Jim_Iain - Live - comparison of Oceania Regatta - Vista Suite to Celebrity Millennium Royal Suite

[hcat]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Ton's of good movies and Recorded TV Series.... about 100X that of Celebrity.

 

Iain has gotten into The Gilded Age and has been watching it.  

movies, string quartet , that sounds good!

[catspaw1]

Jim, not all Feds get health insurance in retirement. There's conditions that need to be met like years of service, age & how long you have been covered by a Fed plan. Some plans but not all have a medicare advantage program. Also plan costs & this is a biggie - not all plans have the same coverage in each state. For example,  an MRI may be covered under the Fed plan with KP CA but not in the DMV! It's crazy I know but true so be on the lookout for this. I was told the best Fed plan coverages are for the DMV area but not sure if that's true. I do know the DMV plan covers more than the CO or GA plan.

[Oville]

5 minutes ago, catspaw1 said:

Jim, not all Feds get health insurance in retirement. There's conditions that need to be met like years of service, age & how long you have been covered by a Fed plan. Some plans but not all have a medicare advantage program. Also plan costs & this is a biggie - not all plans have the same coverage in each state. For example,  an MRI may be covered under the Fed plan with KP CA but not in the DMV! It's crazy I know but true so be on the lookout for this. I was told the best Fed plan coverages are for the DMV area but not sure if that's true. I do know the DMV plan covers more than the CO or GA plan.

There are numerous plans to choose from.  Over the last 8 years we have each had cancer with treatment and never paid a dime.  In the last 2 yrs both have had hospital stays with follow up in house PT and  at home out patient PT and again $0 copay. Neither has KP and we each have different supplemental insurance.  What we don’t have is Medicare Advantage.

 

Jim, glad for your kids their step dad is better and I have enjoyed once again your posts.  Katie

[SSFrance69]

1 hour ago, goofysmom99 said:

To me, the thing that's hurt the most is food quality.  Celebrity began its life with a "foodie" reputation and it certainly was memorable on my first cruise (1993, Zenith) and the decade that followed.  Sadly, the food on my most recent X cruises, 2022-4, has also been memorable....for being so poor in all venues.  The wonderful food pix and menus you've been posting have reminded me of a few of the offerings from X's former glory days.  Thanks for taking the time to make this enlightening thread.  Oceania looks very promising.

Oceania is what Celebrity used to be when I first started sailing with them, but even better. Back in the Michel Roux days. Sigh. 

[SSFrance69]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Ton's of good movies and Recorded TV Series.... about 100X that of Celebrity.

 

Iain has gotten into The Gilded Age and has been watching it.  

I love The Gilded Age series! Good to know there is a nice selection to watch. I found myself watching the Pepin cooking channel while getting ready for dinner... and by the time we finished our evening out around the ship, we went to sleep. Good to know there are TV options as well.

[catspaw1]

9 hours ago, Oville said:

There are numerous plans to choose from.  Over the last 8 years we have each had cancer with treatment and never paid a dime.  In the last 2 yrs both have had hospital stays with follow up in house PT and  at home out patient PT and again $0 copay. Neither has KP and we each have different supplemental insurance.  What we don’t have is Medicare Advantage.

 

Jim, glad for your kids their step dad is better and I have enjoyed once again your posts.  Katie

Agree Orville that there's lots of Fed plans to choose from. We like KP however last year our monthly premium increased $150 month. We  have been with them for almost 15 years. If the plan increases a lot for next year, we will seriously think of changing plans.

[Jim_Iain]

15 hours ago, goofysmom99 said:

To me, the thing that's hurt the most is food quality.  Celebrity began its life with a "foodie" reputation and it certainly was memorable on my first cruise (1993, Zenith) and the decade that followed.  Sadly, the food on my most recent X cruises, 2022-4, has also been memorable....for being so poor in all venues.  The wonderful food pix and menus you've been posting have reminded me of a few of the offerings from X's former glory days.  Thanks for taking the time to make this enlightening thread.  Oceania looks very promising.

 

Funny you say that.   We were just saying the same thing at dinner last night.   Regatta food and service remind us of Celebrity in 2000 when we first started sailing.   When asked why we had never sailed another line we said we Liked the Service and Food and just didn't find a reason to make a change.    That obviously changed post Covid on Celebrity.  

 

I was also saying last night -   I wonder how we will like Celebrity on Silhouette in November?  Many of the dishes on Regatta in MDR are better than the food on Celebrity's Specialties... and the Specialties leave Celebrity's Specialties in the dust.

