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

[FetaCheese]

10 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Apologies for the delayed response.

 

Just read the post. With respect to the alarms sounded, I am not aware of the crew signals used by Oceania. Therefore, unable to comment on the 3 or 4 activations of the crew alarm, especially as it didn't specify short or prolonged. The sounding of the whistle is unusual, as that is most commonly used for manoeuvring signals and man overboard. However, as should be promulgated in the embarkation drill, pax should not be concerned with any of the crew signals, only the General Emergency Signal, which is at least 7 short rings followed by a prolonged ring. 

 

Without further information it would be impossible to speculate as the the reason for a power outage, especially without knowing the entire scope. Was it a total blackout or brown out? Since it was resolved quickly, I suspect it wasn't propulsion related and probably as the Captain mentioned, a failure in a single distribution panel

@Heidi13

Thank you, Andy.

Edited May 1 by FetaCheese

[Hlitner]

Our first, "no longer live from the Vista" post :).  The Vista docked at Trieste (the only cruise ship in the port) early this morning and debarked the shippabout 8:30am, after a last cappuccino and croissant in Baristas.   Because O ended our cruise on a national holiday (Mayday or Labor Day) many normal functions in Trieste were closed.  This included the local rental car agencies.  In order for us to get a car we needed to drive nearly 25 miles to Triest's own airport.  O did offer bus transport, but at $69 Euros per person, it made no sense.  We simply got a local taxi (about a 3 min wait in the queue) and our talkative driver got us to the airport in about 35 minutes at a cost of 65 Euros (total cost for two).  

 

Disembarkation, in Trieste went very smoothly with a majority of passengers heading about 100 miles to Venice's Marco Polo Airport or Venice.  We are already suffering "Vista withdrawal" since we must now fend for ourselves :).  At the Trieste Airport we picked up our rental car from Europcar, and were soon on our way to Lake Bled, Slovenia.  It is our first visit to Slovenia, and we found it interesting that our taxi drive (from Trieste to the airport) told us he often drives to Slovenia for dinner since "everything is much cheaper in Slovenia."  

 

The weatherman was wrong (it was supposed to rain) and we had nice day (with partly sunny skies).  We reached our Lake Bled hotel around noon, and after some lunch we walked part of the way around the picturesque Lake Bled.  This part of Slovenia is beautiful and is growing as a major tourist destination.  During our drive, I pulled in to a gas station (in Italy) in order to purchase the needed Slovenian Vignette.  This is required for anyone driving in this country and a 7 day Vignette cost us 17.50 Euros.  These days it is a digital Vignette and your car's license plate is registered.  Failure to have a vignette can get folks a nasty fine.  In some European countries (including Slovenia), a Vignette replaces most road tolls.

 

One nice thing about being in Slovenia is that English is widely spoken.  It is a mandatory language, in their public schools, and most of the younger folks speak multiple languages including English, German, many Slavic dialects, Spanish, etc.  

 

While we are already missing the Vista and the easy life on a cruise ship, DW and I are always happy to be on our own in Europe with a rental car.  The freedom of being able to go where we want, when we want, with who we want, is what I 5ave loved about travel for the past 57 years of extensive world travel.  And the one thing I do not miss from the Vista is the too often and too long announcements from Peter (the CD).  Life is good :).

 

Hank

[ronrick1943]

WOW! Sounds like you had a wonderful cruise.  Now on your way for more adventures, you travel a lot like us when in Europe.  Taking one day at a time, enjoying life at your speed not others.  Wish you safe and enjoyable days ahead.  Thank you so much for taking the time to post about your trip sharing your thoughts.............😃

[basor]

39 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Our first, "no longer live from the Vista" post :).  The Vista docked at Trieste (the only cruise ship in the port) early this morning and debarked the shippabout 8:30am, after a last cappuccino and croissant in Baristas.   Because O ended our cruise on a national holiday (Mayday or Labor Day) many normal functions in Trieste were closed.  This included the local rental car agencies.  In order for us to get a car we needed to drive nearly 25 miles to Triest's own airport.  O did offer bus transport, but at $69 Euros per person, it made no sense.  We simply got a local taxi (about a 3 min wait in the queue) and our talkative driver got us to the airport in about 35 minutes at a cost of 65 Euros (total cost for two).  

