The Luxury Cruise Group of Four.......

[aaannnthony]

........will soon be the "Luxury Cruise Group of Five".......welcome OCEANIA!!

 

Just returned from 31 day b-2-b on O's Insignia, Barbados to Barcelona and Barcelona to Istanbul. Everything was beyond expectations! We've already booked three future cruises with Oceania, two of which result in cancellation of other cruises previosly booked, one of them with one of the "Lux Four".

[Guest Jancruz]

So nice to hear..I have been on 10 Oceania cruises and have loved every one..

 

Jan:)

*****

[HowardB]

Hello Anthony -

 

Seems like you had as much fun on the second cruise as you did on the first. I hope you racked up a lot of "Big O" points again!

 

Which future cruises are you going on? We are going on the November 17 Regatta transatlantic from Lisbon to Miami.

 

Regards,

 

Howard and Don

[ClaudiaF]

Hey Aaaanthony.. told ya you'd like it...

[Rickey 88]

Hi Anthony & Fran!

 

Glad the second part of the cruise was as good as the first. We are still talking about the smooth crossing and wonderful people and food.

 

Have you made any changes to your Asia bookings or are we still only going to be able to wave to you two as you get off in Beijing and we board on March 16th?

 

Dick & Vivian

[fjdelrio]

Dear AAANNNthony:

 

As I read these posts, I've noticed you are very opiniated and that worried me a little knowing you were going to sail with us!!

 

But I am pleased to read that you enjoyed our cruise(s), and that you are coming back for more. While I thank you for trying to include us in the luxury bunch, please don't, we're in a special class all of our own.

 

Frank

[aaannnthony]

Mr. FDR, thanks for responding to my comment; I'm honored that you've now posted three times, all of which were in response to posts of mine, the first two relative to the remaining itinerary schedules beginning April, 2006. I was very pleased to see that they became available during our cruises, on or about April 1st.

 

You have a right to be proud of your accomplishments with Oceania in such a short period of time. As I very briefly stated above, everything was excellent, and, the best part is knowing that it will only get better!

 

The Insignia staff were a pleasure to be with, from Captain Esposito through the ranks. Particular praise is singled out to maitre'd Andrea and his staff and Cruise Director Ms. Shani Reay, very personable, accommodating, and a talented entertainer as well.

 

My wife and I look forward to our future cruises with Oceania. We will make our first trip to Asia on Nautica, 24 days beginning February, 20, 2006. Hopefully, Shani will be the CD.....from our discussion with her about that cruise, we know she's "drooling" to get the CD assignment for Nautica beginning in November. Here's our vote that she gets her wish!

[aaannnthony]

Howard and Don and Vivian and Dick, thanks for posting your comments. We very much enjoyed our times together, and, yes, we thoroughly enjoyed the hectic day-to-day activity of the second cruise, very port intensive. Hello. also to Sue and Jim, our Gibralterites, and Jenny and John, our Canucks. We had a very nice CC group of ten!

 

Howard and Don, our bookings include, but, well may not be limited to: Nautica, Bangkok to Beijing, 2/20-3/16/06; two weeks later on Insignia's transatlantic, 3/30-4/10, Barbados to Genoa; and, Nautica's 11/15-27/06, Rome to Istanbul. We'll probably do a b-2-b on Nautica, depending on the itinerary/schedule!

 

Yes, we did rack up lots of "Big O" points, Fran got more involved on the second cruise. And, you'd be happy to know that our trivia team bested the "sexy seniors" record of five in a row by doing six in a row! I also won the daily quiz five times since I didn't have to compete with you two guys in the Library researching the questions!

 

Lastly, to Vivian and Dick, thanks again for leaving us with your last bottle of wine.....it was a very nice gesture!

 

Fran and I hope to see you all again!

[john2003]

This thread makes great reading, brings back some great memories of the transatlantic. I only wish we hadn't disembarked in Barcelona.

 

Anthony, thanks for doing the social arranging for the cc group. It was great to meet everyone and we really enjoyed the lunch and dinner together. I can certainly agree with the comments that you have posted about the cruise. Sue and Jim, we enjoyed the cocktails in your suite and also our day in your Gibraltar.

 

We had an excellent post cruise in Barcelona and the UK. Made us both want to see more of Europe. Had a "flying" first as BA couldn't start the 747 at Heathrow for our return to Vancouver. We cooked slowly for 1 1/2 hours without aircon before something worked. The onboard power unit had dumped oil and was out of action and the truck mounted unit didn't work. So much for being at the BA world HQ. The captain was very embarrassed and did a "walkabout" to keep us in line. They had to bring up steps and open doors to help us.

 

Regards to Fran and best wishes for your future cruises. I am just a bit jealous!

 

John amd Jenny

[aaannnthony]

Sue and Jim, sorry for omitting a thank you for your "cocktail reception" prior to our dinner group of eight early in the cruise! Hope to see you again!

[Jane110]

AAAnnnthony,

 

Happy to hear you loved your cruises.

 

I have to chime in and agree with you about Andrea and Shani, they're both wonderful (and I'd like to steal every piece of Shani's wardrobe!). In this spirit, I also have to compliment asst. cruise director, John. He's also a huge asset to the Oceania team. I hope he gets promoted to a full director on one of the ships.

