gardenbunny

We are doing our first Oceania Feb 11 on Marina - substituted from our initial booking on Sirena.  All the loyal posters of Oceania have said that was an excellent substitution and we are very lucky.

Looking at all the info on O website for this ship, I definitely agree and are very excited.

DH and I travel for the adventure and to see the world (88 countries and counting) and are not “foodies”.  But agree that this will be a treat - a different dining venue for at least 6 of the 12 days!  And I love the ambiance - the photos look incredible.

With the pandemic affecting the cash flow on every cruise line, having to sell older ships is always possible.  Princess, NCL, RCI, Carnival, HAL, etc sold or scrapped a good number of ships in 2020. Rumors were around for years that Pacific Princess was being sold…and it was inevitable when Covid arrived.

I agree with just do you.  I remember my first Cunard cruise where you had  to dress  formal every night.  I felt like I was a little girl again playing dress up with my mother’s clothes (anyone remember a stole that still had animal head?). 

I have an entire closet that are my cruise clothes 😁. I had so much fun selecting clothes for the Enchanted NYE cruise out of that closet….After 2 years I had forgotten so many pieces.  And some still had tags on them for what I had bought for the 2020 cruises.😞

Everything is casual  now - even church - 

I love seeing the lovely ladies in their beautiful gowns and sarees and jewelry and the handsome men in white dinner jackets or tuxedo.  And the kilts, oh my.

We have a cruise on Oceania Feb 11. We have to bring the 2 day before negative test results to check in AND get another test at the pier before boarding.

AND testing on board if the port city we are visiting requires knowing if there is a certain percentage of cases on board.

It is what it is…

Waiting to get that negative test is like playing “testing roulette”. 🤣

She said the steroids in Flonase are the issue.  Said 2-3 days before testing.

Side note:  just saying with all these variables, makes you wonder how many tests are really false - for either positive and negative.

I am so interested in this.  I have a good budget but still might be a stretch to do all 155 - but 2 years to save.   LOL

We did 2017 and 2019 World Cruises on Pacific Princess. (100 days each)  Been to many of these ports so may need to find a segment or two for the bucket list ports we still want.

We love small ships.  We are booked on first Azamara cruises - April 2023 Intensive Japan and October Ancient Civilizations.

Very excited to do those.

Will be on the look out for Feb 1 opening and tell my TA

To each his own but I am a DIY person.  During our 2 world cruises (we brought 2 weeks of clothes formthe 100 days) it became an “activity” on sea days based on how full the dirty clothes basket was.  Would put in a load to wash at bfast or lunch, wait 30 minutes and put in dryer.  Do something else for 45 minutes and go get them.  Fold in the room - all done. DH did send out his shorts and slacks and dress shirt.  (his clothes are large and since those were “safe” items it saved doing another full load just for those 😀)

Plus I prefer to do my own.

Being Elite, on a shorter cruise I decided to send out the sturdy items.  Because so many Elites were own board it took 3 days.  I had to wash out some underwear in the sink! 

With capacity currently low, wait time probably is minimal for either self or send out.

39 minutes ago, Coral said:

Yes. A local college here does PCR saliva tests. They are telling individuals if they test positive on their PCR tests, to wait 90 days before testing again as the PCR tests are very sensitive and will pick up the positive for a longer time period than rapid tests.

How very interesting.  First time I have ever read about this little known fact.

We went to a CVS for rapid test for our Enchanted NYE cruise - obviously we were negative.

Do cruise lines that test at port and on board use rapid?  A blogger I follow frequently also found out that if you use Flonase it will caue you to test positive on rapid - happened to her twice on first Princess Alaska cruises in September.  Nurse on board told her.  They gave her PCR and tested negative.

Just remember Customs is a factor.  When we docked on Jan 9 after NYE cruise, we were delayed 30-45 minutes due to an unusual 8 ships returning and disembarking.  Princess chose to let us stay on board to avoid standing in bery long lines.  Customs staff was low and stretched thin to do 8 ships so there was a delay.

I agree.  

With the new variable being so contagious, obviously those that get rejected at the pier but tested negative 2 days before proves that testing before really doesn’t serve the purpose of trying to keep positive cases off the ship.

I imagine a few that passed at the pier and boarded could still show positive later if retested.

Any even more frustrating, have no symptoms.

I have no answer and can see all sides of the discussion.  

They have everyone vaccinated, some boosted, masks - but new variant is so different from the original Covid. More contagious, milder symptoms for the majoroity..

So they added testing 2 days before - still no guarantee - just a moment at time of test you were negative.  At the pier, viral load is now detectable and you are positive…with or without symptoms.  You may havemthought it was just a cold.

Cost factor of testing every passenger on every cruise line at every port on every day before boarding probably will not happen - unless they charge to your account.

Could upset people, but you or your insurance covering cost of the  2 day before test, so why not just have one test.  And don’t think the cost is “free”. Insurance companies are just going to pass it on into their rates.

And more upset passengers if they only test at pier after having paid to get there thinking you are going to be cruising - only to test positive and you are sent back home.

Cruise ships are the only travel industry singled out.  We  come into more contact everyday going about our daily routines than with the 1,000 or less people on a cruise ship. My first cruise over New Year the ship seemed so empty vs before Covid, it was strangely eerie.  Like where is everybody??

If you want to get on a plane or train, stay at a hotel or resort, wander around the city, go into shops, eat at restaurants etc you only show a negative test (maybe a vaccine but not in all cases) to get there and then free to go about wearing masks where required and never tested again.

I know I sound cynical but going into the 3rd year of this madness makes you wonder when it will ever end.

How many times have we all been told when the latest peak subsides, it will all be good.  Only to have another surge and peak, then subsides.  And another.  And the new narrative changes to “we can’t assume another variant won’t happen” so we all still need to vaccinate, test and mask.

