findacruise

oops. wrong post

We're taking our first oceania cruise next week on the regatta. Reading through this thread, is laundry detergent provided or do we bring our own?

 

Thanks for your help.

As the OP said, detergent is free. But, I suggest you bring some dryer sheets with you, as there is no softener available.

In a word, UniWorld. :D

In another word - Scenic, and we loved it.

Interesting, You say that by buying it onboard you were charged gratuity also? According to a post by Jim & Stan on another thread, they say the gratuities are included in the price. So if I understand you correctly it would be $64.95 a day plus 18% which would make it $76.65 a day. That's a pretty big jump if the grats are included in the $59.95 when you pay in advance.

 

I do know that I took it out on the last 3 or 4 days of a cruise last year, but don't remember paying additional or added gratuities for it. But after having it for a few days I didn't remember much of anything.

My brain wasn't functioning correctly when I typed the plus gratuity - my bad! It was just the additional per day. Sorry for the error and creating all the additional unnecessary comments.

The price was in our cruise documents. The "fine print" pointed out to me was actually in the Oceania cruise book that has all the cruises in it and I did read it on the back page for myself. I did tell the concierge I thought that was sneaky!

While we did use it enough to warrant it on the first day, we did find toward the end of the 16 day cruise is when we felt less inclined to drink as much. However, we did have a number of sea days, actually 2 more than we planned on, as 2 ports we cancelled. The did offer it throughout our entire cruise, almost up until the last day.

Where we really enjoyed it was when we had the sommelier at dinners do wine pairings with our meal. We could have a wine with each course, if we wanted, off the by-the-glass list and it made for a wonderful experience. And with regular drinks, the pours we more generous. And no thoughts about happy hour, nor did we pack liquor this time. We will decide on future cruises if we want to do it again.

Again, sorry for any confusion I created.

On our last cruise we decided to wait to purchase the package (our first time) so we could use our OBC. When we got our documents there was a price printed for the beverage package. I purchased the package when we got on for myself and DH. I noticed the price was higher. ($5 p/p per day plus gratuity) The beverage guy said he didn't know, I'd have to check with reception.

I went to reception and they told me the discount is applied by accounting. When we got our preliminary bill I noticed the charge was still higher so I went for an explanation. It took several people to find out why the price was higher than what I was showing them in my printed cruise documents. Finally the Executive Concierge was called over, as he seemed to be the only person who knew the answer. In the back of the Oceania cruise book, the small print indicates that the special price for the beverage package was available ONLY if purchased PRIOR to boarding!

Had we known this, I would have purchased it ahead. We didn't have enough OBC anyway to cover the beverage package on our 16 day cruise and used it for internet, laundry and La Reserve.

Your situation may differ, but I thought I would pass on the lesson I learned.

Just in case anyone is interested, Regent is currently showing some categories available on CPT-CPT and some guarantee. Oceania is wait listed in all categories.

I would definately sail with them again only after having first ruled out SB and then Silversea. There is a thread on the Crystal board that goes into more detail, it's titled Like-dislike. The itinerary was what sold me.

We are excited to be on our first SB cruise in February. Originally booked on Silversea Singapore to Hong Kong, but canceled after the ship we had booked again failed the CDC inspection. From what I have read, I think we are going to be very happy on SB.

We did a Scenic cruise last year and enjoyed it. We want to do another through the wine country of France. If interested, here is my review.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=265145

I received an Email from Crystal a few days ago announcing their new Yacht and itineraries. As part of it they indicated they plan to get into the luxury river cruise business. I think the date is 2017.

Nancy,

Thank you for posting as an upcoming first time SB cruiser. We are excited to be doing our first SB cruise February14 RT Singapore after recently cruising primarily on Oceania and Regent. I was so pleased to see all the positive responses about the service, etc. and friendliness of fellow passengers. I appreciated the comments on shore excursions, too,as I am just now starting to look into options.

Enjoy your upcoming cruise. We did Montreal to Southampton last May. Although it was chilly/cold, the scenery was beautiful, the cities and towns wonderful and the people we met very warm and welcoming.

