pinotlover

The only question I see is who are the picky eaters:

1. the NoNos;

2. People wanting flavors, herbs, and spices?

🤔

1 hour ago, MarkWiltonM said:

Did they by any chance cover the deck outside Terrace Cafe as it is on Vista?

They didn’t on Riveria and hopefully not on Marina. We don’t stay aboard for lunches normally, and on the rare nights we can sit on the outside Terrace at night, we enjoy watching the stars. Last thing we want is a cover hiding the sky! 
 

Obviously not a popular position. 

25 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

Further update!! Now looks like a few short if 600! Think I’ll take that as the final figure!

So 50ish %. Not uncommon at all. We had a large GoNext group on my last cruise that were all mostly newbies. I think we ran About 50% repeaters.

People have to understand, they don’t always get to choose in these matters. As FF has frequently posted in the past, Oceania has often taken booked b2b and converted them to an Extended Voyage which typically resulted in fewer cruise credits. For several years there was an array of combinations of segments making b2b even difficult to find. That has now changed when it’s in Oceania’s best interest. The decision on whether a cruise is an Extended Voyage, a Grand Voyage, two Extended Voyages b2b, or multiple b2b lies solely with Oceania. One can have their TA attempt to affect that decision, but in the end, O decides.

40 minutes ago, iowananny said:

Our next cruise in July will be our first the SM program.  We've booked excursions and we have no real problems with it.  If all our excursions are cancelled we might come back with a different view.  

 

We were on a cruise in January without SM but we had chosen the drink package for our perk.  Our problem was getting a glass of wine, especially in the TC.  They call them sommeliers but they are really just waiters who bring you a glass of wine off the list.  Maybe in the specialty restaurants they can help you find a special bottle of wine for a special occasion but in the TC all they do is serve you a wine or beer.  More people are going to want their wine and beer because they've paid for it so why not.  We had to wait forever for our first glass and some nights it just wasn't worth waiting to get a second glass.

 

It sure didn't ruin our cruise and maybe they were just under-staffed, but we sure didn't get good service from the so-called sommeliers. I would have liked it if the waiter could have just refilled our wine glass, the bottle was just a few feet away but I'm guessing that is against the rules.  We always had plenty of water and getting a cup of coffee was not a problem.

😂. You probably never read my rants back pre Covid “ The Terrace is for Teatotallers!”

Your experience has been long felt and discussed. Additionally, as you state, it may get worse with SM. I say may because so many O cruisers don’t drink for various reasons. Having free wine or beer won’t change that. Personally, we avoid the TC at dinner. We enjoy being served opposed to serving ourselves. We enjoy the leisurely paced meals in the GDR while typically sharing a table with fellow travelers, and importantly to this thread, except for the rare evening, overall service including beverage service is far better in the GDR.

I have experienced far too many instances of poor or no adult beverage service in the TC. I once sat for over a half hour refusing to go through the buffet until I placed my wine order. The waiters kept coming around asking if there was a problem and I’d tell them “ yes, no wine steward “. The restaurant mgr came by and asked what the problem was. He’d assured me he’d take care of it. Ten minutes later he’s back, still no wine steward. He finally got me a glass himself. About two minutes later a wine steward appeared for the only time. Plenty of good food elsewhere on the ship. 

2 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

There are some independent O Connoisseurs Club TAs (LONG affiliated with O) who are not consortium members but enjoy pass through OCAPP benefits. And there are, at least, several “Elite” Connoisseurs Club TAs that have their own and their consortium’s OCAPP funds (each covering one segment of an Extended Journey). We’ve seen that on a very few occasions.

While I agree there are a very tiny number of boutique Travel Agency, some which might primarily concentrate on Oceania and Regent, that universe is small. As continually demonstrated on this Forum, many of we cruisers are not solely wed to Oceania. While my TA is a high volume Oceania seller, my of those cruisers likewise sail Azamara and Celebrity. Being a boutique, and not a member of  a Consortium, may mean the Agency avoids Consortium fees, but it also means they miss out on the various Consortium deals for many lines that aren’t available to the otherwise small volume Agencies. 
 

If one is a dedicated Oceania only cruiser, then the boutique will work very well. If not, a member of a prominent Consortium will work better. That is , of course, except for those that change Agents like they change their underwear. 

2 hours ago, Vallesan said:

 On our current cruise on Marina there are 500+ 1st time Oceania cruisers so obviously lots of cruisers happy to step in when others opt out!

Nothing unusual about those numbers. I’ve been on O cruises where the percentage has ranged from about 50% to a high of 82% repeaters. Your number is within that normal range.

Several factors seem to affect these numbers including season, location of cruise, and very importantly if Oceania ran country or regional specific sales on certain cruises. I was on a cruise back in 18 with a significant number of Germans and Austrians. Found out that Oceania, wanting to attract new blood from that market, had ran very specific sales within that market. The campaign worked and I got to practice my German regularly on that cruise in that combined the two countries equaled the number of Americans aboard.

