Live from the Vista - March 27 (Miami) to May 1 (Trieste)

[Hlitner]

A few weeks ago I promised to try and post a live blog, from the Vista.  We are starting a few days prior to embarkation to talk about pre-cruise prep.  We are O virgins, as this will be our first time on any O ship.  As to a background, suffice it to say we have only 50 years of extensive cruise experience with many different cruise lines (budget to luxury) and vessels.  Whether we stick with this blog will depend on the onboard Internet connection and whether we get too lazy.  We will post the facts, and our impressions, and welcome comments, criticism, etc.

 

We made our O reservation with a trusted high volume cruise agency, who did "enhance" our booking with pre-paid gratuities and a generous On Board Credit (OBC).  Learning about how to deal with the O process comes mostly from CC.  Our suite is a low category B category verandah on deck 8.  At the 45 day mark, we went online to O's web site and made our dining reservations.  Since our cruise is 3 segments (35 days) we were allowed to book 3 reservations in each of Vistas four alternative restaurants.  Half our reservations are 2-tops and other half are shared.  At the time we booked, it was not possible to get all 2-tops at our desired times, and DW and I really enjoy sharing tables as a way to meet and socialize with others.  When we booked the reservations (all done online) we immediately received an e-mail confirmation (for each reservations) from O (and they also show in later e-mailed documents from O).  Because we have heard here on CC about some "issues" with dining reservations, we are taking printed copies of all the confirmations.   We have had no problems with our reservations, never needed to call O, and as typical of our own procedures, most of the work is done online with a few clicks of the mouse.  O has already made several changes in our itinerary (which includes 24 ports) the most unfortunate being the elimination of Turkey (substituting some Greek ports).  We have been to nearly all the ports (many times for most ports).

 

Our reservation is with the new Simply More program.  This meant we needed to book at least enough excursions to use our SM shore excursion credit ($1200 per person).  DW and I are generally independent travelers and seldom book cruise line excursions (we prefer doing our own thing).  We booked enough O excursions (mostly done more than 9 months in advance) to use all of our SM credit.  We do not come close to qualifying for the 25% discount and have no desire to add extra excursions to meet the required minimum.  In fact, it will be interesting to see if we even go on all the excursions we have booked since we truly dislike the large group tours.

 

Since our cruise is 35 days (with varying climate) and we plan on spending 11 more days on a driving trip in Europe (Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, and Italy) packing is tricky.  DW and I have just started our normal pre-cruise procedure of "laying out" our clothes (and other stuff) in a separate area.  This gives us a few days to appraise the pile of "stuff" and make adjustments.  Because we are doing post cruise independent travel we will limit ourselves to two large suitcases (each will weigh close to 50 pounds) and 2 heavy carry-on backpacks.  DW and I love using backpacks (as compared to typical carry-on bags) because we can wear them on our back..leaving both our hands free to handle the other bags.  Luggage logistics is always an important part of our independent travel because we assume that nobody is going to help us with our luggage.

 

We are looking forward to this trip, enjoying the "Finest Cuisine at Sea," meeting some of our fellow cruisers, and having lots of lazy sea days.  Our segments have pretty active CC Roll Calls, but we have no plans to sign-up or attend any of the onboard CC Roll Call events.  Those get togethers are just not our norm and we prefer meeting folks elsewhere on ship.

 

Hank

 

 

[halfapair]

Looking forward to your thoughts and impressions. Especially how much motion you feel on a Transatlantic cruise. 
I hope you have a wonderful time!

[Harters]

I don't use the internet when I'm away from home (as I don't carry a mobile device), so probably won't add to Hank's comments till we're back.

 

We're also on Simply More arrangements. We booked through a well known online travel agency in the UK but, seemingly unlike many North American agents, the booking was not "enhanced" except by a very minimal discount (more rounding down than real discount). The only benefit was that we bought flights through them. These were cheaper than we had been able to find online (and more straightforward arrangements than you'd get from O itself). That also meant that we had bought a "package" so covered by consumer legislation and trade association bonding should the agency or operators go bust. 