The islanders will ALWAYS be ready, with their longboats loaded, to come out and visit the ship. Only raucous weather will prevent them.... you are a lucrative visitor. :p

We were there last February on the Regent Mariner. We were scheduled to tender and if not, then the islanders were going to come to us. Unfortunately, the weather was too "raucous" so we circled the island for pictures and headed to Easter Island. Disappointed, but going in we knew it was a possibility. Mother Nature always wins out.

I wish you would do a review of your cruise as I would like to read it. This is the first time I've read a post from you that sounds critical of a cruise. If you had issues on your Marina cruise, they must have been really annoying. Would love to learn more.

From personal experience, I agree with OP that Oceania does not respond from a Corporate perspective. However, we were on the same cruise as Joe and Joan and did not feel the same way. We had a couple of minor concerns that were handled promptly while on board. Otherwise, we had a delightful time. Yes, we were disappointed that the last 2 ports were cancelled as we had not been there, but knowing what the weather was, we had no business going there.

did someone mention my name? :d:d:d

rotfl

On our Marina trip, of course we did not tender to Pitcairn.

 

I spoke with someone from the island and he confided that a ship the size of the Marina has no chance of ever offloading that many people to the island.

 

They are always prepared (with the long boats loaded) to come out to the ship and visit, regardless of the weather or sea conditions. :cool:

We were on Regent Mariner In February and were scheduled to tender. The swells were so bad that the people of Pitcairn would not bring their long boats out to the ship. In fact, they never brought them out of storage. The captain circled the island so we could view it and headed on to Easter Island.

We had a group of assorted alumni on our recent cruise

I cannot comment on any disruption in service

they did have a couple of meetings in Horizons the 1st few days but the cruise was port intensive the 1st week

many were probably still ashore as we had later sailaways in some ports

 

We unfortunately had to leave on day 6 so have no idea if they had any negative impact on the rest of the cruise

 

On our past cruises it was not a problem even on the R-ships but every sailing can be different ;)

 

Lyn

Lyn - those groups caused us. IMO, no problems. Granted, Marina is larger. On occasion there was a section roped off in Horizons for them, but there was still ample space available...fewer of them than at our CC meet and mingle!

http://www.carnivalcorp.com OOPs...it seems they redid the website...so I haven't found the shareholder benefit page yet.

 

This credit is combinable on all other Carnival lines, so my guess is yes.

Here's the link for the PDF.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=140690&p=irol-sharebenefit

We are taking our first Seabourn cruise in February. Thinking of buying some stock.

In my mind the Smithsonian lecturers will have to go some to beat Terry Breen. Just saying......

We've been fortunate to sail with Loucas (I think is the spelling but could be wrong) twice - once on Insignia, then on Marina. He is perhaps the finest Somm in Oceania's fleet. His knowledge of wine is quite amazing.

 

We hope that Oceania knows what an asset he is to the dining venues.

It is an unusual spelling and I think it ends in a J. But no matter, he is the best we have ever had. Both DH and I gave him great reviews on our cruise comments.

On our recent cruise we did the prestige package for the first time. When we were in Jacques we put our cards on the table and the sommelier came over immediately. He suggested we start off with a glass of champagne. He then told us as soon as we decided on our courses he would be back to suggest a pairing for each one. He worked in concert with our server and provided us with a fantastic wine paried dinner from the individual by glass wine list.

His name was Lucasj (sp) from Poland (on the Marina). Subsequently, we did this paring with a sommelier in several other venues. When Lucasj told us he was not going to be in Jacques again but in the MDR, we made sure to eat there a couple of times so he could pair our food again. He was outstanding. I would never have thought of asking a sommelier to do this for us. We also could ask for a partial glass without feeling we we wasting a glass we had paid for. I don't know if we would buy Prestige again on such a long cruise - 16 days. But the pleasure of doing the pairings and not thinking about getting to Happy Hour in time or how much liquor we needed to last 16 days was nice.

Lyn, So sorry you and Mike had to leave the cruise. But agree gall bladder not to be messed with, having been down that road. Thank you for all you did to keep track of our group and information you provided, etc. I'm glad I did get to meet you.

Best to both of you.