Oceania doesn’t have glass doors separating the stairwell/elevator area and the hallway corridor. It does have metal partitions that separate the two that are most always open. The only time I’ve ever seen them closed was on my last cruise during Boardamania. The staff had closed and locked off the partitions to keep guest out of the cabin areas until those rooms were called.First time I had seen that done, but not normally there for Boardamania.

As far as your exact cabin location, I’d suggest you view the deck plan for your ship which is easily obtainable. It is rare when people complain about noise from the elevator areas. Happens occasionally, but rare.

45 minutes ago, ORV said:

But I do like the hot dog ok, it's just the chili is not very good. My wife could teach them a thing or two about making chili. But that shouldn't be necessary. 

But I bet it’s not NoNo chili, so forget about it! 😇

10 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

I would suggest when you get something like this from ny Company you don't open it and call your TA or "O" if booking direct.  Be safe first.

Why? Just hit delete and move on.

If from O, and they happen to get their back side together, you’ll probably get another request. Otherwise, you wasted no one’s time including your own.

2 hours ago, ORV said:

No more Chili dog, oh well, it wasn't that good anyway. 

Be careful, you’ll be branded for your negativity!! 😂

Spot on on analysis however! 😇

9 minutes ago, Kay S said:

I would gladly carry my plate in exchange for being able to walk again.  (I'm not old, but I am paralyzed.)  

You will find that many of us wait until 7:15 or later to go the Terrace or the GDR to give those with mobility issues plenty of time to accommodate their needs .

2 hours ago, Queenvee said:

Thanks for your insights. I don't get seasick and always book interior cabins so am not worried about that.  LOL re: shower - I'm sure I'll be fine with them.  Glad to hear the confirmation about deck chairs on the promenade deck since I can while away hours watching the water, clouds, dozing and reading.  

Be advised that the promenade deck is more narrow than you may be accustomed to, and will thus be closed much quicker than on other ships in comparable seas. It can be great on pleasant sea days, but quickly shut down on any signs of inclement weather.

Milt request to do a survey looked suspicious. I deleted immediately and never opened.

I only see a few negative reviews here. Perhaps if food is subjective, then negativity is likewise so. When I give a cruise review and say we had a great cruise; here are 9 things that went very well; and here is one shortcoming, I view that as a positive review. Others pick up on the one shortcoming and call it negative. 
 

I relate this to the quagmire in Education with its outrageous grade inflation. GPAs went up while national test scores went down. In 2022 88% of graduates had a 3.0 gpa or above with a median of 3.42. How did a C become a bad grade? Why is near anything lower than straight A’s suddenly looked poorly upon? A “C” is good and good is good. The world isn’t either an A or an F! If someone says something is good not excellent, that’s not intended to be a negative response. It’s OK, it’s acceptable. Not every meal is, or is going to be, excellent and that’s acceptable, especially since most are good.
 

People often read negatively into things that aren’t intended to be negative.

23 minutes ago, Rainbow3fe said:

Huh?? Not true. You want people to believe Oceania is for people who go bed at 9.  We booked our 12th Oceania cruise . We usually have dinner at 8:30 and at about 10 PM we enjoy the Piano Bar at Martinis with around 20 other passengers.  

20/??

Absolutely a few of us would go, but your example testifies how few. On Az it’s nearly the entire ship. I’m just saying different cruise lines have different vibes and different clientele. That clientele often segregates because of those differences into the various lines. Trying to superimpose one culture onto another is difficult at best. 

50 minutes ago, avw said:

In February, I attended the best" Azamazing Evening" that I have ever seen, in Rio de Janeiro. They they took all the passengers to a historic theater where a Carnival show was performed that was written just for Azamara about 10 years ago. It was incredible fun and top quality!

 

In response to repeated inquiries from their customers, who have made it clear that they want these special events to take place on shore, Azamara  has expressed a commitment to doing Azamazing Evenings on shore where possible. Their new CEO, who just started at the company, reaffirmed  this in a webinar to meet her just last week. However, they noted that sometimes, logistics just don't allow this, such as inadequate transportation resources  to transfer all passengers at once. 

Would never work on an O ship unless a promise was made to have everyone back to their cabins before 9:00 pm.

Different lines have different programs. Though interesting this won’t work on many O ships. The 9:15/9:30 show is well past the bedtime of many O cruisers.

Now, for some,  the upside of the above changes being fair to O. With the different booking numbers for those long segments, one can now make their full allocation of dining reservations for each segment separately. Likewise, now with SM, they actually get more SM tour credits than on an extended journey. 

I just believe we’re all so different it’s impossible to please everyone. Some cruise for the ports, others for the ship. Some are happy with a perfectly quiet sedate ship atmosphere, others become bored by it. Some are NoNos , others definitely aren’t.

