Hanoverian

Also consider the following. Welcome - Making travel easy, friendly, personal (welcomepickups.com)

We were on a good post-cruise around Bridgetown after our Moon TA from Lisbon last November. The tour included a visit to a nature center and a very good lunch at a local restaurant. The guide was accommodating and informative. We arrived at the airport in sufficient time to catch our flight back to MIA. All of it went down without any problems from finding the bus after disembarking to arriving at the airport. I do approach such post-cruise tours like any other ship's excursion, just hope that Slversea or whatever line has properly vetted the tour company and thoroughly relayed everyone's expectations.

As reported by "Cruise Industry News" Silver Nova Delivered to Silversea - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News Very exciting!

Nice review, Pinot. We are on Vista next April but did see a video about the PHs, and our reaction to seeing no walk-in closet was the same as yours. Do you have any comments on the bathrooms, size of the shower, for instance, and possibly a foot rest?

I have to agree with the OP, I have always thought that Oceania could do much, much, better in the cookie department. Certainly a far cry from what is available at Seabourn Square or the Arts Cafe on Silversea. I am betting that BarbaraM is correct as to why this is so. But, our complaints over the years have fallen on deaf ears. There are days when I would have been happy just to find a bag of Oreos on the counter.

We did this several years ago. We got off in Porto and re-joined the ship in Lisbon the following day. All that Oceania asked when we floated the idea in front of them before the cruise was to be absolutely sure that the reception desk people were fully informed of our plans at least several days in advance. They also asked that we gave the ship phone numbers and hotel names and our mobile phone numbers so that it could get in touch with us in the event of some unforeseen event, either on our part or theirs. Informing just your room attendants is not enough. Ship management needs to be fully informed.

At the end of our around-South America cruise in 2019, and before beginning a three day land tour, we stayed at the Sheraton Miramar Hotel & Convention Center, Viña del Marr. Very nice hotel with a fabulous outdoor patio and bar overlooking the sea shore. The patio was a great place to sip a Chilean Pisco Sour or three and watch the waves break on shore. Good restaurant, as well.

I wonder if Oceania is thinking of persuading Giada to become its next celebrity chef?

This sounds like it is going to be quite the event. I wish that we could go to one of these ceremonies. Giada De Laurentiis, Harry Connick to usher in Oceania Cruises' Vista (seatrade-cruise.com)

In 2019, we stayed at the Santa Teresa Hotel RJ - MGallery in the Santa Teresa neighborhood, which is a bit artsy and hilly. Great views from the hotel on high, very nice pool, and a most excellent on-site restaurant for dinner and breakfast. It is not in the typical tourist hotel area such as the Hilton Copacabana is, so best to consult a map to understand where it is in the city. If flying into to Rio early in the day, consider hiring a car service such as Blacklane to take you to whatever hotel you choose as morning rush hour in Rio makes the L.A. rush look amateurish.

pino, following up on our meeting on Sirena last fall, any way to get in touch with you without giving away family secrets?

Here is an article of some interest from "Seatrade Cruise News". I do not know anything more than what is in this article and leave it up to y'all to interpret it as you see it. https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/jan-swartz-holland-america-groups-restructuring

Disembarkation seems to be the Achilles' heel of all cruise lines. Last fall, we disembarked Sirena in Lisbon, spent five days in Cascais, and then took the Silversea "Silver Moon" on a TA to Bridgetown. I do not remember any particular problems disembarking Sirena. However, despite a marvelous time on the Silver Moon TA, disembarkation in Bridgetown was a nightmare. All for the usual reasons that have been cited: no one from the cruise line in charge; no signage; very few line employees in the terminal; and luggage misplaced by the port handlers. In addition, we were on a ship's excursion for those with flights later in the day but we could not find two of our bags in the terminal which the Luggage Forward guy was waiting for outside. A Silversea employee with a clipboard was screaming that we were holding up the excursion, did we want to cancel our reservation, but offering zero help to find the missing bags. Finally, the terminal porter saw them all by themselves for some unknown reason, leaning up against a wall thirty feet away from all the other bags. We quickly sorted it all out and got on the excursion bus after a twenty minute delay. Why cruise lines refuse to do anything to bring some order and discipline to disembarkation is a mystery to us and something that we have encountered about 50% of the time since our first cruise in 2006. It is a terrible and unnecessarily frustrating way to end a good cruise. I would say that it is best to assume that it is an industry norm and a problem that one should always be prepared for, not just on Oceania.

I am with Kate-AHF, literally and legally! Am looking forward to it.

Exactly. If you need help with the web site, call them during the week. They have been helpful in the past. Keep 'em straight down there in Salem.