Cliff-FLL

I understand where you're coming from but, vis-à-vis the envelope, sometimes presentation is important, too. It's a business and they want their clients/guests to feel special and valued. Hence, a little excess. We can balance it out by replacing the plastic luggage-tag loops with used dental floss!

All kidding aside, we've shown up early and late and the staff has always been accommodating. If early, we assure them we know we're early and have no problem with waiting for a table. If we're late, we apologize and - once again - assure them that we have no problem with waiting for a table if one becomes available. The 1st scenario has happened several times; the 2nd, only once.

Mija, if you show up on time, you're entirely too early and may find your host still in the shower. smh...

@judi666 FWIW, I think it's terrible the way you've been treated on this thread by a few posters/Oceania cheerleaders. I consider them the Oceania monkeys - hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. Anything that says or implies Oceania is less than perfect is heresy and the villain must be challenged and electronically pilloried. Some people forget that the purpose this board is to provide personal insights of their cruising experience, not to be an adjunct to the marketing department of their favourite cruise line. Despite these unfortunate interactions, I hope you'll continue to share your perspectives with the rest of us.

While I appreciate the convenience of the free bags of laundry - and have used it on a few occasions - it always seems to come back less-than-April-fresh. I understand that they probably do this because of people's allergies and personal "scent" preferences, but it never smells like what I consider clean. On the other hand, in an emergency (e.g., I'm feeling lazy), I've sent things out and haven't hesitated to wear them. Nevertheless, from my perspective, they just don't feel clean.

I was on Vista twice last year and was quite surprised at the number of men wearing informal shoes in the restaurants. (Mind you, not offended - just surprised.) In most cases, they were black leather or fabric, with black soles. Unless one looked closely, they would have appeared to be standard - albeit clunky - men's dress shoes. Personally, I was just afraid that, if I were to wear something similar, they might clash with my dressy jeans. 😁

@Kay S Yes! But is it available as a matched set? (And we're gonna' need more hangers!)

No! Not a chance! When we travel, we each take a 30-32" suitcase, a shared 26" to accommodate the wine, a small backpack each for miscellaneous items we don't want to check, and 2 laptops with assorted accoutrement. Since we're normally flying to an international destination, the two large cases will weigh about 60 lbs. or so. It seems as if there is always someone around to help with the luggage - a porter, a taxi driver, a bellman, a perky college student traveling light - and I can actually deal with it on the rare occasions when no one is available. We avoid bringing more, we do laundry as needed. Don't ever let anyone convince you to "travel light". I've never found any advantage to it. That's the truth and I'm sticking with it.

You may also want to let your butler know if you have any allergies or reactions to certain products. Although you may order certain canapés in the evening, it's not unusual for the butler to bring a little extra something, which sometimes includes a bowl of nuts.

FWIW, we were on Vista in August & September of 2023 and again in October. We were able to connect both laptops and both phones without any issues and the signal was excellent.

@ORV @mauibabes I'm with you all on this. When I had AT&T, I had to pay $60 per month for international service and then pay 35 cents per minute for calls. The $60 each month got me texts and some data, though I don't recall exactly how much. If we both wanted to have international dialing, that made it $120 extra for each month we were outside North America (plus 35 cents per minute). On T-Mobile, international connectivity is included. Internationally, we each have unlimited texts, 5GB of high-speed data (and then unlimited slow-speed data), and calls at 25 cents per minute. All this without paying a $120 per month access fee.

How come you're the only one that recognizes that?! 🤔🤣

Rented an on-ship wheelchair for my mother a number of years ago. When we arrived at the terminal in NY, she used one of the terminal's wheelchairs to work her way through the their space & security. We used their chair to take her up the ramp to the ship and, as we boarded, she transferred to the one I rented for her. I believe there was a single piece of paper to sign and that was it.

We've always found the butler to be quite helpful in obtaining additional reservations. When we board, we hand him a copy of what we already have reserved and our requested extra reservations. Invariably, he's been able to get what we want, albeit at a slightly different time on occasion.

Uh, hate to break this to you, but they don't seem to be doing whole lotta' checking. At the end of August, we took the ferry from Ouistreham to Portsmouth and the French provided an exit stamp. However, nobody checked or stamped our passports when we arrived. When we went back to France as part of the cruise, there were no entry/exit stamps by either country and, when we went back to the UK - again, as part of the cruise - nothing was stamped. The next stamp was in Ireland and, after that, absolutely nothing, including the US and Canada. Despite the lack of stamps, I'm going to guess that all of these governments are keeping tabs on who's coming & going from their shores. (Or maybe my tin foil hat's a bit too snug?)