critics0001

The easiest and cheapest way is to take the bus and then walk one block to the people mover. In theory there is a shuttle bus to the boarding area but you may have to wait 1/2 hour. There were 3 of us with 5 bags and we managed ok except in getting through the turnstiles at the people mover.

Cabs are plentiful in Copenhagen, all take credit cards and they are honest not like Stockholm.

The range is 10-17% of the fare(not including port charges, taxes, etc). The actual amount varies by cruise line, number of cabins sold by the agency, specific cruises, etc. You can get this info through searching the web for the sites that cater to the TAs.

The comments made so far are correct so i will just add my two cents after traveling on both cruise lines. I had expected better service on Regent and did not get it. The butler service on Oceania in a PH suite is well above the service on Regent.

On Oceania the correct comparison is PH class versus a balcony suite on Regent. Oceania has more space.

The food is better and more varied on Oceania except MDR is better on Regent. The ability to order from any restaurant and be served by the butler in PH is great.

If you are a port intensive cruise and want excursions then Regent is the way to go. However you may not know what tour you got until the last minute. On excursions, the best and worse ones I had were on Regent. On Oceania the excursions are a TOTAL ripoff. You can get better or the same tours by working with the locals or your TA. This is especially true for St. Petersburg, most Med ports and Alaska.

On the alcohol issue the free drinks on Regent are great if you are drinking spirits. The free wines are generally stuff that retails for $5-15 in the states. The French champagne is the exception but if you just ask for champagne they will give you some low rate sparking wine. On Oceania i have brought wine on board and paid the corkage, which is a better deal than the inflated wine prices. Also no corkage when you have dinner in your room. The bar drinks are priced consistently with other lines.

Activities are better on Oceania due to the larger size. The entertainment is the same since they both use the same entertainment company.

In summary I like Oceania better and I have been able to get better deals from TAs on Oceania than on Regent.

Brochure fares are a joke and are often hard to compare with TA prices. For capacity info,you may be able to get it from your TA. There are also some TA websites that allow you to look at cabins available. One problem is that the cruise line does not release all cabins to outside agencies for sale but this happens when the cruise is close to full. Also if it is not selling well the website will list only a few of the cabins available. You can see this is happening if the same number of available cabins show up in each cabin class.

The best time to look is to see the inventory available is to look the day after the payment is due. On some cruises there are a lot of last minute low cost cancellations.

My experience on perks is that you will get them from TAs that have committed to sell a number of cabins on a specific cruise or cruise lines.

We did southern Spain last year during the first week of November. The weather was GREAT in the low 70s by 11am. But there is no guarantee with the weather. Take the tour to the Alhambra, well worth the travel time.

Thanks for posting the list of alcoholic beverages. The spirits list is great and the wine list is terrible. Most of the wines listed are in the $7-14 retail price and obviously cheaper to Oceania at wholesale and without taxes. If you want wine with dinner bring your own and pay the corkage.

This list is consistent with the free wines on Seabourn, Silversea and Regent which they label as fine.

Does anyone think that the cruise line is not making big bucks off the drink package! A friend of ours had the package and it seems that it was almost as time consuming as signing for the drink.

We tend to have a pre dinner drink and wine with dinner. I found it easier and cheaper to bring wine onboard and pay the corkage rather than the inflated wine prices + service charge, which would be ok if you got any service except for opening your bottle. (You can do that yourself if it is screw top). The glasses are already on the table. You also get to pick out the wines you like or try the local ones especially at stops in Italy, France and Spain.

After reading these comments, here are my thoughts after 3 trips on Oceania and others on Celebrity, Silversea, Seabourn and Regent. Oceania charges the MOST of any cruise line for excursions. It works because people want the convenience or the line implies you will be left behind on the dock. Last year when I visited St Petersburg on Oceania(it was a great trip), but after seeing the prices I booked with the local Russian company. It was 1/3 the price of the same locations as Oceania and also we were in a 16 person van versus 30-40 person bus. The best benefit was the same tour guide for three days who was great. (of course you could be stuck with a bad one for 3 days also).

I would use the cruise line only if taking a tour where the time in port is too short or if you have cruise credits too burn.

Another question was the trip to Florence. We booked our own trip and if you want to go to the Uffizi, then buy the tickets ahead of time, and you get no lines. You need 2-3 hours there and the Oceania tour was less than that. What you do is get off the ship and take a cab to the train station, You can split a cab with up to 6 people and that works out 4 euros a person. Train tickets are about 20 euros, buy them at station cheaper than online. On the way back we met a different group going back to the ship and again we got the group rate on a taxi. DO NOT do the walk to bus line and catch bus to train station. Too much work versus a group cab rate.

Actually the biggest ripoff by Oceania and other cruise lines is transport to and from airport. In Miami and Fort Lauderdale the cabs are the cheapest and fastest way to get from and to the airport. Similarly in Barcelona, Lisbon and number of other European cities it is also the best way. The one place to avoid cabs is in Stockholm since many drivers will rip you off and it is perfectly legal. See the web on this issue.

I do not know if it is too early to request one since my cruise is next March. I can be reached at compstrat@comcast.net.

Thank you

You need to compare the liquor packages with the bring your own option. Oceania has a very liberal policy that allows you bring both liquor and wine on board. If you have a port a day cruise schedule then the packages make less sense. The wine by the glass features better wines than other ships but is limited and the whole bottle wine list markups are substantial but is still focused on low to mid-range that sell for $10-20 retail. Paying the corkage on your own wine is a better deal in most cases except for lower quality wines. If you are cruising ports in Spain, France and Italy, you can buy locally very good wines at reasonable prices that you would not generally see outside that country.:)