pinotlover

O is still having troubles. Their system wouldn't le me log in today. Main page comes up fine, but once I tried to log in to my account the entire site went down.

Maybe sometime next week. Glad I'm wanting to book a cruise on line, but actually my TA would just call them and do it by phone

Charge as much to your chip based credit card as you can. We did not buy any rubles, period. Our STP guides all gladly took US Dollars, even asked for them.

If you buy the Copenhagen pass. I think that is the right name. It will include entry to multiple of the museums, castles, the canal boat trip, passage on the subway system (we went all the way out to one of the castles on the Lake, at no cost). Food in Copenhagen is so expensive that using your credit card isn't an issue! If you use $100 of cash, that would be a lot. Expect to get nailed for converting it back to Euros or dollars.

We kept the use of currency down to buying pretzels, beers, and small food stuff and use of credit cards with no foreign transaction fees for most everything else.

Not sure what the argument here is. This is no standard across the board pricing. My TA brings me deals that exists nowhere on the website. I doubt that every TA even has access to some of those deals. It may not be fair to everyone, but it's the way the system works.

How many of you here, with a good TA, haven't gotten a call saying would you be interested in this deal/cruise with this pricing? You won't find that deal listed on the website anywhere! Companies do marketing in a host of ways in different places to accomplish multiple strategies. One shouldn't expect them to be universal across the globe.

For the OP:

Look at the bright side, the ship will sail, and one can get all the reservations, once on board, for the specialty restaurants that they choose!:)

Chill out and enjoy your cruise, the boat won't be anywhere near empty come sail date!

caviargirl;

The OP is going to Vietnam. Virgin doesn't go there! So, if you would like to recommend an airline going to Vietnam that doesn't charge a huge markup for one way, it might be helpful for her. If she is wanting to use UA frequent flyer miles, she'd better ensure she has enough miles, in bank, to get her home with standard miles. ;)

Played bridge in leagues for years and got tired of it. The Day comes when one gets tired of watching all the ear tugging, double/triple eye blinks, head scratching, nose rubbing up or out, etc., etc, during bidding and play. I'd rather play poker with a stacked deck and mirrors behind me today, than play bridge! Seems to be the same direction that trivia has headed on some of the cruises, a blood sport. It's a frigging game, if people would only play it to have fun instead of whatever the ego trip they get from winning, whatever the means!:mad:

CPT Trips;

I agree!:mad:

Part of the issue here in the States is the number of cc issuers. I Europe, it is primarily done by large national banks, such as our Citibank and Chase. However, here in the States we have Podunk Credit Union and Tinytown Community Bank issuing credit cards. Their levels of computer sophistication is often times scary. Combine that with many retailers that flippantly arrogant about not protecting confidential consumer info, and we have a disaster.

I have no dog in the fight at any level, however, the American consumers would have done itself a tremendous favor if they had refused to walk back into the Penny's and Targets that have been lax and allowed their systems to be compromised. The consumers shutting down a few of these massive retailers would have motivated the survivors to implement new technologies far faster than anything Congress can/would do. The consumer has the power to facilitate a lot of changes, they just have to be motivated to utilize that power.

I agree with CorpKid on this. A couple of years ago O did run Aukland -

Sidney and then Sidney-Auckland and both cruises sold out quickly. Then!, they dropped down to one trip, which gets slammed quickly. We booked the first day the cruise became available, so we're set. Had 2 sets of friends wanting to join us about 60 days later, and it was sold out. We're talking about a cruise I booked in 9/13 for a 2/15 cruise, for which they tried to get on in 11/13 and couldn't do it? :eek: Oceania thinks it need only run this route once? :confused: Even check out Regent for the same route, it sells out really quick. Once has to wonder if there are issues getting docking space or berths or what is the deal?

Effective 10/1/15, the liability of a security breach becomes the financial responsibility of the retailer. The law does not mandate a chip in any form. Some credit card companies continue to issue new cc without one. One example, that makes me extremely mad, is the Chase United Explorer Card. No chip, no plans to do so. The cc industry is now saying they only hope to have our system over to chip and signature by 2020. They are not even discussing chip and pin.

