Mura

I only read the first few posts on this topic, and from what I see of these last ones perhaps you are feeling more secure. So I will just say this: do you want to risk missing the ship because the flight mlight be late? On our first Renaissance cruise (back in 1999) we had switched our air from going to Milan (on a private trip) to flying into Lisbon for the cruise. We were told that everything was ok but when we got to the airport, there was no problem switching my husband's flight but the supervisor chose to make an instruction lesson regarding MY reservation, which ended up in total disaster. When they finally got everything straightened out the clerk happily announced that our bags were going to Paris, at which I point I said "But we are going to Lisbon". And then it was too late to grab the bags off the cart. In the meantime we had to run to our flight, the doors were closed and the attendants wouldn't let us on. As if it was OUR fault! So we arranged to go home, they flew us to Lisbon the next day and our bags were indeed waiting for us at our Lisbon hotel. This all did work out well for us ...but do you want to risk that??? P.S. Once we were on the ship we heard lost of complaints from other passengers about the cruise line's air arrangements. Remember, this was O's predecessor (Renaisance). And yes, most of these people had flights from non-international airports. But we learned then to plan ahead! And I am NOT saying that we have had similar problems on Oceania ... Even so, ever since we prefer to book our own air ... Since we fly to Europe from NYC we have an advantage over passengers who fly from the west coast or the mdwest since usually we can fly direct, or perhaps with only one stop.. Mura

Like others here, this isn't easy to answer. First, we need to know which port ... if you only want to stay overnight before boarding, that isn't so difficult. But it's quite different if you are staying in central London or in Barcelona, much nearer to the port. If you are only coming into a city like London or Paris, I would assume you are just spending the night and then trying to get to the port. We usually arrive 3 days before departure, which is a different kettle of ... whatever. We've never used a ride shore to get to the port but we have used car services. Often, when we consulted with other passengers on our roll call -- generally when going into a city, not leaving -- we find others to share with us. Sometimes we've just hired a private cab/car service. Many years ago we flew into Heathrow and transferred to Dover (for our ship) by train and bus. It took a while but it was really cheap! Again, we were coming in several days before the cruise. Some hotels will provide transfers, usually at a fee. Again, it depends on where you will be spending the night and which port you are going to. We are planning on arriving in London in late August for a cruise. Are we going to spend a few days in London as we usually do or save some money and just fly into LRH and find a Southampton hotel for the night before the cruise? We haven't decided that part yet. Mura

I always preferred the bathtub and was unhappy when they were removed. Not sure what I think of the new carpet ...

I guess this means that I have finally graduated to the average age on O ... I used to be one of the younger ones. Oh well ... time flies when you're having fun!

Agreed. We love Oceania and pretty much have sailed it exclusively in recent years but we know it isn't perfect. No line is. When I read reviews that are over the top or under the bottom (as I've said before), I discount much of what has been said. Not everything, because they can be good comments to be discerned even then. Criticizing a line because a port was missed because of a hurricane is beyond ridiculous! We've missed a few ports on O for similar reasons, and we just went with the flow. Mura

As to cruise reviews (whether for O or another line), I tend to read them with skepticism on the ready. By that I mean that if a review is all good or all bad, I will tend to discount it. If a review says "X" was wonderful but "Y" was not .. that I can read with an open mind. Mura

When we started cruising on Renaissance back around 1999 we were among the younger passengers. Now, of course .... time does pass! But I remember having a dinner with a young couple on that first cruise on Ren. They were in their late 30s. We were late 40s/early 50s at the time. Howard had looked around the room during the boat drill and thought that the average age was 70, I asked them about the age difference since they were much younger than the average passenger and they were very open. When they boarded they saw a lot of wheelchairs being uploaded to the ship which DID give them pause! But they were quite happy with the cruise. (Or perhaps they were just being polite!) It was during one of the earlier dinners on the ship! This may depend on the youngsters you are asking about. Are they generally happy being around older folks? I remember celebrating New Years Eve when I was 20 or 21 WITH my parents and their friends. I was always happy with them. But if these younger people really want to be with passengers more their own age, then I think that Jan's comment is the right one as well. It can really come down to what the young people want or are used to. There ARE activities on the ship. But are their musical interests more R&R or hiphop? Are they classical? Show tunes? If bored they can always work out in the gym or go to the spa ... It's hard for US to answer the question, it seems. Then again, if you are considering a port intensive cruise, they can do their thing on shore and just come back for dinner and other entertainment! Mura

