What is a reasonable facsimile to Oceania?

[docmark]

48 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Glad you found your cruise line of choice - enjoy X.

 

[docmark]

"Glad you found your cruise line of choice - enjoy X."  

 

Sorry, have to do it twice...….From list of his future cruises, he is "preferring" Princess (4 cruises) over Celebrity (3 cruises).... and he didn't say anything about quality of food or size/cost of "suites' on Princess.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, docmark said:

"Glad you found your cruise line of choice - enjoy X."  

 

Sorry, have to do it twice...….From list of his future cruises, he is "preferring" Princess (4 cruises) over Celebrity (3 cruises).... and he didn't say anything about quality of food or size/cost of "suites' on Princess.

We chose the Princess cruises over X because of specific itineraries. The food is fine in the Princess MDR, but granted their buffet is no Terrace Cafe. 

 

We’re going on the Crown around the British Isles on a family cruise and Princess had the better itinerary over X as well as a much better teen program for our granddaughter. We got a CC mini-suite for roughly $316 pp/day. Then in Jan 2020 we’re going on the Island Princess from FtL through the PC and onto Easter Island in a vista suite for roughly $335 pp/day. Then in July 2020 we’re going on the Island Princess again from the UK to Iceland and Greenland before winding up in NY in a mini-suite for roughly $278 pp/day. Finally we’re going on the Crown again in a mini-suite from the UK to the Med followed by a TA via the Iberian Coast back to FtL for roughly $183 pp/day. 

 

With regards to our X cruises, most of which are in sky suites except for Antarctica (aft-facing SV) on the Silhouette and Japan circumnavigation leg (midship C2) on the Millennium, they had the better itineraries over Princess with the average net pp/day sky suite rates running between $296 for the Apr 2020 b2b cruise and $259 for the TP leg of the Apr 2021 cruise. 

 

Don’t get me wrong we’ll cruise again on O if they offer a unique itinerary at a fair price, but they also have to improve their internet quality since giving every cabin an unlimited account back in May 2018 without upgrading the hardware on the ship. 

 

But we’re finding being in our mid 60s, we want to be wowed the entire cruise by things other than just food if we’re going to pay between $350-600+ pp/day for an Oceania A3 Cabin, which is pretty much what we’ve been paying over the past 2 years. O’s food is good, but not that good. 

 

For us X and Princess just offers a more high energy cruise with great shows with plenty of entertainment options, such as 2-3 lectures and 3-4 low stress trivia games on sea days, and an interactive game show practically every night. Now, we may not go to every one of them, but at least they offer a much larger variety than I does. 

 

BTW our 30 day SE Asia cruise this past spring in a B1 balcony on the Crystal Symphony worked out to be about $350 pp/day. 

 

Hopefully this answers your question. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[pinotlover]

Itinerary is the most important thing for us. Oceania only chooses to do a very brief 10 Japan itinerary, leaving searching for other options mandatory. Completely different set of priorities, in evaluating shoot, than those set out before where the ship seems to be the destination not the ports of call.

[Fredalyn]

Ken the Cruiser-

Reading your last post has gotten me thinking about your cruiseline choices. We have been looking for a Scottish Island criuse for next summer.  For our limited time frame, O only seems to hit Lerwick once, as do many of the others going that way and then heads off to Iceland. Weather can cause cancellations and we were looking into possible more days in each port.

Have you looked at the cruiselines that target the UK market or any of the other smaller companies? Any suggestions would be appreciated before we move over to the UK section of CC. We are in no hurray and have a b2b O coming up. 

We did like O, X and Cunard for different reasons, as we mentioned in an earlier post. DH does not drink a drop and I don't enjoy whiskey- so forget the distillery cruises lol. Cunard had an early one  in June but can't make that one. 

Thank you!

[1985rz1]

1 hour ago, Fredalyn said:

We have been looking for a Scottish Island criuse for next summer.  For our limited time frame, O only seems to hit Lerwick once, as do many of the others going that way and then heads off to Iceland. Weather can cause cancellations and we were looking into possible more days in each port.

 

I'm not Ken the Cruiser, but have you looked at this one: https://www.oceaniacruises.com/baltic-cruises/london-to-dublin-NAU200703/?sr=%2Fcruise-finder%2F%23sailDates%3D2020|07%23destinations%3Dbalticandscandinavia%23cruiseLengths%3DEightToTen, or is that out of you time frame?

 

Multiple nights in one port is not Oceania's normal modus operandi.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, Fredalyn said:

Ken the Cruiser-

Reading your last post has gotten me thinking about your cruiseline choices. We have been looking for a Scottish Island criuse for next summer.  For our limited time frame, O only seems to hit Lerwick once, as do many of the others going that way and then heads off to Iceland. Weather can cause cancellations and we were looking into possible more days in each port.

