doghouse2
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Posts posted by doghouse2
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We Sail Southampton to New York at least once a year usually in a Q5. Normally ship arrives by about 6 am and as noted by others they start allowing disembarkation about 8. Can’t remember about room service (I think so) as we always go to restaurant for breakfast that day (the only day we do go for breakfast). They want to have you off the ship by 9. When we sail in Q4 we can disembark any time we wanted once they start calling “colors” so I’m sure in Q 2 you can do pretty much what you want time wise. Just tell the butler ahead of time and usually they will tell you what can be done.
if everything has gone smoothly (sometimes it doesn’t) the luggage will be waiting (by that “color”—luggage tags you receive for disembarkation). When things don’t go smoothly it can be a little chaotic. Once you have your luggage together you have to wait in line for a porter if you need help with luggage. This can take a while if they are still unloading luggage for ship. Once you have luggage (and porter if needed) you get in next line for immigration. If you are US citizen line not so bad. Otherwise it can be long. Normally I have the car scheduled for about 9:15. Sometimes I make it and sometimes not. Just have your phone on so you can communicate with the driver. Hope this helps.- 1
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I’ve read several posts about their new program so I thought I would add another tidbit. I should start with my initial view of the new program was not good from my own personal preferences and situation. As an example, my wife is allergic to wine and champagne and only has an alcoholic beverage occasionally. While I have no such constraints I also drink sparingly these days. In addition many of our cruises are the transatlantic ones as we both no longer like 11 hour plane rides. So, when I heard about the new program i did not have a favorable reaction. Having already booked several cruises under the old program I have not had to decide if we are going to continue sailing Oceania. In checking one of my cruises next spring (for a potential cabin change) I saw what Simply More meant in terms of shore excursions. It’s states that there is a $1000 shore excursion benefit—in addition to the other components of the new program. Having noted our low alcoholic consumption that part of their program is of no interest to us. But, the $1000 caught my eye so I went to my booking record and saw I was getting $1400 of O’Choice benefits. Now, for those who do imbibe, this $400 loss might possibly be offset by the beverage component. So with fares being higher and, in this particular case, the benefit being less I would say Simply More is simply less.
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Yes. I had this injection in Barcelona while on a 3 leg cruise. It went very smoothly but did take a bit of planning/dialogue with the facility prior to arrival. We had only 1 day in Barcelona so I had to make sure that it could be done in my time constraint which was not their normal practice.
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My wife has similar requirements. I would take a photo of the pillow with you for the room attendant. I’m pretty sure they do have that type. There is a lot of choice as to type that you can chose. You could ask onborardservices prior to your cruise. They might know or be able to ask the ship staff directly.
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We disembarked in Trieste from the Riviera in April. Oceania offered a bus transfer to the Venice airport for $69 per person. I looked at private transfer and the prices were about £340. I took the bus which is first for me. Part of my reasoning was that I was also staying in Murano just around the corner from the museum and the hotel I chose had a shuttle from the airport to the hotel for their guests. All water transports I looked at had a 1 bag per person limit—even the hotel shuttle. After a bit of back and forth they did agree to handle all of my luggage—5 checked bags and 2 roller bags. After the bus ride, while you walk to the terminal (about 5 minutes) the luggage is taken to the front of the terminal for you to pick up. From there there is about a 15 minute walk (with moving sidewalk assistance) on the 2nd level of the terminal to the water taxi docks. At the end of the walkway you take an elevator down to the ground level and all of the water taxi options are there. You cannot take the luggage trolleys on the moving sidewalk so if you have to use trolley you have to walk all the way. It’s covered and smooth surface but slightly “uphill”.
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I’ll add my 2 cents to the comment about Trieste disembarkation. We were on the same cruise as original poster but sailed from Miami to Trieste. The ship side went smoothly as noted. Baggage pickup fairly easy as a young women asked if we wanted help, found our luggage and brought it to us. Luggage was roped off so you could not get it yourself. Then things got a little more difficult. I ask for a porter and young woman told somewhere else and we were told to wait. No porter, no luggage trolleys. Finally managed to snag two trolleys and used them to take luggage up and down a couple/three loading dock “driveways” to awaiting transportation. If you don’t have much luggage or don’t have any mobility limitations to push luggage trolleys then it’s fairly easy but I would guess for some it might be a chore. Comparing this to Barcelona, Civitavecchia, Lisbon I’d say it was a bit more difficult. They are flat with carts or porters more available.
