Some information I learned about Oceania today

[candlewick]

Thanks for the information.

[candlewick]

That works very well for us, also, as we are in the "one glass of red wine plus almonds and a little dark chocolate because it's good for you" category. We find we easily get two meals from one bottle of wine. I generally order in the $29 to $34 range (which comes out to $34 to $40 with the 18% gratuity) and have found several that we like. When we returned, I looked in the wine shops and found the same brands in the $11 to $15 range plus tax, so essentially it's close to the same price if we had bought our own and paid the corkage fee.

 

The house wine at $5.95 per glass is around $7 after the gratuity is added; 4 glasses of that would be $28, which is a little less than the bottles we purchase -- but I have found the house wine varies. We traded our welcome bottle of champagne for a bottle of house red, and it was not so good. I forget what it was (I pushed it out of my mind :)), but it wasn't the one Len mentioned.

 

We don't order wine with every meal; we also bring our own wine to drink in the cabin. I've been experimenting with wines in a box for everyday consumption, and have found a couple that are decent -- the most recent was a Turning Leaf Pinot Noir that was pretty good. On our next cruise, I will bring a box for the fridge; it's less likely to break during travel.

 

Thanks for the information.

[meow!]

Don't be obtuse.

There is a sink with potable running water in your cabin

That is true and we used it to wash our faces and brush our teeth. It was good for general purpose. We asked a room staff whether it was good for drinking, and were told that it was drinkable but not "recommended". I guess different people have different opinion. And yes, we can reuse small bottles and refill them at the buffet restaurant, just that you have to remember and preplan, not free bottles delivered as a matter of course. Large (perhaps 1.5 litre?) bottles were $4 (?) if delivered to your cabin.

 

It is no big deal, but when people talk about "nickel and diming" on other lines, to a great extent, the same is true on Oceania. You pay for these things one way or another, either a higher fare up front or a lower fare with more additional charges. We have one of the lowest "additional charges", perhaps only $100 per week other than the prescribed tips. Other than the "included" airfare and limited specialty restaurant meal without extra pay, which you can opt out of, can someone list the nickel and diming on Celebrity, for example, that is free on Oceania, and make a direct comparison between the two? Then show how many nickes and dimes difference will those extra costs be for a typical cruiser on a daily basis. I am not saying that Oceania is unreasonable, not at all, just trying to be fair and objective in such a comparision.

[velotaco]

I would be curious what Velotaco considers "nickeled & dimed"

 

In the future will Regent customers consider charges for excursions on other lines as being "nickeled & dimed"?

 

I wasn't really refering to tips, corkage fees or other service cost. Maybe nickel and dime is not the right term, but there are no extra charges to use the specialty dinning room ($5 a person on Azamara, why? just roll it into the cost of the cruise), no extra charge for the nice icecream bar, and the two for one happy hour is nice.

[StanandJim]

and were told that it was drinkable but not "recommended".

 

That is a total falsehood. All of the cabin water supply is completely drinkable.

The desalination plants on the O ships are of a very high standard and probably produce cleaner water than we get in our homes.

 

**Note** Never brush your teeth with water that you would not drink!:eek:

[hondorner]

I don't know, Stan or Jim, maybe the water plant is closer to the kitchen or something? Or, maybe the good water goes to the kitchen and the kitchen drain water is filtered a little before going to the staterooms?

 

Or, could it simply be that the good water is because it comes from a kitchen while the cabin water comes from a (gasp) bathroom and therefore can't be any good? Maybe the pipes sometimes flow backwards or something...

 

I bet if they had a wet bar in the cabin, that water would be perfectly drinkable.

[legaleaglegreen]

We found that you could also get excellent cold water from the drinking fountains in the health club and regularly refilled our water bottles there before setting out on our day's excursions. I enjoy having bottled water with me while touring but think that continually buying fresh bottles when good refills are available is environmentally unsound. I have no trouble with buying bottled water during the day if safe or convenient refills are not available. Also, in some places, like Istanbul and parts of Spain and Israel, I found the tap water to be safe but so highly chlorinated as to be foul tasting.

 

On Oceania, the ice water served with meals was excellent as was the ice tea and lemonade.

 

I agree with Jim and Stan that if the water isn't safe to drink you shouldn't brush your teeth with it either. In fact, in some places like the Dominican you even have to be careful not to swallow any water when you shower!

[meow!]

I have another plausible guess. The water in the restaurants can be treated more thoroughly than the water in your cabin. After all, you use the cabin water to take showers (and baths in the suites), and that would mean much larger quantities than what you drink. Treating water takes space (for the treating equipment) and costs money. So it may make sense to treat water for different purposes to different degrees.

