Activities on Transatlantic Cruise

[Orator]

We are considering a TA on Marina and are curious to find out the type of activities they offer. Do they have lectures as other lines? What are the usual topics? What types of entertainment do they offer? We've made over 20 crossings with other lines, but want to try Oceania.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Orator

[marieps]

Only one experience but...

Edited June 10, 2021 by marieps

[marieps]

14 minutes ago, Orator said:

We are considering a TA on Marina and are curious to find out the type of actives they offer. Do they have lectures as other lines? What are the usual topics? What types of entertainment do they offer? We've made over 20 crossings with other lines, but want to try Oceania.

On our Transpacific in 2019 we had a very entertaining marine biologist who mixed humor in with her lectures about Pacific sea life.  She was outstanding.   They also have lots of activities in which you can earn points for a swag sale at the end of the cruise.  The nicest golf towel I own is my O towel.  And sea days will feature bridge lessons, plus social and duplicate bridge in the afternoon.     

[Flatbush Flyer]

11 minutes ago, Orator said:

We are considering a TA on Marina and are curious to find out the type of actives they offer. Do they have lectures as other lines? What are the usual topics? What types of entertainment do they offer? We've made over 20 crossings with other lines, but want to try Oceania.

IMO, plenty to do on transoceanic cruises, particularly on sea days: O’s Country Fair; IDL and equatorial line crossing ceremonies, crew/passenger competition, boat building competition. Add dance lessons, excellent lecturers (often retired professors with expertise in regions visited) and (on Marina/Riviera), the Cooking School and Art Loft.

[Orator]

Thank you for your responses. Looking forward to more.

[LHT28]

Just do not do the Northern route  in early April  LOL

 

We had snow but they would not let us out to play on deck 😄

[Orator]

10 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Just do not do the Northern route  in early April  LOL

 

We had snow but they would not let us out to play on deck 😄

The crew from the Pacific area probably had fun with the snow.

[basor]

We also were on a cruise that was snowed upon.  It started late afternoon and by dinner time it looked like the above pictures.  The crew was so excited and they let them go out and check out "snow" and make snowmen.  In the morning the pool was surrounded with snowmen of various sizes!

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, Orator said:

The crew from the Pacific area probably had fun with the snow.

Yes  some of the staff  from India  were out making snowballs   when no one was looking  😄

[Orator]

Neither I or my DW are Bridge players or are interested in dance lessons, pool games. and we really love lectures don’t believe that Oceania will be a good fit for us on a TA . Your responses were very helpful.

[Flatbush Flyer]

53 minutes ago, Orator said:

Neither I or my DW are Bridge players or are interested in dance lessons, pool games. and we really love lectures don’t believe that Oceania will be a good fit for us on a TA . Your responses were very helpful.

Interesting take on the input you received (?)

You said you want lecturers. O has excellent lecturers - many are retired profs who specialize in the regions you visit.

 

For example: When we did the Panama Canal, we had a Fresno State U Prof - Ag Engineer expert on all sorts of canals in Central/South America who discussed the back story of the building of the Panama Canal from a “locals” (workers) perspective. We’ve had Marine biologists on crossings, et al. (And never someone trying to get us to go shopping).

 

But, if you still don’t think O will do it for you, you should definitely look elsewhere. Of course, that means a loss of the excellent crew and space ratios, outstanding food and cabin amenities, decorous/accomplished passenger demographics, absence of “nickel-diming” - pretty much everything that makes a transoceanic voyage enjoyable.

[Orator]

Just used to 3-4 lecturers onboard for a TA. I’m certain that O’s presenters are wonderful, but  just not enough for me. I prefer a variety of subjects. How many different presenters does O have on a typical TA. From the comments I see only 1-2 per TA. Perhaps I’m mistaken.

[basor]

1 minute ago, Orator said:

Just used to 3-4 lecturers onboard for a TA. I’m certain that O’s presenters are wonderful, but  just not enough for me. I prefer a variety of subjects. How many different presenters does O have on a typical TA. From the comments I see only 1-2 per TA. Perhaps I’m mistaken.

Wow - I have never been onboard where there were that many different lecturers on board except when we went to Antarctica with Seabourne and the Expedition team also gave lectures.  Which lines offer 3-4 different lecturers on board for a TA?  Love to check it out!

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, Orator said:

Neither I or my DW are Bridge players or are interested in dance lessons, pool games. and we really love lectures don’t believe that Oceania will be a good fit for us on a TA . Your responses were very helpful.

