babysteps

Was it Regatta that was recently delayed departing Vancouver for refrigeration issues? If so that could explain the cargo containers on deck 11.

NY residents can't get CFAAR but we can get what I call CFAAR - cancel for *almost* any reason. We got such a policy when we were concerned about my MIL's health. Any turn for the worse and we could have cancelled and been covered. My bigger complaint is NYS residents can't get the annual travel health policies...

OP, if you don't receive the response you want to your post-cruise written complaint, you may wish to bring in a consumer advocate like Elliott.org or Consumer Rescue Both sites offer services for free. They also warn that threatening to never use a product again can backfire - many travel providers are more willing to issue future credits than refunds. Not saying you have put it in these terms in your complaint to O, but just in case

Yes there are spa showers you can use on R ships. You can also choose to use your cabin shower with the door open (instead of closed) if you wish - the bathroom is a 'wet' room with a drain in the room's floor as well as in the shower. If you're used to sailboats, the R ship shower is fine. If you are used to a 5-piece bath you may find it...confining

Things may have changed, but last I knew, any 'venue specific' drinks were not available as 2-for-1 at happy hour. Like others, we have ordered 2 of the same drink, brought at the same time, and were charged for 1 drink during happy hour.

We used Budget once on a cruise that ended at MCT and yes the walk was fine - I stayed with the luggage and spouse walked, picked up car, and returned to MCT to pick me up. Same might work for you when arriving - drop luggage and 3 of you at MCT, driver returns car and walks back to MCT and all can board together?

We used the MRT and buses a lot. Citymapper app was amazing for planning trips (even reminds you when your stop is approaching). We had read about ezlink and did get a 2-day one but when it expired we just did pay-as-you-go and for us the cost difference was small vs a bit inconvenient to get ezlink (only some stations sell or accept turn in for deposit back). If your credit card works in Singapore you can tap-and-go at subways and buses with automatic transfers For getting to the port with luggage, if you want a cab I highly recommend having hotel arrange ahead or that you use the Grab app or similar. There is a shortage of cabs in Singapore. We were in a short but barely moving cab line Mar 2023 when we disembarked - ordered a grab and moments later we were walking to a different door to meet our car. Probably saved us half an hour. Would have saved 45+ minutes if we had just used the app at the beginning and never tried the taxi line...

This may not be everyone's idea of a good place but we loved it in March 2023 after our cruise ended in Singapore. We stayed at the Indigo in Katong on a breakfast-included rate. Very 'modern' and artsy interior, the bathrooms are on the outside window wall, you're on the edge of a historic neighborhood, the subway and bus lines are all right there and there's a mall next door. Slightly more adventurous than Raffles or Fullerton - and a lot less expensive We did visit Raffles, the dining is open to anyone who wants to make a reservation and we very much enjoyed BBR in its prior incarnation Osteria. Yes we had a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar, had to do it once lol!

I was just checking this out for our Dec 2023 Insignia cruise. We are on cruisemapper's schedule for Amber Cove. So is Vista a few days before us. Not really 100% sure as many online schedules just say "Puerto Plata" or don't have Taino Bay listed ...

We might be saying the same thing? Iirc OLife could be applied to new bookings initiated through June 30 2023 or so. If that's the right date, starting July 1st all new bookings made were SM. Except SM only applied to cruises starting Oct 1 2023 or later.

When they switched from OLife to Simply More, iirc the furthest out you could book OLife was spring 2025 with actual dates going a bit further out on Vista than the other ships. Someone else may have specific dates. Until then there will be a mix of packages - some on SM, some on OLife, some on nothing. I wonder if destination services will have the bigger challenge than wine servers applying different policies to different people?

If you're interested in Dom but not sure about committing to an entire dinner, often there will be a tasting offered an evening (or 2) in La Reserve where you can try a glass (from 2 or 3 selections) with a small bite of food. Assuming the format hasn't changed, last time we were on an O class was 2021

@Sthrngary may your travels be as low-hassle as possible!

T-mobile roaming in ports is generally quite good - which particular ports? Sometimes my T-mobile takes a restart or turning airplane mode on and off for all the data to behave. Usually it comes right up no problem. Once on the way to a cruise while changing planes in Haneda my T-mobile said I didn't have a connection, but I was using my phone as a hotspot so my spouse's phone could talk to the web - and spouse's phone was surfing fine. Not sure how to explain, but it after restarting it worked fine on my phone too. Thailand first day no data, but day 2 it behaved and the next 2 days also fine. Europe never a problem other than restarts so far. Canada often wants a restart when driving across the border. Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico all good. Happy travels!

Yay for reunitiing with your bag! Airtag or Tile could also help

In 2021 the shuttle in Mallorca ran to a drop off point below the Cathedral. Easy to wander town from there, pick up the Ho-ho bus, etc

For land-focused gps I use Sygic. You will want to download maps at home or on WiFi to see roads and details. There are several similar free apps. Even Google Maps has gone back to letting you download maps ahead of time last I knew.

