Jim_Iain - Live from Oceania Regatta - September 14 Vancouver to Los Angeles

[terrydtx]

4 minutes ago, as3369 said:

The menu selections in the MDR and food quality was worse than any previous Celebrity cruise we sailed on.  The most recent prior to this sailing was Celebrity Millenium in 2022 and we had a great experience.  All of the suites were booked so we opted for a Concierge cabin.  The canapes were inedible and daily we would see the canape trays untouched and outside the cabins on our floor.  We didn't meet our room steward until Day 4.  There were at least 3 days when he didn't clean our cabin until after 9 pm.  Not sure if they are giving the cabin stewards more than they can handle.  The disembarkation experience was the absolute worse than any of our other 40+ sailings.  Tender service was remarkably slow in Greenland.  We didn't get to leave the ship until 4 hours after docking even though we have priority tender service through Elite status.  We sailed with 3 other cruise mates and they too have sworn off Celebrity.

 

The best experience was the Happy hour in the Martini bar with great entertainment.

Your experience is not far off from our January 22 days on the Edge in a Sky Suite in Australia and NZ. The Luminae food was so underwhelming and after a week totally boring. We tried one of the MDR's and the food was no better.  At that time the butlers for Sky Suites had not been returned so our room attendant was the worst of any prior cruise. Some days our cabin wasn't made up until late in the afternoons. That was probably our last Celebrity cruise, and we are Elite Plus.

[Gordoncruickshank]

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Yes we have. We just finished an 11 day cruise of Canada on the HAL Volendam that was fantastic in a small ship. Celebrity priced us out of their product, we can cruise with Oceania for less on similar itineraries, like our cruise of South America next March. We can also cruise in a Neptune Suite with HAL for less per day than a Celebrity Sky Suite. 

We are pretty much the same. 27 Celebrity cruises almost in A row (1 MSC a few years ago) and we have no Celebrity Cruises booked at all. Are doing MSC YC next year and booked another for 2026. I looked at 2025 Celebrity prices and the wanted £28k for a RS for 14 nights. What I booked for 2026 is similar sized at a cost of £11k and the product was every bit as good as Celebrity.

[Jim_Iain]

13 hours ago, lj77346 said:

About the HS ice cream - was told that the machine they use to make it is broken now, so it’s just a Regatta problem until the machine is repaired.

Thanks for the update.   

[Gordoncruickshank]

56 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

That was probably our last Celebrity cruise, and we are Elite Plus.

As are we, about 200 points off Zenith but have come tot he conclusion that getting there doesn't make any difference to us now. 

[Jancruz]

If you have the page from the paper that shows all the officers, I would much appreciate it i you could send a picture or just post the names and positions..I have a meeting when I board on the 26th and right now its like pulling teeth getting the names of the people I am meeting with.

I do know The GM as he is a friend of mine..

Thanks,

Jancruz1

[ecslady]

3 hours ago, as3369 said:

The menu selections in the MDR and food quality was worse than any previous Celebrity cruise we sailed on.  The most recent prior to this sailing was Celebrity Millenium in 2022 and we had a great experience.  All of the suites were booked so we opted for a Concierge cabin.  The canapes were inedible and daily we would see the canape trays untouched and outside the cabins on our floor.  We didn't meet our room steward until Day 4.  There were at least 3 days when he didn't clean our cabin until after 9 pm.  Not sure if they are giving the cabin stewards more than they can handle.  The disembarkation experience was the absolute worse than any of our other 40+ sailings.  Tender service was remarkably slow in Greenland.  We didn't get to leave the ship until 4 hours after docking even though we have priority tender service through Elite status.  We sailed with 3 other cruise mates and they too have sworn off Celebrity.

 

The best experience was the Happy hour in the Martini bar with great entertainment.

WOW - not cleaning your cabin till after 9 pm is just unacceptable. That's the first I've heard of something like that.

[ORV]

20 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

38 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

If you have the page from the paper that shows all the officers, I would much appreciate it i you could send a picture or just post the names and positions..I have a meeting when I board on the 26th and right now its like pulling teeth getting the names of the people I am meeting with.

I do know The GM as he is a friend of mine..

Thanks,

Jancruz1

Here you go, he posted it a couple of days back. Easy to get lost in a fast moving thread. 

[ronrick1943]

Enjoying your post and the photo's.  Looks great, and happy to see your greet and meet on the ship.  We'll be getting on the Riviera next year (Seattle/Tokyo) in an Owner's Suite.  I realize a lot of the amenities are the same along lines, but I do believe Oceania has the best suites. We've been cruising Regent and Silversea for a while and we are looking forward to are return to Oceania.  We'll most likely book something before that trip, but haven't seen anything I really like out of a port we are near.

Thanks again for sharing your trip.

[SSFrance69]

8 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Yes we have. We just finished an 11 day cruise of Canada on the HAL Volendam that was fantastic in a small ship. Celebrity priced us out of their product, we can cruise with Oceania for less on similar itineraries, like our cruise of South America next March. We can also cruise in a Neptune Suite with HAL for less per day than a Celebrity Sky Suite. 

I jumped ship from Celebrity as well. Two sailings under our Oceania belts and we are in love and converted. However next year I'm taking my daughter who is in her 20s on Celebrity Ascent in Aqua (I loved Blu the one time I tried it last year) and then my husband and I are sailing on Koningsdam to Alaska. I would have loved to take Oceania to Alaska, but it's our first time visiting and HAL was the one that did Glacier Bay... and we really wanted to experience that. I was curious how you like HAL and how that food compares to Celebrity. FWIW we have Club Orange, so maybe that will be a plus. This all means I have to wait until 2026 for my next Oceania adventure. That's going to be a difficult wait. I'm already pining away for the wonderful food.

