What are the best tips for a newbie to make the most of Oceania?

[Hawaiidan]

I am a non smoker my whole life even the service....And on Marina I happened on this beautiful area with all these great people and enjoys their company so much that I made a habit of having my drinks there... Plenty of chairs and deck space...and calm in the middle of it all.

Maybe I will take it up.... who knows? Funny, I never noticed the smoke. T0 be frank, whether cigar or pipe.... it was no big thing.

[Hawaiidan]

I hope that this helps

 

I found in Terrace, that every night not only did they have what the main dining room had, but many, not all, of the courses from the other specialties

Not with the same presentation but there...

They even served several times the Sea bass from Red Ginger.. in The Terrace

 

That's why I liked it and I found that I ate way less by taking several small tid bits,. At the specialties we usually order just 2 courses and no desert.... Loved the Scallops at Jaques

 

At Waves I never found it crowded because I ate around 7am lunch at 1:30

Even had the chefs create for me a special chili dog. Loved the crab burgers

 

,

[Winelovers5354]

We are new to Oceania ourselves. We are on the Sept. 24th sailing Lisbon to Rome. We booked our restaurant reservations this morning, so do that ASAP. From everything I have read the biggest complaint on Oceania are the excursions.....the cost and the quality. Does anyone have any suggestions for maybe using a private tour company or how I might go about finding out about one? I hope u have a fantastic time on your cruise! Happy Sailing!

[globevest]

We are new to Oceania ourselves. We are on the Sept. 24th sailing Lisbon to Rome. We booked our restaurant reservations this morning, so do that ASAP. From everything I have read the biggest complaint on Oceania are the excursions.....the cost and the quality. Does anyone have any suggestions for maybe using a private tour company or how I might go about finding out about one? I hope u have a fantastic time on your cruise! Happy Sailing!

 

I suggest you sign on to your cruise Roll Call. You will probably find people there putting together 'private' shore excursions. On the Oceania cruises my wife and I have made we have done over half our excursions by joining other, after exploring Roll Call. The 'private' excursions turn out to cost less than half what 'O' charge. We have never been disappointed. Good luck.

[Mura]

Regarding your Roll Call and the possibility of private tours, I recently had an inquiry from someone who'd posed a question at International Travel News which I answered. She then came to CC as a lurker and saw that I had posted on this subject, so she asked me how safe we felt on private tours.

 

Obviously, if we take more private tours than ship's tours (whether I arrange them or someone else does), we feel quite safe doing so. I just thought I'd point this out to someone who apparently hasn't done so before.

 

We've had a few lemons on private tours, but we've had just as many on ship's tours. (And the percentage is probably less than 1% for both.) We've never had an absolute crook on a private tour (some who post here have indicated that such has happened on rare occasions), but we've had guides who just weren't up to snuff. Sometimes it depends on the port ...

 

In Recife, Brazil our guide (fortunately I didn't arrange this one!) was clearly a volunteer. It appeared that just about all guides there were. He had a van and figured he could take people around, but even with glaring hints about information he wasn't giving us, he still didn't. But this is probably the only time something like this happened to us.

 

Mura

[canuck.qc]

We are new to Oceania ourselves. We are on the Sept. 24th sailing Lisbon to Rome. We booked our restaurant reservations this morning, so do that ASAP. From everything I have read the biggest complaint on Oceania are the excursions.....the cost and the quality. Does anyone have any suggestions for maybe using a private tour company or how I might go about finding out about one? I hope u have a fantastic time on your cruise! Happy Sailing!

 

In addition to joining a RollCall group you can read posts from other cruises with similar itineraries and book on your own or start your own group. The popular tours fill quickly & when you book, mention you are with O and they may add you to an established group. TripAdv. & CC are a good source for reliable tour recommendations and you will save a TON of money.

[CintiPam]

Does that mean I could conceivably have lobster every night?

 

Yes, and I proudly affirm that I had lobster every day on our May Riviera cruise, either at the Waves Grill, where I requested "double surf, no turf, and no bun" for lunch or the lovely grilled lobster tails offered daily for dinner at the Terrace Cafe.:D

Edited July 12, 2014 by CintiPam

[Kevnzworld]

There have been stories on Oceania about "Dragon Ladies" ruling the laundry room and actually PREVENTING people from removing their laundry when they came back "late" ... which doesn't sound really helpful, does it? Fortunately I've only encountered very helpful people in the laundry rooms!

 

If I were to meet one of these "Dragon Ladies" I might be reduced to violence ... and generally I'm not at all violent!

 

Re Insignia's World Cruise having the benefit of free laundry for the duration -- I should hope so! It might get pretty rank after 3-4 months if they didn't ...

 

Mura

 

I have to comment. There is no self service laundry on Celebrity, but those that are high up on the loyalty ladder get free laundry ( Elite +)

Laundry on Seabourn is expensive, and we had just exited a two week cruise prior to boarding Seabourn. I sat out in the hallway on deck five many a late afternoon waiting for one of the ships four washing machines, or worse...the dryers...

People will just dump your stuff on the ground to get a machine , even if you are 10 minutes late....it's every man ( woman ) for themselves...lord of the flies, laundry room style..

[LHT28]

People will just dump your stuff on the ground to get a machine , even if you are 10 minutes late....it's every man ( woman ) for themselves...lord of the flies, laundry room style..

 

:eek:

Well I have not run into any problems on Oceania like that but I am not late getting back to the laundry room

 

Usually I am a couple of minutes early

[TERRIER1]

I have to comment. There is no self service laundry on Celebrity, but those that are high up on the loyalty ladder get free laundry ( Elite +)

Laundry on Seabourn is expensive, and we had just exited a two week cruise prior to boarding Seabourn. I sat out in the hallway on deck five many a late afternoon waiting for one of the ships four washing machines, or worse...the dryers...

People will just dump your stuff on the ground to get a machine , even if you are 10 minutes late....it's every man ( woman ) for themselves...lord of the flies, laundry room style..

 

The larger O ships have self service laundry on every cabin deck so there are more machines and dryers available. On the smaller R ships there is only self service on one deck and that does get very crowded and difficult to get a machine. Your best bet is to do laundry on a port day and not a sea day.