pinotlover

16 hours ago, clo said:

I mean no offense but are the 'nicer' restaurants you go to on land able to provide those things?

I can partially explain this.

I live in the U.S. heartlands. Everyday between 4:00-6:30 pm during local programming and news, there is a continuous onslaught of advertising by personal injury attorneys seeking clients injured by multiple means. Sometimes there are around 10 such commercials in a half hour stretch. They claim to have some one standing by to answer the phone 24/7.

The effect of that is a very expensive insurance rider if a restaurant lists an item as being GF. It takes a lot of GF sales to pay for that rider, a level which many establishments will never achieve. Waitstaff is also trained to not claim that any items on the menu are GF. Those carrot and celery sticks, no guarantees, eat at your own risk.

If you read CC here very often a familiar cry is “ well I’d sue “; “ I’d be suing somebody “; “ You should sue!” The litigious nature of American society can both protect people and likewise create the absurd. I don’t know the exact laws in effect for a foreign flagged ship at sea, nor the actual promise made to any passengers , from the chef, regarding GF and/or other allergen. Just saying it is something very difficult for any small to medium sized restaurants to do. Guaranteed actions of a lot of perhaps low skilled employees is risky business.

I think the most entertaining Boardamania story came from a couple that are currently on, I believe, their 3rd Oceania ATW. Even though it has been a R ship, Boardamania on the ATW is extreme, and the reason O has supposedly gone to multiple ports to dampen the effect.

People that are going to be on a ship for 180 days, with about a third of those sea days, lining up ( or attempting to in Miami) hours early to get that lunch in the TC! 😂 The lady said she couldn’t imagine how bad it will be on the larger Vista! 😳

Their new SOP: depending upon itinerary, book one or two cruise segments aboard the ship pre ATW, and go to South Beach until all aboard. Their TA gets them all the same benefits for those early segments as the ATW.

12 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We have really embraced the "no no" term and think it is right on!  Where to avoid the no-no?  Having been on 18 cruise lines (#19 coming up late this year) we can think of no line that ignores the no-no's except, perhaps, the Explora Journeys folks.  That being said, they are a new line (with very deep pockets) who will likely learn as they go and may well bow to the "no no pressure."  I doubt if a ghost pepper will ever find its way onto a cruise ship (unless smuggled by a passenger).  And basic things like garlic, onions, and oregano seem to be more and more underused.  I could not help but notice that pizza in Waves, is made without oregano (unless it is specifically requested).  In Italy, it would considered an essential ingredient.  

 

Hank

Don’t forget the Waves Marguerite pizza without a hint of basil! That’s like a cheeseburger without the cheese. It’s not really a cheeseburger and it’s not really the pizza as advertised.

12 minutes ago, WESTEAST said:

Agree it is the Port Authority that controls entry.  Example in March, our embarkment in Yokohama was chaotic: marched all passengers into an outdoor kiosk to sit where we waited in the cold with no priority to stateroom category nor designated online check-in time. People were angry. Being part of the three day land package at the Tokyo Hilton and hence, there were many buses arriving at the port at the same time which contributed to the problem. However, no Oceania rep was present nor communication provided. Notified our Concierge and he indicated that Oceania should have done a better job in assisting passengers and they are looking at how they can improve (really as this is not the first time embarking from this port)! This was our worst embarkment experience as typically there are queues set up by stateroom category and generally goes smooth per your online check-in time.

We were on the next cruise out of Yokohama. Same situation. We were unfortunately on one of those Oceania pre cruise bus dumps that turned a poor situation bad. 
 

28 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Just beware of the FP cruise ship restrictions (i.e. no more than 1200 cruise passengers, per day, on Bora Bora).  

 

Hank

Thanks, but Paul Gauguin ships have that covered.

8 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

@pinotlover @MEFIowa

Food for thought!
We are travelling on the first Marina cruise after her refurbishment so obviously the entire cruise contingent will be embarking on the same day. The cruise is ‘waitlisted’ so that will be 1200+! Given that the ship isn’t debarking any passengers I wonder if the cabins will be available earlier than normal? 
You’ve certainly given me food for thought about boarding times.

