sunlover12

31 minutes ago, mb777 said:

Not sure many of us expect dining to begin at 5, however 6 would certainly be a huge improvement and possibly open up some 6:30 slots.  Happy hour 5-6, dinner 6-8 (yes, it took 2 hours each meal), Martini's after dinner, shopping at the boutique, maybe casino for some, then 9:30 show doesn't sound like a ghost ship to me.

+1

My experience has been that the ship doesn't start quieting down until 10:30 when the show is over. Especially if there is a guest performer that night, it is packed. 

On my last O cruise which was summer 2023, the casino and Martinis was standing room only after the show.  I left at 11:00 and it was still going strong.  Depends on the demographics of the cruise. 

We prefer 6:30 reservations.   A couple of reasons why we like dining earlier:  *We don't go to afternoon tea although occasionally we'll order canapes that arrive at 5:00.  So on most days we are hungry at 6:30 because we haven't eaten since lunch.  *We go to the evening show at 9:30 and with a later dining time we'd be rushing through the meal.  *Going to bed at 10:30-11:00 on a big meal that hasn't been fully digested because I ate a late dinner is not a good feeling. 

I would choose GDR, Terrace Cafe or room service if I couldn't get the early reservation in one of the specialty restaurants.  It's just my preference but everyone is different. 

I agree with @mauibabes that opening the restaurants before 6:30 isn't practical because of staffing issues.

Travel prices are up significantly regardless of what type of vacation it is.  Cruising and land-based. Hotel and restaurant prices are up dramatically from just a few years ago.  We all know that. Road trips aren't going to be cheap. As an example, we were recently on a road trip and stopped at Arby's along the interstate for lunch.   2 roast beef sandwiches, one order of fries and one soft drink that we shared was $20.50. 

No matter what type of vacation you are planning, be prepared to shell out a bunch of money.

Just My Opinion. 

My September cruise on Nautica is waitlisted in every category except inside staterooms. PH and veranda staterooms have been waitlisted for several months. There sure aren't many looky-loos for this cruise. Final payment is tomorrow but I'm not expecting any cabins to become available. 

This cruise has never been included in any of the sales.  Not only that, but the price per day is the highest of any cruise I've ever been on.  Demand remains high. 

@MEFIowa  Keep in mind that not everyone who is in a PH and above wants extra specialty dining reservations.  We book PH and have never asked for extra reservations.  We take our allotted reservations and that's all. We like dining in all the restaurants.  It's hard for me to believe that they're holding a bunch of slots open to PH and above just in case they ask for more. 

3 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

Then you're not understanding the DENIAL of the cost-cutting and revenue enhancement efforts underway. Going from Jacques to Ember is cost cutting. Same for pizza station. SM is revenue enhancement. The list of cost-cutting efforts is seen in menus, cabin service reductions, and more. What is fascinating is how the Vista Cheerleader types, for example, can't understand that The Emperor Has No Clothes, the cost cutting measures. I hope that doesn't include the reported CABIN NOISE issues on Vista.

 

And the WHY is simple: They are drowning in debt and need to repay it.

I haven't been on Vista yet but I do not see eliminating Jacques and adding Ember as a form of cost-cutting.  I see it as appealing to a different demographic. Casual and younger. I'll be on Vista for the first time next year and look forward to dining in Ember. The menu looks good. 

I love good sushi so looking forward to the expanded offerings.

I'm like ORV - I've tried Indian food a couple of times and just do not care for it. So I will pass on that.

@babysteps  I'll be on Vista for the first time next year.  I'll be following your reports.  Thanks.

@vlthom  Thank you for reporting your dining experience.  Regarding the bread (or lack of), that seems to be a thing now with restaurants.  I've been to a couple of land restaurants recently that don't automatically bring bread to the table. They'll ask you if you want any and some restaurants will add an extra charge if you do. Must be an all-around cost-cutting measure in the restaurant business.

I have found the salmon in the GDR to be very bland. Unfortunately that sounds like more of the same in Ember.

Hmmm…MILs getting a bad rap in a couple of these posts. I’m here to say we’re not all like that.  

We have a group of 10 next year to Alaska on Quantum. 3 generations. 6 adults and 4 children. I am the MIL and mother/grandmother.  My husband and I have booked 3 cabins for our group. We booked early dining which we have all agreed to. We may or may not do 1 specialty restaurant. Other than eating dinner together each night, we have no expectations or requirements that we do everything else together. My husband and I booked a GS. The others are in a standard balcony stateroom. Ulterior motive on that is my husband and I want to eat alone in Coastal Kitchen for some lunches and all breakfasts! 
 

Bottom line is that we all have different interests. We are fine with everyone doing their own thing because our primary goal is for all 10 of us to have a memorable and fun cruise. 

@CaptainCook808  The menus on Oceania’s website are samples only.  As has been mentioned, it is going to change every day. If your cruise is less than 14 days, the menu in the GDR will be different every day. The menus will be posted outside the restaurant and will also be on the TV in your cabin. 
 

The Terrace Cafe has a made-to-order grill station in addition to a variety of entrees, pastas, salads and much more. The offerings also change daily. Look for the Chef’s Special which will be 2 nights in a row and feature dishes from the country you have just visited. 
 

When you board the ship, go to the dining reservation desk to request additional specialty dining reservations. 

There is one port (Saguenay) on my Nautica cruise in September/October that does not have any excursions available.  Several excursions are listed but they all state "this excursion is closed". When I called Oceania about it, he told me that they are all sold out.  It is hard to believe that every excursion in that port is sold out while all the other ports on that cruise show lots of availability. I don't know what it means.  They either cannot find tour operators for this port or it's possible this port is going to be eliminated.  

