WildWanderers

Hi @AMHuntFerry, Keep up the good work on finding deals, you're doing a great job. Cheers, Greg from the WildWanderers

Hi All, We were on the same cruise as @FeliciaLee, so heard the same frequent messages about the end-of-cruise electronic survey, with many options for how to get assistance if it was difficult for any passenger to access. It was quite easy actually - easier than using CruiseCritic 😉 We had a manager call us in response to a comment we made on the paper-based surveys, and several crew were tickled pink with the comments we had made about them. I did hear a comment that the electronic survey was not already implemented on all of the ships, or that it was difficult to implement onboard for the IT folk, I didn't pay much attention at the time...but I would be careful not to jump to the conclusion that the lack of availability of the electronic survey meant that they don't really care. On eleven cruises, we have always been provided with the paper feedback surveys, but not always had the offer of the electronic surveys. Cheers from Greg of the WildWanderers

Hi @Just2guys, We were in 8003 on the Insignia, the carbon copy of the Nautica, in December. There is a door at the end of the hallway to the bridge, but on the Insignia it closed softly and officers were not speaking loudly as they came and went. There is a crew door to the crew elevators, however, across the hallway, between 8003 and 8001, and it was left open often, and the shouting up and down the stairs was quite loud in 8003. A few times I went out and closed this door. 8002 and 8000 are likely similar (mirror image) on the port side as they would need access to the crew elevator / stairwell as an emergency escape too. There was construction on the pool deck above us, and it was hardly audible by comparison. The stretch on the starboard side under the Terrace Café is well worth avoiding as the trolleys start between 5 and 5:30 loudly rolling food from the kitchen to the serving stations. 8053 to 8061 are problematic for sure. The maître d' of the Terrace Cafe was well aware of the problem but there wasn't much he could do, as the food did have to make it from the kitchen to the serving stations. Not sure if this helps. Cheers, Greg of the @WildWanderers

Hi @oskidunker, There is nothing worse than the answer...it depends...but, it depends. Depending on what kind of a room you are in, there are anywhere from lots of to no others who will have had a chance to book before you. Reservations for owner, vista and oceania suites will open before penthouse folk have a chance to book; penthouse before concierge level and so on. On the last night of the cruise, you have to have your packed bags in the hallway by 10 p.m., so if you pack before dinner, you may have to plan to wear, or pack in carry-on, your spiffy dinner duds. If you eat at 6:30 p.m., you should have time to pack after dinner. I think the complexity of packing on the last evening will scare some people away from the specialty restaurants, but it really is just the luck of the draw. If you do not get your pick for Polo Grill at 6:30 p.m. through the online booking, you can always go to the restaurant reservations desk, which on the smaller ships is in the lobby that has the Future Cruise Consultant and the boutiques. Good luck, Greg from the @WildWanderers

Hi @GeroWA, We visited your Perth (we have one as well nearby in Ontario) for a few weeks in 2019, and loved it. Did not make it all the way up to Geraldton, only as far north as New Norcia. I have family in Hervey Bay, so we have been to Australia four times, and hit all of the state capitals. Do enjoy your Riviera cruise, Greg of the WildWanderers.

Hi @GeroWA, @rbtan and @1985rz1, We (in Canada) have been sent luggage tags by Oceania on 10 of 11 cruises. The one missed was in December 2022, and the most recent cruises have been 2 in each of August 2023 and December 2023. So sending tags to Canada is standard procedure, if only for us. The set of tags that we did not receive, just arrived too late. We were told by our Oceania representative that we should have let him know a few weeks before the cruise that we had not received them as yet, and he would have been able to either track them down or issue new ones. At the port in Bridgetown, Barbados in December 2022, they were not prepared at all to issue new tags for us. The Executive Concierge, who was in charge of the operations for greeting boarding passengers at the port, had to get someone to take the shuttle back to the ship from the port, to find on the ship blank/makeshift luggage tags for our suitcases, so we had quite a wait before we could tag and pass over our luggage to the handlers. It was solved, but not fast or smoothly. If I were you...I would make up big, very visible tags that indicate the name of the ship (in case the port is boarding more than one ship), the room number and your names. You could have this as a back-up in the event that they could not prepare tags for you on the spot. I would check with staff at the port that they believed your homemade tags would do the trick. The only thing missing on your tags would be the coloured trim to indicate the type of room. I think penthouse is gold and concierge level is silver - but the room number should suffice. Hoping that something here helps, Cheers, Greg of the WildWanderers.

