ORV

I think you pointed this out when I mentioned it was what was being served on Regatta as of 2 weeks ago. When we were on Marina in Jan/Feb it was for sure Monopole, but Regatta 2 weeks ago had the rotgut Germain, we had Prosecco instead, it was drinkable, don't remember the brand.

Actually though, and you probably know this, the key cards will tell you what level of room a person is in if you know what you are looking for. This was actually on the Regatta, another poster mentioned it and I recently checked it out less than 2 weeks ago. Yes, there is no lock or any sign of any description saying restricted to Concierge and above. So, if you didn't know you weren't supposed to be there or just wanted to go out there it's completely available to everyone. I don't know about any of the other R ships. I'll check Nautica in August. Although truth be known I really don't care much about going out there even when I have access. Only time I took full advantage of it was in Venice on the Riviera during the sail out. My wife and I were the only ones out there. That was pretty cool.

There is no need for that. There's always snobs, it's a big enough ship to avoid people you don't get on with. Most of the people that I've met over the years on Oceania have been nice folks, with a few exceptions. But I've seen no one bragging about which room they're in. It might come up in a conversation, but generally not in a boasting or "I'm better" kind of way. The worst you might run in to is to be at a sharing table in one of the Specialties that is just a bad fit. We've had a few of these over the years, especially those that can't leave their politics at home.

This, a lot of people don't get this. You could book a cheap $49 HOHO bus tour or something similar, even if you don't take the tour, and still pay less for your excursions overall. Just did this in Jan & Feb on our 24 day South America cruise.

Well there's that 25% discount thing if you book enough excursions.

They can do all this yet when I ask for a Club sandwich without lettuce or tomatoes it's almost an impossibility. Go figure.

The real problem comes with the 25% discount when you book enough to get the discount. It can be done with the cart, but you must be very exacting in the way you do it. Did you get the YWYW 25% discount?

Just as a data point here we have been on Marina and Regatta this year for 35 days. We had no cancelled ports. We did have an itinerary adjustment in South America, but we still saw everything that was originally planned. My opinion on the thread from last year is that a few people on a couple of cruises that had issues were doing a lot of posting. Then others see it and comment about all those people talking about Oceania cancelling ports. These things have a way of ballooning out of reality. My bottom line is if I didn't trust the judgement of the Captains that Oceania hires then I wouldn't cruise with them. One thing I've seen no shortage of in the 20 years I've been reading cruise critic are those that think they're smarter than the Captain or General Manager. I truly don't need or expect them to consult with me before they make decisions about our overall safety and their policies and procedures. Once again if it bothered me enough, I'd make other vacation arrangements and not waste time complaining about it on CC. Not cheerleading, just my personal reality.

Is your alcohol intake on your land portion as much as it was on the ship?

My wife has 2 Amexes and I have 3. We both get offers that are frequently the same.

First, don't confuse Waitlist with Guarantee. If a person is on a waitlist and nothing opens up in the category they have waitlisted they won't get anything, at least in that category. Some people might be booked in a lower category and will have a higher category waitlisted, so they will cruise regardless. Of course a Guarantee means you'll be in that category or higher. The truth is it's a mystery and no one really knows except the Revenue dept of Oceania. BUT, I think you have an assigned room, so unless there is an offer from O to move up for more money, you will be in the room you have. If you had a guarantee for a PH3 and there were none available but the PH2 or PH1 were, then the person holding the guarantee would probably be moved up. You can have your TA contact them and offer less than the going rate for one of them, but unless you REALLY want to change location there is not much difference room wise from them. I'm one of those people that's ok anywhere on the ship, so I probably wouldn't spend the money to move up a number in the same category.

Over the years I have had multiple Oceania offers on the no annual fee Everyday card. The most current one about 2 months ago. Although we have no Platinum card the other 4 Amex cards we have frequently have good offers. For example, my Dell laptop that I got $200 back on when spending $800 or more. I did notice they currently have one for Dell & Microsoft. Free money is good, I'm amazed at the people that don't take advantage of it. It's there for the taking.

What you paid months ago does not count. There is no need to call that number. As long as your payments through your TA show Oceania Cruises as the Payee then it will work. BUT< What you need to do first is log on to your online account for your card, look at the offers you have and see if this one is available for your card. If it is then you need to add it to your card. After that have your TA pay up to $4000 on your cruise to take advantage of this offer. Pay attention to the date you need to use the offer by. My no annual fee Amex Everyday card didn't have this offer, but it does have one for Norwegian to spend $1000 get $200 back. Last week there was an offer for Regent for up to 50k membership points. I check it everyday, maybe I'll get lucky with an Oceania offer. What I do notice is that some of these offers disappear quickly. So, if you see one that you think you might even remotely use go ahead and add it to your card. Once it's on your card you have until the deadline to use it.

Unless I'm completely missing it that link has nothing to do with what you mentioned.

I'm seeing a review on another popular site for the current Regatta cruise that was right after this one. It shows Carson being the CD. I guess Robin was only a part time CD until Carson came on the ship. He did a good job for being thrown in to it. Carson is another CD I've never run across.