sunlover12

17 hours ago, clo said:

That's something we're talking about also. Going where it's safeR.  Wisconsin isn't on our short list!.

 

Ashland is lovely. We used to live in Grants Pass.

Okay, I'll take the bait.  WI not on your short list because the Safer at Home order was lifted?  It's determined by the counties now and some are still on lockdown, including the county where I live.  I feel very safe here and it's a shame we are getting a bad rap in the national news.

As long as we're talking about where we've been and lived, I've been to all 50 states and every continent except Antarctica. We are originally from Wisconsin and we moved back home to retire after 35 years of living in various places for our career. We've done it backwards but we are here to stay.  Madison is ethnically diverse and has some great restaurants and attractions and is home to a great university. We lived in Northern California (East Bay) for a number of years. Our kids spent most of their growing-up years in the East Bay. We still go to California 3-4 times a year to visit but we have no desire to live there again. Lived in Texas for 10 years and don't want to live there again either. Had enough of hot weather to last a lifetime and now we enjoy the 4 seasons. We love to travel in our retirement and we enjoy road trips but would love to get back to cruising some day. 

35 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

I hope this puts your mind at rest. I beg you to please stop challenging me about my choices. Life is full of challenges and I do the best I can.

 

Very well said.  Not everyone is able to do a land trip.  Cruising is their only vacation option. 

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

We haven’t seen anything different except a lot less advertising.

 

Same with me.  We've been getting mail daily.  I'm in Dane County, Wisconsin which is the 2nd largest county in the state. USPS is losing money because there is much less bulk advertising.

We go grocery shopping once a week and the shelves are fairly well stocked with the exception of hand sanitizer which is impossible to find. 

It's been interesting reading of the experiences of some posters here who are waiting for refunds of a final payment for possibly up to 90 days.  I'm not waiting for a refund but if I did have to wait that long and not get any clear answers as to when I might expect it, I would be upset too.  I feel bad for people who are having to go through this.  I understand that O is not violating any terms but this certainly does not speak well of their customer relations.  Who knows what is going on at O behind the scenes but they are clearly having some serious cash flow problems.  

Their website shows that they are accepting reservations for cruises starting in early August 2020 on all of their ships.  I do not know how they can do that because didn't NCLH make a statement the other day about not resuming service until late 3rd quarter and then it would only be one O ship?  

The set dining time and table isn't appealing to me either but I understand why they would have to do that.  I do like the elimination of self-serve buffet.  I've taken a few ocean cruises with Oceania, and as someone else here mentioned, their buffet has always been served by staff.  It's much safer and you don't have to worry about dozens of other hands touching the same serving utensils. 

I have a Danube river cruise scheduled for October 2020.  The big unknown for me is what is the airline schedule between the US and Europe going to look like.  The flights I have booked are currently not operating and with 3000 airplanes parked and going nowhere I cannot help but wonder. 

I'm booked on a FP cruise on Regatta in March 2021.  Normally we book our flights well in advance but won't be doing that this time. We have enough UA miles to cover it but I don't believe demand is going to be strong enough to rush into booking the flight. Like Petoonya, I know that there is a strong possibility that this cruise isn't going to happen. 

7 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Sunlover;

 

You might have confused two different programs.

 

1. Regular bottle discount for those on pip.

 

2.  Special Bin End deals that may exist.

 

I believe the question was about #1, and your response, with 50% off, was obviously #2.

 

Hope that explains it. 🍷

That explains it then.  The bottle or 2 that we bought must have been the Bin End deal and we got the 50% off of that. I remember we bought a bottle of Italian white from Toscana and it was very good. I didn't realize that anything else would have been only 15% discount. 

Thank you for replying.

57 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

I believe you are terribly mistaken! 
 

On the original note, it’s not a one size fits all question. On most cruises, we take the beverage package as our OLife Choice and upgrade once aboard. Since we rarely board before 2:30-3:00, there has never been a line to do so.