I would never show up for that level of Boardamania. You know many of the self absorbed will show up early regardless. Plan on arriving at 3ish and avoid the mess. That lunch in the TC isn’t that special to take on that level of Boardamania regardless of how much one might like the TC.

You already know that Oceania will dump bus loads of folk around noon of people staying on their hotel plans. 😳

Only guessing that by law since Oceania changed the itinerary so dramatically, people will get free cancellation. I won’t fly two hours to Miami for a 7 day cruise, couldn’t imagine flying across the pond for one! I’d wait until final word from O and cancel . 

Through the end of 2025, which is the furthest we’ve planned we have 2 Oceania cruises; one Uniworld river cruise; and four land trips planned. The land trips include Tuscany;  Willamette Valley , Crater Lake, and the Oregon coast; Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec, and northern Vermont; and a fly fishing trip to the Rockies ( CO).

If possible, we may try to squeeze another trip in from Washington, DC and down to the Cape in NC with lots in between. This may have to wait until 2026. The DW wants to return to the FG again. Don’t know if that will be on Paul G ( which we find superior in the FP) , or an over the water in Bora Bora. That’ll be 26 also.

On 2/9/2024 at 11:54 AM, WildWanderers said:

Hi All,

 

There is a difference between "online check-in" (title of this thread) and boarding at the port (most of the discussion in this thread).  And it can be an important distinction.

 

I raise this only because of an incident in Miami when folk were boarding for Gems of the Leewards on the Insignia on December 17, 2023.  People did not get to board until late afternoon even if they had been waiting since early morning due to a major storm and the Insignia losing its place in the queue for docking.  

 

When we left the ship (as required as we were continuing on a back-to-back), and then went to re-board, we passed through the people waiting to embark.  Many of them were angry that they could not just get onto the ship because weeks ago they had done the online check-in, and they thought that should be enough, that they should be able to "bypass all of these other people", who in fact, unbeknownst to them, had also done the online check-in.

 

It is true that there was not very good communication that day, but the misunderstanding that online check-in meant that no boarding procedures were required was not something I would have foreseen as requiring communication.  What I found unfortunate was that the Insignia never let these boarding people know that the Insignia was not allowed (via local? regulation) to provide food and water to the folk waiting to board, before they boarded, that it was the responsibility of the port authority to care for the boarding folk.  Unfortunate because many of the folk who boarded that day blamed Insignia, and never got over it.

 

The value of communicating, clearly.

 

Cheers from Greg of the WildWanderers.

 

 

I believe that part of this issue revolves around Oceania maintaining a one size fits all approach vs what happens at the port. We have done Embarkment where the passenger turnaround approached 95%, while on other days it was closer to 25-30%. On an O ship that represents a substantial number of people differential.

Some ports run checkin and immigration very smoothly and efficiently. For others, immigration can be a huge bottleneck. Some port authorities won’t let passengers into the port until their assigned boarding times, while others allow one in to wait.  Buenos Aires is one of those ports that does both: you can’t get in until your assigned time, and they are notoriously slow in immigration. Two things happened on our boarding day they where 800 were to board that day. 
 

First, Oceania gave out far more early boarding times than the port could handle. Many of those with assigned early boarding times were given new later boarding times upon arrival by the port personnel. Second, all those fans of Boardamania with later times were turned away. They couldn’t enter, to get a new later boarding time until their original assigned time. If the new assignment was more than one hour out, you couldn’t wait in the waiting area. We arrived at our assigned time of 2:00, they took our baggage, and were then given a 3:30 boarding time. So out into the larger port area we went. Some with 11:00 originally assigned times didn’t board until 2:00.

A couple of thoughts. Had only 250-300 new passengers been boarding, it would probably have been a different experience. Only Oceania knows how many new passengers there will be and they have enough experience at some of these ports, they should have severely limited the number of assigned early boarding and stretch them apart further.
Second, there are those that ignore their assigned time that makes Boardamania worse. I believe Oceania mostly has a set procedure and whatever happens at the port happens. Fortunately, BA was a great terminal with lots of shops and restaurants, so plenty to do while you wait to get into the waiting/boarding area.
 