 

I prefer the SM excursion credit to the previous arrangements. It's allowed us to spend on the excursions we really wanted, rather than the bottom end ones previously on offer if you took that option. And they'll take care of "what to do" in most of the ports (we'll do our own thing in Bermuda and Cadiz).

 

Like Hank, we are currently in "preparation mode" with clothes sorted ready for packing. We fly to London on Sunday, then Miami on Monday. Looking towards a chilled out Tuesday - adapting to local time. And very much looking forward to all those sea days. 

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, halfapair said:

Looking forward to your thoughts and impressions. Especially how much motion you feel on a Transatlantic cruise. 
I hope you have a wonderful time!

Interesting issue.  DW and I do not normally concern ourselves with ship motions (we actually like some motion).  I can tell you that we have done dozens of crossings, on all size ships, and the motion has varied from none (glassy seas) to darn awful!   Most of the time it is a mixed bag and not a big deal.  But the worst happened on a spring crossing on a RCI ship (Brilliance of the Seas) when a strong storm came across the USA and went out to sea.  Unfortunately, that storm stayed with us from just off the coast of Florida all the way to our first European port (Cobh).  We still laugh and call it our "cruise from hell" as we had 5 straight days of 15+ foot seas.  They had to drain the pools for the entire crossing, because we had huge waves in the pools :).

 

No big storms on the horizon for next week, so hoping for smooth calm seas :).  We hope for some warm days, since DW and I like to spend lots of time in deck loungers catching-up on our reading.

 

Hank

[Wheelhouse]

Really enjoyed your Explora postings and looking forward to hearing about your journey on Vista. Since we have also been on both in the last six months, I hope you can include a bit of a comparison.

[sunlover12]

2 hours ago, Harters said:

I don't use the internet when I'm away from home (as I don't carry a mobile device), so probably won't add to Hank's comments till we're back.

 

It's not much fun checking emails when you're on vacation far from home but I wholeheartedly recommend it.  I was on a cruise 2 months ago and checked my email (which I do daily). I got an email from my credit card company asking me if I had made 3 specific purchases.  I didn't. It was fraud. Thank goodness they are experts at detecting fraudulent online purchases. The card was never out of my possession. It was locked in the safe in the cabin.

 

I spent the next 60 minutes on my cell phone from the Gulf of Mexico calling my bank where they immediately canceled the card and then I had to give the cruise line a different card number. I also had to go online to the Uber app, change the card on our reservation picking us up at the port.  It was a big hassle.  Spending time doing this while on our cruise was not fun!  Not to mention the stress it caused.  We always travel with at least 3 cards, usually more than that, because fraud is a big problem. Check your emails and texts regularly because you never know when bad stuff like this is going to happen. Thieves don't care if you're on vacation. 

 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Hank's posts about the Vista.  We'll be on her for the first time next year. 

 

 

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, Wheelhouse said:

Really enjoyed your Explora postings and looking forward to hearing about your journey on Vista. Since we have also been on both in the last six months, I hope you can include a bit of a comparison.

Waltershipman (who was also on our EJ1 Voyage) recently did some comparisons of the Vista with EJ1.  A comparison makes sense since both lines make claims of having unusually good cuisine.  But we should also be clear that Explora Journeys is somewhat pricier than O  and bills itself as a high-end luxury line.  Since we are currently very familiar with EJ, Seabourn, HAL and Princess (been on those lines within the past year) we will certainly try and compare.  Also consider that the EJ1 (and future EJ ships) are about the same tonnage as the Vista, but only have a capacity of about 900.  

 

Hank

[Kay S]

Definitely looking forward to your newbie experiences since we'll be in the same boat (so to speak 🙂) in the fall.

[LuAnn]

Glad you are trying O and will be interested to hear what you think!! Thanks for doing this for us!!

[EJL2023]

Looking forward to the first “really a premium line?” comment! 