 

On very port intensive cruises, where good wine is readily available, we take the Cruise Only fare and pay corkage. We rarely take an O shore tour and the OBC option is merely a wash.

 

When faced with a large VAT, we have again taken the cruise only option and pre bought the Premium Package. On a 20 day cruise at $20/day the extra 25% for us didn’t make sense. 
 

We have been on Food and Wine Trail Oceania cruises we’re buying anything extra was unnecessary! 🤪

 

Every Cruise is different for us.

Pinotlover,

I am “terribly mistaken”??  Please explain!

On our last O cruise in June 2019 we had the Prestige Beverage Package. We purchased 1 or 2 bottles of wine and received 50% off of the list price.  I am absolutely certain of it.   
The only way I could be incorrect is if the policy changed after June 2019. 

The discount is 50% for the bottle  (not 15%).  

This news sounds bad but I'm not going to overreact.  We have 2 Oceania cruises booked for 2021 and it would be nice to go on them. If not, I will be disappointed, but at this point we would only lose the deposits. One of those was booked with a reduced deposit using a FC Certificate.  At least we wouldn't lose full payments.

I have developed a strong stomach and nerves of steel through the years and I've learned not to panic when bad financial news hits. I've held my position through all the stock market disruptions going back to Black Monday 1987 and have come out way ahead.  There's definitely going to be big changes in the cruise industry when we come out of this but they will get through it. 

I’ve been disappointed with Polo Grill. It was average at best and was not memorable in a good way.  This was on Marina last year.  Maybe the staff was having a bad night. At our table of 8 I know there were a couple of other people who weren’t pleased with their dinner either.  I know it’s hard to believe that Chops on RCI beats Polo on Oceania.  Just my opinion, of course. Chops was so good that we made a 2nd reservation - and specialities on RCI are an additional cost.  I don’t eat a lot of red meat so it is a splurge for me when I do.  I expect the quality of the steak to be good when I splurge and I am sorry that Oceania did not deliver. 
 

On the other hand, our dinner in Red Ginger was outstanding and it was our favorite meal on the cruise, The decor, the service and the food.  The tuna tataki appetizer, the miso glazed sea bass, the sake and the tea all fit Oceania’s claim of Finest Cuisine at Sea.   Food is definitely subjective.  What one person loves, another person doesn’t at all.

11 hours ago, alcpa1 said:

The cuisine on Oceania is far better than RCI with the exception of Chops which serves better beef than the Polo Grill IMHO.

 

I second that.  I've had better meals in Chops than I've had in Polo Grill.  Polo is Oceania's only specialty restaurant that does not meet expectations, IMO.  

I'm with Paulchili on the flu shot.  I've been getting it every year for the past 12 years and I've gotten the flu once in that time.  DH has been getting the flu shot every year for many years (probably 30 or so) and I cannot remember the last time he had the flu. The flu shot isn't a guarantee but it IS effective.  I hope a vaccine for COVID-19 can be developed that is as effective. 

One of the most expensive lunches I've ever had was in Copenhagen.  One sandwich and one soda, which we shared, was 25 USD.  We enjoy a bottle of wine with our dinners but didn't when we were in Scandinavia.  Their taxes are sky-high. 

We've been ordering take-out once a week since mid-March.  We want to support our local restaurants because it's their only source of revenue. We pick it up ourselves and replate it when we get it home. It's a nice, good diversion from cooking at home for every meal and it has been safe. 

We also do our own grocery shopping once a week. No ordering online, we go in the store. I have a list and I know the store well so I don't need to browse down every aisle.  I get what's on my list and I leave.  This has been our routine for the past 6-7 weeks.  We have not been sick.   YMMV

7 minutes ago, Shawnino said:

 

Sweden and Iceland never locked down. Somehow, in a shock to cable news, not everyone there is dead.

