slw207693

Yes, self serve laundry open.  Hubby there for first time ever acquaintance with machine!  
 

change of meeting place for tomorrow morning at Barista's.     Riviera concerned that large numbers may show up and asked to meet in Horizons.   Same tim-  9:30 am, Sunday, Jan 9th.   How about near the statue in the middle near the dance floor?

Had Odyssey menu last night in LaReserve.   Juni, Abigale, Sandra and Catherine are a well oiled machine and the enthusiasm they bring made for a magical evening.   Juni is well spoken and knowledgeable about the wines.   I’ve attached the menu that also shows the wines paired and vintage.   If you haven’t booked, I’d rush to reservations and get it booked. You won’t be disappointed.  

Would any of those currently onboard like to meet at Barristas on Sunday at 9:30 am  before we get to Barbados to put faces to cruise critic id?

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

The beginning of your post doesn’t jive with the end of your post. CASH IS KING! (especially right now).

Someone asked about cabin stewardess vs cabin steward for next cruise as they wanted to bring little gifts depending on sex.  So I said if the tell me cabin number for Jan 14 cruise, I’d supply the info needed.  I then posted some of the things I bring - candy, make-up, things they can’t get off and buy now because crew isn’t allowed off ship in any port (except those that help with departure/embarkation day).  I too give cash,these little things are in addition to that.

6 hours ago, flaminkokid said:

Odd question. Are cabin stewards primarily male or female? We're on for back to back to back (boarding 1/14) and I like to bring little gifts--a little easier when you know gender. We leave a little cash to supplement paid gratuities but it never hurts to show your appreciation to people whose job is to make your life easier and who work far from home for long periods of time. Getting back on the ships must be a godsend to many. We're living in a time of wall-to-wall stress but woe be to him who takes that stress out against the rank and file. Bad karma. Be kind! (I know you will be--just a reminder!) 

If you give me your cabin number you will be in I will ask the exceptional Chief Housekeeper, Vanja, what your configuration will potentially be so you can bring them little gifts.   I do this too.  I usually bring the entertainment staff the movie size boxes of kiddie candy (lemon heads, hot tamales, Ike and mike, starburst, etc) as a piece of home.   When I buy make up and it comes with gift with purchase, I bring those as gifts as well.  
 

crew are not allowed off ship in ports anymore to call family or shop for essentials.   Your kindnesses mean the world to them.  And when you go from 1150 pax down to 690, tips are reduced that so many of them depend on to support families back home.  

On this 10 day cruise, there are 6 La Reserve dinners scheduled.  2 of each menu.  As guests need to use up their onboard credits, they may be able to schedule more.  
 

When we were onboard Marina in November, we scheduled a dinner in Le Privee for a party of 8. Cost was $300 total to rent the room.     The new food options were to chose from either Polo or Toscana menus, or work with theExecutive Chef (ours was Frederic from France, different than the current Frederick from France who is currently onboard Riviera) and we put together a menu that rivaled what is served in La Reserve.   Speak to the Concierege and they helped facilitate the evening.  You can add wines for each coarse, but we had brought our own onboard.    It was a fabulous and very special evening.   
 

the evenings that LaReserve isn’t fine dining, it is turned into a tapas wine bar (called 12th and Vine by Leslie Jon).   For the price of a glass of wine, you could pick lovely hors d’oeuvres  to snack on.   
 

Evenings in Horizons after the shows  at 9:30 in Riviera lounge seem to be very sparsely attended, despite the era of the music offered.  

We just finished the La Bourgeoise (French family table dinner) in La Reserve. Two tables held six, the third table held 5.  I will try to post menu tomorrow, but it hasn’t  changed since it was created.  Soup, lobster soufflé, fabulous sole with truffle shaving, then beef tenderloin, then Brie cheese course with Boston bib lettuce then a baked Alaska with pears and chocolate incorporated.   We waddled back to our room in a very blissful state.   Tomorrow night is the Odyssey menu and can give an update afterward.  

I’m currently on Riviera and Captain’s welcome aboard party as well as Oceania Club repeater party has been cancelled.  No large gatherings.   No drinks served in Riviera lounge.   Masks indoors and outdoors if you aren’t at least six feet from other guests.   

