1cruiselvr

22 hours ago, roberts2005 said:

Isn’t the port at least 1 and a half hours from Bangkok ?

That’s my understanding, more like 2. I’m wondering how pax are getting from Bangkok to the port. We haven’t booked any transportation yet. 
As for the pricing issue, Oceania gave us  B1 Gty for the price of a C1. They said it was some kind of promotion. We are happy. 

That’s been true for us and we book thru our TA 95% of the time. But not this booking with Oceania. Money talks, the TA can walk, this time. 😀

21 hours ago, ORV said:

How does that work? Does your TA charge you for booking the cruise? 

No charge. It was about $1500 more pp thru TA vs. direct. That’s a lot of $$ 

On 12/16/2022 at 2:32 PM, pinotlover said:

Using a professional TA as opposed to DIY calling 1-800-clerk at Oceania eliminates a lot of frustrations. Easy -Pezzy to just text your TA as opposed to the 1-800 route. DIY is a choice. 

We usually use a TA, but pricing was much cheaper this time booking direct with Oceania.  This is going to be the trip of our lifetime and I'm trying to ensure I get everything right.  Don't want to miss the ship!  😀

Thank you.  That's what I thought.  I don't know why Oceania couldn't just tell me that.  Instead they gave me port authority address information.  Our trip has many twists and turns, so I want to get all my ducks in a row, as the old saying goes. 😀

Does anyone know the port location Oceania will start this cruise from in Bangkok?  I think I read there are 2 cruise ports in Bangkok so I'm confused about where to board.  Can anyone advise me?  I tried asking Oceania but they just gave me the Port Authority Address for TH.  Not helpful.

I don't think it's a given that they send lower bids as the cruise gets closer. We only got one bid email for our cruise. If you are interested in bidding I would do it when your cruise opens up so you don't miss the opportunity hoping prices will come down. 

2 hours ago, PRINCESS Sweet Pea said:

I would love to see about an upgrade at the bididng price they sent, when we board.

Our cruise has tons of empty cabins.   But, I would only want to upgrade if one of the ones we might like are still available.   They are all still open right now, a few weeks before sailing.

 

With a ship that is not getting full, I wonder if they would still do the cheaper upgrades when we board.  If anybody here has any experience, then I hope they can post here!

 

We called to ask if we could go ahead and upgrade, but they said it would be full asking price, like rebooking, many times what the bid price we were sent!

Why didn’t you bid when you had the chance? I don’t understand. Your chances of getting the same onboard is slim.  I don’t think guest services has any idea what bids were sent to people. 

Once we went to guest services to see if there was an upgrade available, they wanted the full difference between what we paid for our cabin and the upgraded one. No deal. Another time, they were taking names and cabin #s. The next day they called to say nothing available. Most cruises I’ve sailed on pre and post Covid have a sign at guest services saying ship is full, no cabins available or something similar to that. I can’t remember the exact wording. 
Even if a ships is not completely full, they like to have a little wiggle room in case there is a cabin problem and they have to move someone. So I if you want an upgrade, best to bid for it. 
 

Well my Nov 26 cruise now shows as SOLD OUT except for inside cabins. I haven’t received notification of my pending bids being denied, so I guess they just stay pending. I’d rather they tell me denied and I could forget about it. 

10 hours ago, bbfbgurl said:

We won our one (min)  bid at 30 days out, so did my parents(they had 3 bids in and "won" the highest upgrade they could get). That being said, just a weird heads up. Screenshot your min bids which we did (I think about a week after we got an email). Because around 35 days out from cruise we checked our bids and found out min bid dropped by like $5pp so we rebid at the lower price. Not a lot, but that means $5 I can go spend elsewhere!

You get an email after bidding so you know how much so I don’t see the need for a screenshot unless you are afraid you will delete the email by mistake. I’m 14 days out and all mine are still pending but they were categories that were not available to book (sold out) so I don’t expect to win any. I’m thinking they just stay pending until they expire. No upgrade for us. Oh well. If I had been willing to give up my premium balcony for a mini suite I’m sure I would have scored one bc there were a lot unsold at the time. 

6 hours ago, jwattle said:

I think that the offers that you receive are based on your current room (ie: interiors receive balcony offers; balconies receive mini offers, etc)

Not true for us. We booked premium deluxe balcony and our upgrade offer included all the suite categories, club class mini suite, and regular mini suite. We bid on the suites and cc mini. Since none were available at the time of the offer, I doubt those bids will go anywhere. There are mini suites available, so if we bid on that category, we’d probably win but I’m not willing to give up the nice big balcony. 