Have you looked at the cruiselines that target the UK market or any of the other smaller companies? Any suggestions would be appreciated before we move over to the UK section of CC. We are in no hurray and have a b2b O coming up. 

We did like O, X and Cunard for different reasons, as we mentioned in an earlier post. DH does not drink a drop and I don't enjoy whiskey- so forget the distillery cruises lol. Cunard had an early one  in June but can't make that one. 

Thank you!

Hi Fredalyn, we really haven’t looked at small cruise lines that specifically target the UK market, but we just looked on the Princess site and they have 3 cruises in the summer of 2020 that stop at Lerwick Island. One leaves on July 23 that we’re on (Southampton to NYC). The second one leaves Aug 24 from Southampton to Southampton and the third one leaves Sep 7 from Southampton to Southampton. All are on the Island Princess that has about 2,000 passengers. But my guess is they only stop for one day there rather than multiple days like you’re talking about. But they might at least be worth looking at.

 

From a google search we also noticed during July Viking (Sun, Star and Jupiter), HAL (Rotterdam and Zuiderdam), Oceania (Nautica), Silversea (Silver Spirit and Silver Wind) and Seabourn (Quest) go to Lerwick. Then in August Regent Seven Seas (Explorer and Navigator), Crystal (Symphony) and Azamara (Quest) go there and there are also ones in September. 

 

Hope this helps give you some alternatives that better fit your cruising schedule. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[LHT28]

you could look at  the cruise schedule to see if any ships overnight this season then check that line to see if they will do overnights next  season

just a thought

https://www.lerwick-harbour.co.uk/visiting-cruise-ships-2019

[Fredalyn]

Thank you so much for your wonderful suggestions! I will definitely do more research.

[Glenndale]

We will be visiting Lerwick this summer on Cunard Queen Victoria, which then proceeds to Iceland.

Cunard will repeat this cruise next summer in June and July.

 

Sorry, just realised that the July Cruise next year doesn't visit Lerwick 🙁

 

Edited July 11, 2019 by Glenndale

[Fredalyn]

The June July Cruise would have been a strong possibility. However, we can't get there by June 19th 😞

 

[Hawaiidan]

You guys are totally missing the idea..... I go through all sorts of detail to compare  cruise lines.... not cruises....  You only have to do it  1 time  to get an answer.     Emotion  is for the  specific cruise   NOT the LINE.........once  you have figured out what  your wants and needs are       For me  I   have ruled out everything  but Oceania...  nothing  else, for me  even comes close.       

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, Hawaiidan said:

You guys are totally missing the idea..... I go through all sorts of detail to compare  cruise lines.... not cruises....  You only have to do it  1 time  to get an answer.     Emotion  is for the  specific cruise   NOT the LINE.........once  you have figured out what  your wants and needs are       For me  I   have ruled out everything  but Oceania...  nothing  else, for me  even comes close.       

I am so confused? So what you’re saying is pick just one cruise line, in your case O, that best fits your enjoyment requirements and then only book their itineraries?

 

What happens if you cruise multiple times a year and that cruise line doesn’t have an itinerary you want to sail on in the time periods you have available, but some other quality lines do? Do you just not go until your chosen cruise line, in your case O, does offer the various itineraries you may want to go on?

Edited July 11, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[pinotlover]

Dan on multiple occasions has posted he sails only for the ship, ports and destinations mean little to nothing to him because “ he’s seen it all”. 

 

Therefore, his calculations are for the percentage of people, with several posters here included, where the SHIP is the destination. For those of us most interested in ports and destinations to be visited his math has little value.

[Ken the cruiser]

4 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Dan on multiple occasions has posted he sails only for the ship, ports and destinations mean little to nothing to him because “ he’s seen it all”. 

 

Therefore, his calculations are for the percentage of people, with several posters here included, where the SHIP is the destination. For those of us most interested in ports and destinations to be visited his math has little value.

I agree. Thanks for clearing that up. 

[Hawaiidan]

30 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I am so confused? So what you’re saying is pick just one cruise line, in your case O, that best fits your enjoyment requirements and then only book their itineraries?

 

What happens if you cruise multiple times a year and that cruise line doesn’t have an itinerary you want to sail on in the time periods you have available, but some other quality lines do? Do you just not go until your chosen cruise line, in your case O, does offer the various itineraries you may want to go on?

Correct...... In my selection process nothing came close to O. so why would I not stick with a winner.  I  do not have to cruise  I have many other options    But when I cruise  I want it to be something that I enjoy and not compromise just to go..Some times I will do 1 cruise a year   some times 2.  sometimes none

cruise more for the ship today not the ports.

[Hawaiidan]

11 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Dan on multiple occasions has posted he sails only for the ship, ports and destinations mean little to nothing to him because “ he’s seen it all”. 

 

Therefore, his calculations are for the percentage of people, with several posters here included, where the SHIP is the destination. For those of us most interested in ports and destinations to be visited his math has little value.

