Honeymooner2006

There is nothing sinister in any of this, and FDR is not some sort of diabolical wizard chasing the top rungs. He is simply the best man for the job.

Don, you have been nothing but lovely to this Oceania newbie. That said, if you read anything "sinister" about my comment, it certainly wasn't because I put it there. It is a fact that every business union he is a part of, he comes out as the top guy. My comments were in the nature of professional admiration. If you're close to Del Rio, great, but the knee-jerk defensiveness is really confusing.

I found this in NCLH's recently released 10-Q:

3. The Acquisition of Prestige

 

On November 19, 2014, we completed the Acquisition of Prestige. Consideration for the Acquisition of Prestige includes a cash payment of up to $50 million upon achievement of certain 2015 revenue milestones. The contingent consideration is valued using various projected 2015 revenue scenarios weighted by the likelihood of each scenario occurring. The probability-weighted payout is then discounted at an appropriate discount rate commensurate for the risk of meeting the probabilistic cash flows.

(Italics added.)

I thought it was interesting that there were so many Apollo people on NCLH's board (four of nine), given that O and Regent (aka Prestige) were owned by Apollo. Two of the four are LBO/reorg guys (and let's be clear, the entire board is all guys), but the one that caught my attention was this one: "David Abrams is the Founder & Partner, Non-Performing Loans for Apollo Management International LLP."

Now, I am not saying that NCHL has non-performing loans, but if there is anyone who knows how to work debt in a complex transaction, it would be someone like Mr. Abrams.

Taken together, I would surmise that our good private equity friends remain connected to the NCHL-owned cruise lines mostly through debt, and that the deal was mostly financed with Apollo taking a delayed full payment for Prestige. In fact, if you look at the pdf I linked above, the purchase price is $3.025B, with only $670M in NCLH shares to Prestige shareholders, and the rest financed with debt, bonds, and cash on hand. That is a lot of debt, IMO - yet I am not saying that anyone is on the verge of going under. It just strikes me highly leveraged.

I think they are correct about the synergies and I think you will continue to see more consolidation in the market. I think the big players will get bigger (because it helps to cut expenses and have leverage with vendors like airlines) and that the small players that survive will have to find their niche and do it very, very well (quite small ships with incredibly unique itineraries). Potential trends I (an outsider) am curious about: (1) the possible changes as emerging economies create an upper class in those economies that can afford cruising (e.g., marketing, itineraries, suite styles & layout, food choices, etc.), and (2) changes in the industry as US, Canadian, and European Gen-X'ers and Millennials (generally of a certain income level) prefer more adventure-style vacations than 75-people-on-a-tour-bus-hitting-the-highlights (although there are people who do organize their own shorex).

Over the years as I have glanced over Regent, O, etc., I have been utterly fascinated at how Mr. Conroy at Regent was replaced by Mr. DelRio, and now Mr. Del Rio has found himself in Mr. Sheehan's place. I know people have been discussing changes on-board entertainment. You can have the cabaret; I'd prefer the Leadership / Management Secrets of Frank Del Rio. :cool:

Once again, I feel compelled to remind folks that NCLH acquired Oceania and Regent -- and promptly named the founder of Oceania as their President and CEO. It's highly unlikely that Mr. Del Rio is sanctioning any NCLH-based changes with his "baby".

I have no inside information on this, but mergers and acquisitions are not free. There may have been both long-term and short-term financing involved, and you have the administrative expenses of getting everyone under one roof. So I suspect that there has been a concerted push to raise cash. I have not met Mr. Del Rio, but he seems like a man who likes his job; if his job required him to cut some corners with his baby, I don't think he would think twice about it. People who rise to his level tend to quarantine whatever sentimentality they have.

BTW, NCLH released their first quarter results - today!

Oh... we can see the general outlines of the acquisition terms. Go here, look in Archived Events, under "Acquisition of Prestige Cruise International, Inc." (date 9/2/14), you will see "View Presentation," with a pdf of a PowerPoint. The transaction overview is on page 9.

Very curious as to why you think that "elderly folks on board made the illnesses spread faster"?

 

It has been my experience that passengers that are sick, go on excursions in the bus, sit or stand next to you on the ship and cough without covering their mouths tend to spread illnesses faster. And, if there were children on board.......... well, just think about it.