Sweden might be regretting that decision. They have nearly 10 times as many deaths as other Scandinavian countries.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sweden-nearly-10-times-number-210442597.html

Regarding the OP, we have a South Pacific cruise on the Regatta planned for March 2021.  We've never been there and have been wanting to take that cruise for a long time. Who knows if it will be safe to cruise then or if French Polynesia will be accepting cruise ships.   We're hoping for the best and will just have to wait and see. 

3 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

What many miss is that key word "reported"   Trusting in what china says is a very dangerous road to take..   China denied the disease even existed in December..  

I agree completely.  I do not trust for one minute what China is reporting.  There is no way that the US has 7 times the number of cases as China.  Censorship reigns in China. The government is manipulative and controlling.  For the number of deaths and new cases to drop off suddenly like they would like the world to believe is extremely unlikely.  How could it be if their incinerators have been running constantly?

I had a Danube River cruise booked for May and cancelled it.  Even if I did feel it would be safe to go, it would be very challenging to get there.  Flights between the US and Europe are extremely limited and will be for some time.  The river cruise lines that are resuming service in April and May have a case of "wishful thinking". 

I've also noticed a big reduction in the number of travel solicitations in the mail.  I don't know how I got so lucky but I have never received one brochure from Oceania. My first O cruise was over 10 years ago and I'm currently booked for my 5th. When I'm logged into their website they have never called me afterwards. Any communication I have ever had with them is if I call them.  I've never received any emails from them either.  I'm definitely not on their radar.  

I've received many brochures from Viking, Regent, and Crystal who I've never been a customer of nor have I ever called them.  It's a mystery to me how mailing lists are developed and who travel providers go after as their intended marketing targets. 

Just to clarify the term FCC,  I believe some people are referring to Future Cruise Credit.  This is different from Future Cruise Certificate, which I purchased onboard my last cruise with "real money".   

I don't know how Future Cruise Credit works because as of now I haven't requested it.

41 minutes ago, susiesan said:

Ho did you get the deposit to be only$350 pp instead of $750pp?  

One of the advantages of purchasing a FCC onboard is that the deposit is only $350pp instead of the standard $750.

1 hour ago, susiesan said:

To save the $500 admin fee for cancelling before O cancels on us. And to maybe get an incentive to book another cruise with a bonus 25% FCC like many other cruise lines are offering. Right now, O is selling 2021 cruises at even more money than this year for the same itinerary on the same ship in the same cabin with no prepaid gratuities, no OBC or anything.  I would have to pay $300 pp more next year for the exact same cruise I would have taken in June, a 10 day Baltic on Marina. I know O is not known for making deals but maybe it is time for them to take another look at their business model.

I agree. I was shocked to see the price of the same cruise in 2021. We were booked on a October 2020 cruise on Sirena.  The same itinerary, same number of days, same cabin category, for May 2021 on the Riviera is $1300/pp more.  I realize that the "O" ships command a higher price but, really, that much more during these times?  Wow....Oceania should rethink that.  They can't expect to be booking many cabins at that price. 

We did not want to make a final payment in July so we moved our booking to the May cruise. We used a FCC that we had purchased onboard.  The deposit was only $350/pp and we should be price protected. It seems like a risk worth taking.  

Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge.  Miami to San Francisco 2016. 

It's shelter in place here.  Only essential businesses can stay open although it has not been clearly defined as to what an essential business is. I work part time in a very small office and this is the busiest time of year for us, by far.  As I sit here now, I don't know if I'm allowed to go to work or not.

Schools are closed and people buying more than what they'll need for a week at the grocery stores. Theaters and entertainment venues are closed.  At one time in my DH's career, we lived in a country that had supply chain problems.  It was a common occurrence to see empty shelves at the grocery stores and I never thought I would see that here. Different reason though. The weather has been getting warmer and spring is in the air. Many families are out walking and it's been a nice thing to see.  Restaurants are open for take-out business. We have been supporting our small, local restaurants by doing this. 

3 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Can you clarify   what you mean by  "No O Life choice" ?

They were advertising free O Life.  It wasn't.  After the "sale", the price was exactly the same.