Correct.... my math is for me...  not anyone else  Everyone has to decide what their likes and dislikes are and choose based on those.    I only suggested a process to arrive at a conclusion for ones self.

[Hawaiidan]

14 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Dan on multiple occasions has posted he sails only for the ship, ports and destinations mean little to nothing to him because “ he’s seen it all”. 

 

Therefore, his calculations are for the percentage of people, with several posters here included, where the SHIP is the destination. For those of us most interested in ports and destinations to be visited his math has little value.

I really have  not "seen it all"    but I have seen all I want to.    For me that is my "all"..... plenty of places I have no interest or desire to ever visit.

[1985rz1]

My travel philopophy:

 

 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

 

To me that's more important than which cruise line will get me there.

Edited July 11, 2019 by 1985rz1

[Paulchili]

12 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

My travel philopophy:

 

 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

 

To me that's more important than which cruise line will get me there.

+1

We have sailed with Princess to circumnavigate Australia long before O offered that itinerary because we didn't know if they ever would or how long we had on this earth; ditto for circumnavigating Japan. We have done several itineraries that we would have preferred to do with Oceania but as they didn't offer those itineraries (at least not at the time - a cruise on P&O Australia with seven stops in Papua New Guinea comes to mind) - we went with whoever did offer them, all the time having realistic expectations from whichever cruise line we used.

Carpe diem.

[Hawaiidan]

3 hours ago, Paulchili said:

+1

We have sailed with Princess to circumnavigate Australia long before O offered that itinerary because we didn't know if they ever would or how long we had on this earth; ditto for circumnavigating Japan. We have done several itineraries that we would have preferred to do with Oceania but as they didn't offer those itineraries (at least not at the time - a cruise on P&O Australia with seven stops in Papua New Guinea comes to mind) - we went with whoever did offer them, all the time having realistic expectations from whichever cruise line we used.

Carpe diem.

Totaly what floats your boat... and your confining your explorations to  It sounds like to cruising.... great  In the grand scheme of things cruising is but a very very small part of my life.

I took it up after decades of doing a  lot of" on the edge" explorations, adventures and experiences where  I climbed mountains, flew airplanes, fought in wars, captained sailboats across the pacific, explored caves and volcanoes,  run  the great rivers, dove deep in the seas, fought fires, explored deserts,  jungles, rain forests,  wilderness and glaciers alike. from the arctic to the antarctic, from Kaula Lumpur to the Iron curtain.    My dance card is pretty full..... no regrets on missing anything......   

[clo]

5 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

Correct...... In my selection process nothing came close to O. so why would I not stick with a winner.  I  do not have to cruise  I have many other options    But when I cruise  I want it to be something that I enjoy and not compromise just to go..Some times I will do 1 cruise a year   some times 2.  sometimes none

cruise more for the ship today not the ports.

Ah, gotcha.  I know that we will not be doing only cruises because there are places we want to 'do' where a cruise wouldn't work for us.  There was a comment somewhere here about a cruise around Ireland.  I can't imagine doing that.  It's an easy place to drive, the people are so friendly, it's so beautiful, and on and on.  So we'll do a cruise in December on O.  Then in April we'll do a second Norwegian coastal cruise with Hurtigruten and that will be combined with land, on one or both ends.

[Glenndale]

18 hours ago, Fredalyn said:

The June July Cruise would have been a strong possibility. However, we can't get there by June 19th 😞

 

There is this cruise on a new ship, Spirit of Adventure, which visits Lerwick and stays overnight.

https://travel.saga.co.uk/cruises/ocean/where-we-go/british-isles-cruises/this-sceptred-isle.aspx?availability=2&duration=1-999&boardbasis=AI

[Hawaiidan]

18 hours ago, clo said:

Ah, gotcha.  I know that we will not be doing only cruises because there are places we want to 'do' where a cruise wouldn't work for us.  There was a comment somewhere here about a cruise around Ireland.  I can't imagine doing that.  It's an easy place to drive, the people are so friendly, it's so beautiful, and on and on.  So we'll do a cruise in December on O.  Then in April we'll do a second Norwegian coastal cruise with Hurtigruten and that will be combined with land, on one or both ends.

Along those same lines....River cruises... seem to me absurd... you can drive the regions and see 10x as much  and you set the schedule of where and when....

[clo]

1 minute ago, Hawaiidan said:

.River cruises

Lordy, yes.  Five or so years ago we did a Prague to Budapest river cruise.  Did a day stop in Vienna and Bratislava IIRC.  The beginning and ending cities were glorious especially since we added days at each end.  But Vienna in a day????  And, of course, it's not really a "day."  And honestly on the ship (or are they boats?) there was really nothing to see.  And if you don't want to drive, Europe generally has great train service.  Thanks for weighing in.