farthinghill

We are due to join Ventura on 29th December.  We have three under 18s in our party and they are required to take a PCR test no more than 120 hours before departure.  Because of the Christmas closure at the test centre, the earliest they can get it to the centre is by courier on 27th with no guarantee it will be back by 29th.  As they will have to take a PCR test along with everyone else before boarding this seems to be an unnecessary hassle.

We know that Germany has shut its borders but P&O is still selling shore excursions to Hamburg!  With France and Holland also shut there are few alternative ports of call.  I am amazed that we have heard nothing from P&O.

We are a party of 8 on this cruise, 5 adults (all fully vaccinated) and children aged 9, 10 and 15.  There are two ports of call - Hamburg and Zeebrugge.  None of the children is vaccinated although the 15 yo is now able to have 1 jab before the cruise.

P&O says the 9 yo and 10 yo will be able to disembark in Germany.  According to the Gov.UK guidelines (https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice), they will not be able to disembark in Germany without isolating for 5 days.

P&O says the 15 yo will be able to disembark if they are vaccinated, no mention of 2 jabs.  According to the Gov.UK guidelines , a 15 yo will only be able to disembark in Germany if they have had 2 vaccinations although only one is available to 15 yo in UK.    This is the worrying one as the 15 yo will want to spend time ashore with her 19 yo sisters.

   
P&O will not clarify why their guidelines are different from Gov.UK.  As this is during the school holidays, I am sure we will not be the only family faced with this dilemma.  

12 minutes ago, jazcat said:

Have a wonderful time. Unfortunately Charlie had to have a double bypass and valve replacement, luckily before a heart attack, about 2 weeks ago. Although he was still trying to convince his docs that, maybe, he could go on the cruise, he is just working on recovery. Maybe next year.

I am so sorry to hear that but I love his spirit and wish him a speedy recovery and many more cruises to come.

On 8/17/2019 at 4:48 AM, jazcat said:

Thanks for all this information everyone. Hubby and I just booked a, fairly, last minute cruise on the Mekong with Scenic in October (9 Weeks Away!). This will be our first river cruise and first time in Vietnam and Cambodia. We are really looking forward to the visit and all this really helps. It seems like most of the cruises do many of the same things.

I think we may be on the same Scenic cruise.  We leave here on Sunday and arrive in Hanoi the next day, followed by 2 nights cruising Halong Bay before boarding Scenic Spirit on 29th October.

1 hour ago, Glenndale said:

Currently our favourite line is Oceania but the new ships look comparable to Riviera and Marina with the added bonus of a promenade deck.

By choosing ports that you 'know and love', at least if you don't enjoy the shipboard experience you will enjoy the shoreside.

I agree that taking all the inclusions into consideration they appear to be very good value.

We'll find out in September this year.

Just out of curiosity did your TA give you a discount on the cruise?

Mine had told me that Saga didn't allow this.

 

I can't compare the price we got with Saga's price because none of the cabins in the category we booked are still available and so are not listed.  Saga is adamant that TAs can't discount but we have been given "sea miles".

Having made the booking rather impulsively I was relieved to read all the positive reviews for Saga on here, albeit for the existing fleet.  I hope we don't suffer from it being one of the inaugural cruises.  We once took the first river cruise of the season with Scenic after a refit and it was less than good because of untrained staff and deficiencies with the cabin. 

We've never considered Saga Cruises, being fans of Regent Seven Seas and Oceania, but were attracted by the Sceptred Isles itinerary on the Spirit of Adventure advertised by an online TA - many ports of call we already know and love wrapped up in one cruise package.  It seemed very good value so we booked straight away.  It will be quite a while (September 2020) before we know if this was a wise decision!

Sorry to hear about your injury - things like that can really affect a cruise. I'm surprised to hear about your problems with Destination Services, though - as someone who has had more than a few problems with DS in the past, I felt that they were drastically improved on this most recent cruise. Maybe it helped that some of them recognized me from my last cruise in April, I don't know - but they were always smiling, helpful, and very professional.

 

Guess it just goes to show that people's experiences can vary greatly even on the same cruise.

