Live: CintiPam, Riviera, Southern Caribbean, 14 days

[don731]

We found the WiFi to be stable in our cabin on deck 8.  One major outage (not onboard) with the authentication server for a few hours.  

[CintiPam]

15 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Quick question. When you're typing your longer posts on this thread, how is your internet connectivity? Are you able to stay connected during the entire process, or do you periodically get knocked offline, especially if you're posting to CC in your cabin? 

 

The reason I ask is when we were on the Riviera back in Nov 2018 for 45 days, we would get knocked offline every 2-3 minutes when we were accessing the internet from our balcony cabin on deck 7. Hopefully, they have resolved their connectivity issues since then, but thought I'd ask as access back home via the internet is very important to us.

Ken, our cabin connectivity has improved  considerably since our last Riviera cruise two years ago, which had a somewhat similar Southern Caribbean itinerary as well as since our May 2019 Marina cruise in the Western Mediterranean.  Normally I too would be kicked off every ten minutes unless I went

online in the middle of the night.  
 

This cruise all of my posts have been made live (without any cut and paste or save) on my iPhone 11 while lounging on my bed in my B1 cabin on deck 8 near the rear elevators.

 

My only connectivity problem so far has been sharing the included basic package with my spouse legaleaglegreen!  😁

Edited March 2, 2020 by CintiPam

[CintiPam]

14 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Pam - thank you for the updates - it all sounds good. Looking forward to trying the new ice creams

Paul, I always eat the chocolate cake or cheesecake for my dessert onboard Oceania, leaving the ice cream eating to Gerry. but one of our trivia team ladies waxed rapturously about this Harvey Slocombe ice cream.  I have had it once a day since then.  

Today the flavor is Roasted Black Sesame, and I simply cannot adequately describe how creamy delicious it tastes.

[Ken the cruiser]

18 minutes ago, CintiPam said:

Ken, our cabin connectivity has improved  considerably since our last Riviera cruise two years ago, which had a somewhat similar Southern Caribbean itinerary as well as since our May 2019 Marina cruise in the Western Mediterranean.  Normally I too would be kicked off every ten minutes unless I went

online in the middle of the night.  
 

This cruise all of my posts have been made live (without any cut and paste or save) on my iPhone 11 while lounging on my bed in my B1 cabin on deck 8 near the rear elevators.

 

My only connectivity problem so far has been sharing the included basic package with my spouse legaleaglegreen!  😁

Thanks for the update. That is great news!!!

Edited March 2, 2020 by Ken the cruiser

[cruisingxpert]

Really appreciate the live updates, Pam.  If you have time can you find out if the General Manager and Cruise Director are leaving the ship soon.  I am on Riviera( I hope) on March 31st and have been advised that  

Yves Segers will be the General Manager and Shawn Carter will be the Cruise Director.

 

Your comment about "The Captain (Master) is Maksym Melnikov from Rostov-on-Dan, Russia.  He is very charming and outgoing, not at all like any previous Oceania Captain we have met!" is surprising.  He was the Captain on our Nov cruise and was truly invisible. He was a no show for every event that you might expect to see him. i'e Captains Welcome, Repeaters parties etc. 

I wonder if someone had a word with him.

 

[arima22]

25 minutes ago, CintiPam said:

Paul, I always eat the chocolate cake or cheesecake for my dessert onboard Oceania, leaving the ice cream eating to Gerry. but one of our trivia team ladies waxed rapturously about this Harvey Slocombe ice cream.  I have had it once a day since then.  

Today the flavor is Roasted Black Sesame, and I simply cannot adequately describe how creamy delicious it tastes.

Do you mean Humphrey Slocombe?  https://www.humphryslocombe.com/

Quite the company history.....

[CintiPam]

6 minutes ago, cruisingxpert said:

Really appreciate the live updates, Pam.  If you have time can you find out if the General Manager and Cruise Director are leaving the ship soon.  I am on Riviera( I hope) on March 31st and have been advised that  

Yves Segers will be the General Manager and Shawn Carter will be the Cruise Director.

