Live from Vista—Montreal to Miami

[Gracie115]

4 hours ago, ak1004 said:

No they didn't. Penalties start at 6 months, final payment still 5 months.

 

OK 5 months, but DrKoob stated it was 90 days.

[ak1004]

2 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

 

OK 5 months, but DrKoob stated it was 90 days.

It hasn't been 90 days for a while. It was recently changed from 120 days to 150 days.

[ak1004]

15 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

I have to agree with ak1004. I’ve done so many price comparisons between VO, SB, and O that it’s overload at some point. Each and every time, VO comes out more expensive than either SB or O. I have added in every single amenity between the three, every single extra or included charge, and dollar for dollar that is how it plays. 

We also sailed in PV, so I can see where you are coming from in the cabin comparisons. But a really significant difference, as ak1004 points out, is that any VO cruise marketed as ‘x’ days is not the same as SB or O. Example is VO markets a 15 day, that is actually 14 nights (pattern repeats on their offerings with various lengths) whereas on O or SB that is a 14 day cruise. That changes the math on a per person per day cost basis quite a bit. 
 

Are there services, venues, cabin lay out, ship lay out etc. differences between them. Yes. Absolutely and that has to come into play in making decisions. But total cost per person per night…those are hard dollar comparisons if that is what your decision is based upon. For us, that is not everything. Itinerary, time of year, etc factor in….but side by side….For us, the product on VO didn’t measure up to SB….looking forward to our first on Oceania. 
 

Would we sail VO again…for the right itinerary and price, yes. I just haven’t found that post Covid. 

 

Every time I looked at V prices, they were not only higher than O, they they were higher than SB and in some cases SS. With all due respect to V.. To me those prices are absurd. So the pricing is NOT a tie. Far from it.

 

I cannot comment on the comparisons because I was never on V. But do want to comment about three things.

 

First, the elevators. Having 6 elevators on a ship that size is pretty standard I believe. Riviera is the same size, we never had any issues with the elevators.

 

Second, the following comment: "My bed on Viking was almost unusable. It was way too hard for me."

 

What can I say? I can tolerate broken elevators, lack of Promenade Deck, too much music (we actually thought there is not enough live music on the Riviera), waiting 3 days for my laundry, bad furnishings etc.. but if my night sleep suffers because of the bad bed, everything else is insignificant. To me, this alone would be a deal breaker and I would never return to a ship that has bad beds. Comfortable beds, mattresses and bedding are more important to me than all other factors combined. But that's just me, we all have different priorities. 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2023 by ak1004

[takemewithyou]

33 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

Every time I looked at V prices, they were not only higher than O, they they were higher than SB and in some cases SS. With all due respect to V.. To me those prices are absurd. So the pricing is NOT a tie. Far from it.

 

I cannot comment on the comparisons because I was never on V. But do want to comment about three things.

 

First, the elevators. Having 6 elevators on a ship that size is pretty standard I believe. Riviera is the same size, we never had any issues with the elevators.

 

Second, the following comment: "My bed on Viking was almost unusable. It was way too hard for me."

 

What can I say? I can tolerate broken elevators, lack of Promenade Deck, too much music (we actually thought there is not enough live music on the Riviera), waiting 3 days for my laundry, bad furnishings etc.. but if my night sleep suffers because of the bad bed, everything else is insignificant. To me, this alone would be a deal breaker and I would never return to a ship that has bad beds. Comfortable beds, mattresses and bedding are more important to me than all other factors combined. But that's just me, we all have different priorities. 

 

 

We took one Viking cruise….it was a good opportunity to try out Viking as it repositioned from Vancouver to Los Angeles.  We paid a lot of money for a PV.  Loved the heated floors in the bath, the layout of the cabin.  But one of the reasons we went with a PV was because we had read the lower level cabins have very little storage.  
 

Before we left, I read the Viking forums and read remarks about the very firm mattresses. …..not something we like and depending on how firm they are, can not tolerate.  Some people even recommended to bring mattress pads to put on top of the bed!  Really?  
 

We were so concerned that I talked with Viking and got the name of the mattress brand and found a furniture store that carried them so we could try them out.  We did that and hoped the mattress on the ship would not be any firmer than what we tried. ,we made it through the cruise, but the bed was not great. Oceania had (on the one cruise I have been on) the most comfortable bed I have ever slept on!!  I can see why some passengers come home and purchase the mattresses and the fabulous bedding!