 

Disembarkation, in Trieste went very smoothly with a majority of passengers heading about 100 miles to Venice's Marco Polo Airport or Venice.  We are already suffering "Vista withdrawal" since we must now fend for ourselves :).  At the Trieste Airport we picked up our rental car from Europcar, and were soon on our way to Lake Bled, Slovenia.  It is our first visit to Slovenia, and we found it interesting that our taxi drive (from Trieste to the airport) told us he often drives to Slovenia for dinner since "everything is much cheaper in Slovenia."  

 

The weatherman was wrong (it was supposed to rain) and we had nice day (with partly sunny skies).  We reached our Lake Bled hotel around noon, and after some lunch we walked part of the way around the picturesque Lake Bled.  This part of Slovenia is beautiful and is growing as a major tourist destination.  During our drive, I pulled in to a gas station (in Italy) in order to purchase the needed Slovenian Vignette.  This is required for anyone driving in this country and a 7 day Vignette cost us 17.50 Euros.  These days it is a digital Vignette and your car's license plate is registered.  Failure to have a vignette can get folks a nasty fine.  In some European countries (including Slovenia), a Vignette replaces most road tolls.

 

One nice thing about being in Slovenia is that English is widely spoken.  It is a mandatory language, in their public schools, and most of the younger folks speak multiple languages including English, German, many Slavic dialects, Spanish, etc.  

 

While we are already missing the Vista and the easy life on a cruise ship, DW and I are always happy to be on our own in Europe with a rental car.  The freedom of being able to go where we want, when we want, with who we want, is what I 5ave loved about travel for the past 57 years of extensive world travel.  And the one thing I do not miss from the Vista is the too often and too long announcements from Peter (the CD).  Life is good :).

 

Hank

We enjoyed a wonderful day at Lake Bled on a pre O cruise in Trieste......driver picker us up at our hotel and spent the day exploring Slovenia with lunch and Bled cream cakes at a lovely lake side restaurant.

[curmudgeon98]

We spent a few days in Slovenia after an Azamara cruise a couple of years ago.  Very enjoyable.  Lake Bled was quite scenic, but a little touristy for our tastes.  Some highlights for us were the Tolmin Gorges nature park, Kendov Dvoric hotel near Idrija (very scenic and quiet), Postojna caves (there is another good cave system as well), Hotel Grad Otocec.  There is wine country around Novo Mesto/Otocec, but it's pretty low key; we enjoyed the wine across the border in the Styria region of Austria better.

[vipro]

17 minutes ago, curmudgeon98 said:

We spent a few days in Slovenia after an Azamara cruise a couple of years ago.  Very enjoyable.  Lake Bled was quite scenic, but a little touristy for our tastes.  Some highlights for us were the Tolmin Gorges nature park, Kendov Dvoric hotel near Idrija (very scenic and quiet), Postojna caves (there is another good cave system as well), Hotel Grad Otocec.  There is wine country around Novo Mesto/Otocec, but it's pretty low key; we enjoyed the wine across the border in the Styria region of Austria better.

And don't miss the skojcan caves as well. Also, I am just surprised with the comment "everything is much cheaper in Slovenia" and I always thought Slovenia is one of the most expensive countries among all the Balkan countries 🙂

[Mareblu]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

Our first, "no longer live from the Vista" post :).  The Vista docked at Trieste (the only cruise ship in the port) early this morning and debarked the shippabout 8:30am, after a last cappuccino and croissant in Baristas.   Because O ended our cruise on a national holiday (Mayday or Labor Day) many normal functions in Trieste were closed.  This included the local rental car agencies.  In order for us to get a car we needed to drive nearly 25 miles to Triest's own airport.  O did offer bus transport, but at $69 Euros per person, it made no sense.  We simply got a local taxi (about a 3 min wait in the queue) and our talkative driver got us to the airport in about 35 minutes at a cost of 65 Euros (total cost for two).  

 

Disembarkation, in Trieste went very smoothly with a majority of passengers heading about 100 miles to Venice's Marco Polo Airport or Venice.  We are already suffering "Vista withdrawal" since we must now fend for ourselves :).  At the Trieste Airport we picked up our rental car from Europcar, and were soon on our way to Lake Bled, Slovenia.  It is our first visit to Slovenia, and we found it interesting that our taxi drive (from Trieste to the airport) told us he often drives to Slovenia for dinner since "everything is much cheaper in Slovenia."  

