Two separate questions

[netpj]

We're thinking of doing a very long Caribbean cruise on Riviera next winter.  Does anybody have any idea how many passengers actually take the full 77 day voyage?.  We'd be treating it as our winter getaway instead of land based.  Have sailed Oceania many times but never this long.  

 

Also, one "perk" of a PH was  in suite dining from any specialty restaurant.  We do not see that listed any longer.  Does anyone know if this "perk" has been dropped?

Thanks!

[LHT28]

19 minutes ago, netpj said:

We're thinking of doing a very long Caribbean cruise on Riviera next winter.  Does anybody have any idea how many passengers actually take the full 77 day voyage?.  We'd be treating it as our winter getaway instead of land based.  Have sailed Oceania many times but never this long.  

 

Also, one "perk" of a PH was  in suite dining from any specialty restaurant.  We do not see that listed any longer.  Does anyone know if this "perk" has been dropped?

Thanks!

You can still get insuite dining  from the Specialties & GDR in PH & above

You can get Lunch & dinner from the GDR  in the Concierge  cabins also

 

As for pax load on the longer segments it may vary from year to year

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

I’m still trying to lose my Oceania weight from 14 days in January. I would really have to learn to pace myself for 77 days!  😯

[pinotlover]

4 hours ago, netpj said:

We're thinking of doing a very long Caribbean cruise on Riviera next winter.  Does anybody have any idea how many passengers actually take the full 77 day voyage?.  We'd be treating it as our winter getaway instead of land based.  Have sailed Oceania many times but never this long.  

 

Also, one "perk" of a PH was  in suite dining from any specialty restaurant.  We do not see that listed any longer.  Does anyone know if this "perk" has been dropped?

Thanks!

Tough question to forecast. It will hopefully be a mostly post Covid world. Might that alone increase bookings?

 

The Carribean is a very competitive market, during the winter season, with numerous cruise lines and ships vying those waters looking for passengers. For Oceania, it is an area, post Christmas, where historically the most “silent “ sales have occurred . Therefore, for any cruise segments of your 77 day cruise , the answer becomes how attractive any particular segments are plus how aggressive Oceania opts to be on “ silent “ sales for slower moving itineraries. To complete the circle post Covid , I believe the answer is a “ wait and see” for all parties.

 

Let me add that back several years ago, we had very good friends/acquaintances that booked the Riveria from about 1 Dec - 1 April. They did this as opposed to their normal habit of booking facilities like the Doral or AR or CA resorts for the winter. Their biggest comment revolved around community. In those land based resorts they often found other similar snowbirds to befriend for the season. This is similar to the comradeship that develops on ATWs. Their experience on the Riviera season cruise was constant turnaround of other guests and continual outreach to new people. Some people excel in that environment, while others are less enthusiastic about it. 

Edited March 27, 2022 by pinotlover

[Hawaiidan]

4 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I’m still trying to lose my Oceania weight from 14 days in January. I would really have to learn to pace myself for 77 days!  😯

Actually,  it is a natural thing....   In the beginning you tend to over indulge   food and liquor.   As the days stretch to weeks  you discover  that while everything is still in abundance,  that most people tend to  get satiated  by it,       In the liquor package...  you just start drinking less and less  ( O counts on that and for that reason  I would avoid a package for over 14 days.  I ain't 22 on spring break and can not keep up a daily booze consumption.) 

 Same with food...It looses it's zing after dozens of wonderful food experiences.   I find my self craving meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green peas.)     I am not Koronsky.

in short too much of a good thing.... and your confined  to the ship.   After a 36 day  stretch on Marina   I was ready for a change  all the wonderful had become  routine and lost its charm.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Hawaiidan

[Flatbush Flyer]

With the reintroduction of O Grand Voyages (multi-segments often totaling 70+\- nights), I expect there will be many takers. We’ve got our eye on one of them (Epic Eastern Explorer) though, ultimately we may do less than the total and string together extended journeys or create a custom cruise carved out of the GV parts we like (perhaps 50 days worth). 

One thing for sure though: IMO (with which some may disagree), 2+ months in the Caribbean would be a monumental waste of money. Sure, there are a few beautiful spots worth an extended visit. But, I find most of the islands quite boring when it comes to a breadth/depth of cultural/historical significance. And, if you’re talking about just spending one of O’s ship’s season/time in that area, you’ll be looking at constantly turning over passenger loads, more repetitive menus et al. (which is not the case with long cruises scheduled to be long).

That said, however:  if you’ve got to do “island hopping” for that long a time, look at something that will have you traversing the Indian and Pacific Oceans. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

I have seen this 'snow bird winter cruise' on Oceania's website and wondered how many people would book it.  It must be as expensive as a world cruise, but without seeing the world. [Cue Fred Astaire singing "We joined the Navy to see the world, and what did we see? We saw the sea!"]  But it would still be more interesting than spending that entire time on one Caribbean island...

[ToxM]

Would a grand voyage of this type be comparable in price to snowbirding somewhere? Meals and drinks and free laundry …. I don’t know what snowbirding costs, but I mean if I could I would … but the Caribbean is very exotic for me in the UK. 

 

I do see the issue with regard to doing a grand voyage compared to say a world cruise. 

 

Has anyone crunched the numbers? 

[Host Jazzbeau]

6 minutes ago, ToxM said:

Would a grand voyage of this type be comparable in price to snowbirding somewhere? Meals and drinks and free laundry …. I don’t know what snowbirding costs, but I mean if I could I would … but the Caribbean is very exotic for me in the UK. 

