DENIE

2 hours ago, flviking said:

Am I permitted to attend with my DW if we don't book two spots?

Agree with rebeccac.  However, on our Vista cruise in January, I was outside the room in the hallway along with some other spouses/partners waiting for the class to end.  One of the assistants saw us and said they were done, and we were welcome to come in and help our spouses/partners "finish" the food they cooked.  

My wife thought they were excellent and well-done.  She did two classes on Vista in January (Caribbean itinerary).  One was seafood, and the other was a French technique of cooking beef with some kind of sauce.  All levels of experience present, but newbies will be well taken care of.  She said it was like "private instruction".  I showed up at the end to meet her and her sister at the end of the class and was invited in to taste what they made.  It was amazing.  For these classes, a small glass of wine was included with the prep. The price quoted above I believe was correct at that time. She highly recommended.  Book as soon as possible (before the cruise) as they fill up.

We were Celebrity cruisers until Covid when we decided to try something different.  The advice we received from @mauibabes was invaluable to us. We now have 2 under our belt (Riviera, Vista), with 2 more booked (Vista, Insignia).  Since Allura is basically the same ship as Vista, you are in for a real treat!  

On 7/25/2024 at 9:49 AM, lorimay said:

We are currently on the Vista with Julie James. She’s way down on my list of good cruise directors. And it’s not just me - we have talked to several other people on the ship who feel the same way. She clearly sees trivia in the afternoons as a chore and rushes through to get to her cocktail parties. Her announcements are awful. We loved Leslie Jon on our first Oceania cruise. 

Loved listening to Leslie John on our Vista cruise this past January. 🙂

While I love prime rib, the sizes offered are just too much for me.  I am quite happy with the smaller filet mignon that can be cooked to order.  

We had the upgraded beverage package on Vista in January, and most mornings we enjoyed mimosas in the Terrace Cafe.  

No view of the port, but we stayed at The Cadillac in Miami Beach (part of the Marriott Collection).  Wonderful ocean-front property.  Our Uber ride to the port was about 20 minutes.

Forgot to include in my earlier post...in T5 on our return trip from the Riviera cruise, a family of 4 ahead of us (mom, dad, and two young sons - maybe 4 and 5?) went through the metal detector.  For some reason, security told the two young boys to go back and be re-screened.  However when they went back, security proceeded to do a pat-down search.  The parents were beside themselves but could do nothing, and the two boys were bawling by this point and didn't understand what was happening.  They were finally allowed to go back through and join there parents. We couldn't believe it.

In 2022 we flew from Phoenix to London, then on to Rome for our Riviera cruise (2 days early).  A couple months before we left, BA changed our flight so a 3 hour layover became 2 hours.  Upon landing at T3, there was a plane in our stand, which cost 20 minutes.  No potty breaks now! We rushed as fast as possible to get to the extremely crowded and unfriendly T5, with lines slow as molasses.  We rushed to our gate in T5 about the time it was supposed to board, only to find it was delayed a 1/2 hour (whew!).  Even though we made it, our smaller suitcase did not.  Thank goodness for spending 2 nights in Rome, since the bag did not catch up with us until the last evening at 10:30 p.m.  Yes, Heathrow is a nightmare!!

We probably average about 2 hours in specialty dining.  We don't discuss "timing" with our waitstaff, it just ends up being that time.  That is perfect for us.  We do order wine and then appetizers.  We've never felt rushed.  No issues on our end...

On a Celebrity cruise in 2019 we did a Venice to Rome cruise in November.  Had good weather for first couple days, however 3 days later we had an awful day in Dubrovnik (driving 40 mph wind and torrential downpour), then lost Kotor, Montenegro due to "Adriatic Sea Conditions" (did port in Corfu, Greece, though).  We later found this was the storm that swamped Venice for several days.  Great days in Malta and then Sicily, then almost missed Naples due to high seas and storms. We docked more than 2 hours late, and our shore excursion was cut short.  Was that normal? Not sure, but that was our experience.

We were on Vista #7107 (PH) in January in the Caribbean. We didn't notice much movement.

After 2 Oceania cruises (including the new Vista), with 2 more in the works, we decided we may try Windstar, on one of the sailing ships, on a Italy/Croatia cruise pushing out to 2026 or so.  We had friends who just did a Greece/Turkey cruise on Windstar and couldn't say enough good about it.  Looking forward to trying this experience, and the food.  Our food experience on Oceania was terrific (only a couple "misses"), but know food is so subjective.

