rialannah

It is troubling when unreliable 'information' permeates these boards.  There are many threads where bringing wine/liquor onboard is discussed.

We have sailed on Oceania pretty much every year for the past 15 years.  We always bring wine onboard at our embarkation port - usually a mixed dozen sourced from a local liquor store.  Occasionally we also bring on some spirits.  We top up along the way where necessary.  Cabin staff are excellent at providing glassware, ice, mixers etc.  We are happy to pay the corkage fee when we take wine to dinner, which we regularly do.

One of the pleasures of sailing on Oceania is being treated as a responsible adult!

2 hours ago, rialannah said:

That's too bad.  We had the channel on Nautica last year and again on Vista a few months ago.  As I said there was a period of blackout somewhere along the way when the relatively useless Sky Sports News was substituted.

On the Sports 24 website Oceania is listed as one of the cruise lines taking their service - along with most of the other major operators. 

As an aside, they have just shown the Jets v Cowboys, which will be followed by Dolphins v Patriots.  I don't recall and college sport being shown.

sorry - last phrase should be 'any college sport'

13 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

We’re on Regatta right now (day 20 of a multi-segment cruise) the only regular sports viewing on cabin TVs is Sky News Sports. 

That's too bad.  We had the channel on Nautica last year and again on Vista a few months ago.  As I said there was a period of blackout somewhere along the way when the relatively useless Sky Sports News was substituted.

On the Sports 24 website Oceania is listed as one of the cruise lines taking their service - along with most of the other major operators. 

As an aside, they have just shown the Jets v Cowboys, which will be followed by Dolphins v Patriots.  I don't recall and college sport being shown.

For the past year or so, O has had a dedicated sports channel on its program list,  called Sports 24, which is prodiuced exclusively for showing on aircraft and cruise ships.  We have watched it on our past two cruises, both of which have been in Europe.

Coverage includes NFL, major tennis events, Formula 1, English Premier League soccer, UEFA soccer, rugby, rugby league, Australian Rules football. There are no doubt others at various times.   There seems to be occasional periods of blackout.

On 9/5/2023 at 5:05 AM, EJL2023 said:

Speaking of the Grand Hall…I always find it so awkward when the string quartet is playing but people have little choice sometimes but to walk between them and those enjoying the music. Sort of like the walk of shame. Of course you could wait until a song ends but you never know and you could be late to a reservation. Oh well…..

On 9/5/2023 at 5:08 AM, LHT28 said:

if worried  just take  walk through the casino to the elevators

 

What bugs me is people stopping in front of you to listen to the music ...just keep moving little doggie 😉

I accept that people may walk through the Hall while the string quartet is playing.  However, I think it is not unreasonable to expect them to do so respectfully.  Couples or groups who proceed through the Hall while maintaining a loud conversation is far too common.  Earlier this year on Vista a man walking through exclaimed at the top of his voice "Looks like someone has died"!!!!  As a further comment, I find it appalling that on the R ships, groups waiting to go in to dinner sit in the lounges adjacent to where the quartet is playing and conduct a loud social conversation.

On 6/11/2023 at 10:27 PM, cruisingxpert said:

Take a look at my post about private dining rooms

Specialty Dining reservations on 5 was doing the La Reserve in Privee bookings but they weren't advertising it anywhere.

Catherine

On the following cruise, the restaurant section on the cabin TV included details of the pairing dinners.

Mike

On 6/10/2023 at 5:28 AM, DrBruce said:

Will be in 11073 next February.  Does anyone know if overhead noise from the Terrace Cafe is an issue?  My TA and a Oceania concierge says no.  But I'd appreciate info from someone who's actually been on the ship.  Thanks and much appreciated.

We have just been on Vista 11061 for 29 days.  There was definitely noise from above in the early hours after midnight.  Some nights not a problem, other nights enough to wake me up as a medium light sleeper.

Having posted the earlier negative comment, I am delighted to report that as of today Sport24 has been restored on Vista, so that quality live sport is again available.

There is good news and bad news.  A few years ago an excellent sports tv channel (Sports24) was established specifically for planes and cruise ships.  Many of the major cruise lines signed up, including Oceania, and some of the major airlines such as Emirates and Singapore.  The coverage included live major sport as well as replays from USA, Europe and Australia among others.

We watched it throughout our cruise on Nautica last July/August. 

We boarded Vista on  May 13 and watched great coverage of NBA playoff games, Rome 1000 tennis, PGA Golf, English premier league soccer, Australian football etc.

Then a few days ago the channel just disappeared.  I finally enquired as to what had happenned.  I was told that O had failed to complete negotiations for renewal of the contract before the subscription expired and that 'they were working on it'.

For us sports lovers this is a real loss.  Who knows when it will be restored.

