Snaefell3

As best I know, both Luggage Forward and Luggage Free both subcontract the actual leg work. Our experience from 8 years ago was that Luggage Forward subcontracted with UPS (which got our luggage to Seattle on Wed for a Sat embarkation), but then used a courier service in Seattle for holding our luggage and actual delivery to the ship. An hour before sailing, our luggage had not shown up and the Seattle courier service couldn't/wouldn't give us or Luggage Forward a status. We sailed without knowing that our luggage had been delivered to the ship. So: YMMV depending upon the port as well as which company!

"Unreliable" usually means that the ship did not buy enough satellite bandwidth so that when shared among all the passengers signed on at a given time, there wasn't enough to go around. Right now, it's cheap for a ship to buy enough bandwidth from Starlink. Doesn't mean that will always be the case or that O won't decide cost cut. There are currently 3 classes of internet-at-sea satellites: • GEO-orbit satellites: The kind we learned to hate. They are in equatorial orbit and stop working in high latitudes (Antarctica). • MEO-orbit satellites: Bandwidth costs 1/10 as much and ships usually buy at-home speeds for passengers. They are in equatorial orbit and don't work even as far north as Seattle. • LEO-orbit satellites: Only provided by Starlink. Very new. Very cheap bandwidth (might be loss-leader; time will tell). They are in polar orbit and work from North Pole to South Pole. On a recent Alaska cruise we got great bandwidth in Skagway, but then found out the ship had linked to terrestrial Verizon service in town. Sneaky! 😉 On a recent TA we had good bandwidth off a MEO-orbit satellite from MIA to the Azores, then terrible bandwidth after Ponta Delgada when the ship had to switch to a GEO-orbit satellite. (GEO = geosynchronous orbit. MEO = Medium (height) Earth orbit. LEO = Low Earth Orbit)

@Tranquility Base's case was clearcut: Low tide is at "x". Where we end up criticizing O is on the fuzzy stuff: "What's the wind likely to be in 6 hours?": No one can be sure (I've blown enough forecasts to know 😉 ), so they tend to subscribe to " 'Tis better remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubts".

One more thought... "90% of everything is cr*p" -- Sturgeon's Law, propounded in 1957 I've not found TA agencies to be an exception. 😞 Looking again after my winner retired. I know what will be my second conversation topic on our next cruise. 😉

With 4 current O bookings, should I tell them they must be? 😉

I don't know, but I suspect it was the lowest-fares first (to minimize refund/FCC costs) from those assigned the Muster Station served by the damaged lifeboats.

Cruise lines don't run the excursions (except on private islands). They contract with shoreside companies, and if the shoreside companies aren't accepting contracts for a year out, then.... As @tigerfan75 said, keep checking back.

Not just Oceania. 😉 Thoughts: • It's usually worries about high winds later while still docked. Recently P&O's Britannia had her mooring lines snap and get blown across Mallorca harbor into another ship, putting passengers into the medical center, smashing two lifeboats, and leaving P&O having to disembark two lifeboat's worth of passengers before being allowed to set sail. That incident likely made your Captain more cautious than usual. • Ships don't pull into ports like cars pull into parking lots. They can only dock early if the port gives the OK.

2 logons begin when someone onboard manually updates the server parameters. Keyword: "manually". If you care for something else to worry about, worry whether O pays to increase the ship's committed bandwidth from Starlink.

The center of Idalia passed about 30 mi S of Hamilton as a "tropical storm". Not sure I'd want to get off with "severe gale" (50mph) winds and "+SHRA" (heavy rain showers). I'm allergic to horizontal precipitation. 😳

If it comes out of O's pocket, your TA isn't going to have to wonder if giving up part of their commission is worth it to get your business...?

Having a TA's cellphone number who can smooth your way out of an issue a day's travel outside Timbuktu can be priceless -- if you often explore the desert around Timbuktu. 😉 As for OCCAP perks, remember: they come out of O's pocket, not the TA's.

A whisper from a fellow eye-challenged: You can adjust the font size, no? 😉

As I said above, I liked on [mumble] the ability to see each nights MDR menu for the entire voyage. That much info wouldn't be practical to present on the TV. ...and I'm already carrying my library -- err, smartphone -- loaded with ebooks going back to 1999.

On [mumble], we used their app for just two things: 1) "You are here" & turn-by-turn directions from YAH to a given event. 2) MDR menus for the entire voyage available on day 1. #1 on O? Meh. #2 on O? Please, please, please. Gotta plan when to beg for an extra specialty. 😉

It's part of the "OCAPP" (Oceania Cruises Amenity Partnership Program) perks. • Oceania-funded, and available through many, but not all, TAs. • Often disallowed on special deals. The more special, the more likely "not combinable". • Replaced with ShipBoard Credit for silver+ loyalty customers (who already get that perk).

1) I suspect "fee waiver" would qualify as @Ray4Fun's "Class Segregation". 2) There was no fee / no keycard / no signage / no nothing required for access to Regatta's foredeck last March. You just pushed open a door from the gym and walked out

Well, O does restrict access to the [Spa] foredeck, but that -- at least on the Regatta -- wasn't enforced: the access locks were even long gone.

Last comment. I'll listen but not likely reply: I wasn't speaking of M. Pépin or *his* lawyers. ...and, no, "kept as tribute" would not fly without permission from his estate.

There is a technical term for the difference between being right and proving it: "lawyers' fees".

Phrase it as "the increased likelihood of having to hire the lawyers of his estate as your Executive Culinary Director instead of M. Pépin himself" to see where I am coming from. ...and where the other ships' "Jacques" are likely to go come contract renewal time 😞

O really couldn't design Vista with a French restaurant: A "Jacques" even back when M. Pépin was only 85 was too likely to be ...overly optimistic, and a French restaurant not named for him on an Oceania ship would be gauche.

The definite answer is "maybe" 😉 but the new locks -- even though they are larger -- use 7% less water for a transit than do the old, and the current problem is ...not enough water, no?

IMNSHO:. (1) O's food *is* superb for cruise-ship institutional-kitchen chow. (2) Too many folks read the ads and expect individually-prepared Michelin-star cuisine.

O? Not in my (limited) experience. They did board in strict cabin category priority (top suites, penthouse, concierge, and "other). I've also heard of them running all 4 boarding categories in parallel, though. The port? Depends upon the port. For some ports, yeah and verily, well before you get near O.