 

The weatherman was wrong (it was supposed to rain) and we had nice day (with partly sunny skies).  We reached our Lake Bled hotel around noon, and after some lunch we walked part of the way around the picturesque Lake Bled.  This part of Slovenia is beautiful and is growing as a major tourist destination.  During our drive, I pulled in to a gas station (in Italy) in order to purchase the needed Slovenian Vignette.  This is required for anyone driving in this country and a 7 day Vignette cost us 17.50 Euros.  These days it is a digital Vignette and your car's license plate is registered.  Failure to have a vignette can get folks a nasty fine.  In some European countries (including Slovenia), a Vignette replaces most road tolls.

 

One nice thing about being in Slovenia is that English is widely spoken.  It is a mandatory language, in their public schools, and most of the younger folks speak multiple languages including English, German, many Slavic dialects, Spanish, etc.  

 

While we are already missing the Vista and the easy life on a cruise ship, DW and I are always happy to be on our own in Europe with a rental car.  The freedom of being able to go where we want, when we want, with who we want, is what I 5ave loved about travel for the past 57 years of extensive world travel.  And the one thing I do not miss from the Vista is the too often and too long announcements from Peter (the CD).  Life is good :).

 

Hank

Lake Bled is beautiful, Hank.  It’s several years since we drove from Mario’s home town just over the Slovenian border.  We stayed several days, and during that time it certainly wasn’t “touristy”.  It was just before Slovenia switched to the Euro.  At night, with its former island sanctuary bathed in soft light, the lake seemed ethereal.  We are also missing Vista, but enjoying being independent travellers again.  We will collect a car in Scotland on Friday.  At least we will be driving on “our side” of the road, though you would disagree.

Happy and safe travels.

[Hlitner]

Am really appreciating the info from a few of you about what you enjoyed in Slovenia.  The rain finally arrived, tonight, during dinner.  Since we managed to explore the Lake area today, while the sun still shined, we now thinking we must deal with a rain day...tomorrow,  The cave info is appreciated, and we are now having some fun looking at the options.  We are thinking about heading out to the Postojna Caves and nearby castle in the morning.

 

This brings up another reason why we love independent travel.  When the weather does not cooperate, you simply change your activities to work with the weather.  Being in a cave on a rainy day is not much different on a sunny day 🙂.  But when you are on a tour/excursion where you have paid for an specific itinerary, you will likely get what you booked, rain or shine.  This happened to us, recently, when in Taiwan on a HAL cruise where we had booked a tour of a gorge.  We were walking up and down slippery metal ladders and hiking over slippery trails as we all had to use our umbrellas.  It was fun, but absolutely nutz.  As an independent traveler would probably have changed their plans, but with pre-paid tours that is not going to happen.

 

Getting back to O, I am not a fan of their Simply More program.  It forces us to book overpriced excursions that we would never consider...otherwise.  We talked to a few O fans who also do not like excursions and told us they will continue to cruise on O and just eat the SM cost.  Like us, they are not fans of cruise ship excursions.  My goodness, in Rovinji, we tagged along (for a few minutes) at the rear of a walking tour (about $100 pp).  These folks were walking on the same streets as us (we paid zero) and the few minutes of guide-talk we heard was just boring.  While I do understand that some folks like excursions, many others see them as boring.  Trying to force us to pay for excursions we do not want is not the way to build loyalty It just reinforces our desire to be on our current favorite line (Seabourn) that does not include any excursions in their pricing.

 

Hank

 

 

 

Hank

[Vineyard View]

Right there with you re excursions and independent travel. Have a fantastic trip.

 

Did you also live blog when you recently sailed HAL?  We haven’t sailed on them for years since they got rid of their small ships. 

[Hlitner]

6 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Right there with you re excursions and independent travel. Have a fantastic trip.

 

Did you also live blog when you recently sailed HAL?  We haven’t sailed on them for years since they got rid of their small ships. 

That HAL cruise was a 42 day Westerdam voyage around Japan, over to Alaska, and ended in Seattle.   While we enjoyed that cruise (like all of our cruises) there was a lot wrong about HAL.  As 5* Mariners with over 550 days on HAL, many would say we are loyal HAL cruises.  But by the end of that Westy cruise, DW said to me, "do not book anymore HAL cruises!  We were tired of the understaffing, logistic issues, poor or no entertainment, constant onboard accounting issues (we were overcharged 11 times during a single cruise), etc.   We have no problem on larger ships (although we do prefer the smaller luxury vessels) but we have lots of problems with HAL.  That being said, we would quickly book HAL if we had reason to believe that they were correcting some of our issues.  Most recently, it has been posted that HAL is gradually bringing back Production Shows and that is a start.  Interesting that there are no new builds on the agenda for HAL.  

