pinotlover

There are a very few low capacity tours one might need to sign up for early. Very few. My recommendation is to watch your Roll Call for better options and not worry about actually signing up for ship tours until after final payment. So many cruise cancellations occur before then, plus a lot of people just wait to closer until cruise time to make a decision on tours. Remember, if you book an Oceania shorex, you have to pay for it when booking. Why be in a rush to give Oceania more money sooner?

My outward guess is the Embers is primarily listed as a “ Specialty “ so to impose the standard dress code therein. Oceania may have decided it didn’t want the full line of casual wear it can get in the Terrace in this sit down restaurant. Maybe they are trying to keep gym shorts and muscle shirts ( wifebeaters) isolated to the buffet line.

Thank you Coleen for your very accurate post. We likewise experienced the cluster xx in Lima. I had opted to not mention the incident because the cheerleaders here would accuse me of negatively even though I gave Oceania high marks in some areas. If I had dare mentioned the very disgruntled cruisers that booed the Captain at the Repeater Party, the cheerleaders would have gone bonkers. The fiasco and arrogance surrounding missing Puerto Chacabucco has yet to be discussed.

Excellent question. They seemed to have purchased cell phone data plans that gave them connectivity in many areas. Not everywhere, of course, but even at sea and on land, they had very good wifi while we had little to none. We went to Villard in the Casablanca Valley. Outstanding winery, bringing a Chardonnay and Syrah home. The wine paired lunch at the winery was amazing. As I always say, “ the best meal on the cruise is rarely ever on the ship”. This cruise my best ship meal would have come in #4. Everyone on the tour raved about Villard. I think everyone took wine away! Plan on visiting them your next trip down. Also TWE set us up with three excellent wineries over two days in Uruguay along with great wine paired lunches.

I believe the fear of “ Covid Jail” or quarantine keeps people from being tested, not the costs for the test. To be honest, if everyone on that ship with Covid was quarantined, I don’t think room service, or the system, could have handled it.

Another deceptive term we learned on our cruise: Cruising the Chilean Fjords. It would be the same as saying “ sailing the puget sound fjords “ or sailing the French Polynesia fjords. You sail, for a period, between the islands and never enter a fjord, while spending most of the time at sea. Those islands were not glacierly carved either.

In some instances PCR tests were required. Cost - $250. In other instances only the antigen test was required. Cost - $100. I person I knew aboard, without his vaccination card , had to be tested before boarding, before Puerto Areas, before Puerto Montt, and finally before San Antonio all to meet ship and Chilean requirements. $400 . Those that showed up at Medical with possible Covid symptoms were required to take the PCR tests.

You will need to talk to, and arrange with, Destination Services on the day ( morning) of your cruise. We can’t answer that. Be aware that what a DS rep says at 9:00 may be ignored by a different rep at 13:00.

Temperatures swing dramatically on the ships. On some days the restaurants can be pleasant, while on other days it’s cool even wearing a tshirt, long sleeveless, and a sports jacket. My DW always carries a sweater to dinner. Her exposed toes have come out of venues nearly blue ! 🥺 Unless you’re from Minnesota and like trampling around the woods in January in shorts and a T-shirt, I recommend you take either the jacket or a nice sweater for comfort sake.

On our 2/27 Marina cruise we were only required to turn the tv on. Whether people watched it or not was optional. Shortly after boarding we supposed to check in at our muster station, at our convenience, to indicate we knew where it was. No mustering for us.

We essentially had a full ship. 1125, I believe, so with the singles the ship was near capacity. I believe the stated number of repeaters was 63%, a bit lower than most O cruises we’ve been on. A lot of newbies did make for an interesting crowd. Again, as earlier stated in a different thread, Oceania ran an apparently successful “silent sale”, in the month or so pre cruise to fill the ship.

I had posted this earlier in a different thread but will consolidate here. Covid was rampant aboard ship. Multiples going into quarantine. About day 10 nearly half the staff was under masks, and by Day 13 (20 day cruise) mandatory masks for all crew. A significant number of the passengers were then masked in all public areas. Coughing, hacking, runny noses everywhere. Definitely affected attendance at some events. We had a stringed trio for the majority of the cruise. The cello reappeared on the next to last night. I thought by Day 10 Oceania should have done mandatory Covid testing on all passengers to get the situation under control. Someone commented when we tendered into Puerto Montt that this is what it must have been like when Captain Cook sent his men ashore in the Pacific Islands.

Deck 10, PH. We also had friends with us on Deck 7, Veranda .

As an additional bit of information, besides some alcohol, there were multiple items of food the ship ran out of also. As an example, we listened to one lady complaining near cruise end that three items they attempted to order in Jacques was no longer available. There was a lengthy list of stuff they just didn’t have. I don’t believe they were supply chain issues but just that Oceania didn’t get reordered and opted to wait until Miami, 20 days after our disembarking, to refill. It will be interesting to hear from those aboard if significant restocking was done in Lima.

The usual. Very poor in the morning , afternoon, and on sea days. A couple days we had none. On port days it seemed to shutdown entirely. People that bought outside packages seemed to fare much better than those of us attempting to use the ship’s wifi. fwiw, I believe they were blocking this site. Some days we get get other sites to come up but not CC for days.

