terrydtx

We wanted to try a Viking Ocean cruise, but their policy of final payment due 12 months out was a big no for us. No way I can justify giving any cruise line $15k or more to hold for a year. Maybe if we found a last-minute Viking Ocean cruise, we would try them.

For example our 2025 booked cruise on the Marina of South America for 18 days is $200pp less than the similar 14-day SS on the Equinox. We booked an A3 concierge level cabin and we get 4 more days and 3 more ports than the Equinox for $200 less in cost. This for us was a no brainer. One of the couples we met on our September Apex cruise roll call, after our discussions about O, canceled his Celebrity cruise on the Equinox to join us on the Marina after he did the comparison.

When we are looking at Oceania, we prefer their 3 newer and larger ships, Marina, Riviera and the new Vista all with about a 1200 passenger capacity. We feel the A Concierge level cabins are close to a Sky Suite in size, 291sq ft, and most cases price. The A class cabins have an exclusive lounge with snacks and nonalcoholic drinks. There are not any suites exclusive restaurants but they have 4or 5 specialty restaurants that are included in the cruise pricing. Since O is known for their superior onboard cuisine I see no reason to have an exclusive venue like Luminae. When we booked we chose the wine and beer package with lunch and dinner, which can be upgraded to a unlimited spirits package anytime for $20pp per day. All bottled water and non alcohol drinks are included in the cruise 24/7. There is not a butler until you book the higher Penthouse Suites. For a full list of Concierge class amenities here is a link on O's website; Luxury Cruise Suites & Staterooms Aboard the Marina - Oceania Cruise (oceaniacruises.com) Since we booked our first O cruise, I have been spending time in the O CC forum and it is surprising how many ex-Celebrity people I have found. It appears Oceania is where many dissatisfied Celebrity suites customers are ending up.

Our last few HAL cruises have been on Vista ships in Signature Suites, last year after being gone from home for over 30 days that bathtub in our cabin came in handy. We tried the ship's laundry once and they ruined a couple of our items.

Exactly how I do it and it is even spelled out at the dispensers. How do you feel about washing dirty clothes in the bath tub? LOL.

Is that fleetwide? I hope it is.

Our hotel room in Venice had a view of the main lagoon and it was a pretty site seeing the ship under sail going down the lagoon to the sea. I wish I had taken a picture of her.

Yes they are absolutely okay for taking ashore and returning to the ship. We took ones like you describe on our cruises last year and when we were on shore, we would buy cheaper bottled water and fill them up before returning to the ship. In Italy and Greece, we found a one-liter bottle of water could be bought for about 1 euro or so.

The ones on the Oosterdam last year had screw top caps that made it easy to reuse.

If we were only booking standard verandah cabins we would not be considering Celebrity at all. In their newest E Class ships these don't exist and in other ships the pricing is unreasonable. We would in this case consider HAL first as their 3 newest ships have no IV cabins and still have traditional ones at competitive prices with MDR's that have IMO better choices and overall food quality. HAL still has free room service and a complete dinner buffet and better priced drink and specialty dining packages.

Celebrity was our number one choice, but I agree future pricing specially in suites have us now looking at Oceania first. We can book an O cruise now for less than a Sky Suite costs for similar itinerary.

On the Oosterdam last year my wife kept one of their aluminum bottled water bottles and refilled it the entire cruise with water from the Lido. Cruise ships have gotten very prohibitive about plastic bottles on board. It fit nicely in her backpack or purse.

The other big issue with IV cabins I have not seen covered. We usually cruise with my sister and BIL or friends and we get adjoining cabins and with a traditional balcony we can open up the dividers between cabins and double the size of our outdoor area. Impossible to do this with an IV cabin.

We are at the point in our lives that we book now 100% for itineraries that are more port intensive with few if any sea days. We have done plenty of Sea Days in the last 25 years and we now want to see places on our bucket list. Our Equinox cruise in June will be our last Caribbean cruise and we only booked it to take our 12 year old Granddaughter with us during her summer vacation. We have been to every Caribbean island more than once so we no longer wish to do more. Once we find an itinerary, we then look at cabin types, costs, amenities and the best itinerary. The only 3 cruise lines we will book are Celebrity (in the Retreat only), Holland America (in Vista or Signature suites) and Oceania (in at least an A Concierge class cabin). All our future booked cruises were chosen by these criteria's.

Actually when we were in Venice last August there was a Windstar cruise ship docked in Venice Island.

Last year when we made final payment for our August cruise, the air was paid within a couple of days, per our request, and we had the e-ticket numbers.

Correct and that hour to the airport can be longer if the port has heavy traffic. We get off our cruise in September in Piraeus and have a private car transport booked to take us to the airport for a 1pm flight to Santorini.

Last August on the Oosterdam we tried to upgrade when we first boarded and were told by a bartender with the standard HIA promo it was not possible to upgrade to Elite drinks. I talked with both the beverage manager and guest services supervisor and got the same reply. In 14 days, we never exceeded the 15-drink limit, but we did get our drinking water mostly from the Lido with our refillable insulated water bottles. I wish HAL had an option when booking to pay more and get the Elite DP and premium Wi-Fi in the HIA. We do have it for our 2024 Volendam NE/Canada cruise, but it was part of an Early Booking Promo.

Our home has both a 'Sun room" and an open deck, both are extensions of our home but totally different in use and design. Our sun room is all glass with windows that open, while our open deck has no windows. The IV veranda IMO is nothing more than a sunroom with a window that opens, while aft sunset veranda and all suites have a traditional open air balcony. If the IV verandas were so popular why do all aft sunset veranda cabins sell out first on any cruise? We only sail in suites on E Class ships for the traditional balconies, we did a one and done in an IV veranda on the Edge in 2019 and hated the concept.

HAL seems to be very slow when it comes to notifications of port changes. It happened to us last year on the August 14th Oosterdam 14 day Greek cruise from Venice. Everyone knew about the Venice laws banning cruise ships from docking in Venice a year before our cruise. But HAL insisted up to about May last year that they would depart from Venice and then they announced the departure was moved to Trieste. About the same time we were notified that Santorini and Chana Crete had been dropped and replaced with another sea day and a second stop in Mykonos. It took the web site even longer to make these changes and add back shore excursions. This year we are booked on the K'Dam California Coastal cruise in November with a port stop in Monterrey California. It has been all over the news that in January the City of Monterrey passed an ordinance effectively banning cruise ships from using any city services and docking for tenders. Other cruise lines doing the same itinerary have already taken Monterrey off their port stops, but so far not a word from HAL. The last thing we want is another sea day off the coast on the current 4 scheduled ports for this cruise. Celebrity already dropped Monterrey and replaced it with an overnight in San Fransisco in their coastal Calif. itineraries, which would be fine with us.

Our first Alaska cruise was on the Noordam in 2019 with our oldest grandson and the Signature Suite was a perfect size for 3 of us with the huge bathroom and double sinks. We did the Vancouver to Seward trip followed by 5 land days. We are planning to do another in 2025 with our youngest grandson and will do it with HAL and if available in a Vista Signature Suite. HAL has the longest history of Alaska cruising among all mainstream cruise lines and they do a great job.

It was in Luminae last year on the Reflection, not sure about MDR and the mint sauce.

Did that ruin your whole cruise?

If you still want to do a tour, try some 3rd party tour sites like Viator and Tours by Locals. We no longer use any cruise ship sponsored tours as we find private 3rd party tours to be far superior and, in some cases, less in cost. From what I have seen Oceania has some of the highest price ship sponsored tour I have ever seen.

When you add in all that is included AI does make sense, unless you are not a heavy drinker.