 

By the way, we did enjoy the Japan/AK cruise so much that we booked something similar for 2025.  But this time it will be on Seabourn :).

 

Hank

[ak1004]

45 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

 

Getting back to O, I am not a fan of their Simply More program.  It forces us to book overpriced excursions that we would never consider...otherwise.  We talked to a few O fans who also do not like excursions and told us they will continue to cruise on O and just eat the SM cost.  Like us, they are not fans of cruise ship excursions.  My goodness, in Rovinji, we tagged along (for a few minutes) at the rear of a walking tour (about $100 pp).  These folks were walking on the same streets as us (we paid zero) and the few minutes of guide-talk we heard was just boring.  While I do understand that some folks like excursions, many others see them as boring.  Trying to force us to pay for excursions we do not want is not the way to build loyalty It just reinforces our desire to be on our current favorite line (Seabourn) that does not include any excursions in their pricing.

 

Hank

 

I agree with you Hank. At least with SM you get just few hundred dollars credit for excursions (probably around $30-35 per day per person on average?) while on SS and Regent all excursions are included, which bumps the price significantly. 

 

But people who don't drink still would be paying for something they don't use on all premium/luxury lines.

 

At the end of the day, it's all about the total price and how it compares to other lines.

 

I enjoyed your reports very much, thank you very much, and glad that you enjoyed O! 

[Lastdance]

We also loved Lake Bled.  It reminds me of a part of Lake Tahoe called Emerald Bay.  Yes, the people are so warm and friendly in Slovenia.  Disembarking is alway more exciting when beginning a land vacation!

[Vineyard View]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

That HAL cruise was a 42 day Westerdam voyage around Japan, over to Alaska, and ended in Seattle.   While we enjoyed that cruise (like all of our cruises) there was a lot wrong about HAL.  As 5* Mariners with over 550 days on HAL, many would say we are loyal HAL cruises.  But by the end of that Westy cruise, DW said to me, "do not book anymore HAL cruises!  We were tired of the understaffing, logistic issues, poor or no entertainment, constant onboard accounting issues (we were overcharged 11 times during a single cruise), etc.   We have no problem on larger ships (although we do prefer the smaller luxury vessels) but we have lots of problems with HAL.  That being said, we would quickly book HAL if we had reason to believe that they were correcting some of our issues.  Most recently, it has been posted that HAL is gradually bringing back Production Shows and that is a start.  Interesting that there are no new builds on the agenda for HAL.  

 

By the way, we did enjoy the Japan/AK cruise so much that we booked something similar for 2025.  But this time it will be on Seabourn :).

 

Hank

Thank you for this feedback. Too bad, because they used to be a decent line to sail on. Sounds like they have a lot to fix. While production shows aren’t a draw for us, understaffing, accounting issues, and logistics issues can sure put a damper on a vacation. Enjoy your land vacation. Sounds lovely. 

[Jim_Iain]

On 4/7/2024 at 3:49 PM, edgee said:

Two cruises on Vista. Two bad experiences with neighbors' TVs turned very low still keeping me awake ar night. Staff acknowleges it is a pervasive poblem. IMHO nearly everybody will experience the "thin wall" problem on Vista if they cruise her frequently. It is a matter of luck depending on neighbors..not really what cabin you are in.

 

Curious if this is confined to specific classification of cabins or floors?

 

[ronrick1943]

On 5/1/2024 at 1:43 PM, ak1004 said:

 

I agree with you Hank. At least with SM you get just few hundred dollars credit for excursions (probably around $30-35 per day per person on average?) while on SS and Regent all excursions are included, which bumps the price significantly. 

 

But people who don't drink still would be paying for something they don't use on all premium/luxury lines.

 

At the end of the day, it's all about the total price and how it compares to other lines.

 

I enjoyed your reports very much, thank you very much, and glad that you enjoyed O! 

This why we stopped cruising Regent and Silversea--spending extra dollar for things we don't use.  We also don't drink and prefer to tour on are own.  Now back on "O".

[edgee]

7 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Curious if this is confined to specific classification of cabins or floors?

 

Problem is pervasive. We'll respected cruise reviewer Gary Bembridge recently did a YouTube review on Vista...see below. Says he loves Oceania but will not sail Vista again due to noise between cabin issue.

