Vineyard View

Thank you PaulMCO. I do wonder - is there is a distinct difference though, if based on your stateroom, you have different colors of cards - how the immediate treatment may be for tables in dining rooms, access to different venues. I honestly do not know, but why the color coding. Interesting. I have no idea if SB does the same but I sure don’t remember seeing that. I am not sure that an $800 fcc would work depending on the overall feeling that we left the cruise with. Bit with 14 Oceania cruises, there must have been something that kept your returning. So I guess that goes back to how you felt the last time you disembarked - and that is a big statement. So thanks again.

Viking does the same things with respect to specialty reservations and excursions, so I am familiar with that set up. I didn’t care for it, but usually once on board we always found more options. The tender situation would have ticked me off too. I do not know how Viking handles that because we rarely tendered with them, but the times we did, there were no numbers or color coded bands. We just blended in and got on the tenders. I think most cruise lines send out their booked excursions guests first, maybe including Seabourn? Might be wrong on that, but based on cabins just doesn’t work for me either. I was worried about all the tender ports we had on SB, but rarely did we have to wait much as they have this operation down to a tee. It was handled so smoothly. Thanks for these further details. I appreciate this a lot.

Thank you for this feedback. These are things that I appreciate knowing with our current status. could you elaborate on the ‘second class citizen’ piece a bit please? Is it pertaining to restaurant selections, disembarking in ports, even just overall attitude. Thanks again

I have used a couple different companies. I always ‘live chat’ with an agent so that I have record of the dialogue we have insuring me that the company I book allows for this. The one I used this year for next cruise is IMG and this time I purchased it through insuremytrip.com. This is regarding insuring our deposit with preexisting conditions and adding to the policy as you incur more costs.

The food piece of your review is quite concerning. I am wondering so far how you would rate in against other lines you have cruised? Skipped ports is becoming a big worry for us with a first O on the horizon. the ‘last minute’ emergency drill training is quite honestly poor management. You should have been informed prior IMO I appreciate your balanced review Thank you for taking your vacation time.

Good point on the food. We loved the caviar and champagne on SB! Oceania has a great reputation around their food. How much is marketing, IDK, but as you say, it is subjective.

Before our cruise earlier this year, first post pandemic, I asked primary care if she would prescribe Paxlovid just in case. I was fully vaxed. She said it Was not an option. I Caught it for the first time at the end of the trip, tested positive the day after getting home, and took Paxlovid. Wasn’t fun, and don’t want to get it again, but unfortunately it isn’t going away and cruises are going to be a higher risk. Wouldn't travel insurance cover those medical costs of you have a policy with Covid coverage?

We tend to steer clear of buffet. If staff is serving the food (as they also do on Viking) it can be more reassuring depending on the quality of food - early mainstream cruise memories, and their buffets always deters me from those areas. Thank you for the O feedback.

The size is a hesitation for sure. I did look at Explora and they will not be in the Mediterranean until June which is too late for our travel dates. I have not looked at Scenic nor Ritz Carlton. One of the detriments in my mind with SS and Regent is that you pay for excursions that are included, and we are not ship excursions oriented. We prefer DIY and private. My biggest concern with SB itinerary is the B2B aspect after reading on multiple threads here the huge negative impact that seems too frequent. I am not sure that these other lines offer 14 day stretches that are not B2B, so I do wonder if the same thing happens there. The Oceania itinerary is a straight 14 day, No B2B.

Hank. I will not elaborate. It was not given to us in writing. It was given verbally. It is between me and Seabourn. Sorry if you do not agree. No disrespect meant, but please respect that this is not something I am making up. My point was that because of that, we looked elsewhere, and I am hoping for some input between the two lines.

The shortened cruise days are being called for “sail and sustain” environmental reasons. No one seems to quite be able to get their arms. around that. Some of the skipped ports are not justified by weather. Recently there were cancellations due to Covid on board in order to keep the passengers safe. So it’s a bit off the norm in some situations. I agree that weather/rough seas trumps ports in the appropriate circumstances. I think maybe my point is more to the difference between the lines and the B2B dialogue with SB. This is a B2B out of Venice vs a 14 day in the Western Mediterranean. Thank you Stan01 for your input. I appreciate it. It’s very true that itineraries do change and are out of the ship managements control.

Well, I have no idea, but as you say,I am guessing that this is part of the industry so to speak. We met a couple servers on Quest who had come from other non mass lines for reasons that made them happy to be there. I hope that with the new top Mgmt changes at SB things will return to what all of you remember.

