pinotlover

I would think the larger question for Oceania is how many of those 25 &26 ATWer are going to look at this and bail?

That’s what I was saying: it’s all personal choice. Prefer the bread, then pound it because you’d rather have it than dessert and/or the main course. I’m not 16 anymore. I’m not working manual labor on the farm or factory floor. There’s only so much I can eat. I have to make decisions, we all do. I just think the sad part is when people eat the salad, pound the bread, then out comes the steak and they take one or two bites and send the rest to the garbage. They know when they ordered the steak they’d never eat it. They choose to eat lettuce and bread. That’s OK! I guess they have the right to order 3 mains and 4 desserts and throw them all in the garbage. It’s the same concept. It’s just a personal decision YWYW.

I do paired multi course wine dinners for a couple of establishments on occasion. It’s happened too many times so My only condition is NO Bread! The Dinners normally start 6-6:30 so the working stiffs can come. That happens to be later than many of the retirees seem to eat. Give that little old lady a bread basket in an early course, and they will pound the bread. Then by the third of four courses, they’re just to full to eat , or drink, anything. Some will even want a doggie bag for the remaining courses and leave before the dinner is over. Rule #1- No Bread! Oceania always delivers a big basket of delicious breads to your table at every venue. Saves them from serving desserts!” Oh! I’m just so full I can’t eat another bite!” 😂😂. They made that decision when they hit the bread basket! 😂

A bit of the story behind the beef imports from Mexico. The quality of beef produced in the US has improved dramatically over the past few decades. As that quality and flavor has increased so has the marbling and excess fat increased. What to do with all that fat. Answer: import lean beef from Mexico and blend it with the fat to make the different ground beef selections. This helps keep the beef prices up in the States while providing for an excellent export market for Mexico. Most U.S. produced beef is overall to high quality ( except for some limited cuts) and to expensive for hamburger meat.

We typically stroll aboard some time between 2:30 and 3:30, having already had a relaxing lunch ashore. Unless there have been issues, Boardamania is past and we have no lines.Upon boarding, our first stop is at our muster station to check in. The muster station is almost always on the deck on which we board so it is effortlessly to hit it immediately. Then we head off to our cabin which by then is ready for occupancy. As with most of our cruises, we typically primarily do private tours, and for convenience of schedule do a Meet & Greet that first night. It’s a great opportunity to meet your fellow tour group members and do any necessary coordination. The M&G is also attended by others on our Roll Call not necessarily doing private tours. So having had a typically delightful lunch ashore, we never want to fill time constrained to make an early dinner that first night. Our upcoming 4/1 cruise is likewise having a M&G on Embarkment Day.

British Airlines allows you to pay for an early seat selection. Even BC passengers have to pay if they want to pre choose their seats.

For us, part of the traveling experience is trying and exploring the vast array of authentic local cuisine, along with the wines or beers, we find along the way. Heavy emphasis on authentic. 🙄Along with the people that rarely get off the ship, the number of people that will only eat ship food never ceases to amaze me. Vastly different strokes for different folks.

Let me add that I haven’t spoken with my TA on this issue, but some years Oceania first does a release of Grand Voyages and other Extended Journeys prior to releasing the shorter (7-24 day) segments. Therefore, I can’t really comment on exactly what will be included on that mid April release. A 52 day Grand Voyage would, in fact, be a “Segment “ of the ATW, but not necessarily the type of segment you’re looking for.

One would hope that at a minimum all the service counters are fully wrapped in cellophane to keep all those hands and arms out from under the glass. I’ve never understood why some insist upon sticking their arms or hands under the glass shields!! 🤬

Chance are the segments will appear with the general new release of 25-26 cruises in about a month.

Most of the good TA have there customers pre booked. Their request is already in the system and prepared to get cabin assignments when the system opens up for the online folks to start inputting information. The DIYer gets left in the dust.Those algorithms are spinning out cabins faster than a DIYer can get past page 1. Do people here really believe my TA waits until the starting bell on opening day to start inputting cruise requests/reservations? 😂😂😂 She might easily have 25-30! DIYers are the only ones playing that game. Well, perhaps also some non professional TA, you know the “ your wife’s cousin that books occasionally on a friend’s account “ type. 🙄

ORV; We got ours last week for our 4/1 cruise. Besides the tags you have shown, there was also a multi page brochure on the Riveria. None of our cruise information was included, just a fancy brochure on the Riveria with pictures of all its cabins and dining venues. Other venues such as the pool and croquet court was also featured.

