phillygirl63

I would go with timing first, especially on those days you are in port. Which restaurant doesn't matter, since you get to experience all 4 at some point. We prefer a reservation that allows us some time after returning to the ship to get dressed and freshen up a bit and enjoy a cocktail at the bar before heading to dinner. We also very much enjoyed sharing a table instead of dining alone.

I recently posted my review of our cruise this past August on Marina, and it was very favorable although I did note some shortcomings. As you can see from my signature, we have another cruise booked already for next August -- again on Marina. That should give you some indication as to how much we enjoyed the Marina and the overall Oceania experience. IMO, a cruise (or any vacation for that matter) is what you make of it. We have sailed on NCL, RCI and Celebrity. All experiences were great for different reasons but if I had only considered the negative reviews, I would have never gone on any of those cruises. However, our first criteria in choosing a cruise is the itinerary and then the cruiseline.

Every cruise line has negative reviews of their ships. It's all in how we interpret those reviews. I suggest that you read the reviews with an open mind and weigh the negatives against the positives. Don't dwell too much on the negative things that have been written by someone you don't know anything about. Look at the positive things and see if they fit your particular style. Then take the Oceania cruise and form your own opinion. Chances are, you will question the naysayers.

In the meantime, do book the online shared reservations at the time you prefer. Not only is it a backup plan (beyond requests for additional reservations at concierge desk on day 1 and daily thereafter) but you might get lucky when you show up for the shared dinner time.

Another thought, since you're new to O: a lot of the passengers are fairly well traveled with interesting professional lives. Conversations can be quite interesting!

Ditto! I would definitely make advance reservations for the specialty restaurants, even if for shared tables, and then go to the reservations desk to make the change to a table for 2 if any are available.

I really wish that you would reconsider dining alone and opt to share a table. We dined with so many interesting, well-travelled couples on our cruise. Conversation never stopped flowing. It was great. However, I would opt for a table for 6 instead of 4 whenever possible.

Disney is not the only child friendly line, Carnival, NCL (Norwegian) and Royal Caribbean are also child friendly. These three lines are also significantly less expensive than Disney.

My heart goes out to the OP for his and his children's loss.

I agree with Cruizer2. I have not sailed with children as young as the OP's and I have never been on Disney, but I can say that NCL Breakaway (and its sister Getaway) have great pool areas for kids and a Splash Academy. Very kid friendly. RCI Oasis and Allure of the Seas would be great picks, along with the Harmony of the Seas which will sail from Ft. Lauderdale in late 2016. If my kids were still as young as the OP's, these are the ships that would be on the top of my list. Too large for me personally, but, due to the sad circumstances, the OP is all about his kids and rightfully so.

OP, it might be helpful if you tell us where you are from and maybe where you want to cruise to and for how long.

I'm surprised DKM didn't want in on that bill. Good list of bands for St. Patty's Day, though! :D

 

Trying out a 4-day for our first cruise since that's what is probably going to fit into our kids school schedules (1 in college/1 in HS). But because of the responses in this thread, husband and I decided to go on a 7-day with just the two of us later on. :) Was even researching last night and saw a 15-day Hawaii trip we would love to take. I guess my next question would be is a 15 day too long?

If you decide that the 15-day includes too many sea days but still want to do a cruise to Hawaii, look at NCL Pride of America. It is a 7-day r/t from Honolulu with only 1 afternoon at sea sailing by the Napali coast. Absolutely beautiful coast that cannot be seen by land. It's a great cruise and a great way to see the major islands.

I have booked both ways with NCL -- first time directly (not online) and second time through TA. I did not experience any problems with either one. The only difference I did experience was when being offered a cabin upsell. On the first cruise, we booked directly, and were offered an upsell from a mini-suite to DOS. Very easy. NCL called me directly. With the cruise I booked through TA (that was our cruise on POA in Hawaii), I received a phone call from NCL offering me an upsell from BA to PH. However, once the person from NCL realized that I had booked through a TA, they could no longer talk directly to me. They had to present the offer to my TA. They then called my TA, who was on vacation, and her replacement contact would not answer the phone. Really wanting the deal, I had to call NCL's corporate office to get someone to accept the upsell offer. It was a real hassle.

Now, I book directly with the cruise line as I personally haven't really seen any advantage to a TA.

Take a look at gotobermuda.com There is a free Bonfires on the Beach event, which takes place every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday until October at the Snorkel Park located at the Dockyard. I was not in Bermuda on a Monday, but the festivities you mention sound like the Harbour Nights celebration which takes place every Wednesday evening on Front Street in Hamilton.

Like that :D.

 

So the general opinion is – to buy on board.

 

We have 2 sea days and some busy days so it would be nice to break it up a bit.

The idea of sitting balcony or pool side during the day with a cocktail or 2 , aperitifs at the cocktail hour, wine over dinner, followed by digestifs sounds so very appealing and I think the premium package may work well (apart from the fact I wouldn't be able to get out of bed the next day).

