Just off Nautica 12 day Western Europe

[JeffElizabeth]

Glad to hear you liked the smaller ship. We prefer the smaller ships but have only cruised on M and R.

[clo]

5 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Of course avoiding Boardamania altogether is another option. Choosing high time Boardamania was solely your choice. I would like to hear the experiences of those that choose a different option, that being arriving for check-in at 3:00 or 3:30. Same, or vastly different?

We do our research and have a great lunch prior to boarding. Win.win.

[samiam0403]

14 hours ago, Pearl64 said:

Mb777,

 

While we agree with you about most things this cruise had some missteps. Embarkation was an absolute nightmare. we were changed from checking in at the port to a hotel. Ok. We accepted that. We had an 11 am check in time. Arrived at the hotel around 10:30. Nothing happened until the iPads arrived after 11:30. Instead of using the boarding pass time they called cabin category starting with Owners suite. It took them quite a bit of time to work their way down. After concierge was called there was no further calling of cabins. It was very chaotic. There were no announcements from Oceania as to what was going on. Yes, I know communication is not Oceania's strong suit. We were in a B1 with no luck getting through. Oceania did provide a shuttle to the port (about 25 minutes away)which was nice but there was only one bus and one truck for luggage. Lines for the shuttle snaked around with a long line. We finally got to the ship shortly before 3 pm.  Luggage never arrived until after dinner. By that time we were exhausted. This was our 16th Oceania cruise. Never did we have so much trouble. We have another cruise booked to Japan. My husband wants to cancel but Japan is on my bucket list so I will need to sweet talk him.

 

One problem with this cruise was the number of large groups(100+) who focused on wine. That is fine but they interfered with other venues that were either rescheduled or cancelled to accommodate them. Food was ok except for one night in the MDR when our chicken came inedible. We could not cut it even when we asked for a steak knife. We could have asked for another meal but we let it pass.

 

We hope this was the exception to Oceania excellence. We took all private tours which were excellent. Thank heavens disembarkation was smooth. Staff was excellent and up to the standard we were used to.

Glad you enjoyed the cruise. We did after Day 1!
 

 

We were watching disembarkation and boarding from Horizons in Lisbon - it looked like a trainwreck! We were hanging out with one of the officers, and according to him it was the ports decision to close embarkation directly at the port for Nautica because Norwegian Viva was also docked there and the shore team at the port wouldn't allow both ships to check in there. (The line for taxis for passengers disembarking was insane - normally easy with an R class ship, but Viva had 3100 passengers also disembarking.) Apparently the decision was made that morning to have you all check in at the hotel - even he was surprised and exasperated with the process. We boarded an O ship in Lisbon last fall, and had a much easier time! But I'm glad your experience improved after that nonsense! 

Edited July 4 by samiam0403

[samiam0403]

13 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

Any advise on the logistics for joining in Cape Town ?

We are doing so later this year.

I hope you have as wonderful a time as we did in Cape Town! It was an incredibly fast and easy process embarking there! We checked in around 11:30 and essentially walked right on to the ship. Taxis and Ubers are plentiful, and inexpensive.

 

If you haven't made your hotel arrangements yet, I highly recommend Kensington Place for a few nights. We absolutely loved the hotel! 8 rooms, all with large balconies. Lovely quiet area, fabulous restaurant (and full breakfast included - either in the restaurant or delivered to your room), and absolutely lovely staff. Only caveat is there is no elevator - but staff will manage your luggage for you.

 

Other recommendations: dinner at TTK Fledglings is an absolute must! We also did a shark dive with African Shark Eco-Charters and had an amazing time. And lastly, if you're planning on adding on some extra time and doing a safari, I can not recommend Sanbona Wildlife Reserve highly enough. We did 5 days prior to our cruise, and it was easily the highlight of our entire trip!

 

If you have any specific questions, let me know! We fell in love with Cape Town and plan to return as 3 days in the city proper wasn't nearly enough time.