But I still have travels planned every month all year - and 3 are cruises.  So I will not stop traveling.  I will still follow all the rules, and hope I continue to test negative - but fully understand, without having any symptoms, test positive, and get a FCC and try again!

Just finished on line check in.  Did not enjoy taking picture of myself. They need airbrush editing to remove wrinkles!!  LOL!  

I am used to printing luggage tags - so I Googled.  Read that they are sent in mail with a Blue book?  Is that still correct?

Thanks much

I may have read the topic title too quickly and did not register that this is full transit.
Our March is just partial.  But thanks for info regarding certain cruises may require test at terminal.

Good luck on all your testing - it is a “stresser” for me.

We are taking a cruise with another cruise line for the first time out of Miami Feb 11.  They require passenger to bring a negative test but then test at terminal.  And then again on board if certain islands require it upon arrival at their dock.

Getting weary from all this but I miss traveling too much so it is what it is.

2 hours ago, coo359a2 said:

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale yesterday, had our tests -negative -yeah and thought we were safe to board  the ship.  Then later in the day got the notification that we  will need to  be tested at the terminal tomorrow before being allowed to board the ship.  Wonder when we will ever get on the ship!

Is Princess now requiring that?

We are booked for March 13 on Emerald.  Our ports are Grand Cayman, Cartagena, New Locks, Cristobal Panama, Limon Costa Rico, Ocho Rios

Ports are currently very fluid - most cruise lines are having to make adjustments.  No clue what will be in 45 days…

Agreed with majority and yes, App and Medallion are 2 different items.  Pre- board using App can be a challenge - sometimes it works, and sometimes not so much.

Medallion on board to open door - yes - nice feature.

Interactive screens all over the ship that show your picture to come over and “play” - not for me.

I noticed more times than not that the crew member could not get my Medallion to operate on his device and I would have to give him my cabin number to order something.

Now with unlimited wifi, no need to use the message option on the App.  DH and I texted just using our cell phones.  (Funny story - we went to the  Medallion desk for help on messages and the alert tone - he made some changes on my phone and he sent me a message and it alerted.  Then he set up DH phone and told him to message me - no message, no alert.  He tried several times and told us he did not know why it did not work)

I am sure many people will enjoy using it and that is fine. Whatever works.

It might take me some time (more than one cruise) to see if I can find something I might like to use.

Also very easy to check you will pick up at port vs. ship.  Then no worries

It is what we did

Yes I did - way back when Princess first began talking about their new Medallion idea and noted they hired  a former Disney person who worked on their systems, and I thought oh wow, this will be great.  Until it began - or rather tried to begin and failed - then tried again and again.  I think they got one of the lesser Disney engineers. 

And then promoted him!  Go figure

Yes.  I looked but no activity.  Just meet people when we board.

Thanks

 Now that it is no longer Sirena, just curious who might be on this cruise.  Roll call has had no activity since last summer.

In another earlier post topic someone wrote there might only be 300.  

Really looking forward to our first Oceania cruise.

I made a decision in February 2021 to cancel everything overseas until 2023.   I just did not think Europe and beyond would be ready for cruise ships. Many cruise lines have had to cancel South America cruises and even the Caribbean ports are hit or miss.  Currently have a friend on a cruise in South Pacific islands out of LA and have missed ports or stayed extra days in Tahitti and Bora Bora.  And now today having 10 days at sea to get back to LA.

I hope my decision will be a good one and this Covid pandemic will become endemic in a couple months and normalcy can start to return.

I have an Intensive Japan for April 2023….here’s hoping

We cruised Iceland in August of 2019 and made all 3 ports - Nuuk, Nanortalik and Qaqortoq.    Loved the cruise.  Very sparsely populated.  I did hikes in each stop (total of all 3 was 26 miles).  Each hike was totally different.

We left from NYC to Halifax and then Greenland.

51 minutes ago, geoherb said:

 

Traditional dining for those of us who like a large table--where a group of strangers the first night becomes friends by the end of the cruise--is gone. If you want the same table for just the people in your party, at the same time, and with the same waiters, you should be able to make it happen. But I do wonder how well even that will work out when Princess gets back closer to full occupancy on its sailings. 

So sad to read how well you stated the end of traditional dining.  Princess should bring back at least one TD option/time and let the rest of the DRs and times go to DMW!!

I am beginning to see a pattern between the new replacing everything old - a little of both is better!  Let passengers decide for themselves a little at a time - get them comfortable with the changes and you might find some people might like the new way and change.  One size does not fit all.

 Where have we heard recently the phrase “my choice”!

Being new to Oceania I have looked on website  FAQ but did not see what times are in the MDR ?  Is their late, early?  Is it assigned on board?  We have made reservations for the specialty on Marina for our 2/11.

Thanks 

Was on our first cuise since January 2020 on the new Enchanted for NYE - hope we celebrated the end of this pandemic.   Agree with everything that has been stated here - the panic of Omicron needs to end soon.  We had no problem with the masks.  Even took 3 Princess excursions and not a problem - felt safe.

We have 2 other cruises in February and March!

If only they can stop testing soon it would be great!  

Always high anxiety hoping our test will be negative.

Thank you Mauibabes.  I have read reviews about the island on various sites and agree with your assessment, but just wanted to see it.  Been to most of the Caribbean islands and was hoping to see another. Of the 7 ports on our 2/11, been to 5 multiple times.  Was just in St Lucia and St Kitts in first week of January on the new Enchhanted Princess (it was a NYE cruise and wanted to try the new ship). 

Reading this Riveria topic and the recent posts, it seems that itineraries are being changed quite a bit.  So will be anticipating a possible “port roulette” ….I wouldn’t mind Tortola - that is where DH would like to go!

But it is all good.