xeena

? forgot to include "notify me of replies"

we are on the nieuw statendam soon....no more self launderettes....(boo hoo)....is there a special of $49/cruise for unlimited laundry done by ship's laundry?

just read about the planetarium on the orion....we have 6 days until we board the jupiter in barcelona....would be fun if there was one onboard. i could not find any mention of it in my searches....

we were on the rivera and the PH was huge...walk-in closet!  super bathroom! large balcony....and a butler to boot!

we board march 16th as well!

we are booked....glad to hear there are others on board as well

thanks, a little of everything !

I have been checking temps but wonder if there is a good article addressing "what clothing to pack" that I can refer to? We leave Amsterdam June 27 heading to Basel on the Viking Idi.

our TA has gotten final payments to be due 6 months prior (one river and one ocean). i would rather 3 months, but Viking said no to that.

I was happy with 6 in the end.....

we are thinking of booking an 8 day March 16, 2019....but looks like it will be the third cruise for that ship....she's not even built yet!

any advice on taking a cruise on a brandy-new ship? i worry that it'a like a "shakedown" event....working the bugs out...

we sail on the viking ship Idi the end of june...amsterdamn to basel. our first river cruise in celebration of our 50th anniversary....are there umbrellas in each cabin? or should i pack mini ones for hubby and i? we plan to take waterproof rain jackets as well.

hopefully insurance against many rainy days!

duh....just off the Riviera and my brain must still be in Athens! this is "greek" to me.

self serve laundry on the Riviera (last week) was $4 for a wash and dry. detergent free. $$ machine ate two $1 bills and popped out a coin

very nice room, had a love seat and fridge with sodas and water...ironing board and iron....not that i sat and watched the process !! but it was available.

that is THE reason we booked air thru O...to get to next port if flights delayed. i was assured by our O PCC that that was true. we had no problems this time ( Riviera 8-22- 09-01 :)) but while on board i heard a nightmare scenario of delayed flights and overnight airport stays. the person affected said O arranged for a breakfast at a Barcelona hotel when they arrived a day later and the O van (albeit 1 hr late) picked their group up and drove them to next port (Palamos)

makes me question O air choice for our next trip in Oct '18.

BTW the O PCC we used for our recent cruise told me to NOT read CC as info was wrong many of the times.

we are just off the Riviera (aug 22- sep1)...it was our first O cruise having been on HAL and Princess mainly over the years. we were offered a great deal late spring to change from a Nov 2017 cruise (8 days) to this 10 day...from a balcony to a PH1!

we found the food and service to be top notch.....the butler was very efficient and friendly, serving us dinner 2 nights in our cabin from Polo grill and Jacques as we could not dine there more than once. something we did not know in advance....

all wait staff in the Terrace grill and cafe were super nice...no frowns only smiles. i don't care if people call me by name...

i appreciated the laundry...and did not cringe having to insert 2 dollar bills to have a little coin pop out! nice to not have to pack a lot and wash mid cruise on my own.

food was wonderful in MDR (they did call us by name as they seated us and there was never an issue with finding a table for 2 around 6:45) if we didn't care for selections in MDR and we did not have a specialty restaurant booked for the night, the terrace cafe was just fine.

what i would have liked was a way to see menus on the TV so we could plan where to have dinner.

we had 2 tours included and paid for one more. all 3 were good...local guides (especially in Santorini) were friendly and informative. their job must be like herding cats! Cinque Terre must have been a challenge for her as we had multiple means of transport for that one.

we booked an october 2018 cruise while on board. the calmness and quiet of the ship was wonderful after our last 3600 passenger Princess cruise in January. Oceania did a very good job! and we were very pleased with our experience. even the air arrangements went off without a hitch....although, air travel is a challenge these days !!

any idea of turnaround? our flight leaves at noon...guess we can get off the ship around 8am....enough time? or i will book ship transfers for mucho money

it was explained when i asked about going a day early....it was very expensive! O agent did not use that term though.

our initial cruise was 8 days...and DH said that was long enough. now, after accepting incentives on a different voyage, it is a 10 day trip. hence no extensions.....

we are flying out of Charlotte, NC. we went to italy a few years ago on a land tour....flew with their air on Lufthansa with one connection in either Frankfurt or Munich (can not remember) to Naples. got in early afternoon....but that was before all the craziness with flights really began in earnest.

i wouldn't think O would schedule so tight, but delays and mechanicals are factors beyond control. i booked with O air in case we missed first port due to delay....confident they would get us to the next port. poster Ponstad raised the issue with a barcelona departure flight @ 10am and disembarkation perhaps at 8AM...(and that depends on if all goes well with customs).

i know....obsessing. and what is a "deviation"? extended days prior and post cruise? BTW, DH thinks a 10 day cruise is a bit too long in the first place..... :)

yes, i can stress out next week when i get flight info. my fear is that we are scheduled to arrive in barcelona around 10pm and ship leaves at 11pm. or we have flight delays with similar results and we miss the ship because we haven't coughed up the pricey ship transfers. it is my anxiety kicking in.

well, now i am becoming stressed out! and i haven't even gotten the flight info yet

i will be waiting on this as well. we wont find out our air details till june 8 or 9. we arrive in barcelona and depart from athens

well, there are 4 ships in port when we are there. that does not bode well for us.

got it.....we can reserve on june 8th. will give us time to look at port, excursion etc to make a good decision. i think the main dining room is perfectly fine but it would be fun to sample the specialties.....will give it a go and see what we can reserve.

thanks for the info.

can you book specialty restaurants online prior to the cruise? if so, how nuts is it on the day they open that? i think ours is june 8th.

first come first served?

maybe when you "move" from ship to another with an incentive, you don't get all perks? i will call revenue dept on tuesday to ask. we went from a nov sailing to august...popped up a few categories.