Jan

Eddie Manning gets very good reviews.  I planned to use him this year.  He was very responsive.  A change in itinerary meant we needed to cancel.  I told him we hoped to use him next year.  Without being asked, he volunteered that our 25 pound  deposit would be carried over.  However, I emphasise that I haven't yet used him.  (I always used Smiths for Airports, but like others they are victims of the covid slowdown.)

Mike

If your Vista cruise was scheduled to depart from Venice and has been shifted to Trieste, then every passenger receives a Complimentary Shipboard credit.

7 hours ago, Clutj said:

Last week’s by the glass list on Riviera.

 

 

I see Deakin Estate Shiraz on the list at 11.75 per glass.  That is about twice the price for a bottle from a liquor store here in Australia!  That about summarises my view of the available wines which is why I am a devotee of the 'bringing wine onboard' arrangements.

On 10/9/2021 at 7:51 AM, ak1004 said:

 

I checked veranda prices on few random European sailings, and it seems that the difference is very small, less than 10%. It's surprising considering that the cabins on the O ships are significantly larger. But I guess it reflects the fact that many people like smaller ships.

 

 

The conversation on this thread caused me to do a check of my own.

We are booked on a 22-day Mediterranean cruise on Vista in May-June 2023.  I selected cruises of similar length on Sirena and Riviera in the same region at about the same time.  I used pricing for a PH1 which is what we have booked.

The per day cost for the three cruises was only about 6% difference between highest and lowest.  Contrary to some other conclusions, Vista was in the middle - with Sirena lowest and Riviera highest.

I am not suggesting that this is a universal conclusion, but as always it demonstrates that when making comparisons the results are heavily influenced by the choice of comparators.

We have stayed at both the Thon Opera in Oslo and the Havnekontoret in Bergen and can thoroughly recommend both in terms of location and amenity.

If your cruise has not called at Flam then it is worthwhile to consider incorporating that into the rail journey from Bergen to Oslo or vv.  Although it is a long day, it is possible to take the "Norway in a Nutshell" journey which involves train from Bergen to Voss, then bus through the hairpins down to Gudvangen on the fjord, followed by a cruise around to Flam, then the famous Flambana train from Flam up to Myrdal, followed by the train from Myrdal to Oslo.  This is offered as a package and works well.  Luggage is not convenient on this journey, but luggage can be sent through porterservice.no who collect the bags and have them waiting when you arrive in Oslo.  The cost is somewhere around $30 per bag I think.  While we have not taken the Oslo to Bergen direction, I understand that the same journey applies in that direction as well.

It is a shame to visit that part of Norway and miss out on Flam.

We have stayed at both the Thon Opera in Oslo and the Havnekontoret in Bergen and can thoroughly recommend both in terms of location and amenity.

If your cruise has not called at Flam then it is worthwhile to consider incorporating that into the rail journey from Bergen to Oslo or vv.  Although it is a long day, it is possible to take the "Norway in a Nutshell" journey which involves train from Bergen to Voss, then bus through the hairpins down to Gudvangen on the fjord, followed by a cruise around to Flam, then the famous Flambana train from Flam up to Myrdal, followed by the train from Myrdal to Oslo.  This is offered as a package and works well.  Luggage is not convenient on this journey, but luggage can be sent through porterservice.no who collect the bags and have them waiting when you arrive in Oslo.  The cost is somewhere around $30 per bag I think.  While we have not taken the Oslo to Bergen direction, I understand that the same journey applies in that direction as well.

It is a shame to visit that part of Norway and miss out on Flam.

7 hours ago, Jancruz said:

ROTFL

Jancruz1

Jan

Your quality advice/information is always greatly respected and appreciated.  I know that you have commented on this previously, but are you able to to confirm the accuracy (or otherwise) of the 2023 date.  Our interest stems from an extended cruise booked on Nautica in 2022.  We are R ship fans.

Thanks   Mike

The delay in the refurb of Nautica is really disappointing.  2023 will be way past time.  It is interesting to note the (misleading) small print in the recent 'Delights of the Mediterranean' brochure where the pictures of Sirena and Nautica on page 39 are the NEXT version with a note at the bottom of the page "Nautica's Re-inspiration coming soon."  Obviously soon is subject to quite different understandings!

22 hours ago, Jancruz said:

Nautica has not been redone recently and no date is set..

But Oceania never lets their ships look tired the upkeep is amazing..I would not be concerned about sailing on her..

Jancruz1

Jan

Thank you for your usual high quality information.

As an aside, it's nice to have confirmation that the advice provided by the 'O' rep and the status report on CC were both accurate.

On 3/8/2021 at 3:13 AM, Kate-AHF said:

This is dated December of 2020.  Looks like she's been done?

