Sny

Can anyone post a list of the prices for the spa services. I know they are $$$$$$. Also, for those recently on an O cruise, were there daily specials in the spa? Anyone on Marina have experience with any particular therapist in the spa who you would recommend? Thanks.

Strange to hear the three days for return of laundry. I may be misremembering; but I think we got them back the same day, or one day later on our last cruise. Is it possible that higher suites get faster return?

The packet contains your personalized itinerary for the cruise, including stateroom assignment, shore excursions booked. I think it has the entire list of shore excursions, in case you want to add or change. Can't remember if dining reservations are in it too. Your luggage tags are in it, with your stateroom #. There is also an ad in it for the luggage forwarding service which we have used before and will again (no need to start your vacation in a bad mood, from dragging heavy suitcases around multiple airports) This is a booklet of more than fifty pages; so the TA at the new company is dead wrong. I am sure you can get along without it; but I have always found it extremely helpful.

Kitty and Sailtex - Just want to say that you both inspire me. You are champions at cruise planning. I have been spending the past few months trying to find workarounds for my husband and myself. He has terrible back pain and can't walk far. I am recovering from spinal fusions. For the first time, we are renting a scooter for him, which should assist in getting him around the ship. We will also have a couple of canes. Shore excursions are a challenge, as you both well know; so we will limit them. We are staying in a PH; so, with the scooter, it will be tight. Maybe, as has happened in two previous O cruises, we will be offered an upgrade to Vista or Oceania suite??? Negotiating airports is always interesting; but our TA will request wheelchairs for both of us. In the end, all the planning will be worth it - have wonderful trips.

It's so nice to have dinner served in your room, after a long day on a shore excursion. No need to clean up or dress for dinner. What a treat!!

I would go nuts, if I tipped the butler each time he came to the cabin - 4-5 times a day, minimum. We have always received A+ service and tip at the end of the cruise.

I booked my first O cruise direct and got very lucky to be upgraded , last minute, from PH to Vista suite at a very friendly price. We shared several private shore excursions with a couple whose TA had handled everything for them. We got in touch with her and have never looked back. She has handled hotels, private transfers, cancelations, insurance claims and a load of special requests for us. The only time we don't get a response from her within 24 hours is when she's on a cruise (she's a cruise specialist and "walks the walk, talks the talk" - she's on a cruise with her family in the Med right now). Even when she's away, there's an automatic e-mail response, explaining the delay). I will probably never see her in person; but she has my business as long as we are able to cruise.

Wondering who the cruise directors are on each ship at this time. Are they mostly veterans; or has O picked up some new talent since the pandemic? Impressions?

Yes, I just checked. The shore excursions from Le Havre to Mt St Michelle is still listed and notes a drive of 3 hours each way. Crazy!!!!

St Malo is a fascinating village. Read "All the Light We Cannot See" before you go. That being said, many years ago, I did both in the same day with friends from Brittany. That was a hell of a lot of walking, in quite a bit of heat. I would not recommend to anyone who isn't very fit. I am on a 21 day Marina cruise in the fall and was surprised to see that Mont St. Michelle excursions were offered from Le Havre. I will have to go back and check again.

We used one that was advertised in the brochure/book that Oceania sends a few weeks before the cruise. The pick-up at our home was on time and efficient. Our bags were in our room when we boarded the ship. The problem came when we disembarked. No one seemed to know where those bags were to go in the terminal; as no one appeared to be responsible for them. After more than an hour, and a missed transport to our hotel, it was sorted out. They arrived at home on schedule. That said, it's a great convenience and we plan to use a luggage forwarding service for our upcoming cruises.

You can have your TA request that they be pulled apart and made up separately. That way, they won't have to redo it after you board with all your stuff.

Does that mean you have also canceled the Amsterdam to Barcelona cruise, on which we were sharing a shore excursion?

Agree with the Skagway - bus up, train down. There's a bar in Skagway that serves spruce tip beer - decent place for fish and a beer for lunch. Whale watching wherever it's offered.

I am one of those individuals who has become addicted to duplicate bridge in retirement. On one or two previous Oceania cruises there were bridge instructors and sanctioned games. Does anyone know if that still happens, or has COVID shut such opportunities down? I am on 21 day, Amsterdam to Barcelona in Sept-Oct.