Fwiw, we all made it on the ship. The ship departed maybe an hour late, but we made the relatively close first port on time the next morning. Go with the flow.

1 minute ago, clo said:

So you're talking thousands of dollars there. Well, that explains the cost. Luckily our daughters haven't cost us a dime since they got married 🙂

 

Daughters always costs their Daddy money!! 🥰 🥂

We are 6-7 years older than Gary, and just don’t see life as either or. We have taken island and land hopping cruises in the Med and enjoyed them immensely. We did a 12 day Vista cruise last summer hitting multiple ports that a day visit was fine for. That cruise had a 3 day stop in Israel, so we got off the ship and spent the nights in Jerusalem which made the logistics for our tours far simpler.

Leading a Group to Tuscany in September for 15 days. Spending nights in Florence, Greve in Chianti, and Montalcino. Could we just stay at one location and make longer commutes every day? Yes, but those easy pack/unpacks makes the rest of our adventures so much easier. Additionally, like a cruise, every day is not doing wine tastings. I have down days planned for the hot springs, shopping, or just doing nothing. 
 

We’ve done combo trips of doing Lake Como and the Piedmont/Barolo wine area staying in Monteforte. Etc, etc. 

There are times for cruise ships and times for land trips. We are still physically able to enjoy both. A land trip doesn’t have to be “ pack and unpack every day or every other day “!

Fwiw, We took the granddaughters on vacation last summer. Age 10 &12. They wore grandpa out!! 😂 Much like the 30 year old daughter, they would have worn us out whether on a cruise or land trip. Comparing trips with them vs Elderly friends is like comparing apples to elephants. 🙄

We’ll be eating Italian food while there. Some prefer Americanized Italian while some of us prefer real Italian when we can get it. Our chosen restaurants for lunch and dinner don’t appear to primarily cater to the NoNos. All that is personal preference.

I was in a resort once that collected everything left on unattended loungers before 9:00. Probably helped as much as anything. 

23 hours ago, Harters said:

We're going to a 5* resort in Cyprus in the autumn where, apparently, they have the same arrangements for sun beds. Obviously, they'll have the space to do that which a ship can't. We're looking forward to seeing how this place compares with the "hotel" side of things on an Oceania ship. It seems to be potentially similar - speciality restaurants, free booze, shows in the evening, etc. 

Not really one of the Lounger people, not for the past 30 years anyway. However, from observation, the issue aboard ship seems to be with those wanting a lounger in the shade. I often see full Sun loungers available, but not those hidden under the overhang. In the 5* resorts we have visited, for those that want them, umbrellas are always available to hide from the sun. Because of space limitations, not so on Oceania ships.

Regarding specialty restaurants: One of the resorts in the Baja had two wonderful Specialties to go with their regular buffet and sit down service restaurants. Several years ago they were forced to go to an allocated reservation system. It had always been first come first with the reservation desk opening at 7:00 am. Lines started forming around 5:30-6:00 in the morning!! That 5:30 was 8:30 ET and those people had no problem getting up that early. For those of us that were on MT or PT, it was an issue. Resort finally changed over to a system much like O. Do it online, in advance, with an allocated number of reservations. Much better system. Allowed us to plan and go into town at least a couple nights for the local flair.

Buy the snacks off ship and remedy the situation.

There is a thread, on a different Forum here, on the ports that are closing and/or restricting cruise passengers. One of the main reasons is they create traffic and congestion and many don’t spend a dime or whatever the currency. Light snacks are easily procured in Japan.

Seems to me, we had a gentleman come on the ship, during docking, and sit up a table to sell local currency. The exchange rate wasn’t exceptional but adequate, and getting $20 worth of Kroner proved handy. Our lunches were paid by cc. 

4 hours ago, Harters said:

Exactly. We want to have dinner together, so it's very rare that we'd send a dish back, preferring to eat what we can of a dish in  such circumstances. Last time was about four years back in Spain when I was simply served the wrong dish. The server also took my partner's dish away to be remade - as he said "you want to have dinner together". 

