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

[Vineyard View]

Vallesan, we very much enjoyed sailing on Quest last year. We were not sure how we would like that size of ship either. Our past more recent (pre C) sailings were with Viking. Our regular balcony cabin was a really well laid out space, the food and service was very good/excellent. I hope you enjoy her as much as we did. 
 

I would agree, that at this time, after looking at multiple lines, O and SB are the two we are focused on. As time and ships change, we will continue to look at others. Azamara was worth a look based on a couple itineraries, but to get a decent size bathroom (much like O smaller ships), we would have to bump up in price to SB and the stateroom would not compete with SB. 

[ak1004]

23 minutes 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

 

Yes, we enjoyed them too, but larger cabins are priced similar to SB, sometimes more (and the suites are still slightly smaller than entry level cabins on SB). Only some very unique itinerary would convince me to try them again.

[Vallesan]

1 minute ago, Vineyard View said:

Vallesan, we very much enjoyed sailing on Quest last year. We were not sure how we would like that size of ship either. Our past more recent (pre C) sailings were with Viking. Our regular balcony cabin was a really well laid out space, the food and service was very good/excellent. I hope you enjoy her as much as we did. 
 

I would agree, that at this time, after looking at multiple lines, O and SB are the two we are focused on. As time and ships change, we will continue to look at others. Azamara was worth a look based on a couple itineraries, but to get a decent size bathroom (much like O smaller ships), we would have to bump up in price to SB and the stateroom would not compete with SB. 

Thank you! I’m sure we will enjoy it!

 

I’ve really enjoyed the R class ships over the years but we took a last minute cruise on the Riviera just before she was refurbished and decided that actually we preferred the choice of restaurants on the larger ships. That was confirmed when we sailed on the Sirena a few months later. 
 

As you say, you have to go up to a PH on the smaller ships to get the equivalent size as Seabourn’s entry level. No brainer really.

[Waltershipman]

21 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

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.

Will do thank you 

[1985rz1]

1 hour ago, Waltershipman said:

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

 

55 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

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.

We did a 16- day Azamara cruise around New Zealand this past January and February and were pleasatlt surprsed that the experience compared well with our Oceania experience.  O won out in somecareas, but A actually exceeded O in other areas.  We have no hestitation to book A again for it great itineraries.  We have 2 upcoming cruises on the books on O and one one A, alll three selected for itinerary, since the sailing experience, while differ in details, are comparable.

 

Fortunately, A has recovered from its disastrous web site transition.  It’s still clunky, but O is not known for it IT prowess, either.

Edited March 21 by 1985rz1

[1985rz1]

54 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

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

 

45 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

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.

We did a 16- day Azamara cruise around New Zealand this past January and February and were pleasatlt surprsed that the experience compared well with our Oceania experience.  O won out in somecareas, but A actually exceeded O in other areas.  We have no hestitation to book A again for it great itineraries.  We have 2 upcoming cruises on the books on O and one one A, alll three selected for itinerary, since the sailing experience, while differ in details, are comparable.

 

Fortunately A recovered from it's disastrous we site transition.  It's still a bit clunky, but O is not known for its IT, either.

[ak1004]

57 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

 

We did a 16- day Azamara cruise around New Zealand this past January and February and were pleasatlt surprsed that the experience compared well with our Oceania experience.  O won out in somecareas, but A actually exceeded O in other areas.  We have no hestitation to book A again for it great itineraries.  We have 2 upcoming cruises on the books on O and one one A, alll three selected for itinerary, since the sailing experience, while differ in details, are comparable.

 

Fortunately A recovered from it's disastrous we site transition.  It's still a bit clunky, but O is not known for its IT, either.

 

We enjoyed our A cruise very much. The Azamazing evening and white night were a lot of fun. Food was not as good as O in my opinion, but still very good. Officers much more visible and approachable. But the cabins and showers are a huge drawdown for me (the main reason we like O ships better on Oceania).

[1985rz1]

38 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

We enjoyed our A cruise very much. The Azamazing evening and white night were a lot of fun. Food was not as good as O in my opinion, but still very good. Officers much more visible and approachable. But the cabins and showers are a huge drawdown for me (the main reason we like O ships better on Oceania).

Agreed,  But we've been doing R-ships on O lately (driven by itinerary), so we weren't bothered by the cabin/shower sizes on A.

