pinotlover

I have found ouTA fully competent in this area. All I have to do is send her an email, anything 24 hours a day, of what we want and it’s done. If one prefers to spend time on the phone, or is otherwise bored with nothing else to do, then calling Oceania is the thing for you. Myself, I have golf to play and a yard to mow, all that including cleaning up storm damage from last weekend. Whatever rocks your boat. Some people are far more into DIY than others.

The only question I see is who are the picky eaters: 1. the NoNos; 2. People wanting flavors, herbs, and spices? 🤔

They didn’t on Riveria and hopefully not on Marina. We don’t stay aboard for lunches normally, and on the rare nights we can sit on the outside Terrace at night, we enjoy watching the stars. Last thing we want is a cover hiding the sky! Obviously not a popular position.

So 50ish %. Not uncommon at all. We had a large GoNext group on my last cruise that were all mostly newbies. I think we ran About 50% repeaters.

People have to understand, they don’t always get to choose in these matters. As FF has frequently posted in the past, Oceania has often taken booked b2b and converted them to an Extended Voyage which typically resulted in fewer cruise credits. For several years there was an array of combinations of segments making b2b even difficult to find. That has now changed when it’s in Oceania’s best interest. The decision on whether a cruise is an Extended Voyage, a Grand Voyage, two Extended Voyages b2b, or multiple b2b lies solely with Oceania. One can have their TA attempt to affect that decision, but in the end, O decides.

😂. You probably never read my rants back pre Covid “ The Terrace is for Teatotallers!” Your experience has been long felt and discussed. Additionally, as you state, it may get worse with SM. I say may because so many O cruisers don’t drink for various reasons. Having free wine or beer won’t change that. Personally, we avoid the TC at dinner. We enjoy being served opposed to serving ourselves. We enjoy the leisurely paced meals in the GDR while typically sharing a table with fellow travelers, and importantly to this thread, except for the rare evening, overall service including beverage service is far better in the GDR. I have experienced far too many instances of poor or no adult beverage service in the TC. I once sat for over a half hour refusing to go through the buffet until I placed my wine order. The waiters kept coming around asking if there was a problem and I’d tell them “ yes, no wine steward “. The restaurant mgr came by and asked what the problem was. He’d assured me he’d take care of it. Ten minutes later he’s back, still no wine steward. He finally got me a glass himself. About two minutes later a wine steward appeared for the only time. Plenty of good food elsewhere on the ship.

While I agree there are a very tiny number of boutique Travel Agency, some which might primarily concentrate on Oceania and Regent, that universe is small. As continually demonstrated on this Forum, many of we cruisers are not solely wed to Oceania. While my TA is a high volume Oceania seller, my of those cruisers likewise sail Azamara and Celebrity. Being a boutique, and not a member of a Consortium, may mean the Agency avoids Consortium fees, but it also means they miss out on the various Consortium deals for many lines that aren’t available to the otherwise small volume Agencies. If one is a dedicated Oceania only cruiser, then the boutique will work very well. If not, a member of a prominent Consortium will work better. That is , of course, except for those that change Agents like they change their underwear.

Nothing unusual about those numbers. I’ve been on O cruises where the percentage has ranged from about 50% to a high of 82% repeaters. Your number is within that normal range. Several factors seem to affect these numbers including season, location of cruise, and very importantly if Oceania ran country or regional specific sales on certain cruises. I was on a cruise back in 18 with a significant number of Germans and Austrians. Found out that Oceania, wanting to attract new blood from that market, had ran very specific sales within that market. The campaign worked and I got to practice my German regularly on that cruise in that combined the two countries equaled the number of Americans aboard.

Oceania doesn’t have glass doors separating the stairwell/elevator area and the hallway corridor. It does have metal partitions that separate the two that are most always open. The only time I’ve ever seen them closed was on my last cruise during Boardamania. The staff had closed and locked off the partitions to keep guest out of the cabin areas until those rooms were called.First time I had seen that done, but not normally there for Boardamania. As far as your exact cabin location, I’d suggest you view the deck plan for your ship which is easily obtainable. It is rare when people complain about noise from the elevator areas. Happens occasionally, but rare.

But I bet it’s not NoNo chili, so forget about it! 😇

Why? Just hit delete and move on. If from O, and they happen to get their back side together, you’ll probably get another request. Otherwise, you wasted no one’s time including your own.

Be careful, you’ll be branded for your negativity!! 😂 Spot on on analysis however! 😇

You will find that many of us wait until 7:15 or later to go the Terrace or the GDR to give those with mobility issues plenty of time to accommodate their needs .

Be advised that the promenade deck is more narrow than you may be accustomed to, and will thus be closed much quicker than on other ships in comparable seas. It can be great on pleasant sea days, but quickly shut down on any signs of inclement weather.

Milt request to do a survey looked suspicious. I deleted immediately and never opened.