Probably not a good fit   as the lecturers vary  some good  some  not so good

& they usually only have 1 per day sometime  2  

Maybe look at Crystal  they have  a lot of things in the daytime  Magic classes/shows  lectures /movies

[LHT28]

33 minutes ago, basor said:

  Which lines offer 3-4 different lecturers on board for a TA?  Love to check it out!

My guess is probably some of the larger ships  that have 3000 + people to keep busy  😉

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

50 minutes ago, Orator said:

Just used to 3-4 lecturers onboard for a TA. I’m certain that O’s presenters are wonderful, but  just not enough for me. I prefer a variety of subjects. How many different presenters does O have on a typical TA. From the comments I see only 1-2 per TA. Perhaps I’m mistaken.

It does appear that O would not be a good fit for you.

[Mura]

9 hours ago, Orator said:

The crew from the Pacific area probably had fun with the snow.

I guess it was good that we cancelled --- but we didn't do so because of weather conditions!   Had we known in advance, that might have been enough for us ...but for us there were other reasons. They were valid, but I still wish we could have done this cruise,

 

The snowstorms might have changed my mind if I had been on board, however!

[Mura]

Getting back to the original question.

 

We have done a number of transatlantic cruises and always enjoyed them.  We started out avoiding seadays and then discovered that we really enjoyed them.

 

There have always been plenty of activities on board on sea days depending on which ship you are on (the "R" ships are smaller than the "O"ships but even so we've had wonderful lectures on both "R" and "O" ships. A few years ago we were on Marina (I think) and a fellow passenger did a very entertaining series of lectures on musical comedies and etc,

 

It the GDR hs a special brunch during the cruise, DO NOT MISS IT.

 

Don't think you won't have anything to do on a transatlatnic or transpacific cruise no matter which size ship you are on.!

[ToxM]

I am looking forward to being able to enjoy the freedom of 6 sea days during our TA next year - having never done a TA this has been on my list of wanting to do for some time. 

 

I don’t want to have a schedule, I don’t want to be organised. I want to read a few good books, play some poker (hopefully) enjoy some good food and just decompress. This is a tombola birthday trip for me so I plan to revel in every second. 

 

I would like tips for the ship building competition however. 

[LHT28]

9 hours ago, Mura said:

I guess it was good that we cancelled --- but we didn't do so because of weather conditions!   Had we known in advance, that might have been enough for us ...but for us there were other reasons. They were valid, but I still wish we could have done this cruise,

 

The snowstorms might have changed my mind if I had been on board, however!

That was  our 3rd attempt at the  TA  

not always 3rd time lucky LOL

Besides the snow  we had very rough seas

you made the right choice  no matter what the reason 😉

 

[Orator]

Celebrity has 3-4 presenters on board during a TA, but their prices have risen so much that I thought O would be a good alternative. I used FCC from Celebrity to book a TA  in April, 2022 on Apex. I am in Aqua Class and it's more than the TA I'm looking at on O in Concierge A3. They have also reduced Zenith benefits (highest loyalty level) and will not book them until they are restored. I've also been on Crystal and they are wonderful.

Thanks for all your comments and insights.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Orator said:

I used FCC from Celebrity to book a TA  in April, 2022 on Apex. I am in Aqua Class and it's more than the TA I'm looking at on O in Concierge A3.

 

How does Aqua class  on X compare to A3 on Oceania ?

 Maybe that is where the price difference comes into play 🤔

 

Enjoy your cruise

[ToxM]

Having been a Celebrity cruiser and moved to Oceania (but not done a TA) I know where I would prefer to be. 

 

The one caveat to the above is that we are not especially interested in entertainment except quizzes and poker and bingo occasionally and I am happy. The library and board games provided by O are more than enough to keep me occupied. 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by ToxM

[Norseh2o]

Until we traveled with O, our cruises with other lines offered lecturers who spoke from notes, used "dated" power point slides (that no one beyond the first row in a large auditorium could decipher), shared no humor or joy and went off topic.  Maybe our particular cruises were one-offs but with so much disappointment, both DH and I considered applying for guest lecturing spots on cruise lines!  🔬

O offers so much with good food choices,  charming libraries, great staff, fine fellow cruisers, small ship feeling, good itineraries/port choices and wonderful sea days. If only O would offer more cruises from the west coast of the USA!

[mauibabes]

West coast sailing, sounds really good to us but Alaska only has 3-4 months of viable sailing. But we do have Seattle, Astoria, Eureka, San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Catalina and San Diego in addition to down into Mexico. Maybe when  Vista comes into service there will be an opportunity for O to jump more fully into the West Coast market.