 

I do see the issue with regard to doing a grand voyage compared to say a world cruise. 

 

Has anyone crunched the numbers? 

This year showed the risk of both those options:  South America cruises that ended up with almost no ports allowing them in; World Cruise with large chunks of the world no longer desirable to visit.  I guess I should be glad that DW requires my trip planning to be limited to 3 weeks...

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

Actually,  it is a natural thing....   In the beginning you tend to over indulge   food and liquor.   As the days stretch to weeks  you discover  that while everything is still in abundance,  that most people tend to  get satiated  by it,       In the liquor package...  you just start drinking less and less  ( O counts on that and for that reason  I would avoid a package for over 14 days.  I ain't 22 on spring break and can not keep up a daily booze consumption.) 

 Same with food...It looses it's zing after dozens of wonderful food experiences.   I find my self craving meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green peas.)     I am not Koronsky.

in short too much of a good thing.... and your confined  to the ship.   After a 36 day  stretch on Marina   I was ready for a change  all the wonderful had become  routine and lost its charm.

I agree.  My first exposure to a thread about a long cruise was from Keith1010 on Crystal, and I was shocked at how little he and his DW were eating on this luxury line that I was salivating over trying – but I later learned how many days each year their spent on Crystal, and understand why they had to do this.  [I still don't understand why he gets up so early and hits the gym, but that's just me...]

 

BTW (and off topic):  a head's up for you not to sail on American Cruise Lines, since they have eliminated all internet service onboard their ships and expect passengers to use their smartphones:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2839408-internet-service-discontinued/#comment-62902596

 

[alcpa1]

Netpj,

I would love to be adrift for such an extended time.

My question to you is....have you been cruising the Caribbean annually or sporadically? It took 8 stops on Barbados to see everything on our bucket list. You can blame part of that on Princess Margaret who, while vacationing on her yacht, kept us poor tourists away from many sites onshore. This happened three times so I guess we could have done our punch list on five cruises. But there are still places I will always want to revisit. 

I am a Caribbean islands junkie and never tire of the islands. There are still a few we have not visited via ship so if the segments offer variety I'd highly recommend you book, and, enjoy.

[HiFi43]

I agree with some of those above…our longest was 63 days and we loved it. By being judicious, my wife actually lost a little weight and I only gained 3 pounds. Even in going often to the speciality restaurants we just reduced the number of our courses, ate dessert only periodically and allowed ourselves only a drink on special occasions. We live in a colder winter climate and Oceania ends up being no more expensive and often less expensive than heading south or to Hawaii in the winter to escape. In fact, as I write this we are on Marina on a crossing and have gained no extra pounds. 

[ToxM]

53 minutes ago, HiFi43 said:

I agree with some of those above…our longest was 63 days and we loved it. By being judicious, my wife actually lost a little weight and I only gained 3 pounds. Even in going often to the speciality restaurants we just reduced the number of our courses, ate dessert only periodically and allowed ourselves only a drink on special occasions. We live in a colder winter climate and Oceania ends up being no more expensive and often less expensive than heading south or to Hawaii in the winter to escape. In fact, as I write this we are on Marina on a crossing and have gained no extra pounds. 

This is definitely my point… what may not be exotic or interesting for some definitely are for others and the price of everything you get with O may be the same as or cheaper than alternate accommodation elsewhere for the same duration. 

 

Lots of older Brits (before covid) spent 3 months in Spain on extended duration holidays as it was cheaper for them than heating their houses etc - this is going to become a viable option again because of the price of our fuel bill soon enough. 

 

 

[pinotlover]

There is another portion of this equation not yet considered. Even after numerous years of sailing, I continue to be amazed at the number of cruisers that either never or rarely get off the ship and visit the ports. I’ve been on cruises where people are on the ship for a month plus and never get off. The ship, even R ships, is their Disney Land. I can’t imagine being on a 35 day Bangkok-Bangkok ( Actually Bangkok-Hong Kong and then in reverse) cruise and maybe just once get off the ship! We meet several on our 2017 cruise that did just that. Why punish yourself to fly that far to never get off the ship? Twenty one day and less cruises, same story. 

 

We’ve seen it on multiple other cruises also. It’s what they want to do. So the point of the islands becoming boring misses the point. For some, there is never any intention of getting off the ship to visit them in the first place.  Even if they stayed at a resort, most of them wouldn’t play golf, snorkel, dive, or even lay by the pool no less visit any of the local sights. On the ship they have a social director that puts together knit,yarn,&gossip groups or bridge groups for them,  that get together whether it’s a sea day or not. 
 

The ship is a large assisted living facility for some that may indeed provide all the necessary features at a lower or comparable price to land based resorts/living. As I’ve stated before, I have a good friend that was a ship’s medical officer ( doctor) for many years. He always tried to emphasize that a cruise ship is NOT an assisted living facility. Many believe just the opposite.

Edited March 28, 2022 by pinotlover

[LHT28]

We found on longer cruises you need to pace yourself  in the restaurants

We normally just have an appy, main & desert  for dinner  then lunch is a salad /dessert

I stopped going to afternoon tea  or if I go it  is 1 treat & tea

 We are not big drinkers  so 1-2 drinks a day is fine with me

 !st cruise on O  DH gained 20 lbs   it was 14 days

I had learned that  lesson on our first cruise back in 1976  where I gained 14 lbs in the 1st week of a 2 wk cruise

After that I eat similar  to home except I add dessert more often 😉