 

In this case, the manager didnt come to our table to ask how things had been until we'd finished with the main course and were considering dessert. And, in fact, my partner only mentioned the problem to him, not such much as a complaint, but so he could alert the kitchen that they may have a quality issue with the meat. 

1. The dish was obviously prepared for the NoNos.

2. The onboard chefs have zero control over the quality of meat and other products they serve. Miami alone makes those purchases either by current availability and/or budgetary considerations. The chefs cook what Miami sends them. The next resupply is almost certainly already sitting on the dock awaiting the ship; and the resupply after that is already purchased and enroute. All that sinewy  meat isn’t going to be ground up for hamburger. It will be cooked the best they can. 
 

3. The NoNos have won the day. Adding samba, tobasco, and other additions to a meal results in entirely different flavors and tastes than having a dish prepared with the proper herbs and spices the dish calls for. If a dish needs a bit of herbs de Provence, thyme, curry, oregano to enhance the flavors, or add more authenticity , it should be done during cooking. Having the NoNos continue to say “ Just add tobasco, I want mine bland”, doesn’t solve the issue.

Since 2020, and Covid, the best price guarantee has been until final payment. Very distinctly in the T&Cs. Before FP was sometimes not until 90 days pre cruise, depending upon length of cruise. I believe most have now moved to 150 days or more, thus shortening the span.

The other confusing point , for some, was that the guarantee was only for Oceania published sales, not sales ran by On Line Agencies or “ silent “ sales. 

14 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

I also like this suggestion. You would purchase the alcohol in the duty-free shop in the airport of your last connection before arriving in Stockholm.

I have been told that the Nordic countries have very high taxes on alcohol, so it might be a good idea to avoid buying your preferred drink in Stockholm before boarding.

Enjoy your cruise!

Buying any alcoholic beverages in the Nordic countries , including Denmark, is outrageously expensive due to taxes. You bring what you may want or buy from the ship. 

For those future Japan cruisers, I thought I’d bring up one last thought not yet mentioned. Similar to New Zealand, and some other countries, it is prohibited to take fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, etc off the ship in Japan. We daily got the briefing from the CD before leaving for tours. At some ports, our belongings were searched, at a couple of the ports we were met by the friendly sniffing dogs.

Japan has fabulous food and a delight to try all the different regional specialties. Just don’t plan a picnic with food from the ship.

I have been on two different F&WT winery sponsored cruises. We had several exclusive wine tastings and a reception away from the regular passengers, along with a few exclusive winery tours. None of those impacted any other Oceania cruiser. We did have one Group wine dinner, in the PG, that was paired with wine from the host winery. It did count as our guaranteed meal there. In that the wine flowed very generously, we may have become a little noisy! 🥸😇! 
 

I will add that , much like the GoNext cruises, our groups of 50-75 trended perhaps 25 years younger on average that the normal Oceania crowd. We were the oldsters in both Groups. So neither cruise may have been as sedate as some prefer, but by no means rowdy.

2 hours ago, pontac said:

 

In Tain?

 

I cannot see a Viking cruise that stops at Tain.

Perhaps they no longer do. In 2015 they certainly did. Made visits to downtown, the Valrhona chocolate factory/shop and out to a Croze-Hermitage winery. It was an all day visit.

2 hours ago, Techno123 said:

@AMHuntFerry is the lack of spice to please the Nonos 😂

To start: Absolutely. Even finding garlic in a dish demanding garlic is a rarity.

The odds of getting good lobster is about 3 in 10.Mushy or overcooked. The last couple times I had the lobster risotto in Toscana, the lobster could have been rubber bands. Just as tough, chewy, and tasteless. On the Vista we had trouble in the TC cutting our lobster tails with a steak knife. Long and short - enough other good food to take a 3/10 risk with lobster. I’ve had wonderful Lobster Thermidor and been served it uneatable .Bring out the chainsaw to cut it. 3/10 just not worth it.

