mauibabes

Just call your TA or Oceania Reservation number and ask for them to send you a pdf of the Excursions for your cruise. I will print them out and pass them around to my wife or others for input, then I go on line and make the reservations and pay any additional fees via SBC or Credit Card. Enjoy, Mauibabes

If you want to get an “Availability “ reservation on Embarkation” Day, go straight to the Reservation Desk on Deck 5 by the Boutiques when you board. Depending on your boarding time and possibly Stateroom level, you should be able to get a reservation at one of the 4 Specialty restaurants. I am assuming you have made your 3 or 4 reservations already. Besides Embarkation Day extra reservations, they probably won’t give you any additional reservations until a number of days into the cruise or until other guests have an opportunity to get their first round of reservations. Enjoy Vista, she is very special. Mauibabes

Definitely, it is pretty much impossible to STARVE on an Oceania cruise 🤪👍, Afterall there is another meal scheduled in a few hours and food is readily available 24/7 somewhere or via Room Service. ENJOY Mauibabes

Coffee, Baristas is open by 6:30 at the latest, maybe earlier if necessary and there are plenty of pastries available in the Bakery. Room Service is 24/7 so just request a meal and time. The Terrace Cafe Will Be open earlier enough for anyone to get Breakfast before departing for an Excursion. You will see the restaurants opening times in the Currents the evening prior and they accommodate even the earliest arrivals. Your Hubby will not go hungry. Vista is VERY SPECIAL and you will enjoy her, at least we did, TWICE 😇👍 Mauibabes

Here are a few things to think about. Marina is coming out of her “Remodel/Update” in May so she should be pristine and beautiful, NOTt that she is in bad shape now, she is not. July in the Med will be Warm but nothing like your July temperatures. Coffee, ALWAYS visit Baristas up on Deck 14 because that is the BEST on the ship. Yes the paper straws are 🤬 so bring along your reusable one just in case you need it. FYI, the Guest rooms/bars are under a Coke contract but if you are a Pepsi drinker or want specific soft drinks in your Stateroom, let Oceania know and your Steward/Butler will make sure your refrigerator is properly stocked. Room Service is 24/7, just request it before turning in at night. Terrace Cafe will be open at a proper time to allow for early breakfasts and it is shown in the Currents the evening prior to arrival. Breakfast in the GDR will not be offered for 6:30 a.m. tour times but is a Great place for later tour times or sea days. Not knowing your Cell Carrier but if you are on T-Mobile calls are $0.25 a minute in any of your Ports of Call. If you are an iPhone user and your Pet Sitter is also, you can just FaceTime for Free on line and of course see and talk to your pet. Hopefully Starlink is delivering enhanced services for your needs. Your Muster needs will be done before you board but you will be asked to stop at your Muster Station to check in and also watch the video again in your room when you get aboard but there is NO Muster Cat Herding Fiasco. Gary covered things ahead of my post so just plan to ENJOY your Oceania experience. We have been on Marina many times and the staff and service is Excellent. Enjoy, Mauibabes

@kstrittm There are dozens of Oceania experienced posters who monitor this site and MANY refugees from other lines who have just joined the Oceania family so feel free to ask any questions, they are always welcome. Hopefully you are working with an Oceania experienced Travel Agent but if not, always contact Oceania directly to confirm any issues or conflicting answers. IMHO, there is a difference between Oceania and the many mass market lines and O does things differently so ask if the the answers are contrary to your past cruise line experiences. The 4 R Class ships Insignia, Regatta, Nautica, Sirena, 640 ish pax, the 2 O Class ships Marina and Riviera, 1200+ and then the 2 Allura Class, Vista now and Allura in mid 2025, 1200+ pax offer different dining venues and All Specialty dining is INCLUDED as are virtually all the Amenities on an Oceania ship. Good luck with your itinerary selection and ship. Again, just ask your questions. Mauibabes

@clo Cat, Actually we do not but we have been on Maui this past few weeks during whale season. We try to come here every whale season just to see the whales. Our “handle” comes from a joke name I gave to my DW’s gang of teacher friends who came over during a Spring Break getaway years ago. It is interesting when we have met other CC and O guests at a Meet and Greet their reaction to me when I have Mauibabes on my name tag 🤪🤙. The Lahaina devastation is AWFUL and very disheartening. It is a delicate balancing act, the need for visitors and the space for all to reside when it comes to displaced residents, volunteers, workers, and vacationers. The business owners need the revenues so we have increased our activities and dining opportunities and upped our tips and cash donations and offered many hugs to the many friends we have made here over the past 20 years. Maui is a special place for us and we are so happy to see all the Maui Strong statements all over the island. 🙏 Mauibabes

You know the drill, Happy Wife, Happy Life 😇 every trip has a budget and level of expectation so we go with what works for us. We have had great Cat B Verandas, Cat A Concierge Verandas and Penthouses and a couple of times even got an amazing Upgrade offer for a Oceania Suite and Owners Suite so O does throw out the “Temptation”. I must ad we have also had an absolutely terrible PH due to exterior noise so nothing is PERFECT. Just ENJOY, it is your 💰 and your cruise so no one’s option should limit what YOU do. Mauibabes

Oops, communication error, not a communion error. Definitely ask for a special remembrance when on your O cruise because the cakes can be REALLY great. Here is another one for you. We have a friend who LOVES O’s Key Lime Pie so their Butler had delivered to their room every night about 9:00 a piece of Key Lime Pie. She was in Heaven. Enjoy, Mauibabes.

