ChatKat in Ca.

There was no Chanel onboard the Riviera last week. And makeup was extremely limited. Some Clinique and Estee Lauder - mostly limited to "travel Collection" Shadow/Blush combos and some skin care; No foundation. Also had Clarins and L'Occitane.

They had them on the Regatta on a sea day. They had unused tables all the time and tournaments are usually held in the day. A tournament is one table for blackjack. A round of 7 players gets a fixed amount of chips and each gets one round. Winner moved to a final round

 

My biggest complaint on events would be with the casino. 14 day TA cruise and we had 2 Texas Hold em tourneys, that's it, no lessons, no BJ tourneys, no slot tourneys. I've never seen this before on any cruise line, including the Oceania cruises I've been on before.

Too bad I never saw you in the Casino; I asked Michael the casino manager three times to hold a BlackJack Tournament. I told him I had never cruised without some tournaments and he said because of the demographic on this crossing - that it was too quiet to do any tournament. He told me no one plays blackjack any more - although that was the only table with consistent players every night. Go figure. At least I left with some (not a lot) of their money.

i went to two different lounges in Miami - and in Los Angeles; They had very little - Coffee, only one kind of tea, there were no cookies, just apples; Alcoholic drinks were served at a bar that was full with only one bartender. Most food was off of a menu that was more expensive than the airport restaurant.

I don't see any bickering; We are friends conversing.

I ate at least 75 meals onboard Riviera over the last month. One meal was less than mediocre. Of the other 74, 4 were average or below and the rest quite delicious with one rating in the top 10 of meals ever served to me.

I think that is quite remarkable to be able to put out 3600 or more meals a week and have that kind of quality.

I did the Regent Cordon Bleu classes three times. They were all different because the instructors were different. We actually caught Latitudes on fire on the Panama Canal Crossing when the French Trolley exploded on Mariner. The crew was there before more than the trolley flames spread. We also had partners for the courses. One of them we had a market outing. Most of the recipes were very complex and things like paring of vegetables needed to be exact replicas of each piece. I think i made about 3 of the recipes at home and I have all the cookbooks. It was always fun but classes were 2 or three hours, a cocktail party, dinner at signatures and a welcome dinner too. We had also a complete tour of the ships.

On the Riviera, I did the Pasta Class with my husband as partner and the Bistro Class; Kathryn Kelly was amazing as instructor and all the recipes and techniques were useful in day to day. In an hour we went over making French Onion Soup from Scratch, we made quiche including a crust, we made Apple Tartin. In the Pasta class we made pasta and very simple sauces too. The focus was on simplicity, with technique and was a lot of fun.

We just used the lounge in Miami on the way home from our Oceania crossing. Funny, they didn't care about my American Aavantage card as they did my Amex. The lounge was noisy and busy - it was quieter to wait at the gate. Other than the coffee - the selection of anything else was non existent.

In almost 4 weeks on the Riviera - I ate at the Terrace Grill 4-5 times for dinner; Each time having grilled Lobster. I actually mentioned the Salt when dining with David because no other night was the lobster salted - but this night it was to excess; Since it was a small half tail - I did not go back. My lamb was perfection. But lobster was definitely over salted. Or salted period and should have been without. It was about the only meal - other than at Polo the first time that the food was mediocre to me.

I am still stirring my thoughts about the cruise; I was pretty happy with the butler service in light of the fact he was trying to help Wendy and David and we were the beneficiary of his efforts. Like for our anniversary he assumed we were sharing our champagne and caviar with them and really did a lovely selection of cheese and caviar fixings for four although we had reservations at Jacques for two that night.

Overall, I think that the ship took my breath away when we boarded in Istanbul and I put the rose colored glasses on then and there because there was so little I could find fault with. I would cruise the Riviera again just to have the La Reserve dinner again I think. It was near perfection.

Did you not go on the sled in Funchal???

Jancruz1

Yes we had done it in the past and did not feel it warranted to repeat. It was fun and one of those things you do an cross off the list that don't need a do over.

As for our Tangier's Guide - His name was Aziz. I will post his contact information in my review. I am not in my cabin posting.

We had a marvelous time in Tangiers. We hired a private guide with a group of 8; He navigated every twist and turn on the streets for us, kept us from being hassled; Then he took us for a gastronomic feast of Moraccan specialties that will keep us talking for a long time. We all agreed that the meal was spectacular. We would have stayed until the ship boarded had half our party not wanted a nap after lunch. The culture was a lovely feast for the eyes. I loved the expressions and weathered looks on many of the vendors faces.

Today the captain gave us glorious weather in Funchal. We wandered the streets for a while and then did a loop on the hop on hop off before returning to the ship for lunch. The captain just set sail for Bermuda so I better go get ready for dinner in La Reserve tonight before I am not appropriately dressed for evening.

We are onboard and touring in the very wet Cava area. Lovely day to have stayed on board readying the ship. Everything had been close to perfect. We actually have always liked being served on board and never went to the cafes at night. Terrace Cafe is very nice at night. We have enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere there.

I thought CA meant California; We wear jeans in nice restaurants. As in Fashion/Designer ....but never on Oceania

You know some people just don't have taste. You can't legislate it. It's not on Oceania as a rule. Some people just stand out like a sore thumb.

We were on a Celebrity Cruise a few years back - maybe 10 years ago. One family from New Jersey took the train down to Florida. About 12 people; They were 3 or 4 to a cabin; They wore their Sunday Best but it was not appropriate. Plaids and Stripes, Jeans - not designer; Walmart. They were loud and obnoxious in our opinion. I won't go into some of the details of cabin arrangements.