Hi @Lane412000, We were on B2B requiring a change of room in both August and December, 2023, on the Insignia. In both cases, the butler was kind enough to bring the clothes rack / trolley just before the time everyone is supposed to be out of their rooms on a disembarkation day (8 a.m. in August; 9:30 a.m. in December). The room stewards knew without being told to coordinate is such a way as to ensure that the room you move to is first to be cleaned, and you can stay in your first room until the new one is ready. Since you have a trolley to load up, you can put some stuff into any bags (e.g., backpack, the complimentary Oceania one) to hang from the hooks on the trolley. Clothes hang easily on the trolley. You really want the butler and/or steward to move the trolley as it is a challenge to get it stably over the threshold of the door. They will be on alert anyway for when your room is ready to move to. When you leave your first room for the last time, one of you should go to reception to get the new keycards (it is possible the butler could do this, not sure), so that when you leave the second room for the first time, you can get back in. By the time I got back to the room with the new keycards, the unpacking was almost done, as we packed in such a way that we kept things together the way they were in the drawers in the first room. We did our own packing / unpacking. You may see the financial records of the people who just left the room you move into on the online TV system, but their info will drop off sometime during the day. On the night before the move on the August B2B, the butler volunteered to move my pre-filled biologic syringes to a fridge somewhere, and to put them into the fridge of our new room the next day, just so they wouldn't get lost in the fray. On the December cruise, while on the first of the two B2B, we changed our second room, to an available penthouse that is not right under the early morning trolley noise from the Terrace Café. Unfortunately, a lot of the materials had been printed and prepared already for that second cruise, meaning that the people in the room we avoided got our complimentary red wine, invitations and destination services info. It took time to unravel, and the confusion persisted during the second cruise. Hope something in all of this helps. Cheers, Greg from the WildWanderers

Hi @Sthrngary, Sorry, I missed your earlier question re ... can you buy the drinks upgrade in advance. I have it currently booked in advance for two cruises, and am promised (soon) adjustments to the amount I paid, to incorporate our silver-level 10% discount. We had pre-purchased the upgrade on our December back-to-back cruises, and had the BIB code (which signals the upgrade to the bar staff / sommeliers) on our keycard when we registered - no need to go to Reception to get a new card with BIB. And on a separate note... purchases on our online account, visible on the TV in our room during the December cruises, were often not posted against "use nonrefundable shipboard credit", and instead increased our balance due. We would point this out at Reception, they would correct it, and overnight it would switch back. They said it was a post-SimplyMore problem. Unfortunately you cannot see on the TV whether they have posted to "use nonrefundable shipboard credit", you just have to monitor what is happening each time there is a posting to know for sure. For example, a massage should be charged against nonrefundable credits until they are exhausted, and it should increase the balance due only if there are no nonrefundable credits left. (The nonrefundable excursion credits are an exception to this rule, as they show up in the nonrefundable credits count, but can be used only against excursions.) Purser staff was up until late in the evening trying to fix the incorrect postings. It is best to monitor, else unused nonrefundable credits will be large, causing your balance due to be large. Cheers, Greg from the WildWanderers.

Hi Vallesan, You ask who I meant by "everyone". On our August trip the Reception and purser staff did not agree that the 10% discount should be given to us for our second of two back-to-back cruises, the one on which we attained the silver level in the Oceania Club. Hence, my "everyone". One said that it was because we had not booked the upgrade in advance, which we in fact had. Another said that we were not eligible because we were on the previous cruise when we booked the upgrade. His colleague disagreed. There was general agreement we were not eligible but each with different reasons. When I showed the executive concierge the Oceania Club documentation that indicated we would be eligible for the10% discount, she did try to get approval to give it to us by contacting Head Office, but was unable to get the approval before the end of the trip. She joked at the time that the next random rationale that would be thrown at us, to reject the approval of the 10% discount, would be that we had to be wearing a red shirt at the time of booking. In our December trips on the same ship with some of the same staff who had previously said we were not eligible for the 10% discount, there was then general agreement that we were eligible for the 10% discount because we had again booked in advance, but giving us the 10% discount on the shipboard account was a challenge for them. We were on back-to-back cruises again, with different executive concierges, and each implemented the 10% discount differently. Our Oceania representative, the guy who books our trips, racks it up to the learning curve on SimplyMore. Clearly your experience has been different. Cheers, Greg from the WildWanderers

