sofietucker

Well be cruising AZ the first time this year specifically to compare to O. We like some live music on board and from our research, it looks like V has...none?

I think we just submitted the daily or the note from concierge (captain) to that effect, which we had retained... One time our TA did it for us when we mentioned it to her after we got back--don't think we had any documentation that time.

Our excellent external insurance reimburses us $100 pp for each missed port... On one cruise not long ago, it was 2 ports in a row (seas)

Somewhere in lower Caribbean a few years ago, from our aft balcony on a HAL ship, we witnessed a burp from our smokestack leave a huge green cloud that hung in the air behind us, throughout sunset and beyond. Have also seen billowing smoke issuing at night many times.

Wow, that does sound amazing!

Yes! Super windy day. Santo Tomas was new to us and a disappointment... (Our fab insurance gave us $100 each for the missed port, btw...)

That would be a no for us. Got an O and an AZ booked for this year and that's it, so far. Might even do land trips for awhile. We HAD booked another X for next year, but after the one last month, nah ga do it. Waiting for the Russian (I almost said Soviet) war to be over before we go back to Eastern Europe, except Turkey this fall. We had booked and cancelled a Black Sea cruise as well as a river cruise thru Hungary and Romania... And a Baltic itinerary heavy on the former Eastern bloc countries. But it will likely be one of these 2 cruise lines when we do sail next--due to the ports mainly, but also other considerations we've been discussing here.,

We may have been on your cruise!

Yep. We'd been loyal to X but this last cruise, they had cut SO MUCH, even in suites, in terms of amenities. And the food, OMG. No more "always" items (steak, chicken, salmon). Hefty surcharges, for steaks and a plain SHRIMP COCKTAIL, plus a whole bunch of other menu items, in MDR, specialty restaurants and Luminae. And shipboard activities that you have to pay for now. Very very disappointing.

We had that in Sept--the speed issue in the Gulf of St Lawrence due to the right whales. Beginning to think that, unlike how it was presented to us (suddenly, the evening before that day), it's standard procedure for that area. Why they (all the cruise lines) don't simply adjust entry times into Quebec City to accommodate the delay, I don't know.

Sthrngary--Brilliant spreadsheet! very useful. Thanks!!!

Pretty weird about Belize. We've been there many times on different ships, and have always tendered. They weigh anchor pretty far out from shore too, due to the reefs. I can't imagine that Riviera could squeeze through to dock at the pier (we were on her last year).

Apologies for the hijack to transport issues, and you all probably are familiar, but I just found this, #576 under "Oceania's free Shuttles" at top of the O board. A massive somewhat current list of ports and their situations.

Great suggestion!

Yes, an important consideration. And therefore we actually went back and cancelled private tours and rental cars, etc., in some of the curtailed ports and booked O tours instead. (A funny thing: "Bruges on Your Own," for either 4 hours or 8, costs exactly the same, Guessing there will be shuttles all day, lol.)

Correct; I copy-pasted the wrong list. Thanks for catching that. The "agency-exclusives" ones were either OBC--which our agent always gives us anyway--or prepaid gratuities and wine tastings. And to clarify, the list includes Vista, our exact itineraries on other dates/other ships--and about half the Marina sailings, offering either one of those bonuses, by date, just neither of ours. As I said, a mystery...

We have had a funny thing happen: booked our second O cruise for this summer. By sheer coincidence, our fab TA's company (triplicate alphabet letter) offered fancy booking bonuses in the form of either additional OBC or extra amenities: "FREE Internet FREE Specialty Restaurants FREE Room Service 24 Hours a Day FREE Shuttles to City Center FREE Fitness Classes FREE Still & Sparkling Vero Water FREE Soft Drinks & Specialty Coffees FREE Launderette and more" We stay in suites, but the added amenities like fitness classes were still a plus, so we chose that option. Then the company's O liaison said, nope, not available on your itinerary! Could give no reason why. She sent TA the list of all the O cruises during the year and the bonuses offered on each individual cruise, by date and ship. Sure enough, the Marina hopscotched through 2023 with few-to-no bonuses on its cruises. Then we had to switch to cruising sooner and another itin--which just happened to be on Marina too. Again: no bonuses. TA can get no rationale from them. Not a dealbreaker, but CRAZY.

Responding to your friends' flight situation: we always take the air credit and DIY with points (very carefully researched and time-padded layovers, etc.). Then we also get fabulous everything-covered door-to-door insurance (not the cruise line's). If anything happens--cruise is canceled, for one--we are 100% reimbursed. Happened repeatedly during pandemic. Now, for our family who went to Spain with us last year, we booked them all the way with us, seats together, etc., but direct, not points, nor on our locator number. They had to bail early in the tour. Everything was covered, flights and and pro-rated remainder of trip. (Re: your actual question: Have never done cruise hotels. Their prices are easily double what we would pay on our own--e.g., per person, not per room, no membership discounts, etc.-- and we usually don't care for their hotel choices.)

Only 72 hours? We are thinking of a 4-day jaunt to Cappadocia before boarding in Istanbul in Sept. So not a Harbour City visa. Guess we need to explore this further.

Us too--on the Prinsendam, awhile back. Got there the day the St. Emilion harvest opened--spectacular. Apparently the decision is driven by the tide tables--and likely, as with river cruises, the water levels given the weather, etc. (We've been fortunate ourselves not to have been bussed from one point to the next due to low rivers, but certainly droughts have done that to many trips.)

We booked thru a TA (Marina, May 23, Lisbon-Amsterdam) but got the direct email from O. Do they have your email cobtact info? I'm pretty darn unimpressed with this. I had private plans for exploring Neolithic sites (Lorient) that will have to be adjusted. They cut Bordeaux by TWO hours, and we dock down the river instead of the city proper, so it's a two hour drive ONE WAY, meaning we actually only have 6 hours available to explore, say St Emilion, or tour several chateaux.

Yep. We're cheated of our visits: If departure is pushed to 5 from 6, all aboard will be 4, so we have to leave our museum or site by 3...

I came here to say just that. We choose our cruises based on itinerary, because we want to visit those places.

Bath bombs, oils, all fine. Dunno about loose rose petals.* IF it's a soaking tub, not jetted. On our last few--X and elsewhere--the bath amenities included the above. Wasn't it Celebrity that had, along with the rest of the Bulgari products, bowls of various bath salts and a scoop? The Himalayan salts WOULD NOT dissolve, lol. Plus the bath products sold in the spas are meant to be used in you stateroom onboard. I would say keep asking your concierge before you travel, until you get a definitive answer. *Purchase or bring from home sachets of rose petals, lavender, rosemary, oatmeal--just hang them over the tub's faucet or throw into the water. Shops in some ports offer lovely stuff, oils, etc. (Slovenia: salts!)

Once upon a time, it was a standard--and expected-- service for the stewards to unpack for their assigned passengers. I believe that practice started disappearing in the 90s? Still happening when my in-laws were cruising. I remember one gal on these boards--a fashion board, of course--complaining that her steward had actually tried to unpack her luggage! The outrage of him actually handling her unmentionables!! And that was amidst people bemoaning how the good ol' days of cruising were no more, lol.