[bradpole]

On 7/2/2024 at 5:52 PM, mauibabes said:

@Kay S

It has been awhile since we were on an R ship but I think you will have to use the elevator or stairs to use the facilities on the deck below. Restrooms are available at the back of Horizons on the O and Allura Class ships. 
Mauibabes

Although not shown on the deck plan, Sirena has restrooms in the starboard aft of Horizons.  These were installed by Princess back when she was Tahitian Princess, and thankfully O left them!  I don’t have mobility challenges, but can completely understand how frustrating it could be to go down to 9 and back up to 10 just to use the restroom if the stairs aren’t an option.  

[mb777]

Forgot to mention, I believe the ship was full or close to full and never felt crowded.  Also, we did see one child about 7-9 years old and she behaved beautifully.  We spoke to her parents a few times who had been apprehensive about bringing her but in the end they were pleased.

 

Also did not see many elderly people with mobility problems as has been posted so many times before.  Only saw one scooter and one walker.  Most everyone was moving about quite well and really didn't seem to be the age of passengers reported so many times by others.  We had quite a mix of ages, probably from 50's to 80's as far as I could tell.  The couple with the child may have been in their 40's.

Edited July 4 by mb777

[Tranquility Base]

8 hours ago, samiam0403 said:

We fell in love with Cape Town

@samiam0403

Many thanks for all your info.....much appreciated.

It's a 7 week cruise for us, so only a few days there for a bit of a look-see.

Will plan longer in the region in the future.

 

Sorry to all for the off topic, I may do a short follow up after the cruise on an appropriate thread.

[JDincalif]

On 7/3/2024 at 2:19 PM, waggie said:

Thanks -  just watched a YouTube in which a very tall guy (6.6")  said he used the shower with the door open!

Azamara has R class ships (same ship type as Oceania's Insignia, Nautica and Regatta) with those tiny showers, but instead of glass doors they use heavy fabric shower curtains (at least on the Onward), giving some literal space flexibility without too much water escape.

Edited Friday at 03:29 PM by JDincalif

[ORV]

20 minutes ago, JDincalif said:

Azamara has R class ships (same ship type as Oceania's Insignia, Nautica and Regatta) with those tiny showers, but instead of glass doors they use heavy fabric shower curtains (at least on the Onward), giving some literal space flexibility without too much water escape.

I believe Oceania used to have those curtains. There were more complaints then than now. 

[JDincalif]

4 minutes ago, ORV said:

I believe Oceania used to have those curtains. There were more complaints then than now. 

Some folks seem to enjoy complaining even more than they enjoy cruising 😉

[ronrick1943]

Great post, enjoyed reading about your cruise---thanks for posting.

[Wynterwynd]

On 7/2/2024 at 4:40 PM, mb777 said:

Meals in any venue other than the buffet and waves take quite a long time by our standards so keep that in mind.  Dinners ran 2-2.5 hours which for us is a long time, very subjective issue of course.

 

Great post, very similar to our experience with our first Oceania cruise in 2015!  We similarly enjoy the ports, often book independent tours and are sound asleep by 10pm, lol.  

My tip for the long meal times:  I spend the time remembering I didn’t have to: make the grocery list, go to the grocery store, cook the food, etc.  Nor hear my hubby ask “what’s for dinner?”  It’s one of my favorite parts of cruising!  I love to cook, but I also love a break from it.

 

Regarding the laundry, the larger ships have more laundry rooms which is helpful.  For some reason, doing laundry on a cruise ship is sort of fun…you meet nice folks in the laundry room!  It’s totally different from doing it at home…I even like ironing on board.

 

We are going on our 7th Oceania cruise in November (Athens to Rome) and can’t wait!
 

Edited Monday at 02:27 PM by Wynterwynd

[hetzess]

Thanks for the information! Can you tell me the port in Lisbon for embarkation?

[WESTEAST]

@mb777 and @Pearl64 Interesting to read the embarkation experience you encountered as we will be embarking in Lisbon next year.  We have disembarked in Lisbon but never embarked.  Were you staying at a pre-cruise Oceania hotel or, did you receive notification that all embarkation must take place at a designated hotel, then be transferred by bus to ship or, opt to take your own transportation to ship e.g., Uber? Thank you.

[Pearl64]

I don’t know the name of the port but it is the main one across from the Alana section of Lisbon.