Buenos Aires to Lima 2/27-3/19 Embarkment- arrived at cruise terminal at assigned time, 2:00. Argentina security/immigration was running about an hour behind, so we sat. Not Oceania’s fault. Since Chile had just changed entry requirements requiring either proof of vaccination or a Covid testing, Oceania required it for boarding. This added to the problems. People paying the port for a Covid test and awaiting results. No pre warning of this from Oceania. Ship’s condition- overall I found the ship to be in very good repair. No real visible shortcomings. The heating/AC was most always messed up however. The Lounge could be freezing cold as well as the GDR. One day at lunch the staff in the GDR were wearing their lined winter’s coat while serving guests. More on this later. Service - I found the staff to be friendly, enthusiastic, and energetic. Peter, the CD, was the exception. He and his sidekick ass’t CD can’t spell communications, no less practice it. Food - I found the food on this cruise to be overall significantly better than on the Sirena in October. Significant inconsistency still exists with several delightful meals and a few very poor ones. Both La Reserve dinners, the Dom P and Bourgeoisie, were excellent. PG and RG seems to get overall good reviews from passengers. Toscana struggled and Jacques disappointed many. Remember that A/C temperature problem on Deck 5 above. Jacques was an icebox. Result was cold soups and cold dishes being served to the tables along with often overcooked dishes. Expectations were definitely not met. GDR did fine most evenings. The Terrace was good if one stuck to the cold bar. Whatever the meal, the warmers in the supposed hot line was serving cold dishes. This lead to long lines at the grill. Enrichment- two different speakers did an excellent job. Entertainment - Very good contract entertainment. Oceania crew still doing Peggy Lee and unfortunately brought back the Brill Bldg show that should have died in 2019 when I first saw it. The team did a “Fav Night” with each performer singing their favorite songs. I thought it would be good. They didn’t add the songs would be from the 40s and 50s. Some I didn’t recognize they were so old. I’ll omit comments about our 3 missed ports. One, Pisco, of which we were told about upon boarding. Iguazu Falls, on the Oceania pre cruise, was excellently done. Oceania cancelled Manchu Picchu. Some were able to book it privately. We waited and couldn’t find an operator with passes for the site. I’ll take comments or questions.

This menu was discussed on our Marina cruise by several. The consensus is that this restaurant, and its menu, is designed for that multitude of Oceania cruisers that want to be served ( no diy buffet line), but also wants to eat in 30-40 minutes and exit. Sit Down Fast Food on Oceania. Will probably never go there myself, but I’m sure all those complaining about 1.5 + hour meals and other people ordering 4+ courses will be thrilled with this new option. Something for everyone.

At least my money is where my mouth is. I’ve reported on recent cruises, while someone keep posting and it’s been how many years since they’ve been on an Oceania ship! 😂

Enjoy has nothing to do with it. Oceania saved a lot of fuel = money by not going to the Falklands. Their financial gain was our Travel experience loss. The great weather conditions lie only added insult to injury.

It would be nice if this thread was locked along with any other dress code thread for the next six months.

Except they flat out lie about the weather. Oceania cancelled our Falklands tour three days before we were to arrive and said nothing. Tour operators sent messages to passengers that their tours were cancelled. Destination Services told all inquiring that the ship was going to the Falklands as scheduled. The ship never set a course to the Falklands from Punta del Estes. A day before planned arrival the Captain came on and said the Falklands were being cancelled. In a letter he wrote the cancellation was due to 40 ft seas and high winds at the tendering location. I received an email directly from Patrick Watts saying the seas were calm with only a light breeze as had been forecasted. Two other ships came into port and had easy tendering operations. I can tell another similar story of the episode in skipping Chacabuco. Our three missed ports don’t include the ports where our stays were cut short earlier.

I’ll add to this thread that the ships have significantly reduced serving sizes, except where specifically stated, and this is a welcome change imo. This makes half portions even more reasonable. We don’t mind if people order 5 portions as long as they aren’t just wasting massive amounts. This Oceania change has helped in these regards.

Basically as much as you like. Before buying the upgraded Premium Package, check at the bar and see what is still actually left in inventory!!! The Marina was already out of Knob Creek, for example, when we boarded in Buenos Aires and the ship wasn’t restocked. Many of the call brands were gone in several categories leaving mostly well brands. The bar staff didn’t believe the ship would be restocked with wine or alcohol until Miami. Most of the better wines disappeared during our cruise leaving very poor selections in several categories. There’s a reason those remaining wine brands were still in stock. The menus continued to list wines that were long gone. Publishing a current updated wine list was obviously not in the ship’s budget.

Just ( thankfully) off the Marina. Clothing report. 2 La Reserve Dinners: All the men wore sports jackets. Women very nicely dress, some with bling. Specialties and MDR: Mostly everyone nicely and appropriately dressed. Maitre d turned away those with shorts or inappropriately dressed very early on, and the word seemed to get out. One gentleman at our table wore a shirt that might have been acceptable if freshly cleaned and pressed, but after obvious multiple days of wear, not so much. Only bizarre events surrounds not men wearing baseball hats, but women! Men would be asked to remove theirs, but some women would wear them ! 😳 Captains Reception in Horizons: most people nicely dressed, others couldn’t get into the Terrace dressed as they were.

We missed 3 of 9 ports. We were informed one was being cancelled, 16 days later when we boarded. Oceania also cancelled our Manchu Picchu post cruise tour. Lots of very unhappy passengers. Far too many sea days and am happy to be getting off the ship. Since Oceania is content on flippantly canceling ports, a number of us will be canceling entire bookings when we get home. That’ll leave plenty of availability for all those Cruisers that just care about the ship and not the ports.