Apps seem to be the way of the future, and sometimes the present. We were recently in an upper end restaurant in Nashville. A hostess seated us and showed us the QR for the menu. No wait staff, you ordered via the app. One person seemed to clean tables and refill water glasses. Some one from the kitchen brought the food out and disappeared. If you wanted another glass of wine, order it one the app. At the end of the meal you went to check out and gave them your table number to pay the bill. Seems some had the ability/know how to pay it from their phone at the table. Check out lady said they gave up on continuously trying to hire and train wait staff. Now they don’t have to. I’m guessing this will soon be common place, especially as AI improves. If one doesn’t have a cellphone, they’d have to go elsewhere. No paper options were offered. One interesting aspect was there was no waiting to order. If you know what you ( and everyone else wants) order. If someone can’t make up your mind, then you sit and wait until they do. No waiter to push you. Order your drinks and think about it. Order the appetizers and think about the main course.

The worst yet are those at the Repeater’s Party that try to drown out the OCA while they are trying to talk. The main offenders are often lead by the Platinums that come to every one just for the free booze.

Plus, don’t forget, they are fairly fluent in English. What this means is that no pecking in the glass while making subhuman guttural grunts and indistinguishable noises are necessary. Nor is sticking one’s arm under the shield to point directly into the food looked favorably upon. A simple “ May I have some bacon please?” gets one very good service with a smile.

Is Tex Mex really Mexican? Is Italian food, without all the appropriate herbs and spices, really Italian food? Is Asian Fusion in any way Asian, or just mostly Americanized foods for people not wanting the real thing?

While I could give you some helpful hints, including giving your TA a list of several cabins in order of preference and use a well connected TA, the real answer is no one actually knows. The IT people establish a set of algorithms that eventually takes over. There is also some evidence that the algorithms are modified occasionally to meet goals specified by O management of which we are all clueless. As an example, on some cruise releases in the past, it appeared the system gave preference to cruisers new to O getting their choices while on other releases cruisers status seemed more important. It’s all in the algorithms, and the IT people don’t talk. A couple of observations. The 2025 ATW was initially fully subscribed and Oceania did a huge press release on how quickly it sold out. By about a week after the deposit was due, there was available cabins in most categories. It’s nearly two years until your cruise, watch for new Availability of cabins starting soon.

Matter of opinion. How about how do equate a simple cheese pizza masquerading as a Marguerite Pizza on the Vista and the real thing with the actual ingredients on shore? Is that an equal analysis?

Where is the cost analysis of missed ports and cut port times in those analysis? To hard fast cruisers they may be negligible. To others it’s massive. Until that is quantified in the analysis, it’s useless.

I believe for us land based are typically less expensive. The primary reason is food costs. In the ship, I’m paying the pro rated costs of the average costs of meals served on the ship. On land, I’m charged for what we ordered. I’m taking a wine group to Italy in September. We won’t eat American food in Italy, so any comparison of what that highly Americanized meal costs in Italy isn’t really a comparison at all. Some nights, our dinners at very high end venues may be more that that prorated average cruise meal. Other nights it will be considerably less. For us, local fresh cuisine with local herbs and spices at land based restaurants have most always proven better than cruise food. We can likewise save a mint buying extremely good quality wine, to accompany that meal, at that local restaurant versus onboard. If we just choose to do pizza one night or a charcuterie selection, it will be a lot less than the prorated meal cost onboard. The analysis additionally doesn’t quantify any costs for missed ports or reduced port stays. I pay the cruise line a lot of money to take me to X location, so I can see the area. I believe there is a significant cost to me when Oceania opts to cancel a port. I have never yet experienced a land cruise on Oceania that costs less than a private tour that does the exact same itinerary. Oceania is typically 2-3 times the cost. We cruise for the ports, not the ship. I understand I am paying a price for convenience in getting me to other wise hard to reach locations such as island hopping in the Canary Islands. Overall, with many itineraries, cruising is not less expensive for travelers. Perhaps so for cruisers however.

If this was true Oceania would not be running sales continuously to fill cruises that have been released for nearly two years! Additionally that is/was sale after sale after sale to get to this point.

Cellphones have indeed become contentious objects. It’s now considered rude to take any pictures of any items, or any people, at private functions without the host expressed consent. Same with taking pictures of people without their consent. Of course though, there are a lot of rude people.

It was indeed a great advancement for the US. One aspect, which didn’t follow the German Autobahn system, has proven problematic over the years. For political reasons they ran the systems right through the middle of downtowns in major cities instead of natural by passes. Ripping out homes and industrial areas to build the roads into and through major cities like Atlanta, KC, Denver, etc. was poor planning at the time. Then , she those earlier roads became commuter routes along with national highways, problems developed. Rip out more homes and more industrial areas to widen or increase the size of the highways became the only option. Then, what was homogenous neighborhoods became very divided and self segregating communities.

Fwiw, it’s been posted here multiple times, by multiple cruisers, that lobster on Oceania is typically best avoided. I see you have learned that for yourself.

The discussion is the GDR, not some new restaurant. The GDR posts its menu daily in the mid afternoon for dinner. One can see a sample menu months in advance.