gcmv

Just a short update from my side:

On the Oceania Marina we were allowed to join the very early tenderboats of the shipe-xcursions to the new port.

The only precondition was, that we booked a private tour starting from new port. So I booked a private taxi tour to Oia (starting at the new port!) one day before our arrival and was happy to be in Oia at 9:15 a.m.

We left Oia at 10:30 and had a wonderful and silent time there before the crowds of 4 vessels fell in this little town.

At about 3:00 p.m. we walked down slowly on the donkey path in 25 minutes - no problem at all as the temperature was about 22 degrees celsius.

What a great day and experience! Thanks a lot Oceania Cruises for their extraordinary support of independent guests!🙂 

@budmeister Sorry, forget post #14 as it is not allowed to name companies here in this forum ...

@budmeister I have the same in mind as you did as there are 6 ships in Santorini with us.

What company did you choose for the taxi transfer? Would you recommend them?

The only "problem" is, that the "cheapest" ship excursion is 115,-- Euros each person - that means 230,-- Euros for a tender to Athinios port ... 🤔

Santorini might be special as there is a new and an old port!

Ship excursions might use the new one as there are parking facilities for the coaches.

Doublecheck where your individual yacht is waiting for you ...

I checked the Oceania website and found it a bit more detailed:

3 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Agree. It’s just easier if it’s all part of the price you pay up front. I personally think that was a miss in “simply more”. If you are going to do it as a company to make it simple, then just include all that non optional costing. 

I fully agree with you. But the "hidden" costs for gratuities would then be obvious and directly increase the advertised price of the cruise - this is not in Oceanias intention ...

In case there is no taxi available , take the public bus (for example No.8) - in about 10 minutes you arrive at Trieste Central station ...  

I will compare with Windstar for future cruises.

We cruised several times with them; as prices went up, we decided to try different cruise lines (Phoenix, Hapag Lloyd and Oceania)..

Now it's time to double-check again ...

Dankeschön😀

@SATaxmanWe're on the same cruise - your 6 bottles might be empty before we reach Split ... 😄

Thanks MEFIowa - on our German website my cruise (Oct. 11th) is waitlisted in ALL categories!

No chance of booking ...

We booked our Marina cruise in October 23 on a "German" Oceania website.

The brochure fare for the B3 Veranda stateroom was 5009 Euro (about 5500 $).

The reduced price - shown on this site - was 2499 Euro (about 2750 $).

That means around 250 Euro (275 $) per day+person, which is a great price in my opinion.

It includes Olife Choice (we choose the 600 $), no flights or transport.

We didn't have to call somebody to get an offer or price, perhaps due to German price rules?

4 hours ago, Wasasalad said:

What is the IIy Crema? It doesn’t sound familiar. 

"illycrema" is a coffee ice cream made of 100% illy Arabica coffeebeans ...

Thank you so very much indeed for the fertile comments.

I think, we made the right decision by booking this cabin.

There are only two days with anchoring on our 11-days-cruise, so it should be no problem with the noise.

@daveispar Mail is on the way to you.

Ralf

Thanks a lot for your reply - meanwhile we booked the cruise/cabin and are looking forward sailing with Oceania for the first time …

Hi Oceania cruisers,

I'm a newbie to Oceania. 

My TA made a "smashing" offer to me for a cruise on Marina in cabin 7000. As I think, these cabin is pretty similar to Manrina 7001 and Riviera 7000 / 7001, I want to ask if somebody has experience with one of these cabins.

It looks, that the width of the balcony is great, but perhaps it is "darker" inside the cabin because of the half-overhanging ceiling of the balcony on deck 8.

As all older threads I've found about this topic are archived and closed for replies, I was not able to open the pictures that were posted there.

Any opinions / experiences / photos?

Thanks a lot in advance ...

Great news - looking forward to cruising with the yachts in the future!

Renewal of the existing bathrooms was way overdue.

310 passengers is ok for us, because they want to hire additional crew members.

@Spanky My: We were on the same cruise, but our experiences where a little different from yours.

Our cabin (especially the bathroom) was not in a very good shape - for example the sinks had been renewed, but the valves not. As a result of this, it was nearly impossible to wash our hands because the excess length was too short.

Drawers were ageing and the carpet should need a renewal.

The temperature at the public areas was much too cold in the first three days (we felt like being kept in a freezer).

Dinner at Amphora was outstanding - the best of our three Windstar cruises (2 x Breeze, 1 x Pride).

Dining service was excellent and our room steward did a great job.

We had a problem with a generator noise from outside our cabin the first night and were not able to sleep - after several escalations with housekeeping management we were moved to a balcony cabin by the cooperative Hotel Manager - he did a great job!

Captain Vitalj and the officers were very open-minded and reachable for all guests - we felt like being in a big family - that's the 180 degrees from the ordinary-feeling!!!

Weather was a mix of sun and rain - we had the chance to get out dry everywhere and visited all the islands.

The bottom line is, that we like the Windstar experience very much, but it is time for an essential renewal of all cabins including the furniture - otherwise Windstar will loose us as guests in the future ...

Our TA offered an upgrade to a balcony cabin for 150$ per person on our coming Breeze cruise. If the balcony cabin is midship, we will take it, as the price looks quite fair ... :)

Short update: No balcony cabin was available in midship position, so we decided not to take the "advantage". They put us on waitlist, if something midship might become free.

No problem for us ...:)

Our TA offered an upgrade to a balcony cabin for 150$ per person on our coming Breeze cruise. If the balcony cabin is midship, we will take it, as the price looks quite fair ... :)

Lipari: Very small, but lovely island. We did the "large" tour with Taxi Antonio - booked it via internet - OUTSTANDING and individual. He picks you up directly next to the ship - very reliable ...

Erice is lovely - but be aware: We walked from port to the cable car station (around 1 hour- one way!) - it might be best to use a taxi (and ask for the cell phone number of the driver to call him for the way back). Do it in the early morning, when the queues are short at the station!

If I spoke German, I would probably be one of Phoenix Reisen's happiest customers - small ships and unique world itineraries? Count me in. Gern.

OlsSalt, thumps up!(y)

Looking forward to Phoenix future and hopefully many cruises on their excellent vessels ...:)

Looks like the Prinsendam will bring a little more class to this odd German cruise line, than their recent history of cruise ship offerings.

Wow - "nice" words. Sometimes it is better to be "odd" than "mainstream" ... ;)

I will cruise on Phoenix Amadea in July 2019 - in my opinion a world class ship.

The Prinsendam fits perfectly into the Phoenix fleet!

I think you took the right decision, cruisencrazy.

We cruised with yachts of both lines (Seadream II, Star Breeze and Star Pride) and all cruises were great!

Windstar fits best for us, in comparison to the money we have to spend. Seadream is more expensive, but in our opinion only slightly more personal and individual. For my wife the pampering on SDII was sometimes too much ... ;)

Wish you lots of fun aboard Windstar!