pinotlover

Everyone on that segment is guaranteed one reservation in each of the restaurants. Two tops are at a premium. I’d recommend sharing. You’ll probably meet some enjoyable fellow passengers.

I believe what was meant was go to the Restaurant Reservations Desk on Deck 5 or 6 depending upon ship and enquire there. The OP didn’t indicate which cruise they are on, and most importantly its length. Getting changes for short (7) day cruises are much harder than longer ones (14 day+).

I believe Oceania only ran the charter Air when the cruise was on an O ship. There is/was enough commercial air options for the R ships. I believe Oceania arranged a day room at the Intercontinental in PPT for those on O Air and O transfers not on the Charter. Everyone still had to be off by 9:30. We did have a chartered cruise after ours, so everyone was disembarking.

I am by no means a marketing expert, so I therefore have a question. Outside of a very small handful of cruises and those that only want a specific cabin, is Oceania self creating a condition where few sign up early for cruises but just wait for the next big sale? Oceania will be making several cruise releases over the next 60 days. Personally I struggle to come up with even one reason to book. Wait for a SALE, kinda like shopping at Macy’s. Don’t buy now, wait until Thanksgiving or better yet the President Day Sale! 🤔

Just tip freely ! I read his reply as tipping in the currency when he disembarked. He’s not going to disembark in BA and have Peruvian money for the staff if they disembark there.

I mostly disagree. We give our tips either US dollars or Euros, most typically dollars that are easy to spend and/or convert as needed. I seriously doubt the crew really prefers your left over Argentinan , Turkish, or a host of other countries currency. Look at the beating they’d take disembarking in Miami with your left over Argentinan money!

We have been told by a couple butlers and different staff that any money given directly to any employee remains with that employee. There is no pooling of tips except for standard gratuity.

My feelings exactly. We sail for the itinerary. Our cruise decision is based on the published itinerary. Rather simple for us. Sometimes O has the better itinerary, sometimes they don’t. O’s food is marginally better than Az or V, but not enough so to overcome a poorer itinerary. It is a true rarity that our best meal on a cruise is on the ship. We often have great lunches ashore therefore dinner becomes light. One of the advantages of Az is the extended port stays and dinner ashore! Dinner ashore, or any ship food? 🤔 Easy choice. So now comes our issue with the new Oceania. Itinerary. On our three post Covid Oceania cruises we have had more port cancellations and/or port times shortened than on all our previous cruises combined. They occurred on each of those cruises. We walked onto the Vista in June and were notified that three out of 12 ports stays had been shortened. This was not weather related, it was merely cut port time to save money. For us this is huge. A little gristle in the steak, we can eat around that and not be hungry. Two hours of cut port time is forever lost. This is a huge difference between the new versus old Oceania.

22 posts and exactly zero yet has asked their TA to clarify? 😂😂 Certainly not an issue they really care about! 🙄

Depending upon the terminal, not even boarding priority may exist. There may be a separate line for Suites and other cabins, which might be shorter, but both lines are operating at the same time.

Pre Covid, PH and above were given 11:00 boarding times. Concierge Class received 12:00, and everyone below received 13:00 boarding times. Since Covid, boarding times have been assigned on a first come basis during the electronic check in. As mentioned above, for some cruises everyone is just given an 11:00 check-in. Some ports do require that check in times be spaced out for terminal crowd control. Historically, a majority of O cruisers ignored their assigned time and just showed up at 11:00 or even well before. This often created Boardamania at the dock/terminal. Some ports wouldn’t allow guests into the terminal area until they’re assigned time. They were forced to wait outside the terminal area until their assigned time . We encountered this in Buenos Aires in late February. We arrived at our chosen/assigned time and waltzed , into the boarding area, past a long line waiting to get in that had arrived early. Some of European ports, such as Athens, have long followed this procedure even before Covid. Hope that explains it.

