soccermom4

We were waitlisted for one on a cruise in South America next Feb. The other day I went in and pulled up the excursion on the website and it had availability - so I went ahead and booked it. Got myself off the waitlist, I guess. Anyways, pays to check once in a while, especially if you suspect that they are going to add more capacity to the tour.

We stayed at Mine Hotel Boutique in Palermo last year. Small, very friendly, lovely included breakfast and we really enjoyed the area. More "hip" than "swank" but felt safe. We are vegan, so appreciated the fact that the hotel bought vegan breakfast items just for us when we alerted them in advance to our dietary preferences.

We spent 3 days in BA before a cruise last spring. What a great city! I have an Argentinian friend so went with her recommendations. Recoleta - bigger, fancier hotels. Palermo - small boutique hotels with more "character". We stayed in Palermo and took taxis or walked everywhere. Never felt unsafe. Just never put your phone on a restaurant table - or it may be snatched (happened to someone on our cruise). We plan to return next Spring and are looking forward to it.

I will check. Haven’t booked yet but they are one of the big cruise agencies that I’m not allowed to name and I believe their X% back on cruise fare is non-refundable. In the past, never a problem to spend it because not the inclusions that Oceania SM gives..thus my question about swapping and applying it to excursions once on board ship.

Hmmm - in the past, our TA OBC has been non-refundable. I guess we could chance it, and wait to book some shore excursions when we get aboard. Not sure how else I would spend $1000 onboard with all that is included on Oceania. Has anyone ever tried to get excursions converted to OBC after they have been paid for?

First time Oceania (possibly) cruiser - the TA I plan to use pays gratuities and gives SBC. I heard that booking excursions in advance to use SM excursion credit is important - and that a certain number booked can give you a discount. We're looking at 18 nights to SA and Antarctica. If I book excursions in advance and go over the SM limit, can TA SBC be used? I know on HAL, TA SBC doesn't show up until you are actually on board. Therefore, people pay for excursions with a credit card and then have the Shore Excursions desk switch it to SBC when they arrive on board, in order to use it up. Is that how it works on Oceania?

Fish I could do - but no beef, chicken etc. We only flex so far…😁

Wow. Thanks for the blog. Those menus look great - and the plant based options every night are so interesting. I was glad to read that Marina is getting the Aquamar restaurant added. I could eat almost everything there.

Possible new Oceania cruiser looking at a Feb 2025 cruise on Marina to Antarctica. I've heard that Oceania treats vegans well but would love to hear some recent experiences, or at least feedback on what you've seen. Is it a separate vegan/vegetarian menu in the MDR etc? Have cruised on RCCL, CCL and HAL. Each line handles it differently. Ordering in advance is always an option, but sometimes it's nice to be spontaneous and just pick from available selections. My husband and I "flex" when cruising. No meat, but we will eat fish and a bit of eggs/dairy if it's hidden in a yummy dessert or something.

I also appreciate this thread. Considering cruising on Princess (have done RCCL, CCL and HAL) and was curious about vegan options. We eat vegan at home but flex a bit - including fish - when cruising. It is tough to get a variety of vegan food when cruising. Each cruise line varies so much with the way they handle it. Ordering in advance is a bit of a pain - especially if you want to decide last minute whether or not to eat in the dining room. I've heard that Oceania is by the far the best - but haven't tried them yet.

Loved being in 8005 - same level as the bridge. Waved to the bridge officers every morning and saw the Captain quite a few times because the door to the officer's quarters and the bridge was across the hall. Very quiet location.

Thanks - big change from when we were on the Carnival Pride in Europe this summer. Had to pre-order and have stuff veganized. A little weird that some nights they had vegan menu and some nights they didn't (?).

Thanks so much for posting the vegan menus. Thinking of trying Princess for the first time for a TA next year, this time. We're generally vegan but have had mixed results cruising on RCCL, CCL and HAL in keeping vegan. End up flexing vegetarian or pescatarian to get a good meal. How are things in the buffet? Are vegan options marked in any way?

Thank you. Considering this cruise in October of next year - and have never been on a river cruise before. Definitely gives me a better idea of "the flow".

I remember seeing that from CCL too. Just wanted to use all this Cruise Cash from the TA....which can't be used to prepay. HAL deducts gratuities daily. Don't remember what CCL does.

Yeah, I thought it was odd (that's why I asked). Guess I'll just have to wait to find out! Surprised no one else has seen it. I booked back in September, but definitely did not prepay at the old rate.

I know, not a big deal - but there are 6 of us in the family...Just trying to let the young adults know what their "free drink allowance" will be.

In looking at my Cruise Manager - it shows $174 for gratuity amount if I choose to pre-pay. The cruise is 12 nights - so that works out to the $14.50/pp/per day rate. However, I thought that the rate had changed to $16/pp/per day. We're not pre-paying because I want it to be deducted from OBC and Cruise Cash from our TA. Will it flip to the $16 rate on-board? (We leave in 7 days).

Did you self-disembark? Trying to get a feel for assisted debarkation. Enjoy the rest of your trip!

Looks like you had a fun cruise. How did debarkation go? Heard that self-assist were all called by 6:40 am. We're not planning self-assist - and will be on Deck 4 in a couple of weeks. Still trying to get a feel for when to have my hired van arrive. Had it reserved for 9 am - but sounds like maybe a bit earlier?

Thanks for bringing us along. We'll be headed out on the Pride on 6/18 for the Baltic portion. Never sailed on her (but did sail on Legend). Now I feel like I know her. Enjoy your time in London! BTW - any idea what time "regular folks" (we're on Deck 4) disembarked?? Trying to get my hired van pick-up time somewhat correct.

Thanks everyone. Just to make sure I’m understanding correctly- So I will see the folios for all 6 passengers and the total cruise cash will be used against the total expenses because I tied them all to my CC?

Everyone will have their own account (the kids are in their 20s). I have them all tied to 1 credit card, if that makes any difference. My husband and I ran into an issue on our last cruise (HAL) when we each put our own card on our accounts and his wasn't drawing down the OBC. Once we merged onto one credit card, it got sorted out.

I see that my TA applied our OBC as Cruise Cash to each of our 3 staterooms. The problem is, it seems to be associated with only 1 person in each cabin. Can we go to Guest Services and get the Cruise Cash split between the 2 occupants of each cabin? I know it'll be easier for my husband and I and the 4 "kids" if it is divided. Also hope to have Tips hitting equally against the Cruise Cash for each person.

Well, I'm not so sure the TA improved the situation. We decided to go all "Your Time". TA now has the "Early" cabin set as "NULL" and waitlisted for Your Time. Guess we'll have to go plead our case to the Maitre d' onboard. Maybe I should print out the original invoices that show all 3 cabins being Your Time...