Snaefell3

2 hours ago, Vertygo said:

But did your payment disappear as well or was it refunded?

Payment was SBC (and, no, it did not disappear).

If I had not banged my nose and had to go to the Medical Center to get a resulting nosebleed to stop, neither I nor the ship would have ever known my crud had a name, much less that one.

Oddly enough, the process has turned all my non-refundable SBC into refundable SBC since SBC now went against Medical Center bills and will eventually arrive in an insurance reimbursement check.  Do NOT step aboard without medical insurance unless you can take a $7k hit without flinching.  Part 'B' (aka "Legacy") Medicare stops at the border; my particular Part 'C' Medicare (aka Medicare Advantage) covers worldwide.

47 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

Only a foolish or a rich person ignores O's constant and constantly changing sales. 

Or the baffled.   ::raises hand::

11 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

So I am sure you pointed out the discrepancy to what your legal ticket contract stated when you let them know of your desire to cancel outside of their stated 36 hour cancellation period which would entitle you to a refund. 😜

Turned out to be moot.

I'll leave this thread be now with one addendum that wasn't germane to the other folks in the classes: Once the undiagnosed crud I didn't want to bring into a commercial kitchen got a 5-letter name, all line items in my folio about ever having signed up or been billed for the classes disappeared. 

17 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

😉 Was your request also within the 36 hour time frame? 

Before and after.  😜

The reply was always "We'll have to ask the Chef" / "We're waiting to hear back from the Chef".

The conversation with the GM was after I got out of quarantine.

I don't know about hearing "Ding!" in that cabin, but there is a privacy issue with 11024 and 11027 that probably applies.  The doors on those cabins align perfectly with the elevator lobby so when you open the door, anyone in the lobby ends up looking in all the way across your (messy?) cabin.

Fincantieri never really polished the design.  The forward elevator lobby was moved back for a fire bulkhead -- that's why the forward staircase is separated from the forward elevator lobbies and the lobbies align with cabin doors.  The aft elevators still have a button for Deck 5, nevermind there is no Deck 5 aft elevator lobby -- that space was needed so the Ember and Red Ginger could have a kitchen.  Etc.

3 hours ago, EJL2023 said:

Why does your invoice and ticket contract state?

(I assume you mean "what", not "why".  I've seen auto-correct do weirder things 😉 )

The excursion ticket said "48".

The GM (the Purser, the guy with 4 shoulder-board stripes and white branch colors) said "48".  That was also the conversation where I heard the bit about "buyers' remorse".

54 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

Actually I believe it is 36 hours before class

Nope.  At least not on Vista, 16-27 March.

Culinary Classes Desiderata:

• No refund after 48 hours before the class.
• No refund if sick the day before
• Encourages folks to attend class while sick but still upright
• GM implied policy because of too much buyers remorse.  Huh!?!

20 minutes ago, richyking said:

I got onto the Oceania site at 4.01am gmt (12.01am USA ET) slight delay due to technical issues(404) this was 45 days before 11 May sailing as I am B2. Only three restaurants available  no red ginger either private or sharing have checked each day since and still no red ginger I assume there are no vacancies. Sent a message to Oceania but no response although I wasn't expecting one as they have never responded to any message sent!! Guess I will try when on board.

Fact:  Not all reservation slots are released to the website.  Some are held onboard to fix issues like yours.  See the Dining Reservations Desk folks when on board -- sooner the better.

On 3/24/2024 at 4:28 PM, basenji56 said:

Regarding the canceled excursions, it is criminal that you just lose that money.  Has anyone tried going up the chain of command to get the Simply More changed to usable onboard credit?

 

The reality is that SM is "lipstick on a revenue-enhancement pig".  NCLH (and therefore we paying passengers) have $6,000,000,000 (that's with a 'B') of extra debt from the shutdown to pay off.

3 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

There is a price difference between the cabin levels each with different ‘perks’. 
 

You pay your money and you make your choice!

Yep.  But occasionally "other factors" intrude.  Last cruise, our window opened at 12:00:00.1 AM, Jan 1.  Methinks most other folks were ...otherwise occupied.  😉 

8 hours ago, Techno123 said:

Thanks @Snaefell3 That will likely be 5am our time 😂

 

You are permitted to yawn between refreshes.  😜 

3 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

Also, with phone in airplane mode and wifi-calling enabled, you “should” be able to text each other…….?

"Should", but didn't work that way for us March 16-27.  Might depend upon which cellphone provider you have.  Spam calls rang through just fine. 🙄  And were timed based upon our home timezone, not where we were. 😒

6 hours ago, Waltershipman said:

My DW tested positive the day we 

 

disembarked Feb 11

Had me starting a guilt-trip there before I noticed the date. ::Whew!:: 

Hope she had an easy time of it.  Nothing more than a scratchy throat here -- didn't even realize I was sick: I was down in Medical because I'd banged my nose and had a nosebleed that just would not stay stopped.