[Orator]

I have cruised Oceania,Viking and Crystal as well as Celebrity and other lines. Crystal was head and shoulders  the best experience. 

[Jim_Iain]

I think I will be able to do some posting using TMobile.  
 

Last night had a beautiful sunset. 
 

 

We have been having pre dinner at Horizons.  Beautiful presentation of nibbles. 
 

[Calgary3]

Aurora Borealis

 

Just wanted to let you know in case you are night owls and have clear skies:

 

Forecast: High aurora activity forecasted. If skies are clear, highly active auroral displays may be visible overhead from Utqiaġvik to Bethel, Dillingham and Ketchikan, and may be visible low on the horizon from King Salmon.

 

I will be out tonight in Calgary trying to get a glimpse.  As you probably know, look at the skies through your phone camera to see the best colours.  Hope you get to see them.

 

 

 

[terrydtx]

37 minutes ago, SSFrance69 said:

I jumped ship from Celebrity as well. Two sailings under our Oceania belts and we are in love and converted. However next year I'm taking my daughter who is in her 20s on Celebrity Ascent in Aqua (I loved Blu the one time I tried it last year) and then my husband and I are sailing on Koningsdam to Alaska. I would have loved to take Oceania to Alaska, but it's our first time visiting and HAL was the one that did Glacier Bay... and we really wanted to experience that. I was curious how you like HAL and how that food compares to Celebrity. FWIW we have Club Orange, so maybe that will be a plus. This all means I have to wait until 2026 for my next Oceania adventure. That's going to be a difficult wait. I'm already pining away for the wonderful food.

We just got off the HAL Volendam for 11 days in Canada. Loved the ship and the food, which IMO was overall better than Celebrity Luminae. We only cruise with Club Orange on any HAL ship. Last year on Koningsdam the CO dining room was equal to Luminae in service and better in food selection and variety. 

[Jim_Iain]

Horizon is a multi function area.  afternoon tea, entertainment, bar and coffe

 

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

Last night MDR

 

 

Iain had the foie gras

 

 

I had the Cheese Souffle - I have to say the best I have ever had. 

 

 
 

For main Iain had the Salmon

 

 

I had the New England Lobster. 
 

 

 

Desert 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 11:25 PM by Jim_Iain

[Jim_Iain]

[Jim_Iain]

We awoke to heavy rain.   Originally I had a hiking tour private arranged but was cancelled due to weather. 
 

Oh we decided to sleep in and had a late brunch.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

After breakfast we took the free shuttle to town.  It is about 20 minutes from Wards Cove.  
 

Wards Cove was an old paper mill and NCL built a pier for their use to assure scheduling. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 11:56 PM by Jim_Iain

[Cruising Maryland]

12 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

We awoke to heavy rain.   Originally I had a hiking tour private arranged but was cancelled due to weather. 
 

Oh we decided to sleep in and had a late brunch.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, Alaska is a huge rainforest

[tarhoosier]

Where the odds are good and the goods are odd.

[kasowell2]

7 hours ago, as3369 said:

The menu selections in the MDR and food quality was worse than any previous Celebrity cruise we sailed on.  The most recent prior to this sailing was Celebrity Millenium in 2022 and we had a great experience.  All of the suites were booked so we opted for a Concierge cabin.  The canapes were inedible and daily we would see the canape trays untouched and outside the cabins on our floor.  We didn't meet our room steward until Day 4.  There were at least 3 days when he didn't clean our cabin until after 9 pm.  Not sure if they are giving the cabin stewards more than they can handle.  The disembarkation experience was the absolute worse than any of our other 40+ sailings.  Tender service was remarkably slow in Greenland.  We didn't get to leave the ship until 4 hours after docking even though we have priority tender service through Elite status.  We sailed with 3 other cruise mates and they too have sworn off Celebrity.

 

The best experience was the Happy hour in the Martini bar with great entertainment.

Just wonder if you were on the August 16th Eclipse because we had poor dining Ning room service and cabin attendant service in concierge class. We finally had to complain about both and it did improve except our cabin attendant really shouldn’t be working with guests 

[pilgrimage]

Those do look like some happy bears. 😉

[as3369]

1 hour ago, kasowell2 said:

Just wonder if you were on the August 16th Eclipse because we had poor dining Ning room service and cabin attendant service in concierge class. We finally had to complain about both and it did improve except our cabin attendant really shouldn’t be working with guests 

Yes we were..

[Jazzbo]

11 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

USCG Petaluma is a pretty special place. Thank you to your stepson. 
If you ever find your way up again, check out Richardson’s Grove. Another beautiful stand of Giants. 

I’m an Air Force brat so I treasure the service of those who choose to serve. It was actually my stepson who retired. USCG Petaluma wis special indeed. We saw so many wild turkeys and deer up close there! The younger grandson is in the Air Force — loved seeing him and his dad in dress blues! The older grandson is a USCG vet who went to A school at USCG Petaluma. Petaluma itself is a lovely town. We stopped at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State park in 2019 on our way from our niece’s wedding in Paso Robles to Monterey before catching our flight home from SFO the following day. Beautiful place!