 

we received an email the day before telling us that ALL embarking needed to go to this hotel. We had flown in the day before from Paris so we just stayed at the hotel at the airport. We had stayed there before and could literally walk across the street so no need for a taxi. Apparently it was the port who was calling the shots but Oceania did very poorly on organizing check in . They paid no attention to our selected check in time and used those in upper suites to have priority. It was chaos checking in. When it got to the B cabins no cabins were called. No one was queuing. After checking in and getting our key cards we headed for the shuttle. We almost made it on the bus. We had to wait for the next bus. How were we to know it was going to be over an hour and a half. And we had no phone service to use Uber. Hopefully this was an anomaly.

[WESTEAST]

2 hours ago, Pearl64 said:

I don’t know the name of the port but it is the main one across from the Alana section of Lisbon.

 

we received an email the day before telling us that ALL embarking needed to go to this hotel. We had flown in the day before from Paris so we just stayed at the hotel at the airport. We had stayed there before and could literally walk across the street so no need for a taxi. Apparently it was the port who was calling the shots but Oceania did very poorly on organizing check in . They paid no attention to our selected check in time and used those in upper suites to have priority. It was chaos checking in. When it got to the B cabins no cabins were called. No one was queuing. After checking in and getting our key cards we headed for the shuttle. We almost made it on the bus. We had to wait for the next bus. How were we to know it was going to be over an hour and a half. And we had no phone service to use Uber. Hopefully this was an anomaly.

Thank you for your reply and must say that giving all passengers notice the day prior very short notice as many do fly in on the day of and don't check email as soon as they land. Some passengers probably went directly to the terminal info on their final document!  It does sound like chaos and if any consolation our embarkation in Yokohama, Japan this past March was also chaotic as Port Authority had everyone waiting in the cold weather (outside canopy) with no respect to time frames or stateroom category and not one Oceania staff in sight.  Complained to Concierge and did receive an apology saying they could have done better and looking to improve. Perhaps another anomaly but our worst embarkation to date.

[mb777]

3 hours ago, WESTEAST said:

@mb777 and @Pearl64 Interesting to read the embarkation experience you encountered as we will be embarking in Lisbon next year.  We have disembarked in Lisbon but never embarked.  Were you staying at a pre-cruise Oceania hotel or, did you receive notification that all embarkation must take place at a designated hotel, then be transferred by bus to ship or, opt to take your own transportation to ship e.g., Uber? Thank you.

I was staying at AirBnB much closer to the cruise terminal (by design) but the email said ALL had to go to the hotel and not to go to the cruise port.  Email stated that if we went directly to the cruise port we would have to still leave and go to the hotel.  

We got to the hotel at 1100 and were onboard by 1330.  We were going to have the bellman call a taxi but the Uber was cheap and right around the corner.

We were not going to ride the bus regardless of the wait, none of the 6 of us like sitting on a bus with 30 other people.  The Uber dropped us off right in front of the cruise terminal entrance and it was only about a 15 min process to get screened and on the ship from there.

 

I spoke to some people "in the know", and as Pearl said the snafu was the port booking too many ships at the same time.  I would think this was a one-off snafu.

Edited 1 hour ago by mb777

[WESTEAST]

8 minutes ago, mb777 said:

I was staying at AirBnB much closer to the cruise terminal (by design) but the email said ALL had to go to the hotel and not to go to the cruise port.  Email stated that if we went directly to the cruise port we would have to still leave and go to the hotel.  

We got to the hotel at 1100 and were onboard by 1330.  We were going to have the bellman call a taxi but the Uber was cheap and right around the corner.

We were not going to ride the bus regardless of the wait, none of the 6 of us like sitting on a bus with 30 other people.  The Uber dropped us off right in front of the cruise terminal entrance and it was only about a 15 min process to get screened and on the ship from there.

Thank you clarifying that if passengers went to cruise terminal they would have to leave/go to the hotel.  Never heard of such a mess and hope Port Authority improves process by the time we depart next year.  Thanks to these posts, we will make sure we check our email daily as we arrive in Lisbon a few days prior.

Edited 1 hour ago by WESTEAST