[Jim_Iain]

14 hours ago, Oville said:

There are numerous plans to choose from.  Over the last 8 years we have each had cancer with treatment and never paid a dime.  In the last 2 yrs both have had hospital stays with follow up in house PT and  at home out patient PT and again $0 copay. Neither has KP and we each have different supplemental insurance.  What we don’t have is Medicare Advantage.

 

Jim, glad for your kids their step dad is better and I have enjoyed once again your posts.  Katie

 

It really is amazing the Kid's Stepfather came home yesterday.   The doctors are not sure what caused his near miss.

[Jim_Iain]

13 hours ago, SSFrance69 said:

I love The Gilded Age series! Good to know there is a nice selection to watch. I found myself watching the Pepin cooking channel while getting ready for dinner... and by the time we finished our evening out around the ship, we went to sleep. Good to know there are TV options as well.

 

I'm pleased with the TV options ....except live TV.   As I said after you eliminate MSNBC, FOX and CNBC you are left with SKY and BBC.      I found that I can easily stream YouTube TV and watch local and national news  ABC and CBS are my favorites in the Bay Area. 

[JDPCruisers]

On 9/21/2024 at 1:16 PM, Jim_Iain said:

Another difference.  In April the butter in Luminae went from this 

 

 

 

To this -  always served so cold you can’t spread it. 

 

 

try cutting and it flies off plate.   They later started serving 2 peanut size pats. 

 

Oceania 

Always at room temperature. 

Our last Celebrity cruise in July/Aug to NE/Canada we had the swirl butter and fortunately it was always room temp so no need to ask them for another. Also, good to know about no self-serve in the Terrace and for afternoon tea as we prefer to be served (IMHO, self-serve in Oceanview, or RC, Windjammer back in the day, was always a turn-off with the way that many people act, just not our idea of dining so we avoid). 

[hcat]

Jim.. are you still walking daily?  How does that work on this ship,?

Have you been to the gym?

[Justpackingmybags]

17 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Ton's of good movies and Recorded TV Series.... about 100X that of Celebrity.

 

Iain has gotten into The Gilded Age and has been watching it.  

Another of Julian Fellowes’ series (the man behind Downton Abbey)

[catspaw1]

I agree your posts about Oceania makes it tempting. But we never go for suites. Any feedback about how the OV or balcony cabins are?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

24 minutes ago, catspaw1 said:

I agree your posts about Oceania makes it tempting. But we never go for suites. Any feedback about how the OV or balcony cabins are?

You paying about 2.5x more for a balcony on Oceania compared to Celebrity 

Here some pricing for a TA in a balcony ,price in CAD 

[catspaw1]

That's a huge difference! Frankly since we go on around 5 big trips year, I don't want to pay that much for a balcony! We used to always get OV as we aren't in the room much. We had a balcony in July & loved it except it was so hot out, we didn't use it as much as expected.  We do have a balcony for our upcoming TA but it wasn't that much more than the OV. I would rather go on more trips per year than splurge on 1 trip.

[JDPCruisers]

19 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I wondered about that.     I didn't even know there was one on our floor until I went looking for it.   I was surprised that the room was full of people waiting for their laundry or an open machine.

Do you know if they are on every floor or select floors? My wife is more interested in the irons/ironing boards as we find on Celebrity with the laundry it comes back very wrinkled and the dry cleaning pants/shorts have no creases (pressed flat).

[Gracie115]

3 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

You paying about 2.5x more for a balcony on Oceania compared to Celebrity 

Here some pricing for a TA in a balcony ,price in CAD 

 

Not sure how correct this is... I just looked at Oceania Vista 14 nights November 19, 2025.  The price on sea scanner for a balcony begins at $4329.  The Apex for 13 nights in October 2025 balcony begins at $2575.  Balcony on Sirena's 14 night in April 2025 starts at $3734.  More expensive, yes, but not at the spread shown here.  

 

I think a lot depends on what site you are looking at. 

[Covepointcruiser]

For the average, normal passenger on Oceana the food is much, much better on Oceania.    You also get a smaller ship and are able to dock at more remote islands.   Comparison between Celebrity balcony and Oceania balcony is not apples to apples.

 

The brochure starting prices are bogus.   I have never seen that high a price for Oceania.   Even sailing from NYC there is no way a balcony cabins goes for $37K.    Perhaps for the one Jim has but that is a top suite.   You receive very little extra in a top suite on Oceania.

[Orator]

5 hours ago, catspaw1 said:

I agree your posts about Oceania makes it tempting. But we never go for suites. Any feedback about how the OV or balcony cabins are?

