PhD-iva

I used luggage forward in November 2022 to ship my large suitcase from Austin to Los Angeles. During that period we were still hearing reports of lost luggage, luggage not getting delivered. As I recall, it was a very reasonable fee, and I was very careful not to pack anything except clothes, and my iPhone AirTags. I was very satisfied with the service.

Hurricane season runs from the beginning of June to the end of November. Hard to avoid, I’d say.

I think they were in my Sirena stateroom in March.

Come again?

Ha! One more. You caught me!

Thank you so much for your detailed review. I also cruise solo on Oceania, and I really enjoy the experience. Did you partake in any solo get togethers? I had a great time on Riviera and Sirena since Covid. Thx again!

Thx! BTW, my email can be found in my signature. Best wishes!

Ok. If within the rules, I traveled on a Collette small group tour. Tour name was smth like “Scotland, Land of Lore and Legend”. Tour director was Janice Killmurray. She was wonderful!

From what I am reading here on CruiseCritic, the answer is no. The simply more credit can only be used for excursions.

Unlike what I have heard of Viking, Oceania generally has multiple excursions available in every port.

This thread is about a cruise that includes ports in Scotland. I am just back from 10 days in Scotland (and a three day extension to London), on a small group land tour. Not allowed to mention the tour agency. I had a wonderful fabulous time, just as I usually do when I’m on an Oceania or Regent cruise. My next cruise is on Regent Voyager, 17 days Buenos Aires to Santiago Chile. What I would like to add to this discussion is that one consequence of seeing many locations and sights and attractions in Scotland over the 10 days we were there means that we stayed in five hotels. That is a lot of packing and unpacking. A lot. The fabulous tour company included porterage for all locations, but it still is a real issue. Will I go on another very busy land tour? Probably yes. I loved it! However I walk 4 or 5 miles on a daily basis, and I understand that many people who cruise are not in any kind of physical condition to be able to keep up with that pace. So, for as many complaints as we have about any cruise line, it still remains a viable method to travel to many places, and only unpack once.

I think they’d rather have you continue to look for a cruise that you can actually go on. Cancellation rates are probably a negative indicator, not one they want to “gin up”. JMO

I was on Sirena in February/March and afternoon tea was always in Horizons. I think you misread Pinotlover’s post.

What a handsome couple. 😘 You guys look great!

More correctly, on a flight arranged by Oceania. I am sorry that you missed your cruise! Many on this board will suggest in future it would be preferable to fly in at least 1 day before embarkation. These things happen. This is especially important information for anyone using this forum to learn about cruising before taking that first plunge. Again, I’m so sorry this happened. I’m wondering if I will have to skip my next European vacation (for a different reason). Please share w us if O reimbursed you at all? Did you have travel insurance? Thx for sharing and we feel your pain!

Come to think of it, although jaleo = riot, “¡Que jaleo!” translates better as “what a mess” I love languages….

“Sciopero” is strike in italian. I love the sound of that word (not the action). “Grève” is strike in french. My husband says it translates to “floating holiday.” 🤨 My favorite word in Spanish is “jaleo” as in “¡Que jaleo!” {what a riot} JK!

I’ve been on 3 Oceania ships. All 3 had (small) casinos, and I think they are smoke-free. Pretty sure they are, but not positive.

This happens on other cruiselines also. Our 2005 honeymoon cruise on HAL Westerdam had a pricing error, decimal in wrong place. HAL wanted to reprice, but our TA had faxed HAL requesting price confirmation and received price confirmation in writing from HAL. Didn’t matter, they increased the price but our TA got her agency mgmt involved and the issue got escalated. We ended up w about a 40% discount, but we were lucky. On the cruise our dinner table mates had the same pricing error, but since they booked directly w HAL, they didn’t get any breaks.

Let’s see, the foreign carriers that I could’ve chosen for my flights from Austin to Buenos Aires, and returning from Santiago Chile to Austin were: COPA, LATAM Aeromexico Air Canada (have read LOTS of complaints) Aerolineas Argentina (used to have a terrible rep. I avoid) LAN Chile (used to be great. Maybe still is) for the benefit of others, who might also be looking to customize their flights to South America, would you experienced Regent cruisers recommend any or all of the above carriers? Thx!

A few days ago the window opened when I can request custom flights for my Voyager cruise on 2FEB2024. My home airport is Austin and the cruise embarks in Buenos Aires and ends in San Antonio Chile, near Santiago. My primary concern was to upgrade my domestic leg from (possibly) coach to business class or first class. I’m willing to pay for that upgrade. Also, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t get routed to some out of the way airport like JFK or LAX. My best connecting options are DFW, Houston or Atlanta. My TA had me prepare three suggested itineraries that I would consider acceptable. I picked one American, one Delta, and one United itinerary. I used ITA matrix to see the available flights, and it looked like the foreign discount carriers were much cheaper than the US airlines. Those foreign carrier flights would connect in Mexico City or Panama as I recall, possibly other Latin American airports were in the mix as well. Regent air responded pretty quickly that they would charge me $700 for the American itinerary I had proposed for my outbound flight to BsAs, which departs Austin at 4:35PM. My travel agent told me their default itinerary with no upcharge would take me through JFK with an extremely long layover. I would fly out of Austin at 6:45 AM and have a 10 1/2 hour layover in JFK. It didn’t sound like a good plan to me. They wanted to charge me $1500 additional to fly me home on LATAM, a (discount?) foreign carrier I am not familiar with. I said I would accept their return itinerary that does not include additional fees. The itinerary they booked me on for my return home has two stops, which I guess is not too bad, and the domestic leg is upgraded to business or first. The connection time in Atlanta to go through immigration and customs is one hour and 40 minutes. That’s cutting it tight, but I have global entry so lately I’ve been transiting quickly through US immigration. I guess I could have researched the foreign carriers to see whether or not they are reliable and high-quality. 25 years ago when I was traveling business to South America, LanChile was a very good airline, I’m not sure whether it still is. Anyway, I was not impressed with the flight selection that Regent wanted to assign me. I’m sure I’ll still have a great cruise, I just wanted to share with you my experience. Here’s the default itinerary they wanted to assign me.

In the past, once you have added/upgraded the drinks package there is no going back (only forward). So you are committed once you add the package or upgrade your package. You can upgrade a package you have added, but you can’t remove the change. well, perhaps the drinks prices have gone up, but my experience was a double vodka cranberry during happy hour was a little bit more than $13. $13 and change. Have prices gone up that much?

Correct.

Pinotlover, any room left for solo travelers on your Italian tour? Parlo un po’ di italiano! Email is in my signature. Am interested!

I don’t believe this is accurate. When I purchased my FCC, I was told I can ask for a refund. If you let it expire, then yes, you lose the money. If you ask for a refund before expiration, I was told there will be no trouble to receive a refund.