Ride-The-Waves

Not only Europe. We dined in a restaurant last week in the Tampa area that takes only cash.

Many European tour operators tale credit cards. Recent experience with a golf cart tour of Rome - we stopped near the end of the tour to meet with the tour owner and he used a portable cc reader. Cash is mostly not required anymore in many European cities.

Careful. You can get banned on CC talking about Viator since they are part of the CC/Trip Advisor/Viator consortium. I have also lost money booking with Viator and only use them as a last resort.

Good to know. Thanks, all.

Thanks. Helpful, but expensive. Looks like an opportunity to shlep a couple of bottles on board during the first port stop.

Thanks

Question from an Oceania first timer... We have frequently sailed, pre-COVID, Azamara on what would be considered a "PH" cabin. Several bottles of wine and several bottles of liquor set up in cabin before arrival for consumption in cabin. We have usually exchanged the liquor for bottles Disaronno and Baileys. From the discussion it appears Oceania will "look the other way" if you carry a couple of bottles on board at embarkation or at a port stop. True? Will Oceania sell you a bottle from the Boutique for in-cabin consumption?

What? No "Two-buck Chuck?"

We always cruise 10 days or longer, avoiding the shorter cruises like the plague (or like COVID). Seven days cruises are more intense, people "needing" to vacation hard since they work hard (their perspective) and try to cram as much into the 7 days as possible. Doesn't work.

What a disingenuous comment. Have you been to Romania and experienced their medical system/care? Doubtful. I served in both he former Yugoslavia and Ceaucescu's Romania. Both had western trained doctors and German medical equipment. However, like in the US not everyone has access to best doctors and facilities. My spouse spent a week in a Yugoslav military hospital for a kidney stone. Great doctor and latest German equipment.

Meet and Mingles are essentially useless events. Some introductions - but who cares.

"Affordability" is mostly not a factor in warship design, construction and operations. On USS Enterprise once exited the Med at Gibraltar, turned turned port and arrived in Perth in 17 days. Enterprise, Truxtun and Arkansas. We average 27 knots, no stoping or refueling. Eighty knots of wind across the deck at times. Combat flexibility is the key. On CVNs what were tanks for NSFO is used for JP4.

Interesting. This will be our first O experience, however have sailed frequently on Azamara pre-COVID. Never a problem for us getting a two-top. We enjoy dining earlyish...

It is something we could gather and discuss during those sea days crossing the Pond. Experienced two wonderful guest speakers on an Azamara cruise Mumbai-Athens. One was a corporate educator responsible for "educating" executives on other than US cultures and the other a political scientist from a large mid-western US university. Educational and entertaining.

Not a topic CC would permit, even if valid.

Agree. And that is not "tougue-in-cheek." Have experienced similar too many times on cruises, to include in buffets. Too many people parrot what they are given on radical web sites and cable channels. Have discovered they cannot explain why they feel the way they do, just crudely repeat the pablum. Note here that I taught national security strategy at the US National War College and enjoy the details...many do not. Maybe separate by port and starboard?

Based on our June Retreat experience on Reflection, the ship is in great shape and the crew is superb. Book it!

Our experiences with "cruise air" varies significantly by cruise line. Some companies, like Princess, seem to actually care about happy customers while others, such as Oceania, appear to make making air reservations as difficult and expensive as possible. Flying from Florida to Oz booking through Princess Air was easy and less expensive than booking direct with the airline. Spent about an hour on the phone with Princess Air to change and finalize the Oz booking since the original routing had as transiting ATL with on a 45 minute layover during the Summer thunderstorm season. Princess Air found us a better connection flying out of MCO instead of TPA and with a savings of $800. Princess and Celebrity air programs have provided significant savings, especially business class, over the years. Oceania, on the pother hand, charges a hefty "deviation fee" for anything differing from their set routing, to include arriving a day or two early for a trans-Atlantic cruise. We have been using TAP (Air Portugal) business class for one-way transatlantics. TAP is Star Alliance and flies new A330neo aircraft which are quite comfortable.

This "explanation" exactly represents the issue and challenges with O. An "upscale" cruise line should make it simple for passengers. O tends to over-complicate almost everything. Not something many of us experienced cruisers care for.

TAP is a good airline. We have flown them several times across the Pond one-way to meet trans-Atlantic cruises. Their business class prices are significantly lower than their Star Alliance partners. Our experience is they are also on-time as good if not better than others in Star Alliance. Agree - they route through LIS and as a national airline look to encourage layovers in Portugal. They fly to places United and others do not, especially in Africa snd the near east. Very comfortable airline flying the A330neo across the Pond. We are flying them again later this year to FCO via LIS.

Why would you even write something like that? We cruise based on itinerary and ship. Do not buy "drink packages" as we may imbibe 4 or 5 times during a cruise - even when drinks are included. Not "foodies" either. RCI is now charging $70pp for a "specialty" restaurant. Crazy. FYI, tried Celebrity's Edge class once - no intention of doing that again. Fed up with Princess. Have sailed with RCI and have no interest on setting foot again on an Oasis class. Liked our one cruise on Hurtigruten south of the Antarctic Circle - Fram is a nice ship with great crew. Like river cruising but that is now becoming iffy with the low river levels in Europe. Might do a Mekong cruise - would like to experience Ankor Wat. Cruising Oz was great - especially the land tours. We have experienced many cruise lines and more ships then I want to recall. So far, Oceania has presented itself as the worst to do business with with its convoluted practices. Don't care for that. Seems officious and condescending at the same time. Again, as I previously stated, the confusing price structures appear to be designed primarily to squeeze monies out of passengers, not to help decide options. The air fees are ridiculous - its like they don't want passengers using O Air.

Well stated. Thank you.

Not sure what you are implying... Just back from a wonderful time on Reflection in a great cabin and attentive crew - the only downside being the heat in Italy. Have been cruising since the 1950s and so far O regulars have not, in general, been a "welcoming and affirming crowd." Reserving judgment and hopefully the O experience on board will be more like Azamara. So far, pre-cruise, O's excursion policies, high beverage pricing and its absurd air practices/costs have been a complete turn-off. Thankfully as experienced travelers we have been able to mitigate those challenges.

Always remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch in dealing with corporations to include cruise lines. O intentionally makes things complicated and confusing in the hope that the paying passenger will feel and believe that are getting a deal.