We too own the stock and applied for the credit.  We are currently sailing on Riviera and this is the email we received from NCLH ShareHolders Benefit @Oceania *****

wording, punctuation, etc are exact as sent

“NCLH shareholder benefit request received.  Unable to benefit to reservation. It is not combinable with promotion in booking

Share Holder Benefit

Not combinable with Onboard savings, Oceania Club Certificate, Business Class Air promotions, Onboard savings, Back to Back Savings, Covert Deals, Consumer Events, Private Sales, Partner of the Month, groups, Key Account Promos, National Account Pro os, OCAPP, NCL Shareholder Benefit,

Regards, 

Share Holder Benefit”

so if you book a cruise while on board, no OBC.   Back to back, no OBC

Currently on board Marina and Executive and Concierge lounge access is only open 8-12 and 4-8pm.   You are not allowed to go beyond barrier to get your own and someone  is stationed there to make your drink or give you pastry.  Same in Horizons and Terrace Cafe and Barristas lounge area.  

Our TA tried to book us a PH2 mid ship  on the London to NY and then NY to Montreal and we ended up on deck 7 back of the ship.  She said their website froze, called Oceania and this is all they had left.  We have sailed 35 times with Oceania and  I assure you, there is pent up demand.  Look at what cabins are left on these sailings.   

We were on Marina in 2018 and invited for bridge tour.  It’s up to the Captain.  A gentleman joined us and we had barely begun the tour when a medical emergency happened.  All communication is recorded on the bridge and they asked us to leave but said gentleman said he was an EMT, it wasn’t a real medical emergency and refused to leave.  We were eventually escorted out and re-invited back (he was not).  The biggest surprise was the orchids that are in staterooms were being revived and cared for up there!
Husband has been invited to tour kitchens,  wine cellar and store house.  Sometimes it’s a yes, sometimes a no and sometimes a total surprise of where they take you to.   

We usually stay in cabin 7081 and internet there has been pretty spotty, hence why I am usually up in the card room - it also has US electrical plug tucked into one of the corners to keep devices charged.  (I have not been on Insignia since the makeover so don’t know about the improvements to internet coverage until we get on board.)

Remember to take noise cancelling headphones when you want to listen, card players usually prefer it quiet.  We too are on the Amazon cruise in November.  Happy to share a table in the card room.  

To use VPN with Oceania you have to upgrade internet service to the wavenet prime service (I use Nord VPN).  The service is not faster, it just unblocks the various streaming sites.  During peak times it bog down.  It also depends on where your cabin is.  There are boosters down the hallways on the ceiling and it helps if your cabin is close to one.  The best place to get continuous streaming is the card room.  

Jancruz:  we were on the Regatta (our 32nd as well) with you a couple weeks ago (Happy anniversary) and the food was not fabulous.  Only the speciality restaurants were a notch above.   We had dinner in Polo with GM and even he left half his steak because it was over cooked!   The lobster and shrimp in Terrace grill are pre-cooked and reheated before being put on plate.   We developed an understanding that mine were to hit the grill and then instantly removed to avoid being overcooked.   The scones at tea were crumbly and dry - the Executive chef addressed the issue, turned out better the next day but the day after, overcooked and dry.   We bring a wine suitcase with 6-12 bottles and have issues with sommeliers overfilling because they aren’t able to get back in timely fashion.  More junior chefs are doing the serving in Terrace, the maitre d’s in all the restaurants are clearing tables, pouring water, etc.  staff reduction is apparent throughout the ship - not enough to feel completely neglected but enough after many cruises for us to raise an eyebrow or two. The Executive chef on Regatta was newly promoted and being trained by a  chef from corporate, both of whom I spoke to numerous times.  We had several repeats (same stir fry 2 days later in Terrace).  I’m hoping that the food was more a result of using up foods before the refurbishment Regatta is about to undergo.  

We were on Marina last August with Mr. Binder and the food was outstanding.  Executive chef Laurent was on top of it all and expected perfection and it was delivered.   

We love Oceania, are booked out to 2021 for that 40th ‘complimentary’ cruise.   Oceania has over a million guests who are repeaters.    Not everything can be star quality all the time.   All the staff work hard and we make sure each and every one know that we appreciate all their hard work on our behalf.  