One of the problems that the ship cooks have is a strict Oceania policy. This policy helps lead to inconsistent meals. As explained to us by the head restaurant chef on Sirena, Oceania has a policy that says if the ship is sailing 7/365, then the items on Specialty menus will be served 7/365. Well, outside of the main ingredient, that may not be practical. Example our recent cruise. We typically love the spicy duck watermelon salad. First, all the spice is gone. The NoNos have gotten tamarind eliminated from most items. That however was not the main problem. The only watermelon on the ship was grossly unripe. We’re talking most all of the melon was white with almost no red. It wasn’t served at breakfast in the TC for several days for obvious reasons. Most of us can easily understand that ripe watermelon may not be available everywhere in the world every day. I don’t believe that even a U.S. Dennys restaurant would have served the dish. They would have just told patrons it’s currently not available. That however is against Oceania policy. It gets served 7/365. The waiter told me I’d get the same thing if reordered. He’d had lots of complaints.The chef knows what’s being served, he knows it shouldn’t be served. Miami says it gets served regardless. Complaining to ship staff is about your gratification, won’t affect Miami .

The queen cut prime rib is typically good, in PG,, as well as lamb, when they have good quality meat.. The Dover sole in Jacques is great, along with the escargot, however Jacques is only on two ships. The quality of veal, on the ship, varies a lot. This has more to do with the quality of the meat itself than preparation which is likewise inconsistent.

The lobster bisque in PG has extra lobster chunks and you get that nice splash of cognac. Only lobster bisque I think worth eating on the ship. 

They have a tempura dish in RG which is an insult to tempura. The fish is unseasoned, thickly coated with some breaded batter, and plain bad. It would be like calling unseasoned KFC tempura chicken . 
 

51 minutes ago, pontac said:

 

I don't disagree (how could I argue with a fellow wine lover) that there has been a huge increase of river cruise ships in the 12 years I have been cruising, but I doubt seriously that Viking triple rafts in Tain.

 

It doesn't moor there, nearest stop is a brief time in Tournon where two boats cross (the up-river and down-river) and passengers are taken to and ride on the Tournon steam railway

 

I was on the Mosel as recently as last August and it was very quiet. I don't recall seeing another cruise boat.

We had them triple rafted. Ours, the ship going in the opposite direction with the same itinerary, and a third with a different itinerary.

We didn’t do Tournon, had to miss it. A very low IQ lady on our ship decided she wanted to visit the identical Longship rafted next us us, then got into a long conversation with those passengers. She had come aboard previously but hadn’t checked out when hopping on the other ship. Captain sounds all aboard, and we depart shortly thereafter. Suddenly, at bit down stream, we’re turning around in the river and heading back to pick her up. This all eats up a bit of time which meant we missed our scheduled appointment at the next lock. There we had to sit for several hours before another slot was available. End result, no Tournon. That fellow passenger was not held in high esteem the remainder of the cruise. 
 

Perhaps by now Tain Hermitage is limiting the number of boats they allow to dock.

A new thread started today with a poster staying on the ship during Boardamania in Barcelona to eat lunch in the GDR! 🙄

After a long TA, with multiple sea days, they stay on the ship in Barcelona!!! For Boardamania!! So much spectacular food and things to do in Barcelona . He was exited to do lunch in the GDR. Stopped reading the thread at that point. He’s a true Cruiser or they were having hail, lightning, torrential downpours, and a bit of brimstone. 

2 hours ago, pontac said:

Since I've not been on an ocean cruise I can't comment.

 

 

But there's thousands on some cruise ships, whereas river boats have under 200 people.

You should see some of the small cities in the Mosel or Rhone get slammed with 10-12 of those boats in a day,along with all the tour buses with them. Viking triple rafts, Uniworld double, then AMA, Avalon, CroisiEurpoe, Tauck, & Scenic all slamming Tain at the same time. Then the paying guests from the hotels!

Even cities like Heidelberg needs to ban all tour buses from the castle to the river, and at least 1.5 km each way from the Rathaus and cathedral.