 

https://www.ginholding.com/en/2020-12-15/works-on-ocean-cruises-nautica-vessel

 

I suggest that we take this conclusion with a grain of salt at this stage.  I recently posted this on another thread:

Most of us on this cruise will be hoping that the NEXT refurb of Nautica will be completed before we sail.

Yesterday I participated in an Oceania webinar launching the 2022-23 'Tropics and Exotics' collection.

I asked the following question - "When will the refurbishment of Nautica take place?"

The verbatim answer I received from the O rep was - "I was checking a few places for a date but all I can get is this year, again no official date yet."

In addition, the following is an extract from a review of all scheduled cruise ship refurbs on CruiseCritic:

Ship: Nautica

22 hours ago, Cruise Wonderland said:

 

The scheduled drydock will be from 18th July to 4th August.

 

Although there are sailings scheduled, but the two voyages in late July have all categories being waitlisted.

18 Jul - 28 Jul (10 nights), Lisbon to Rome

28 Jul - 04 Aug (7 nights), Rome to Monte Carlo

Good call.  I was reacting just on the basis of the cruises listed in the just received Oceania promotion for the Mediterranean and completely forgot to check the cabin status shown for those cruises.  I hope the indicator remains reliable and that the dry dock proceeeds.

I see from the current cruise schedule for next year that Nautica has sailings scheduled right through June and July.  While there are doubts as to when cruising will resume in Europe, this does suggest that the previously identified window in July 2021 for the 'NEXT' refit might no longer be the case.

We took a pack of $1US bills with us, which I think was pretty standard.  In addition we took pens/pencils and notebooks which seemed to be well received.  We had some of those left over which we left at the school.

While some cruisers found all of this offensive and thought it shouldn't be encouraged,  there are only about 10 ships a year that call at Boca da Valeria so it is hardly a dominant part of the kids' lives. We were quite comfortable with it.and enjoyed the interaction.  

The boat trip up river - circa 30 minutes - was about $5 per person I think.

We did this cruise in 2016 on Regatta.  This might have been an advantage as the number of passengers descending on each port was only half compared to what will be the case with Marina.

We thought that the cruise was excellent, with the Amazon the absolute highlight.  However, the earlier posts are a fair reflection of the range of attitudes of passengers generally.  Of all of the cruises we have taken, this one provided by far the greatest payoff for research leading to arranging independent tours, but at the same time required a very large investment of time devoted to that research.  In general, those of us who participated in independent tours really felt really positive about the experience, whereas those who had not made advance arrangements and left the ship to wander around the ports (which can work on many other itineraries) were quite negative.  Those who took the ship tours fell somewhere in between.

For Alter do Chao and Santarem we located a really outstanding young man who had not previously taken shore excursions, but was experienced in multi-day eco-tourism.  We had two memorable days with him (a group of about 12 of us), on the water in Alter do Chao and on land in Santarem - including an excellent visit to Belterra, one of the old Henry Ford settlements.  Unfortunately recent attempts to help friends engage with him for subsequent cruises has revealed that he has moved on.  However, I expect that there will be others out there.

Boca da Valeria involves a wander through the tiny settlement, usually accompanied by the local children ($ expected).  As an indicator of living conditions in Amazon villages it is really worthwhile as is the trip upstream with one of the local men in a vessel of often interesting heritage. 

We had two days in Manaus with a local tour group whose name I do not recall.  The first day was spent with a very extensive tour on the water to a range of sights around the Amazon and Rio Negro which was thoroughly worthwhile (we had a group of around 40 in 2 boats).  The second (shorter) day was spent within Manaus itself, with the superb Opera House the highlight.

For Paratins, the Boi Bumba seems to be the only real choice.  We enjoyed the color and movement and the energy of the performers.  This can only be arranged as a ship excursion.

I hope that you find these observations about our experience to be helpful.

Mike

On 6/24/2020 at 11:09 AM, pinotlover said:

Sorry about the political diversion! 🤪

 

Back to the OP

 

Did anyone catch today’s webinar with Oceania? It was mostly all advertising and promotion but one thing really popped out. Jame, from Oceania, was talking about the R ships with a capacity of 600+. Then when talking about future cruises, he said a capacity of 400 passengers!
 

Both of us immediately perked up! Was that just a mistake or was he giving us an indication of the new capacity controls once they start back sailing? Time will tell! 

I participated in the Australian version of the webinar today.  The comment was made that O was waiting for CDC requirements, but cruising with 70 - 80% of capacity might be expected.

I participated in an Oceania webinar today.  I asked the question when would the Nautica NEXT refurbishment occur.  There were two company representatives who responded.  One said it would be in July 2021.  The other, I believe,  said something to the effect that it would be next year with the date to be determined in the next couple of months.

So still no certainty at this stage.