We have a multitude here locally that go to Gulf Shores, Al twice per year. Only place they ever go and haven’t been South of Tallahassee. Others travel the world. My b-I-l goes to the exact same restaurant and orders the same meal every week. We love to explore the variety of restaurants, and food groups, and rarely hit any restaurants more than once a year. He’d be much happier on a cruise line than I that hasn’t changed their Specialties menu in 20 years. Others are the same. 
 

Can’t keep everyone happy. Going to Freeport, ME, Charleston, SC; or Gulf Shores doesn’t have to mean one is necessarily better, it means they’re different. Going on O, Viking; SS, or EJ, versus always sailing O isn’t a case of which is best; but doing something different. Similar to my b-i-l, some don’t like different. How does Oceania account for that in its daily operations and loyalty programs?
 

For those of you watching, Oceania did sneak in a new policy this year. The sum of the segments can now be less than the credits awarded, but not more. If you now book a 10 day + 10 day cruise = 20 days = 1 extended journeys = 1 cruise credit. Been this way for awhile. However, if you now book a 20 day segment + 17 day segment = 37 days or oops, no longer. Now just separate back to backs and 2 cruise credits. You don’t get the 3 credits as in the past.

Here’s my view. Except on the international nights in the TC, both the TC and the GDR now offer the same dishes at dinner. If one prefers to eat their meals quickly and leave, the TC offers the best option. If one prefers to be served and have a nice leisurely dinner, the GDR is there for you.

The GDR is not staff to provide diners the quick turnaround meal. Asking the staff to do so means you’re interrupting the flow for the other customers. Rather selfish, imo.

Go to the TC and chomp down at your own pace, or enjoy the meal at a leisurely pace as set by the kitchen and staff in the GDR. What’s so hard about this? Just don’t expect it both ways.

Well actually the topic of change got a bit of conversation over dinner one night on my Riveria cruise. Oceania is in the process of making two very intertwined changes that may affect us all a lot.

First, the end of the R ship era. The major significance here: although there are occasional exceptions ( the ATW) the cheerleaders will quickly bring up, the demographics of the R ship passengers are typically much older than on the other ships. So much so that some refuse to cruise R ships on that account. A friend we’ve sailed with in the past was talking about his extended holiday cruise. He said “I’ve never seen so many wheelchairs, scooters, and walkers on one ship in my life. 7 days of sedate and quiet can be relaxing. 14 days of sedation can be tedious. 21 days of sedate and quiet and I’m screaming at the walls. 30 something and I need a straight jacket and a padded room. There’s more human energy in a morgue than on our cruise!”

What happens when a large percentage of those R ship passengers transition to an A or O ship, joining similar passengers? Perhaps 1000-1500 more integrated in. Add in the transition to SM when all those passengers feel obligated to sign up for ship tours whether they’re able to do them or not!

The OP is correct, times are changing. I believe the change may become quite noticeable.

Pinotage is one of the varieties that is uniformly poor in overall quality. An excellent pinotage might rate a 91-92. Many/ most are below that. Many of other varieties blow that away.

7 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We were generally pleased with the food on the Vista (our first O cruise).  If food were our only criteria, for choosing a cruise, both Explora Journeys and O would be at the top of our list.  But one reason we have cruised on 18 different lines (#19 coming up) is because we look at many factors (including variety).

 

Hank

Absolutely!
 

I love Pinot Noir. That doesn’t mean I always want to drink PN. Sometimes I want a CdP, or a Brunello, or a Rioja, or a cab. Additionally, some PN, are excellent, some okay, and some poor. Just because I generally love PN doesn’t mean I feel obligated to pronounce every PN as being excellent in some faux cheerleader mode. 
 

I’m leading a group to Tuscany in September for two weeks of museums and wineries. Part of our adventure is going to be the various great Tuscan food. It’s not going to be Americanized Tuscan or NoNo Tuscan, but Tuscan with all the local herbs and spices. Then my DW and I are off to Bologna for their food for three days! We won’t feel compelled to eat at a Subway or Burger King the entire trip! Afterwards, we may not eat Tuscan for awhile!

We’re going to Germany for the Christmas Markets in December. Looking forward to some great authentic German, not the stuff pushed off here in the States as German.

46 minutes ago, iowananny said:

Pinot, this has nothing to do with the topic but have you ever tried Carlise Pinot Noir.  The best I've ever had.  When I see your name I just wonder.  It comes from Sonoma Co.

I know their Martaella PN well. Actually they are better known for their Syrah and Zin than their PN, they typically do a good job with their PN.

I also challenge your assessment of the Baby Boomers. Oldest BBers were born in 1946 so at most 78 years old. Though part of the problem, I’ve been on several O cruises where being less than 80 puts one into the minority. We’re talking considerably older than BBers leading the pack of NoNos.