Mura

It's quite a while ago -- Marina was new -- and it's the only time we ever received such an offer, but we jumped at it. We gave up an Alaska cruise for a Med cruise on the new ship (which I was dying to try anyway), got a ton of on board credit -- and we already had quite a bit -- AND an upgrade from a PH to an OS. It always depends on what you want to do, of course. In our case it was an easy choice. But if the choice were something else, we might well have said, "no thanks".

I am sure that you will love the suite as much as we do! We especially like the two Deck 11 aft rooms. Have never been in an OS on Deck 12 since we like Deck 11 so much. We always found a list when we arrived that let us choose what we wanted. As someone else said, we usually take 1, maybe 2 Vodkas and the rest is wine for dinners. If no one has yet said, you can take the wine to dinner without having to pay the corkage fee. But the hard stuff needs to be consumed in the room. Have a wonderful cruise!

I always recommend against visiting a destination that is a long trip from the port -- so that means trying to visit Berlin from Poland. Or Paris from Le Havre. You get the idea. I don't have your itinerary so I can't make more specific suggestions. NOW, if you think you are dying to see Paris or Prague (or someother possible destination on a tour) and you don't think you'll ever have the opportunity to visit ... then yes, do so. Even 2 hours in the city is better than none! Back in 2002 I consulted with a Bayeux Tourist Bureau about the advisability of a day tour from Le Havre and was strongly advised NOT to do so. I do think that the roads were worse then, but even so it would have been a long trip. So we skipped the possibility of a tour to the Beaches at that time. A few months later we did a trip on our own from Paris up to Rouen (3 days there), then on to the Beaches (another 3 days) and so on. We spent about two weeks ... it was one of our best trips ever. But driving through Paris to get out of town wasn't so much fun! In 2012 we did a Viking river boat trip which offered two tours from Rouen to the Beaches. We opted for the "Canadian" tour because we want to return to the Bayeux Tapestry. The benefit was that we also saw the Canadian sites that we had NOT seen on our previous trip. And we were only 5 people since everyone else on the riverboat opted for the U.S. tour ... Mura Mura

That's an excellent question as to why do people take naps in the library! I don't normally fall asleep while reading a book ... and if it made me sleepy, I'd probably pick another one. Oh well ...

I will be a negative comment here. Back in the spring of 2002 we were on a cruise where we could have taken a day trip to the Normandy area. When I contacted the tourist bureau in Bayeux I was strongly discouraged from doing so, just because driving time was so long over bad roads. Yes,this was 2002. But as a result, we scheduled a trip that fall. We rented a car in Paris and spent about 2 weeks going through Normandy and etc. Three days in Rouen, three days by the Beaches and so on, It was a great trip. We know that not everyone has the time to do what we did but I do recommend NOT trying to see the Beaches in one day. We did have a Viking river boat trip in 2012 which took us to Normandy beaches (like the Canadian) which we hadn't visited before, and that was a one day bus trip. Since most U.S. passengers took the standard tour we were only 5-6 people on our bus because it was geared to non-U.S. passengers -- but we wanted to return to the Bayeux Tapestry which was not visited by the U.S, passenger tour and we were very happy to see the Canadian sites that we had not seen 10 years earlier. I still think it is better to plan a trip to the Beaches that gives you several days there ... but you all will decide if you want to try to do this in one day! No one will be wrong. If you think you cannot come back later for a longer visit -- which is always what I say to people who want to do Paris or Berlin (or other) from a long distance port in one day -- you need to decide what is worth it to you. But we were happy to have decided on a private road trip from Paris up to Normandy and back around to Paris which took us about 2 weeks. Mura

For many years now flights are easy if you are at a gateway port, If not it can be difficult, We fly out of NYC to Europe and so we haven't had these problems but if you live in the midwest or west coast it can be a problem. And if you are not in the U.S., that can be a further problem!

That's a pity -- we particularly enjoyed our time out in the countryside. The same was true of Reykjavik. We didn't use guides in either place since we were renting cars. And I consulted with a Danish friend about her suggestions as to where to go, etc.