But on a fully loaded, activity day when you are tired and all you need is a couple of glasses of wine/dinner/ bed – it doesn’t work so well.

 

I will definitely wait until on board to see what they can offer me.

 

Bev

Hi there, Bev! I hope you remember me. I was so excited to see your post here. Hope you enjoyed your recent cruise.

Kim

Hi

 

we are going to the Baltics on the Marina on 21st August and considering a trip to Moscow on day 2, with a local tour operator, i.e. SPB tours or Alla, had anyone done this and is it worth doing. It is our first (and probably will be our only) trip to Russia and want to see as much as possible.

 

Also the tours state that they organise groups of up to 16, do they organise the groups.

 

thanks in anticipation:)

Jaylmay61, you are on my cruise! You should visit our roll call. There are several groups already formed for tours with SPB, Alla and others. If you contact one of these companies, I would think that you can get in with one of the groups or they will put you with others from our cruise. We are booked with SPB for the 3-day deluxe tour in St. Petersburg as well as tours in some of the other ports. We also booked the Fun Vodka Night for Day 1 and a Night on the Town for Day 2 (dining at L'Europe).

Good luck!

Artbcpa, I will be embarking on Marina in Stockholm right after you on August 21. This is our first cruise on Oceania, so I am looking forward to your reports.

Have a great time!

You can download whatsapp for free texting using the app with wifi.

We were extremely pleased with Aldo Monti and Yourtourinitaly.com You can tailor your day with them and see whatever you want. The Vatican museum takes a while to get through and can be very crowded. This may not excite your 12 year old DS, so you may want to exclude so that you have more time to spend at St. Peter's Basilica, the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, etc. My teens (and us too) also enjoyed the Vatican scavi tour, which takes you to the tomb of St. Peter 40 ft. below the Basilica. Really cool and something your DH will remember for the rest of his life.

And there is a great wine bar there with self-serve wine dispensers.

We opted not to book our flights through O, because they had no direct flights for us to take and they don't book until closer to sail date (I think 30 days out). We got a credit of $1,000 for each of us to book our own flights, which was only $110 more than the credit. Of course, that is for flying direct to Stockholm and back from Amsterdam to JFK, and the credit may be more or less depending on where you are flying. Well worth it to us, as we got the flights we wanted and were able to choose our seats.

My PCC suggested that we wait until we board to purchase it so that we can apply our OBC that was included in our booking.

We used David Fox and his friend, Sydney Robinson. David was in pretty big demand when we went, but we were fortunate to get him. Since we were 12 people, we needed 2 vehicles, so he set us up with Sydney. You can e-mail David at the fox@logic.bm. If he is not available, I am sure he can set you up with either Sydney or someone else. Go to the thread suggested by Njhorseman.

Also, any of the blue flagged taxis can accommodate your friend with mobility issues. When you take the tours with them, there is very little walking unless you request to do so.

As for pricing, unless it has changed in the last 2 years, the rates are set by the Bermudian government and are the same with every taxi.

Early May is hit or miss for sunning on the beach. We went for a land vacation the first week of May in 2012, and the weather was a little too cool for sunning, but was great for walking along the beach and enjoying other outdoor activities. However, when we went the second week in May in 2013 on NCL Breakaway out of NYC, it was perfect beach weather. On that cruise, while at sea, it was too chilly for doing the pool and waterslides. May is a great time to go to Bermuda if you want to go at a time when it is less crowded and not as many families with children.

Hi, we are taking our 10 year old granddaughter, any suggestions for "must do's"? A lot different when you are traveling with a child. We will be there 3 days on the Sunshine. Carnival a first we are diamond with RCCL and elite with Celebrity but they are offering a 8 night out of Florida. Suggestions are appreciated! Hope you have a wonderful trip.

There is so much to do and see in Bermuda, especially if it is your first time there. We took a tour with one of the blue flagged taxis for a few hours on our first day. It's a great way to see everything upfront and then choose what you want to go back and spend more time doing on the other days.

Not sure when you are going, but Harbour Nights on Wednesday evenings during the summer in Hamilton is another good thing to do with a 10 year old. It kicks off with a parade followed by music (live and DJ) at the stage on Front Street. They close off the street to traffic, and various local vendors set up little stands to sell their crafts.

Definitely spend time at the beach. Horseshoe Bay has chair/umbrella rentals, concessions, and restrooms. There is a path that you can walk to Warwick Long Bay, which IMO has pinker sand that HB. It's a nice walk past little coves, but you do have to climb over some rough areas, so wear appropriate shoes.

The fort in St. George is pretty cool too for a 10 year old, but you will see that if you take a taxi tour. Just make sure you tell them you want to go there.

Have fun!

FWIW, I rarely read reviews and rely on searching the forum for answers. Now I must admit, as a result of this thread, I did go read some of the reviews. Quite interesting, especially the one-hit-wonders from a disgruntled cruiser.Seems like there must have been something else going on there. JMHO

This was my thought when I started this thread. My impression is that frequent O cruisers are very passionate about this cruise line. However, after reading the reviews for the ships, it struck me as a little odd that those impassioned cruisers would not want to post their reviews in order to sort of "set the record straight." Instead, those "one-hit-wonders" get the last word.

