Oasis “split” Mediterranean itinerary- what’s the vibe on embarkation days

[ryarger]

We’ll be on OOTS this summer from Barcelona and I’m reading about how the ship only boards half the pax in Barcelona and the other half in Rome, creating effectively overlapping itineraries.

 

So what’s it like on the ship those embarkation days? We’ll probably get off in Rome because, well, Rome, but if we didn’t would it be a like a typical port day on the ship or would it be more hectic like an embarkation day?

 

Does Barcelona or Rome get the Welcome Aboard menu in the MDR? Both?

 

Are there midnight sail away parties leaving both ports?

 

Any other unusualness caused by the overlap?

 

I wonder if anyone’s tried to stow away after their week since they don’t empty the ship and live in the solarium for an extra few days. 😂

[FionaMG]

27 minutes ago, ryarger said:

We’ll be on OOTS this summer from Barcelona and I’m reading about how the ship only boards half the pax in Barcelona and the other half in Rome, creating effectively overlapping itineraries.

 

So what’s it like on the ship those embarkation days? We’ll probably get off in Rome because, well, Rome, but if we didn’t would it be a like a typical port day on the ship or would it be more hectic like an embarkation day?

 

Does Barcelona or Rome get the Welcome Aboard menu in the MDR? Both?

 

Are there midnight sail away parties leaving both ports?

 

Any other unusualness caused by the overlap?

 

I wonder if anyone’s tried to stow away after their week since they don’t empty the ship and live in the solarium for an extra few days. 😂

 

Barcelona is deemed the "main" embarkation port and, although I don't know the actual numbers, way more people board there than in Rome. Consequently, the MDR menu rotation is based on Barcelona being the "first" day of the cruise so that's when you'll see the welcome aboard menu.

 

During the port stop in Rome (Civitavecchia, if I'm going to be fussy), the ship will be virtually a ghost town, as most people do get off "because Rome". The first couple of hours can be a bit chaotic, though, with people disembarking whether to go on excursions or at the end of their cruise.

 

Otherwise, you will barely notice it, apart from seeing the suitcases belonging to the Rome disembarkers in the corridors and being smugly aware that it's not your turn to get off... yet. 😂

[gavvy]

There was no sail way from Rome when we departed from there, only other thing that was different was we got an orange seapass card because of the interporting which we were asked about a lot by other guests, and our room was ready way before 1pm- we just went along not long after getting onboard to see if it was ready and it was.

A rough guess by the amount of orange cards I saw I'd say 70-75% got on at BCN.

[A&L_Ont]

23 minutes ago, gavvy said:

There was no sail way from Rome when we departed from there, only other thing that was different was we got an orange seapass card because of the interporting which we were asked about a lot by other guests, and our room was ready way before 1pm- we just went along not long after getting onboard to see if it was ready and it was.

A rough guess by the amount of orange cards I saw I'd say 70-75% got on at BCN.

Many years ago when we did it from Rome they put a red sticker on our normal sea pass colored card. The orange one is a much better idea. They kept our card when we disembarked the ship, did they keep yours?  It was the only cruise card we have not kept.

[FionaMG]

3 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

Many years ago when we did it from Rome they put a red sticker on our normal sea pass colored card. The orange one is a much better idea. They kept our card when we disembarked the ship, did they keep yours?  It was the only cruise card we have not kept.

 

I would have been gutted not to get to keep my card. Did they say why? 

[gavvy]

No- I got to keep the card, not sure if I was supposed too but nobody asked for it.

[A&L_Ont]

8 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

 

I would have been gutted not to get to keep my card. Did they say why? 

They never said. After we buzzed off the ship and before we hit the gangway there was a security guard that took them from all those that boarded in Rome. I think it was to prevent you from reboarding the ship.  The red sticker was also used to show to crew in Barcelona while muster drill was happening from those that embarked there. 
 

Had we known they were going to keep them we would have gone to guest services and asked for replacement cards.Would have lost ours somehow. 😉

 

2 minutes ago, gavvy said:

No- I got to keep the card, not sure if I was supposed too but nobody asked for it.

If they wanted it, like us, they would have let you know. By chance do you still have it, and if so could you post a photo of it?  I’ve never seen an orange one before. I guess people are still asking about your orange cars today. 😀

[gavvy]

1 hour ago, A&L_Ont said:

They never said. After we buzzed off the ship and before we hit the gangway there was a security guard that took them from all those that boarded in Rome. I think it was to prevent you from reboarding the ship.  The red sticker was also used to show to crew in Barcelona while muster drill was happening from those that embarked there. 
 

Had we known they were going to keep them we would have gone to guest services and asked for replacement cards.Would have lost ours somehow. 😉

 

If they wanted it, like us, they would have let you know. By chance do you still have it, and if so could you post a photo of it?  I’ve never seen an orange one before. I guess people are still asking about your orange cars today. 😀

 

Am unsure, will have a dig around later and see if I can find it, honestly it was exactly like the blue ones except in Orange 🙂

[A&L_Ont]

1 hour ago, gavvy said:

 

Am unsure, will have a dig around later and see if I can find it, honestly it was exactly like the blue ones except in Orange 🙂

No worries at all. I did a Google search and didn’t see any there. 

[RobInMN]

We did this (from Rome) in 2018 on Symphony. We had the Orange card and kept it. I heard it was about 2/3 Barcelona, 1/3 Rome.

Other than the ship/MDR schedule being the back half of one cruise followed by the front half of the next cruise, with the embarkation party stuff being half way through the cruise, zero differences for us. These last thing don't really matter to us.

[gumshoe958]

6 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

We did this (from Rome) in 2018 on Symphony. We had the Orange card and kept it. I heard it was about 2/3 Barcelona, 1/3 Rome.

Other than the ship/MDR schedule being the back half of one cruise followed by the front half of the next cruise, with the embarkation party stuff being half way through the cruise, zero differences for us. These last thing don't really matter to us.

Yes, 2/3 Barcelona 1/3 Civitavecchia is about right. For those boarding in Civitavecchia it can feel a bit like you’re joining the ship mid-cruise but it’s really not a problem - you’ll still get to experience everything, just in a different order!

[gavvy]

The only other annoying thing we noticed was the app would not work from Rome so we had to book shows etc once on board, but it was not an issue - I think this has been sorted now and the app works both directions

 

Heres the orange card, forgive my bad editing

Edited April 22 by gavvy

[A&L_Ont]

4 hours ago, gavvy said:

The only other annoying thing we noticed was the app would not work from Rome so we had to book shows etc once on board, but it was not an issue - I think this has been sorted now and the app works both directions

 

Heres the orange card, forgive my bad editing

Thats pretty cool.  Great job editing and thanks for posting. Way better than the large red sticker that they put on our cards.