so just be happy.

We did FP on the Marina in 2014 for 14 days. It was our first time with Oceania and we loved it. However, most of the ports are tender stops and the seas can be pretty rough. One lady fell getting off the tender and hurt her leg pretty bad, so if you have walking/balance issues, be sure the seas are calm before you get off the ship.

Looking forward to your updates. We sailed the Constellation back in 2013 and loved her. We had the best Captain ever. We will sail again on her in late September on an Adriatic cruise.

Thank you. I thought there was an extra charge just wasn't sure. Wishful hoping.

One more question, if I book thru Choice Air, does that give me transfers to and from airport and ship?

Thank you. I will get on it today.

We are sailing on the Constellation Sept. 29, 2016. Online check-in opens July 1, 2016. Will choice air be available at that time? I can't seem to find a link to it right now. Thank you.

We returned home on March 18, 2016 from the Viking Emerald to China and had the L'Occitane products.