pinotlover

I’ll go into more detail later, but we’ve missed 2 ports in 3 days. As reported by Kate , who got on the Sirena earlier, the food has been highly inconsistent. The staff has been giving excuses, but the swings in food quality/tastes has been extreme and both noticeable and widely discussed by many aboard. “Best cuisine at Sea” has become a joke line. More later.

OCA says cruise release date is 10/26. Bookings open 11/2.

Just as an update, we were given the number of 655 passengers currently onboard the Sirena. With several solo passengers, the ship is near full. We also saw one being moved to quarantine, so some cabins are taken that away. This cruise has issues other than being oversold. 🥺

I have been on both the Marina and Nautica during Super Bowl game. They had the game on live with all kinds of food for both. The game was then recorded and replayed later because of extreme time differences. They do Super Bowls well.

Typically you can get your credit card company to cancel the charges. In many cases Viator is a 4th or 5th Party contractor far removed from the actual tour group. Sometimes everything works out perfectly fine, other times it doesn’t. Much like Oceania’s shorex , Viator is a convenience company. They don’t actually provide any excursions, they just act as a middle man for the convenience of bookings. Most often a bit of research will get you much closer to the actual guides. Let me tell you about the Viator tour we booked several years ago in OZ. Our tour guide didn’t show up at the appointed time. I asked multiple guides coming by the hotel about our guide. They all responded that he had died about three years prior. Went back in the hotel to get and study a city map and started to leave about thirty minutes later. The guide shows up. He confirmed our assigned guide had been dead for several years and his paperwork showed he was on time for the pickup. He said Viator had been told for years the guy was dead, but they continued to give out his name and old phone number to clients. Some days you’re lucky, others you’re not.

I guess we need a definition of “ release of itineraries ”. Is that the day the itineraries come out for viewing, or the first day they are open for booking? I’ve been on the ships before when the itineraries were released for viewing. With The ship’s wifi, a download of a large pdf was never possible. Even getting online was nearly impossible.

Won’t help us! We’ll be on Sirena with disembarkment on 11/4. Unless the OCA can get it early and give cruisers a printed copy, most will never have the internet access to view it until after we disembark. 11/3 is a sea day meaning even submitting a cruise survey is difficult. 600+ people online browsing new cruise itineraries: forget about it! 😂

I’m making an assumption here that may be incorrect. I’ve read a couple of the La Reserve menus as options in Privee. If so, is the cost the $300 plus the La Reserve meal costs? How are those options handled?

Lived out of a canteen for extended periods and didn’t die. Maybe people just need some iodine pills and get on with life. Rinse the metal bottle out occasionally and you’ll be fine. Why would anyone put detergent in their bottle that will be difficult to throughly rinse out?

Yes, we enjoyed it immensely. We stayed at a nice hotel with a western style restaurant. Those that only wanted Americanized food were well accommodated. We were directed to wonderful Cambodian restaurants a short tuk tuk ride away. The evening tuk tuk ride was an enjoyment in itself. Our first tour after arriving was to one of the other Wats which was fascinating and most of the second day was at Angkor Wat. Maybe a third of our fellow passengers didn’t go inside Angkor Wat on the second day, which was helpful for the rest of us. That facility is quite large and they would never have been able to do the walking in the heat and humidity. They were driven around the Wat and got a nice tour seeing the Wat from different venues. I don’t believe we were rushed at all. In fact, we probably had to do an extra bit of stopping and waiting for some in the group. I think with the heat and humidity, everyone was satisfied they had received a good visit and were ready for lunch and a break. The Cambodian show and dinner at the hotel the second night was entertaining.

We board in Bilboa and continue on to Barcelona. Your tour guide is correct, Lisbon mostly shuts down on Monday. We’re heading up to Sintra for the day. Escaping boardamania in Lisbon. Hopefully we can meet up for an adult beverage!

