pinotlover

I’m not a marketing mastermind, but I feel that Oceania does indeed believe that those massive mailings bring in bookings or they wouldn’t be doing them. I’m quite sure they even have empirical data to support it. Those multiple page ads in Wine Spectator can’t be cheap either, but obviously they are paying for themselves. I get nuisance phone calls from companies wanting to sell me extended warranty policies on my vehicles regularly. Hard to believe that anyone buys, but obviously enough do that the companies kept on paying people to make the calls. Personally, I believe Oceania should direct a chunk of that print advertising dollars into building a reliable functional website. One that wants potential cruisers to explore their offerings more in lieu of frustration and aggravation. FDR obviously disagrees. Perhaps that would be confused with providing significant corporate communications which is intolerable to them.

Yes. They start on the 19th cruise. If that 10th cruise was booked before your status was updated, have your TA reinvoice the cruise ensuring your proper status is reflected on the contract.

Hong Kong is now a fully integrated part of the PRC. If anything stupid happens, I would not count on going anywhere in the PRC or Taiwan. I also wouldn’t count on Cathey Pacific being able to fly from there to the US. Probably not a good place to book a cruise to currently.

So the saga begins. A couple of months ago one of friends tried to join us on O’s land tour in Israel during our upcoming Vista cruise. He was told it was waitlisted and couldn’t book. A month ago was final payment. Today I get an email from Oceania telling us the Land tour didn’t have the minimum number of guests and it was cancelled. First Ouch! Then, wait for it, if you’ll give us $300 each more, we’ll run the tour!! Second Ouch!! Oh, the games being played.

I truly wonder if this isn’t for certain countries like OZ and NZ??!! In Jan, we got our luggage tags for our February cruise. We’ll see what we get for our upcoming June cruise in the next month. For us the Blue Books are a waste of trees, publishing costs, and postage. My children don’t need more stuff to sort through some day. We are earnestly trying to de-stuff. The luggage tags, which we put on before departure from the hotel for the port, are a nice convenience.

We normally arrive no earlier than 2:30-3:00 and rarely encounter a check in line. Not so for those early arrivals. Also some Embarkment ports don’t have actual terminals. Places like Papeete, Langelinie in Copenhagen, Stockholm, and for us Bangkok ( on and on) only had a swiftly erected tent to welcome and check in new passengers. Oceania set the rules. In other locales, actual cruise line terminals are utilized and the terminal officials set the rules, not the cruise lines. Many operate differently. Thank you for clarifying the recent situation at Southampton.

We have the Vista booked for June. We are canceling 35 day Regatta cruise in December. That will leave the Riveria for next April. May not be the time for a lot of exposure. That Regatta cruise, all in, was going to be around $35K each. Payment due in June. After the Vista, we may be spectators for awhile to see what shakes out. If we get multiple cancelled and shortened ports on the Vista cruise, we’ll axe the Riveria cruise.

From the jibes we got aboard from crew going to work there, it will still be CC casual. However, it will be more in and out with most meals being 45 minutes to an hour. Supposedly Oceania is expecting Embers to be very popular across a wide swath of passengers. That’s why reservations will be required. Notice the seemingly high percentage of two tops? That will pull many in on its own.

Seems to be a lot of open capacity for the next year. These sales are wide spread across the various lines.

My pre Covid experiences at Southampton are probably meaningless now. I will warn you that in the Current Era some cruise terminals are not allowing people into the terminal and/or waiting area until they’re assigned boarding times. They have been forced to wait outside the complex. We have seen this twice in the past year, including just recently in February. One must show their boarding documents to get into the terminal. Let this be a guide. Not sure what Southampton is doing in this regard.

I think what’s important in this thread is that overall the pre Covid product is distinctly different from the new Oceania. In some areas, the new product has a lot of similarities, while in others it’s distinctly different. Projecting one’s past experiences onto the new product will probably lead to confusion. If you haven’t been in the water it’s tough to tell people how to swim.

On our recent Marina cruise I went to Karaoke one night after the show. This guy gets some and sings a love song for his wife that was just incredible. He had been a professional singer for around 20 years and had appeared in top venues around the country/world. Seems the travel and the fame were getting in the way of his marriage and he chose his marriage. Not even the staff wanted to follow that performance.

Oct-Nov 22 17 days-Sirena Feb-March 23, 20 days, Marina Next up, Vista June-11-25,2023 14 days. Lots of skin in the Oceania game!

We’ll be in the Vista on June 11. We’ll know early! As far as cast shows, we had the same shows on the Sirena in Oct as we did the Marina last month. Just a larger cast, particularly more dancers. Highly doubt a different set of shows on Vista, or Vista specific , but anxiously awaiting.

DoulaAnn; The issue isn’t the occasional playing of 50s and early 60s music. Absolutely most all of us can enjoy it occasionally. The issue is that is mostly all we get! Moving up a decade from Peggy Lee or Buddy Holly occasionally to even an Elton John, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Doobie Brothers , or even the Grass Roots on the softer side shouldn’t be psychologically shattering for the oldsters! How about some Rolling Stones?? Maybe those of us under 75 only represent 1/3rd of the passengers, so I’ll gladly take a third of the music selections!! ! There is a couple of decades, between current selections, they can explore before either hip hop or rap.

From one of the waiters on the Marina, going to the Vista, she said the Embers would have a full bar to fix cocktails for diners. Margaritas, mojitos, beers, whatever. More like a fancier Applebees, TGIF, or a J. Alexander’s. Completely new atmosphere for O. We’ll see fairly soon .

I’m a retiree, mostly. Never consider trying to get on the site over a weekend anymore. Frustrated enough trying on a week day. Been fortunate so far in that none of my dinner reservation days have hit over a weekend.

Oceania does NOT check for alcoholic beverages being brought aboard. The list of alcoholic beverages that can be brought aboard includes, but not limited too, beer, wines, RUM, bourbon, whiskey, scotch , vodka, gin, tequila, brandy, cognac, pisco, Jäegermeister, schnapps, amaretto, and an entire list of cordials. Easy concept, and also will include any other “ whaddabouts “ you might have come to mind.

Not enough information. Is the cruise in the heat of the summer? Will you and your SO need showers to clean up? How about hair? Getting back at 5:15 means you’re in your cabin by maybe 5:30. I drip dry quickly, not so myDW. I wouldn’t book anything earlier than 7:00!

Willing to bet your Roll Call can save you far more than the 25% discount on YWYW. Work your Roll Call.

Checked the Hamilton forecast. Rainy but no gale force winds or anything near it. 20kph. Actually rather calm there now. < 2 mph. Marina saved docking fees and the cruisers had another sea day. We experienced much the same with that Captain in SA. Maybe the weather in FL is different than in Bermuda. 🙄

It would be great if Barb reported back as to whether those gale force winds ever really materialized.

If you’d merely page down you’ll find another complete thread on this topic. No need to start a new one.

Years ago, the mods had some excellent “ Stickies “ posted on this thread. They clearly answered many of the commonly asked questions. Besides being a very helpful tool for newbies, it prevented the current twice monthly “ Can I bring wine and alcohol aboard “ threads. Right there as a Sticky for all to see. I have no idea, for the life of me, why they stopped doing them.

If one has a TA, O Air will require you to go through your TA. If one doesn’t want a TA to represent on contractual matters, and prefers DIY, then don’t specify a TA. That’s easy to do, but can come with consequences. Appointing and declaring someone as your AGENT has a meaning!