LNielsen

Good to finally meet you in person, Don. Laura

I’ll be sailing solo for the first time in September. Although I’ll be with quite a few friends we sailed with in the past, it’s good to know they won’t have to put up with me ALL of the time 😉

Last cruise was Regatta, Mexican Riviera, April/May 2022. Next cruise is Regatta, Vancouver to LA (back to back or Grand Voyage according to O), this September. First time sailing alone, it will be different but I know I’ll have a great time with dear friends on both legs of the journey. John and I were supposed to be on a 30 day Med cruise in October of this year on Riviera. Next year we were to do Stockholm to Dublin on Insignia. Not up to doing Europe for that long solo quite yet.

Monterey will no longer allow cruise ships. Period. My uncle recently retired from his position as a Monterey County Supervisor, he has confirmed this to me.

Here are Stu and John 18 years ago fishing in the North Sea. We had so many good memories on Oceania.

Hi all, it’s taken time for me to make my way back on here. John passed away on October 28th after fighting so hard for 22 days to stay with us. Jan was able to talk to him on speaker phone a few times, he always smiled hearing her voice. I appreciate all of your prayers and encouragement here, as well as through Jan privately. I hope to one day be back on board Oceania with our dear friends. John would want that for me. Thank you again. Laura

Jan, I love you so much. I wanted to thank you all for your prayers and good wishes, I can’t handle answering any questions. John is still fighting to come back to us.

Agree. We’ve never been to Croatia so adding a fourth port there was a nice surprise and I’ve heard great things about Trieste, we’re pleased with what we’re getting.

I know! We were pleasantly surprised.

Our October 2023 Barcelona to Athens cruise on Riviera had overnight in Venice. We received notice from Oceania in May that we won’t be visiting Venice. They substituted an extra stop in Croatia and a day in Trieste, and gave us an onboard credit. Had we not been to Venice before I think we would be disappointed, but we’re happy with the substitutions.

We received several requests to watch the safety video before our May cruise, which we did. We were then required to watch it once again in our cabin upon arrival.

Add HAL and Seabourn to the ever growing list of cruise lines dropping the need for vaccinations. Of course, each has caveats attached to the change. https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/HAL-Seabourn-drop-vax-requirement edited to add start dates of September 6th and 7th respectively.

I’m glad we did, too. Even Oceania’s 694 passenger ships can’t get in any longer, we can’t afford anything smaller than that. We’d prefer to be doing our overnight in Venice in 2023 on one of Oceania’s 1,180 passenger ship but were happy with Trieste and an extra stop in Croatia (that makes it four Croatian ports for us on this trip). We’ve not been to Croatia or Trieste yet, and the shipboard credit they’ve offered for the change is nice. IF we do decide to go back, it will need to be a land trip.

Thank you sharing the CDC update. I hope others take the time to read it.

So glad you’re both okay, I don’t know how I missed that you had Covid. Between talking to both of our daughters, and talking with you, I remained clueless.

While they do not currently allow unvaccinated guests, they no longer require pre-travel covid tests unless a port they are visiting require it.

They may advertise Venice, I can assure you they will switch it to a different port before sailing UNLESS they can dock across the lagoon in Marghera. That port facility is having a passenger terminal being built, there is a temporary area used for cruise ships at this point. Our Oceania cruise for 2023 had Venice listed as as a port, they’ve switched us to Trieste and added an extra port in Croatia. They did give us a decent shipboard credit for the inconvenience. The cruise ship ban is already in effect as of August 2021

Venice no longer allows ships to sail in unless they are very small (200 passenger-ish). Most cruise lines have dropped Venice altogether as it’s a logistical nightmare to get their guests into the city, and each visitor must now pay and fee to enter. Most cruise lines have replaced Venice as a port with Ravenna or Trieste. We’re glad that we were able to experience the sail in, plus a few nights in Venice after our cruise when we did.

Crowne Plaza.

No.

It’s policy? You can argue this until you’re blue in the face, it’s not going to change anything. If you are uncomfortable with the policy, simply choose to not sail with the company. Other cruise lines have allowed unvaxxed passengers for quite some time. The sky has not fallen.

I’m clearly in the minority here and will surely be told I’m wrong, labeled as a heretic, etc., but here it goes. I’m not concerned about this move in the least. We’re fully vaccinated, we’ve been traveling starting in the fall of 2020 and cruising again starting in August of 2021, eat out quite often, go shopping, etc., and resumed our normal lives as soon on this state allowed us to do so. We’re not naive, we know that not everyone is vaccinated and haven’t let that stop us from living our lives. Whether it be at the store, a restaurant, while traveling by air, on land or on a cruise we KNOW that there are unvaccinated people everywhere. Yes, even while cruising with Oceania, once you step off the ship all bets are off. Even on the ship with fully vaccinated passengers that are tested prior to boarding Covid finds its way onboard. I’ve said it before, no cruise line can survive at the revenue levels they’ve been generating for the long haul, they need to start filling ships. By allowing unvaccinated folks to sail with required pre-boarding testing this may give them a boost in bookings. Not every unvaccinated person has chosen not to be vaccinated, they simply are unable to due to medical issues. Sure, some people will choose to cancel due to the new policy, that’s their choice. Covid isn’t going away, it’s time for everyone to get back to their normal lives and do what is necessary and comfortable for them to move on. For us, that’s realizing that there can never be a bubble to hide in and that we must enjoy ourselves while we’re still able to do so. My husband and myself aren’t getting any younger.

Agreed. I guess I’m wondering if it was brought on board early on and then slowly spread. Testing a couple of days before embarkation doesn’t guarantee that the ship will remain Covid free. 🤷‍♀️

I agree that it was during the cruise, could it have possibly been picked up on land during a tour or while roaming on their own? Honest question. Clearly they weren’t the only ones to contract the virus. Again, I’m wondering if it originated on land possibly on a group tour.

Did they close the smoking area on the pool deck?