[wripro]

You still cannot compare O to mass market lines when it comes to "nickel and diming." On O no one ever pushes alcoholic drinks on you everywhere you go, they provide a nice variety of beverages for free and in general are not pushy. They even have the 241 hour in the bars every day.

 

Also, remember that O is not a luxury line which is all inclusive and never portrays itself as such. If one truly wants it all included there are lines which will provide that but don't compare O to those any more than you would compare it to a mass market line.

[meow!]

It is nice to have such immediate attention to so many of my postings, on all the columns I post. I have time and again stated my general opinion on the different categories of cruise lines:

 

Economy : gentle mass market, e.g. Celebrity

activity mass market, e.g. Carnival (we haven't tried)

 

Economy Plus : Oceania, (perhaps also Azamara) in a niche by itself

 

Business class : e.g. Silversea

 

First class : upper suites on "business class" lines

 

They are apples and oranges, and grape fruits too, but they are all fruits. Many people eat different fruits at different times. So it is informative to compare them so readers (both experienced and new to cruises) can consider their various aspects to choose whichever line or category to go to for any particular occasion. Hope this helps.

[StanandJim]

The water in the restaurants can be treated more thoroughly than the water in your cabin

 

In order for a ship to hold a Passenger Ship Safety Certificate (Required Internationally but particularly by the United States if the ship is ever going to use our ports), the regulations is that any shipboard tap which dispenses non potable water must be clearly labeled as "Non Potable, DO NOT DRINK".

 

Have you ever seen such a warning in your bathroom on Oceania?

 

What comes into play here is that many people find the "flavor" of pure distilled (or reverse osmosis) water to be unpleasant. Perhaps that is what the "Room Staff" was warning against.

 

On the high end, the fresh water use of the typical cruise passenger is well under 200 gallons per day

 

Using the high end of that estimate, and giving the 400 staff members the same allotment, would result in water useage of 216,800 gallons per day (1084 X 200).

That amount is well within the capacity of a single Desalination plant. The O ships all have two plants, and they were upgraded from the REN equipment when Oceania refurbished them:

 

"Insignia also underwent a thorough mechanical and technical upgrade. Invisible to guests, many behind-the-scenes systems were upgraded and enhanced such as new fresh-water plumbing throughout the vessel, and new fresh-water evaporators with increased capacity"

 

This is the type of equipment that was installed:

 

http://www.hamworthy.com/newsEvents/newsarchive.asp?strAreaNo=21_1&intelement=2282

 

**Note** The water output in that article is by the ton, and we were discussing gallons. A ton of water = 300 US Gallons or 219 Imperial Gallons.

 

Either way, the capacities of the evaporators are WAY over usage, there is no need to use any "gray water"; and we have not even discussed the capacity of the fresh water holding tanks.

 

Is anybody else thirsty? :rolleyes:

[Veronica13]

Glad I'm not the only one with too much time on my hands today!! :D

[StanandJim]

Glad I'm not the only one with too much time on my hands today

 

Sadly, my profession involves all of this minutiae

Pray for me :p

[VickyN]

:mad: One thing which that Oceania didn't tell you and I just found out yesterday when I got my credit card statement;

Oceania's bank is in Ireland. Mastercard, Visa and American Express all charge between 2-3% for a charge on your credit card paid to Oceania as the funds have to be changed from the dollar.

The $8000. I paid for my Oceania cruise just cost me another $240. dollars and any and all expenses charged when I am on the cruise and billed by Oceania will have the same 3% surcharge.

Travel agents should advise customers of these undisclosed fees which do not exist with other cruise lines.

I am writing Oceania and if you are surprised, you may want to also. Hopefully, with enough pressure, Oceania will change this situation.

[LHT28]

:mad: One thing which that Oceania didn't tell you and I just found out yesterday when I got my credit card statement;

Oceania's bank is in Ireland. Mastercard, Visa and American Express all charge between 2-3% for a charge on your credit card paid to Oceania as the funds have to be changed from the dollar.

.

If you use the " search" (top right of the forum) for "conversion fees" you should find the other threads on the same topic

Have your TA contact Oceania

 

Lyn

[SusaninCali]

ANY cruise line has no verified information on passengers' incomes. It is likely their imagination, or based on some (magazine?) questionaire for which those with high (real or imagined) incomes are more likely to answer. Just ignore that item!

 

P.S. Averages work in strange ways. If one of those receiving millions in bonuses from one of the bailed out banks happens to be on board, the average will be way skewed up!

 

 

An average of $150,000 doesn't surprise me.

 

Two reasons - 1) their older demographic has the most money on avg. 2) average income info can be compiled from PRIZM clusters (systems that analyze lifestyle data based on zipcodes). An interesting book on the subject is "The Clustered World" by Michael J. Weiss. So in fact, Oceania and any other cruise line, knows quite a bit about their passengers' income just from where they live.