15 minutes ago, HELENPSL said:

My partner and I went to Singapore in 2017.  He uses a controlled substance given to him by the VA.  You can print the form off the website for the health department in Singapore.  I filled in as much as I could and then wrote a cover letter explaining why he was taking the drug.  He took it to his doctor at the VA who filled in the missing info, put my letter on his letterhead and signed everything.  I scanned and emailed it to Singapore and had approval in 48 hours.  It was a pain getting it done but easy to get the approval.  We got to customs and nobody asked to see anything but I didn’t want to take that chance.

Helen

If you don’t mind me asking, how did you know where to email it to in Singapore?

18 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

When I visited in Singapore, I recall no medication approval form.  Certainly went through Customs/Immigration when I disembarked the Statendam for a stay in Singapore.  There were no issues.  No inspections.  None.  I left the terminal and got a taxi to my hotel.  Maybe things have changed since I was last there. 

  

That’s immigration at a cruise disembarkation. I don’t think they are as lenient at the airport, arriving as a tourist first. 

5 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Yes, that would concern me also. Have you first discussed this issue with your doctor?  Are there medications that could be substituted for the travel period?

No substitutions. These are necessary medications. 

7 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

OP, I followed the regulations that were in effect during my visits to Singapore.  My last visit involved a 3 day stay in the city before flying home.  Never had any challenge or questions about my prescription medications.  As far as I know, the officials knew nothing about my medications.

 

Lots to enjoy in Singapore; different Hop on/Off routes, the Botanic and Orchid Garden, the Night Zoo, and the dining venues.  It is an easy city to navigate for a tourist.  

Did you fill out the medication approval from prior to your trip? Not sure what you mean by officials never knew of your medication? You did have to go through customs and they didn’t care about prescription bottles?

2 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

We were reacting to her statement that she wondered if it was really necessary to file the paperwork.  Avoiding their paperwork could cause her serious issues. Stern warnings now are better than dealing with zero tolerance later 

The previous poster indicated that sometimes they don’t respond to your paperwork application. Then what? Lots of money spent on this trip and no medication prior approval?  This is my concern. 

11 minutes ago, ldtr said:

I would be sure to follow what is stated on the web site.  I would also make sure that I have documentation on the prescriptions in case any questions do get asked.

 

https://www.hsa.gov.sg/personal-medication/overview#:~:text=You may need to apply,be prosecuted under Singapore law.

 

If they say you need approval in advance for a specific drug believe them.  You might not get caught, but if you do they take it seriously.

We are not trying to hide our daily medications, we just want to know how to legally bring them into Singapore. Thank you. 

For those that have travelled to and around Singapore and needed to bring their prescription medications with them, did they run into any custom issues?  We are considering a Singapore cruise with a few days in the city beforehand and we both take several medications that are considered a controlled substance. I read we need advanced approval from Singapore to bring the meds into their country. I’m wondering if this is true. What is your experience on this subject?

On 10/28/2022 at 1:00 PM, roxievegas said:

we had 4 options

club mini $280pp minimum bid

mini suite $150pp minimum bid

premium deluxe balcony $55pp min bid -  which I put in an offer of $75pp

deluxe balcony $30pp min bid

 

we are on a casino offer cruise - free balcony, so we paid nothing for our cabin

in the past when ships were sailing 50% full, we went to guest services and paid $150 to $225 to go from balcony to mini suite.  Now that things are getting back to full capacity the price has gone up

 

 

Don’t you have to pay port charges and taxes on a casino cruise?  If so, then it’s not free. We had a casino offer. It was going to cost us over $1200 in above listed charges for an inside cabin. It was a 14 day Panama cruise. That’s not free to me. 

4 hours ago, KarmaCruisers said:

We bid the minimum on an upgrade from a BB balcony to a “deluxe balcony”…any idea when I should know if I got it or not? (It was $35 pp, for a 7 day thanksgiving on the Sky)

They have up to 3 days prior to sail date to accept or deny. Most find out before then. I’ve heard as far out as 30 days prior. Good luck!

3 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

yes, that was the minimum. 🙂 Chances do not, apparently, depend on the bid amount.

Thank you!

Probably depends on much interest there is in your original cabin category. Somebody probably got a bid accepted for it. 

13 hours ago, texbecca said:

I would buy the upgrade if it’s important to you.  The bidding process is no guarantee. Everyone on your sailing will get it and who knows how many actual cabins are available for upgrade. It’s a huge risk not a guarantee of upgrading. 

We got our GTY booking cabin assigned approximately 40 days prior to sailing on 11/26/22.  It just appeared one day (I was checking daily out of curiosity).

This doesn't make sense.