Sthrngary

I was on the Riviera last month and while cruising we booked a future Cruise. It was October 13, 2025, Monte Carlo to Venice. We liked the itinerary better then other ports and so we booked it. We are easy, if things change, we are flexible however we are looking forward to getting to Florence (if the cruising gods wish it to be) because it was a port that we missed last month. Yet, it is a cruise and somethings you have control over and somethings you don't. Today I look online and Venice, Italy is gone and Trieste, Italy is in it's place. It shows online as Monte Carlo to N/A now. I also noticed that the ship, Vista last port of Trieste, Italy, which was dis-embarkment did not show another cruise for the Vista for the next 6 days. Interesting to say the least. No big deal at this stage just an interesting turn of events. I guess this is what happens when you book two (2) years in advance. From a planning standpoint, the closest major Airport (Going to use Delta Airlines) would be Venice which is a couple of hours away per train or bus. Makes the trip even more interesting. Not a third world issue but I will love to see the transitions over time. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

Tipping is one of those topics that get kicked around weekly on a cruise board. Those that ask, generally want to feel good about the decision they will make. With that as my focus, here are some thoughts. As @PhD-iva said, when you have a butler, they or a member of the butler team will deliver your room service. I like @PhD-iva pay the gratuity to the butler in the pre-paid gratuity program and provide extra also in the form of another lump some. The extra is just that, extra. When the butler is not part of the equation, again, no additional amount is required. However, if you would like to provide some additional, it is at your judgement. A few dollars seems appropriate. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@CDR Benson I simply cannot wait. Glad you are home safe. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@JDPCruisers As I have said, I am no expert. Based on the assumption you are referring to the Riviera which is what we just went on, here is what I know. PH1, PH2 and PH3 are basically the same except for where they are located. The Riviera was just renovated at the end of 2022. My understanding all the ship got a redo but a few of the PH3 still have the bathtub where the rest were converted into a huge shower and storage. That is the best I can do. We like our Oceania Cruise very much and compared it to the NCL Haven. The difference was an enhanced cruising experience, with little to no children, on a smaller ship with better service and food. The entertainment was not as good but we knew that and the tradeoff was more then worth it. Hope that helps. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@JDPCruisers You are more than welcome. I am no expert but happy to share any part of my recent experience. Your experience on the Celebrity Beyond must have been with Captain Kate. She is an all time favorite of mine. What a pro. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@MEFIowa All of what you say is true. My point was using the cancelled port as simply an example. Learn from others as I have learned some very important lesson's from you. Your approach to wine and drink is really well thought out and has a level of sport to it that makes it even more fun. Things happen one cruises and if we kind of know something could happen, we can attempt to have a plan for it. That is half the fun of planning. Then you have the new things you learn that are both good and bad. Just makes your planning for controllable things that much better in the future. I had a fun time meeting you and your lovely bride. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

I personally don't agree with everything the OP said either. However, that was their experience, who am i to judge. To challenge their experience serves no value. Instead, we should take it under advisement, look to other for additional feed back about their specific voyages and experiences. With all reviews, mine included, we all have to look at them with a "grain of salt". Look for trends and patterns leveraging many reviews. When you find one, make notes and attempt to lessen to effect of what every it might be on your next cruise experience. One example that stands out to me. After following this board for over a year, it was clear that Oceania has a habit of missing or changing ports. I can't control that so I set the expectation with my guests that it just MIGHT happen. It did, we lost Florence, Italy and it was replaced with another port. Did we all want to go to Florence, yes. Yet, we fully understood that it could and would happen. Not that it matters, we booked another cruise for 2025 which includes Florence so maybe, we will make it next time. The bottom-line is the opinions give good, bad and indifferent can be leverage to gain a better result for all of our future cruise experience. Just notice. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

