ORV

25 minutes ago, mb777 said:

You have got to be kidding "Clarks look fine for everything except the GDR and the specialty restaurants"

Here is a pic of Clarks, who would tell me they are not dressy enough with a pair of black casual pressed pants?  I don't get it.

 

I have dress Clarks and I have Clarks men's leather sandals, I can see how the confusion could exist. 

4 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

That's quite reasonable for quality luggage.  Take a look at prices for Tumi and Rimowa.

 

Your average $100 bag won't stand up to anything more than infrequent travel.  You get what you pay for.

 

 

I'm huge proponent of quality luggage, worth every penny. I like Briggs & Riley, Rimowa, Tumi and down from there Travelpro. I have B & R bags that have traveled for years and still look brand new. And of course they have that lifetime guarantee, for any reason. It doesn't get any better. 

Assuming you do go on Oceania have you narrowed down a ship, itinerary, and room category? Most rooms are not really set up for multiple occupancy. 

What you're seeing is the price from when you could book cruise only, and that is the full price. So yes, their website is not up to date, but don't expect it to be anytime soon. The actual upgrade price for those that book under Simply more, which is any cruise booked after Sept 1 2023, is $30 pp per day. You can have your TA book it, call Oceania to book it, or wait until you're on the ship to book. Both people in the cabin do not have to book it. Many of us wait a day or so to see if we need it. First day is usually pretty busy, second day is usually Captain's Welcome party with open bar for about 3 hours. So I would recommend playing it by ear to see what you think. 

For three weeks I'll disagree with the other post, except for Shepherd, that would work fine. I'm assuming by trunk you simply mean a 28" suitcase. Since you are going to be on the Nautica it only has 1 laundry for the whole ship if you do it yourself. 

We just did a 3-week cruise that required warm and cold weather clothes (SA & Antartica) My wife and I each took our Rimowa 29" cases, which oddly enough are about the same inside dimensions as other brands 26", a carry on each, mine is a Briggs & Riley compression case, which holds more than a typical carry on, wife's is a standard 21" Rimowa  and we each had a personal item backpack. Even with that I did laundry twice, I like clean clothes and went home with most of my clothes clean. 

This was on Marina, for our upcoming 10 day cruise on Regatta we are taking carry on only. Part of our decision is that we have a connection in ORD that is about 1 hour. When I booked it, the connection was almost 3 hours, but you know those airlines, always messing around with your flights. 

38 minutes ago, CptBoatface said:

So, clean Keens in good repair (maybe with socks?)

For a man no, women shouldn't but no one will say anything. Actually no one really cares what women wear except for the one wearing it and possibly other women. Men should never wear an open toed shoe to dinner. Socks with sandals is just plain stupid looking, but if that's the look you're going for give it a try. 

Bottom line is rubber shoes simply are not dinner wear, but I've seen lots of people doing it and nothing being said. 

14 minutes ago, clo said:

Never thought about it  that critically.  So yeah no sandsls no matter how many rhinestones. 

Yeah, don't forget, you're not in charge, only of you. 

45 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

The few times I've checked International PE flights recently, the PE-to-Economy difference is much (+ another much) bigger than a year or two ago (and $500 would be a bargain, at least for the itineraries I look at). You have a fantastic deal.

I went back and looked at some other cruises, 9 months ago we had PE from DFW to LHR for $149 pp then home from Dublin-DFW for $149 pp. $298 total pp for round trip. 

Oh Wait, Who am I sounding like?

6 hours ago, SATaxman said:

I googles Oceania Travel Agents Connoisseurs Club. After reading the Press Release from FDR when he "selected these TAs (without mentioning names), I just contacted the first 3 which all had the Connoisseurs Club Logo on their websites. Still have not heard from the other 2. What is a bidding site?

 

It's hard to find it on Google, but the new term for the "Top" agents is "Oceania Insider Elite"

2 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

here is also a $499 premium flight upgrade

I don't know if people are paying attention but this is a big increase. My Aug cruise that I have PE on was $199 pp. I booked it Sept 22. 