They had a great time. They were celebrating someone's special occasion whatever it was. We stayed away from them - they were not our cup of tea.

That can happen any where - home, restaurants, hotels, cruise ships. It's not often but people are people; You can choose to let it bother you and affect your own good time or you can move elsewhere - ship, restaurant, hotel or other public place.

Attitude and outlook are everything.

Kathy, I have Lesbos, which is the other one? I can't find it noted on Oceania's page.

I had Crete in my notes as being a tender port - but happy to see we dock there. Thanks, Orv!

There are several ports where tendering if often a problem. Positano/Amalfi is one of those ports that routinely gets bypassed and redirected. That happened to us on a Regent Cruise 2 years ago. We even had it this year in Santa Barbara on an annual trip we do on Princess. One year on that cruise we had a tender ticket and they forgot to call our number all together.

On our upcoming Med, we tender in two ports. I did not book a tour either private or Oceania just because it is so common to have issues when tendering. We will just take a cab in those ports.

We went to a Michelin Starred restaurant yesterday for dinner.

My husband refused to wear a sport coat and I let it go.

When we arrived, I expected to see many men in coat and tie and women at least in cocktail dresses or skirts/smart pant suits.

About half the people were in jeans. Some women wore legging/slim pants.

I did see one man in a sport coat. I saw everything from short sleeves and Tommy B shirts on men. Mostly long sleeve collared shirts with jeans - some in chino or dress slacks.

I am guessing that ultra casual is the new norm now for dress up.

The food was great, the wine delicious and life goes on. As I am packing now for our cruise in two weeks, I am telling my husband to leave the coat and tie behind. One more pair of shoes for me.

I am glad my husband doesn't read Cruise Critic. He might be tempted to wear jeans and a dress shirt with a jacket to dinner. We are packing this weekend. I could see him forgetting his dress slacks and sport coat - my dress code - not Oceania's .

She was not American. Her mother was dressed in clothing specific to her heritage in a sari. She met her family onboard the ship being away from school. I think it was not important to her. FWIW - She was in a PH3 all by herself;

Sorry to shock you but the current dress code on O (which is not ELEGANT casual) permits Wal-mart casual. There is no requirement that folks dress fashionably or shop in upscale venues. A pair of cheap wrinkled polyester capris (from Wal-Mart) coupled with a tacky sparkly shirt with a Yorkie on it is completely within the guidelines. And some folks think that tacky sparkly shirt is "elegant."

 

You want to legislate taste and style and fashion? Impossible. One man's elegant is another man's tacky.

 

That's why this thread is utterly ridiculous IMO

I vote for clean and neat.

I love Yorkies - and clean and neat works. Maybe they need two dress codes and we've gone too far casual. One for the specialty restaurants.

On one of my Oceania Cruises the passengers next door included a 17 year old girl. She did not get the memo on dress code and brought only Jeans. This was in the Baltics, where passengers tend to dress up a bit more. She was not allowed in the MDR or specialty restaurants and had room service nightly while her family ate upstairs.

Her jeans were clean, no holes and she was well dressed for that age group. She was actually an honors student and already a 2nd year college student. There was nothing offensive about her and I would not have objected to her joining her family in the MDR.

I may not want to wear jeans, and I like dressing well. I didn't like being in the upscale restaurant with people in shorts, but, honestly, I think that there are rules and there are rules and I think there is a place for breaking them. My husband lives in Levi 501's and they look great with a jacket and dress shirt. He won't be seen eating dinner on the ship dressed like that; But I see no reason that girl could not dine with her family.

Had to laugh about leather closed toe sandals without socks. Could you teach that to my DH?

 

Also wanted to add that you will not see jeans in a dining room on Regent .:D

Maybe not on a cruise you have done - but they were wearing designer jeans on our last Regent Cruise in Compass Rose.

I have no problem with denim if it's accessorized for dress up. Not so much for hiking.

On one of my tours with Tauck a few years ago, we had a lovely single man on our tour. He had one pair of those travel cargo pants. He washed them sporadically on the two week tour. He wore them every day for two weeks. I would rather see people dress in jeans that look clean and are put together than the cargo pants with stains.

We have friends that don't get that i need two full suitcases for a two week trip. More important to me is having clean clothes. Travel is germy and often dirty with loads of people coming and going.

Sad to say that Jeans are the new norm around here. We just went to a fancy steakhouse - white linen, comparable to Polo. Our neighborhood is very upscale; A few women were dressed in skirts/cocktai/sheath dresses. A few older gents had coat and tie. The majority were in jeans. Even a few in shorts and running shoes. When your dinner is averaging $75-100 per person - that is pretty sad. The dress code in my opinion is about respect. Few people put on "Sunday Best" anymore. I was next door to a church last week when the service let out and everyone was in jeans there too.

Chanel is usually hit or miss in the ship boutiques. Sometimes they have some of the makeup and eau du toilette. And if they have it, it very well might not be your scent; I rarely find my favorite anywhere except Duty Free in airports in France although I found one size. Ironically, Sephora stores don't carry Chanel in the USA but they have it in some European counties.

Perhaps understanding the different in a fact and opinion.

A fact: The Voyager's capacity is 700 pax

An Opinion: The Voyager is crowded in the buffet.

A Fact: All Regent Excursions Are included. (not true!)

A Fact: There are excursions you have to pay for

An opinion: The Bus is crowded

A Fact: The bus holds 51 passengers and for the excursion there were 40 on board.

An opinion: The food is good;

An opinion The food is the best at sea

A fact: The food is prepared to order