babysteps

The New Years sale was combinable with onboard booking for our June 2024 Vista cruise that we booked Dec 2023 onboard Insignia (and it was on Holiday Savings sale at booking). We asked our TA to check and ended up with a small additional savings. One thing to keep in mind is that most sales prices are limited to (new) space available, so some existing bookings can't take advantage. But we always ask ☺

Remind me, for Brazil once you leave their waters the extra VAT goes away? And for Spain is there some special rule? Something like if you embark in Spain then extra VAT applies until ship is at non-EU port or is that bad or old info?

Excellent recap @Sthrngary ! Not sure about #8. We booked our first SM cruise for Jun 2024 onboard Dec 2023. We booked excursions online after getting home and the SM excursion credit was charged before OBC. Ymmv!

This seems to be another situation that isn't fair and, at the same time, also has little/no clear recourse for the customer. Although definitely try @Sthrngary's letter writing approach! If you intend never to sail a line again, a resolution can be harder to achieve. I have no problem with O keeping my $150pp if I cancel on them. With a major itinerary change that O makes, I'd hope I'd get the chance to old-style transfer the booking - but sadly O seems to be in their contractual rights to tell me "nope, not happening". I assume if one had booked onboard you could use the 1x free change of itinerary and not lose the $150pp? Of course me being less cranky is often part of the solution lol - did you hear the one about the consumer who was so demanding, they thought a one-star review meant the product owed them a wish! @Hlitner I believe that O's contract requires them to provide transport or compensation if they change either the embarkation or disembarkation port(s), but no penalties for changing any ports in between. May not be fair in all cases, but I think that's the contract terms. Remember the last-minute South American embarkation change was that late 2021/early 2022? Folks with independent air arrangements were on their own to make last-minute changes with compensation that wasn't super generous iirc. @hamrag I have seen examples in print that successful credit-card charge backs may get one banned by the cruise line - iirc, sometimes not forever but still a hassle *if* you wish to travel said line again. If it's 'goodbye cruel cruise line' (never going to sail that line again) anyway, of course that doesn't matter!

FYI the O provided detergent is fragrance-free

@Cruisedreamer1's TA was able to get it applied to their next cruise, so there is hope!

Not sure about this. We were on O class for Panama Canal in 2019 and went through the old locks. Yes the new locks were open, we could see ships using them.

was this the one you were thinking of @pinotlover? @Vallesan I think you've seen that discussion as you posted in it, but for anyone else there is lots of info and experience there. Does O ever arrange one-off private vehicles that SM excursion credit can be used for? Possibly "no" or "never", I do not know...

Instead of a meet & greet, we could organize Cruise Critic chair hog commandos - as a group we sweep everything down to lost & found. This is a *joke*, actually doing this might be a bit over the top and create more trouble than it solves!! But it's fun to daydream...

I bring my own insulated water bottle use those refill stations a lot! In addition to @FlyerTalker's list (yes you are right on Insignia there's one near Waves, just aft of the pool) there was a filler station on Insignia and Nautica on deck 4 port side at forward stair/elevator lobby (actually just in the hallway from said lobby), one a deck up from the pool on R ships (midships at the forward end of the walking track) and also at least one in Horizons.

Nautica docked at Nah Rong for 2 overnights (3 total days) February 2023 when we were aboard.

Agree. @Bongomauka suggest you use a corrected version of @TRLD's bullet points and reach out to a consumer advocacy organization, either local to you (say a TV station's) or at elliot.org. Elliott in particular is skilled at reaching out to companies that have stopped talking to the consumer. Highly recommend you stick just to bullet points in the first email, you can always fill in with more narrative later. If you start with a long narrative many places will just ignore it - which is sad, since a full narrative of this saga would need to be long! If you do reach out to a consumer advocate, I am guessing we might not hear back on this board on this topic for a while - may your quest go well!!

FYI on Insignia in Dec 2023 the O Ambasssador presentation mentioned that gelato and creperie features were planned for Allura. Not sure if this is implied/expected for a future Vista (or any other ship) update - didn't seem that way at the time but anything's possible!

I'm guessing the law doesn't work this way, but it's tempting to imagine a lawyer letter to the effect of "supply x documents by y date or we will consider our obligation, if any, fulfilled" @Bongomaukahave you tried Elliott yet? They can be very effective at getting responses from corporations. Including at least one high profile example with O recently

Kaiser and NPR do a monthly or so medical bill problem solving article, maybe reach out to that reporting team? Has you TA already reached out to their Oceania or NCL contacts? Doesn't help but does make sense that Kafka's day job was in insurance...

This was not the case in Dec 2023 in Insignia. Looking forward to current reports - anything can change, ght?

We went through our TA last week, got an updated invoice in just a couple days

Have not (yet) had a similar experience. Agree with advice to involve your insurance agent. Have you contacted any travel-related advocacy group? Elliott Advocacy or Consumer Rescue are the first 2 that come to my mind. Hope you get this resolved - keep us posted!

New servers have also given us that answer at least once. Including Dec 2023 on Insignia. Clarified with head person at the bar and we got what we asked for. If you are peak times at the venue with the captain (usually the lounge-theater) this may not work so well. we have found early bird at Horizons (and assume also Martinis) is easier.

Ugh again! Also if you head out for the day before dining desk has its hours, you could leave them a note on the desk. There's usually a pile of papers they go through from all us restricted diners filling out our menus - our 'homework' is due at 10am

Ugh! Usually the desk is staffed a bit in the mornings, rarely with any waiting passengers Edited to add, I mean non-embarkation mornings

This is a disappointing situation! Suggest you visit dining reservations on embarkation day (or some point before the reservation in question) and give them the chance to resolve this. My thought is giving them more time to make it right could be less stressful and lead to a better outcome for you. It's within your rights to simply show up, but if the reservation hasn't reached the ship the restaurant likely won't be ready for you...

I emailed you! Each vintage does have its own unique personality.. The 2022 vintage should be more lush and similar to what we shared (we haven't tasted the 2022 yet). The 2021 is lovely and more 'focused' - meaning the vintage wasn't quite as sunny.

Everything @1985rz1said! And also, you (well, Iain) don't have to upgrade on day 1. You can wait until say day 3 - often the captains cocktail party is day 2. Also as noted elsewhere on these boards, they have trays of passed cocktails at the captains party, but you can also custom-order the cocktail of your choice as long as said cocktail is included in the cocktail package. We learned this on CC and gave practiced it as recently as last month.

What's your risk tolerance? We were on Insignia when it disembarked Dec 17, 2023 after POM was closed overnight. No one got off the ship until about 1:30 or 2pm, everyone was off by about 3pm. But that happens very rarely...would you rather have a long wait at the airport 7 times or a short wait 6 times plus one time of having to change plans last minute so extra cost and/or hassle just that once? I have no idea if that's the actual ratio for future travel lol!