HeatherInFlorida

My favorite length is 10 days in the Caribbean. Anything longer feels a little too decadent and a little bit redundant. :D. But we are in a 7 day 2/18. I always thought 7 was way too short, but living in FL with easy access to the port, 7 is an ideal getaway. Doesn't look like Oceania will be doing anymore on this class ship which is very disappointing for me.

Cruise Critic really needs a "like" button. So many times I so want to just click "like" on someone's comment:). Have a wonderful day at sea! Two weeks that will be me:p

Waves .... my favorite. Love it for embarkation, too. Looks like you're on our exact itinerary making your journey more special. Have a great day in Key West! Love that port.

I arranged this beautiful day in South Florida for your embarkation. Actually, I ordered it to thank David for his magnificent blog which I literally drank in daily in anticipation of our 7-day on 2/18. But I'm sure I'll be thanking you as well so I'm keeping the day splendiferous....for you:)

Looking forward to tagging along with you virtually. Beautiful photo of you with your daughter above.

Bon Voyage!!!

Heather,

 

Best wishes with your knee surgery. I have had both of my replaced and could not be happier. Just remember, the physical therapy is key. Be diligent but work at your own pace.

 

James

 

 

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James, thank you. I've heard it's all about the PT work after. I'm ready. My quick Caribbean cruise on the Marina shortly before will help :).

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Exactly 6 years before, Jan 22, 2011 we strode aboard the refined class and elegance of a cruise experience that will never be duplicated. It just can’t be. Ushering the Riviera across the Atlantic a little while later had its own merits and fun.

 

This Oceania newbie had his eyes opened to what a cruise could be and not what it had been for several years before. I feel personally blessed to have experienced any of it. Even more so to return to Marina once more.

 

So if I have to look back 6 years and then zoom forward I would generate the list that follows in terms of suggestions/reflections for Oceania (if anyone is listening) and for the general thread followers.

 

1. The ship is in immaculate shape. Aside from a nick here or a very fine scuff there, the ship has worn her 6 years like a champ. To me, this means both crew and passenger have shown her respect.

2. Consider retiring Polo Grill and merging it into Toscana as the Tuscan Steakhouse like you have done on Sirena. Even if they don’t, a new menu and concept could bring a breath of fresh air into the eatery. It is the ocean…perhaps a real concentration on seafood? Should it go Peruvian or Brazilian with a different steakhouse flare?

3. La Reserve continues to bother me as an underutilized space with a kitchen (I think) and chairs for a neat concept dinner that could be expanded beyond just a few nights of the cruise.

4. Re-evaluate the MDR from a service perspective. Although our sample size is far too limited to make it have value, our anecdotal evidence is there needs some work done there. The food is really good or could be.

5. Oceania has so many moving details and parts when it comes to service and doing things right, my hats off to the staff, managers, and front office that keep this operation going at such a high level.

6. For the thread followers, if you have not sailed Oceania but want to, these Caribbean itineraries provide a value that exceeds those of the bigger lines. Do the math. It’s staring you right in the face. But PLEASE do not tell other people or the demand would drive the price back up! Think of them as Oceania samplers.

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It's been.....well, great!

Two years after you boarded an Oceania ship for the first time, so did we. After cruising since 1982 on so many lines most recently HAL and Celebrity, the transition was so profound that we never even glanced back. We are hooked.

I like Polo as it is and hope they don't blend with Toscana since it is my least favorite. Jacques is my personal favorite with Polo a close second. You GDR experience mirrors ours on Riviera last year so we shall only go once.

How many times I have thanked you for taking us along. I enjoy your humor, adore the way you write, love reading between the lines and learning a little about someone I have never known and most likely never will ...

You are right .... it has been ... well, great:)! Thank you, David. Safe journey home. As a thank you I arranged a gorgeous day here in South Florida for your re-entry. Enjoy:p.