Not sure if it's still offered, but we did a ship's tour in Casablanca that was a culinary tour, so we went to the fish/vegetable market and a separate olive market with the chef instructor, then came back to the ship to make a dish in the culinary center. Well worthwhile, and also had some sightseeing

Don't worry you come across as insightful, positive, and intelligent! Figured if you accessed prices from Canada.... No worries! Only other idea is if V offers loyalty pricing so looks lower to you than new V cruisers. Some explanation exists for the math fun! Until then happy dining, travels and cruising ☺

Hm, on the airfare and hotel refund question - is it that Oceania will not transfer amounts paid to the new cruise when selected? I assume everyone and their TAs are, after hearing "no, you won't get a refund on air/hotel" asking open-ended questions like "is there any way to retain some value of use from my air/hotel arrangements" . A cost not included as part of FCC may not mean the $ are lost, but it might. If folks who are battling this could provide more detail, in how it works and how it turns out, I think many of us would be interested! I know I would be 😊 I could see a cruise line offering some level of FCC that is *only* based on the cruise fare and not on additional items. Then those additional items might be lost $, or might be transferrable to the new cruise, or might be refunded rather than part of an FCC. Are people seeing different treatment of include air vs. deviation or upgrade monies? I assume that timing matters for air and hotel add-on refunds/credits/changes. A cancellation by the passenger 9+ months in advance likely means O hasn't ticketed air or solidified hotel counts, but 9 days in advance likely means O has already paid for the airline ticket and confirmed the hotel. I don't know how this would work, but if the air tickets have any wiggle room to change or refund (they may not, depends on terms of each booking), that might be something O has to battle with the airline separately - and the passenger would have to battle with O to make that happen. I assume if ticketed through O that the airline isn't going to talk to the passenger, only to O?

The elevators on the R ships can also get a bit tied up. I generally don't take the elevator. On an R ship, I generally get to whichever floor with or a little before the spouse who takes the elevator. On an O class ship, if I'm going from lobby level to Baristas then the spouse will generally get to the top a little faster than me. Due to the number of elevators, having even 1 out of service can create a bit of a shortage. The last time we were on an O class, one of the elevators was out of service for the first few days - it wasn't terrible but we did all celebrate when it came back into service! This may come down to cruise line category - many mass market ships have folks report about elevator waits on a regular basis. I'm assuming luxury lines with more space per passenger also have fewer elevator issues/delays than premium or mass market lines. I haven't been on V, have friends who have and most love the experience but some won't go back due to back office billing policies or issues. V does seem to cost a bit more than O on an apples-to-apples basis when I've checked. @DrKoob were those possibly Canadian$ prices for O and US$ for V? At any rate, part of what you get for that may be shorter waits at the elevator on V!

For Saigon/HCMC yes there was a shuttle for us 2023 Feb on Nautica. Shuttle ran to the Union Square shopping mall near to the Opera House in the center of town. Union Square is also about to be the new home to a Mandarin Oriental Hotel, includes Hermes, Tiffany etc boutiques so not exactly the US suburban teenage hangout mall lol. The HoHo bus start/end with sidewalk-based ticket people is just down the street (directly across from the Opera House). There were bus company minders at the site at most times to help coordinate. We ended up taking the shuttle in 3 times (there on parts of 3 days) but took HoHo around a few times and got off nearish the port one day, took shuttle back one day, and found our way back on foot the third day. Not sure what ship you'll be on - Nautica and I assume all R ships come up the river and dock close in to town. I assume that Marina, Riviera and Vista might be downriver in/near the sea but I don't actually know that. According to Google, we docked at/very near 10°46'02.8"N 106°42'28.4"E

Yes it will be festive, in a somewhat subdued way - we had a great time Our experience was NYE 2019 so may have changed lol I don't recall dinner being much different. Terraces has the most leeway to have a special menu; specialties rarely vary (one exception: onboard for Thanksgiving 2021 you could get a traditional turkey dinner in any dining venue) Later in evening there were headbands/2019 goggles etc available plus I think some passed canapes and a midnight toast. We were anchored off Aruba (docked during day, but the fireworks barge was too close to dock for us to be there at night) and spent a lovely midnight out on deck watching the fireworks. There was pretty good attendance on deck, this was Insignia It was festive and also somewhat subdued - we had a great time. Not sure if there was special music, there may have been but we were more focused on the fireworks

@basorvery true. If I were considering not sailing a confirmed cruise, not sure I'd wait until after embarcation day to ask for compensation though. In this case I fear the OPs chance of getting a personal (vs general) settlement is low. But if you *are* seeking specific settlement (that is, an exception) does waiting help? If you are indeed sailing the changed itinerary, then waiting makes more sense to me.

There are indeed some lovely wines from the Finger Lakes! And a few truly awful ones lol - the standard deviation is still high. Even the best wines are quite affordable compared to many other regions. The soil and climate encourage food-friendly balanced wines. Think Alsace or Loire more than Willamette or Sonoma et al. The landscape is amazing with our lakes that are really land locked fjords. The dirt is so amazing we still have Amish and Mennonites farming in the area. If you (or anyone on CC) ever visit, let me know - happy to offer guidance 🍷