[cricketlover]

8 hours ago, Hlitner said:

A few weeks ago I promised to try and post a live blog, from the Vista.  We are starting a few days prior to embarkation to talk about pre-cruise prep.  We are O virgins, as this will be our first time on any O ship.  As to a background, suffice it to say we have only 50 years of extensive cruise experience with many different cruise lines (budget to luxury) and vessels.  Whether we stick with this blog will depend on the onboard Internet connection and whether we get too lazy.  We will post the facts, and our impressions, and welcome comments, criticism, etc.

 

We made our O reservation with a trusted high volume cruise agency, who did "enhance" our booking with pre-paid gratuities and a generous On Board Credit (OBC).  Learning about how to deal with the O process comes mostly from CC.  Our suite is a low category B category verandah on deck 8.  At the 45 day mark, we went online to O's web site and made our dining reservations.  Since our cruise is 3 segments (35 days) we were allowed to book 3 reservations in each of Vistas four alternative restaurants.  Half our reservations are 2-tops and other half are shared.  At the time we booked, it was not possible to get all 2-tops at our desired times, and DW and I really enjoy sharing tables as a way to meet and socialize with others.  When we booked the reservations (all done online) we immediately received an e-mail confirmation (for each reservations) from O (and they also show in later e-mailed documents from O).  Because we have heard here on CC about some "issues" with dining reservations, we are taking printed copies of all the confirmations.   We have had no problems with our reservations, never needed to call O, and as typical of our own procedures, most of the work is done online with a few clicks of the mouse.  O has already made several changes in our itinerary (which includes 24 ports) the most unfortunate being the elimination of Turkey (substituting some Greek ports).  We have been to nearly all the ports (many times for most ports).

 

Our reservation is with the new Simply More program.  This meant we needed to book at least enough excursions to use our SM shore excursion credit ($1200 per person).  DW and I are generally independent travelers and seldom book cruise line excursions (we prefer doing our own thing).  We booked enough O excursions (mostly done more than 9 months in advance) to use all of our SM credit.  We do not come close to qualifying for the 25% discount and have no desire to add extra excursions to meet the required minimum.  In fact, it will be interesting to see if we even go on all the excursions we have booked since we truly dislike the large group tours.

 

Since our cruise is 35 days (with varying climate) and we plan on spending 11 more days on a driving trip in Europe (Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, and Italy) packing is tricky.  DW and I have just started our normal pre-cruise procedure of "laying out" our clothes (and other stuff) in a separate area.  This gives us a few days to appraise the pile of "stuff" and make adjustments.  Because we are doing post cruise independent travel we will limit ourselves to two large suitcases (each will weigh close to 50 pounds) and 2 heavy carry-on backpacks.  DW and I love using backpacks (as compared to typical carry-on bags) because we can wear them on our back..leaving both our hands free to handle the other bags.  Luggage logistics is always an important part of our independent travel because we assume that nobody is going to help us with our luggage.

 

We are looking forward to this trip, enjoying the "Finest Cuisine at Sea," meeting some of our fellow cruisers, and having lots of lazy sea days.  Our segments have pretty active CC Roll Calls, but we have no plans to sign-up or attend any of the onboard CC Roll Call events.  Those get togethers are just not our norm and we prefer meeting folks elsewhere on ship.

 

Hank

 

Will looking forward to seeing what you think of the ship, we will be getting on in Valetta.

[Hlitner]

Just a few words about O pre-cruise (for those who may be O virgins..like us).  A few weeks ago, O sent us an e-mail (through our cruise agent) with several attachments including a "final" itinerary (which has changed several times since we booked the cruise).  One of those attachments was a PDF file of all the O excursions.  Tonight, for fun, I decided to print-out that document.  It is ONLY 139 pages :).  Since I printed it two sided we now have a 70 page hard copy of all the excursions.  That is for only a 35 day cruise so one can wonder what that document would be if one were to book the 180 day ATW cruise.  

 

O also sent us their normal pre-cruise packet.  That included an attractive customized booklet, that would be helpful to folks who have little cruise experience.  The packet also had customized luggage tags.  O actually sent us two of these packets, each with its own mailing cost.  Most other cruise lines (including some luxury lines) have long ago stopped mailing that kind of thing because it is very expensive.  The norm is to just sent e-mail attachments including luggage tags (that folks can print out).  This avoids the cost of putting together all those packets (for each cruiser) and paying the postage.  Strange company, O, that they toss away all the money on mailings and do not spend money on designing an App.  