I really don't have an opinion on Vodkas. Scotch & Rums on the other hand I do have opinions on. 

3 hours ago, SATaxman said:

What is a bidding site?

It's a website that you enter your cruise information then agents or companies "bid" for your business. I tried it many years ago when I was looking for a TA and the replies scared me. I've heard good results about them, but no way I would use any of the 3 that replied to me. Bad grammar, unprofessional email style, lack of response to questions. Just to mention a couple of things. 

1 hour ago, SATaxman said:

I know that specific Travel Agents cannot be recommended on Cruise Critic. After reading about all of the "perks" offered by certain Oceania Connoisseurs Club  TAs, I went on a google search. The first one just responded by email to describe their process. A $250.00 fee to book a cruise, $400 to include airfare and other items. Waiting to hear from the other 2 TAs. Is this normal to charge a fee?

 Thanks for your responses. Our first O cruise in October 2023 we booked direct with O.

Was this on a bidding site or did you contact them individually?

19 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

...that no one else wanted, right?  😜  Lucky you, crazy them.  😉 

They might have been a no show, or cancelled at the last minute. Don't remember the details. But more than once I've booked a guarantee in a lower level to get that price, sometimes when none were listed, but our TA was able to get it for us. 

7 minutes ago, thebsinmiss said:

I thought I saw a previous post showing the current drink menu but I can't find it anywhere. Could someone on Vista post a picture of the current wine selections/menu. We are on the Riviera this June and friends who are joining us wanted to know what red/whites are available as part of the upgraded drink package.   I've seen comments that the offerings are "quite good" but nothing specific on the wines

 

thanks in advance

I think this has been asked multiple times. The wine list is the same for Simply More OR the upgrade Prestige Package. 

1 minute ago, Snaefell3 said:

 

Perhaps it's the part I left out...

...but understand whatever cabin you get, it'll be one no one else wanted.  🙄

Actually I've been pleasantly surprised before. Got an extended balcony Concierge on the aft of an R ship once. But then again we're pretty ok with just about any room on the ship. It's got to be really bad for me to have a problem with it. They can save the dozen mattresses to stack up for someone else. 

34 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Given airfare, and all the other  planning in advance on a long distance destination, I don’t know that my nervous system could handle Guaranteed

I guess I don't understand the problem, you make arrangements just like any cruise that you have a room with. You're guaranteed. You're going on the cruise. 

There is a small frig in the Gym that will have maybe some vitamin waters in it. There should be a water refill station there also. 

5 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

No. We flew in on our own air a day early before the pre cruise tour with Oceania began.Therefore, Oceania wouldn’t provide the airport to hotel transportation. I booked with Blacklane which did an excellent job. Oceania is providing the hotel to ship transfer today as part of the pre cruise tour package. 
 

We will take private transportation from the ship to the Yokohama train station at cruise end.

I see, I didn't see the part where you were on an O precruise tour. Since you are on their transfer I guess you'll have to deal with boardomania. 

2 minutes ago, fille_canadienne said:

Does Aquamar Spa Terrace get crowded? I'm talking about the area adjacent to the spa/wellness center, not the Aquamar Kitchen. It looks lovely in theory, but doesn't appear to be very big. Considering everyone in concierge and above have access to it, I would assume it gets full quickly. 

You would think, but many people that actually have access don't go there. There is no drink service, no food, no service at all. So you need to be able to take care of your own needs to hang out there. If you just want sun and a view, and have brought your own water or other drink then it's fine. 

I just looked it up, if you order Smirnoff it's $10, Absolute is $11, Ketel One & Titos is $12 and Belvedere, Grey Goose, and a couple of others are $13.  I'm assuming you're talking about not having the drink package?

I think someone was looking for this thread just a day or two ago. 

Did you purchase your transfer to the ship from O? I see you said you did your own air. 

Not to hijack the thread, but I've noticed at times there are off brands I've never heard of before, and other times they've stocked up and we see stuff like Northern or Charmin. 

Thread about this already