[chloemonkey]

3 hours ago, Waltershipman said:

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

 Met quite a few passengers on current Vista sailing while in line for Future Cruise booking agent and they all have sailed Azamara recent and all said never again….i was surprised as we used to enjoy them.,..so do your homework…

[roberts2005]

Really enjoyed your reports last year on Japan.  They helped a lot with our own trip on Azamara’s Quest.

 

We did Vista’s trans Atlantic this past September.  Crossing was fine except for cold and cloudy weather.

 

For us the best part of the ship, was the new Aquamar  restaurant.

 

Looking forward to your independent excursions, including your post cruise drive.  Also curious how you spent your simply more credits.

[Carnevale]

We will never sail on Azamara again after our experience last July on an Iceland and Ireland cruise. Our stateroom had an awful smell and no attempts to fix it were successful. The rest of the room was extremely worn. While recognizing that food is subjective, we were very disappointed in the MDR and ended up paying extra to dine in the alternative restaurants pretty much every night. The Azamazing evening was a bust as while they had said they would take us to a concert at the beautiful Reykjavik concert hall, in the end all we got was a third rate singer performing on the ship - nothing special at all. They also seemed to have no idea how to manage things like passport control as we changed countries and the management of several ship’s excursions was a gong show. And a bunch of other issues. We have cruised a lot and have never experienced anything like this before. It will be nice to be on ab O cruise next month!

[elmsliebev]

On 3/21/2024 at 10:29 AM, Harters said:

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. 

Interesting We don't go until October, but I'll be looking out for my information pack! Have a wonderful time. 

 

[elmsliebev]

On 3/20/2024 at 2:15 PM, 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

 

 

Look forward to reading about your experiences, have a great time. 

[Colorado Coasty]

On 3/20/2024 at 10:15 AM, 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

 

 

We too are currently on Vista and I am interested in your observations as compared to ours, but this thread seems to have taken a left turn (as is typical of the Oceania board). Looking forward to reading more.

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

Also looking forward to your review. We have never sailed on Oceania, but have a cruise booked on the Vista for September 2025. 

[Hlitner]

We will try to keep this thread on topic since we know that CC does encourage these kind of first-hand "live" threads.  I want to talk a little more about O's system for obtaining alternative dining venue reservations.  They system rewards folks who book the more expensive accommodations with an earlier booking window.  For those of us in the normal/lower cost cabins, by the time the window opens (45 days prior to embarkation) many of the best reservations (times and dates) are gone.  What to do?

 

While we understand the trend towards cruisers wanting to book 2-tops, all cruise ships (with the exception of some luxury line small ships) have limitations in 2-top availability).  When you use the O online reservation system one can input whether they want a private table (i.e. 2-top) or shared table.  If one inputs the private table option, the display of available times is limited to only those times where a 2-top is still available.  We quickly realized that if were to only book 2-tops, we would need to accept some lousy times (for us that would be too early or two late).  We did initially book 2-tops where there were good times but then went back and changed the criteria to "shared" tables.  Voila!  There were plenty of availability at the best times (for us 7-8pm).  A lot of cruise experience has taught us to compromise on some things, and sharing tables is, for us, a very easy compromise.  

 

Flatbush Flyer (a frequent poster and long-time O fan) has suggested that folks can call O and deal with dining reservations or shore excursions via phone calls.  But our own style is not to sit on a phone (when avoidable).  We were also determined to deal with O like we do with many other cruise lines, which is to say we rarely ever talk to anyone from a cruise line.  We prefer using online resources and being able to print-out related info so we have a hard-copy record.  DW and I book many cruises and I prefer to do things with a few mouse clicks (at my own leisure) rather than sitting on hold, often dealing with cruise line clerks who do not have a clue, etc.  