 

Your comment about "The Captain (Master) is Maksym Melnikov from Rostov-on-Dan, Russia.  He is very charming and outgoing, not at all like any previous Oceania Captain we have met!" is surprising.  He was the Captain on our Nov cruise and was truly invisible. He was a no show for every event that you might expect to see him. i'e Captains Welcome, Repeaters parties etc. 

I wonder if someone had a word with him.

 

Someone on another Oceania thread (our roll call??) said the General Manager would be changing soon.  Have not heard about the CD but I will ask the current one at today’s 4:30 pm trivia, which the CD generally runs.  

Maksym was an outgoing charmer at the Captain’s welcome.  We have not yet had the repeaters parties; our cruise is 14 nights, disembarking on Wednesday, March 11, so I will find out if my first impression was a false one.

[cruisingxpert]

2 minutes ago, CintiPam said:

Someone on another Oceania thread (our roll call??) said the General Manager would be changing soon.  Have not heard about the CD but I will ask the current one at today’s 4:30 pm trivia, which the CD generally runs.  

Maksym was an outgoing charmer at the Captain’s welcome.  We have not yet had the repeaters parties; our cruise is 14 nights, disembarking on Wednesday, March 11, so I will find out if my first impression was a false one.

Thank you for the prompt response.  So nice to have a live report.

[CintiPam]

8 minutes ago, arima22 said:

Do you mean Humphrey Slocombe? https://www.humphryslocombe.com/

Quite the company history.....

I guess I must! 😁  Since my detached retina and tear in my macura suffered while I was on Marina last May, I have needed to wear readers (magnifiers) but I did not put them on while having lunch today so you certainly must be correct.  This getting older stuff is challenging.

[Paulchili]

2 hours ago, CintiPam said:

Today the flavor is Roasted Black Sesame, and I simply cannot adequately describe how creamy delicious it tastes

It might be good but it doesn't sound like a flavor I would enjoy. I am more of a berry flavored or chocolate ice cream person.

We'll see.

Thanks for the updates.

[CintiPam]

7 hours ago, cruisingxpert said:

Really appreciate the live updates, Pam.  If you have time can you find out if the General Manager and Cruise Director are leaving the ship soon.  I am on Riviera( I hope) on March 31st and have been advised that  

Yves Segers will be the General Manager and Shawn Carter will be the Cruise Director.

 

I spoke with John Clelford, our Cruise Director, this afternoon, and he told me that he will be leaving the ship on April 15, not in March, but perhaps I knew something he did not!  

[cruisingxpert]

10 minutes ago, CintiPam said:

I spoke with John Clelford, our Cruise Director, this afternoon, and he told me that he will be leaving the ship on April 15, not in March, but perhaps I knew something he did not!  

Thank you- really appreciate you doing this.  I have never had John Cleford as a Cruise Director so looking forward to having him as the Cruise Director.  I have had August as the General Manager before and really like him- any chance I can bug you to see if he might be staying on for our March 31st cruise?😊

p.s. I'm not a big ice cream fan but you have me very intrigued about the Humphrey Slocombe choices.

Edited March 3, 2020 by cruisingxpert

[CintiPam]

Destination Services just left us a notice on our bed that our excursion the day after tomorrow from St. Vincent has been cancelled by the tour operator due to lack of participation.  Must look for a new one before bedtime so I can get in line at Destination Services in the morning promptly at 9 am.  My first ship excursion was today to isolated Klein Bonaire protected coral reef reserve for drift snorkeling.  It was lovely but tiring due to the difficulty of climbing in and out of the zodiacs to the deck of this Asian junk that had no ladder but only toeholds.  Two people returned to Riviera once they saw the difficulty of simply gaining access to the boat. 

[CintiPam]

1 minute ago, cruisingxpert said:

Thank you- really appreciate you doing this.  I have never had John Cleford as a Cruise Director so looking forward to having him as the Cruise Director.  I have had August as the General Manager before and really like him- any chance I can bug you to see if he might be staying on for our March 31st cruise?😊

If I see him I will ask but I have not seen him since the Captain’s reception.  He does not circulate publicly like the Cruise Director.