Can't speak to Capri but we used Joe Bananas a few years ago and were very happy with their service. Mura

I'm not a smoker, never have been. Loved the original ban on smoking but I have not had a problem with the current system -- other then sometimes walking across the pool deck and suddenly smelling a lot of smoke from above. Blamed that on myself, not the smokers. But given the restrictions on smoking on board I would be surprised if cigs are available on board. Never having looked for them, I don't know! I guess I always assumed that smokers would get their cigarettes on land, not on board. My bad, I guess. Mura

We have always liked to share a table when we could (sometimes we couldn't just because the staff didn't want to open a table for two and have no one else show up). Normally we order an appetizer, main course, maybe salad (it depends on the offerings) and desert. On occasion DH has ordered two main courses -- although that was when we were younger and he no longer does so! -- not that he ate all of them even back then. It is also possible to ask for half portions if you want to try two mains. I agree that I wouldn't want to share with people who order many courses more than we have ... but I cannot remember that ever having happened. And if someone at your table is ordering a lot more than you are you can always leave early ... although I freely admit that can be difficult (if not impossible) if the others are being served their other courses while you wait for yours. Frankly, while I can see that this could happen, in more than 20 year of cruising on O it's never been our experience that it did happen.

I never measured, but I would assume they are the same. Mura

I remember some rough weather some years ago when we did a similar itinerary. I spent a day lying in bed ... Don't remember what cabin we were in. When in port, no problem! So if you are prone to rough seas problems, you probably would be better off midships and lower as Mauibabes says! It's hard to predict what you will encounter as to what we encountered years ago ... There was a cruise in O's early days when the seas going from the Panama Canal to Aruba were so rough that the captain took us further out into the real ocean. Other times the seas in the same area were like glass. Mura

We love the aft Oceania suites on Marina/Riviera, but on the "R" ships we'd go with the PH. No question! Mura

Re Santiago, we were there in January 2002 -- a few years ago -- but we stayed at the Best Western Suites Director, Carmencita 45, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile. This was an apartment hotel and very comfortable, also convenient to everything we wanted to see. When we left the ship we spent a night or two in Vina del Mar, also very enjoyable. A fellow poster had recommended a tour guide who wasn't officially tour guide but who had lived there all his life -- he was a engineer and really did us well for two days. He was young as I recall, but probably not doing so now ... and even if you were to be interested, I doubt his contact info from 2002 is still valid! But check out the Best Western. It was on a nice quiet street. I just checked and it appears now to be a 45 by Director. Where paid $100/night in 2002 it now appears rates are about $140/night. But the website seems to be in Spanish only ... Mura Mura

I am again reminded of the gentleman sharing our table a few years ago who was wearing a suit and tie but noticed that he was just about the only one doing so in the GDR. He asked about it ... I informed him that he didn't need the suit and tie. We ran into them the next night in a specialty restaurant and he had taken my advice. I do think he was wearing a sport coat that night but the suit and tie were gone. But I agree with the others, your DH won't need a sport jacket. Mura

We have had two such offers, both of which we took. The first was when we had a PH on an Alaska cruise back in 2011. They wanted us to give up our PH and switch to the just about brand new Marina on a Med cruise, and since they gave us extra cash above and beyond what we already had and we'd been interested in trying the new "O" ship, we made the switch. The second was a downsell on an "R" ship I think in the summer of 2016. They wanted our PH and would send us to a B2. In the end we were in a B1. But the munificent refund we received paid for an already booked VS a couple of months later. I had remembered being very claustrophobic in a veranda cabin on an "R" ship in the then distant past, but it didn't bother me at all on this cruise. I did miss hot breakfast in the room but wasn't bothered at all by the small shower. Which was a real change!