Hi Sthrngary, I like your list - thought provoking. I have a footnote on your suggestion to buy the upgrade to the drinks package when on board. On our back-to-back cruises in December, we were told (many times) that we would not have been eligible for the 10% discount on the drinks package available to Oceania Club silver (and above) members, had we booked only on board. We used to always book the upgrade once we boarded, but no more. One benefit to prebooking the upgrade is that the BIB code is on your key card as soon as you check in - no need to go to Reception to update the card to get the BIB code to signal that you have the upgrade. On our back-to back cruises in August, the executive concierge was never able to incorporate the 10% discount. At least now (compared to in August) everyone is in agreement that it should be honoured. Your point to check with Oceania when one of your booked cruises is on sale is well taken; yesterday we got $3,200 CAD off on one of our pre-booked cruises. It was not booked originally under SimplyMore as it has not been advantageous to switch until now. Part of the savings came from the addition of the excursion credits, and an increase in the discount you get for foregoing the air fare. Three other cruises also covered by the New Year's Sale were nowhere close to better deals for us. Keep up the good work! Cheers, Greg from the WildWanderers

Hi All, I have observed a lot of passengers with large carry-on bags struggle at the port and then onto and on the ship before rooms are ready on embarkation day. Just because a bag was carry-on on the plane does not mean that it has to be at the port. Why not use one of the Oceania luggage tags on bulky carry-on and keep your few valuables and important papers in a small easy-to-carry bag. Our carry-on is so minimal that it is not a burden to have it with us until the rooms are ready. On many occasions we have followed people up the gangway upon boarding, who are actually unable to carry their bulky heavy luggage, and when you add any mobility impairment to this...well, it's just easier to check it with a luggage tag. Cheers, Greg from the WildWanderers

Hi All, I agree with @ToxM that my travel cpap was one of the best purchases I ever made. It takes so little space, and requires no water. When we met our room steward on our December 5-17, 2023 cruise on Insignia, he came into the room after I had installed my CPAP hose hanger, but not as yet the CPAP machine. I could see him looking over at the bed, and later found out he was thinking...O God, how did I miss that big thing when I cleaned, and what the heck is it? I explained to him that I suspend the CPAP hose from it so that I can roll over in bed without strangling myself, and he was relieved. Cheers, Greg from the WildWanderers.

Hi FeliciaLee and All: No need to apologize for a positive review...so glad you had a good time. As did we, on our first Christmas cruise. We each had a wifi account on this cruise. Each of our accounts kicked off the computer when we started our iPhone and vice-versa. It is possible that you got one account because you booked pre-SimplyMore, not sure. There were Christmas cookies and breads next to the gingerbread village. At the end of Island Havens (December 5-17) the weather as we approached Miami precluded docking and then Insignia lost its docking priority. Passengers were told they could stay in their rooms until 9:30 a.m., delaying significantly the room cleaning on an already busy day. Passengers were lined up everywhere around the ship, in hopes of the go ahead to disembark. The port authority would allow no one to disembark until all of the luggage was off-loaded and this was quite delayed due to the bad weather and loss of priority for approaching Miami. On the ship everything was geared to getting people off smoothly, but then as noon went by with people still lined up to disembark, an attempt was made to provide sandwiches at Baristas and they were snapped up immediately. There was no plan to provide food to people in line-ups, as the usual workload is focussed on preparing a sit-down lunch for embarking guests. Most people we spoke to had the attitude...it is what it is...but many were struggling to rejig connections. We were carrying on with Gems of the Leewards (December 17-29), so were provided with a lunch in the GDR, with one other continuing passenger. But we did have to disembark, go through Customs and Immigration, and reboard. The mood was tense as we walked through the crowd still waiting to board. The woman next to me at one point starting shouting angrily at two women who had crossed the ropes to start a line-up, when she had a group#1-to-board pass or something. As were were back-to-back, we were finally shuffled through to reboard quickly, once we found someone who understood what back-to-back meant. We mentioned to the General Manager that the embarking crowd was not happy. She knew, and had spent the morning trying to do something for these passengers, but had no authority to do so. She was not allowed to even bring them water, or anything. It was all up to the port authority, which is not equipped to feed people. It was not a situation anyone was equipped to handle as it "never" happens. In our experience, there were a lot of people who during Gems of the Leewards never got over their frustration with embarkation, and blamed Oceania. I did take a moment one day to explain to a few folk, complaining of their treatment, the measures Oceania did attempt, but how their hands were tied, and these folk had no idea. On the one hand, Oceania was not responsible for the bad weather and its impact, but on the other hand, they probably could have done a better job to explain what took place from their point of view. The cleaning staff worked all afternoon on that changeover day, with only a small window for dinner before the turn-down service. No sorely needed afternoon nap. For everyone that day was tough. (OK, not for us though, strangely.) So glad you had a great trip in spite of it all, FeliciaLee. Cheers, Greg from the WildWanderers