I would suggest that you consider a Concierge cabin because of the perks like a few bags of laundry, earlier times to book trips and restaurants and earlier boarding times and a concierge lounge. It's a few bucks more, but IMHO worth it

[catspaw1]

I'm fussy with laundry & usually hand wash if no machines. The only time I sent out laundry was in SE Asia as we were there for 6 weeks. No one had dryers so they just hung the clothes out to dry so I felt comfortable doing that. I'm staying in a residence inn right now & they have self serve washers/dryers. I only dry clothes on low for a few minutes & than hang to dry. Only some items do I dry all the way in a dryer. Our expensive travel clothes have held up doing this & we travel a lot. Leaving in 10 days for a 2 week stay at a residence inn in GSMNP area - they have washers/dryers which we will use.

[SSFrance69]

5 hours ago, catspaw1 said:

I agree your posts about Oceania makes it tempting. But we never go for suites. Any feedback about how the OV or balcony cabins are?

We had a regular veranda on Riviera and it was lovely. Very spacious and the bathroom was huge with an oversized walk in shower and plenty of storage, both cabinets and drawers. It used to have a full size tub and a small walk in shower, but during the renovations, they replaced the tub with the oversized walk in shower and replaced the small shower with storage. Unfortunately those renovations did not happen on the sister ship Marina, which we have not sailed. On Vista we had a French Veranda. It also had a very spacious bathroom and the room was spacious as well. Both staterooms had the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on, apart from my tempurpedic at home. That said, I've heard the smaller O ships have tiny bathrooms unless you're in a PH or above. 

[mhdesno2]

8 hours ago, JDPCruisers said:

Do you know if they are on every floor or select floors? My wife is more interested in the irons/ironing boards as we find on Celebrity with the laundry it comes back very wrinkled and the dry cleaning pants/shorts have no creases (pressed flat).

On the 3 bigger ships, Vista, Marina, and Riviera, there are launderettes are on every stateroom floor. Those have 3 washer/dryer sets and iron/ironing boards. By the way, there is no charge for using them and the Ocean Safe detergent is provided free of charge as well. On the smaller R ships, there is one launderette for the whole ship and they have 4 washer/dryer sets with iron/ironing boards. Those rooms are very entertaining. There are always interesting discussions going on while people iron or wait on their laundry.

[Robkat]

15 hours ago, SSFrance69 said:

We had a regular veranda on Riviera and it was lovely. Very spacious and the bathroom was huge with an oversized walk in shower and plenty of storage, both cabinets and drawers. It used to have a full size tub and a small walk in shower, but during the renovations, they replaced the tub with the oversized walk in shower and replaced the small shower with storage. Unfortunately those renovations did not happen on the sister ship Marina, which we have not sailed. On Vista we had a French Veranda. It also had a very spacious bathroom and the room was spacious as well. Both staterooms had the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on, apart from my tempurpedic at home. That said, I've heard the smaller O ships have tiny bathrooms unless you're in a PH or above. 

 

Thanks for this really descriptive and useful information about various balcony cabins.

While reading this interesting @Jim_Iain review, our interest in O has been re-newed.  However, we would also be happy enough with the balcony cabins.

When researching and watching reviews, one thing that we've read a couple of times is the report of the sound insulation between cabins being pretty bad.  Someone reporting from the Vista commented that they could actually hear talking quite clearly from the next cabin.  

Could you (and anyone else who has been on O) let us know your thoughts and experiences on that issue? 

Thanks and thanks also to @Jim_Iain for this great review.  Hope you and Iain continue to enjoy yourselves.

 

[cluso]

28 minutes ago, Robkat said:

 

Thanks for this really descriptive and useful information about various balcony cabins.

While reading this interesting @Jim_Iain review, our interest in O has been re-newed.  However, we would also be happy enough with the balcony cabins.

When researching and watching reviews, one thing that we've read a couple of times is the report of the sound insulation between cabins being pretty bad.  Someone reporting from the Vista commented that they could actually hear talking quite clearly from the next cabin.  

Could you (and anyone else who has been on O) let us know your thoughts and experiences on that issue? @Jim_Iain

 

We are on Regatta now in an aft concierge balcony with no noise issues.  I believe most of those complaints were on Vista.

[hcat]

12 hours ago, mhdesno2 said:

On the 3 bigger ships, Vista, Marina, and Riviera, there are launderettes are on every stateroom floor. Those have 3 washer/dryer sets and iron/ironing boards. By the way, there is no charge for using them and the Ocean Safe detergent is provided free of charge as well. On the smaller R ships, there is one launderette for the whole ship and they have 4 washer/dryer sets with iron/ironing boards. Those rooms are very entertaining. There are always interesting discussions going on while people iron or wait on their laundry.

don't iron much at home anymore.. and  not interested in a laundry ..nice for those who want it....but how's the gym?  walking track? spa?