AMHuntFerry

You can coordinate dinner reservations, although how you go about this will depend on your group's dynamics. When your dining reservations open up, there is an option to enter other people's booking number when doing each reservation (so you can have all or some shared reservations). It's probably simplest to have one person doing all of the bookings, but that requires everyone to allow that person carte blanche when choosing days/times.

On embarkation day, stop by the spa to get a class schedule for the whole cruise. There were classes on Regatta in September 2023 and May/June 2024; there were no classes in June 2023 so I think it may have been a staffing issue. There is no mention in Currents or this brochure of an additional cost for things like Pilates or HIIT. Here is the schedule from Regatta May/June 2024:

Here's one from February: https://www.thepreismans.com/riviera_24_menus.htm#aquamar

I get that - I think it's more common than not. We both come from families that aren't prolific photographers...usually just planned photo shoots, very few memory-photos.

Here are the T&Cs from a FCC purchased in June:

We just leave our phones in the room while on the ship. If anyone needs to notify us of an emergency while we're sipping drinks and watching the waves, they have the ship's emergency phone number.

I don't think it is just older people eating early. A large number of GenX and below (and likely some boomers) who want to eat healthily in their day-to-day lives don't eat late; on vacation some may opt to deviate from that schedule. For example, my spouse and I aim to not eat between 7 pm and 10 am, and not drink between 7 pm and 7 am. We let it slide while on the ship and tend to start dinner around 7 or 7:30 but our bodies notice. Also, while cooking isn't a completely lost art among the <60 crowd, during the work-week most working people I know use a lot of semi-prepared foods or take out so that dinner prep takes a short amount of time. As long as their commute isn't insane, eating before 7 is quite possible.

A kindred spirit! Although where I live, going off the grid is often not optional when traveling from A to B ⛰️🏕️ 🤠 (Oh, and yes, we have used Wifi calling/texting while onboard)

Yes, deck 7.

I'm on a PC-Windows with Firefox...you? (I think my idea of "fun and sport" may be slightly quirky)

Weird...it says Summer Sale when I go to the main site

I had a few itineraries that were interesting (either to book or as data) due to having "funky" pricing come and go recently on the sites I check. For example, before today the Canada/NE US cruises were 30% off, but today they are a higher price than I was seeing last weekend, so I'm guessing the base price went up or the discount went down, but I'm not interested enough to analyze which. The December cruise I'm considering is down 10%, but we're not ready to commit yet. My takeaways: If you are not flexible with itinerary or timing, waiting for a sale is probably a bad idea. If you are flexible, keep an eye on the sites other than O (or have a least two TAs, one in each consortium and/or an O-connected TA). Keep watch (you or your TA) on their sites since sales often show up before they are made public on O's site (and in some cases like the above, the sale price will be less than the O-website sale).

Up to 40% (although the cruise I'm considering is 10%) and less than 50.

I dug out my shore excursion doc that is on the bed on embarkation day. The description says drive is ~45 minutes, self-guided visit to garden is ~2 hours, and drive back is ~45 minutes. So if 2 hours is satisfactory, you're good to go. I would feel rushed, but I tend to dawdle in gardens. If you want other options: https://www.butchartgardens.com/how-to-get-here/ The taxi fare is not horrible.

Still and/or sparkling Vero water is provided daily (still is the default, so ask your cabin steward if you want sparkling). If you want other bottled water, request it in advance for the best chance of getting it; you aren't guaranteed to get it, but it is possible if they can stock it.

I've been seeing some funky pricing (price does not end in 99 or 49) come and go recently on my favorite sites. If you like to play "guess which cruise is going on sale", the funky priced ones are a good bet. Hint: the ones on sale will not be the ones that are selling well 😉

With 4 courses at a shared table I assume we'll be seated about 90-120 minutes.

"Open seating" is probably an outdated term that should be avoided now that most people have not experienced old-school cruising where you had a set "early" (6:30) or "late" (8:00) dining time at the same table every night. So, just like a general term like "dynamic" means something very specific when it comes to airfares, "open seating" means something more specific to cruising than the general use of the term.

Currently gratuities are included if you have a drink package. If you buy drinks by the glass or bottle, then the gratuity is added (plus any local tax if applicable).

I've seen the official O page, but not the messy one. Now I want to seek out that page for my evening entertainment. Sounds fun!

I'm pretty sure that the ones that start or end in Cape Town are the longest (mid/upper 20s) itineraries that can't be broken down into shorter itineraries. I may be wrong...possibly a repositioning itinerary that snuck past me.

Yes, 2 of the same drink from the regular bar menu in Horizons and Martinis for the price of one from (usually) 5-6 pm (sometimes Horizons or Martinis will be closed for a function though). After the show ~10-11 pm (?) Horizons has 2-for-1 happy hour.

Since I am not on a ship with my built in tape measure (my fingers span a reliable 8"), I went to the O schematics to see how the Marina and Vista bathrooms compare. The perception of size may be due to the shape...Marina is more square than Vista, plus the tiny shower is probably perceived as wasted space (although my spouse and I found it handy to be able to shower at the same time); I was hoping the tiny shower would become a 2nd sink on Riviera. Marina is the top schematic and Vista is the bottom; the viewing angles aren't the same, but it gives a good idea of the bathroom sizes.

O's website does not meet modern expectations shopping-wise, so I avoid using it except for specialty reservations (but keep my email "receipts" as proof in case of glitches) and for pre-boarding check-in. If your TA hasn't sent a shorex pdf with descriptions, get one since it sometimes has shorex that don't show on the website. They update once in a while, so it doesn't hurt to ask for the current one every so often to see if there is anything new. I also just pay at the end of the cruise. At/near the beginning, your credits and booked shorex will show on your account as credits/debits. Gratuities show up a few days in, and daily charges for anything purchased onboard show up that day in my experience. I just check the TV every few days to see if the numbers match our spending. On the day before disembarkation I run all the numbers; mine have always matched O's, but there are people who have needed to get something fixed.

SM shorex credit can only be used for shorex; anything left over goes goes into the abyss. That's how it currently works, but change is always possible. If any of your tours have a spendier version "OE" that would be a way to eat up the remainder while taking the same but less crowded tour. One thing to note is that the SM shorex credit will be used first, so if your other shorex are being covered by OClub and TA OBC, then any remaining OClub/TA OBC is put toward grats (or other onboard spending).