edgee

Was on cruise before your current one. Yours is the last cruise for this particular group of singers and dancers. We are back on Vista in January and looking forward to seeing the next group. The current male singers, Cedric and Sean are very nice guys. I thought their voices and talent were pretty good, but I have certainly seen better.

Agree that the stand alone shower works, but disagree that it works fine. Certainly not a big problem (like tiny showers on R class ships), but they are a bit small. I am not a huge guy but if I drop soap on floor of shower, I have to open door to bend down to pick it up🤔. Not a big deal...would have been nice for bathrooms to be remodeled..though.

At least public areas are apparently going to have all of the new features that were added to Riviera plus the new Aquamor dining venue which we really enjoyed on Vista and Riviera does not have. I agree the half ass way O is going about this after initially promising a complete makeover is disappointing, even deceptive, compared to what was first promised. Also, the statement there is "no time to redo the bathrooms" is insulting to the intelligence of the customer, given that O sets the schedule and with the delay from original refurb date has had more than enough time to get this right. Add this to the list of Oceania's consistently customer unfriendly moves in the last several months from harsher cancelation penalties, inconsistent and mean spirited way guests who had planned holy land cruises have been treated, forcing guests to pay for excursions they don't want... Thank you Frank A.!

AFAIK no carrier flys from N. America to Iceland with lie flat Business class seats. Delta competes with Icelandair using narrow body planes with the seats in front looking like domestic first class and are sold as international premium economy.

Interesting that you are getting both Amex $300 benefit and prepaid grats. My TA gives free grats on most O cruises which are arranged through their consortium. (Signature, I believe). However with them, $300 Amex benefit is not combinable with prepaid grats.. They give me $300 Amex benefit only on occasional O cruises where pre paid grats are not offered by their consortium or when I cruise Regent where gratuities are included, so not an issue. Since my TA also offers a rebate check in advance of the cruise as well as great service, I always feel well taken care of, though.

You mention "one." We did not experience any limitations as to quantity and were poured wine refills and given second beers with no problem on SM basic package.

If you like the 1200 guest ships you have 4 to choose from...correct? Riviera, Marina, Vista and the upcoming Allura. Or am I misunderstanding you?

Not true for our cruise. Had to sign in with a pw. Once in the system it took about 15 minutes to complete.

Aquamar is NOT a specialty dining venue. On Vista and soon to be on Marina it will be a mostly open window outdoor dining venue along the lines of Waves on opposite side of ship from Waves. One side on Vista is completely open to the pool deck, not sure it will be same on Marina. They do offer an inside long hi top table area which is glassed in and air conditioned on Vista.

Well, the "replacement" for Jacque on Vista, known as Ember, is pretty much a disaster not so much as that is a bad place to dine, but as a sought after specialty restaurant it is not. Folks who compare it to a slightly upscale Appleby's are not too far off IMHO. We found that when we called the reservation line looking for extra specialty dining slots, Ember was always offered with great flexibility.. So, if they are to do away with Jacque they need to come up with an alternative that is a helluva lot nicer than Ember.

We also just got off of Vista (on Nov. 19). Zero mention of post cruise survey. We called reception desk on the afternoon before disembarking and they told us to go to oceaniacruisereview.com and survey had to be completed not later than morning of disembarkation. In order to complete it, we each had to dig out invoice to enter our O club member number and then sign into O website. We each completed our survey on our phones at dinner last evening. They certainly do not make it easy and thus leave impression that they do not give a flying (blank) about what guests think.

Absolutely not what I was told 3 days ago while on board Vista. I would recheck!!!!

My experience having just disembarked Vista was similar to yours with regard to noise. I will say that perhaps noise from other cabins is so noticeable on Vista is that, while walls may be constructed similarly to other ships, there is zero "white noise" from the AC system in cabins. I have never been on a ship with AC so quiet. One would think that is a plus...but not so sure, maybe the loud whisper of AC would be a good thing 🤔 Ray Carr, the CD did about as good a job as possible in following required mandate from Miami office to read schedule over the PA system multiple times per day. He kept them brief and to the point.

or $100 if you go with just a generic future cruise deposit certificate for which you have a year to pick an actual cruise.

Can still use the one time swap feature without paying the $150 pp penalty fee. In fact, AFAIK a cruise booked using an on board booking is the only way to avoid a penalty for changing your mind about an O cruise.

We are booked on the reverse of your cruise (Mia to Bcn) on Splendor in late March. Looking forward to your comments!

From reading CC comments before my cruise, I thought finding a wine steward might be an issue. However, we dined in every restaurant except Toscana on the ship and had great prompt drink service in every venue.

Same experience here after disembarking 16 day Vista cruise this morning.

Yes. Absolutely. Of course they are dining venues. I disembarked Vista this morning. Had SM and did not upgrade, so had wine and beer with lunch and dinner in every venue.

I am now on Vista with the great Ray Carr as cruise director. He told us he will succeed Dottie on Insignia when she leaves after doing the first part of the World Cruise.

Absolutely yes. I confirmed here on Vista yesterday.

As I stated in response to ak1004, in a way it is the same as missing a tour on a cruise line where tours are included..or for that matter meal because you are on shore. I was pointing out it is more irritating when an actual dollar amount is shown on invoice...that's all. Ultimately you are correct that it is all about O's revenue. However it is smart business to run a company that operates in a manner which is customer focused. I believe that the manner in which this Simply More scheme operates is overtly non customer focused. In the effort to "simplify" pricing by getting rid of OLife, they came up with a concept that is nearly as confusing as where they started IMHO. Not so much in the cruise purchasing decision, but in the actual implementation. Invoice for my current cruise is most confusing. Difficult to sort out which credit is shore excursion credit and which is general on board credit. Perhaps in the future they can at least sort it out a little better.

I almost put your first point in my original post. I understand your thinking. I was thinking that if I was on Regent (on which we sometimes cruise) dealing with an included tour, I would not view things the same. Perhaps because the O Simply More credit has fixed dollar value to it and is listed on my invoice as money I cannot get back, the situation hits a raw nerve. As to your question, I assume if you have cash paid for part if your tours, I would hope a refund would be given, but who knows. I have a 25 night cruise on Marina coming up this summer and I have used up my full SM excursion credit plus paid significant additional funds for tours. I may find out through real experience if we miss ports or excursions are cancelled..which on a cruise that long could certainly happen.

Currently on last day of 16 night Vista cruise. Yesterday at last port our snorkling shore excursion was cancelled..(slightly rough seas). No way to get a refund since excursion was purchased with Simply More excursion credit which can only be used for excursions. I appealed to Destinations team, who said they checked with Miami office,but no way we can use the credit because this was our last port on the cruise. Not a surprise really. Just a reminder of the reality and sometimes questionable value of Simply More.

I am finishing a 16 day LA to Miami cruise. I think staff is pretty much top notch...almost as customer focused crew as we see on Regent which of course has a better crew to guest ratio. Ray Carr will be gone...not sure who CD will be. On board singers and dancers will be a whole new group. We are most pleased with the crew. Just bring a white noise app for your phone or plan to sleep with your balcony door open with sound of ocean distracting from guy next door's TV or conversation. Worst paper thin walls between cabins I have experienced in more than 50 cruises!