Lori, I feel for you! O should be able to make accommodations but whether they will or not is a big question. I wouldn't count on it either. It was much easier to refund your $$$ and not tell you why they had done so. We were there (at the Faroe Islands and Rejavik) a number of years ago -- I think it was 2006 but it may have been a little later. But we were a group of 8 which allowed us to rent cars and go on our own both places. You CAN do it independently BUT ... obviously it was cheaper for our group since we were 8. Perhaps you can find others on your cruise (I know it is late) who would want to share with you? That is one use for the roll call ... Good luck! Mura

My recollection is that there are a number of different types of pillows available. Bear in mind that we were in a suite which might have more options than lower level cabins, OTOH I'm sure they would want to accommodate you if they can, whatever your cabin level is. We haven't cruised since before Covid erupted so things may have changed ... Mura

And then there are the two of us who prefer the Deck 11 suites. These are our favorites on Marina/Riviera (never having been on the owner's suites but we have been in a couple of Vistas). We never found that much noise so maybe we were just lucky. On our first cruise in 11080 back when Marina was very new in service, we did hear a lot of noise when the engines geared up. But we didn't notice that noise on later cruises ... either they changed policies or we just learned to ignore the noise .... Mura

The reason that we prefer the aft Oceania Suites is the very large veranda. Yes, you lose some room in the main cabin but not enough to matter to us! The deck 12 OCs (I believe) have two full baths, whereas the second bathroom on the aft suites is a powder room --- no shower. But we love the veranda. I remember visiting someone's deck 12 OC and being very disappointed with it...

Like many of others here, we've boarded several cruises in Lisbon in the past (not recently however) and never had a problem with "sharing" with other ships. And we do tend to come in early or late ... especially tend to board late in Lisbon since it's one of our favorite European cities. Mura

I agree, "long" is relative! It's a long hike for an O ship ... not on a behemoth ship! When you are used to smaller ships, those walks to the restaurant can become long when they really are not!

But Flatbush -- I'm very late to the party here, but perhaps a new poster wasn't aware of the need to use the search function as you suggest? From what the poster said, when they signed up for the cruise in February they received an email about the wine bottle program. Perhaps O screwed up here ...

Thanks, Lyn. I was about to post something to the same effect! If you are on a ship's tour, or it's a tender port, yep, it's a bit more complicated. When that's the case, we usually wait until a bit later to leave. But if you are on your own and it's not a tender port, there's generally not a problem in just waling off. Besides, if you have booked a private tour your guide will be waiting for you.

For suite passengers regarding the in-suite liquor supply: we normally wait until we board to make our selections. There is a list on the table in the cabin that shows what is available. Do you want 6 reds? Fine. 6 Whites? Also fine. A combination, perhaps a bottle of spirits? Also fine. In our case since my husband only drinks an occasional glass of wine, I get to make the choices ... We have taken a bottle of wine from our in-suite selections to dinner and there was never a corkage fee. Never tried taking spirits, however. I doubt I'd try that anyway ... much easier just to buy a cocktail at the bar before dinner if that's my preference. Mura

In London we have always done our own transfers from the airport to the hotel (or hotel to seaport or airport). We have used various car services. Just google them and compare prices. We've never had a bad trip. And usually you can book a car that will carry 4-6 people if that's what you want. Mura

Personally, if possible I would prefer to go into a local wine shop and pick out the bottles I want. You can easily bring them on board for consumption in your room. If you want to take the bottle(s) to the dining room, must pay the corkage fee. That's still a lot less than you would pay to buy off the wine list at O's inflated prices. Numbers of passengers (I'm not one of them) have said they have had no problem bringing on a case or two of wine. For me, I have been known to pack a few bottles of wine (no more than 4) and some vodka in my suitcase -- with proper protection, of course. There's no rule that says you have to buy enough alcohol for the entire cruise before boarding ... But if you are true oenophiles, you probably want to choose your wines ... Mura

If we were still on the cruise I'd be among those to "wait and see". But since we're not ... I'm not regretting our decision. Will check 2024 itineraries to see if something appeals.' Mura

I'm beginning to be happier about having had to cancel our Vista cruise in late August ... Well, maybe not "happier" ... but at least more content. These changes do not strike me as being "improvements".