However, here is the issue. Just before Christmas, Staples announced a breech to their system and 1.2 million personnel cc files and info were stolen. After 10/1/15, they will be liable if that happens again. The potential for lawsuits against retailer, in this case Staples, will be huge. The amount of insurance required to cover that possibility will also become huge. Europe has seen a 93% reduction in credit card fraud since they went c&p. For many of the smaller retailers, the liability of accepting swipe cards will become so high, that paying to install the new technology will look cheap.

The current system has three participants. The retailer, the intermediary card processor, and the bank. All three of these have to have compatible software to get chip and pin to work. None of these three are excited about the costs of doing so currently. It should come as no surprise then that the retailers are crying and making a big push to Congress to get the 10/1/15 date delayed or even nullified. The best thing we consumers can do is to write our Congresscritters and get them to maintain the plan. I am not overly hopeful. :mad:

O could have just given the OP the wrong booking number by mistake. The airlines will require O to give them a final head count 60 days before the flight. O will have to pay for the flight and provide the names of the passengers by 30 days before flight. Final Seat assignments are not made until payment is made to the airlines. At 45 days out, it is very possible that O has not provided the OP's name to the airlines, but only has a seat held.

However, if one flies on a deviation, as part of that deviation, and any other costs thereof, the cruiser can typically get a seat assignment, at time booking, if they ask, depending upon the airlines.

Seat assignments are becoming very snarky issues with the airlines for a multitude of reasons, particularly on international flights.

My last O arranged air was via a deviation on United. I ensured that O had my United ff# upfront. O did book my deviation with my FF #, at the time of cruise booking and payment. Since I was in the system, I immediately got an email from United confirming my flights and seats. However, even with status, (which I didn't understand) United would not allow me to change seats, or even buy upgrades. Everything had to come through O air. I did get the seats agreed to with the deviation.

Please don't forget that the real answer to your question starts with defining the term "booked". I have seen many sailing fill up rather quickly, when first released, but then come pay day a lot of those reserved cabins are not booked.

If one is late in the process of looking at potential cruises, the best time to consider a cruise then is after the final date that payment becomes due. Even my TA complains about the number of people that reserve up to 5 cruises per year, and then as payment becomes due, may only book two of them. O's, and some of the other cruise lines, very liberal cancellation policy, combined with low refundable down payments, encourages these actions. :mad:

derrick22;

Not sure where you are going, but if it's Europe, there is a good chance it will be on Delta or Delta partner such as Air France.

If the airline will allow you to upgrade now to economy comfort, I would jump on it. Those seats typically go fast, and waiting until the departure day could get you bumped by a ff on their system.

LOL;

Not sure where that came from. I meant just a regular sports jacket! :o

O recently offered us a very good deal on extending our Sid-Auk cruise with the Auk-PAP leg. Had they offered it earlier we would have done the deal, but it's now to late for my wife to change some of her other business plans.

I typically wear a dinner jacket (never a tie) to La Reserve, Polo Grill, and Jacques. Dress Slacks and a collared shirt elsewhere for dinner. Some travelers opt to dress a little more formally at certain of the specialities, as above, where others do not. Some eat all their meals in the Terrace or other outlets where they can wear shorts, tee shirts, and flip flops the entire cruise. Personal choice.

Keep the cork and take it back to your room and use the fridge there. 90% of the wine we consumed on our last Viking cruise was wine we bought a shore and brought to the meals. After about Day 3 of our cruise, probably 75% of the tables had (multiple bottles of ) wine brought in. Viking's phlonk is unpalatable.

Also, the quality of European wines you can buy there at prices up to a third less than what is charged in the US is amazing. Take away the ocean transport fees, US tariffs on alcohol, importer profits, distributer profits, retailer markups, and any local excise and sales taxes, and you'll be amazed at finding that bottle of nice wine that is $15 in the States costing $4-5 over there! Don't expect to find American wines there cheap though. We drank large there last summer during the cruise, buying incredible wines for $25-$35 that cost $60-$100 over here retail, twice+ that in restaurants.:D

When someone offers you something to good to be true, it often is. If one for any reason decides to accept the air arrangements of the various cruise companies, they often (not always) are going to be inconvenienced. That is what comes with the very cheap tickets. Viking ( for example since this thread is about them) is offering incredibly low air fare rates to China. What does one think they are going to get for that fare? If price is one's only concern, take the offer and go with the flow. If your expect or want more experiment with their custom air offerings or do it yourself.