It does not excuse their attitude but the DS were at a disadvantage in not having first-hand knowledge of the excursions. They had no more information than we had, an update supplied by Regent on embarkation. This was far too cautious in terms of fitness levels so I'm glad we took a slightly more gung-ho attitude. For example, I'm delighted we did not miss the Godafoss Falls in Iceland which certainly was accessible by wheelchair or any of the small boat trips we undertook.

Once upon a time Regent was going to do staggered early boarding....... the outpouring of negativity (a lot from me) was overwhelming and the "new" policy did not take effect (thankfully). When we sailed on Oceania, there were lines for different categories of "staterooms" or "suites". I hated it (I know - hate is a strong word but describes how I feel about early boarding).

 

Unfortunately, based on some weird new "guarantee" for the upper suites, there may be more than one table held back for those suites. I do like the idea of allowing passengers in these suites to order in from a specialty restaurant (this is also done on Oceania). I was just thinking about how this will affect Navigator passengers since they only have one specialty restaurant (and it isn't that big).

Having just returned from an Explorer cruise in a Master Suite I have recent and first-hand info on this. Embarkation at Reykjavik was a mess and having boarded a coach at the pre-cruise hotel at 11:30 (10 minutes at most from the dock) we did not get into our suite until after 2 pm. Our recent cruises have been with Oceania so we assumed that we would have priority boarding so we let our butler know about our frustration. He must have passed in on because we had a call from two senior staff (I forget their job titles) who apologised profusely and assured us that Regent would be introducing priority boarding in the near future. It was our turn to apologise for making a fuss about a perk which was not on offer.

We did not make any restaurant reservations before embarkation because we simply did not get around to it. I find it hard to think about where or what I want to eat even a day ahead! On board our butler assured us we could eat where, with whom and when we liked. He even reserved tables for us in Compass Rose. I had not realised we would be treading on so many toes. I do not think we inconvenienced anyone because there always seemed to be tables to spare in the speciality restaurants and we never saw a queue for Compass Rose.

As I broke two toes in my foot just before we left, the biggest perk we had from our “status” related to Destination Services. Because of my injury we had to rethink our excursion plans. The staff on the desk were singularly unhelpful - our only complaint about our cruise experience. Our butler went over their heads and we got everything we asked for. Again I hope we did not inconvenience our fellow passengers and I would hope this sort of consideration would be extended to anyone who is unexpectedly disabled between booking and embarking.

Thank you all for the replies and all the info. Our last three cruises were on Riviera and I had not taken into account that Explorer is smaller so it won't be such a hike to the forward elevators. This morning we thought we would have to cancel but when we told the medics the situation they changed their minds about plaster and crutches and gave me a pneumatic boot instead. Now I've had a few hours to get used to it I'm not so worried about how I'll manage - still determined to have a great time.

I have broken two bones in my foot just two days before embarking on Explorer so I'm more interested in the elevators than I would otherwise be. Can anyone tell me if the aft elevator (it's the one nearest to our cabin) go down as far as the Compass Rose? It does not appear to do so on the deck plan.

Explorer - suite 1200 - Grand Suite. Noise from Observation Lounge and from door slamming in the laundry room (adjacent). Would not recommend.

 

Explorer - suite 879 - Master Suite - no noise - beautiful suite - great balcony - would recommend

 

Will have to wait until I get home to look up past suites.

We rather carelessly booked a Master Suite for our upcoming cruise (Iceland to Copenhagen) without realising that it has 2 bedrooms and we only need one and we certainly don't need a grand piano! I asked Regent to Wait List for a Grand Suite instead but it didn't materialise. Now I've read your comment I'm no longer sorry!

"The coders seem to have been unaware that there is life beyond the continental shelf of the USA, because the site will not allow, for example, my wife to edit her profile. It keeps telling me that I must enter a state although I have already done so. My state is New South Wales - entering NSW (the usual acronym) is rejected, so I cannot edit anything in the page."

The same is true for UK addresses. Entries for County are rejected with a demand for a state code.

