daleandrews

We are on the September cruise Glasgow, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Northern Canada, NYC, 24 days. Longest cruise we have ever booked.

Everybody who has already booked (including us!) should be feeling pretty good after today's across the board price hikes.

We will be on Marina next week (Nov. 1). We are in a PH and are traveling with another couple who are in a Concierge cabin. When our date for reserving restaurants came up I was easily able to make our reservations on line and, in each case, add our two friends in as guests even though their reservation window had yet to open. I did this for 8 reservations, 2 per specialty restaurant, even though our friends only had guaranteed slots for 4 nights. This is all pretty self-explanatory in the on-line instructions. A couple things to watch out for, though. First, you apparently can't add more than 2 guests -- the option to add a guest disappears after the second is added. Second, if your trip is a segmented journey, made up of 2 shorter underlying cruises, your reservations must be spread out -- with us, 1 per restaurant in each segment to reach the total of 8.

Just in case some have not received or did not read the email sent out by Oceania today, October 24, it provides as follows: Embarking From Greece – Updated October 24, 2022 · Fully Vaccinated and Unvaccinated travelers may embark. · The definition of Fully Vaccinated for voyages embarking in Greece is as follows: All travelers over the age of 18, whose primary COVID-19 vaccination will be beyond 270 days at the time of disembarkation from their voyage, must have a COVID-19 booster prior to embarkation. In lieu of a booster 270 days after the primary series, travelers may present a government recognized or official medical Certificate of Recovery. · Fully Vaccinated travelers do not need to test prior to embarkation. · Travelers that cannot meet the definition of Fully Vaccinated must present a negative, medically administered covid-19 test. PCR and Antigen test results may not be older than 72 or 48 hours respectively at the time of boarding. · Booster mandates are in effect and strictly enforced to meet the definition of Fully Vaccinated – see above.

That was the case, but a week or two back the Greek government removed the pre-cruise testing requirement. https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/environmental-health/greece-lifts-cruise-related-covid-19-testing-updated It's the failure of Oceania to reflect this in their policy that has some of us scratching our heads.

I've been watching this issue closely since we also board in Athens on November 1. I'm not unsympathetic to Flatbush Flyer's point, but this is still a little strange. Oceania currently has a blanket statement that pre-boarding tests are no longer required except where required by local regulations, and the web page detailing such local regulation exceptions includes Greece. But Greece has now rescinded the pre-boarding testing requirement, which SHOULD put Greek embarkations outside of the local exceptions. When we received Oceania's email about boarding instructions yesterday evening I sort of expected it would remove pre-testing for the November 1 Athens embarkation but (of course) it didn't -- it just re-stated the requirement. I get the point that the over-all decision as to whether to require pre-testing or not require it any more is a difficult one entailing a cost benefit analysis the outcome of which individuals may or may not agree with. But what I don't get is making the decision to abandon pre-testing and then continuing it for one port in a manner inconsistent with the overall approach of the company.

And just for comparison sake, on Azamara even if you purchase the premium spirits package Dalwinnie (a personal favorite of mine) is only available at an additional charge.

A couple other idiosyncrasies in making dinner reservations. When I was first prompted to enter the names and reservation numbers of guests I wanted to add to our table I entered the name and reservation number of the husband of the couple we are traveling with. The response on the screen was that the system was unable to identify the guest. I then tried the name and reservation number for the wife of the couple and the system took that entry without a problem. Thereafter it asked me if I wanted to add another guest, and I entered the husband's name and reservation number -- the same one the system had "not been able to find" originally -- and it took the name this time with no trouble. I surmise from this that there must be a principal passenger referenced in the system for each booking and that that passenger's name and number has to be entered first. Also of interest -- while I was prompted as to whether I wanted to add another guest after adding the first one, no such prompt is given after adding the second guest. I suspect that is why everyone trying to reserve a table for more than 4 people is having a problem with the system -- it looks like the system immediately cuts off when the fourth guest has been added. Also, as referenced above, if you are on a cruise with several underlying segments, and you are allowed more than one reservation per restaurant, be sure to space your reservations so that one for each restaurant is in each segment of the cruise. The system won't allow you to have multiple reservations at any restaurant within one segment. Hope this helps!!