babysteps

Deck 5 starboard, top of the 'grand' stairs just forward of the aft elevators. One level up from reception. On same level as shops/GDR etc

Tell him "hi" for all of us on this thread lol

In 2021 there was a shuttle that made 2 stops - iirc the Marina and old town (park/overlook not far from the sea organ).

We haven't used O's air very often. One time it still wasn't ticketed a couple weeks before the flight and our TA reached out to O to get it ticketed. I gather it's usually earlier than that, not sure what happened but once ticketed we could choose seats etc. as per terms of ticket. So you may wish to be *slightly* more active than 'just wait for the ticket' lol

FYI the "themed" evening menus in Terrace typically run 2 days in a row, so if you have a Specialty reservation one night you don't miss out. They don't usually announce day 2 until day 2 lol, so it's hard to know for certain.

FYI on Nautica in Feb 2023 we were scheduled to tender (not dock) at Nha Trang. Weather meant we missed the port (aside: BIG storm, not just worried head office lol), so I can't promise that reality would match our scheduled itinerary. Just saying it's possible that a small ship in Nha Trang may not guarantee docked - but it might at least make it a possibility!

Don't worry, you'll get onboard with a Guarantee! I guess it was how it was presented to us, we didn't really expect a specific cabin assignment until boarding so we weren't concerned. This isn't the airlines where 'no seat assignment' can sometimes mean you are about to get bumped. At least it hasn't been like that in the past! Guarantee on O is not 'standby', it just means you can't choose your exact cabin. Typically Oceania will offer move-overs to folks with confirmed reservations to make space (if needed) for guarantees. In the past, they have always converted enough move-overs or move-ups to make space for all guarantees. Or if any guarantee ever was denied boarding, no one on CC has heard about it... Reminder - O uses "guarantee" a bit different than some other lines. You can't choose it yourself, and it's not a discount. It's offered by O after they sell through enough cabins as "available" that they won't guarantee your cabin choice. Once enough guarantees are sold, the category switches to 'wait list'. Guarantees DO get onboard, Wait List may end up not getting a confirmed reservation at all. So don't worry, you'll get onboard with a guarantee on O! Or have a first-ever-on-CC story - bragging rights?? And if you are the worrying type, that's ok too. Travel will always bring opportunity to worry...

I think in 12 O cruises and 2 future bookings we've had a guarantee 2x, maybe 3? At least once we didn't get our assignment until check-in at the pier. Don't worry, so far no one has reported O denying boarding to guarantees. Sure it might happen someday, but remember as Ian Fleming said 'worry is a dividend paid to disaster before it is due'

Possibly related, we disembarked Lisbon on May 1st 2017 and were a bit concerned for the same reasons - but there were plenty of taxis available. And almost zero traffic! Obviously much has changed for travel since then and it's a completely different location, but at least I can provide a "don't worry too much" anecdote 😁 Also you may have thought of this already, you could leave one person & luggage at the port while the other one takes the train to the rental car - not ideal, but if it's better than hassling luggage on the train it could be an option.

We did a B2B at Barcelona in Nov 2021 and had a great time exploring for the day. Don't forget to check the shuttle bus schedule, ours ended quite early relative to all aboard time.

It depends. Was anything on the grill that had gluten? Was that a fresh saute pan with no dusting of flour? Was that a fresh broiler pan with nothing gluten-ey above it? Did you (well, your gloved hands) touch gluten before you touched my food? Did you par boil something in the pasta water? Us celiacs need "no contact" not just "no ingredients". All the time friends ask, 'does X have gluten?'. The answer is 'it depends' I got glutened at home a few days ago (happens a couple times a year even with precautions). So far on 10+ O cruises I haven't (yet) been glutened onboard. There have been a few obvious mistakes over the years, but no hidden gluten.

Many requests from prominent posters (for some years now) to create a few pinned topics on this board - so far, not happening. Favorite proposed pinned topics include (but are not limited to) alcohol policy, dress code/dress reality, and pricing basics (more critical when O-Life was still an option). I suppose we could just start such topics and post a "bumping" message often enough that they behaved like pinned posts! The DIY approach, might be up the alley of many here 😁

There's also an express bus between Trieste and Marco Polo airport in Venice

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!!