GerryL13

I looked back at my initial booking that was canceled due to Covid and saw that they had given me 10% off both b2b cruises. But I looked further and saw that subsequent bookings discounted only the second (or lowest priced) cruise. Guess I lucked out on the initial booking.

In my experience, the agent booking the flights (in this case Vantage) does not actually ticket the flights until closer to departure. They should provide you with a booking confirmation code that you can then use to keep an eye on your reservation with the airline, but you won't be able to work through the airline to make any adjustments to the flights until they are actually booked. Last year, with constant changes to booked flights, it got very frustrating making flights through a cruise/program agent. Almost every week, I got a notification that my flights had been changed. Often it was just an adjustment of a few minutes to an hour, but once it was to a different day -- to the day AFTER I wanted to depart. If the airfare is included in the price of the cruise, the best you can do is frequently (weekly?) check the booking. If it is not included in the price of the program, you might be better off managing flights on your own, although that could mean no transfers included.

Take a few minutes to call the Vantage number and ask them to remove your name from their mailing list. It will save some trees -- and bring home the point that their business practices are losing them potential customers.

The only time I was able to get a response from Vantage -- after several emails to executives over several months -- was by filing a formal complaint with the Massachusetts BBB. And even then, the response went to the BBB and not to me. --Ex Vantage Customer

Aren't those invisible cruises on Vista fully booked? Do cruises with no available cabins show up?

Yes. I got the 10% off the second cruise. I went back and looked at past invoices and noted that on my upcoming cruise pair I got 10% off the total of two cruises. On all the others, the 10% discount was off the lowest priced of the two. Guess I was lucky on the 2023 cruise pair.

Yup. Back-to-back Iceland/Greenland and Norway. I was told I got a 30% discount on the (more expensive) Iceland/Greenland cruise, but my invoice says 25%. Got 35% on the Norway cruise.

My pre-registration dates back only to Nov 2022. I got the call today.

I'm eager to cruise with Saga, a British cruise line that has two ships similar in style to Viking Ocean ships -- all-balcony cabins for under 1000 passengers. But on Saga, 20% of the cabins are for solos! The all-inclusive fares are not budget-priced, but I like the idea that solos are very welcome. The catch is that all of the itineraries begin and end in the UK. After 3 years of waiting, in two months I will finally flying off to LHR for my first Saga cruise(s). Oh, and they send a driver to pick me up at my airport hotel.

In August my brother invited me to join him and my SIL on a portion of the Vista inaugural cruise which he'd booked ages ago. Then he discovered that all the verandah staterooms (not suites) were waitlisted. He put down a deposit and my waitlist # was anywhere between 7 and 32 depending on the category. Within about 2 or 3 months I was off the waitlist and assigned a cabin. (I have a great brother.)

I'll also be arriving a day early in Miami to board the Vista in October. I hope to find a room with easy access from airport and to cruise port. More at the economical end of the price scale. Need to do a little research and will be keeping an eye on this thread. Probably won't be thinking about it though until I return from my Saga cruises in June. 😄

In March 2020, I booked a September 2020 Seine River cruise with Vantage. Paid in full. Covid was just taking off, and I was assured that if they had to cancel the cruise, I would get a full refund. Ha. The cruise was, of course, cancelled, but they refused to admit that it was cancelled -- even though they had already planned to move the ship from the Seine and would not be offering any Seine cruises past 2020. They kept insisting that the cruise was "postponed." (One agent said that is what the lawyer told them they could do to get around the refund assurance in the contract.) I'll skip past the many months of frustration trying to communicate with Vantage. (Once they have your money, they have little need to respond to your email. I couldn't get a word out of them until I filed an official complaint with the BBB.) If I wanted anything for the money I had given them, I could take a late October 2021 cruise on a vessel leased from CroisiEurope. A good company, but one specializing in value cruises, not deluxe. And a significantly different itinerary, which I never would have chosen in the first place. (In fact, I had looked into taking a similar trip with CroisiEurope before settling on Vantage.) The trip was adequate, but not worth the money -- or aggravation -- that it cost. Verdict: I will never give Vantage another dollar of my money. There were many long-time Vantage customers on the cruise who were saying the same thing.

My brother invited me on the Vista Panama Canal itinerary for 2023, and when he went to book he found that everything was waitlisted. So he paid the deposit and my booking showed up as waitlisted anywhere from 7 to 32, depending on cabin category. He said not to worry as many people change their minds. (And he'd already been un-waitlisted for the cabin category he wanted on that cruise.) That was late summer. By early November, I was off the waitlist and now have a solid booking for the cruise.

I'm booked for 7112, but not until 2025. I chose it because it was over dining room and NOT casino. Then I noticed on the deck plan that the balcony appeared to be a bit larger. Sounds like that may be true. On a related note: anyone have any experience in a cabin with a connecting door? I'm booked on one (on Vista) for next year. Any noise issues in Oceania connecting cabins?

I'm guessing I will have to get my luggage tags and pre-embarkation letter by email since I am coming from the US. Maybe they'll be waiting for me when I return from my cruise about 3 weeks later.

I was able to pre-register this week for the April-Dec 2024 cruises. They told me I could expect to get an email late March or early April about what will be available. Timing is good since I will be going on my first Saga cruise(s) in the first half of May.

Something just occurred to me. I was on the Oceania website checking out a 2025 Riviera program the day before they were going to start taking reservations for those cruises. I noticed that at least one selection of inside cabins showed up as sold out. Maybe they are no longer offering those inside cabins for passengers after the redo.

A couple of weeks ago I put a deposit on a 2025 cruise on Riviera. I'll be looking forward to seeing the new look. Gee, I hope my cabin is not one of the 20 that will be disappearing!

UK cruise company Saga has two ships similar to the Viking all-balcony ocean vessels, but 20% of the cabins are solo.