Joanna

Another announcement today. Ice only upon request to housekeeping. Laundries have been closed. All raw foods removed. No self-serve items remain - nothing out at Baristas. Knew someting was going on before the announcement when the hand cleaners showed up in the lcabins Tuesday night and the cinnamon and brown sugar were behind the sneeze guards at Wednesday breakfast.

I had not heard what the Doctor said. Seems it took awhile to get to this level if it was brought on board, as we embarked on May 18.

Folks:

 

Thanks for your quick responses and we appreciate the comments. No guarantee that we will have the same butler, just hope that he understands my sense of humor and my Newyorican accent. This is our first time experiencing butler service and are a little unsure in the dos and don'ts. We do not see ourselves as high maintenance as long as he installs a spicket for wine in the cabin :D.

 

Z and TB

Actually I think those wines with the included spigots are not part of the all inclusive package.:DPerhaps your TA can put in a special request for you so it can be waiting in your suite when you arrive.

We use our Chase Sapphire and also buy a small medical policy.

Our Chase Sapphire is $95 annual fee. Do others pay that? Looks like United charges this but did not see other posts that Chase Sapphire does also.

 

Are we missing something?

Thanks.

Yes, we pay $95 annual fee for our Chase Sapphire preferred cards after the first year - well worth it.

We will be in cabin 1112 on 6 Sep. Can you elaborate a little bit regarding the butler being OK? Did you find the cabin spacious or cramped. Thanks in advance.

 

Z and TB

We were in 1112 on our February cruise from Papeete to Lima and loved 1112 location and layout. Plenty of space and storage. Closet is tight, but plenty of hanging space. Don't know if it was the same butler, but he was barely okay. We are fairly low maintenance and had really taken the PH for space on the 16 day cruise because there were so many sea days. That said, we still expected not to have to ask multiple times for things before we got them or to remind him of something.

After he introduced himself the first day, until we called and asked for an "appointment with him the 3rd day, we hadn't seen him, which was different than our experience previously. I had a list ready for him of a items, e.g. dining reservation, day we'd like to host a few friends and would like canapes, request for wine list, etc. I still had to follow-up on a couple of things. He also liked to make excuses - like the water you want (I request lowest amount of salt possible) is not available up here and I have to wait for it to be brought up!. By mid-way through he was better and recognized when our bottle of whiskey was in the trash and brought us a new one without being asked. But there was no initiative, as we have seen before.

It wasn't so bad that I was going to report him and ask for a change, as it did smooth out and we got along, but did comment on surveys.

We are using our Chase Sapphire for "regular"cancellation coverage. We do still buy a very small Travelguard policy so that we are covered in case we need medical evacuation (hope we never do) It also covers accident and medical expenses. We purchased it when we booked our cruise. For $144 total for both, we got 25K each medical and 500K evacuation plus some other items thrown in like baggage, delay etc., which I know is covered by Sapphire, but comes with this as standard.

Hi,

 

In your situation you have clearly done exactly the right thing with a suppressed immune system it is a risk too far.

 

Clearly a replacement cruise is on your mind .... but failing that Singapore is a place to consider spending a while. Not everyone's cup of tea but the first place we have a long-term relationship where it get's better every visit .... whatever the opposite of "familiarity breeding contempt is".

 

As I mentioned we are there for just over a month just before you arrive. You could use your cruise cash on making a memorable Singapore trip .... that is if you enjoy doing pretty well nothing ... but doing it well each day. It would be terrible if it got under your skin in the way it has ours.

 

I'm so sorry that SS have let you down in this way. Who would have though a few years ago I'd be talking to a customer who is cancelling a trip with SS because he/she cannot rely on them to keep them safe and well. Who'd have thought. The key issue which is overlooked on some of the comments on the other thread is not the infractions per se it, it is the deceptions because it is the deceptions which make an open-eyed customer ask "what else might there be". It is what you don't know rather than do know which is the issue. If it hadn't been the staff last time objecting we would never have known about fresh food being hidden in crew quarters.

 

You did the right thing.

 

Jeff

Thanks, Jeff. I may not be taking a SS cruise in the near term, but still plan to pop-in on this thread. Most fun that can be had on CC. Yes, I do think Singapore is still in our future.