I can't speak for the OP, but when I read that, my interpretation was that people of a certain age have immune systems that are weaker and are more likely to get sick when exposed to something. Although the ability to fight off a bug is not necessarily determined by age, age has a pretty good correlation to immune system strength. For example, if you read the Mayo Clinic thing I linked, you will see that with E Coli, the very young and elderly are particularly vulnerable. So while I wouldn't say "spread faster," I can't at the moment think of what phrase I would use to describe the concept.

And, of course, it's the internet. If I had a dollar for every time I was less than precise in expressing myself, I'd be on a cruise all the time! :)

Generally one cooks red meat all the way through to kill E.Coli.

From the Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/e-coli/basics/causes/con-20032105

The hard part is that it could have started with meat from of O's supplier and not any passenger or crew. I'm sure y'all have heard about the food recalls in the US from time to time from tainted meat.

Aha! You jinxed him! JUST TEASING...

I'm pretty sure that's what he said. :p :)

Just checked with DH. While I was standing over his shoulder, it only let him book three (total). I remember being confused because I thought we were supposed to get six. He said he kept futzing with it after I left and was eventually able to make six total reservations. Will chalk it up to the IT gremlins and me not getting the rest of the story ... until now.

Hmm... I'll have to have DH go back online and check. We are concierge for the longest option on a small ship and were able to reserve three dinners, period, rather than three dinners in each restaurant.

Sella - Thanks so much! You answered a number of my questions - down to whether I should consider a beverage package. :) This will be our first Oceania cruise and it will be on Insignia. I'm looking forward to it even more now.

Congratulations on 50 years!!

I remembered you from the Regent boards and I am glad that you liked Oceania after Regent. We will be taking our first Oceania cruise shortly and while I understand there are some differences, I am happy to hear that you had a good experience for the second time.

How funny you should mention an Apérol spritz. I looked on the bar menu the Priesmans' posted for it and was a little disappointed that they did not have it. I hope that your feedback is carried out to all the ships. I heard a great feature story on Monocle Radio about the how the new-ish owner of the brand went about making Aperol popular. It was very interesting. I tried to find it for you, but I'm not having any luck.

In light of this discussion, I went through my documents for my upcoming cruise and it referred to a "smoking" policy. The smoking policy did not differentiate between old school cigarettes and e-cigarettes, or even reference e-cigarettes. I would suggest checking the ticket contract over the online FAQ, because I'm pretty sure the contract would be the binding document. As far as I can tell, Oceania is treating e-cigarettes like regular cigarettes.

Depending on your ports and your schedule, you might be able to find something new to you at a little free library. http://littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/

I am curious about this line as well. Thank you for any information you can provide. We are already getting our 2015 ticket punched by Oceania, but depending on how things go, we might be looking at something new for 2016 - and there was an Arctic cruise that looked amazing.

I just had another idea. You can look for reviews at Cellar Tracker (do a Google search for the link to the site). From there, under "Tasting Notes" click "Community Notes." Then click "Summarize by" and select "Region" out of the pull-down menu. Click on Portugal. It won't be the fastest thing in the world (there are a lot of notes and not all wines are available at the store anymore), but it might give you some ideas as to what you might like (one region produces sweet wines, others might have more a mineral profile, etc.).

Just above the wine listings in tiny print it says "Vintage Name Variety..." Follow that line all the way to the right where it says "More." Click on that and you can sort by score if you want. I believe those are community scores (i.e., crowd sourced) and not professional scores, so take them with a grain of salt.

For Istanbul I agree with Mura and others, stay in the Sultanahmet. Lovely atmosphere, good choice of restaurants, small boutique type well kept hotels, and a very short stroll to main sites.

 

For, Athens just don't stay in the hotel we did. Well regarded at the time on several sites, I don't recall the name as it has been erased from my memory. I think any personal recommendation from fellow CC members would be good choices. I recall looking longingly as we lugged our luggage past the Hotel Grande Breanne en route to our hotel in the area. It would have been fabulous to get a suite there as orchestrapal had but current price of CAD $600/night is more than we want to spend though probably good value for a fabulous room in grand old hotel.

I'm not sure when you were in Athens, but if it is any consolation, I think that hotel was in close proximity to the protests that were occurring when we were there.

We are on the Western Med Riviera cruise embarking in Lisbon in July. Okay, so I found a great wine and spirit shop just a few blocks from our hotel in Lisbon (Gotta love Google!) and I'm planning on getting some hard liquor and wine to carry onboard. However, I am not familiar with the local wines and I would love some input on some very good reds and whites from Portugal and Spain. This will take me all the way to France where I will be able to restock :D with French wines that will take me to Italy, where, yes, wait for it, I will switch to Italian reds! All input will be much appreciated. Price point is not an issue, I am out to experience the various regions' best. Thank you for sharing:cool::D!