Was hesitant to post this, but here goes. We sailed SB for the first time earlier this year. We very much enjoyed our experience. it could not have been a better first post C experience. It was an 11 day itinerary on Quest so no B2B. We enjoyed it enough that we booked a future cruise on Encore while on board for next year that is two 7 day B2B. When we got home, things went a lot south with what was promised by FCC on board, and what actually was. No, I will not elaborate. During the extended time post cruise dealing with this, we found another itinerary on Oceania (yes, I know not Luxury category) that is a 14 day strait itinerary. Fast forward, things have improved somewhat with SB discrepancies, but the process did taint the memory a bit. After reading about all the group charter etc concerns with 7 day B2B it has me wondering which way to go. That said, Reading about shortened port days and skipped ports on O is concerning, as are the concerns posted about SB, so I realize there is no perfect world so to speak. We like both itineraries equally for different reasons. We have never sailed Oceania. Would be on a newly refurbished ship. That itinerary is much less in pricing than SB. Yes 1238 pax vs 650. We also realize that in many ways one gets what one pays for. We have sailed Viking multiple times. I realize this is a better comparison to Oceania, but we are not interested in V at this point. I would sincerely appreciate any input from those experienced with both SB and Oceania post pandemic who could give me some insight. I am sorry if this is covered post C, but I really couldn’t find much - likely because most comparisons are with Regent and SS for a good reason. Thank you

I realize a lot of people left the industry during Covid to survive and stayed away. But if the best crew have jum[ed ship elsewhere, where did they go?

Actually looked at it yesterday for some reason. Does look amazing. Totally agree. However, We are not ship excursions travelers, so the upcharge included in the pricing for that is of no value to us as with Regent. I think different value propositions for different people and not one right nor wrong.

Well Momnipotent, that sure sounds disappointing. I wonder if there are still Covid rules in place where a ship cannot dock if there is X percentage of pax on board with it. Not sure without testing they would know this, but the call of ‘keeping all of you safe’ as the reason just doesn’t ring true.

I just checked our B2B next April on Encore and most categories are open on both segments. All this talk about large group bookings on B2B has me wondering about our choice. It seems that SB doesn’t like booking 14 day segments. That scenario would ruin the total experience for anyone not part of that group.

What ship are you on Momnipotent? I am sorry to hear this. I am reading coughing occurring more on other lines right now as well. I am not sure how anyone controls that - obviously covering one’s mouth and wearing a mask of you are one of those would be nice, but apparently that isn’t happening on various ships/lines. Also sorry you were ill. your comment about the food - with 15 O cruises, do you feel the actual quality of the food is lower, or it just feels like it is the same cuisine you may have enjoyed in the past and we’re looking for something different? You also mentioned skipped ports…..sure seems to be a trend on O regardless of coughing. It’s starting to make me hesitant about O and mor inclined to consider an alternative. Itineraries are really important in our decisions when we book a sailing with anyone.

12-18. Unless you have a trip already booked, then it is 6 months. We’ve done that in the past. A few times. One of the BIG disadvantages IMO.

We always do this as well for the same reason. I just was not aware that you could wait until final payment and still have pre-existing covered. I usually use insuremytrip.com or squaremouth, but will add Steve to my list. So thanks for this Information.

FaceTime in dining venues to me seems to suggest lack of class or consideration of others….or both. Who possibly thinks this is okay? It’s beyond me.

I honestly was not aware of this availability. Admittedly I haven’t looked specifically for this since Covid, but in the past I didn’t find it. That certainly doesn’t mean it isn’t out there. So this is really good to know. Thank you. Follow up to this suggest that it is higher cost, but knowing it’s possible is a good thing in case I drop the ball. For me, I just would rather check that box early on in the process.

That is disheartening to hear, but thanks for the warning. Maybe Tunisia will be an in port sea day. Particularly since it is an 8 1/2 hr day. Will have to think about this.

That is true. If you pay for that benefit that is another choice in the policy you go with. I was simply responding to a post questioning why you would insure a deposit. My response was for coverage of pre-existing conditions. But to your point, the Hawaii situation is beyond sad on so many levels. That substitution seems pretty extreme when there are other islands, but those are likely completely booked up too, so no good solutions. And yes, it would be difficult to get excited about that substitution.

Not necessarily so. Once you put a deposit on a trip, if you do not book insurance in X amount of days (usually 14-21) then you cannot have pre-existing conditions waived. We always make sure we book a policy that allows you to only pay up front for the money you have on deposit, then when you pay more, you are able to Increase the money you pay on your insurance. It’s the devil in the details in making sure you have chosen a policy/company that allows this. At the end of the day, the total cost of the policy is not more than if we were to pay in full for it up front.