 

Hank

[Vineyard View]

I am very much looking forward to your review Hiltner. Over the years I have been the recipient of your sage advice, be it on specific cruise boards or ports of call boards. I find your feedback to be impartial, fair, and well balanced. As a couple considering Oceania for the first time, and with far less experience than you, yet some experience on mutual lines, I look forward to your impressions. While we can all come away from the same experience with differing views, I am interested in what your thoughts are and will take them with value 
Thank you for taking the time from your vacation to share with all of us!  Hoping you have a fantastic journey and that O meets/exceeds expectations! 

[Kay S]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

 

 Strange company, O, that they toss away all the money on mailings and do not spend money on designing an App.  

 

And bless them for it!

[Waltershipman]

8 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Waltershipman (who was also on our EJ1 Voyage) recently did some comparisons of the Vista with EJ1.  A comparison makes sense since both lines make claims of having unusually good cuisine.  But we should also be clear that Explora Journeys is somewhat pricier than O  and bills itself as a high-end luxury line.  Since we are currently very familiar with EJ, Seabourn, HAL and Princess (been on those lines within the past year) we will certainly try and compare.  Also consider that the EJ1 (and future EJ ships) are about the same tonnage as the Vista, but only have a capacity of about 900.  

 

Hank

Thanks Hank and yes i did a comparison which i did on the EJ CC board that compares Vista to EJ 

 

Enjoy

[Vallesan]

10 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Waltershipman (who was also on our EJ1 Voyage) recently did some comparisons of the Vista with EJ1.  A comparison makes sense since both lines make claims of having unusually good cuisine.  But we should also be clear that Explora Journeys is somewhat pricier than O  and bills itself as a high-end luxury line.  Since we are currently very familiar with EJ, Seabourn, HAL and Princess (been on those lines within the past year) we will certainly try and compare.  Also consider that the EJ1 (and future EJ ships) are about the same tonnage as the Vista, but only have a capacity of about 900.  

 

Hank

Explora, unlike other luxury/premium lines, seems to have a more family focused approach to cruising. Just wondering if there were any/many children on your cruise and do you think that school holidays might not be a good idea if you prefer a more ‘adult only’ atmosphere? 
P.S. I love children but don’t want to holiday with other peoples!

[Harters]

As mentioned elsewhere, the "information pack", luggage tags, etc, received by Hank have not been available to British customers for some while. We didnt get them for our Nautica cruise last summer, nor had them for this cruise. However, on another thread, fellow Britons have mentioned they have received them for April cruises so it looks like O stopped sending them but has restarted. 

 

I wonder if feedback from British travel agents has suggested to O that as, seemingly, we are generally charged more for our cruises than North Americans we should get at least the same level of customer service. 

[Hlitner]

5 hours ago, Vallesan said:

Explora, unlike other luxury/premium lines, seems to have a more family focused approach to cruising. Just wondering if there were any/many children on your cruise and do you think that school holidays might not be a good idea if you prefer a more ‘adult only’ atmosphere? 
P.S. I love children but don’t want to holiday with other peoples!

There were very few children (certainly no more than 10) on our 18 days.  In fact, I think it was a few days until I noticed any kids/teens.  Keep in mind that we were cruising in late Sept-Oct which is during the school year just about everywhere around the world.

 

While EJ does market they are family oriented, I am not sure it is a line that will attract many kids.  The amenties and atmosphere is just not what we would want for our own grandsons.  If we were to take our grandchildren on a cruise we would probably look towards Disney or RCI (MSC Yacht Club would also be OK).

 

Hank

[Vallesan]

3 hours ago, Hlitner said:

There were very few children (certainly no more than 10) on our 18 days.  In fact, I think it was a few days until I noticed any kids/teens.  Keep in mind that we were cruising in late Sept-Oct which is during the school year just about everywhere around the world.