A word of advice. Tip of the Day. For either the MDR or the Terrace, don't show up a 6:30. You'll end up in a line and/or ran over by people, wheelchairs, & walkers that are starving to death and upset that they have to wait so late to eat! :eek: If one waits until nearer to 7, for those venues, things are much calmer and more relaxing even if you don't get the perfect table you wanted. Service is also much better, if you wait a little, because you don't have all those other people there wanting their drinks, food, or to even order immediately.

Some of that early crowd will be off to a show after dinner, while many of them head off to bed by 21:00.

I also endorse booking as soon as the flight becomes available. Warning!!! United, and AA also, do not always make available saver awards seats/tickets within the week or so after the flight becomes available. This is particularly the case on international flights. You may have to use standard award flight miles which are often twice the number. The saver awards will often appear a couple weeks after the initial opening of the flights, if there are any ff miles allocated seats left. Additionally, if it is a United codeshare flight, operated by another Alliance member with its own ff program, a saver award seat may or may not ever be available for UA passengers.

If you book an international flight as soon as the window opens, ensure you have enough miles to pay (with miles) for the standard award on the return, at least in economy.

Good Luck, you'll need it!

This issue has been beat to death now for several years. If the ship stops at Pitcairn, no passengers/cruisers will be getting off the ship. This should almost be one of the Forum headers. IMO. it's a bit unethical for O to advertise in a manner that might suggest a visit to the actual island will take place.

We've always paid with a credit card that has no FTF, so it's never been an issue. ;) Get my UA mileage credit and no FTF!

Thinfoil;

Our local Walmart has installed the chipreaders, but they are not yet functional. One still has to do the swipe there, as elsewhere. They tried to have the tap or paypal/applepay software working before the holidays and that didn't happen here either.

Citibank does not yet have a true Chip and Pin, only a Chip and Signature with the availability of getting a PIN. The PIN only works at ATMs mostly, all other places the cards default to signature and won't accept the PIN.

It has been explained to me that there exists 3-4 large processing companies that route all the transactions between the retailers and the banks. These companies have not put in the technology to accept true chip and PIN here in the States.

Like many travelers, I have been to the carribe many times and just can't get exited to go back there. My only cruising done there was on a 45 ft barefoot sail boat, which is definitely the way to travel! I can go to Rome, Vienna, or Amsterdam over and over again. Been to many of the islands at least twice and just can't get excited about going back to any of them again. To many other places to see and things to do.

As far as Oceania goes, for many cruisers the ship is the destination, not necessarily the islands visited. Outside of its marvelous food, O does not compete well with the other lines as destination ships, imo. On some cruises, O's often very plentiful geriatric crowd can make everyone feel old. That's not what we go to the Carribe for!;)

That area is awash in cruise boats and supply far exceeds demand. I believe some cruise lines just run the routes to keep some revenue stream going instead of just docking/mooring the ships and laying off crew. My brother, living in Florida, regularly gets offers to sail for a week to ten days for less than $100 per day for he and his wife (that's under $50 each). He can just drive down to Miami or Ft Lauderdale and get on the ship. Locals here can often get those same offers, and just wait until an offer comes from their TA, or do something different this year. Not much need to book in advance.

For those of us eligible for USAA, they are an excellent source for a chip and pin card.

For HydroKitty. Ensure you take at least chip and sign cards to Europe. Many places of business no longer have the magnetic strip swipe card readers. Many have gone all chip and pin, but in the touristy areas, for the next year, they'll still do chip and signature. But, you have to have that chip.

We were in France in Sept, both traveling independently and on a cruise. We were told by several hotels and restaurants that they would no longer accept chip and sign after 12/31/15. Seems that unlike the very lack laws governing having sensitive personal information stolen in the US, the EU takes it seriously and have significant fines for those affairs. Chip and Pin is the most technological system currently existing so don't expect to us your swipe or chip and signature cards much longer in EU countries. Australia and NZ are now both chip and pin only.

Both Chase and CitiCard have told me they have no plans on releasing a true chip and pin card to American customers within the immediate future. Locally, we have zero retailers that have chip reading capacity. Companies, such as Penny's and now Staples would rather risk your personal info that spend to upgrade to a more secure system here in the US.