pinotlover

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.

My guess is they’ll change the website when they get around to it. Oceania said, in the very beginning, they weren’t going to immediately respond to every change in policy worldwide regarding Covid issues. Some here have nothing better to do than daily check conditions and policies in country X. Great. Maybe it takes awhile for all of that to flow into their system. Patience!

Ask for actual number of passengers aboard. The OCA usually discloses that at the Repeater Party. We know what ship capacity is.

That cruise has always been a hard sell. Same as the Auckland to Papeete cruises. So no surprises there.

IF ( and a big if) the ships are returning to full or near full capacities, THEN, the opportunities to not share and eat alone will significantly diminish. There are only so many two tops. For those insisting upon eating alone, the primary option will be to eat later, after the early wave, or eat in the Terrace that has a quicker turnaround. I used to find it amazing to see a line forming at the GDR shortly after 6:00 and reaching almost to the elevators by opening at 6:30. I once commented on not understanding why those people were so hungry so to line up so early. I was quickly corrected and told they were most trying to get two tops and not share a table.

We are signed up for a couple of the classes on our Feb Marina cruise. We had no problems signing up online.

Great conversations! I anxiously await our 10/18 Embarkment for a fully waitlisted cruise to see how many will be aboard. Are in fact 10, 20% or more of the cabins blocked to provide quarantine spaces? Only a couple more weeks to discover the answer.

We board a fully waitlisted Sirena on 10/18 and have the same question. Will let you know then. The cruise has been fully waitlisted for over a year.

Rarely believe what you read on the internet. I question why people blantantly lie on this subject .Call out those that lie on those posts. They do it purposely. OBC/ SBC can be used to pay for any and all expenditures made aboard ship. This includes Gratuity and has been posted repeatedly on this board.

Previously it was in Martinis at 8:00ish. Typically ran by the Assistant CD. Always over in time to make the Evening show. For a bit of clarification. There are two officer positions on board that are the same rank for pay and benefits that are typically, but not always, held by members of the entertainment staff. Those positions are Assistant CD and Social Director. They come with additional responsibilities, job tasks, and pay from the normal entertainment crew. Historically, quite a few of the past and present CDs came up through the ranks in that method. Entertainment Team to ACD to CD.

We were there last summer for several days . Obviously had scheduled several wine tours. The City of Bordeaux is quite nice and I recommend taking a walking tour of the City. A guided one is probably preferred so not to miss certain highlights. The City has numerous excellent restaurants so you might want to make a reservation somewhere that interests you and eat in town. The tram system along the dock area is quite convenient and makes it easy to get from the ship to downtown. A great must do. Sign up for an Evening Sidecar ride. One of you will be in the motorcycle sidecar, while the other rides behind the driver. We switched positions half way through. Bordeaux is a bustling city with lots of nightlife. The tour is fun and invigorating. Get off the sleepy ship, you’ll love it!