I so hope I remember to visit the RCCL board to read your comments about your Liberty cruise. That will be interesting It will be following knee surgery so I'll be looking for entertainment.

Thank you again. Can't wait to board the 18th!

David, the page became a bit blurry with your last entry. Thank you. That was nothing short of magical.

And thank you for taking us along with you on your voyage. I have so enjoyed every word, every description, every photo. I am so happy that we embark on Feb. 18. I love Oceania. Having cruised more lines than I can even remember sometimes, once we boarded Riviera for the first time in January 2013, we knew there was no going back.

You are blessed with an incredible writing ability that shines and it is no wonder so many joined you on your adventure. Thank you again and may you have a wonderful day in Key West and a safe journey home.

I just love the way you write. I love the description of the Guatamalen port!!😂😂. Happy it's not on our itinerary, but sounds like a relaxing day! So happy to be traveling along with you before we board 2/18.

More doughnuts 🍩!!!😃 Wow ... maybe they got my memo😉 I like the other better too.

Oh Oh Oh!!!! Yes:p. Just when my mouth was watering from all the food photos, I scroll down and you post a picture of my FAVORITE donuts. They are all the better for their rare appearance. Soooooo yummy!

Mmmmmm....I love the chocolate croissants on Oceania and never have them elsewhere. I write it in on my Breakfast menu. But there is one other delicious treat I most covet....their donuts when they rarely make them. I asked the Chef why they didn't have them more often because eating 3 at once is sheer gluttony. He told me he'd make them anytime I wanted. Sure! How often did I see him???😊😊😊

Hint for the suite guests regarding breakfast. If you enjoy breakfast in the room but not sure what time, fill out your card but LEAVE THE TIME BLANK. Your butler, when called, will have most everything prepped and won't have to write things down. Makes for faster service and easier service.

Never even knew we could do that! GREAT tip! Thank you!:)

I am so happy I found your "Live...." thread cruise experience. We embark for a one week cruise on 2/22 so it's timely :). I am thoroughly enjoying your lyrical description of your experience. Thanks for sharing with us!

Sounds like Noro to me which is disappointing since we are on her in a month. We went through this last year on Riviera and really don't want to do it again. It takes a heck of a lot away from t whole experience. Hopefully they can ease up in 3 days or so and you'll have smooth sailing ahead!

Heather, I meant no insult or disrespect when I said "really". My apologies if I offended. That was not my intent at all.

 

 

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Thank you. :)

And on we go .Boy , you make a convincing argument Heather .

It looks like you pays your money and takes your chances . If I were able to cancel ,I would . But traveling , to me is not such a thrill . It doesn't look like Oceana is allowing people to do that ( cancel ).A 14 day Trans Atlantic is a bit more daunting as you can't get off if worse comes to worse .And your way out .... I do appreciate your optimism .

:) Optimism? I reread my post to find it. I confess it's my nature to see the glass half full so often I could have the same experience as someone else and report it entirely differently. But I fail to see optimism in my post. I simply stated the facts as I know them. I believe no particular person is at fault for Noro onboard Riviera because people are not responsible for picking up viruses of any kind, but unlike some others, I certainly don't blame Oceania just as I wouldn't blame any other line.

Seriously, if Oceania could rid the Riviera of Noro forevermore, don't you think they would do that?

Really Heather??

 

I have to say I am disappointed as I have had the utmost respect for you.

 

I'm sorry, but there are more ways to spread Noro than just the passengers and I am glad they stepped up the game for your cruise.

 

it's not a matter of what cruise line I prefer and we obviously have to decide which one to move to next because I surely won't make the mistake of paying the $$$ we did on this one and having no response on board and little caring from the home office........

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...........Flame away. I spent my $ just like you do. I think I should have had the same experience.

