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My pleasure. Yes it would be fun to meet!

I think it’s perfectly good, and I see a few wines that I would happily drink. I lived in SoCal from age 9 until my late 20s, and drank a lot of California wine, but I must admit it’s not my favorite. The wines offered are mid range and decent in their categories. The Chilean wines provide considerable value so they are worth a try. Personally, if this is the wine list presented to me, I would go with the Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc, because I love NZ wine and that is a good producer. If I wanted a Chardonnay, I’d choose the Mâcon Villages because there’s a good chance it will be unoaked. And having lived in Spain ages ago, I have enjoyed the Albariño from the beautiful region of Galicia. I am drinking more white than red these days, but of the ones offered, I choose the Côtes de Rhône because it’s from a good producer and I like the Rhône blends. I don’t know all of the producers, but if you are choosing a wine, the more specific the appellation the better in general. So rather than a general California designation, as Line 39 Merlot, choose the Wente Cabernet Livermore. But the sommelier can probably assist, or if you like a Merlot ( and not Cab for example)and the general California appellation is all that’s available, it will be fine. I love wine and lived in that world for decades, but I try not to take it too seriously. Most people have neither the time nor the interest in acquiring all the information I did as a career. So order a glass and enjoy. You can probably have a taste before you commit to the glass, and if you don’t like it try something else. I’m happy to see the list, because that list or something close will be fine for me and for my travel companion. There are many good choices. And depending upon the travel area, you can bring wine on board apparently. So on a Viking cruise we took last February, we began in Greece, and I love Greek wines, especially the whites of Santorini. So we could buy wines there to enjoy on board. Hope this helps and thank you for the sample wine list.

Ok thank you. That should satisfy me. I drink almost exclusively with meals these days so paired with lunch and dinner is sufficient. My friend is not as particular as I, and even though I’ve been fortunate enough to sample the finest of wines, I’m definitely not a wine snob. I should be able to find a good glass. And I always enjoy a nice sparkler! Looking forward to this. Thank you again.

Btw I was a wine specialist before retiring, and although the business changes yearly if not much more often, I still drink wine and know what I prefer. I’ve read lots of information about the wine offerings on Oceania. My understanding is that if you don’t have a beverage package ( and we have simply more) you have to pay for all beverages. Simply more includes any wine by glass? Anybody want to comment on the Simply More beverages. I like mineral water and generally French wines. Thanks in advance.

Crikey! Lots of good information. I will keep my eye on the website and see what eventuates. Thanks much.

Oh golly. Those are crazy prices. Well I guess we will keep waiting and watching for sales like that. Compared to Viking, the price we got on our Baltic sailing was quite good so we were pleased.

Unfortunately we have already booked, so the wave season pricing won’t work for this coming cruise. But perhaps we will find another cruise for 2025. Thank you for your input.

Good tip! Thanks and it’s good to know that. I have only been on Viking and Tauck, and excursions were generally as advertised initially. We will be sure to read the up to date brochure in the cabin.

Thanks Bob. Just realized what the Curler part of your screen name means. My Aunt, up in New Brunswick, curled. 😊 So thanks for the review. The bathroom is a bit worrisome, and as we always take ship sponsored excursions, I’m a bit concerned about that aspect. But overall, it sounds good and hopefully we will be lucky with the excursions. As I mentioned before, I ( and probably countless others) appreciate all the information provided here. It really helps to make decisions and to know what to expect. Thanks again.

Oops we are on Sirena so perhaps no concierge lounge.

What is the concierge lounge? We booked A1 because of the room location. We would have been happy with B rooms but only rooms way forward were available and didn’t want that. And so it appears from your comments that we will have access to this lounge.

Thank you for that very good and helpful information. We too thought that the prices had gone up precipitously on Viking. We love the ships so much, but also happy to hear many good comments about Oceania. We may have found a new cruise line😊. Thanks again.

Yes I appreciated reading it. It’s lovely for people to take the time to help others by sharing their views and experiences. IT’s helped me a lot over the years. Thank you.

Btw, the reason we choose Viking and now hopefully Oceania, is the size primarily. We don’t want anything large, and those two seem more affordable than others which include a lot we don’t care about.

We are looking at Baltic area and our favored line,Viking, doesn’t have a similar itinerary. Other than those two, I have researched and not seen other lines which are affordable and suit us. But I’m open to suggestions. Thank you much.

I have to talk to my friend about this. I’m in for going up to A3 because there are a few staterooms there. I’m hoping she will go along with that option. Thanks very much for the idea.

This sounds a very promising strategy. We are older ladies and this might work for us. Thank you.

Thank you. That’s good.

I’ve talked to a cruise consultant and it appears the only staterooms available in B1 level are at the front on Deck 6. Looks like it’s right over what is labeled as theatre and dance floor. Ooops! That sounds like it could be noisy and we are early to bed early to rise. Anyone have any experience with those locations.

So excited that you and others provide this wealth of information. It’s fantastic.

Funnily enough, I hear that a lot about Viking. People get different answers from whomever happens to answer the phone. We usually deal with our TA, but last winter, we were affected by the Lufthansa strike and it was a cluster…We eventually got home, with some help from Viking and a lot of our own persistence. Travel today is more difficult than it has been at times, but it’s worth it. Gotta keep that glass half full, rather than half empty.

Oh boy! Thank you Gary. I just downloaded your guide and will read it today. I got some great information from your blog yesterday and I’m delighted to have this resource you have written. Thanks again.

So if you have the Simply More included alcohol, how does that work?

Oh I didn’t realize there is an air credit if you do the Simply more. I’d rather do the More than have to pay individually. I’m used to Viking where it’s pretty easy to figure out😊. But I’d like to have another go to cruise line. Thanks very much.

Happy to hear more good things about Oceania. On Viking, you can pay a nominal fee for what I think they call flight deviation. We have used it to arrive early or leave later once or twice. But, as you and others suggest may be true with Oceania, we did have to get ourselves to the ship. But as we have been given great information about getting to Southampton, maybe we will do that. In 2022, I took my daughter on a Viking cruise departing from London. We stayed in Mayfair central London, so it was a ways from Greenwich. Didn’t want to lug our bags on the Tube so we got an Uber and it was great. My friend hasn’t been to London, so we will see what Oceania says.