 

By the way, if doing a comparison with Explora Journeys (which has been requested in another post), they did not even have online capability for making pre-cruise dining reservations.  EJ1 has 4 restaurants of which 2 require reservations.  It was possible to call EJ and get a single reservation each of those two venues (even though we were on 2 segments).  EJ also has one very special restaurant (called Anthology) which is quite small, costs several hundred dollars, and features a single menu curated by a Michelin staffed chef.  The chefs are only featured for a limited time (sometimes only a few weeks) so the menus undergo complete changes with the change of chefs.  Anthology also has a galley that is open (through a large glass wall) to the restaurant.  In our case, we actually watched the Michelin 2* Chef (from New York Cities, Aquavit) prepare our meal.  That venue is run in a style the French would call "degustation"  with a multi course menu.  You got what the chef wanted you to get, and if you did not like the menu your only option was to cancel the reservation (the menu was available in advance).  We met the chef, and she told me she did submit her menu, in advance, so the ship could arrange to have the needed ingredients on hand.  An interesting concept that cost over $350 per couple, with wine pairing.  Some would argue that it was a bargain when one considers what they same meal would have cost at the Chef's land-based restaurant.  Most of the dishes were the same as one would get if dining in NYC at Aquivit. 

 

Hank

 

 

[Waltershipman]

56 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We will try to keep this thread on topic since we know that CC does encourage these kind of first-hand "live" threads.  I want to talk a little more about O's system for obtaining alternative dining venue reservations.  They system rewards folks who book the more expensive accommodations with an earlier booking window.  For those of us in the normal/lower cost cabins, by the time the window opens (45 days prior to embarkation) many of the best reservations (times and dates) are gone.  What to do?

 

While we understand the trend towards cruisers wanting to book 2-tops, all cruise ships (with the exception of some luxury line small ships) have limitations in 2-top availability).  When you use the O online reservation system one can input whether they want a private table (i.e. 2-top) or shared table.  If one inputs the private table option, the display of available times is limited to only those times where a 2-top is still available.  We quickly realized that if were to only book 2-tops, we would need to accept some lousy times (for us that would be too early or two late).  We did initially book 2-tops where there were good times but then went back and changed the criteria to "shared" tables.  Voila!  There were plenty of availability at the best times (for us 7-8pm).  A lot of cruise experience has taught us to compromise on some things, and sharing tables is, for us, a very easy compromise.  

 

Flatbush Flyer (a frequent poster and long-time O fan) has suggested that folks can call O and deal with dining reservations or shore excursions via phone calls.  But our own style is not to sit on a phone (when avoidable).  We were also determined to deal with O like we do with many other cruise lines, which is to say we rarely ever talk to anyone from a cruise line.  We prefer using online resources and being able to print-out related info so we have a hard-copy record.  DW and I book many cruises and I prefer to do things with a few mouse clicks (at my own leisure) rather than sitting on hold, often dealing with cruise line clerks who do not have a clue, etc.  

 

By the way, if doing a comparison with Explora Journeys (which has been requested in another post), they did not even have online capability for making pre-cruise dining reservations.  EJ1 has 4 restaurants of which 2 require reservations.  It was possible to call EJ and get a single reservation each of those two venues (even though we were on 2 segments).  EJ also has one very special restaurant (called Anthology) which is quite small, costs several hundred dollars, and features a single menu curated by a Michelin staffed chef.  The chefs are only featured for a limited time (sometimes only a few weeks) so the menus undergo complete changes with the change of chefs.  Anthology also has a galley that is open (through a large glass wall) to the restaurant.  In our case, we actually watched the Michelin 2* Chef (from New York Cities, Aquavit) prepare our meal.  That venue is run in a style the French would call "degustation"  with a multi course menu.  You got what the chef wanted you to get, and if you did not like the menu your only option was to cancel the reservation (the menu was available in advance).  We met the chef, and she told me she did submit her menu, in advance, so the ship could arrange to have the needed ingredients on hand.  An interesting concept that cost over $350 per couple, with wine pairing.  Some would argue that it was a bargain when one considers what they same meal would have cost at the Chef's land-based restaurant.  Most of the dishes were the same as one would get if dining in NYC at Aquivit. 

 

Hank

 

 

Vista specialty dining on line availability does change up until near sailing. We found a 2 top several days before reservation cut off at a great time that had been previously unavailable.  We prefer  2 tops however on the 2 occasions we ate with other couples we found the company delightful. In one case while at Embers which we enjoyed we shared a table with a couple and the husband was 90 who still works 3 days a week. We enjoyed so much that we met the next day in Barbados at Lobster Alive for lunch  and enjoyed 2 lb lobster in a fun place with live music.

 

In addition the head maitre d at eacj venue will try to grant requests if possible.

 

[Mareblu]

6 hours ago, elmsliebev said:

Interesting We don't go until October, but I'll be looking out for my information pack! Have a wonderful time. 