[hondorner]

I have another plausible guess. The water in the restaurants can be treated more thoroughly than the water in your cabin...

 

...water useage of 216,800 gallons per day...That amount is well within the capacity of a single Desalination plant. The O ships all have two plants...

Meow, the key point is that none of the water on board is "treated" in the normal sense; all of the fresh water is created from sea water using the desalination processes. Essentially, every drop of water on board is distilled water. It is all the same, no matter where it is or what faucet it comes from. It is just about as perfect as water can be. As Stan or Jim said, it is so pure there is essentially no flavor, and that lack of flavor may not be to everyone's taste -- we are used to having some impurities in our water, even if it is bottled.

 

The only reason one might refill bottles in other locations, other than the bathroom tap, is because it might be chilled, which would be good for folks with no fridge and bottle openings too small to accept ice. But, other than temperature, the water on the ship is all the same, no matter where it comes from.

 

What I was attempting to describe in my earlier attempt at humor is that our perception of where the water is from affects our perception of the water quality.

[CintiPam]

It is all the same, no matter where it is or what faucet it comes from. It is just about as perfect as water can be. As Stan or Jim said, it is so pure there is essentially no flavor, and that lack of flavor may not be to everyone's taste -- we are used to having some impurities in our water, even if it is bottled.

 

The only reason one might refill bottles in other locations, other than the bathroom tap, is because it might be chilled, which would be good for folks with no fridge and bottle openings too small to accept ice. But, other than temperature, the water on the ship is all the same, no matter where it comes from.

 

 

We used the health club water fountain daily not only because it was chillled but also because our water bottles simply did not fit under the bathroom water tap in our "no fridge" E cabin. The water tasted fine, and I felt I was being environmentally sensitive by not buying and tossing plastic bottles away every day.

[meow!]

Interesting discussions!

[wripro]

Meow,

 

Sorry to be contrary but I also find fault with you likening Silversea to business class and the upper suites to first class. EVERYONE on Silversea receives the same service on board the ship. Just because those upper suites have a useless butler does not mean they get better service in the public rooms.

[DT10L]

:rolleyes:Being in the business, grey water recycled is used to flush your WC or in American , the toilet. They use the washbasin and shower water as well as inks in the ships. They filter it and it could be drunk but it is not! They then use this "grey water" for the toilet.

 

We have been on a good numebr of cruises. Oceania is a good step above Celebrity which is a step above RC. Oceania is the only Cruise line that when one orders a meal and salad at the regular restaurant, ithe veggies are freshly cooked and different to your neighbour and the salad is room temperature and not nearly frozen!

 

I buy my wines offshore. When the sommelier realises what you have bought he treats it with extreem care and most times does not charge you! Once at sea, I requested a REAL chably and not an imitation by someone from the new world. The somellier had a French Chablis openned for our enjoyement. We eventually finished the bottle.

 

This is why we quit the big cruise lines! They are the worst in nickle and dimming! That is whwy also wew are booked for the South American this winter. But, we will do our OWN excussions!

 

Regards,

Henry

[Veronica13]

:mad: One thing which that Oceania didn't tell you and I just found out yesterday when I got my credit card statement;

Oceania's bank is in Ireland. Mastercard, Visa and American Express all charge between 2-3% for a charge on your credit card paid to Oceania as the funds have to be changed from the dollar.

The $8000. I paid for my Oceania cruise just cost me another $240. dollars and any and all expenses charged when I am on the cruise and billed by Oceania will have the same 3% surcharge.

Travel agents should advise customers of these undisclosed fees which do not exist with other cruise lines.

I am writing Oceania and if you are surprised, you may want to also. Hopefully, with enough pressure, Oceania will change this situation.

 

HUH??? Surprised here!! :(....wait a tic...my deposit of $750 did not incur any fees. How's that work?

[LHT28]

HUH??? Surprised here!! :(....wait a tic...my deposit of $750 did not incur any fees. How's that work?

It has to do with your credit card company.

[jollyjones]

We used the health club water fountain daily not only because it was chillled but also because our water bottles simply did not fit under the bathroom water tap in our "no fridge" E cabin. The water tasted fine, and I felt I was being environmentally sensitive by not buying and tossing plastic bottles away every day.

 

Reusable water bottles never fit under bathroom taps be it in a hotel or a ship, but there's usually a drinking glass provided so I use that to fill my bottle.

[LHT28]

Reusable water bottles never fit under bathroom taps be it in a hotel or a ship, but there's usually a drinking glass provided so I use that to fill my bottle.

 

Staff in the restaurants are happy to fill your bottle for you.;)

We usually go to the machine by the ice cream stand they can remove the tray so the bottle fits under the spout.

 

Lyn