We were #1 on the Wait List for both OS and OC on our recent Riviera cruise. I'm pleased that neither materialised because it allowed us to discover just how good the PH suites are. In fact when we transferred to an OS for the second leg of our B2B there were several things I missed, particularly the drying line over the bath.

I liked the PH balcony loungers so much I had the nerve to ask our butler if he could provide one for the OS. He did but, as we already had about 12 seats on the balcony, I can just imagine the comments below deck!

The Man in Seat 61 is our website of choice for info on train travel anywhere in the world. Go to:

http://www.seat61.com/SouthAmerica.htm#Panama

Please don't forget that the real answer to your question starts with defining the term "booked". I have seen many sailing fill up rather quickly, when first released, but then come pay day a lot of those reserved cabins are not booked.

 

If one is late in the process of looking at potential cruises, the best time to consider a cruise then is after the final date that payment becomes due. Even my TA complains about the number of people that reserve up to 5 cruises per year, and then as payment becomes due, may only book two of them. O's, and some of the other cruise lines, very liberal cancellation policy, combined with low refundable down payments, encourages these actions. :mad:

This comment and most on this thread only apply to USA. The UK site does not show available cabins and the cancellation policy is far from liberal. That's as may be - very excited to be in Miami waiting to board Riviera tomorrow!

They also totally overlooked my 70th birthday. Yes, they were aware of it.

My experience was the opposite. As I hate being conspicuous I kept quiet about having a birthday during our Riviera cruise so I was very surprised when a cake and a chorus of waiters appeared at our table on the day.

I hope David Shermet hasn't resigned. He's listed as our CD on Riviera, Nov. 19.

Joan

... and ours on 4th January 2015.

 

So if Odyssey turns up we'll book it. Otherwise, I guess we'll forego La Reserve this time. I will miss it!

 

Mura

The Odyssey menu was not mentioned on Oceania's website for our January 2015 cruise but Oceania UK gave me the dates and made a booking for me.

Actually, you will find that the change to a new suite will be rather effortless - we've done it several times.

 

Before the end of your first leg, talk to your cabin staff who will be ever so helpful. You need not "pack" anything, they will arrange to move it to your new location and re-hang everything in the closet.

 

(This usually takes place after the first group are off and before the new passengers arrive.) :)

Thanks for the reassurance - great not to have to pack twice for one holiday.

 

We were told that even people doing btb were required to leave the ship by 9:00.

We are doing B2B in January with a change of cabin after the first leg. Does anyone know what will happen to our luggage in this event? Oceania UK could not give me an answer. I assume it does not have to disembark with us!

We book our suites for their size and really do not know what to do with the delightful butlers that comes with them. Each time we have had complaints about not giving them enough to do!

In the good old days, one could order a mixed meal in combination from any of the restaurants, including specialties -- appetizer from Toscana, Entree from Polo, Dessert from the GDR, and a different combination for one's partner!

 

With the advent of Marina and Riviera, with 4 speciality restaurants on Deck 5 and 14, and the GDR in between, it became physically impossible for a butler to run all over the ship putting together the combinations. So, they limited the choice to just one restaurant. The food is still great and the service is even better.

Being a people watcher I have never considered in suite dining until our first Riviera cruise. I loved Red Ginger but my husband did not. I thought the solution would be pick and mix from the speciality restaurants. Our butler soon disabused me of this foolish notion although he did leave delicious desserts from Red Ginger in our cabin on subsequent nights.

Finally a smart response.

Book the cabin you want in the first place!

Doesn't your TA supply you with this information?

We don't use a TA but book direct with Oceania. They do come back with a list of cabins but that's not the same as being able to research multiple options by yourself.

Finally a smart response.

Book the cabin you want in the first place!

But it may not have been available at the time of booking!

From various posts I gather that US cruisers can actually see which cabins are available by making a trial booking. That facility is not available on Oceania's UK site and I have tried and failed to get onto the US site.

We live in the Netherlands and (unfortunately) have never been offered an upsell/upgrade. Still we love to sail Oceania and will be on the Riviera in January.

So are we, from 4th - 24th - counting the days!