The system is now goofy, and a product of O’s poor IT department. Sometimes, only 11:00 or so is shown for Embarkment. We register, yet board when we pleased almost always later. My post above details the difference in scenarios.

Three points: 1. We have been on recent cruises where less than half of the cruisers boarded with us. Everyone else was on extended Journeys and already aboard. So boarding time doesn’t mean as much as when 90+ % of the ship is turning over. 2. Notwithstanding any marketing propaganda, Oceania has dropped all pretense of boarding priority by cabin class. 3. We still choose to board 3:00 or so. Nice leisurely lunch in town, cabin ready upon boarding and no waiting, baggage quickly delivered to cabin.

Depends upon the chain and source. There is a standard among high end restaurants, definition wise, on the definition of rare, mr, medium, etc. Not picking on the chains, but many present MR as what is definitely medium by standard definition. In that Oma is German for Grandma, and having lived there for several years, many of the German restaurants used their own definition of doneness, not the international standards.

I most always use that approach. I have never gotten rare and only occasionally even MR. I believe what Oceania receives for most of its steaks and chops ( not all) is the same as most chain restaurants. Pre cut, pre individually wrapped, and partially cooked for fast kitchen turn around with minimal labor. This makes medium rare nearly impossible on most cuts by the time it is further warmed.

Or start thread # 5000 on whether you can bring beer, wine, or alcohol aboard! Google , and/or the search function, can be your friend! 🥂

Still getting Viking mailers! 🙄 My guess is Oceania is saving up for a few big mailers. First, the release of cruises for the new Allura. Second, a mailer for the 2026 ATW along with some Grand Voyages. Finally, the release of the remaining 2025 and early 26 cruises. As far as mailings for current releases , Why? Many are completely sold out , or have been out there already for a long time with multiple sales. Why spend more money you don’t have? Wait til you can give them something new! 🥂

The discussion was primarily Toscana. The food there is definitely better than OG and on par with IL Formia. To complete means to compete and survive every night. For Oceania’s Toscana menu, what price do you think the entries would have to come in at? Definitely above both aforementioned chains, imho. So Toscana would be competing in the higher range $30-$45 secondi range, and $20+ primi . When you move into that price range, the competition, and authenticity, stiffens immediately. IMHO, with their menu, they can’t price down, and they can’t compete upwards. Also, Oceania strives to serve a large captive crowd of eaters wanting plain and bland. Many of those rarely eat outside their assisted living facilities at home or drive at night. Plain and bland doesn’t go far ashore. Red Ginger, in a market with out a large upscale Asian presence, would do fine.

Polo Grill may be on par with some of the mid level chains. Their inconsistencies would kill them however. People would soon tire of ordering medium rare and getting medium well to well done. Word of mouth would kill it, unless very cheap. Toscana is an interesting study. It is very very Americanized Italian. Quite a percentage of diners look for something more Italian Italian. In other parts of the country where everything needs to be Americanized, it may do OKAY. But then it gets into a price battle with Olive Garden and other heavy Americanized Italian chains.

Excellent review. I pose a question for you. Do you possibly think the reason for Ember being “ not very busy” was because others had already voted with their feet?

It is still a good quality line. Yes there has been cutbacks, but still good quality. Any claims of even approaching Michelin restaurant level is tomfoolery. I doubt any of their restaurants could compete and survive on shore. They do fine for at sea. Excellent meals, good meals, mediocre meals, and occasionally a poor meal.

Go to your Roll Call and check. It will be posted there, not here.

How about this? I don’t care what you tip. You should likewise care less about how or how much I tip. Please tip as YOU feel appropriate and in your conscience correct. You don’t know how Oceania distributes paid gratuities and they aren’t going to tell you. Get over it.

In our tv, with current sailings, if you went to a specific menu, it stayed there for as long as you want. Not sure which screen you’re viewing.

Cute play on words! 👍. Actually they only changed the dosage. The Brix at picking remained the same mostly.