Ever since Renaissance days many people would complain that the dining rooms in particular were cold. I have never found them to be so. So I guess it is true that different people react differently to room temps. As Jan said, you can adjust the temperature in your room. You can't do that in public areas. So if you are sensitive to being cold in those areas, bring something to put on should you need it. Mura

Since my husband never goes on line I really cannot answer your question. But I would like to think that some sort of warning would be given! Mura

In our case this is not a problem since DH doesn't use a computer. I do! But if the two of you want to be online, just make sure that you aren't trying to get online at the same time.

When I have set up Meet & Greets on the ships I always provide lanyards along with name tags. I didn't realize that was considered outre. But on one cruise (back in 2012, the Black Sea cruise) I was surprised to see that members in our relatively large group -- about 16 people -- took to wearing them all the time. I don't think they used them on board, mainly for our private tours. My intent for providing lanyards and name tags is usually strictly for the Meet & Greet. But I have to confess that I was pleased to see our members using them regularly! Maybe they would not do so today ... Mura

I guess I am late here but we are usually PH and above. We show up when we want to -- and generally get on board quickly although our room is not necessarily ready. We often will do some touring in town before going to the ship but sometimes we just want to get to the ship. That can depend on how long we've been in the port city prior to boarding -- we usually come in 3 days prior to the cruise departure. When we were in Rome prior to a Civitavecchia departure we didn't come to the ship until 3pm. It is never the same. Usually, if we arrive on time to have lunch on the ship we carry our hand luggage with us and wait for our room to be called. Usually that isn't long. When our real luggage will arrive is another question! Usually it's not too long but it might be. There is no predicting. Mura

I'm about Lyn's height, hubby is a bit shorter. So height was never a problem for us on the "R" ships, even in lower categories. My problem with the "R" ship showers was more because it was a tight space for someone who isn't slender ... Although when we took a downsell a few years ago to a B1 on NAUTICA, I had no problem with the bathroom ... I suspect that people who are REALLY tall could have a problem on any ship these days. Mura

Same in the U.S. On OCCASION (rarely) we found an advantage in booking PE from NY to Europe (non-stop) .... but it was rarely, We tend to book bizair on our own and not use O's air. When we started with Renaissance in back in Oct 1999 we did book our own air because we'd had a previous reservation to Milan that we switched to Lisbon for our newly booked cruise. When we boarded the ship we heard absolute horror stories from people who had used Ren's air. Admittedly, they didn't have direct flights from a U.S. airport to Europe as we did! But there were such long waits in airports that we took the lesson never to book "free" air. Later on, after Oceania came into existence, we dd on occasion -- very rarely! -- use the free air. Mostly it was if we were flying from NYC to Miami and were returning from Europe non-stop to NYC. But back then we did fly coach. Nowadays, now that we are definitely seniors, we prefer to fly business and book our own. There were a couple of trips a few years ago where we used O's PE air and they were definitely okay. As Lyn said, however, O charges a lot more for biz air than the regular airlines do. It can depend what your departure airport is. We're in NYC so we have more options than many people further west do. Mura

We gave never encountered a "cabin Crawl" on O, although some years ago we did for a few times in our Coop building in NYC. I wouldn't mind seeing what other cabins look like!'' Never EVER got stiffed by people who said they'd do a tour but didn't show. Do hope that never happens ... Mura

Willing to try but I'm not sure I remember the exact dates. It's definitely been a few years. We started traveling on O around early 2003. Before that we did 3 cruises on Renaissance. Originally on O we would do a small number of ship's tours but usually set up (or join) small private tours. Once Oceania set up the program of a number of "free" tours the numbers dropped off on wanting private tours. That does NOT mean that they disappeared. Not at all. It's just can be harder to find the number of passengers you want. If you are looking for a group of 8, my impression is that this is not so difficult. Just not as easy as it used to be. If you are looking for a larger group -- such as in 2006 (I think) when another CC member set up a tour to the Giant's Causeway in Belfast, we were 16. He had no trouble getting that number. What would happen today? I am not sure. Hope this helps! Feel free to privately if you want more info. (My email appears down below my signature.) Mura