I think it is a little hard to say without knowing what kind of wine you like. I'm not a fan of the heavy Napa cabs or the Santa Barbara pinot noirs, whereas I like an "old school" type Corison Napa cab or Oregon pinot noirs. So what is "good" is pretty subjective. With that disclaimer out of the way...

Spain: If you like sweet wines, you might like a Pedro Ximenez (often abbreviated "PX"). It's kind of like a sherry. I second Albarino (a white), and I also really like white Rioja. There is a rose from the Basque region of Spain called Txakolina (choc-lee-nah) that is different (in a good way, I think). For reds, the newer tempranillos remind me of Napa cabs, but I am a fan of the Bodega Numanthia label. I also like the garnacha (grenache) and monastrell (mourvedre). And a good quality cava, too!

Portugal: Port, of course. I like ruby over tawny, but your mileage may vary. Vinho verde is a good hot weather white. I don't have much depth in Portuguese wines. Sorry.

Our most recent China/Japan cruise review now also has the wine menus if anyone is interested.

Gracias! I love your photos. You must get up really early to find the various rooms on the ship empty.

The Preismans have a good blog with copies of menus

 

http://www.thepreismans.com/riviera_mayan_menus.htm

That is incredibly helpful. Thank you so very much!

I think we are on cusp, actually, which is why I was trying to pencil it out. That said, it is nice to just order, not worry about it, and apply the OBC to the package.

... The Intercontinental is in Taksim so it really isn't all that convenient to many the sites. It is to Dolomabahce Palace. ... [W]e stayed in Athens with Renaissance, when we were at the Intercontinental (not too far away). Certainly a beautiful hotel and a good location."

In 2011, when booked through Regent, we stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Istanbul, which is located on the same street as the Intercontinental. It was a nice hotel, and if you are concerned about security, it was very good because there were (are?) embassies in the same building. The balcony restaurant/bar has great views of the Bosphorus. As Mura notes, it was not very close to much of anything, and even a bit of a hoof to the light rail in the hot and muggy summer weather (down hill to light rail and up hill back to the hotel). Light rail was a great way to get around to the sites. The football stadium is right there if you want to catch a game (you can see it on Google maps).

We also stayed at the Intercontinental in Athens in 2011. Maybe it was the effect of the poor economy, but to my mind, the hotel was not up to Intercontinental standards. I don't know Athens well, but the location seemed ok.

While we are on the subject, does anyone have prices for beer, wine (by the glass), and cocktails? Trying to decide if I should go with the package or PAYgo. Thanks in advance.

I think Cruise Critic will not allow me to link to other sites, but I found the information you were looking for quite easily by running the search "oceania insignia cabin sizes" through Google (without the quotation marks). There is a site with deck plans in its name. That is where I found the information in both feet and meters. I'm not sure which one you would prefer.

I did not say they did not share resources but I do not believe they are going to give you the airline routing for your cruise

They may say they have contracts with UA, AA, BA AF, KLM but will not tell you what one you will be getting

 

YMMV

OIC. We are talking around each other. I said "If you want to know which *airlines* they are using, I'd call them and ask."

I never said specific routes. The OP was asking about the kinds of airlines they use (among other things like flight length). This is part of the sales process and the airlines they frequently use is something I'm sure they would share as a result.

Anyway, it looks like we agree on this after all, whether you want to or not.

Unlikely they are going to tell you what airline you will be on unless you pay the deviation fee

 

Regent is NOT Oceania

They are not the same but I am nearly 100% positive that the same home office staff works both lines. (The person who made our O reservation had an RSSC e-mail address.) Besides, if they can get a better discount from the airlines by combining their bookings, why wouldn't they? It's all about the margins.

Although it might be unlikely that they will tell you which airlines they will use without paying the deviation fee, it can't hurt to spend five minutes to call and find out for sure whether they will or won't. I have never tried. Have you? If so, what was your experience?

We sailed on O's "sister line" Regent in 2011. We had a suite and got the free business class upgrade. LAX to Athens was on KLM, which was nice. Istanbul to LAX was on Air France before their planes were converted to a real business class (there were three in our row instead of two). The KLM flight was awesome. The Air France, not so much. There was one layover each direction. On the way in, it was Amsterdam and on the way out it was Paris.

If you want to know which airlines they are using, I'd call them and ask.