Back to the original question, we like both pretty much equally ... but if I have to choose one over the other, it would be Polo. And just FYI we don't care that much for Red Ginger although Jan did set up a wonderful dinner for us a few years ago there. We just aren't into fusion so much as Szechuan ,,, but Jan's choices were perfection. Mura

I do agree. I was speaking about a 1999 cruise when the newcomers were clearly flying in on the day the cruise left. In fact, we never EVER have flown in on the day of departure. Partly that was because when we got that first "invitation" from Ren we already had plans to fly to Milan about the same time as the cruise was to leave from Lisbon, so we switched. The only problem we encountered was that the airline had no problem switching Howard's flight (we were told just show up at the airport and it will be taken care of) BUT they couldn't switch MY flight. And by the time they did we didn't have time to get to the plane which was already shut down for departure (the staff there acted like it was OUR fault which it was not). Plus the helpful desk clerk taking our luggage told us that our bags would be in Paris for our arrival ... but of course we were NOT going to Paris! In the end it worked out okay. We came back to the airport the next day and our bags were waiting at our hotel when we arrived a day later ... But back to the beginning ... we do tend to book a year ahead and we do our own flights. There are also plenty of discount biz and 1st seats available ... As I think about it, the time when we saw the shell-shocked passengers arriving in Dover was our SECOND Renaissance cruise. But we had remembered the comments we heard on the first Lisbon-Barcelona cruise ... and concluded that we would never take a Ren "free" flight. Much later on we did take an upgrade on a Ren flight for premium economy seats, which did work out fine. But for the most part Ren biz fares are outrageous (even if flying from NYC to Europe) but those PE flights were very satisfactory. I think that particular flight was to Copenhagen but don't quote me on that ... Mura

When we first started with the "R" ships it was with Renaissance, and our first cruise was on the R2 -- now Regatta. (When we had a bridge tour some years later on Oceania, we were thrilled to see that the schematic of the ship on the Bridge still called it the R2). On those first cruises we were in Deck 7 verandas; later on we upgraded ourselves to the Penthouse cabins. BUT the small bathroom -- especially the showers -- did bother me a lot. Probably not my husband who is smaller than I am! Go ahead a number of years to 2017 when we took a downsell from a PH to a B1 on one of the R ships and that tiny shower no longer bothered me even though I was somewhat larger than I had been in 1999 ... Go figure. But if you know those cabins have small bathrooms you can adjust. If someone is more than 6 feet tall, it might be different ... Mura

Snert. I've never seen an animal on an "O" ship but the QE2 did have kennels for dogs and cats ... probably not tortoises! And while we would love to bring our cats along, I do understand worries that people with allergies have. I do think that any cruise line that would permit pets on the cruise would need to have the kind of set-up that the QE2 had -- which is separate quarters for the pets, outside of the owners' rooms.. Mura

Sounds like what we do! We learned early on NOT to try to fly in on the day of the cruise. Most people arrive zombied out. I think it was our second Renaissance cruise. We flew in to LHR and took the train to Dover, spent 3 days there. The morning that the cruise was to board, we were having breakfast at the hotel when the new arrivals came in ... they were totally exhausted. This was probably around 10am. And then on board we heard terrible stories from other passengers about the "free" flight arrangements ... the worst stories were from people who didn't fly direct from NY or NJ, of course. But coming from the far west or mid west ... it was terrible. As far as I recall, mostly due to connections flying from one airport to the next and then finally getting a flight to Europe. This was more than 20 years ago, so perhaps not so bad these days. From then on we did our own air! And later on we decided we needed biz air rather than coach ... which clearly is better if you book your own anyway. Mura