Post Cruise Story: I booked a 10-Day Mediterranean Cruise on the Oceania Vista for October 2025 while cruising last month. It was so far in the future, there was a 5% early booking reduction, onboard fare reduction and $250.00 of onboard credit. My travel agency provided free gratuities. The deposit was reduced to $500.00 per cabin and we booked two cabins. The itinerary was good because we got to go back to a few places, one port we missed and Croatia which was a request from all involved. Other then mentioned above, that was the only fare discounts or reductions this far in advance. Looking At All Brands: Just like I did when I booked my November 2023 cruise just taken, I researched the other brands available at the same time as the cruise booked with Oceania in 2025. NCL Viva utilizing a Haven Suite; Regent Seven Seas Cruise; SeaBourne; Silver Seas; Crystal Cruises; and the list goes on. My research supports the choice of Oceania from a value standpoint. I will continue to look and watch for specials, sales, and incentives. Airflights for October 2025 to Europe: I used all my points for Delta Airlines for Delta One Business Class for my November 2023 trip. However Delta just updated their miles program and raised my level for yearly gifts to a lifetime Diamond Status. I have 4.5 million life time miles and Delta is rewarding my travel. I now, in February of 2024 will receive four "Globally" Upgrade Certificates allowing my wife and my self to book "Refundable Coach" and receive Delta One Business Class. I won't be able to book the flight until 330 days prior to the return trip. That is November 2024. Knowing I will be able to fly business class again makes the trip even better. All I need now is for Oceania to cooperate and provide some sales that apply to the cruise I choose. I even suggested to my wife and friends, this time do a back to back. That did not go over well but I have two years to make it happen. Wish me luck. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

Butler_NCL_Cruises_Template.docx

@Harry Lake Hello Harry. Thank you for your reply. Again allow me to welcome you to CruiseCritic.com. Allow me to clarify. I am also an "Info Junkie". My approach is to really get to the core of what is offered, the policies and the rules on how it works and how to gain the maximum value of products and services. This all began 7 years ago. I wanted to go the the "Handout Music Festival" which is one of the top three/four day festivals in the country. It happens on the Beach every May. I was about 60 at the time and not in good health. They had an expensive and exclusive admission called, "Super VIP". Enclosed area for comfort/shade, hot tubs, Pools, golf carts, lunch and dinner catered by Beard Chefs, full bar and some many other amenities. All that was available was Marketing Material which was NOT very specific. I wanted more to justify the much higher cost. It did not exist on any social media, using multiple google searches. The realization that folks that pay that kind of price for Super VIP, don't post all the items and value received. So, I bite the bullet, paid the price and wrote the article after I attended. I did Super VIP again the next four (4) years. I did the same thing for the Bonnaroo Music Festival for Platinum and Artist Passes Backstage. This lead to doing the same research for high-end purchases. Fast forward, the same opportunity happened for deep research for the NCL Haven. Same thing happed. No real deep information happened so I did what I did for the Hangout, bit the bullet, paid the price and wrote the article. This happened again with Crystal Cruises, Celebrity Retreat and recently Oceania Cruises. I always have most of the information before I try/purchase/book the product the first time. However the real clear information and how to leverage it to get every once of value comes ONLY after you used the product or service. That is where the rubber meets the road and YES, things are different then my original research suggested. I hope that clarifies your comment. The more we all go on a cruise, evaluate the good and the area or improvement. The better folks in the future can avoid the negatives, focus on the positive and enhance their future cruising experience. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@Izzy'sMoms Subjective. Could have gone either way but I had to remind him every day first thing to attempt to add our guest into our specialty reservations after he missed one day. I was on a piece of paper I gave him. If he would have said, I tried and I could not do it, it was a 10. If he did not try and I had to remind him, it was a 9. Subjective. Everything else was great. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@zteamtwo I have no clue. I would assume a tipping pool but allow someone else to comments. I am not sure. Cruise well and enjoy every moment