 

Our verdict on the Viking cruise?  Never again. For quite a few reasons we will not book again with them.  We found the food to be mediocre, the “included shore excursions” were not good and one was a disaster, and we missed two ports….both for weather reasons.  One of those missed ports we really didn’t see a weather reason as to why we missed it. We also did not like the Scandinavian design of the furniture.  It is a clean look but doesn’t function well as it is very uncomfortable! 

Edited October 20, 2023 by takemewithyou
Spelling

[ak1004]

11 minutes ago, takemewithyou said:

We took one Viking cruise….it was a good opportunity to try out Viking as it repositioned from Vancouver to Los Angeles.  We paid a lot of money for a PV.  Loved the heated floors in the bath, the layout of the cabin.  But one of the reasons we went with a PV was because we had read the lower level cabins have very little storage.  
 

Before we left, I read the Viking forums and read remarks about the very firm mattresses. …..not something we like and depending on how firm they are, can not tolerate.  Some people even recommended to bring mattress pads to put on top of the bed!  Really?  
 

We were so concerned that I talked with Viking and got the name of the mattress brand and found a furniture store that carried them so we could try them out.  We did that and hoped the mattress on the ship would not be any firmer than what we tried. ,we made it through the cruise, but the bed was not great. Oceania had (on the one cruise I have been on)had  the most comfortable bed O have ever slept on!!  I can see why some passengers come home and purchase the mattresses and the fabulous bedding!

 

Our verdict on the Viking cruise?  Never again. For quite a few reasons we will not book again with them.  We found the food to be mediocre, the “included shore excursions” were not good and one was a disaster, and we missed two ports….both for weather reasons.  One of those missed ports we really didn’t see a weather reason as to why we missed it. We also did not like the Scandinavian design of the furniture.  It is a clean look but doesn’t function well as it is very uncomfortable! 

 

For some reason, V has a very loyal customer base (I think only Crystal has more hardcore loyalists), so they must be doing something right, and I'm sure they have a lot of positives. It's just strange to me that people who consider their beds "almost unusable" even consider sailing with them again, when there are so many good options.

[goofysmom99]

OP, thank you for your very detailed review, especially the food pix!  Viking isn't on my current radar but Oceania is, having recently booked Vista for next year.  I'm definitely looking forward to better food than on Celebrity these days.  And bookmarking your review for future reference.  Thanks again.  

[DrKoob]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

First, the elevators. Having 6 elevators on a ship that size is pretty standard I believe. Riviera is the same size, we never had any issues with the elevators.

Six would have been fine but for two things. Four of those six an hold a full group of people (maybe 12 to 14) but the glass elevators forward can only hold 6-8 so they were already down one. And then at least one in each bank always seemed to be out of service. It is NOT a good elevator system if I can go up six flights of stairs (from deck 6 to deck 12) and then have to wait 10-15 minutes for my wife to arrive on 12. In some cases, she told me it took her 10 of those 15 minutes just to fine an elevator not so packed that she could get on. 

 

BTW: On V you can request a mattress topper and once we did, it was much better. And some people like hard beds. I am not one of them. I prefer a tempurpedic. 

Edited October 20, 2023 by DrKoob

[EJL2023]

5 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

Six would have been fine but for two things. Four of those six an hold a full group of people (maybe 12 to 14) but the glass elevators forward can only hold 6-8 so they were already down one. And then at least one in each bank always seemed to be out of service. It is NOT a good elevator system if I can go up six flights of stairs (from deck 6 to deck 12) and then have to wait 10-15 minutes for my wife to arrive on 12. In some cases, she told me it took her 10 of those 15 minutes just to fine an elevator not so packed that she could get on. 

 

BTW: On V you can request a mattress topper and once we did, it was much better. And some people like hard beds. I am not one of them. I prefer a tempurpedic. 

We were on Vista in May for its second voyage and they were having issues with one of the glass elevators on the cruise and it was a full ship but we never had to wait more than a couple of minutes for an elevator and that would only be when the evening show ended. 