Hi to All, I am not following part of the preceding thread. The description of what took place in Toscana went from the Maître d' of Toscana reminding a passenger about the dress code... to a wife in tears. It is possible that the "rubber shoes" reference is the best the Filipino Maître d' could do in his second language. I can't imagine the Maître d' making the shoes reference in a nasty way. He was a low-key, gentle and sweet man, not the life of the party but warm and very client-oriented with us on the cruise in question, as well as the one after it. The odd preceding reader has imputed that the Maître d's behaviour was inappropriate...from what is written I am not sure... and knowing the man... I am doubtful. One evening one of us spilled a glass of red wine onto the just-delivered main course, and the Maître d' in question discreetly made sure that a new main was delivered, the wet tablecloth dealt with, and the wine-soaked diner ushered off to dry off and change. And all of this very sensitively, so that no one had to be aware. I do understand that when the way you are dressed is questioned could be disconcerting, but in the case of clearly not abiding by the dress code, a word in the ear of the Maître d' would be smart. I saw that many people had special dietary requirements that were documented and everyone on the ship seemed to know who these people were and had something tailored for them at every meal. Perhaps there is a way of alerting the "hotel" aspect of the ship about any accommodation required for special footwear? I would rather be safe than sorry. I did see many people with big clunky, in some cases misshapen shoes that looked like running shoes, in all four restaurants. So I wouldn't be worried about being able to dine with non-standard footwear - but I might ask Reception to put it on my file as an accommodation I require. Ironically, one of my feedback card comments was that I felt it was strange that I could not wear my very expensive and classy sandals in the GDR, Toscana or the Polo Grill; whereas, many "acceptable" women's sandals and shoes are mere straps. I joked that this was in spite of the great pedicure I had in the spa. Our room was right under the construction on the pool, and we were not in our room ever long enough to be bothered by it. And when we were in the room, it was not so bad. I did not expect the future cruise credits, and was quite pleased to receive them. They are already applied to the unpaid balances of previously booked future cruises. They do not have to be applied to new bookings. We had a great cruise. Two in fact. Can't wait to go back. Cheers, Greg from the WildWanderers

Hi back to FlyerTalker, You raise a good point that we had thought of dealing with by taking a short flight from Europe, from a point not as far away from Reykjavik as we are in North America, say, from Dublin or Edinburgh, and / or by flying during the day, which for a short flight is not so bad in economy. At the end of our quite detailed research, the back-to-back cruises option won out.

Hi All, When we looked into flights from Ottawa to Reykjavik for our cruise this past August from Reykjavik to NYC, we found that there were mostly flights with economy seats on what was effectively overnight flights, a no-no at this ripe old age. We could fly business class to Europe and then back on business class flights, but this was an expensive option. We had thought we would spend a week or so in Reykjavik, having been all around Iceland on a previous cruise, but found that the cost of not-so-great hotel rooms was too much. So much in fact that the cost of the previous cruise on the same ship, that went from NYC to Reykjavik was only slightly more than the cost of the one-way flight plus the Reykjavik sojourn. We opted to take the back-to-back NYC-Reykjavik-NYC, so did not have to worry about flights at all. So kibutzer, this does not exactly answer your question, but it might provide another option. Cheers, Greg from the WildWanderers