We tell Oceania ahead of the trip, tell our TA, tell the Maitre d and even our Butler, if we have one, of the special occasions so special cakes are delivered to the table in lieu of the regular desert menus. Special occasions are special so we don’t want a communion error to adversely affect our celebration. Many times we have booked Privee for our special occasions with friends and they never fail to deliver something SPECIAL. Songs are also provided. Room Stewards have also dressed up the room as well when they have known about the occasion. Enjoy, Mauibabes

I accept being chastised. I earned it. Mauibabes.

Book a private tour with other guests. When we did the Amazon, DW’s #1 cruise, we connected with a group of people on the CC Roll Call for our cruise and had fabulous tours. Definitely get up the rivers and into the areas with the HUGE lily pads. Short of last minute cancellations while on board, I would guess you would not see more tours created by O and their tour company. Good Luck, Mauibabes

@Low Country Sandlapper i agree with you 100%. When we were on Vista a few months ago a couple traveling with us, Covid issue, and she was moved to a Solo room. I did a QUICK WALK THRU, and I would never want to be in that solo stateroom. Besides size, I am a right side sleeper and I would have been up against the wall 🤬 I would always opt for the double room, maybe a different location or category, and try to drag a relative or friend along, even if I had to share some 💰 to make it work. The Double room is the best way to go IMHO. Enjoy, Mauibabes

OK, my experience with Positano, we have been shut out a couple times due to weather and ended up in Naples. I have no idea what the last tender might be and neither can anyone with any accuracy because port stays can be adjusted for many reasons. Take your port departure time and back off an hour and 🙏. Amalfi is absolutely a beautiful port call and so much to see, be it up in Ravello and in Positano. We got a private tour, be it Tours By Locals, Trip Advisor, Shore Excursions or others and see what you can put together. But you must be flexible. i have mentioned a number of times that a port call in Amalfi that was weathered out and the care our Concierge took to get us connected with our Private Tour provider, we had to be picked up in Naples instead of Positano, confirmed for me we were always going to be sailing Concierge Class or higher so we could get that extra level of service. Good luck with your planning and the cruise, it will be wonderful. Mauibabes

We did a segment of the 2018 World cruise and we hit many of the ports from Tokyo down, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, etc. and it was fantastic. We are booked on a Tokyo north islands and a TransPacific and Alaska in May 2025 on Riviera and are really looking forward to it. If you are looking at a Riviera cruise in 2025, there is NO COMPARISON with the small ships of Azamara. Your Oceania trip would be far superior but then we have never sailed on Azamara but the ships are the same R Class as Oceania and Riviera would be 1200+ pax and 4 wonderful Specialty restaurants. Based on seeing the A ships in various ports around the world when we were on Oceania cruises, they are not maintained nor updated like O ships. Couple that with Azamara having been sold and being operated by a much less experienced ownership team, I could not imagine opting for A over O but you are the ones making the decision and writing the check. JMHO after over 25 Oceania cruises. Mauibabes

Definitely place your Deposit to get Priority Waitlisted and get yourself Waitlisted for as many Stateroom Categories as you would be comfortable with in case one becomes available. Once you are deposited you can see your status on the lists. At Final Payment there could be some availability because that is when most people will opt out. Good Luck. Mauibabes

Take some ear plugs and enjoy 🤪👍 We had a PH on Vista twice and the Deck 10 room was fine, 11073 was good but the neighbor to our headboard was a little hard of hearing so the TV got a bit loud once or twice but no big deal. Look at what rooms or staff access doors open to your room entry door so just check your surroundings out when selecting your room. Loved the PH if that fits your 💰. Enjoy your cruise. Mauibabes

Ditto, don’t waste a Specialty reservation on the first night unless you have a special occasion and you want a specific restaurant and not just willing to take one based on availability. Like DENIE said, we have gone that route for years and always had an extra dinner in a Specialty on Embarkation Day. Mauibabes

Now I would definitely be talking to my TA or O and see what new itineraries they will be offering enroute from Asia. I would guess you may find some enjoyable itineraries eventhough they won’t be the Med trips you had initially booked. It is a real bummer but like was said “Prudence” is the real driver because the world situation over there is tenuous at best. We booked that similar itinerary in reverse in November so, so far so good. Mauibabes