[jimgib]

hi guys, thanks for your comments, we also loved the cruise and will be back again. it suprised us both how good everything was the food , the staff but most of all the wonderful fellow passengers, probably the best crowd we have been with on a cruise ship.

love to all of you we met

jim & sue xx

JimGib

 

hope we all meet up again!!

[aaannnthony]

Mr. FDR, I've been waiting for the right opportunity for a bump of this thread, and, today's the day.....med4bike, this "bumps" for you!

[Jancruz]

Frank is in Europe for the month..I dont think you will be hearing from him..of course he can always surprise me..

Jan

*****

[Casshew]

Hi aaaanthony, nice to hear you had a wonderful time on your B 2 b cruises.

 

When you arrived in Barcelona, did you have to leave the ship and reboard for the second cruise? were you able to leave everything in your stateroom?

[aaannnthony]

Sorry, I missed your post, but, we changed cabins, moved from a B-2, #6051, to a PH, #8011, for the second cruise.

 

Our attendants in #6051 moved us, mostly with hangers, to our new cabin. They also moved folded items, in piles, so that we didn't have to pack them.

 

We completed our move b/4 11AM, and, "cabbed" to Barcelona for a few hours walk. etc. along the "Ramblas"!

[aaannnthony]

Instead of responding to the RSSC vs. Oceania thread, I preferred "bumping" this thread.

 

Several times I have expressed major disappointment on these boards, the Rad. board mostly, with our one Radisson sailing, the combo Med-T/A aboard Voyager last November, only to be "attached" by the Rad. diehards. We had previosly sailed three times with Seabourn and twice with Crystal, so, we expected similar outstanding food quality, service, etc. from Radisson, but, they fell far short, most particularly in staff service and attitude.

 

A couple months later we did a 31 day b-2-b on Oceania....almost everything exceeded Radisson. Yes, the Radisson Voyager's room size, even in the lowest category, is equal to Oceania's PH, but, that's not really the most major consideration for us, and, probably others. We were in a PH the second sailing, and, probably price wise was a better deal than Radisson, of cource, no free wine and drinks at dinner, nor a free two bottle set-up in your cabin.

 

To conclude, we feel "booking" Oceania is much preferable to "booking" Radisson! And, to repeat an earlier post of mine, they will only get better!

[FinelyCruising]

I guess I must be a bit scrappy then in booking a PH on this line for the first time today. ;)

[Gogie]

Sorry, I missed your post, but, we changed cabins, moved from a B-2, #6051, to a PH, #8011, for the second cruise.

 

aaannnthony---my wife and I will be on Regatta next May and have reserved cabin 8009. Since I believe Regatta is identical to Insignia, can you comment on our cabin's location and amenities? Will the proximity of the elevator be an issue? Any overhead noise issues? Any and all comments would be most helpful as we have never sailed Oceania before.

[ClaudiaF]

Elevator is not an issue as far as noise.

We had one of those cabins and actually the location is excellent.

You are never far from anything.

[aaannnthony]

Gogie, it's a great location, just steps from the elevator and the stairwells.

 

Also, you're really not far from midship, recognizing that your cabin is behind the bridge and at least five officers cabins.

[LV Tapper]

Hi ... we're on the Barcelona to Istanbul in Sept. Did you use private guides along the way? If so, could you share their names and sites? We've been to many of the ports on the cruise before, but would like to see different things .... Any help will be most appreciated.

Glenda & Ed Rogers

[aaannnthony]

LV T, we didn't use any private guides. For the most part, we "winged it" on our own, usually with another couple, and, had no problems.

 

We hired a van, six of us, for an all day, 9 hours, to Florence, about 5 hours, and Pisa, about an hour and a half. We taxied to Marseilles, then used public busses. We walked to our visits in Monaco and Malta. In Naples, we did the "hop/on-hop/off" bus. We did the "public" tram ride in Corsica, really not much to do/see there. Our day in Civitavecchia was a day of rest, we walked to the town market for about an hour. We hired a taxi in Kusadasi to go to Ephesus; we negotiated $60 for five hours.

 

Lastly, we booked ship tours in Santorini, Rhodes, and Mykonos....they offered buy two/get one free for those three stops, so, our outlay was $266, less thah $90/day for three tours, each 4 to 5 hours.

 

Hope this is helpful....enjoy!

[Jane110]

LV T, we didn't use any private guides. For the most part, we "winged it" on our own, usually with another couple, and, had no problems.

 

We hired a van, six of us, for an all day, 9 hours, to Florence....

 

Anthony,

 

Can you tell me more about how you arranged this please? On the internet before the cruise, at the dock or did you have Oceania book it for you?

 

Thanks for all your input.

 

 

Jane

[aaannnthony]

We did it at the pier in Livorno. They wanted 40 Euros per hour, 360, for a nine hour all day. We negotiated to 300 Euros, 100 per couple. I believe it was Livorno Taxi. We had a very nice, new, van that sat six comfortably.

 

They had a "bossman" do the negotiating. We told him what we wanted to do, 5 hours in Florence and a quick stop in Pisa on the return to the ship. Our driver was most accommodating and his English was satisfactory. Overall, we did very well.