I have never had a bad cruise on any of the lines I have been on, simply because I believe you make it what you want it to be. That could be said of any vacation destination really. However, I always felt that a good review with honest opinions was worth reading and taking into consideration when choosing a cruise line. I found it best to read at least the last 10 reviews and make my own determination after that.

When I was planning my cruise on NCL Pride of America in Hawaii, there were many good reviews, but there were also some so-so ones. But one bad review in particular stuck in mind. It was written by a woman who, as I recall, was cruising with her sister. They never left the ship and they only ate in the buffet. Her review was absolutely miserable, and I came away thinking "But you were in Hawaii and you never left the ship? How crazy is that?"

I don't read reviews to learn about formal nights, smoking policies, etc. I can get that information on the other boards. Like you said, 500 or so come up when you do a search. I read reviews for the same reason I read restaurant and hotel reviews on TripAdvisor … so that I can feel confident that I have picked the cruise that best suits my party. I think many people rely on the reviews posted here on CC for the same reason.

Therefore, I will be posting my review of my Windmills & Wonders cruise as soon as I get home on September 2.

We too opted to visit CT on our second visit to Livorno because we had already been to Florence. Although I am not overly fond of ship's tours, this was one excursion that I did book through the ship, as it was reasonably priced and provided bus transportation to/from and also included the cost for the ferries. We went in July, which was a very busy time, but found that this excursion was very efficient and provided plenty of time in each of the villages. I do not recall the queues for the ferries being long.

One thing that I would suggest is that you bring some "Charmin on the Go" rolls with you. The restroom facilities at one of the villages (I don't recall which one) were a little lacking. We used the restroom on the ferry whenever possible.

If you're comparing your experience here to one with a Mass Market line, you'd have to factor in the smaller passenger capacity of the Oceania ships.

Good point.

OP, are you saying that you want to book a room at a resort for one of the nights that you are in Bermuda? If so, I would recommend (in this order):

1. Fairmont Hamilton Princess, which has a beautiful private beach across the street with all of the amenities that you require. It is also next door to the popular Horseshoe Bay beach.

2. Elbow Beach

3. Coco Reef

However, there is also the Hamilton Princess Hotel, which is the pink hotel located in downtown Hamilton. It offers a complimentary ferry to the Fairmont Princess (its sister resort) where you can enjoy their private beach. Be aware of that ferry's schedule though, as it does not run continuously. Hamilton has some great restaurants and bars to enjoy in the evening.

Happy anniversary! DH and I celebrate our 30th this month and are going on a Baltic/Scandavanian cruise to celebrate.

I would not go to Snorkel Beach if it were free. I did go once to check it out when there was no admission charge. Left after five minutes. Ick.

Ditto! The locals find humor in the fact that tourists actually pay to get into what used to be a landfill.

Save the admission price and use it towards getting a taxi to Horseshoe Bay. Truly a beautiful pink sand beach! It took my breath away the first time I saw it.

Just to piggy back from original question, I too will be travelling via Breakaway to Bermuda .. in your experience where do we catch the Ferry to Hamilton and what is the cost? I know there are day passes but we would just do a RT to and from Hamilton one day then one of the beaches the next.

 

And would you also know what may be the easiest (if only) way to Snorkel Beach or Horseshoe. Are they fairly close to the Dockyard? TIA

The dock for the ferries is right there where your ship will be docked. Look for the area that looks like a town square. That's where you get the ferry. You can get the schedule and pricing online by searching "Bermuda Ferry Schedule."

Opposite the ferry in the right corner, you will see the entrance to Snorkel Park. IMO a waste of time, and was once a landfill. Horseshoe Bay is not close to the ship and you would have to get transportation to it, but it is by far the better choice for a day at the beach if you want to see a beautiful beach with pink sand and really have a Bermuda experience. It also has chair/umbrella rental, a snack bar and restrooms. A must-see IMO. Warwick Long Bay is another great beach, but no concessions there. We walked along the beach path from Horseshoe Bay to Warwick, where there are beautiful little coves along the way.

Why is it that people rarely post reviews of their cruises on Oceania? I am scheduled to sail on Marina in less than 3 weeks, and I have been checking the member reviews forum on a daily basis for reviews, which I have found to be very helpful on the other lines that I have been on. I not only looked for ones for Marina but for the other ships in the fleet as well.

In the last 2 months, Marina had only 2 reviews in June (none in July). Riviera had 2 reviews in July -- 1 very good and 1 unfavorable with only 2 stars. Nautica had only 1 review in June (5 stars). Regatta had 2 in June (both 4 stars). Insignia had only 2 reviews in June (2 stars and 3 stars) and before that only 1 in May (1 star) and 1 in March (5 stars).

On all of the other cruise lines that I have been on, I could read a new review just about every other day. Not here, and I just wonder why that is.