Athens to Rome-Sept 1--Great time!

[drhugs]

:) Oceania does a fine job, great food and service-we had a ph3 suite-great butler-everything was better than anticipated. My only negatives were the charges for diet cokes-which is ridiculous when you are spending this kind of money on a cruise $2.95 each!!!! Also, do not even think about using the INTERNET!!! 100 minutes for $80-and if that isn't bad enough, half of that time is waiting as their system needs a big time upgrade--It is slower than dial up-SLOWER THAN A TURTLE--SLOWER THAN MOLASSES IN JANUARY--SLOWER THAN KETCHUP FROM THE HEINZ BOTTLE-you catch my drift--so, go on a cruise and relax-do not use the internet and give up diet cokes!!!!

[StanandJim]

DrHugs,

 

I for one think that you should cut Oceania some slack. As we often say about the onboard Laundry, "It would be a good Laundry Service with fair prices wherever it was located; the fact that they can do it on a moving platform 8000 miles from home is a miracle".

The same thing goes for the Diet Cokes. Heck, you'd pay $3.00 for a Diet Coke from Room Service in any Sheraton or Marriott. And it's more like $5.00 in a W or a Ritz Carlton, and we're talking inside the United States!

 

As far as Internet Speed is concerned, while we've sailed Princess, HAL, Celebrity, and Cunard, we've never had appreciably faster Internet than on O. They are all slow, although user volume can sometimes have a huge negative impact. Maybe it's just a ship thing?

[Oceanurse]

Glad you had a good trip. Can you tell me what type of services the butler provides? I have booked a TA cruise next year PH3 and really don't know what to expect. Cruised with Azamara last May and never saw the butler until the second day- even at that he never introduced himself. What are the butlers like on Oceania? Thanks...Cathy

[lovecruisingtoo]

:) SLOWER THAN KETCHUP FROM THE HEINZ BOTTLE-

 

Actually I have found that Heinz ketchup comes out of the bottle fairly fast. We prefer ketchup that is slower coming out of the bottle.

[tiny_traveler_15]

Glad you had a good trip. Can you tell me what type of services the butler provides? I have booked a TA cruise next year PH3 and really don't know what to expect. Cruised with Azamara last May and never saw the butler until the second day- even at that he never introduced himself. What are the butlers like on Oceania? Thanks...Cathy

 

I'm not sure it matters which cruise line you're on - there are some good butlers and some not-so-good butlers. On our most recent Oceania cruise 2 of our friends each had butlers - one was great, the other was adequate. For instance, the 'good' butler was able to assist in organizing a cocktail party and obtain last minute reservations for 8 people in the Toscana.

[jmdpsca]

How was the trip ports, we are booked from Athens to Rome Sept.4,09.

And we won't talk about paying 2.50 for a bottle of water!

[debsjc]

Did you make it into all the ports ok, including the tender ones, without any weather diversions?

[CintiPam]

Wonderful cruise, our very first. Returned home last weekend. However, we did miss the Delos/Mykonos tender ports (one day), but were taken instead to the island of Milos, where we went to the beach for the afternoon, just as we planned for Mykonos. However, I really regret missing Delos.

 

I personally believe that these "non-tender" decisions are affected in Oceania's case by the fact that the vast majority of cruisers, although in great shape, are over the age of 70; no problem, just the reality.

[klsage]

We were on the Sept 1 cruise, too. The weather was a bit of a problem at Mykonos, but we eventually sent tenders ashore. We were on back to back cruises and had been there the week before, so we stayed on ship this time.

 

My husband's favorite port, practically, was Delos. He just loved it--he went on the ship's tour the first cruise and had the archaelogist as a guide and then the 2nd cruise, he just went to go to the museum and hike around some more.

 

We loved Oceania so much because of the manageable size of the ship. It was so easy to get on and off--which was lucky because we tendered to much on these 2 cruises.

[tiny_traveler_15]

Wow, that's great that you had a wonderful time! We did the Rome to Athens in Aug and missed 5 of 11 ports. We totally missed out on Delos so I'm absolutely green that you got to go there. Sounds like it was fabulous! We loved Santorini as well as Amalfi too. Really wonderful scenery and history on this intinerary.

The tendering is an issue with the ports on this intinerary. I never realized before what a gamble anchor ports are.

Oh well...

We loved the size of the ship as well - it was so nice to get around it easily and quickly. It seemed quite cozy because we kept running into people we knew.

[centsable]

We loved Oceania so much because of the manageable size of the ship. It was so easy to get on and off--which was lucky because we tendered to much on these 2 cruises.

Hi:

We are going on Ragatta Oct 20th Rome to Athens, I have questions, If you were not able to get to port what was thwe alternative? We have booked some privaite tours for Florence Postiano & monte Carlo. Also did you use the laundry? I curious of cahrges, US $$ used?

 

Thanks

[LHT28]

[quote name=centsable;16443124 Also did you use the laundry? I curious of cahrges' date=' US $$ used?

 

Thanks[/quote]

I have used the laundry room at least 10 times on our previous cruises.

The laundry room takes tokens which you get at Reception $1.50 each they add the cost to your S& S card

Usually I can use 2 , 1 for washer & 1 for dryer

There is a button on the soap dispenser (on the wall) check the # on your machine & match it to the # on the soap dispenser button.

They have 2 irons with boards

Sometimes the room is busy.... it is all about timing!! :D

[tiny_traveler_15]

We loved Oceania so much because of the manageable size of the ship. It was so easy to get on and off--which was lucky because we tendered to much on these 2 cruises.

Hi:

We are going on Ragatta Oct 20th Rome to Athens, I have questions, If you were not able to get to port what was thwe alternative? We have booked some privaite tours for Florence Postiano & monte Carlo. Also did you use the laundry? I curious of cahrges, US $$ used?

 

Thanks

 

I would caution you to have some back-up plans in place as several of the ports on that itinerary are 'tendered' ports, meaning if the weather is rough you may not stop there at all. Sometimes there are no alternatives - it depends upon many factors (as I've come to learn). None of these factors are in the cruisers control. For instance, one time when Nautica couldn't tender to Delos/Mykonos they went to Milos instead. But it seems like most other times you end up ending back to Athens, generally arriving there very late in the day (so enjoy that as a sea day).

Also when the ship misses Portofino it goes to Genoa. Genoa is not that great a tourist place (I found it boring and dirty) and apparently has a bad reputation for tourists. There are ways to get to Portofino or San Magherita so be sure to check those out. We didn't ever make it to Amalfi or Sorrento on our trip. We ended up in Naples for 2 days. Again there are still ways to see the Amalfi coast, Pompeii and Positano from Naples.

I haven't heard of ships being diverted from Monte Carlo but anything is possible - I'm not sure what the alternative port would be.

 

Oceania does not always offer alternative tours. If you book private tours be sure to discuss with the tour company how they will know if you've gotten diverted to a different port and what alternative arrangements they can make for you.

 

For more info on this subject, feel free to read the Rome to Athens (Aug 12-24) thread.