 

Actually I left the ship thinking., if this had a blue hull with good HAL crew (or alternate) it would have been a great cruise. Rooms are fabulous. Crew, debatable. Service??? A toss of the coin. Cheers and may all your cruises be wonderful :)

 

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I wasn't flaming you at all ... quite the contrary. I said it was a shame you had a bad experience. But I'm generally put off when someone addresses me personally beginning with "Really!?"....... You know that's an insult and not respectful. I don't understand why you continue to post on a board for a cruise line you have said frequently you never plan to travel on again. When HAL disappointed me to that point, I never posted there again. Over and done. Yet you jump on every negative thread particularly as it relates to Noro.

Heather, I am not sure (and I do not know) if your assertion above is correct. Perhaps there were cases but the numbers during that period simply were not high enough to meet the CDC reporting threshold.

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It is correct. It's not an "assertion". It's what transpired during the period of time beginning with its return to Miami Saturday night and when we boarded Monday. And while a few people became ill during our cruise and were temporarily quarantined during our cruise, they were tested for Noro and were negative.

All that said, would I hop back on Riviera on her return? Nope:)

Yes, Kazu .... "really". That's insulting. You obviously have a preference for HAL (though for the life of me I have no idea why). I will never board another HAL ship again in my lifetime. I have never seen a line deteriorate the way HAL has.

But that aside, you like them. So cruise with them. But you seem to delight in posting about your hatred for a cruise line that most of us here have come to love either recently or over many years.

You had a bad experience. That's unfortunate. But that does not negate the experience many of us have had over and over. And although you can't seem to grasp this, ships are not sick!! I don't blame the people who board and are ill because for the most part they have probably picked it up on an airline, bus or somewhere else. It's not their fault; I'm not "blaming" them. But that is how viruses are spread ... person to person.

I know what Oceania went through when they took every single solitary piece of furniture that wasn't bolted down off the ship and into the terminal for deep cleaning. The linens were all washed 3 times over. All the curtains were removed and cleaned. They then attacked the ship with a vengeance and there was no illness onboard for just about 3 weeks.

So seriously ... how do you honestly think Noro got back on board????

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It is not a ship problem. Norovirius on a ship is just easy to spot and document and CDC makes them report it. Norovirius on the shopping buggy or the taxi seat or even the airplane -- crowd disperses each to their own place where they get sick in lonely misery! Keep your immune system strong, your hands clean, and say a prayer it is not your turn to be King of the Throne.

Exactly! Repeating it's a "sick ship" is really getting old. It's not the ship. We can pick apart why this problem has resurfaced so many times in the past few months, but we were on the 2/22 cruise directly following the major clean and were on Code Red for 72 hours. As a result, no Noro on that 10 day cruise (nor, I believe, the one following).

Someone said here that they never hear of Noro anywhere but on cruise ships, but as said above the reason we don't hear about it is people disperse, get sick, call it a bug, call it food poisoning or whatever and that's that. Just last week I heard of a Noro outbreak in a school.

While it's reasonable to believe that a larger ship with more passengers is more likely to have such an outbreak, why then wouldn't we hear of it happening constantly on these behomoth ships like Oasis and Allure? ... or possible they are so huge they never get to 3% before it's time for everyone to get off!!

Who knows? It's just such a shame and I feel so badly for those on Riviera now. I don't expect a charter group about to get on are very thrilled at this point if they even know. I don't agree with those here who criticize Oceania; I didn't experience anything close to what I read. I'm happy to read posts here by people onboard right now who are making the best of it and enjoying their cruise as much as they can.

They need to take this ship out of service and fumigate it. We would not sail on it

Not sure how much more fumigating they can do than before our 2/22 cruise. I am so sorry to read this. I so hoped they'd finally licked it. They may have to take her out of service.

It even crosses my mind that perhaps there is a "carrier" among the crew, someone showing no symptoms at all. I read that's possible.

Whatever it is, it doesn't help anyone on board right now. I feel so terrible for everyone including the crew. They have to be so done with all this.

LOL....had a feeling I still had the name wrong. Not sure where I got the "M":). In any case, that's so true. I remember once they switched people out mid cruise and it made a big difference.

