Robjame

20 hours ago, janecambridge said:

We were in an Oceania  suite Xmas 2022

From Riviera Christmas 2022

On 6/10/2024 at 2:13 PM, JRIH said:

Ha, we leave in July and the culinary classes still haven't shown up.

As a follow up, we contacted our TA and she was back to us within the day with an apology from Oceania plus the listings of the culinary classes and the wine pairing dinners. They were not in our Oceania account for whatever reason.

You may want to check with your TA or ask in your roll call. 

13 hours ago, the mice said:

We are on December 17-27.  In Manage This Booking choose Other Options.  I first noticed them a couple of weeks ago. 

Classes on December 18 (Passport to the New World - we signed up for this).  There is a 8-10 Dessert Party class on December 22 (Guadalupe), Mexican Fiesta classes on Christmas and Brunch Comforts on December 26.

I was hoping they would do the Red Ginger one but not offered.  Culinary Center on Vista is fabulous.  Did 2 classes last November.  Unfortunately, had to cancel our Asian cooking class on Riviera in February once I got severe bronchitis, since I didn't want to give it to anyone else. 

Thanks so much for posting this. I followed up with Oceania this morning and they insisted that the Culinary classes have not even been released yet for that voyage. (I know how they get mixed up). When I quoted your knowledge of specific dates and classes they changed their story and said it is not released until final payment, which for me is not until July 20.

So I will toss this in the lap of my TA and let her sort it out.

Thanks again and we look forward to meeting you on board.

56 minutes ago, the mice said:

Antigua is Christmas Eve.  Christmas Day is a sea day. 

I was thinking that the cooking classes meant no special brunch, so thanks for the info.  I realize lots of people don't celebrate Christmas so offering them would make sense.  But O does offer culinary classes more attuned to the Caribbean. 

The Christmas cruise is one of those that is marked as a single or combined cruise, December 17 to December 27 or (combined) December 17 to January 3. The combined cruise does go to Mexico on December 29 and on January 1. 
 

More to the point - where are you finding the culinary classes? We are on the Vista combined cruise December 17 to January 3 and the culinary classes have not been posted yet to our Oceania account. I think usually these are posted 6 months out, when final payment is due. Perhaps things are different for you but our final payment is not due until July 20.

Maybe you are booked on an earlier cruise, before the 17th - 3 one, that gives you access to culinary classes earlier.

2 hours ago, ORV said:

Yet there are people that have posted here that they were able to do it onboard. I have no idea, just find it curious. Maybe it's one of those things that vary from ship to ship

Not sure if this is a bit of an answer but there are certain excursions which are culinary classes - for instance “Cooking with Spices” (an example). You visit a spice farm with the O chef and return to the ship to do a culinary class. This allows you to you to use your SM excursion allowance for what is essentially an enhanced cooking class.

On 1/7/2024 at 3:56 PM, pinotlover said:

You have to remember that one beverage server often has a large number of passengers to handle. The true answer depends upon how often they rotate to your table to take orders or refill glasses. Realistically, that may only happen 3-4 times in an evening.

My question is, will there be an increase in the number of “Sommeliers” at meal time?
Those who have been on the house beverage package before know the difficulty, sometimes, in locating someone to bring a drink as the servers can’t do this. Now all guests will have the package and we all know how people love taking advantage of free things.

2 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

There are excursions on changeover day. Several days prior to that segment’s disembark, multi-segment cruisers will get a list of available tours.

Great information. Thank you. Because they don’t appear under Shore excursions, we never thought they existed. 
‘Having said that, all of our few cruises have been b2b and we have never been offered excursions on changeover days. We were offered a special luncheon hosted in Jacques which was fantastic, but only the one time.

I have never known Oceania to have planned excursions on a transition day. You would plan those yourself, or with a group from your roll call, through one of the many tour companies. Certainly we have done this, ourselves.

Our cruise arrives back in Miami early in the morning. Our flight home is at 9 PM. Our thoughts are to join a tour in Miami but does anyone have an innovative idea of how to deal with our luggage?

Thanks for any suggestions.

23 hours ago, KetoCruiser said:

Our TA has come back to us and is appalled at the treatment we have received. I think they are now on the case. so fingers crossed they will get a resolution.

