90scruzer

your post made me go read at least part of your thread and I admit (not having sailed O since early 2023) that I'm a bit miffed about simplyMore. I had assumed it was possible to add (or remove, however you see it). We don't drink -- or more accurately, I have a very narrow pallet and it's nothing that they are going to ever have on a cruise ship. It's why we don't buy things like princess plus either. The value prop is just not there. Oh Dios mio! I suppose it won't impact our choice to sail Oceania if the itinerary and timing are there, but it may encourage us to choose another line in the (rarer for me as I'm not retired) case of overlapping itinerary options.

while everyone is different, I would tend to agree with you. We've only managed to sail on HAL and Princess (and Oceania) post Covid, so not exhaustive by any means, but I would say only the specialty dining on HAL was close to Oceania. I cannot think of anything on our princess sailing that was comparable. Just had too high expectations on our first go around.

great job! looking forward to seeing the rest of the transit.

do you know if you are doing the new or old locks? I talked to one of the celebrity reps at a travel expo and didn't like his answer regarding which locks are used : he said, "The captain calls in the morning and gets told which of the two, and the probability was 50-50 as to which the ship received." Not sure about the veracity, but this was disappointing enough that for my first time through the canal I am going to have to use one of the other cruise lines that at least seem to have better chances for old locks.

I want to second this ... just go in without the sky-high expectations and you will love the food. if you don't like the menu in MDR, even at the buffet you can have made to order seafood/steak. You won't go hungry. I was just commenting that not all of it is my cup of tea. But I never had issues finding good to excellent food.

yes. I'm an optimist. just like I keep hoping US airlines either stop with 1st class pricing or step away from RyanAir tactics. it insults me to fly these days.

we have used them often, but never in the US :P. but as always it's caveat emptor. They are just an aggregator (think Amazon here -- you get a lot of "knockoffs"/copy cats and you have to do due diligence to get the better tour) and they also can add a significant hike to the price over going direct. So it depends upon how much legwork you wish to do to find a local tour (when you can find one) and even that is not a panacea as we have had a few REALLY bad local ones (including what may be the worse tour we've ever taken - a private one at that!).

True. Last year we sailed Marina for the first time. I think we went in with higher expectations given the "best food at sea". Not that I am saying the food is bad at all. But a lot of it caters more to my sister's taste than to mine (ie. French - duck, coc au vin, pate, etc), cannot talk to R class, but at least on Marina we had plenty of specialty restaurants and we only once weren't able to get in (and that just because we don't eat as late as their seating opening). But I will say this, if it's relevant - we discussed the food with some long-time Oceania travelers. They said it was good, but not as good as pre-Covid. I fear it's going to take a few more years before any of the cruise lines feel sufficient need to return to pre-Covid levels. I hope to be proven wrong. BTW, it was better than HAL or Princess, which we have also sailed post-Covid. And I also enjoyed the Illy. But I do agree: I book a ship for the itinerary/ports and if I can get that timeframe off work. I personally would never sail Oceania for routine routes such as Alaska or Caribbean. To me it just isn't worth the extra expense. But we would (and will) sail them again in the future.

it's true, but what I found interesting was the statement that it has fluff from time-to-time (formally called hallucinations). In fact, in many cases, I've seen it have more hallucinations that reality. Still it reads well! 😛

not sure if you booked already, but we booked with Reykjavik Excursions. And while our experience will likely be different than yours, as we were there in Winter -- the one thing you can never seem to count on is the road being open. I understand that is true all year, not just Winter. The wind made +6C (43F) the most uncomfortable 'warm' temperature we have ever experienced! With wind, it was down to -25C (-13F). But it is a lot warmer (not sure about less windy) in Summer. Since you are from MV, I will make some assumptions and just say do the Southern tour, unless you have a strong desire to walk the divide in Dingvellier. On the Southern tour you will likely visit black beach (and it's true: do NOT turn your back on the water!), glacier lake and diamond beach. As we opted out of the hike on the glacier, we had the opportunity to spend a few hours in this area and it was well worth it. Of course, diamond beach will either be stellar (as when we visited) or maybe ho-hum ... it all depends upon what ice has washed up on shore that day.

hoping that they will do the same for ours. we are over a year out, and already waitlisted for boat ride to the glaciers in Nanortalik.

This is indeed the risk you take when you book private. Though we were on a Mediterranean cruise, where the ship changed the time (earlier), and the tour guide said they were told that the ship had gone back to the original departure time. We walked back to the ship immediately, which was fortunate as a couple dozen people on our tour alone were left as they went shopping and exploring with the "new found" time in port. They were of course transported and met at the next port, where we learned of their adventure. in this case, nothing like your case. That said - I heard at least one operator indicating that they have never had a client left behind. Tom

look - one can hope. but frankly, the ryanair-ification of the American airlines (while still charging like they are 1st rate airlines + nickle-and-dimeing every little thing) is what I fear will be inevitable. Ryan Air is great when you know what you are getting, aren't flying far, and don't need everything. But to charge 4x and up the price of Ryan air and then charge all the individual al la carte fees, and squeezing more and more people into smaller seats -- yeah, let's hope we don't go that way.

Yeah - I understand. It's for special occasions only for us as well. MSC isn't on our radar any time soon -- so when/if an itinerary appears, good to know that I need to actually research what you are talking about.

I don't know why you cruise, but if it is purely for the food - and you can afford it - oceania (even tho worse than pre-covid on our last sailing) has very good to great food. And if not, I hear that the food on MSC is supposed to be wonderful as well though never sailed with them. Unfortunately true in some aspects. But nothing is absolute - for some regions, Princess is likely the most value (or at least, not worse). I'm thinking of Alaska here. Where of the mainstream cruise lines either Princess or HAL are the top 2 options (that I know of - as I would never claim to be so well cruise-travelled to be above learning!) Yes, I was not commenting on portion sizes. As for me at least it's more about the quality and flavor. on the wasteful front, we agree. As an example, we took a land tour of Georgia (country) - which I can 100% recommend. The *only* complaint was that half the food every night went to waste. Literally the only complaint. Such a first world problem 😛 Agreed. In many ways we complain as we have a benchmark. But at least personally, I really dislike their current buffet. The salad bar is OK, but not a lot of variety. I think I tried the soup once on the last sailing. There was a lot of beef, which is not something we want daily. And at least on our last cruise, their non-American fare tended to be Indian. We had a friend in college who would invite us to his house - eg. for Thanksgiving. That Indian food was fantastic. Every commercial option I've ever tried was horrible. Of course my Indian friends all say they never eat out Indian as there are no good restaurants 😕. So I admit some of it is personal - we have our preferences. And, unfortunately, cooking large portions for the masses is much more challenging than individuals at the specialty restaurants. maybe we've been unlucky and/or our taste buds, but for example - I have always thought that Thai on the buffet would be awesome due to the cook staff. Never happened. To the point where I've gotten some I wouldn't eat (and I dislike wasting food). Agree on the Brazilian if you have never tried it, you should. just don't eat all day before going.