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Beagle5

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  1. Everyone seems to be comparing Queens/Princess Grill to Oceania which is not what the OP has asked about. Given the prices charged for the Grills you would want it to better/comparable to Oceania. OP has asked for a comparison of a Britannia Club to Oceania. We have done 3 cruises on Oceania Marina/Riviera in a standard balcony and 3 on Cunard, 2 in a standard balcony, 1 in Club. We love them both for different reasons. - Everyone eats the same food on Oceania, whether you are staying on an inside cabin or the Owners Suite. Those two groups could easily share a table for dinner and be none the wiser. There are no separate dining areas for higher grade cabins. - We have found the food on Oceania to be good to excellent with the occasional miss. We enjoy all the specialty restaurants (Polo/Toscana/Jacques/Red Ginger). The food on Oceania is much better than anything you will be offered in the Britannia Dining room on Cunard. That goes for the buffet (Terrace Cafe) as well, where they will grill to order lamb chops, lobster etc. - Having said that we find the food on Cunard Britannia/Club to be quite acceptable for the price paid. Britannia Club offers a couple of extra dishes and tableside desert preparation, but the menu is largely the same as the main dining room. (We have booked B Club for our Queen Anne cruise in June, although I am not sure it is worth the premium over Britannia.) The food comes across a bit more 'hotel banquet room/institutional' than Oceania which is more restaurant grade. But I've had some very enjoyable meals on Cunard. - Cunard has the best scones at sea. No question. - Oceania's afternoon tea is excellent. You never have to worry about getting table like you do in the Queens Room on Cunard. - the staff on Oceania don't know how to make a hot cup of tea. - entertainment and lectures much better on Cunard - pool deck area much more nicely fitted out on Oceania where you have proper padded loungers that the deck hands cover them in towels every morning. If you want that experience on Cunard you have to pay up for the Grills and their exclusive Terrace. The standard pool deck experience on Cunard is no different to any other mass market line. - always been happy with the staff/service on both lines - Not much life on either line after 10pm. - We like dressing up on Cunard, but are equally happy with the more relaxed County Club casual on Oceania. I don't bother too much with observing/getting upset with what other people wear on either line (well, maybe I do a bit on Cunard where the dress code is such an intrinsic part of the experience). - There are more inclusions on Oceania. The coffee in particular. You can't compare the swill they offer in Kings Court with the barista coffee that is available on Oceania. Once again, what is available in the Grills is irrelevant to OP. - everyone has access to sauna/steam room/ heated tile loungers in the spa on Oceania. I think you have to pay extra for those on Cunard. - your room steward will stock your fridge on Oceania with any soft drink you prefer be it coke or mixers for the bottle of Gin/Scotch you have brought on board with you. You will pay for that on Cunard. In summary we love both lines. If price were equal we would always go with Oceania, but its not. We are finding it harder to justify the Oceania price premium for standard balcony cabins. Moreso since they became more inclusive (you now get beer/wine with meals and an excursion allowance you can't refuse). One of us doesn't drink and we much prefer to do our own thing in port - so the Oceania deal has become less attractive to us. But the fact that everyone on this board jumped to using the Grills as the benchmark against which to compare Oceania to, actually tells you a little bit about the standard Britannia experience on Cunard. Oceania is a premium/luxury light line (and priced accordingly), Cunard Britannia/Club is a mass market line. But a very pleasant mass market line.
  2. Is Heineken Zero included in the CC Happy Hour from 5-7? (I have seen Heineken on the menu when I searched, but wondered if that extended to the non alcoholic version).
  3. Just to clarify -the increase appears to be about $3.50 per passenger per day to arrive at a new cost of $35 pp/d (or $32 depending on which article you read). As the Port of Melbourne argues, it is the first increase in 2 years and lower than the inflation rate over the period. https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/passengers-likely-to-pay-for-port-fee-hikes-that-drove-melbourne-mutiny/ I doubt that it had any real impact on the Carnival decision to ditch Melbourne which I suspect was for broader fleet positioning and strategic reasons. But a corporate will always point to increased taxes/charges to justify (locally) unpopular decisions.
  4. There is a gap in her schedule from April 23rd until May 16th 2024 when she will be in Lisbon Portugal. Hope there is a refurb - we board on July 11th.
  5. We have certainly enjoyed late dinners in the Specialties on Marina/Riviera starting at 8.30pm. Never felt rushed and we enjoyed every course and the bread! I do recall being the last to leave the restaurant on one or two occasions though. But someone has to be.
  6. Just curious- do you book through a Travel Agent? This happened on our two previous O cruises (big drops 2 weeks after final payment). In each case our Melbourne TA was able to get O to offer us a choice of either cabin upgrade, OBC, and in one case a FCC. still annoying, but it kept us loyal (for now).