 

I’m thrilled to announce that O is once again supplying Australian guests with the luggage pack.  We thought we’d have to print, then fold and staple our flimsy paper luggage tags again, as we did for our Sirena cruise in late 2022.  Our blue folder with information booklet and four impressive luggage tag holders, and printed tags for insertion therein, arrived yesterday.  Delighted and surprised.

[Harters]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We quickly realized that if were to only book 2-tops, we would need to accept some lousy times

We are in a concierge veranda and booked our specialities on the day reservations opened up for our class of cabin. We prefer 2-tops and had no problem getting one, for all four specialities, at our preferred time of 7.30 or 8.00. 

[Hlitner]

19 minutes ago, Harters said:

We are in a concierge veranda and booked our specialities on the day reservations opened up for our class of cabin. We prefer 2-tops and had no problem getting one, for all four specialities, at our preferred time of 7.30 or 8.00. 

We were a little concerned about booking 8 (a normal time for us) because of the 9:30 show times.  I will also confess that sharing tables is something we have always enjoyed.  Been sharing tables (often large tables) for nearly 50 years of cruising, and a majority of the friends we have made on cruises happens at shared tables.  When we look back at a near lifetime of extensive cruising, our most memorable and favorite cruises have been the ones on which we met the most interesting folks, quite a few of which we still count as friends. 

 

Just last year, on a long HAL cruise (from Japan to Seattle) we shared a table at our usual later dining times (one can be lonely on MDR after 8pm in the MDR) and were joined by a single gentleman who turned out to be a very famous travel writer and founder of a well-known travel guide company.  Truly fantastic dinners.  We are well traveled, but are complete amateurs compared to this man who made a fortune as a writer, publisher, and traveler.  Those are the kind of tablemates that feed our thirst for more travel knowledge.  It does not happen at 2 tops.  Other cruisers have told us they now avoid dining with strangers since they do not know what to discuss.  We just smile and suggest, "travel and cruising" and grandchildren. What could be more natural?

 

Hank

[Kay S]

1 minute ago, Hlitner said:

 I will also confess that sharing tables is something we have always enjoyed.  Been sharing tables (often large tables) for nearly 50 years of cruising, and a majority of the friends we have made on cruises happens at shared tables.  When we look back at a near lifetime of extensive cruising, our most memorable and favorite cruises have been the ones on which we met the most interesting folks,

We always ask to share for these same reasons.  It's also why we mourn the demise of fixed dining.  Once we shared a table with a professional Santa Claus, and we learned all about the industry (yes, a whole industry.)  We enjoy meeting new people and never lack for topics of conversation.

 

We will be late in the queue for speciality dining, so I'm happy for the advice, Hank.

[Harters]

38 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We were a little concerned about booking 8 (a normal time for us) because of the 9:30 show times.

We mainly booked 7.30 bearing that in mind. But, in any event, dinner at a speciality will be our main entertainment for those evenings

[Vallesan]

8 hours ago, Harters said:

We are in a concierge veranda and booked our specialities on the day reservations opened up for our class of cabin. We prefer 2-tops and had no problem getting one, for all four specialities, at our preferred time of 7.30 or 8.00. 

Same with us for our May sailing. We got all 4 @ 7.30pm just for 2. In fact we have never had a problem with tables but are quite happy to share anyway.

[Carnevale]

On 3/23/2024 at 12:02 AM, Vallesan said:

Same with us for our May sailing. We got all 4 @ 7.30pm just for 2. In fact we have never had a problem with tables but are quite happy to share anyway.

I think this highlights an advantage to Concierge class. We are in a regular balcony and went online exactly when it opened for us to book. By that date we could only get private tables for two of the four restaurants and could only get times much later than we like for three bookings.

[fille_canadienne]

5 hours ago, Carnevale said:

I think this highlights an advantage to Concierge class. We are in a regular balcony and went online exactly when it opened for us to book. By that date we could only get private tables for two of the four restaurants and could only get times much later than we like for three bookings.

I think you probably need to be in PH to be able to book what you actually want. We are in concierge, and I literally sat down at 12:01 all prepared to make our dinner reservations - nevertheless, one of our dinners is still shared and the rest are past 7pm, for instance I was only able to book Toscana for 8pm.