RTPGiants

My only real music/venue complaint is that they basically turned Schooner's into a adult-fun-playtime with the "sing along" guy every night. We were looking forward to trying this venue out as a nice place to relax and have a "high end" drink, but it was always packed with people singing Piano Man or whatever. This noise also carried over into Chops which honestly made it less classy. I'd suggest Royal rethink where exactly each performer sets up going forward.

 

15 hours ago, philpcruiser said:

Was there a tribute band on this cruise?  If so, who were they?

 

I was on this cruise. At the beginning there was a Journey tribute band, but they seemed to have gotten off in Florida. No tribute band after that.

Thanks for the help folks. This has persisted a number of days across multiple machines and browsers, so I'll give the email route a try.

 

When I log in to RC, I can see my cruise and can do the cruise planner stuff just fine, but when I try to update some info on my checkin, it states:

" The requested reservation is currently being modified. Please try again at a later time. "

 

I want to clarify that this is not the "Temporarily unavailable..." type of message I've seen if you log out and log in quickly.

 

I contacted my TA who contacted RC who said basically "log out everywhere" which I already have ... but the condition persists.

 

Anyone have an idea of how to get things back in their proper state?

I purchased the deluxe drink package a while back. Is it supposed to "show up" somewhere on the cruise planner? In my calendar I see the other stuff, but not this. I did get the receipt and acknowledgement and all that, but just curious.

I just got an email from RC that states:

 

Book one of our specialty dining packages before you sail and save. Select a time for your dinner and we'll book your table for the first night. Kids ages 6-12 now dine for only $10 and 5 and under eat free. Hurry, spaces are limited!

 

However, when clicking on the "Reserve" link right under that, I'm not seeing any packages. Am I missing something here? This is the Anthem's Thanksgiving cruise. On another thread I saw someone mention that perhaps packages aren't offered on that particular cruise, but surprised on the mail if that's the case.

We're on the same sailing, and related, but got a 20% off drink package email today, but when I go to cruise planner, it's the same old $45 price (I got it for $42 a while back). Seems like some sort of bad coordination there.

I keep seeing people post about dining packages, but if I look on cruise planner (for a November Anthem cruise), I don't see any sort of packages, just individual reservations. Is this something that's only available once onboard?

Just a quick reply here to talk about great tours we had in Italy earlier this month. We had Luca in Sicily for an Etna Adventure that you can read more about on TA. But since they won't let you post a 2nd review there while one is pending, I'll talk about our other here.

 

We had Angelo provide a tour of Etruscan museum and necropolis in Tarquinia. For me the museum was the better part. I did appreciate the tombs at the necropolis, but after a while in the 95 degree heat they start to all look the same. Still, it's amazing that so much ancient pre-Roman history is so well preserved. It's absolutely worth it for that aspect alone.

 

After Tarquinia we were taken to the village of Ceri where aside from the amazing reviews, we had a fantastic (long) lunch overlooking the Italian countryside. It was a relaxing and enjoyable experience.

 

It was capped by a gelato stop on the way back to our ship. Overall RomeInLimo provided a great experience and a great driver in Angelo.

Yeah, to be clear I actually thought the selection of wine by the glass was very reasonable. I mean it's not top $$$ stuff, but it was fine for drinking while you eat buffet or lunch.

We just finished a cruise on the Riviera. On the whole the cruise was a very good one. There were issues (as there always are), but we enjoyed ourselves and are happy to have taken the experience.

 

But one observation that I'm curious if others have noticed a little bit of a staff disappointment when you order wine by the glass on a package. We had the standard drink perk and then upgrade. On Day 1, just getting our bearings, we ate at the grand dining room which was nearly empty. The sommelier came over and immediately tried to sell us a bottle of wine. For the record, we would later purchase 2 at specialty restaurants. But on this occasion, we just wanted wine by the glass. I've used this terminology in my onboard and now my CC review, but basically it looked like we had just shot his dog. He was professional with service after that, but the disappointment was dripping.