[BellKat]

Elevators on Vista:  Hi, I’m Jim’s wife Kathleen. I have only been frustrated with elevators on one cruise prior to this one (Ovation of the Seas - took grandkids to Alaska). When it was a busy time, it was difficult to get an elevator. Our bank only had two so when one of them was out, I’d go to the forward ones with four. However, there was at least one instance when one was out in our bank and two were out in the other bank. That is absolutely unforgivable! We had a lot of scooters, wheelchairs, etc on our cruise so it made it even more intolerable. It was so bad one night that Jim was scouring the ship looking for me frantically. And that brings me to my other least favorite thing - the one device only per cabin. I had no way of letting Jim know I was stuck trying to get an elevator! Heaven forbid that I had fallen and had no way to contact him (it has happened (fallen) so that’s a real fear for me).

 

Edit: Just remembered other issue with elevators - only one went to decks 4 & 5 so if we were getting on/off at one of these decks, only one set of elevators was available. Whose idea was that?!

Edited October 20, 2023 by BellKat

[basor]

2 minutes ago, BellKat said:

Elevators on Vista:  Hi, I’m Jim’s wife Kathleen. I have only been frustrated with elevators on one cruise prior to this one (Ovation of the Seas - took grandkids to Alaska). When it was a busy time, it was difficult to get an elevator. Our bank only had two so when one of them was out, I’d go to the forward ones with four. However, there was at least one instance when one was out in our bank and two were out in the other bank. That is absolutely unforgivable! We had a lot of scooters, wheelchairs, etc on our cruise so it made it even more intolerable. It was so bad one night that Jim was scouring the ship looking for me frantically. And that brings me to my other least favorite thing - the one device only per cabin. I had no way of letting Jim know I was stuck trying to get an elevator! Heaven forbid that I had fallen and had no way to contact him (it has happened (fallen) so that’s a real fear for me).

Luckily the one device per cabin ended with the Montreal - Miami cruise and now each cabin has 2 accounts so much easier when both want/need to be online.

[BellKat]

6 minutes ago, basor said:

Luckily the one device per cabin ended with the Montreal - Miami cruise and now each cabin has 2 accounts so much easier when both want/need to be online.

Yeah, I know. It was a stupid policy. I don’t know what they were thinking. 

[basor]

10 minutes ago, BellKat said:

Yeah, I know. It was a stupid policy. I don’t know what they were thinking. 

It was the policy for years and with the start of Simply More, they changed to 2 accounts for each cabin.  For many 1 account per cabin was not an issue as everyone were not on their phones/Ipads all the time.  I understand for some that are used to/need to have several devices on at the same time, your DH for his blogging, etc., it was a burden.

[BellKat]

4 minutes ago, basor said:

It was the policy for years and with the start of Simply More, they changed to 2 accounts for each cabin.  For many 1 account per cabin was not an issue as everyone were not on their phones/Ipads all the time.  I understand for some that are used to/need to have several devices on at the same time, your DH for his blogging, etc., it was a burden.

If they had an app, it wouldn’t have been as much as an issue. There were 7 of us trying to keep in touch with each other & we weren’t always in our room. We have booked another O cruise for 2025 so we’ll all be happier about that situation. 

[DrKoob]

18 hours ago, basor said:

Luckily the one device per cabin ended with the Montreal - Miami cruise and now each cabin has 2 accounts so much easier when both want/need to be online.

I have been reading on the boards that this isn't working as planned for some people. But for us, it would still mean that if Kathleen texted me to say she was held up and the last login was on my laptop than I would be logged out on my phone so I would only get the text if I was looking at my laptop. This could all be fixed if they just said (as 90% of other cruise lines do) if you have internet access, then you have internet access. If you know tech, you know there is no value to the way they do things. They are just trying to make money by selling you a way out of your frustration. On a ship we normally use five devices on a VERY regular basis. With Simply More, I would only have access on two of those at a time. That is both stupid and wrong.

[DrKoob]

18 hours ago, EJL2023 said:

We were on Vista in May for its second voyage and they were having issues with one of the glass elevators on the cruise and it was a full ship but we never had to wait more than a couple of minutes for an elevator and that would only be when the evening show ended. 

Kathleen mentioned (and I totally agree) that we had a LARGE contingent of people using scooters and wheel chairs on board. Our guess is that the average age of the people on our cruise was either late 70s or early 80s. In one of those glass elevators, two scooters/wheelchairs fills that car. 

