Vineyard View

Thanks Woofa. DH and I enjoy spending a bit of time late afternoon with a glass on the balcony and sometimes after dinner. Nothing like the sound and site of the wake at night. One more thing though. Does the advantage of early reservations for dinner with Concierge really impact the ability to get times and dates that you want as it can on other lines compared to a B3 balcony?

Perfect! Thank you! Answered my question! And bonus round is a yes for this category!

Thank you all. This helps a lot. The deck plan shows the theatre on deck five and absolutely nothing on deck 6, so maybe it is the height of two decks? I may be calling our TA in the morning to make a third category change. So far she still likes me! Ha! I do not see us really using the concierge lounge for much other than coffee, and I am not certain how much of a difference earlier dinner reservations make for concierge lounge. I do not need three bags of laundry and can pay for one if needed. I found renditions of the changes being made to concierge room and bathroom - the large walk in shower was a winner - were all bathrooms and cabins done in this manner on Riviera?

There was a comment that 7008 on Marina had only loungers. That is one of the available cabins. Also, what is on deck 6 forward? It shows white space on the deck plan Any thoughts as to whether forward or aft are preferable? I realize forward may have more movement, but the restaurant is directly below aft. ‘thanks much!

Our first Oceania sailing is on Marina. We are booked in Concierge 3 deck 9. After reading this thread, I just looked at availability for extended balcony cabins. There are two available forward, two aft. I noticed a completely blank space on deck plans underneath forward section, restaurant on aft section. Also wondering if you only have loungers as was posted on some of these balconies, if you can request added chairs. This thread has me questioning our choice.

Thank you. I appreciate you clarifying this. We always call the airline before booking in a lower category to get booked in the correct fare basis that allows us to use miles to upgrade for that reason. Sometimes it isn’t available, and some it is. We always fly in early - how much depends on the port. I wasn’t clear on my question at all. Does Seabourn allow you to work with airlines in order to do this. For example, they pick a flight with premium economy. Can you work with the airline before actual ticketing to determine if this is possible, or pay more in that category to make it possible to upgrade?

Does flight ease let you upgrade using miles from economy or premium economy?

You will enjoy both and I agree. Take the time to enjoy SF. It is truly very unique and beautiful. We have stayed in Barcelona a couple times post cruise for several days. Depending on when you visit (heat and crowds) there is also a hop on hop off cus that will take you to most places. If you are in high tourist season, taxi would be easiest for sure.

We purchased tickets for St Marks directly on their website for our May trip this year. cruisemom42 sent me the link but I am not locating it. It was so well worth skipping the line (which was huge). Purchasing direct did not have any extra fees that you might find with other avenues. Be sure to include tickets to the museum upstairs so that you can see all that and walk out onto the balcony. We also purchased tickets in advance for Doges Palace, which is right next to St Marks.

This strike was announced quite some time ago. I am thinking that Vista and other cruise ships embarking in Italy ports were probably prepared for these delays. European ATC etc strikes create such a mess. We’ve been caught up in them before. I am not sure that they accomplish much, but they have continued to do this for years.

Exactly. My point was meant to be that the upgraded beverage package flexibility on O is better than on Viking. You can add it on O mid cruise or whenever and only pay for the days from when you start. In the past, If I remember correctly, V charged for the entire time even if you did not sign up right away. . The other difference is that on V you have a much better and wider range of wine selections with the upgraded drinks package. From what I have read here, the wine selection on O is the same, regardless. I do not know if that is a positive or not.

Great info. Thank you Viking doesn’t work that way - at least in the past.

There are excursions listed in the general website for the cruise. No pricing. Not listed in individual records. l think mostly I am trying to understand what is typically the price pp for the small group and specialty - are they $300, $400, etc. so I have a general idea how far the SM credit will go and have an idea on the places I want to start looking for privates when we don’t DIY. I would not be happy if that happened as you described on Vista. I don’t blame them one bit. I am sorry that is happening to them.

Why in the world would they do that? I can’t quite understand what the point would be. As a non excursion couple, and two very crowded port days on this itinerary, it would helpful to have some answers on whether the $1000 SM shore excursion credit brings us any options of interest before I research private. I think that’s a logical way of thinking.

Thank you for this further info. I was trying not to bother TA with this, but if my next call isn’t successful I will engage her. She asked once and just got a generic overview sent to her of the categories. Not really helpful. should be easier.

Well, not sure what to say to that but maybe tomorrow I will call and see if I can find a rep with clues! Will post here info find out anything.

I just called O to try to get an PDF of the excursions prices and updated listing for our 5/18/24 booking. He looked it up and said, well, it looks like they are not posted yet. I responded that was my experience when logging in, but that the O website has them listed but no details including prices, so could he forward them to me. He forwarded the request to excursions, so we will see. I then asked him about the refurbishment. He said it was completed 4/20/20. I explained that there was another planned and would he look it up please. He didn’t find one for 2023. I asked him to check Spring 2024 and specifically April/May. He could not find anything. I explained that there is a window of no cruises scheduled during that time, with the 5/18 being first one showing. He did not see that window of no cruises. So IDK. I looked on the website again, and don’t see what he is apparently seeing. I don’t have the history with Oceania that you all have so I cannot comment on whether this is typical or no, but it certainly wasn’t informative.

That is our way of thinking…..long as all goes as planned! But that said, we always have insurance so if it goes differently then I would think we would know before the last minute!

We are booked on this cruise. I have watched this timeframe for several months and this showed up not very long ago. I asked our TA to check with O on the refurbishment before we booked last week. She wasn’t given an exact date but was told sometime between April and June 1. 🤷‍♀️.

We are also waiting for a resolution we sent documentation on about a month ago. Our cruise was wonderful. We loved SB. An incident needs to be resolved however, and home office has sent us one email asking for our patience……I hope yours gets resolved quickly. I would certainly do as you did and dispute it with my credit card company. That usually brings positive results.

I thank you. Was repeating previous statement. I would think they meant Sirena but haven’t looked into the details.

We are scheduled to sail on the 5/18 itinerary, which actually hasn’t been loaded into their website for very long. I happened upon it recently after watching that timeframe for quite a few months. Someone one these boards suggested it is the first sailing in a three week or so gap. Not sure if that makes me nervous or quite how to feel, but I sure hope it works well for you.

Thank you so much!

It is apparently the first sailing after retrofit. I wonder if that should concern me??? I also did not know that Sienna has the same itinerary. That seems strange. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will look further at that tomorrow. I appreciate this information.

No judgement. But we just cannot do that. I think it could be great if this could pan out to offer different variables of excursion types with SM.