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We have boarded QM2 several times at Southampton. Each time as grills cabin guests—usually a Q5. We arrive about 12:30. Several lanes provided for vehicles to unload pax and luggage and normally a porter quickly arrives to take the luggage. Have your boarding pass readily available as we get ask for it several times. Normally, I would say it appears to be chaotic with lots of people trying to check in. Since there are different terminals the sequence of the process may vary somewhat but I will describe the Ocean Terminal which we “used” a couple of weeks ago. After dropping luggage you head into terminal, expect to show boarding pass and passport and go up escalator, and you are greeted by a mass of people including terminal (not Cunard) staff. There is a separate check in line for grills and “diamond” level pax but not all of the staff seem to know that. There is signage indicating the appropriate line but sometimes it is at the opposite end of the terminal (through the crowd) but not always. The signage not always easily spotted because of the throng of people so keep asking staff if you don’t see it quickly. After the checkin formalities (boarding pass-again, passport, credit card, etc) you are directed to security for screening you and luggage and then you are allowed to board ship. Someone mentioned the escort for Q1-Q4 which occurs after you check in. I put quotes around “used” above because we boarded the QM2 on the cruise that was canceled that morning so on that day we found a very empty terminal but was asked to show boarding pass about 5 times. I’m sure there is an arrival time when you might have to wait due to their cleaning the staterooms but if you are in a Q1 or 2, once you get to the check in desk, the few Cunard staff in the terminal will begin to assist you. Some suggest you arrive early and some say arrive late to avoid the crowd. Both probably work. Despite what I think is chaos, in the grills it does seem to move fairly quickly if they have enough staff at the checkin section for grills. Your butler will come to the cabin shortly after you arrive—maybe even be waiting for you. In the Q1-2 the butler may even be the escort.
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It looks a lot like the items you can order at Jacques, at least the last time I was on the Riviera in April 2022.
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Another aspect to this issue is that it seems pretty clear that the govt will give cruise lines some type of assistance/bailout like airlines, hotels, other businesses. All of the cruises lines are going to lose money—even with such a bailout. I agree with this being a business decision on Oceania’s part but it’s also a business decision Both now and in the future.
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Compare NCL policy with what Princess (part of Carnival) did when they started their 60 day shutdown. Of course they were at the center of the cruise ship quarantine debacle. They made their refund/enhanced fcc offer available to guests who had already cancelled back to early Feb.
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Yes, there is decaf English breakfast for certain and perhaps earl grey. The English Breakfast changed from the Red Packet (common in the US) to the Gold/Orange packet but still Twinnings.
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Yes, you are correct. It is used to help them make sure we are in the right line. I assume to cut down on the chaos of checking in on at least the Queen Mary. Maybe it should be renamed: line (queue) access ticket. Aside from line access perhaps the real reason is to for Cunard/Carnival to be sure we have the fine print about the cruise (even if you don't print it/read it/understand it.)
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Why is an e ticket needed at all? Your booking is in computer. The person at the desk never looks at it--only the computer screen, your passport and most importantly, your credit card. Yes I know airlines have them--not sure about them either but one argument at a time. Oh, and the last time we sailed on Cunard the e ticket wasn't collected.
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I'm posting this even though it is somewhat dated because no one has responded yet. We did disembark in Dubai but it was 4-5 years ago. As we recall there was minimal if any customs process. If there was it was not memorable. We got off the ship, found our luggage and waited for our car to arrive. It was hot (April or early May) and the parking area for pickup was chaotic but eventually driver showed up and we left for hotel. Things may have improved since then because it seemed that they were using a temporary type structure. We also have landed at Dubai airport about a year later and there was a more formal customs process. Hand luggage was x-rayed and at least one was searched. My wife had several prescriptions and we had a prescription letter from doctor. (Digital registration was not required so I can't comment on that.) They did not seemed to be concerned with medicine. The only thing they asked about was a laser pointer that I had in my bag (that I use for presentations)--they wanted to know what color it was--apparently green is a no-no. Mine was red so they didn't care.
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Getting on ship today and boarding has been delayed. Maybe we can get on around 5pm if lucky. Shipped docked about 12 noon. Not normal.
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HH
Enjoy your comments and pictures (no problem seeing them). I'm curious about your embarkation process. I'm impressed by how quickly you were able to get on the ship. 45 minutes from the car hire drop off to being on board is very quick. How crowded was the terminal? Were you there at your (Cunard) scheduled time? I assume you are a diamond level Cunarder, did that help?
Rarely have I had such success as you on the boarding time whether it is in Southampton, New York, Dubai, etc. Thanks for any clarification.
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Yes, the QV is the same as the QE. They are on two decks with a staircase between them inside the library. They don't seem quite as large as the library on QM2 but all of them have a good selection of both hard sided and paperback books. They also have a smaller selection of books in large print. I try to stop in shortly after it opens on the first day to get the best choice. You are allowed to check out 2 books per person.
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Stan and Jim,
Thanks for the reply. Pretty sure the butlers I've had can't see them either.
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Stan and Jim, please clarify your comment about the suites above penthouse level having a built in pantry closet for in suite dining. I've only sailed on the Marina and Riviera but don't recall seeing them. Toast happens to be my pet peeve about breakfast in the cabin--it is almost always like cardboard and not hot in my few experiences. Thank you.
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Thanks to all of you who replied. I didn't realize the drydocks could be that short but good to know. Glad to learn that Oceania refurbishes its ships that frequently--even if it might be minor updating.
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Thanks for the response Hambagahle. There is only a 10 day gap and thought drydocks were usually longer. I just wanted to make sure there was not a potential add-on cruise segment after the transatlantic.
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Thanks cruisingxpert. This schedule gap is post Barcelona after the crossing.
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That's what I thought. Thanks for responding.
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Does anyone know what is happening from April 11 to 21, 2018 on the Riviera? There seems to be a gap in the itineraries. Thanks.
QM2 Q2 Brooklyn Disembarkation
in Cunard Line
Posted
I forgot to add comment about Southampton. Ship usually departs about 5pm. We like to arrive about 12:30 so we can have lunch in the Grill. Closes about 2 or so.