It's probably going to depend on how full the ship is going to be.  FWIW, I've been on 8 Oceania cruises and have never been offered an upgrade opportunity.  For reference, we have been in concierge veranda and PH.  We were on Sirena in 2022 in a PH.  About 2 weeks before the cruise, we were offered quite a bit of money to downgrade to a concierge veranda. 

I think it just depends on your particular cruise. Good luck.  

55 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

There is a big difference between giving a discount (you are correct that TA's are not allowed to discount fares) and providing a group rate which is what is being discussed.  The group rates are offered to TA's by Royal and are generally less than posted rates, refundable vs non refundable and come with additional OBC.

How big does the group have to be to get a group rate?

I have booked Royal Caribbean with a large national TA and have not gotten any kind of group rate.  It's the posted rate. 

TAs are contractually not allowed to give discounts off the fares.  A TA may give you OBC or some other perk like a bottle of wine. If booking a group, they may give you something like pre-paid gratuities. My TA did that for us last year when we booked a group of 10. It just depends on the TA and the cruise line you are booking with. 

I've booked directly with the cruise line and have used a TA.  

Apologies for hijacking this thread but continuing with pickpocketing experiences:  I've been pickpocketed twice.  Once in Pisa inside a church and once in San Francisco on a city bus.  Both happened 15+ years ago. I am much smarter now about how I carry my valuables. I limit what I carry when I go out, I use a cross body bag with my hand over the zipper compartment. 

These days, I am much more concerned about fraudulent online credit card purchases which has happened to me multiple times in the last couple of years even though the card(s) has never left my possession. 

52 minutes ago, Harters said:

That's interesting and actually surprised me. I would never have thought the law in the States would constrain how a company trades in that way. Is it only cruises that cannot be discounted, or are many other things "price fixed" by law?  Flights, escorted tours, cars, TVs, etc? 

My TA used the word "legalities" but it's probably contractual as njhorseman stated.

There is no "price fixing" on any of those things.  Prices are determined on the open market.  If I can recall correctly, airfares were controlled by the government back in the 1970's but that is long gone. Now it's whatever the market will bear.

8 hours ago, Vallesan said:

I’m assuming these prices are ‘brochure’ prices and do not take into account any TA discounts and/or perks which could make quite a difference. My TA gives an average of 10% discount. So still difficult to quantify the different price structures.

In the U.S., TAs are not allowed because of legal reasons to give a discount off the fare.  I was just talking to my TA yesterday and this is what she told me. So this is a big difference between the countries. The perks will most likely be in the form of OBC.

It's hard to do an apples to apples comparison because of all the variations. 

We haven’t cruised yet with Simply More so can’t comment on that.

I have found the descriptions of the excursions match the actual excursions in almost all. I recall one that was listed as “strenuous”. We went on it and the only strenuous portion was walking on a steep paved road for a short distance. The guide gave us plenty of time. The rest of it was easy. In the excursions that I have been on the guides know how it has been described to the passengers and it is followed closely.   
This has been my experience.

@Flatbush Flyer thanks for that information.  I agree that the ship excursions are in a continual state of flux.  On my Canada cruise in 4 months it was recently showing some excursions were “not available”.  It’s now showing they’re all available to book. It could mean that those excursions were still being negotiated with the tour provider.  I don’t know….but it pays to keep checking regularly. 

There's no way of knowing in advance so just be flexible if you need to be.  FWIW, I've been on 8 Oceania cruises and have had a total of 3 ports cancelled.  2 out of those 3 didn't turn into sea days as they were replaced with other ports.  The reasons were:  a) recent reports of violence in one of the Mexico ports;  b) sea conditions in a tender port. As I recall, we did stay anchored there for at least an hour hoping it would calm but it didn't; c) weather.   So for me that was dozens of ports that were not cancelled. Pretty good odds.

Maybe I've just been lucky so far. 

47 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

Check your shorex pdf. The YWC 25% discount for O-Life cruises should still be listed unless you are on a 7-day cruise which occasionally does not offer the discount (which also applies to SM...you can tell which cruises don't have discounts because "N/A" shows up in that column on the website).

It's been checked and verified.  Not included.  Thanks for your reply.

32 minutes ago, ORV said:

The real problem comes with the 25% discount when you book enough to get the discount. It can be done with the cart, but you must be very exacting in the way you do it. Did you get the YWYW 25% discount?

THE YWYW 25% discount did not apply to this sailing. It only applies if booked with Simply More.  Even so....the value of the 3 included excursions under O Life far exceeds the $300 paid. 

I have 2 comments about this.

This week I booked shore excursions for my September cruise on Nautica. I had no trouble except for one port which shows "excursion closed" for every one of the 6 excursions listed. I take this to mean that O is still finding and/or negotiating with the tour operators for this port. 

My second comment is about booking online using the cart.  I've read all the comments going way back saying to never book online. The suggestions are you should always call. I have the OLife excursion package. Before I purchased online, I calculated what the total amount should be. The total charged was exactly what it should be, to the dollar. It left the 3 most expensive excursions off the bill and charged the rest.  So yes, it can be accurately purchased online using the cart but do the math before you click "purchase".  This has been my experience.  YMMV

I was on Regatta a few years ago on Mothers Day. It was also a sea day and we were sailing off the coast of California. The majority of passengers were American. No special brunch or anything.  The only thing they did was the cruise director wished all mothers aboard a Happy Mother’s Day over the PA. 
Enjoy your cruise and have a Happy Mother’s Day. 

I checked the list.  Once again, the included cruises in this sale appear to be the lesser desirable ones.  The cruises that I’m interested in are never included in any sale. 
 

I would be interested to know if anyone is able to upgrade to a PH.  I was once told by an O rep that A1 is the highest category you can upgrade to but I am sure it depends on the specific cruise.