As for the sound issues, that would definitely ruin the night, but it's not the performers' fault. I think I did mention that there was one singer who really wasn't good alone, but sounded fine with others. Who knows why we liked them all so much? Maybe our advanced years are a factor:)

Heather, entertainment certainly must be another of those subjective areas. I thought the large group production shows certainly took a big step back in February on Riviera from the excellent ones we enjoyed the last two years when the Jeri Ryan company was employed. Both dancing and singing (particularly the men) were very weak and the sound system was so bad that one night the lead singer's mike did not work at all. A hand held one finally appeared which really messed up the accompanying dancing.

 

There must be a budget cutback regarding the large production shows because the talent was nowhere near as good and the sound was a mess several nights.

I believe you refer to the Jean M. Ryan dance troop who we also saw on Riviera in the last few years and were most unimpressed. We felt this group's talent overall far surpassed that team. We did not experience any sound issues. So, as you say, what we see as good entertainment is very subjective and I believe the change was made not due to budget cuts, but because this group is seen as an improvement. At least on our cruise everyone we spoke with felt they were far better. But no one can ever please everybody😃

I do not take good photos. Even bought a selfie stick for a Christmas gag gift. I looked ridiculous in the selfie photos.

The further away the better which is why the selfie stick works:) The other hint is you have to take it from above looking down. I'm here to help:D We'd had a great lunch with our friends on their way to Ft. Lauderdale for a cruise, we were all happy and laughing so it came out. I was happy! My last one was taken 2 years ago with the same cruise friends!

I still don't get it. Of course the poll is visible to anyone that signs onto Cruise Critic. That was the intent. If it weren't visible, no one could see it and participate. :D It's on the Oceania forum, so I don't think many criminals are cruising a forum of mostly 60+ year olds that are planning their cruises. ;)

I don't get it either. And I still insist that except in the case of people like me who include their photo, no one on this forum has a clue who anyone is. So who cares??? But to each his own, right? Vanilla and chocolate.:p

Your poll is visible to anyone who signs in to Cruise Critic. I was not suggesting that you personally plan to misuse the data.

 

Nosy, though? Yeah, I'd say the poll is nosy.

Why? Nobody knows who you are unless you tell them. Our real names aren't here. Doesn't seem nosy to be to ask what decade you're in. That aside, no one is forced to participate.

Back to being completely off topic, I do love that photo. Strangely it's a selfie I took of four of us with a selfie stick!! Loved it so much I cropped it and switched my profile pic everywhere😃

Heather, my experience has been that many of the older folk (and I'm up there with you) are NOT computer literate. My husband, who was an engineer and who intended to learn how to work the computer, never has. He just turned 80 ... he depends on me for internet access.

 

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Mura

My husband was an architect and is the same as yours except that he does do email and logs on to see our finances. But that's it. And it's constantly "Heather! Help!" :) LOL. He was just stubborn when it came to the internet and now has a mental block. I think that's true of many.

I learned everything I know on my own because computers in offices were just coming in when I went to work for an entrepreneur who didn't use them. I know I'm in the minority for being so techie.

So I'm sure you're right and most of the passengers on Oceania 75 and above or so aren't on Cruise Critic :).

As for telling my age I've just never bothered to lie. It helps, I guess, that I've always had a "young face". That's not to say gravity hasn't set in but some people just have a young look and others look old when they're 40 ... luck of the draw:D I just don't think it matters because we are what we are and I'd much rather tell the truth and have people think I look young than say I'm 65 and have people roll their eyes thinking "yeah.....sure":).

LOL😎 I read that post about nefarious purposes with amusement. People have phony names here so why would anyone care? I'm on Facebook (love it!) and I, too, am proud of my age ... 74 years old. I am surprised more people aren't in their 70's because there are a lot onboard! But perhaps they are not on the Internet.

Interesting poll. Glad you took it😃