tine-tine

In the UK and I believe the EU which we were once part of the safety legislation for bathroom and kitchen electricity is very strict and no electric switches or sockets allowed inside apart from shaving socket. You will see when you travel to hotels or homes in the UK that they are always outside the door.

I too cook from scratch and know regional dishes. When I make a recipe I normally use that as a guide and adapt to my preference, never straying far from the authentic flavours of that region/country,. When I go to a restaurant and read the ingredients of a dish I mentally make that dish in my head and know what it should taste like and may replicate same dish at home. On Oceania frequently what we are told the dish is being served bears no relation whatsoever to the suggested offering and lacks any identifiable flavours of the region/country indicated. I rarely eat chunks of meat in steak form preferring a roast and limit the amount of meat I consume preferring a mix of meat/fish/plant based dishes that I call 'wet' food, ie in a sauce/caserole which really need to have some flavour backing the dish and I don't just mean salt!

Strangely enough I received one and my cruise is not until January 2025!

Although they are good to receive, I would have been happy with the luggage tags alone and no plastic envelope, even when it is a promoted recycled one, still plastic, a firm cardboard envelope would have been just as effective and more environmentally friendly, same goes for the luggage tags, possibly with a string to attach, sends the right message.

@jhbertram you can set one up yourself if there is not one there already, look at the guidelines for the title in the Roll Call area, I have posted the link below, similar to posting generally but there are specifics that require to be included for ease of searching to help with engagement.

Maybe one of our American cousins can help me with my musings when I eat in a US restaurant (not high end), I look at the number of diners, the rotation of tables and the number of tables a waiter/busboy is servicing, the average cost of say a one or two course meal then add the 20% tip on top and it is becomes obvious there are lucrative earnings on top of their wage, possibly not so much for a quiet restaurant but then there probably is a reason no-one is dining!

When is a tip not a tip!!!!

I agree with most of what @judi666 has said and I am a long time O cruiser with one shortly in the offing. . The attack on her personal views with a desire to prove her wrong do you no favours, you may not agree with her comments but she has the right, the same as you, to express her opinion. Interestingly, regarding the wine lists, when she has shown evidence to back up her comments that she was right regarding the wine choices for SM, no-one has the decency to acknowledge she was correct and they were simply defending their right to be right! Oceania, in my opinion, has definitely deteriorated over the years but still is a reasonable option for a cruise, if the price is right, this is based on the ships more or less being in good order with high end interior design and acceptable food and, despite the comments towards fellow cruisers on this board would have you believe, when onboard your travelling companions are generally excellent company and not quite so argumentative!!!

I was on a 24 day cruise on Sirena Nov/Dec 2023 and although Prime Rib (my favourite kind of steak) appeared on the Polo menu, when I ordered this for my main course one time I was presented with a grilled Rib Eye steak without being informed, maybe they thought I didn't know what Prime Rib was! My other two visits when I tried to order I was given the information that they did not have Prime Rib despite it being on the menu.

Has anyone ever phoned the number given by Oceania of the Port Agent and received a reply? We were on a O trip in Cuba and the bus left without us, despite being nearby in the castle and being within the time given to return, tried to phone the Port Agent - no reply. A couple on my last cruise had a.medical emergency and there was no rely from number for the Port Agent but they were lucky that the Agent must have been informed by the ship's doctor of their attendance at hospital and he went to the hospital to see them and the ship waited for their return. I often wonder if this number is in reality an office hours and if there is a language barrier how easy is it to get help if required?

Well done, persistence wins in the end. There is a worrying lack of customer focus and a slight arrogance to their attitude that I hope they get counselling for going forward if they wish to have a successful business!!!

Point of note, ATM's are hot spots for pickpockets ready to snatch your money as it leaves the machine or you turn round to put in your wallet, have someone standing guard don't turn round until money is safe and be ware that they know where your money is now and how much you have taken out.

This is not a Vista thing rather an Oceania thing, service has become appalling. I have cruised many times with O and my last cruise on R class was a great cruise with truly awful service and tedious, bland food, I was requested by my Oceania Cruise Specialist to put my issues in writing, to which Oceania responded and acknowledged my concerns with some OBC for my upcoming cruise and also informing the ship of my concerns and special requests. I decided to go with my next O cruise as final payment had passed and to make an assessment if the service issue was a one off but cancelled my future cruise on Vista for January 2025 and booked EJII instead.

@Noggins I hope you had a good journey home and the post cruise trauma of self catering is not too brutal! I wished to express my pleasure reading your reviews. I have been a member of CC for many years and I can honestly say your posts are the most informative and humorous I have read, I look forward to your next cruise and reviews. Thank you from a fellow traveller on your journey (trip), sadly metaphorically and not literally.