 

While EJ does market they are family oriented, I am not sure it is a line that will attract many kids.  The amenties and atmosphere is just not what we would want for our own grandsons.  If we were to take our grandchildren on a cruise we would probably look towards Disney or RCI (MSC Yacht Club would also be OK).

 

Hank

Thank you!

 

I took a look at the Explora website and it looks like they have offers for under 18’s in school holidays etc. My reading of that is that at other times under 18’s pay full price. That would certainly stop many people from taking children out of school for a trip!

 

As you say, the atmosphere wouldn’t really suit children. Guess if school holidays are avoided it must be worth a shot especially now that Silversea’s new pricing seems to be ruling them out for lots of people.

Edited March 21 by Vallesan

[ak1004]

15 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

Thank you!

 

I took a look at the Explora website and it looks like they have offers for under 18’s in school holidays etc. My reading of that is that at other times under 18’s pay full price. That would certainly stop many people from taking children out of school for a trip!

 

As you say, the atmosphere wouldn’t really suit children. Guess if school holidays are avoided it must be worth a shot especially now that Silversea’s new pricing seems to be ruling them out for lots of people.

 

For us, our SS cruise in May will be probably the last one. The quality just doesn't justify the current prices. I was willing to book SS when I could get maybe for 10-15% more than O. Now it's 40-50% more, no way.

 

Some SB sailings are very reasonably priced. Explora is still more expensive than SB, and I didn't find any itineraries that are more unique than other lines. I assume things will get better when they roll out more ships, but for now O and SB will probably be our lines of choice, and possibly Windstar. There is just a limit of how much we are willing to pay for a cruise.

[Waltershipman]

4 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

For us, our SS cruise in May will be probably the last one. The quality just doesn't justify the current prices. I was willing to book SS when I could get maybe for 10-15% more than O. Now it's 40-50% more, no way.

 

Some SB sailings are very reasonably priced. Explora is still more expensive than SB, and I didn't find any itineraries that are more unique than other lines. I assume things will get better when they roll out more ships, but for now O and SB will probably be our lines of choice, and possibly Windstar. There is just a limit of how much we are willing to pay for a cruise.

I like SB as well. Sailed on Azamara in 2019 and enjoyed it. Might give them another try in a larger cabin

[Vallesan]

1 minute ago, Waltershipman said:

I like SB as well. Sailed on Azamara in 2019 and enjoyed it. Might give them another try in a larger cabin

I do some research into Azamara before you book. Apparently they have suffered more than others in the recent past mainly as a result of having new owners. 

[Waltershipman]

3 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

I do some research into Azamara before you book. Apparently they have suffered more than others in the recent past mainly as a result of having new owners. 

Yes i am concerned due to new ownership When we sailed in 2019 it was great

[Vallesan]

17 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

For us, our SS cruise in May will be probably the last one. The quality just doesn't justify the current prices. I was willing to book SS when I could get maybe for 10-15% more than O. Now it's 40-50% more, no way.

 

Some SB sailings are very reasonably priced. Explora is still more expensive than SB, and I didn't find any itineraries that are more unique than other lines. I assume things will get better when they roll out more ships, but for now O and SB will probably be our lines of choice, and possibly Windstar. There is just a limit of how much we are willing to pay for a cruise.

 
I agree with you. We cruised with Silversea for the first time last year. It was an amazing cruise but that was probably due partly to the itinerary, we were in the Norwegian Fjords and we had amazing weather.

 

Oceania and Seabourn are my best fit at the moment. In fact we are sailing on the Quest next month our first time on 450 passenger ship! I’m looking forward to it as the ship is a few thousand tons larger than the R class ships but 10 years younger and with only 2/3 of the passengers!

 

Explora seem to mainly have 7 or 8 night cruises and the B2B become overpriced in my opinion. Also I don’t find the itineraries that stimulating. Maybe wait for more of their ships to come into service.

Edited March 21 by Vallesan

[Vallesan]

6 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

Yes i am concerned due to new ownership When we sailed in 2019 it was great

Are you familiar with Gary Bembridge on YouTube. I caught one of his videos where he was saying how Azamara had gone down after the new owners took over but was improving. Might be worth taking a look.