Meet John and Laura on earlier cruises. A lovely couple and wishing them the best. Prayers for both of them! We’ve lost too many friends over the past three (3) years!! 😢

Please check back a few posts and join Kate-AHF and us for cocktails in Horizons as we depart Gijon. A small M&G! Hawaiiandan must have cancelled this cruise way early. He was going as far as Lisbon, but disappeared on the Boards. Canceled when masks were still required! We leave Thursday. Spending three days in Rioja, with a night in Burgos on the way up. Everything in Bilboa is closed on Monday, so we’re sightseeing Bilboa next Tuesday and boarding as late as allowed that afternoon.

Short and long. It’s not overly difficult to search Cruise Critic for dress codes on any cruise line. If one merely googled “ Dress code of Oceania “, they get multiple threads directed back to Cruise Critic where one can read countless pages of responses on the issue. In my experience, those coming here, or on other lines, asking dress code questions are primarily trolling to watch the slugfests. Don’t Feed the Trolls!

Our Marina cruise isn’t scheduled there until Mid March. Hope they have this worked out long before this.

I wrote earlier “ Don’t Feed the Trolls!” Dress Code threads are purely trolling.

This is simple. The by the glass Wine list is the same regardless of which drinks package you choose. One gets a bottle discount, depending upon package they purchased, for any separate bottle they buy.

Ah! Over dressing, now that’s a different issue! Perhaps that nice sports coat is being worn because one never knows whether the restaurant ( especially PG) is going to be so cold they could hang meat; or so warm you wish you could strip down to your skivs! Are those ladies that feel it necessary to carry a sweater or shaw to dinner over dressing? One of the many issues with the old R ships is their lack of zoned temperature control in the Specialties. On some cruises/itineraries to keep it moderately cool in the rear of the restaurant, they are forced to nearly freeze out those up front . I most often wear a nice sports jacket to dinner in the Specialties. If too warm, I can slip it off. If near frigid, I’m glad I have it one. I remember once on the Nautica, the ladies were wanting to leave before dessert. They were all wearing very nice sandals and they said their toes were turning blue! Glad I had on socks and shoes..

Hardly free. Oceania has done this in the past in lieu of cutting prices on hard to sell cruises. We took advantage of the Angkor Wat deal in 2017. Probably what pulled us in. Without it the cruise would have been overpriced and we probably wouldn’t have considered it. Good marketing on Oceania’s part.We never considered it free however.

We are 5 months out from our cruise and all of the culinary classes have been sold out for a while except for one. Comes up in red saying the class is closed and sold out. I wonder if some don’t see or get that message?

I believe the original complaint/ question was will they allow him to swap out a guaranteed reservation in one Specialty for a reservation in another. I still believe the answer is NO. What I believe they may do is allow him to cancel his original guarantee reservation and maybe give him an additional reservation in Tuscan Steak. Although the same result occurs, it’s technically different. That additional reservation can only be made on the day the meal is planned. Let me further add that if his ship is mostly empty, none of this matters. If it is cruising full, that is a different issue.

Those are the rules. You can’t book 4 nights in Jacques either, on an O ship, claiming you don’t like the other 3 restaurants. Oceania doesn’t do spicy. Even what they call spicy is very muted. There is absolutely nothing spicy with the Chilean sea bass in RG! It’s delicious, have her try it.

Creates a dilemma. One of my restaurant customers recently had to shut down for three days, in addition to their regular closure days. All his staff was vaccinated but a nasty variant wiped out 3 of 5 waitstaff and part of the kitchen. He didn’t have enough staff to stay open. I don’t want to hear crying from the anti maskers if a significant portion of the ship’s crew went down and you float around for days maybe eating only out of the Terrace. Or you come to Embark and are told you can’t because of crew Covid levels. Not enough staff. For me, the ship’s crew can stay masked for awhile.

The wines changes quite often and not the same wines on every ship. Not always from South America. The ones listed are good representations of the quality of wines offered. Typically wines that retail in the $10-$15 range.

Probably expect too much! Not sure when Oceania returns to Bermuda next but believe it’s a ways out. So if they change the website today or next week it doesn’t affect anyone cruising. Plenty of time to get the word out and for people to respond.