DENIE

Just on Vista in January in a PH2, which was a room right next to the extended balcony. It definitely had loungers.

Hi bbqoug. Not sure about that, we've only been on the Riviera and Vista, but I would suspect it would be in the main lobby where all of the other guest services are.

Just off Vista in January (10-nights). The Waves system where you get a number and go to a table worked very well. One night we even took our number to the air-conditioned Terrace Grill and they found us easily. As others have pointed out, being on a 10-night cruise meant all dining opened at 6:30.

I second Oskidunker. Check to see if there is a Tours by Locals guide for a private tour. If not, check out other private tours. Although we have been on some very nice ship-sponsored tours, we always love private tours when there is a good option.

If on a 10-day or so cruise on one of the ships with 4 specialties, you can often get an "extra" specialty by going to the reservation desk on embarkation and inquiring. On our Riviera and Vista cruises the last 2 years, we snagged an extra Red Ginger restaurant on embarkation day because they had availability. No guarantees, but always worth asking.

After several Celebrity cruises pre-Covid, we decided to try something different and booked an Oceania cruise in 2022. We've not looked back. Just completed our 2nd cruise (Vista) last month, and booked a 2025 Transatlantic (Also Vista - Barcelona to Miami). While on-board the Vista last month, we purchased a FCC for a cruise itinerary we are looking for in 2026. I have to say Celebrity did nothing to "lose" our business, but we have come to really appreciate the smaller, more intimate ships and the amenities they offer. We sailed on HAL (Koningsdam) a year ago December with friends (they picked the cruise), and we found ourselves preferring Oceania.

Look for Culinary Classes under the Other Options on your online reservation. If you see something you like, book it ASAP. These classes are popular and do sell out (there are only about 24 cooking stations (at least on the Vista) - I believe about the same on the Marina.

TA for us. In the Mediterranean we had an issue come up with missing luggage on our flights and thought we would have to change our arrangements to get to the port to pick up our missing bag. Our TA was all over it, thought the bag was found and returned in the nick of time. Ours also gave us her personal cell phone in case anything came up.

We are just off Vista a couple weeks ago. We had dinner in the MDR twice, and it was very good both times. No complaints. We also had breakfast there twice and I remember it was also very good. Didn't always like some of the menus on given nights, so made other arrangements. Overall no complaints from us.

Just off Vista on 1/19 and agree that the Waves pizza was delicious! Would love to have tried some of the appetizers, but simply ran out of time.

Interesting...we just disembarked on 1/19 and didn't hear neighbors on either side at any time. Maybe the luck of the draw??

We found it too. It was fine for me, but too bright for my wife. I did love the lights under the cabinets in the bathroom, though. If only the blue light was a tad dimmer, it would help.

On our June 2022 Riviera cruise (Rome-Barcelona), we walked in to Red Ginger as we were exploring the ship at embarkation. The Maitre De saw us admiring the room and approached us. She asked if we would like to dine there that evening as the MDR can get very crazy on the first night. We took advantage and had a wonderful dinner the first night!

Another vote for booking the 4 reservations on non-embarkation days. In January we are in a PH2, so had the 75-day window and got just what we wanted. Last cruise we walked into Red Ginger at embarkation and the maître de was there and asked if we wanted reservations for that night as the MDR could be quite busy. We are going to try this same thing on our Jan 2024 cruise.

We did this on our Riviera cruise in 2020, and it was fabulous. But agree, if it is now $150 p/p, probably something we will not repeat. It was a fabulous experience, though!

We generally prefer private tours (Tours by Locals, especially), but they aren't everywhere we are going in the Caribbean in another month. We are trying our hand with 4 Oceania-sponsored tours, so will see how they go. On other lines, the ship tours have been mostly ok, but not as good as private.

Interesting. We will be in a PH on Deck 7 Vista in 3 weeks or so. Will have to have a "listen".

Welcome to Oceania! We had done 3 cruises on Celebrity and thought we had a "home". Then we tried Oceania based on the recommendation of friends. We are going on our 2nd cruise (Vista) in about 3 weeks, and just booked another Vista (Trans-Atlantic 2025). We love the all-inclusive specialty dining and no nickel/diming, especially with dining. Very casual, no photographers, probably no kids, As someone else said, you do have some choices with higher end food/wine/champagne pairings, but that is your choice.

....also, we are on the 1/9/2024 sailing in the Caribbean. We'll see how that compares age-wise.

We were "late 50's" on the Riviera in June 2022 (Mediterranean). We were younger than many, but didn't necessarily feel that young. Many of these people were young at heart! 🙂

3 sea days on our upcoming January cruise, so plan to spend some time relaxing there!

elidance - thank you so much for the photos! This is more or less as our TA advised it would look (and I could tell looking at the floorplan). Glad you liked the room. We were in the same situation - needed a room to accommodate a 3rd person (wife's sister), and there were so few choices available with a Penthouse.

Looking forward to experiencing this in January on the Vista! 🙂

We followed the same advice regarding getting an "extra" reservation on embarkation day just be stopping by upon boarding. Red Ginger had lots of availability.

Thanks for posting! Following!....