[shepherd really]

4 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

I have been reading on the boards that this isn't working as planned for some people. But for us, it would still mean that if Kathleen texted me to say she was held up and the last login was on my laptop than I would be logged out on my phone so I would only get the text if I was looking at my laptop. This could all be fixed if they just said (as 90% of other cruise lines do) if you have internet access, then you have internet access. If you know tech, you know there is no value to the way they do things. They are just trying to make money by selling you a way out of your frustration. On a ship we normally use five devices on a VERY regular basis. With Simply More, I would only have access on two of those at a time. That is both stupid and wrong.

 

2 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

Kathleen mentioned (and I totally agree) that we had a LARGE contingent of people using scooters and wheel chairs on board. Our guess is that the average age of the people on our cruise was either late 70s or early 80s. In one of those glass elevators, two scooters/wheelchairs fills that car. 

Sounds like Oceania is a poor fit for you.

[ak1004]

2 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

 

Sounds like Oceania is a poor fit for you.

 

And this is exactly why different lines exist.

 

From the comparison of different areas, I can see that O wins in areas that are important to us, and V wins in areas we couldn't care less about. We never had any issues with one device for WiFi - the ship is small enough not to get lost even if you cannot communicate, and we usually don't use more than one device at the same time - vacation time is too precious to waste it on the Internet. We never had any issues with elevators. We always considered a 240 sqft cabin very spacious, with more than enough storage for 2 people (but we are light packers). We couldn't care less about promenade deck. But we do consider food, service and comfortable beds the most important factors of the ship experience.

 

So those comparisons are very helpful to see what's important to YOU and make an educated decision (although I wouldn't sail on V anyway with their current prices and booking policies).

[Vineyard View]

I would suggest that from reading this blog, that it sounds like VO is a better fit for both of you, particularly when you travel with others. 
With all the issues you had I am surprised that you rebooked O again. I am thinking your major concerns will not have changed when you sail again. 
It is good to hear different perspectives. Thank you for sharing yours. If I remember correctly, your blog when you travelled on VO voiced a good number of concerns as well. I think there are likely no perfect cruises, and no travels without their blips and mishaps. 
 It sounds as if the food was your major winner with Oceania, but the issues (elevators and WiFi) will likely follow you on the next one that you booked, so it is good to know that going in. 

[DrKoob]

46 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

 

Sounds like Oceania is a poor fit for you.

Did I say that? What an ASSumption. I have already mentioned we have booked another O cruise. And I have mentioned (NUMEROUS TIMES) that we enjoyed this cruise. We are making people aware that the elevator system is NOT a good one. Especially if any of them are out of service (which they were A LOT on this cruise).

 

I was just pointing out that we had a larger-than-usual scooter and wheelchair contingent on board and that Oceania's choice of elevators (long, slip and narrow in the case of the glass ones) was a bad one. And that the average age was older than usual. Much of this was undoubtedly due to the fact that this cruise ended in Florida. My guess (from meeting people on board) is that more than half the ship was Floridian (as are Mike and Cathy, two of our dearest friends). 

[DrKoob]

11 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

I would suggest that from reading this blog, that it sounds like VO is a better fit for both of you, particularly when you travel with others. 
With all the issues you had I am surprised that you rebooked O again. I am thinking your major concerns will not have changed when you sail again. 
It is good to hear different perspectives. Thank you for sharing yours. If I remember correctly, your blog when you travelled on VO voiced a good number of concerns as well. I think there are likely no perfect cruises, and no travels without their blips and mishaps. 
 It sounds as if the food was your major winner with Oceania, but the issues (elevators and WiFi) will likely follow you on the next one that you booked, so it is good to know that going in. 

It is good to know that going in. At the same time, we now know that the beds are hard on VO and that we need to ask for a mattress topper pre-cruise. As to mentioning the WiFi, this is a very quick fix by Oceania. They just have to stop nickel and diming long enough to give everyone on board internet access and stop this silly money grab. Even their guy who does internet help thinks it's a horrible system. Oceania is owned by NCL who are the KINGS of extra charges for everything. A little of that has filtered down so to speak. 