 

I'm sure this likely has something to do with compensation. I know on a bottle of wine he'd get most of (all?) the 18% and I'm sure on the wine glasses (especially on package) there's probably a pool of some sort. On the whole sommeliers and others we interacted with later in the cruise were better about it. Some didn't even bother to swipe our cards (I assume because of lack of financial incentive).

 

It wasn't a huge thing, but it seems like this is something Oceania needs to solve somehow. We've had drink packages on other ships before and had great interactions with sommeliers and bartenders to the point where we tipped them on the side directly. There was really no way that was going to happen on this cruise with the way we were served. So Oceania, figure out how to compensate your staff better here so that they don't pass on resentment to the passengers.

Sorry, I thought that I had addressed your "invite issue"

 

1) La Reserve is not handled through the regular reservation system, it is a first come first served operation, whereby anyone may book as soon as the availability appears on the Site.

A fee is assessed at the time of booking. Invitations are not offered.

 

Right, so what I was hoping was something like I go online, I pick myself, and enter another booking #, and pick someone else from that booking and pay the fee for both of us. But that doesn't seem possible. That's all I was confirming here.

 

 

Thanks again!

Thanks, yes I'm aware La Reserve is limited in space and is more of a wine venue. Question was still about how to "invite" others, but perhaps the best bet is to simply call them rather than trying to do it online.

We're cruising with our parents and thus are on a different booking than they are. From reading the forum, it seems that once dining reservations open up, we can make one and then "invite" them to it rather than us both having to make separate reservations. Is that correct? It's not open yet for our class of cabin, so I can't try this experimentally, but want to be ready.

 

Now...with La Reserve, I see that this is open. I want to make a reservation for myself and my mother. I see I can pick myself and can pay, etc. right now. But I'm not seeing any way to "invite" someone else. Do we both just need to make individual reservations for this instead?

 

Thanks!

We've not cruised Oceania before. We're doing one this summer with my parents who are close to major NY airports. However, here in Raleigh, our options are a little more limited. Specifically it looks like to get from RDU to Athens (where the cruise leaves from), the cheapest options involve 2 stops. For about $400 more this can get taken down to a single stop which I'd prefer from a travel time and logistics perspective.

 

My question is, how does Oceania handle prearranged air travel? Do they just book the cheapest thing possible? Is it at all possible to work with them to influence the itinerary or pay a difference?

 

Thanks!

Just a note that on Eclipse and anywhere else they've setup Gastropub there's a large selection of craft beers. Variety varies by port/availability, but you won't be disappointed.

Did the same as LHT28, also use Firefox.

Rick

 

Sorry I should have been clear. Yes the PDF opens, but the link in the PDF does not work to actually order if you copy/paste it.

Try the web page again, I had no problem.

 

Rick

 

Do you happen to have a link that worked for you?

Can someone tell me how to accomplish this? If you go to their website, there's a PDF on "Bon Voyage Gifts". In that, there's a link, but that link takes you to a 404 error page.

 

There's also a phone #, that if you call gets you to their main #. After listening to the menu tree, none of the options are correct, so you're told to hit "0". This takes you to the same menu...

 

I swear a few weeks ago I found a web page to handle this, but cannot find it again.

 

Thanks.

We were on the last cruise on Eclipse and didn't hear anything.

 

But, that said during the inside tour they did mention the scrubber project as well as a project to replace all the railings on the ship, so work is obviously being done.

Just to elaborate a bit on Gastropub. Yes it's $10 and yes it was fish and chips, but it was better than the buffet and the occasional MDR feature. It does take a while to get the food though because I guess they're making it up fresh. Worth it, especially with the beer selection.

 

World Class Bar was great, especially the 2 guys running it (sorry, forget their names). It is twists on classic cocktails (mainly), but works well.

So any wine drinkers on the classic and premium packages, was there a good selection?

