basor

The free cruise is based upon the cabin category you have sailed in....thus you always cruise in a suite than your free cruise is that category of suite.

We just missed a port on Princess 3 weeks ago so never say never that other lines do not miss a port...

Several other cruise lines do the same....check out Viking

I believe that TA's pass on feedback from their clients so I think that would be your best bet to express your thoughts.

What impact are you talking about - the fact that cargo ships that do not have a reservation to go through the canal are having to wait an extended amount of time due to the lower number of ships allowed through the canal? This has nothing to do with a cruise ship that does have a reservation for a specific day to transit....it has been discussed ad naseum in another post.

We board Vista on the 29SEP so can tell you if the "wine by the glass" menu changes on 01OCT .....we are doing a B2B2B so can keep track if there are any major changes to the menu when guest embark under SM...my guess is that we will see no difference except O running out of certain vintages and replacing with recent purchases. We are just glad that there will be choices and not a "pour of the day" for the included wines.

Since there will be many people onboard still using the OLife perk they previously booked under, the wine by the glass menu will be the same for both guests sailing under SM or under Olife....they are not going to have 2 separate "wine by the glass" menus....now the wine by the glass menu does change as Oceania wine purchases change.

Actually, the most recent reviews have been very positive and so they may have been evolving and listening to the feedback.....

We have been on several O ships where they set up a grill outside on Terrace and are cooking fresh fish they picked up in port that day. Generally the grill is on the port side just past the sliding doors from inside. It has been either right outside on the left or nearer the railing on the right side,

It sounds like you sent many months prior to your cruise and perhaps before final payment? We found by sending about 6 weeks prior to the cruise, it is generally posted within 24 hours.

When we bring onboard at embarkation, we have the wine/liquor store pack in a cardboard box, slap a label on it and hand to the porters with our luggage. If we are bringing onboard at a port, just hand carry in a bag or in our backpack.

I apologize for misreading your comment...

I think you meant you need to upgrade to the Prestige Package for mixed drinks to be included and all alcoholic drinks available any time. At the present time, it is $30.00 per person, per day to upgrade from the House Select (which is the same alcoholic offerings as SM) to the Prestige Package.

The wine and beer offerings are any of the "by the glass" wines offered onboard....there is not a separate wine list for those on a package (house select or SM). If you google, the current wine by the glass menu has been posted several times.

We always take out travel insurance at the time of making our deposit so we receive the pre-existing condition waiver. We only cover the amount of the deposit and then increase the coverage at time of final payment.......we also only book cruises we intend to take so if we cancel it would be for a covered reason.

That is what travel insurance is for......we never cruise without it

So your original itinerary did not include any Panama Canal transit?

They do, just the same as the other R ships - off the GDR as part of the bar/waiting area. I think they were missing the larger dedicated Barristas space as on the O ships

We have previously transited the canal several times East to West and never had to show any vaccination certification. We are also on the same cruise with you.....

I would and have ....if a cruise ship currently has a reservation for transiting the canal it will be honored but it will become increasingly difficult in the future for them to battle for the fewer available spots. The OP was asking about a cruise in 4 1/2 months being canceled due to the headlines read.....

According to this it is for "new bookings" not reservations already held: We informed our customers that effective August 8, a new Booking Condition, namely Condition 3, came into effect for the utilisation of the Panamax locks. The standard offering of reservations comprises 23 booking slots for these locks. Under Condition 2, in scenarios involving a substantial reduction in capacity (such as lane closures for maintenance), the allocation is reduced to 16 booking slots. Meanwhile, under Condition 3, as currently being implemented, the booking slots are limited to 14 in total (comprising 10 slots for super-sized vessels and 4 slots for regular-sized vessels). To this day, reservations for the Neopanamax locks remain unaffected.”

The August 21 deadline is to reevaluate the reservation allotment for commercial vessels. Oceania already has a reservation for your sailing Also, all of this delay and reservation allotment is for large commercial vessels Panamax, New -Panamax, Neo-Panamax or Post-Panamax. No cruise ship with a reservation is affected. Here is a link to the article and if you read the entire article you will see that Oceania R ships are way too small to be involved and have their reservation.. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/09/panama-canal-shipping-pileup-due-to-drought-reaches-154-vessels.html#:~:text=There are 154 commercial vessels,in effect until August 21.

Not everyone was lucky enough to have a cruise that was included in the ESS, so the cost difference between what we book under Olife and the cost of the cruise under SM is no where near your cost difference. I look forward to hearing what cruise line you will be booking in the future that has a "cruise only" option with no alcohol or shore excursions included....I have been looking and not finding much that can compare to the O onboard experience.

It clearly states for cruises embarking after 01OCT so would not expect to receive any of the perks on our cruise 29SEP.....

Thanks - I did not remember seeing the answer in the other Vista threads....but glad to hear we can use them on the back of the door,