AMHuntFerry

Come on our September 9th cruise! (which by the way I booked with my TA weeks ago for $100pp less than the current price...TAs are handy with early access to sales 😉 ). I think there were one or two earlier in the season too (May, August if I remember).

The cabin category that is discounted varies wildly depending on the sailing. There are some nice itineraries in N. Europe and elsewhere that have the sale-suites less than oceanviews! These are the ~40% off sale numbers I was referencing a few weeks ago.

My BIL and spouse live in SF, so our overnight last fall was spent visiting them. Day 1: Walked 12 miles from ship (south of Ferry bldg.) to see new section (national park) of the Presidio...no problem. Rode the free public bus ("Presidigo" haha) back to the near the Ferry bldg and walked to the ship...no problem. Day 2: Walked then rode the subway to near BIL's house south of Golden Gate Park and back...no problem. Message...SF is a very big place; there are sections to avoid and others that are fine....this has been the case since before any of us were born.

Last: Sept 2022 Regatta Next: June & Sept 2023 Regatta (again...was supposed to be a TA on Sirena in Nov. (missing Red Ginger already!!), but a Berlin in-person (finally!) meeting threw a wrench in that plan, so booked 2 easy-access cruises as a consolation prize)

To paraphrase Maggie Smith's character in Downton Abbey, "What is a weekend?" 😉

I am pleased that some of the airline policies post-Covid have been quite consumer friendly; the airlines I use have removed change fees and essentially removed cancellation fees (unless booking super discount which I do not). I have encountered the situation Sthrngary described and was surprised that my "more expensive" (by more than double) choice cost me $0 when I chose it instead of the airline's default choice. I have had to adjust my purchasing strategy to match the new processes, but it is much more stress free now due to the added flexibility. Short version: if you haven't been flying much post-Covid...the rules have changed! (for the better in my opinion)

That is definitely it. You can have the cabin upgrade OR the gift certificate. You chose the better one.

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Of course...we were just giving alternative places to get a hard copy. I always have e-versions on all of our devices as well as each having hard copy printouts. I have had to wait behind the guy with the boarding pass on his phone who can't get his phone to work one too many times.

I know that. They want a printout not a (or in addition to a) digital boarding pass.

I used my gift cert. for an inexpensive CA coastal cruise that was current list price (same as when it was first released) since we wanted to test out the R-ships. If there are no discounts for your cruise (e.g., Ultimate Olife, soft-sale discount, OClub 10% off; so you're paying the price showing on the O-website), the gift certificate should apply. The one piece of information that may be the sticker...you said "$250 OBC as a Silver Level member". Where did this OBC come from? Is it your regular silver OBC, or is it in lieu of prepaid gratuities, or ...?

Haha...I read "tip" and thought money 🙂 There are occasionally threads for first-timers. Here are a couple of recent ones to get you started:

The app will print?

Or at the kiosks...easy peasy.

I'm not clear what you are looking for...maybe this? https://oceaniacruises.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005476793-What-is-your-gratuity-policy- If not, please let us know your question.

After our first cruise (Dec. 2021), we received a gift certificate...maybe because we were first timers or because we did not book onboard (I know, I know...). There was a letter with it, but I'd need to search. For now, here's what the certificate looked like (minus personal info):

Ka Honu's advice is good. I always carry almonds for emergencies and so far they have passed muster with the food checks at ports. Possible trouble-free foods...nuts, bready items (bread or pastries or cereal), maybe some hard cheese or a smoothie in a thermal cup. There are also snack packets to purchase in the ship's stores...I think chips, granola bars...that type of thing.

I recently booked a cruise fare that could not be combined with onboard-booking perks like discounts/OBC (among other things) but could be combined with OClub perks (like silver-level OBC). Could this be your case? I've started asking my TA to send the combinable/not-combinable rules when she sends a quote so I can "do the math" 😉

Note to self...ask spouse for clarification before answering food/drink questions from the UK. 😉

Don't know...just know they have it listed as a mule ingredient. Another frequent poster was unhappy that they ran out during her voyage.

They need ginger beer for the Mules in Waves, but I don't think it's in other bars...ask though.

I think you have your answer and the LHT28 is correct...you are saying "YWC" when you mean "UPC". The UPC (flat fee for cruise, the $0 cost for some shorex and copay for spendy shorex) is ONLY potentially useful on cruises where YWC is not available (e.g., some 7 day cruises). You pay essentially $110 per port for unlimited "free"/copay shorex. Short answer...UPC is rarely cost effective. "YWC" on the other hand is very useful if you are choosing ship tours since it gives you 25% off any shorex excluding OLife shorex (if applicable). I have used YWC alone on a cruise where the shorex I wanted were either cheap (<$133) or OS/OE. You can also use your OLife shorex for the 4 (in your case) most expensive qualifying shorex, and the rest will be discounted 25% using YWC (not in the itemization, but in the total owed). I've never had to click any buttons to choose YWC, it just gave me the discount (going against FF's sage advice and doing it online, although I had to call for a different reason, and tidied everything up then). So, short story, book you shorex using OLife and book your non-Olife shorex. Check the total...it should be 75% of the non-OLife shorex. If not, call O.

We had never cruised before, but after Covid messed with our jet-lag-avoiding QM2 TA I was surfing and found CC's article on the best cruise lines for vegetarians. O ranked 1st. I mean really, who wants to have to pick their food a day in advance or eat salad and pasta every day?

My husband was vegetarian on our first cruise in December 2021, and I/we don't eat meat every day. The specialties are definitely limited, but there are tons of vegetarian and vegan choices in MDR, Terrace, even some in Waves (which I didn't know about until near the end of the cruise since there was no Waves menu showing many of the options...actually noticed while getting ice cream). I think if there is a vegetarian/vegan in a couple/group at a specialty that you can order off other menus since the specialty menus are so limited (except for Red GInger...yummy choices there!).

I just meant that if we're limited to the these decades, variety shows were a thing. Chances are I will never love the music that is chosen; I'm eclectic but pop rarely does it for me (with notable exceptions of course). But hey, I love Glen Miller (prefer Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey) so what do I know? (BTW, swing was quite popular among the GenX/Millenial crowd about 20 years ago)