osandomir

When I call Oceania I usually choose the option for the customers booked through the TAs. Never had to wait too long for my call being answered. Also I’m trying not to call on Monday or right after the long weekend.

If you read the post prior to yours the poster was completely satisfied with their experience. But Oceania is definitely not the cruise line for those who need to be entertained 24/7 on the cruise.

If you’re preferred to do it yourself with Oceania you can call them directly to sort out your booked or cancelled excursions and request the refund even if you are booked with a TA. We had the same problem with the canceled port. The direct call to Oceania got it quickly resolved.

Seat selection rules depend on the particular airline. I was able to select our premium economy seats on the Virgin Atlantic flight right after it was booked for us by Oceania with the air deviation way before the final payment was made and the flight was ticketed.

We haven’t been on the Vista yet, not until 2025. But Barista sounds like a great improvement over the other Oceania ships. No wonder it was a busy place. I guess some people just wouldn’t be pleased no matter what.

Any changes in the release of the itineraries for the rest 2025/2026 if you don’t mind sharing?

What gets you an impression that a good TA can’t do the same with all that sales that you have mastered so well and then give you some more? Just so you know, some times there are also sales that Oceania makes available through the TAs only.

We try to eat breakfast in the GDR as much as possible. I’m very specific how I order the eggs so most of the time they come out properly cooked.

When we cruise we enjoy meeting people and communicating with passengers coming from the different parts of the world. Some became our friends we are in touch with for years. It’d be kind of hard if 20% of the passengers could not speak English.

I just recall that when we were in Japan on the cruise and lengthy pre- cruise stay on our own we hardly needed any cash at all. Credit cards are excepted everywhere. Also the front desk in the hotel will probably do an exchange for you if it’s needed. The cruise to Japan is great. Enjoy your trip.

For me good ice cream is more similar to gelato. Both use cream as the base. Sorbet that what’s different.

People who are well traveled probably tried Italian gelato from the famous ice cream parlor in Florence. After I tried both that one and Humphry Slocumbe I can tell which one is premium. That being said, Oceania offerings aren’t bad with some flavors are better than others. So I’m looking forward to having some of them on our next cruise in April.

It used to be possible to request cash for unused refundable credit at the end of the cruise. Another option is the refund to the credit card on file.

Sorry you have to experience that again. Can you please share the cabin you are in. It looks like coughing is everywhere now days. Stay safe and enjoy your cruise otherwise.

I think that current sale is a pretty good one. Also I have noticed that the “best” sales mostly include the cruises that are not booking well.

In our experience it depends… With some sales the promotional fare is combinable with the onboard booking discount - the current New Year sale is an example, but with some other sales it was not.

Would you please find out what kind of refund is offered for cancelled tours booked with the Shore excursions credit. Will it be again pretty useless Shore excursions credit only to book another ship tour or some other more flexible form of refund? This information will be very appreciated and will help to choose ship tours for our future cruises.

I can imagine how disappointing this’s for everyone on board. We’re booked on the similar cruise with the stop in Manila next year. I wish Oceania would stop this practice of shortening the port times on every cruise just before the sailing or even after people already boarded the ship. We’re planning on booking ship tours using the excursion credit and also exploring some ports on our own. Such schedule changes make really negative impact on the port experiences - often our main reason for booking a particular cruise.

I see that you are saying the same thing again and again. Probably you are right that Antarctica isn’t on the top of everyone’s list, but it looks like you didn’t notice that almost all posters on this thread have completely opposite opinion about eliminating Antarctica from the particular South America cruise.

I don’t oppose the new cancellation policy. It makes for more planning before we book the particular cruise, but I understand that at the end it would help Oceania’s business operations. So, I don’t mind to put a non refundable deposit when I’m serious about the itinerary in the whole. The problem here is that OP didn’t agree to buy a cruise which wouldn’t go to Antarctica at the first place. I can’t imagine to put a deposit on the cruise to Alaska and ended up cruising in the Mediterranean for example. But yes, Oceania can do it and keep non refundable deposit in case one has no interest to go to Europe. Keep in mind that the decision was made a full year prior to sailing. Maybe the initial Antarctica offering provided for more bookings and better revenue than just Brazil and Argentina. Not the best business practice in my opinion.

I completely understand your frustration. Sure some posters here will jump in saying that Oceania can do this per their contract and just because they are always right. But I believe that this particular cruise was booked by many for the opportunity to sail in the Antarctic waters, so eliminating this part for whatever reason a year in advance made it a completely different product. It’s not like just missing some port weather or something else related. Subject to a credit card dispute like others suggested. A good business practice on Oceania part will be allowing people to cancel without penalty and giving some credit to those who are willing to stay. I believe that good reputation should mean something for Oceania as well.

People have different tastes. No need to force others to like or dislike something the way you do it. One of the pleasures of cruising is to dine in different restaurants and have nice meals to satisfy one's preference. No way to figure out Ember or Jacques - which one is better.

Yes, it was deducted from non-refundable SBC, but as I said it was for visa on arrival and not for the tourist visa required to be processed before boarding the ship. We contacted Oceania prior to boarding and were confirmed that visa on arrival can be payable on board. So I advise you to call Oceania and get a confirmation from them regarding your particular cruise destinations.

If you pay for visa through Oceania it’ll be a separate line on your invoice and you will pay for it with your credit card at final payment. In one case, though, when it was a visa on arrival we refused to pay upfront and it was deducted from our account when Oceania arranged it for us on board the ship.

We used to book our cruises way out and didn’t wait for the sales. Most of them never went on sale and some were sold out long before the sailing dates. Now more and more we started to look into escorted tours and all types of land vacations for two reasons. Most importantly, we’ve been to the vast majority of the ports the cruise liners are capable of getting to and there are so many interesting places where there’s no much water around. There were never guarantees that any cruise would go as advertised, but now because of the financial and political state the cruises became much more unpredictable than we can tolerate. If more people started thinking the same way it can explain all countless cruise sales which are obviously indicative of not that much of demand. That being said, we love cruising and have couple of Oceania cruises booked and one of them is the part of this New Year sale. I’ve contacted our TA to find out how we can benefit from this sale.