 

https://youtu.be/5aOXEYQXQW0?si=Kx-4RmEZA3bo3DB9

 

Edited May 3 by edgee

[Waltershipman]

1 hour ago, edgee said:

Problem is pervasive. We'll respected cruise reviewer Gary Bembridge recently did a YouTube review on Vista...see below. Says he loves Oceania but will not sail Vista again due to noise between cabin issue.

 

https://youtu.be/5aOXEYQXQW0?si=Kx-4RmEZA3bo3DB9

 

Ed I thought Vista felt crowded generally 

[Harters]

9 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Curious if this is confined to specific classification of cabins or floors?

No. There seems to be no pattern to it and, of course, depending on your neighbours, it may not be a problem (or it may be a big problem). We were in 9063 on this cruise and had no issues whatsoever. Not a peep heard from the folk on either side. By the by, in Gary's vlog, he shows a remark by someone who was just down the corridor in 9043 who had significant issues. Whatever is going on, seems it may be very localised

 

I've no idea if we had good soundproofing or very quiet neighbours. We have booked another cruise (same cabin) next year and will keep our fingers crossed. It would have been an absolute deal breaker had we had a problem this time and will be an absolute deal breaker for the future if we have a problem in 2025. 

Edited May 3 by Harters

[ak1004]

2 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

This why we stopped cruising Regent and Silversea--spending extra dollar for things we don't use.  We also don't drink and prefer to tour on are own.  Now back on "O".

 

We will be boarding SS on Monday, our third SS cruise and probably will be our last. Their current prices are almost double compared to O, just cannot justify it.

[edgee]

11 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

Ed I thought Vista felt crowded generally 

David, I guess it depends what you compare it to. Immediately after you and I were on Vista I cruised on Celebrity Ascent. Obviously, Vista is uncrowded compared to those sorts of larger ships..I could really see the differences, although we were in the Retreat, which for us alleviated somewhat the crowding issue. On the other hand, we recently completed a transatlantic on Regent Splendor, which, by comparison makes Vista seen crowded.

[Waltershipman]

10 minutes ago, edgee said:

David, I guess it depends what you compare it to. Immediately after you and I were on Vista I cruised on Celebrity Ascent. Obviously, Vista is uncrowded compared to those sorts of larger ships..I could really see the differences, although we were in the Retreat, which for us alleviated somewhat the crowding issue. On the other hand, we recently completed a transatlantic on Regent Splendor, which, by comparison makes Vista seen crowded.

We were on the celebrity solstice in the retreat Last year and enjoyed it very much. We had the option of going to all restaurants and all specialty. However, when we looked into the dining room, it was extremely crowded. We have just booked a caribbean cruise for next winter, returning to explore journeys which we loved 

 

Glad to hear from you and your experiences all my best 

[ronrick1943]

59 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

We will be boarding SS on Monday, our third SS cruise and probably will be our last. Their current prices are almost double compared to O, just cannot justify it.

We were on the Nova last December-Janurday cruise.  Service surprise me, just wasn't top notch like you'd expect.  They posted some of our laundry, run out of a white wine (non-alcohol) and even run out of lettuce for salads for the salad bar.  The port were pretty big cities, so it's not like they couldn't get it.  

[ak1004]

8 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

We were on the Nova last December-Janurday cruise.  Service surprise me, just wasn't top notch like you'd expect.  They posted some of our laundry, run out of a white wine (non-alcohol) and even run out of lettuce for salads for the salad bar.  The port were pretty big cities, so it's not like they couldn't get it.  

 

We had exactly the same experience on the Dawn in December. They ran out of Perrier and Pellegrino mid cruise, also most diet drinks. Except for cabins which are much better, I didn't see anything that justifies their current prices. Service was very good overall, but not better than O.   

[Vallesan]

14 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

….Except for cabins which are much better, I didn't see anything that justifies their current prices. Service was very good overall, but not better than O.   

I have to agree with you! 

The prices just seem to have gone through the roof.

 

I  just wonder if we’ll see ‘sales’ later in the year! If not I can’t justify the new pricing either so looks like my first Silversea cruise last summer will be my last!

[Vineyard View]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

 

We will be boarding SS on Monday, our third SS cruise and probably will be our last. Their current prices are almost double compared to O, just cannot justify it.

I am surprised you are sailing on SS again. I was under the impression from your posts that you don’t feel very enamored with them in the first two. I hope you have a great trip.