sunnies

9 hours ago, SophieM said:

We’re not a member of the Pandaw group, but we’ll be on this cruise, too!

Look forward to meeting you. A great itinerary. 

29 minutes ago, Jack1 said:

Hi M

The 4 Pandaw cruisers are doing Riveriera March 10, 2025 Singapore to Tokyo.  When is your cruise? 

F

We embark in Tokyo on April 1 so sadly will miss you. We will spend 2 nights in Tokyo pre cruise so perhaps our Pandaw group could have a reunion. 

Thank you for your excellent review. We have booked this itinerary on Riviera for next year. Regarding the Oceania tours, are there any you would recommend? We will be booking some Oceania and some private. 

We were also on this cruise and the previous leg. The cruise from Reykjavik to Oslo was different from any other of our many Oceania cruises in terms of passengers. Some left their manners behind, for many the dress code was not country club casual and bus tours were a cough fest with few sick passengers wearing a mask to stop the spread of germs. I commented to management that a note could be put in Currents advising the wearing of masks on bus tours if you have a cough. 

I agree with you. Our first Oceania cruise was in 2007 and we have kept every book. I am not happy with the direction Oceania is going - no more booklets, luggage tags pier side, reduced times in some ports and the cost of tours for South American ports has increased by 50% between 2020 and 2024. 

47 minutes ago, roger b said:

Yes the staterooms are the big plus as they have been completely  refurbished  and are now predominately  duck egg blue .

  I love the new TV system  which is now a 50in screen and fully interactive .

Thank you Roger. We are now looking forward to our cruise even more. 

We are on Nautica in early August. I am wondering if the dark wood has been replaced in the staterooms. I certainly hope so. We have always loved Nautica but the staterooms did need a makeover. Meg 

We are also Platinum and from Australia and received it. 

I asked Oceania a few days ago about when Nautica would be refurbished as we are booked on an August 2022 cruise. Sadly it’s not scheduled until 2023. I am not happy as we booked thinking Nautica would look as beautiful as the other ships. I thought there may have been a lowering of the price for our itinerary but sadly no. The new brochures all show Nautica as refurbished! 

After numerous cruises with Oceania my favourite itinerary is still Hong Kong to Athens in 2009. When returning from every port excursion many of the crew lined up on the dock to welcome us back as the band played on the deck. Magical memories! 

Last November I asked Oceania Sydney office about when Nautica would be refurbished as we were due to sail on her this August. I was told May 2021. Obviously plans can change! 

The CEO of Qantas has just announced that to travel internationally passengers will need to be vaccinated for Covid-19. 

New itineraries now on line. 

4 hours ago, drkitkat123 said:

although in (?parts of) Victoria currently where they are locked down severely at the moment, I believe that there is no golf...

I think you are allowed out for 1 hour to exercise a day

You are correct. In Greater Melbourne you are permitted one hour of exercise each day but no golf. You must stay within 5 km of your home including shopping. No visitors to your home and you can walk with only one other person. Masks must be worn at all times. Food stores, banks, post offices and petrol open but all else closed. No elective surgery. And the list goes on. It’s very tough especially on people living alone. 

We have a friend who was an officer with Oceania. He had also been employed by most of the upmarket cruise ships. I asked which one in his opinion had the best food.  Answer - Oceania. We continue to cruise with Oceania as the food is exceptional. We did try Viking but it did not compare favourably. My passion is cooking so the standard of food when travelling is important. 

Thank you. I will check with my TA.

3 hours ago, Turn 8A said:

The Lisbon -> Cape Town cruise was certainly not overbooked😀. It had 213 cabins available (according to a favorite cabin availability site) or ~39% occupancy on 6/19, 2days after final payment was due.

 

Is the cabin availability site available to all as I would love to be able to use it when thinking about cruising again? 

If the refurbishment of Nautica is not done, do you think the prices advertised at the moment will be reduced? Without the refit, I would think carefully about changing our August 2021 cruise to another Oceania ship if the price was not lowered significantly. Nautica was looking rather tired last time we sailed on her. 

7 hours ago, dj_crusin said:

Even though “The Ultimate Sale” was announced this week the actual price reductions were implemented a few weeks ago. 

I took a screen shot of the cost of our August 21 cruise in February and the price is the same now. Perhaps prices will be reduced later in the year if bookings are slow. Also it is worth noting that the cruise is on Nautica which may not be refurbished next month as planned. 

9 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

I guess the sale applies only to some cruises that don't sell as well?

We had a B2B2B on the Marina this Fall that we cancelled but would have saved over $3k from the prior fare if we kept the bookings.

That could be the case. However the cruise in question was “attached” to the email advertising the price reductions. A little misleading. 

I have just received an email from Oceania with the subject “The Ultimate Sale. Major Price Reductions.” I compared the cost of our Concierge Stateroom for August 2021 from some weeks ago to the cost listed today and guess what it’s the same! I should mention that we live in Australia. 

Our November African cruise may be canceled but if not we would certainly not go due to the health risk. Besides there may be no flights from Australia by then.  Our next booked cruise is Europe in August 2021. Without a vaccine we probably would not go due to our age. Whenever we do cruise again we would look carefully at the fine print of our insurance policy. 

One of the passengers in 14 quarantine in Melbourne commented that 4 days before departure some passengers wished to cancel but were told by Aurora Expeditions that there would be no refund or future credit and the cruise would go ahead as Antarctica is the “safest place on earth”. 

Passengers from the Greg Mortimer March 15 cruise have just returned to Melbourne with 70% testing positive for COVID19. Medical authorities describe the decision to sail after a global pandemic had been declared by WHO as “irresponsible”. 

We were due to set sail from Lima on Oceania on same date. Cruise cancelled 36 hours before departure. Clearly the decision for Greg Mortimer to sail has had disastrous consequences. A decision based on the dollar and not the well-being of passengers and crew.