Emperors new clothes!!!!! 🤢🤮

@Harters I always start off with my Oceania specialist the finalise the cruise that I would like, cabin etc then transfer to a TA. I have used a few major UK based cruise agent specialists over the years and never accept the quote from the first TA, if I feel they are holding back I contact another to get a price comparison. The basic price will be the same whether Oceania or TA but the discount they are prepared to offer by offsetting their sales commission can be negotiated but you do have to ask. I now book my air with the airline directly using my credit card as I have had a bad experience through TA's failing to live up to their promise of after sales care, one example is my original booking with O, transferred to TA when there was a flight cancellation the operator contacted O who then contacted the TA who failed to inform me for 3 days meaning my connecting flight which was meant to be 1.5 hours stopover ended up nearly 12 as flight operator had not received confirmation from TA and I was placed on last flight of day. I had to fight hard and they managed to find me a seat on an earlier flight with a 6 hour stopover instead. Moral of this story is don't ask don't get and book your own flight. 🤪😁

Well that’s a bummer! Rather disconcerting drip feed of negativity coming through from cancellations, poor admin, never changing menus, cheaper champagne brands now reduced number of days. Did you book your own flights, if so what do you do with the extra two unplanned land days? This is becoming increasingly disconcerting and one especially worrying for my future planned cruise as I am a solo traveller.

@Snaefell3 Thanks for trying, seems to only be CC site that this happens which is why it is so frustrating, I thought I could not be the only person this affects but looks like it may be some kind of glitch, either that or they cannot believe I don't want their cookies and by that I mean both edible and technological varieties. 🤪🤣

@Snaefell3 Thanks for the reply, I only do cookie housekeeping about once a month, I never used to have this problem which doesn't affect the forum but does happen every other part of the CC website, it is driving me daft if I wasn't that already! I have attached a screenshot of message which appears at bottom of screen with the yellow ok box every time I select an area, eg review area on home screen I read the first one then need to select cookies for the next review. I complete this each time and like a boomerang it comes back.

Can any fellow CC aficionados please help maintain my sanity and explain how I can sign in to my account and complete the 'cookie' selection only once? Every single time I make a selection on the CC site, apart from initial forum interaction and any further actions on the forums are ok, I am presented with the cookie selection window where I have then to go through the process of rejecting, now I wouldn't mind doing this once but every single time I read a review, look for deals etc is frankly ridiculous! Help!!!

In Scotland - Whoosh - the effect when someone cracks a funny and it goes over everyone's heads and fails to hit the mark, the joker receiving blank stares from assembled company! A bit like some of the discussions on this forum!!!!

My thoughts on Humphrey Slocombe are "Emperors New Clothes", the names are upmarket, the ingredients quirky and the base ice cream OK. Italian Gelato it is not! My personal preference would be good quality, normal flavoured CREAMY ice cream, now that is an indulgent treat!🍨😋

@Harters Don't worry, the doors split in two and can be opened outwards. there is a channel drain below the opening if you need to have doors open. The shower is slightly trapezoid being widest at the plumbing end, I too carry a fair bit of heft and survived plus I knew before I travelled it was small so had mentally prepared in advance! 😱 small but functional I think is the appropriate comment.

I have cruised Oceania every year, excluding covid years, generally longer or B2B winter cruises around 20 days. My husband and I always cruised 'O' class Marina/Riviera as the 1250 guests is a good compromise with space and public areas plus if you go for a more central cabin you are never far from anywhere onboard! For context, since my husband died I am now cruising solo. I returned pre Christmas from my first 'R' class trip on Sirena which was a 24 night Amazon in an Oceanview (square window) cabin, I normally book verandah, this time I went for a £3000 saving made by taking the lower category, The cabin was beautiful, perfect for a solo but I know my husband & I would have been equally happy in this slightly smaller space. The bathroom, not so much, there is barely room for one in there and would require a rota for use if there are two. I did miss the verandah but I kept reminding myself of my £3000 saving plus I just spent more time on deck to compensate. I found the eating choices limiting and repetitive on the smaller ship of 650 passengers, remembering I was on board for 24 days, I like meat but not regularly eating big slabs of steaks and the food was quite bland (spices/flavourings) compared to how I would cook.and the public areas were definitely lacking in comparison to 'O' class. The public areas were definitely lacking in comparison to 'O' class. I have definitely found the standards of food and service have deteriorated greatly over the years I don't know if the Amazon trip was a particular struggle for O but I have never seen senior Managers constantly serving in restaurants and in the buffet! No pool service, tables left uncleared, a struggle for service. Now that being said you will probably not notice these issues having never sailed O before and the standards of P&O are definitely much lower than O, I did one P&O trip and never returned. Possibly the issues I am many other of the guests on the Amazon trip were unique to that cruise or possibly the smaller ships are not staffed so well leaving no comfort zone for staff illness etc. All that being said I still had a wonderful cruise and the mainly North Americans I met on board were as friendly, welcoming and inclusive as ever and were a huge part of the enjoyment of my cruise. One of the reasons my husband and I no longer sailed P&O was the exact reason you highlighted in your post. I have attached some photographs of my cabin, including one of my foot inside the shower to give context to the size.

Cookies! As someone who bakes and only uses butter which adds hugely to the flavour of a finished product when biscuits/cookes are made with an alternative like margarine the Cookes end up a tasteless mix of flour sugar and flavourless margarine/vegetable fat, I know which I prefer and which is the superior product. After trying once on my recent Sirena cruise never again, they didn't even bother to put a description beside the Cookes saying what flavour they were supposed to be just sugar or sugar free. Now don't start me on the sticky buns in the buffet at breakfast!!!