Today is Saturday morning, December 2, 2023. We got off our ship on November 19, 2023 so we have had some time to remember a lovely trip. Today our team, the Alabama Crimson Tide will Play Georgia for the SEC title. I don't think it is Alabama's year but hopeful. I woke up early to have my coffee missing Barista's illy coffee and my memories of my cruise came back to me. I asked myself, what would I do differently in the future to make our time even better. Have a Lunch Place Pre-Selected: The food in Europe is so very good but it can be bad also. Usually when you don't plan to got to a place away from the Tourist area's. I knew that and broke my own rule. Why? We simply got tired especially in Rome. Go to Waves at Night: My goal on my first Oceania Cruise was to leverage the specialty restaurant to the max. In doing so, we all missed a nice casual meal outside in nice weather with something as simple as a nice pizza with some wine. Do More Afternoon Teas: What a lovely break in a day and the experience was special. Try Oceania Excursions: We did none. Now with SimplyMore, we have $800.00 for our next trip for excursions. We will evaluate doing it our selves and prepared Oceania Excursions. Wine in Ports: We purchased a few bottles and not ever port. In the future, we will buy more wine to take onboard. Rare opportunity especially with lots of French and Italian ports. Learn to Use Google Maps on my iPhone Better: It was a little confusing and frustrating following my phone. Scary in a new place. Got lost a few times. Not as easy as I thought but it was my lack of experience. Worry Less About Having Euros: Gaining Euros at a local bank from a bank machine was just fine. You can time your purchases in the states but the difference was not that large. One less thing to worry about. Do an Art Class: We did a cooking class but not the art class. Not sure I will like it but it will be a new adventure. I highly recommend the cooking class. Go To The Get Togethers: We missed them because we could not get our collective group act together. On a smaller ship, this would have allowed us to meet more people from all over the world. Always Get Our Morning Coffee From Barista's Before Breakfast: The best perk on the ship is Barista's coffee. Fly To Port Two Days Early: Our first port was Athens. I loved it but it was to short. We were jet lagged. Our next cruise leaves from Nice, France/Monte Carlo. Seems like a nice place to spend an extra day. I wish we had Athens again but it will always have found memories. Especially the hotel. We all have choices, options and learn from our actual experiences. The statement, "You don't know until you experience something." is very true. We got lucky and made our own luck by doing some due diligence. Now we know more and hopefully with heath and planning will have even a better time with the benefit of knowledge. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@LabMom57 Oh boy what a loaded question. This is one of those kinds of no win questions that hijack a thread. The debate is pay upfront, pay at the end or do not provide any additional tip at all. I am OLD school. In my day, you NEVER paid upfront and back then, there was no pre-paid gratuity option. "I am OLD". As time went on, the pre-paid gratuities became a thing. All I am going to do is tell you what I gave my butler, not saying it is correct, to much or too little. I will confirm, it was in the butler letter which addresses why I provided it upfront. Long story not worth telling. The amount for a ten day Mediterranean cruise was $200.00 over and above the pre-paid gratuity. Now you do you and every else can make any decision they want. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@Psoque It is so important to attempt to find a way to enhance our cruising experience. So we try new things. New brands, new ships, new itineraries and new experiences. Not all work out. The bottom line is it takes risk to get gains. Risks also can create disappointment. I loved HAL back in the day but did not like Celebrity. That is why there are so many options for all of us. What we can all agree too, we love cruising. What else really matters. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

This post is SO important. Not just for everyone to consider Travel Insurance, I personally and completely agree. Also, the fact all of us, regardless of our life style, are open to becoming sick. It is part of the aging process. HOWEVER, the author showed great positivity in his descriptions and wanted to express concern to ALL about the need to protect ones self from a controllable financial loss. This brave person shared a difficult situation and did it with class and concern for others. @clarku You inspired me with your post and I thank you taking the time to write it. Get well soon. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

I will be cruising the Vista next. I just got off the Riviera. My favorite Specialty Restaurant was Red Ginger. Second was indeed Jacque's. If the reviews continue to be average and folks say they want Jacque's back, maybe Oceania MIGHT listen. I hope the do. The experience at Jacque was lovely. Just my two cents. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@jklc123 Attached is the sea day Currents per your request. Cruise well and enjoy every moment. Oceania_Currents_11132023.pdf

I will look later today and if I have it, I will post it. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@ak1004 Wow, thank you so much. I had fun doing it. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

Attached is the Oceania Currents for 11/09/2023 and 11/10/2023. I have more however since they change every week, I thought providing two would give most folks the information they usually need. Hope it helps. Cruise well and enjoy every moment. Oceania_Currents_11092023.pdfOceania_Currents_11102023.pdf

After reading lots of post about cancelled posts and in this case entire itineraries, it seems communication is often delayed. The thread then has updates a week or two later with a resolutions sometimes good and sometimes bad. If you are upset about the loss of benefits because you booked the cruise while onboard, something tells me that will be resolved. Please keep us up to speed on the resolution if and when it happens. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@WillCruiseForMoney The best butler I had ever had was on Crystal Cruises. I also had some good butler on NCL in the Haven but also some not-so-good butlers. The key to my butler experience and improvement over the years is my Butler Letter. Before doing this document, all butlers were just OK. After, there was a significant improvement. It does not surprise me that your experience was different then mine. The good news is, we both had a very nice time on the cruise. Different from the Haven but designed to be so. My favorite part of the cruise was my friends reactions since they had never cruised before. So much fun to see. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

Extremely well done and balanced. I also enjoyed some of the brand you have taken in the past. Although some of my experience were a different then yours (we got off when you got on), much of it had to do with the friends that joined us. Thank you for your honest and fairness. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@FetaCheese First, thank you for asking. I will provide the link below. This post maybe deleted by the moderator because it focuses on another Board on CruiseCritic.com. I want anyone that sees this post to understand, I am simply providing a source of information per my good friend @FetaCheese . Below was revised in 2022 from the original topic done in 2019. The first post is the meat. Enjoy. Here you go.