First, read all the Oceania advertisements and descriptions of what they cater to with their product and demographics. You are in your 40’s so can you cruise with your “Parents” and their friends? If so, then go and ENJOY. We started sailing O at 60 after a half dozen Princess and Celebrity cruises on 2,000-3,000 passenger ships. We quickly saw that the 670 and then 1200 passenger ships of Oceania were definitely what we were looking for. We never looked back and convinced our travel buddies that they needed to step up their game; enjoy a beautiful ship, great service and really wonderful food. Along the way we met so many great people aboard and started growing our “Oceania family”. Certainly $3k is a 💰 but that is your decision. You book the level that YOU WILL BE COMFORTABLE WITH, and don’t get caught up in bargain basement rooms with bargain basement pricing. Oceania has Sales and you can get some excellent prices but they are targeting specific sailings that are not selling out. Normally O will tell you they offer the lowest pricing when the cruise itineraries are released and your Bermuda trip was released long ago. There are many DIY shoppers on the Board and they can offer their insights which are quite valid and valuable. While we have been on R and O and A Class ships, we find we definitely enjoy the O Class ships, Riviera and Marina and their itineraries. We have sailed thru your Bermuda and Caribbean island ports and do not find them particularly appealing. Sometimes you just have to go through some islands to get to where you really want to go, it is a tough life on an O ship. So you mention July 2025, if I threw in my $0.02, I would consider Alaska as Riviera will be taking over Regatta’s Alaska Season in 2025 and that will afford you the 1200 Pax ship, 4 GREAT Specialty restaurants and a beautiful part of North America to see and not just an island with heat and humidity and other possible benefits. Oh, and you get a 291 sq. ft. Veranda stateroom or if you opted for that Penthouse, 420 sq. ft. Stateroom with a Butler. Choices, Choices. Whatever you do, try it, you might just like it. Without being All Inclusive Luxury level, you do get an elevated level of cruising for comparable pricing, especially if you catch a Sale. Mauibabes.

IF you get an opportunity to move up to a PH on a Sale and it is within your budget, grab it. A room 50% larger is always welcomed and your DW will really appreciate you 🤪👍🍷 Like I said, just sharing our Oceania experiences. Mauibabes

Just sharing experiences that have made sailing on Oceania so special for us. We have had negative experiences but tried to turn the negative ones into positives by communicating with the right staff and turning things around. While we had a Concierge to talk to in the Lounge, there is also a Concierge Desk on Deck 5. There is a Reservations Desk for dinner reservations too. We would recommend getting to know the Food and Beverage Director, Restaurant Manager, and Maitre d’s. They are all highly visible and all the Maitre d’s work shifts in the Terrace Cafe so a little hello and chat may do wonders when you are visiting their Specialty restaurant. Many times we have just dropped by a restaurant after the mad rush when opening to ask about availability and actually gotten a table. To be honest, even when we have been in a PH and had a Butler, I have been more successful getting into specific restaurants that our Butler could not arrange. A smile and kind words helped us a lot. One trip with two other couples, we had a negative experience in Polo, dinner was not up to par. A nice chat with the Maitre d when he dropped by to see how our dinner was, we shared the truth. His reply, “The restaurant is yours ANY night you would like to dine here, you do not need a reservation” we definitely took him up on his offer and ate there 8 more times, ALL EXCELLENT. It was a Med and TA trip so there were lots of opportunities. Our experience, they do aim to please. Mauibabes, on vacation and coming to you from spectacular Maui HI.

In my experience it was quite valuable for the following reasons: Location of Stateroom, especially if the motion of the ocean can bother you. Earlier Specialty dining reservations date. Free access to the Spa Deck and Therapy pool which can be quite beneficial, not $25 per day. Concierge Lounge is a benefit if you choose to use it, always a drink or snack available, newspapers, computers and a Concierge in the a.m and late afternoon/evening. The price is just not that much more in the grand scheme of things. My ultimate reason and why I would not opt out, we were on Riviera once and sailing into Positano the next morning and we had a long private tour booked. 5:00 p.m. the Captain announced we would be docking in Naples due to weather the next morning. I walked into the CL and sat down with the Concierge and she immediately made the call to my Tour Operator, rescheduling the location and time for our pick up and we were done and anxiety squashed. We walked downstairs past Destination’s and there were hundreds of people lined up in a panic trying to rebook Private as well as Ship tours and that went on for several hours. That assistance won my vote, just like insurance, when you need it you need it. JMHO. Mauibabes

One of our travel buddies has been nicknamed “Lobsterman” because he eats lobster every day on our cruises. Be it 10 or 35 days, he has his lobster. Just go and ENJOY. Mauibabes.

If you have not made your final payment, but I am guessing you have, I would suggest you use the Oceania Air Credit amount as your baseline and try to book your own flight from London to Istanbul and home from wherever your cruise ends and see if the ticket price you find is acceptable to you. O will probably not have PE seating available from their contract carriers so you are probably better off taking their credit and DIY and get your seats together. If you were booked thru a TA, I would have made the flights a condition of my booking. I would think flying in May you should still find available flights to accommodate your needs. Enjoy your first Oceania cruise because Vista is an amazing ship and they will definitely treat you like royalty. You said B-4 Stateroom so pay attention to your Specialty dining reservations booking date. All the restaurants on Vista have some wonderful menus so ENJOY. Mauibabes