[CintiPam]

On 3/2/2020 at 5:26 PM, Paulchili said:

It might be good but it doesn't sound like a flavor I would enjoy. I am more of a berry flavored or chocolate ice cream person.

We'll see.

Thanks for the updates.

Humphrey Slocombe’s Regatta Royale (dark chocolate with sea salt and orange zest) was back at Waves Grill today.  I know you will enjoy it, Paul, but I am concerned that after only a week onboard we are rerunning flavors instead of getting new ones!  

Writing a post like this one makes me feel that I am living in a bubble while everything outside of life on Riviera  is going to hell.

[CintiPam]

Speaking of Waves Grill, another food innovation since we sailed last May is the addition of a food wagon parked separately next  to the drinks window that offers a different hot ethnic food each day.  Offerings have included nachos, tacos, chicken biryani (with the chicken and the rice offered separately), and today’s barbecued chicken and dirty rice.  The latter two were very good.

 

Time for dinner at Jacques!

[Paulchili]

17 minutes ago, CintiPam said:

Time for dinner at Jacques!

Now you're talking my language 🙂

Enjoy.

[LHT28]

new grill  mentions Nautica  but I guess also trying it out on the  other ships

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/oceania-experience/post/destinations/exotic-barbecue-under-stars-aboard-nautica

Hopefully their  Churrascaria  is better executed than on Crystal

[LHT28]

3 hours ago, CintiPam said:

Humphrey Slocombe’s Regatta Royale (dark chocolate with sea salt and orange zest) was back at Waves Grill today. 

Is it only one flavour offered per day??

[kitty9]

I must ask, what’s the importance of commenting on the obesity of any passenger on a cruise?  Personally any observation of that sort of thing is inappropriate.  Who cares what someone weighs or anything else of a physical nature?  I’m on this cruise and believe me, the last thing that I observe is anyone’s size or personal fitness, just as I don’t care what anyone wears for dinner at night. 

[CintiPam]

On 3/2/2020 at 11:10 PM, cruisingxpert said:

...I have had August as the General Manager before and really like him- any chance I can bug you to see if he might be staying on for our March 31st cruise?😊

 

We returned from our magnificent dinner at Jacques tonight to find a party invite from General Manager Thierry Tholon so I guess the manager switch from August to Thierry occurred this afternoon while we were docked in Grenada.

[CintiPam]

3 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Now you're talking my language 🙂

Enjoy.

Still the best onion soup that I ever have tasted.

 

Excellent duck special tonight:  pan-seared duck breast with a subtle mixed berry sauce.

[CintiPam]

11 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Is it only one flavour offered per day??

So far on our cruise.  (Husband believes that if they run out, they bring back a prior day’s flavor. Perhaps that is what occurred today when we had lunch at 2 at Waves??)

[CintiPam]

28 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

new grill  mentions Nautica  but I guess also trying it out on the  other ships

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/oceania-experience/post/destinations/exotic-barbecue-under-stars-aboard-nautica

Hopefully their  Churrascaria  is better executed than on Crystal

Interesting that you linked to that article, Lyn.  Our Currents for tomorrow’s activities announces a 9:30 to 10:30 pm “Rock the Boat Deck Party”with the show band, production cast vocalists and line dancing with the Entertainment Team. (We do not sail until 11pm.). No show in Riviera Lounge but a 9 pm movie there, as was offered tonight.

 

I never have experienced an evening pool deck party on Oceania (maybe a movie showing under the stars years ago?) but have enjoyed a White Nights pool deck party on each of my Azamara cruises.

Edited March 4, 2020 by CintiPam

[CintiPam]

As I posted last week, we had two guest lecturers delivering talks the first two days of this 14-night cruise.  However, we have not heard from either since we arrived at our first destination of Aruba last Saturday. 

Odd because a different guest lecturer was on our roll call, kindly announcing to us roll call members the subjects of his scheduled talks but posted that he would not be on our cruise after all only a week or so before we embarked.
 

So I do not know whether it was “the chicken or the egg” but no guest lectures this week.  (A ship’s officer gave a lecture which I did not attend.)