Vineyard View

I/we continue to look at a 15 day itinerary with Venice as a turn around port. I am wondering, now that there are a few months of experience with the new arrangements, how this is all working? How difficult and time consuming is it to transfer from the ship to the city? I realize that time spent in Venice is better by actually staying pre or post, but I thought I would ask for any updated experiences. Thank you.

Ahhh. So it will be interesting to see how other more ‘luxury’ lines respond to this that are not owned by larger main cruise lines. Plus to your point, countries that still require vax.

Thank you for clarifying what I meant to say - in that Oceania is under NCL and likely to follow.

Solo travel for us. It would be the direction we would take. But that may not work for you. There are small group companies I have seen but I really do not know anything about them.

We have narrowed down choices for a trip next year based on itineraries. Two are with Viking - whom we know well and love - but one was on Oceania which we have never sailed on. A new thread started today about the possibility, and it appears to be strong one, that Oceania will start a no vaccine requirement. NCL is going this direction and has announced. There seems to be an assumption, or maybe strong feeling, that all cruise lines will head in this direction. I am so very hopeful that since Viking is family owned, that they will not follow suit on this concept……at least until they stand back and see how this all rolls out. It makes me a bit uncomfortable to book a cruise. I know we all have different feelings about this, but watching and waiting can sometimes be a very good path to take.

Could be that is true for a while. And that would be very sad.

When I am not on a ship I have more control in my environment and choices. For instance, I can choose to eat outdoors at restaurants, which I always do. I can walk in fresh air in parks. I can make decisions about the number of people I wish to be around by choosing the places/experiences I go. Just examples that obviously do not eliminate the possibility of becoming ill, and certainly knowing some people are not vaccinated. It’s just my way of reducing the opportunity. On a ship many of those choices are not there. It is a more enclosed environment, and i personally feel that the more safety measures to counteract or reduce chances of Covid, the better - including required vaccines. JMHO. If the cruise lines all choose to follow this path, we will likely sit it out for a bit, do land travel, and then make a better informed decision based on the outcomes of those actions/new and more lenient rules. Maybe the impact won’t be so great. I have no idea. I just know my own comfort zone.

You may be correct, but I sure hope not. Time will tell

Oceania has been on my radar for next year - along with two other lines. With this announcement they are now off my radar. I realize that my two person vote not to book won’t impact them one iota, and that I am not a long time Oceania cruiser but would rather be a first time, but I will not at this point cruise on a line that waives vax requirements. Thank you for letting us know n

On a ‘luxury’ cruise line one shouldn’t have to ‘buy’ decent wines. Premium okay, but decent, no. And that selection doesn’t meet the test at all IMHO. No disrespect intended

100% agree on the wine list. We’ve been seriously looking at SB and honestly expected a very different offering than this.

Wonder if there will be any July 4th special promos….

We stayed there as well several years ago. We highly recommend Electra Palace. Book a room with view and balcony. Well worth it.

So maybe whomever removed it might be able to chime in and enlighten us all on the why?