 

How was the evening entertainment? Did they have the dance parties in the atrium?

 

How was the main dining room? Any lines for select dining? How was the food and service?

 

Did you have lots of hours of daylight? Northernlights?

Thanks.

 

We had premium and drank wine pretty much every night at dinner. Selection was fine, although not huge at the covered level. A few more options for a few dollars more. No real complaints, but it would be nice if the by-the-glass menu could be the same at every venue. As it is you'll find one Pinot Noir at the buffet and a different one at MDR for instance.

 

There were some dance parties in the main area and more in Sky Lounge at night. The shows were...ok. But they're not the reason I go on a cruise. Some other couple we talked with (56 cruises in 18 years) said the shows were terrible compared to Princess. I guess that's possible, but eh...

 

Main dining room was really nice quality. I feel it was better than last cruise (3 years ago on Silhouette). We ate between 7 and 7:30 each night on select and there was no line. If you wanted a private table for 2 you'd need to wait a bit, but we were (as they phrased it) "happy to share" and never had to wait.

 

Tons of daylight. Barely saw darkness until we got home. No northern lights both because of this and clouds.

To answer the various questions:

 

* No, the seas weren't a problem for us. There was a bit of yawing/pitching here and there, but overall fine.

 

* My issue with OceanView service was that they'd rush over to clear your plate about a millisecond after you finished eating. It was a bit irritating. That coupled with the problem that if you ordered a drink, it'd take them 10 minutes to bring it to you, by which time you're halfway through eating. This was true on both the busy days and on the light days.

 

* The rain/fog wasn't ideal, but hey it's vacation and it still beats working. Put on a rain coat and a few layers and hike up that glacier :)

 

* The inside access tour was $150, but was really comprehensive (about 5 hours) and included lunch at Tuscan. Worth doing once for sure. The conversations with officers was a lot of fun. We had 9 people total. Things were a little disrupted by the helicopter (which we didn't get to see), but they handled it all really well.

Just wanted to check in after our Iceland and Norway cruise. We had a great time and it was fun meeting a few people from the boards here. It was quite an interesting itinerary and views were spectacular despite the weather at times.

 

While the whole trip deserves a comprehensive review, I wanted to mention a couple of quick items.

 

First off, the Passport bar, and particularly Andre at it were excellent. The move to the large beer selection was great. Only ate at the Gastropub portion once, but that was excellent as well. Highly recommend Eclipse passengers try it out.

 

Second, World Class bar and the two or three people manning it were also excellent. If you have the premium package, spend some time trying it out. With our group it wasn't very busy, but their recipes are definitely recommended.

 

Generally speaking, service was great all over the ship. Buffet service was perhaps the exception, but I realize it's tough to manage the chaos there.

 

A couple of interesting notes to anyone who was on board. We took the "Inside Access" tour on the last day and found out just how close we were to not docking at Faroe Islands and then Stavanger. At Faroe, they had made the decision at 5:45 to leave and go to Norway, specifically Bergen or another nearby port (forget the name), but the ports were full. So we waited on the fog and got lucky, but we were apparently about 15 minutes from leaving even then. Later in Stavanger with the winds, the pilot apparently asked our Captain if he really wanted to dock and you might have noticed the MSC ship turned away instead. As you saw they used extra lines to secure us. Apparently we were also asked "ok, now how are you going to get out?" after docking, but winds later in the day cooperated. The tug was there just for safety.

 

Hope everyone else enjoyed themselves. Now to sort through the thousands of pictures...

This is where this board always boggles my mind. We have an upcoming 14 day cruise. If my DW and I both decided to eat at Bistro every day of the cruise, it would now cost us $84 more than before. This $84 would likely represent one of the cheapest things we bought in our entire vacation.

I get that people like things to stay the way they are, but $3 more for something you're (more realistically) likely to use 3 or 4 times a cruise is hardly really a hardship.