I send note of thanks and tip when I send bag of laundry out the first time, I leave a tip for cabin stewards on days they get a chance to get off the ship and tell them to go have an enjoyable coffee on us or talk an extra 10 minutes to their family back home.  Sometimes when we are stocking up on snacks I will buy spicy chips, nuts, chocolates to share with the crew.  It’s fun to surprise them.  We don’t wait until the end of the Cruise to acknowledge all their hard work.  

We were on Marina in July and they offered a behind the scenes tour of the kitchens and galleys for $29 per person. They filled up quickly and we were not able to participate. (I think they said first 20 people) Check with destination services for availability. We had been told they could not offer tours in the past due to “liability issues”.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We too are booked on a back to back in November and the pdf of available excursions printed out at 49 pages long. Once we decide our options, we then have to call Oceania to book them for us. Doesn’t seem to be a productive use of an agents time. This will be our 29th cruise and I am irritated by Oceania response when I called to enquirer as to why and went it was expected to be fixed. She did say I could send email to webmaster@oceaniacruises but have yet to get a response from that direction. As I understand it, this “issue” only applies to a back to back cruise. We can’t even load the cruise under my booked cruises. If they don’t want us taking a back to back, they shouldn’t have sold it. We leave this Friday for a back to back and I will try to get the executive concierge to book our excursions through Miami since he/she has direct telephone line to head office.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Many have enquired about the official booking of the 2020 Around the World cruise. I am currently on Insignia doing Cape Town to Singapore segment. Have several friends back home interested in the 2020 cruise. I went to the wonderful Oceania Ambassador, Chantelle who says: Insignia guests get first crack at the rooms on March 7th. Vista and higher suites require a 10% non refundable deposit, the rest of the cabins require a deposit with $500 per person being non refundable should the need to cancel present itself. That is the benefit and curse of being onboard. Reservations open on the 8th to everyone, including Insignia guests that may have dallied in the decision making process.

I did ask if I could prebook for friends not on board early and the answer was a resounding no - I would have to wait until March 8th.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Spell check corrections - we did consult cbb and Wayne’s and loved reading every word, joke, and helpful hints. Chef is Farid Oudir.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Oh, not a hint of political unrest in Male, Maldives today. And we walked quite a bit of the city!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I am doing the Cape Town to Singapore segment. We missed Madagascar due to weather getting there. Today we are in Maldives. We had a total of 13 cases of gastro from Cape Town (not all at once though) which initiated cleaning protocols. We are now clear and everything is back to the high Oceania standards. I don’t think we have a Cynthia or Wayne blogging on this cruise (I think we all enjoyed their continued posts). We never consulted their posts as we were planning this section of the trip.

The General Manager, Damien LaCroix is departing in Singapore and Raphael Cinque will replace him. Leslie Johns is the ever lovable cruise director. Executive Chef, Farsi Oudir cooked fresh tuna on the Terrace Deck last night.

We hear that those on board get first crack at booking 2020 and there certainly seems to be great interest.

So, all is well aboard Insignia as we pull up anchor and depart for Mangalore, India.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

On board the Insignia and the 2020 Around the World map was released today. It travels west thru Panama Canal to San Franscisco then turns south towards South America and around SA turning eastwards at Fortaleza, Brazil to cape Verde Island then down western side of Africa towards Cape Town and then Maputo turns east to southern India, then Asian countries towards Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia (try getting that on ball cap!) then Alaska ports back down to San Francisco (180days). It continues back thru Panama Canal to Miami and onward to New York (20 days).

There you have the highlights.

it is now posted to Oceania’s website.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We were on b2b in Nov/Dec and we could NOT send out anything 3 days before the end of the first. Each segment treated as separate cruise for “free” laundry. Currently on Insignia and it IS 3 FULL days to receive it back.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

No air pollution seen or felt on the two b2b's we did recently. Even the old cars didn't seem to generate exhaust fumes. Husband suffers from allergies and takes a daily clairitin tablet during spring and had no issues.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Yes the ships internet was available while in Havana. I even used FaceTime in the plaza across from the terminal to talk and see grandson back in the US. (I added AT&T international plan before I left US). Several Cuban children were very curious about being able to see little on on the phone and he babbling away to them! Hardly anyone in Cuba had cell phone so this must have been a real novelty for them.

Sent from my iPad using Forums