 

My goal in live blogging on any cruise is to let people know what we experienced so that they can be ready for it and to try and push others to demand the end to some stupid stuff that can be fixed in an instant. The internet isn't the only thing. How hard would it be (and it would save O money) to not play music in every lounge, every night? How about getting rid of the Bill Murray-style guy in Martinis? 

[Gracie115]

55 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

I have been reading on the boards that this isn't working as planned for some people. But for us, it would still mean that if Kathleen texted me to say she was held up and the last login was on my laptop than I would be logged out on my phone so I would only get the text if I was looking at my laptop. This could all be fixed if they just said (as 90% of other cruise lines do) if you have internet access, then you have internet access. If you know tech, you know there is no value to the way they do things. They are just trying to make money by selling you a way out of your frustration. On a ship we normally use five devices on a VERY regular basis. With Simply More, I would only have access on two of those at a time. That is both stupid and wrong.

 

I get that this frustrated you ALOT on the Vista but for many of us, maybe most of us, two devices is enough.  We enjoy disconnecting from the world while on a ship, check emails daily and "surf" some but that's it. We've always been fine with Celebrity's one device per person that we received in a suite as recently as April of this year so am sure we'll be ok with Oceania when we board Vista in Dec.   Might be interesting for Oceania to survey their guests about this.  Someone like you obviously needs more. 

[DrKoob]

45 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

And this is exactly why different lines exist.

 

From the comparison of different areas, I can see that O wins in areas that are important to us, and V wins in areas we couldn't care less about. We never had any issues with one device for WiFi - the ship is small enough not to get lost even if you cannot communicate, and we usually don't use more than one device at the same time - vacation time is too precious to waste it on the Internet. We never had any issues with elevators. We always considered a 240 sqft cabin very spacious, with more than enough storage for 2 people (but we are light packers). We couldn't care less about promenade deck. But we do consider food, service and comfortable beds the most important factors of the ship experience.

 

So those comparisons are very helpful to see what's important to YOU and make an educated decision (although I wouldn't sail on V anyway with their current prices and booking policies).

Thank you for a perfect response. That's what you want, that's what I want. Internet access for us is HUGE! When you travel with a group, you need to know what's going on. 

 

Someone said that they could put up with anything except a bad bed. Well, I can put up with a bad bed for full internet access...different strokes. We are still looking for that "perfect cruise line." We had it for a very long time with Celebrity. We liked where they went, we loved the food, we loved the ships, etc. But what they have become (slick, cruise line marketing to 40 and 50 somethings and carrying less about loyalty) is not for us. Still looking. 

 

I notice from your avatar that you must have done a live-blog someplace along the line. You have the stickers Cruise Critic awards for that. Can you point me to one of yours so I can check it out?

[Gracie115]

1 minute ago, DrKoob said:

 We had it for a very long time with Celebrity. We liked where they went, we loved the food, we loved the ships, etc. But what they have become (slick, cruise line marketing to 40 and 50 somethings and carrying less about loyalty) is not for us. Still looking.  

 

That sure nails the Celebrity of 2023.

[shepherd really]

19 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

Did I say that? What an ASSumption.

No, it was in my post, so I said that.  What an odd question.  Also, your passive aggression is noted.  Bye.

[basor]

1 hour ago, DrKoob said:

I have been reading on the boards that this isn't working as planned for some people. But for us, it would still mean that if Kathleen texted me to say she was held up and the last login was on my laptop than I would be logged out on my phone so I would only get the text if I was looking at my laptop. This could all be fixed if they just said (as 90% of other cruise lines do) if you have internet access, then you have internet access. If you know tech, you know there is no value to the way they do things. They are just trying to make money by selling you a way out of your frustration. On a ship we normally use five devices on a VERY regular basis. With Simply More, I would only have access on two of those at a time. That is both stupid and wrong.

We remained onboard Vista for the cruise through the Panama Canal so can only report on WIFI on this cruise/ship.  We have had no issues with using 2 accounts and I have checked with several other friends and no one has experienced any problems.  I was up in the Internet lounge a few times to print off some things and people were coming in claiming they could not make the 2 accounts work but they had not set up 2 accounts so that was their issue.  Hopefully those people not finding the WIFI working as planned will be able to resolve by going to the IT person who can see if they can fix their problem.