Hi All, We remove our simcards at the Ottawa airport, download a ubigi e-simcard for the Caribbean, for use as soon as we arrive in the Caribbean. In our experience, it is only in the rare port where the e-simcard does not work (e.g., in the Bahamas), such that we have no telephony but all other functionality through the ship's wifi. It worked well in the Caribbean last year, and we used it successfully in Europe as well. We remove our physical simcards only as a precaution. Although you can set your cellphone up to use only the e-simcard and not your physical simcard, we are afraid of the exorbitant Canadian roaming charges we would incur if ever the setting slipped over to the physical simcard. It costs $17USD for a month for each of our cellphones, so this is quite reasonable. Hoping this is useful. Cheers, Greg of the WildWanderers

Hello All, I'm not sure if it has been mentioned in this thread, but Oceania posted on its media page yesterday a release entitled: Oceania Cruises Releases New 2024 Itineraries, Highlighting Many of the Mediterranean’s Best-Loved Ports Our July from Athens to Istanbul in August on the Vista appears to be unaffected. Phew! I'm not sure how many of the itineraries are brand new vs rejigged. Cheers, Greg from the WildWanderers.

Hello to rzjc46, We were on two back-to-back cruises this past August, not listed as two components of a larger voyage, and graduated to Silver on the second of the two cruises. We had brought with us a letter from our Oceania representative, attesting that we were turning silver, in case there was any confusion. As a result, by the time our data was loaded onto the online expense and credits tracking system available in our room, it was finally clear we were at the silver level, even if our most recent invoice still said bronze. I guess it had to say bronze until such time as we had earned the credit from the first of the two cruises. We too had paid two deposits, one for each cruise. We had been booked for the same room on both cruises, but negotiated an upgrade for the second one. Our Oceania representative is not getting quick responses from the Oceania Club folk, and has indicated that the work associated with turmoil in the eastern Mediterranean is taking up a lot of staff time. No surprise. I think your point that you had to pay two deposits underlines that it was indeed two cruises. If you had to get a new room card key at the start of the second cruise, that would also be Oceania acknowledging that you were on two cruises. Not sure this helps, Cheers, Greg of the WildWanderers.

Hello DeanoNorthPerth, We were booked in the same concierge level suite on back to back cruises in August. Before leaving home for the cruise we contacted our Oceania representative to ask him the cost of an upgrade to a penthouse on the second leg, where there was availability. He quoted $8,400 CAD for the upgrade, but said to contact him a couple of weeks later, while we were on the first leg, to see if he could get a better price. We had notionally thought we could stretch to $4,000 CAD. He was unable ultimately to do any better. On the first of the two cruises we had some other reason to talk to the Executive Concierge, so I asked her about the possibility of upgrading to a penthouse on the next cruise. She said she would put me on a list, and if there was a cancellation she would be able to offer me a penthouse for a fixed, non-negotiable amount. The next day we had a letter from her offering us an available penthouse on the next cruise for $2,000 CAD! On the transition day the room steward and our new butler had us moved to the penthouse by 9 a.m. Hope this helps, Greg from the WildWanderers, East of Perth (Ontario, Canada that is) P.S. We loved our trip to your Perth in February 2019.

Hi Sthrngary, I notice that you have an overnight in Istanbul on your cruise and have a shopping suggestion for you - assuming you have a small window in your Excel spreadsheet. 🙂 There is a textiles store (Jennifer's Hamam) with towels, pestamals, blankets and more, out of linen, cotton and silk, on the Arasta Bazaar street near the Blue Mosque. If you like their products, they can walk you to their multi-floored showroom nearby. It has a huge variety. Their products are unique and beautiful. Jennifer, a Canadian, has established relationships with Turkish artisans, and is proud to pay women well for the remarkable work they do. Have a look at her website jennifershamam dot com. We bought far too much in 2019, use it every day and it is still as good as new. And we have ordered products from them for wedding gifts, which they have shipped directly. It's fun to find souvenirs that are not only decorative, but also useful. Intrigued? Cheers, Greg from WildWanderers

