Tsunami74

What is STEP? When i googled it nothing that seemed relevant popped up

We have been on several Regent cruises. My husband has never worn a jacket. We find the attire on Oceania and Regent the same.

And taking into account that Regent's included airfare is business class while Oceania is economy, we choose Regent when going that far. When we add business upgrade to an Oceania or Viking trip, Regent always comes in actually less expensive and is totally all inclusive.

Great! I am surprised that the bus was only partially filled. I thought, though pricey, that it would be sold out. Since we have only one port in Iceland, we were a little reluctant to not take a Viking tour and risk missing the boat.

Has anyone done the Viking "The Golden Circle" excursion in Reykjavik? How was it? Did you have trouble booking it? Does this sell out early? We are in a PV cabin so have a fairly early time to book.

Yes It is a post tour for us.

Maybe the Edo Experience is a new offering

Has anyone ever done the Tokyo - An Edo Experience?

Did they accept American $? Not sure how one would acquire a few Krones.

Yes. We usually book well out, but 2 times we were within one year. We did what papaflamingo advises. One time, most of the "must see" (to us) excursions were sold out. So we cancelled that booking within the 7 day hold. One time, almost all of the excursions we wanted were available, so we kept the booking and waitlisted for the other excursions. Relatively easy way to not be disappointed in choices available.

I agree with this - maybe the rest of the BA experience being poor not just lower end of average. Last minute cancellations with no provision for rebooking (my favorite one was "one of your legs is cancelled" - well we kind of need all legs or it's not a doable flight), miserable business class on some planes (I would have rather been in economy). Every flight through Heathrow has been a poor experience for us. We absolutely try to avoid it even though we can get direct flights home from there.

Thanks Good to know that there is at least one available on the decks that we usually are booked on.

Any recent Explorer cruisers: are there still lauderettes available? I just read a review from someone on a recent Explorer cruise that said that the lauderette on his deck was removed. (Did not indicate which deck) I prefer to do my own laundry.

Does anyone recommend a shore excursion in Casablanca or Canary Islands (any of the 3 ports)?

I agree. Generally we feel Oceania a better experience than Viking for similar cost. However, we disagree with ak1004 - there are some Viking itineraries that are unique to them. For example, we are booked on a Viking cruise which starts in Oslo, then train ride to Bergen. It hits many ports like Faroe, Shetland, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, then sails up the St Lawrence to Quebec City, disembarking in Montreal (there are other ports along the way) It is in the fall (autumn leaves in Canada?) I have never seen any cruise line do anything like this route.

We paid with e-check for a cruise in 2021 that was cancelled by Viking during covid. The money was promptly returned to our account.

In regard to emotional support dogs: Today in Pittsburgh a woman was turned away at airline ticketing because she did not have a proper carrier for her "emotional support" bulldog. She only had him in a child's stroller. So she abandoned him in another part of the airport and boarded the plane later. Obviously, she did not need him for support and was callous enough to abandon him. After the dog was found, luckily, the agent identified her. She is to be prosecuted for animal abandonment (which she will probably get out of ) but not for lying about his being needed for emotional support. (i.e. attempt to defraud the airline)

I agree a very good review. On all of the Oceania and Regent ships we have been on, one thing I really felt needed improvement was more shaded areas in pool area. Since passengers tend to be older side, many of us have already had sun damage if not skin cancer. Often we have observed many loungers in the sun open while all are taken in the shade. I had hoped that SOMEONE noticed that, and when ordering new ships would expand covered areas. Seems from review that this is not so on the new Vista! We are booked on Vista in a port intensive around Great Britain so will probably not use pool much, but it is disappointing that this problem was not improved. Why don't they survey us (fairly) frequent cruisers as to what we would want to see in a ship??

Thank you Harters. I found a similar cruise for this September, and all of the prices were there so I could check out most of the ports. Gives me a good idea how far our allowance will go (for about 1/2) Helpful to know for planning. Great suggestion.

Good idea, Harters. Never thought to check same ports on different cruise (knowing there may be some increase.

September 2024

I see you are from England. On my American site, it tells me this cruise has $800 credit, but when I go to view the excursions no price is listed.

Has anyone had experience booking shore excursions under the new system? Under O-Life I knew I could book a certain NUMBER of regular excursions. Now it is an allowance of $. Is it a good amount? Can anyone give example of how many excursions they were able to book with the allowance? I understand OE (Oceania Exclusive) and OS (Oceania Select) are included, but would choosing one of them take almost the whole allowance? Just trying to get an idea of how much extra we would have to kick in to get either a cruise or private excursion in each port.

We disembarked the Riviera in Trieste in April going to Venice airport. The transfer had no extra fee. However, our group (assembled by Oceania - we were only 2) had to stand on the cold windy pier for 50 minutes until "our" bus arrived even though many busses pulled up. Some just waiting. When we finally got on the bus, the man working there with his clipboard told the driver, "this one goes to the Venice airport" So there was no need to stand around for our special bus. It was freezing and some people had a very difficult time standing. One gentleman even fell.

Not all ships have a place for culinary classes. I think just the larger ones do. (Grandeur, Splendor and Explorer)