CDC-mandated onboard quarantine is now "5 days from first symptoms" rather from positive test.  ADDED: if you take the Paxlovid

Interesting direct quote from the ship's MD:  "It's mutated down to just another sort of mild flu, so we don't police it any more"  He was talking about contact tracing and whether DW had to be tested since she was going into quarantine with me anyways.

Off Vista just now.

• Everyone --SM, O-Life, or the old cruise-only-- got 2 "basic" logons per cabin.

• You could switch a logon from one device to another at any time, but it was a pain.

• The upgraded internet package simply moved you from a ship's router that blocked streaming to one that did not -- no extra bandwidth.

• Video-grade bandwidth on sea days, but starved for bandwidth in Port Canaveral with lots of folks ashore on popular excursions.  Go figure.

On 3/26/2024 at 2:31 PM, nu#1 said:

Ember. This is so subjective but we found it to be good/very good. I would rate it above Pollo Grill, but not Red Ginger or Toscana. Didn’t seem overly noisy but we had a corner table. No table cloths.

Same voyage here, so some thoughts:

• Yep.  Bare oiled, polished, and elegant wood dining surface.

• Ember in the middle was *quieter* than Toscana in the middle.

• Service in Red Ginger was stellar.

• We shared in Toscana.  DW (piccata) and tablemate (Marsala) commented that the veal scaloppini was tough.

Last thought:  The 5-letter beast came to visit mid-voyage, and we found ourselves ordering dinner from Ember in preference to all the other options.

Just back from 11 days on Vista and 3 pizzas.  1 in Terrace, and 2 in evening Waves.

The one in Terrace, lunchtime, was watery.  I suspect it did not come from the Wave's oven.

Our first in evening Waves was a delightful soft-crust Margherita.  The other (toward the end of the voyage after more folks had discovered evening Waves) was a rushed, so-so Margherita.

Yeah, "the plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data' ", but there's 3 data points for y'all.

On 3/14/2024 at 4:37 AM, basenji56 said:

"If you're so upset about the tablecloths you should be just as upset that all the people in their ads are handsome and beautiful.  I've taken quite a few O cruises and I've got news for you, they are not your typical O customers.?

I've found that the people in cruise ship ads *are* typical customers.  Not the models in the foreground, but the odd "extras" that show up in the background.

If you want the precise tick...

It's when your web browser realizes that Oceania's server thinks it's 1 millisecond after midnight, Eastern time (UTC-4 or UTC-5).  Go to the dining portion of your booked cruise shortly before midnight, and hit your browser's refresh button every few seconds until the options appear.

1 hour ago, Nitrodog said:

All of the so called luxury lines are seeing their star ratings going down. It could very well be that the lines are having a more difficult time attracting staff.

It cost a lot of money the cruise lines did not have to survive two years without revenue during the COVID shutdown.  NCLH (NCL + O + RSSC), alone, took out on extra $6,000,000,000 (with a 'B') in debt.  Some of the "reduced expectations" we face is from loss of staff experience, but most of it their need to pay off that debt.

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

So, the upshot is.....use a quality agent, who knows their stuff.  Who communicates effectively, often, and completely.  And documents every step of the way.  Anything else and you are not getting true service.

One more thought:  Even if it's their mistake, it's your problem.  Act accordingly.

11 minutes ago, ORV said:

Conspiracy minded people will tell you it's the cruise lines that turn down the whole system at night to save money.

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence."

The one time we had this problem (not on O), the thermostat wires were connected backwards.

• You'll need a cruise line that caters to Brits rather than Americans for kettles.

• They probably have Splenda, but since they'll stock your cabin fridge with non-standard sodas, make a request for Splenda in case they otherwise wouldn't.

Just now, Harters said:

My comment was that it really doesnt matter to me one way or the other. That said, I am interested to know why it's of interest to you. Do table cloths have a significance in your part of the world?

My 2¢:

• "Tablecloth" is/was a hallmark of "fine dining".

• "Tablecloth" doesn't make the food taste any better.

• "Tablecloth" is more related to signalling than savoring.

Oh!  And...

• "Tablecloth", unless changed for each seating, is less sanitary than a bleach-water wipe.

9 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Matter of opinion. How about how do equate a simple cheese pizza masquerading as a Marguerite Pizza on the Vista and the real thing with the actual ingredients on shore? Is that an equal analysis? 

I'm on for the experiment!  Can you get us funding?  😉