Well done.

I will repeat the message that experienced Oceania customers have been trying to explain:

Oceania does not care about the individual passengers - similar to most large corporations. 
Your TA is your route to getting attention. Have your TA activate her Agency to contact a SVP (senior Vice President) and tell them to get on this and satisfy your complaint. You are 2 people whereas the travel agency represents the potential for many clients to cruise on Oceania. Use the power you have in utilizing a TA.

17 minutes ago, What A Market said:

I can tell you with absolute certainty that the people designated to pour wines in the GDR are not Somms. Not even close. 

Absolutely agree with What A Market.
We spoke to one of the “sommeliers” on Riviera and asked her what her background was.  She said she had worked in a bar in Croatia and put that on her résumé so Oceania placed her as a sommelier.

As for jam, that was becoming an issue when we were on board Dec 23 - Jan 31. They stopped putting the jam racks on the table in MDR and if you asked, they would bring one small bottle to the table.

Bonne Maman (France) was the main supplier. Waiter said it was because people were taking them and Oceania couldn’t keep up with the supply.

yes $11 is correct.

‘It is not every night so keep an eye on Currents.

‘It is a selection of sparkling wines, rosé, Prosecco - not the $18 champagne although if you have the Prestige Beverage package you could upgrade, - and fruit and liquors to make your own bubbly concoction.

Normal nights there is a selection of wine and apperetivos plus snacks (olives, cheese foccacia, nuts).

The route to getting Oceania’s attention is through your Travel Agent. You are two customers whereas, if you chose your TA carefully, her agency does a lot of business with Oceania with multiple clients.

Have you contacted your TA and asked her agency to intervene on your behalf?

23 hours ago, LHT28 said:

yes  seems to happen on every O cruise we have been on

had the a/c way down  & still woke up seating  then about  5am  the cold air returns

This is part of their “green initiative”. Every night the engines are cut down or cut off and they float about for a couple of hours. As well as the stateroom becoming warm, you can feel the increased motion with only the thrusters working or low forward power to orient the ship in the best possible way to the waves.

‘This was reported in the thread about decreased port time.

15 hours ago, What A Market said:

Unattended items are placed on the table

Are you sure the removed items are put on this table? I thought they were removed by the crew to a safe storage area where the crew would retrieve them. I don’t remember the table being very large.

The placing of the religious materials was for a different, unrelated purpose.

8 hours ago, marieps said:

Refired mussels twice that were just too cold to eat.  Lobster bisque tepid at best.  Really?  The sommelier was wholly inattentive.  And worst, DW was ill all morning

That is terrible - nothing worse than cold food as either it wasn’t cooked properly in the first place or it was served and allowed to cool. 

I hope you made a fuss.

34 minutes ago, Janet- said:

We are on Regatta at the moment and wine by the glass ranges from $9.5 to $11.5  with  champagne at $16.5 plus tip

Very curious - red? Any wines the same?

16 hours ago, PaulMCO said:

They usually close the fire doors to prevent guest from dropping luggage off.

I have never seen this on Riviera. B2B guests have full access to their staterooms directly after the off-and-on ship zeroing exercise (between 10am and 11am).

Plenty of cruisers drop off their carry-on luggage. Check the hallway. If you see your steward ask him. If not, stick your luggage in the cupboard. No one is going to say anything.

‘Then head for Terrace for some carved turkey.

35 minutes ago, turnip eater said:

Possibly because it was plugged in and unsupervised. 🤷🏼‍♀️

 

More probably because it was against the rules of the cruise line. Not complicated.

I don’t get why you would deliberately do something that the cruise line tells you not to do.

Or is it another example of entitlement?

Bathroom - 1 under sink and 4 under cabinet

Desk  - 1 long narrow and 3 normal size

New pizzeria and yes it was overcooked. 

1 hour ago, turnip eater said:

Are they Redcurrants .. Redcurrants are quite tart/sour

Yes and they are sour 

3 minutes ago, jackdeb said:

be sure to get a good table LOL

Ask her to put you at one of Yan’s tables - our favourite server!

19 minutes ago, marieps said:

We board Friday.

Lucky you!

If you eat in MDR say HI to Yuvelyn the MDR greeter from Robert James 7009. She is wonderful.