  7. Vista is appearing on the Port of Darwin cruise ship schedule for April 2026. Possibly lines up with the ATW2026 theory? Interestingly Riviera is also on the schedule to make three stops in Darwin as well in February and April 2026. More visits by the bigger ships potentially planned for Australia it would seem.
  8. Ship - Ovation of the Seas Deck - 8 Stateroom # - 8632 Stateroom Category – Junior Suite with Large Balcony Starboard or Port Side -Port Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) –No noise from other cabins. But quite a lot of 'creaking' form the cabinetry and window surrounds Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - Not directly . But there is an entry space before you enter the cabin that is shared with a single cabin. If booked together could work as a family suite. Balcony View - View is oriented a little forward as the cabin is on the side of the hump Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Very large balcony with padded loungers Was wind a problem? - On sea days, balcony could be windy If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? - N/A Any specific problems with this cabin? - Any other comments? - See my full review at:
  9. Yes, it was for cruises departing up to 1May this year booked prior to April 2021 (or 2022, I can’t remember). We just did an 18 night transpacific in a Junior suite. Got our 72 points this week which bumps us from gold to diamond. Mind you I did have to email them three times to get them to honour the double points promo.
  10. I'll throw in my 2 cents worth. We have done 3 cruises on O (40 nights total) and we love it - it is our preferred line. But we are also finding it increasingly expensive. We came to O early in our cruising life after one each on Royal, Princess & Cunard. We still sail all these lines as we are primarily itinerary driven. I am writing this from the balcony of our Junior Suite on the Ovation of the Seas as we sail into Honolulu after an 18 day Transpacific from Sydney. For about 60% of the cost per day of a balcony on O we have had a cabin and balcony about 50% bigger than a Marina/Riviera standard cabin. Food has obviously been of lower quality, but acceptable. Coastal Kitchen (the Suites restaurant) though has been on par with Oceania food. We ate there 7 out of 17 nights. Activities and entertainment have been much better than what is offered on O. The big negative is the crowds getting off and on the ship, so we probably wouldn't choose a mega ship for a port intensive cruise, but for trans-oceanics they are great. We love Oceania but have tired a bit of the menus in the Specialties. Our future cruise plans are to continue to 'mix it up' between the mass market lines (grabbing suites where the price is right) and O, largely based on itinerary. We are fortunate that we are glass half full people and have never had a bad day at sea. The ocean looks the same whatever ship you are on.
  11. I have done 3 cruises on Cunard. One in Europe and 2 in Australia/NZ. All pre-pandemic in a standard balcony cabin. I have another one booked on the new ship (Queen Anne) for next year in Norway. Here are my thoughts. - the ships have a nice classy feel. Beautifully fitted out - Food was pretty good. I would rate it better than RCCL and Princess, but not by much. - Best scones at sea. - I like the buffet lay out on QV and QE. (I hated the buffet layout on Majestic Princess). - the dress code was dumbed down a bit in Australian waters and there is less compliance. It is generally a more casual ambience (That's good or bad depending on your outlook). Notwithstanding that, people will be dressed up a bit more than on P&O, RCCL etc. - the crowd was a bit older in Australia, and seemed to have a preference for dining early in the buffet relative to the Europe sailing. In fact the main dining room always seemed half empty in the evening which I found a bit disappointing. I would encourage you to take a jacket (if male) and and eat in the dining room. You're missing out on the main event otherwise. - shows in the theatre were great, and so were the guest lecturers. - excellent fitness centre at the front of the ship. I'd give it a crack. if choosing between Cunard and Princess, I would choose Cunard, but you wont know until you try it. I book direct with Cunard rather than using my TA. I find that TAs are more useful on the more expensive lines, when they seem to be able to swing extra OBC.
  12. We are 53/57 and took our first O cruise 5 years ago. The demographic can depend a bit on the cruise length, time of year, and destinations. Our first O cruise was 17 days in South America in January 2017. That group was much older than our more recent 12 day cruises in the Baltic (2019)and the Med (2022) which were in July. There were plenty of 30/40/50 somethings on our Med cruise last year. A few seemed to be travelling with their parents. I suspect transatlantic's might trend a bit older. However, we enjoyed the company equally on all three cruises. But we are also self contained and don't require much in the way of activities (just the table tennis table and the gym).
  13. I just booked a Britannia Club Balcony for the 23/7/24 sailing on Queen Anne to the Norwegian Fjords. Curiously, I have booked Stateroom 7150 which is shown on the (April 22) deck plan as a BB, but has been sold to me as an A2. It's one of those odd ones with the trapezoidal shape and angled balcony. Will be interesting to see if the ship is ready by June 24.
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