LNielsen

On 9/4/2023 at 2:24 PM, Flatbush Flyer said:

We’re onboard Regatta now and will be on for your segment too.

All is well. Food great, no major issues, The GM is Gabriel Ovesea - ultra-competent.

Captain is O’s best - Giulio Ressa.

Can’t remember if anyone’s handling a Meet and Greet for this upcoming segment.

 

PS: The fishing is great (and so are the bears).

Good to finally meet you in person, Don.  Laura 

22 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

Here’s my post after my solo experience NOV 2021 Rome to Miami TA on Riviera.

I’m back from solo cruising on Riviera 17NOV Rome to Miami TA. I’m slammed w lotsa stuff going on right now, but before I get a chance to post more broadly about my solo experience on Riviera I wanted to let you know that O does a GREAT JOB taking care of solos! We had an associate cruise director, Cristina Hill, who hosted our Solo Traveler get togethers. The first one was early in the cruise and she hosted us 4 or 5 times throughout the cruise. We’d get together in Baristas at 6:30 and talk (open bar, but limited to barista’s limited alcohol). Cristina would organize our GDR table(s) for 7:15 and most would stay w the group to eat dinner together. Two bottles of wine were provided for each table. We had a group of about 15 each night, and the group would meet up at other times as well. I met some really nice people! I’m really appreciative of the solo experience provided by O and by Cristina!

————————-

My more recent solo cruise on Sirena Aruba to Lisbon was also good but we had a younger, less experienced associate cruise director. I’m sure she’ll do fine as she grows into the job.

I must admit that no other cruise I’ve been on has come close to the solo experience provided by Regent’s Mariner last NOV LA to Lima. More expensive, but worth it!!! I had a blast w the solos on Regent Mariner!

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.  

30 minutes ago, LNielsen said:

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.  

Just now, Host Jazzbeau said:

Never having been to Trieste or Ravenna, I was happy with whichever port we ended up in.  Marghera was not looking like a bargain...

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.  

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

You were lucky to get  an OBC  for something so far in advance & out of the cruise lines control

I know!  We were pleasantly surprised.  

On 9/22/2022 at 4:35 PM, Cal El said:

Thinking about booking a cruise on the Nautica for October 2023. The Oceania website still says that the cruise ends in Venice but I understand that Oceania is currently using the port in Trieste because of the ban on the Port of Venice. 
 

has anyone heard anything about the ban possibly being lifted sometime next year.

 

thanks so much

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.  

21 hours ago, welshfamily said:

 

Also we have been sent the Safety video to watch 3 times now. Again this seems strange. .

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.  

1 hour ago, Oceansaway17 said:

I am glad I saw and walked Venice back in the 1990's.  One of the cruises that I lost in 2020 was a smaller ship leaving from Venice (Vision of the Seas).  I was sad about this.

However, forward two years I think the city is right is limiting the size of ships.

And I also think the city has gotten much dirtier and bad smelling at times since I was last there.

I will keep my memories and never go back.

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.  

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

No more quarantining, no more contact tracing, no more social distancing....I think you're fighting a quickly losing battle if you think Oceania or NCLH is going to backtrack on vaccine mandates. 

 

New CDC Guidelines as of 8/11:

 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/11/health/cdc-covid-guidance-update/index.html

 

You could just cruise to Canada or Bermuda if you're that concerned. 

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

9 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

Wow Joe, I am surprised as I had no trouble getting it at all and was told by the doctor all the warnings that are shown in the thread below...in fact I had no idea at the the time (April) that it was even a problem..Stu and I both took all 5 days and were fine afterward but of course I would not have taken it without a doctors OK..and if I had read this thread first not sure what I would have done..

Glad to hear you are still cruising remember our day touring  together fondly..

Jancruz1

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.    

6 hours ago, smj said:

This is very disappointing. I love Oceania but for now we will probably be going on Azamara.  I do worry about other passengers. Most are older and so vulnerable.

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

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

I see Holland America still has some cruises with Venice this year. Looks like this is the last year.

 

Sailing in or out of Venice and for that matter Venice, is magical. Overnighting is a bonus. We've done it a few times. Even on Carnival.

 

We did have a cruise on HAL booked that overnighted in Venice and Istanbul, but covid shot that one down.

 

The Princess solution seems to be to start a land cruise in Venice and then get you to a real cruise out of some other port.

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

On 7/30/2022 at 9:37 PM, BlerkOne said:

I wouldn't consider a 7 day cruise in Europe and never looked at one. Even 9 day cruises might only have one sea day. 

 

I had a port hole cabin on my first Carnival Med cruise - 9 day, I think, and survived. But had friends with a balcony and it was grand. 

 

The Med may not have the blue water of the Caribbean, but sailing into or out of Venice, is breathtaking, and could easily be worth the price of admission. 

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. 

Just now, Flatbush Flyer said:

So, why is O still requiring crew to be vaxed, tested and masked?

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. 

5 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

I think "during the cruise" can reasonably be interpreted as inclusive of activities on and off the ship during the duration of the cruise.  

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.   🤷‍♀️

9 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

So, you didn't read the response that they drove themselves home from the port, were never on a plane and were not exposed except on the cruise?  

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. 

16 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

There is only one place to smoke on the Encore, the glass enclosed smoking lounge on the Waterfront Deck 8 Aft (shown in photo below). The other two places that allow smoking are The Humidor for cigar smoking (Deck 8 aft) and the casino, when it is open and if you are actively gambling (Deck 7 forward). The smoking lounge entrance is on the open deck which can get a bit wet and nasty when it is raining (and is sometimes closed during extreme weather).  

 

 

Did they close the smoking area on the pool deck?