Hello PinonNoir, I find the answer (we are transiting from warm to cold weather) to be curious as well. We were on an August trip on Insignia which went from warm (New York City) to cold (Greenland and Iceland), and there was no such edict. Thanks for following up on this. In the rest of my previous questions to you, I was not clear. I know very well what a sommelier is, but concluded from your comments that the crew name-tag-labelled as sommeliers (regardless of your assessment of their credentials), had been split now into "wine stewards" and "sommeliers". I am not sure if your comment was a personal assessment of their abilities or a new categorization. On a related vein, I am always surprised that contributors have the impression that the Prestige Select provides access to different wines-by-the-glass than the Basic Drinks package, as if there are house wines and special wines. There is just the one list, but in the Prestige Select you are not restricted to wines at meals, and you have access to wines, spirits and cocktails in the bars. We're on the Insignia again in December, in the Caribbean, so it will be interesting to see if the crew are still wearing masks by then. Although many of the August crew will still be on the ship, we are not great at recognizing people wearing masks. Do continue to enjoy your trip. Cheers, Greg from the WildWanderers

Hi PinonNoir, I am enjoying your travelogue. I am intrigued by your comment that the crew members are wearing masks. If you hear why, please let us know. We were on the same ship in late August and no crew members wore masks. I too will be interested in hearing how the wine service under SimplyMore plays out. In August, ship management didn't think it would increase the workload of the sommeliers. You seem to be making a distinction between wine stewards and sommeliers? I agree that on the Insignia, some of the LOUDspeakers are almost untenable. Cheers, Greg from the WildWanderers

Hi nooosey, We were denied the 10% discount for the upgrade to the drinks package while on an August cruise, the second of two back-to-back, when we had just attained the Oceania club silver level. One of the reasons given was that we could not book onboard during the cruise. When I pointed out that we had purchased the upgrade on the first of the two cruises (while still at the bronze level), so were effectively not onboard that cruise at the time, the rationale expanded to ... you cannot be on a cruise at the time of purchase. Even the Executive Concierge, with the support of the General Manager, was unable to get Head Office to apply the 10% discount that is advertised in the Oceania Club documentation. So be careful about the advice that the discount can be applied only when you are onboard...not my experience. On our August cruises, there was a Happy Hour from 5-6 p.m. with 2 for one drinks and cocktails in Martinis every day, plus another Happy Hour around 10 p.m. or so. Cheers Greg of WildWanderers

Hi Sthrngary, First let me say I enjoy your writing. In August I asked our Oceania representative to book the upgrade to the drinks package on a few future cruises, and when double-checking our invoices, realized he had booked the full Prestige Select, as if we did not already have the basic drinks package from SimplyMore. He adjusted the charges to be the upgrade only, and the costs went down substantially...but suddenly the 10% decrease for silver level oceania club members disappeared. He is currently trying to get the 10% deducted. My point to him was that the Oceania Club benefits clearly indicate a 10% discount on the Basic or Prestige Select Packages. Now that the Basic is baked into SimplyMore, the 10% discount could only ever be applied to the upgrade. So, either apply it, or drop it from the offerings. While we were on a back-to-back in August, we turned "silver-level" on the second cruise. Toward the end of the first cruise we were offered the upgrade to the drinks package in advance of the second cruise. When we did not receive the 10% discount on the upgrade, I was first told that it was not available for the Prestige Select. I brought the documentation to Reception to prove the contrary, and was told by a different Reception agent that it would have been covered if I had booked it in advance. I said, great, I did, because you were so kind as to provide me with the option before the onset of the second cruise. He then said, o, no, you can't be onboard when you book it. I explained all of this to the Executive Concierge who said...you next would have been told that you had to be wearing a red shirt when you booked it. She wrote to Head Office to say that the 10% is or is not a thing, and this runaround was inconsistent with the Oceania brand... and the General Manager onboard agreed with her assessment. There was no resolution to the issue by the time the cruise ended; she gave me an email address to follow up on the issue...but frankly at that point I had had it and gave up. I'm still a very big fan of Oceania, but they need to update their Oceania club benefit descriptions. Another example on the August back-to-back was that no one knew what was meant by the Oceania club offering called something like VIP boarding for excursions. In fact, the manager at Destination Services asked me "where did you get that"! When i said that it was on the Oceania website, she asked why it was there...and all I could say is that I have no control over the website content relating to the Oceania Club. Later, the Oceania Ambassador said...o ya... that thing...no, they don't do that...they tried to get me to go to the Insignia lounge to pull out the silver and above members for priority boarding for the excursions, but I actually have a full-time job. Either define and offer VIP boarding, or drop it. End of rant, and I feel better, and Oceania is still the best. Greg of WildWanderers.