31 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

If your going to cruise again and on the ship, why not---any discount is better than done-so why not book it if that is what you want.

Yup! 🙂  Better than full price.

On 5/23/2024 at 7:20 AM, Jim_Iain said:

 

What benefits do you get for booking on board or purchasing a certificate to book  once home.

Pretty much what Harters said.  It was enough for us, and they already had our TA in the system so she new about it as soon as we booked it.  OCC was decent enough as well.

We had just 3 prior cruises on Celebrity, then jumped post-Covid to Oceania.  One cruise on the Riviera (amazing!) and then this past January on Vista.  We LOVED the Vista!!  This style suits us better - small, more intimate ship, specialty restaurants included, etc.  Never found either ship to be over-crowded, even when getting off for excursions.  We have one more booked on Vista, and also a future cruise credit on a yet to be booked cruise.  Give it a try!

Gary, always love your writing style and your comments!  

Gary, we used your Butler Letter suggestion from one of your original posts, and it was awesome.  I don't think our butler had seen one of them before, and sounded like he was afraid of what we were going to ask.  But upon meeting him and giving it to him, he nodded and said, yes, he could do all those things (and did!).  In fact, a couple times during the cruise he found us because he had a question...he pulled our letter from his inside pocket!  Great experience for us!

We may have had 1 or 2 random calls when we first signed up to receive mailings and emails.  However since we use a TA, I don't recall that they have called us.

Thank you for a wonderful review!  We really enjoyed Vista in January (out of Miami) and have a November 2025 transatlantic (Barcelona to Miami) booked on her.  Looking forward to the sea days!

3 hours ago, DoulaAnn said:

What did he do in terms of unpacking? I feel a need to know where my things are in drawers and not everyone organizes that like I do. If he just hangs things that need hanging and puts shoes in the closet and bathroom items in the bathroom, I might take advantage of that (never have before and we've done PH a lot).

DoulaAnn - we had an added "challenge" that my sister-in-law was traveling with us as well.  I had a chance to go to the room and happened to meet him in the hall.  I told him which suitcases were ours, and which suitcases were my SIL's.  He had a very logical, organized manner in which he unpacked, and I think we only moved a couple things.  One side of the closet was for my wife and I, and the other side was SIL's.  Shoes were divided evenly as well.  T-shirts, daily wear, undergarments, etc were also divided between the available drawers, with nothing mixed together.  He did a great job.  We ended up packing ourselves before disembarking since we already had to pack our evening bag. We will have them unpack on our next cruise too, I think! 🙂

We did Concierge on Riviera in June 2022 (Mediterranean), and PH on Vista in January 2024 (Caribbean).  We loved having the butler, but perhaps didn't make full use of their services.  We had him unpack for us (very nice!).  We also had him bring fresh coffee each morning to our room at a designated time (15 minute or so window), and probably had about 4 breakfasts brough to us.  This was much better than standard room service, in that he set our table, and our breakfasts were in individual plates and not just thrown together).  One night we did specialty dining after a long, exhausting shore excursion.  It was amazing.  He also served us our sparkling from embarkation day, which we had been saving.  A great experience overall! 🙂

We usually book specialties for 6:30, when they open, and tend to be at the check-in stand about 5 minutes before, even if the door isn't open yet  Never later than that.  Even if our reservation is a bit later, we usually check in around 5 minutes prior.  More times than not, we are taken right to our seats.  We do not believe in waiting 10-15 minutes past our designated time.

It's interesting that on Vista in January, we secured an embarkation day "extra" reservation for 6:30 at Red Ginger.  The reservation desk reminded us 3 times to not be late.  Wonder if that has been a problem in the past.  They did not have to worry about us being late. 🙂
 

Our TA found "The Cadillac" (Marriott Collection, kind of boutique) in Miami Beach.  It was wonderful, and not as pricey as some other places we checked out.  Our Bonvoy got us an upgrade to Ocean Front, from an Ocean View.  I don't recall the Uber ride to the port being too pricey, and the driver got us there in maybe 20 minutes.

On 3/15/2024 at 7:46 PM, Waltershipman said:

The strings are lovely and most enjoyable 

Always love the strings and try to catch a few of their sets in the Grand Lounge as well.