MEFIowa

20 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

... No one is checking your Invitation so do not worry about it....

No wonder NO one follows any rules, whether pool/lounge chairs or alcohol consumption or more.

I do remember handing my invitation to the crew outside a lounge. And also at least showing it. But that's at 3 different repeater parties for us since 12/2021.

Do you encourage people who bring their own alcohol to just put it in a container so no one can see into and then just go out and about drinking? I doubt it. But I enjoy the privilege bringing my own alcohol on board and drinking it in my cabin as well as FREE alcohol at the Repeater Party. Hate to see either taken away. 😞

24 minutes ago, SophieM said:

I just tuck my card in my bra. Really. Only a little tricky when I’m wearing a turtleneck. 😉

17 minutes ago, true45 said:

Do you carry lipstick cash and phone in your bra too?  😇

Though now I'm laughing too hard thinking of the great British actress Joanna Lumley playing the Hostel Clerk in the movie EuroTrip (2004) telling the kids where they can store their valuable! If you know, you know. My kids love to quote the line any time we discuss valuables.

If you left the walled city, not too far away, a short, is a grocery store. Something like "Ideal"? "Idea"? I fell in love with it. Stocked upon on Montenegro beer (was 33% off sale, only E0.69 per 500 ml can) and Serbian brandy (the Vinjack at E10.69). Came back on board with my O bag full of beer and hard liquor.

We've got 22 nights on Sirena London to Stockholm & Stockholm to Copenhagen starting in late August so take good care of her. We enjoyed her immensely in the Caribbean 11/2022.

Of course, the Captain's Party is public and open to all. It will be widely publicized. But the Repeater Party will be by invitation only, by your door. They didn't have a Newby Party on Riviera 12/2021 so I've never gone to one, but I assume it, too, will be by invitation, by your door. The invitation should show who is being invited. I'd say stick to what the invitation says.

25 minutes ago, ORV said:

We climbed to the top, and yes it's not for anyone with mobility issues...we were walking around the town looking for the entrance to the path, and this little dog came up to us, then took off, then came back like he wanted us to follow him. So we followed him and he led us right to the start of the path.... It was a fun day. 

Being a feline fancier, I remember all the CATS that were everywhere. So many just near the start of the path.

We got to the path right early, unfortunately as the ticket taker had just opened (if you get there earlier you don't pay). Thankfully it was nice and cloudy as we climbed up. When we came back down around 11 am it was hot and sunny. Those poor bastards climbing up didn't realize how many steps up it is! Better to do it when it is cooler, rather than hotter.

Did you see the of people streaming up and down the hill to get to and from the St. John's Fortress overlooking Kotor? We did that off Riviera 11/2023. Absolutely amazing views, but a very strenuous hike indeed.

18 hours ago, mauibabes said:

@MEFIowa

If you might be interested in upgraded “slumming”, you might mention to your T Agent or O Rep that you could be interested in an upgrade on that F room, there are often some shuffling that goes on at the last minutes....

It is interesting that the London to Stockholm 12 nights is all available for A1-F and Guaranteed at the G cabin. Final payment was last week. Everything is currently wait listed for the 10 nights Stockholm to Copenhagen, with final payment on June 11. Will be interesting to see if many don't pay and cabins open up.

The F is the only cabin I've sailed that I wasn't able to upgrade on a later sale. Never came up.

We have had the last-minute upgrade and even cruise change offers from O, but the upgrade prices weren't that good (certainly not real sale pricing) and we can't change the airfare et al (we do that ourselves) at such limited notice to totally change cruises.

2 minutes ago, ORV said:

When is your next Oceania cruise? 

Aug 28th--London to Stockholm followed on Sept 9th directly as a B2B Stockholm to Copenhagen. 22 nights on Sirena. We did 10 nights on her in the Caribbean 11/2022. Plus 3 nights in London prior and 3 nights in Copenhagen afterward.

We are "slumming" a bit on this cruise. One of the 4 "big" C1s for the first part then an F for the 2nd. Never done an inside room before. We booked the 2nd part originally as a G back on 7 May 22 but upgraded off a sale on 20 Oct 22 for the "big" C1. Booked the new 1st part, the F, 13 Jul 23 during the SM sale last summer.

2 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

... I don’t understand all the anxiety people are expressing. ... I wonder, do people feel compelled to eat three meals a day, with all the offered courses, because it’s part of the fare? If not, why all the hand wrangling over SM tour credits? 🤔

If we're staying in or near the port, we tend to go back to the ship for lunch. But if we've got an all-day tour or excursion, it's a big breakfast for us and then maybe Waves at 1530 or TC at 1830. Psychologically, I'm just not designed to pay for meals I've already paid for. But then we're cruising for excursions and doing things. Off the ship early and back late if we can keep ourselves busy. Almost always bringing back some beer, hard liquor and wine!

BUT for the SM Excursions, I think many people buy into the marketing hype, thinking they've somehow actually received a significant benefit. Yet, we're seeing excursion price increases (essentially eating up the credit) and non- or limited-availability for specific excursions, as well as cancellation issues. For this SM Excursion credit is limited to excursions and is use or lose. It feels as if O knows that they don't have enough desired excursions to be used by the passengers. But that's how they make money on the generalized price increase that is SM.

Essentially SM was a way to increase prices significantly without raising their costs much. It was a generalized price increase hidden behind some minor benefits that people may or may not even realize.

Get used to "industrial port area docks". O seems to want them. Likely less expensive.

We took the train from Venice to Trieste on 10/30/23. E15.50 per person. Easy to board and use. On time.

BUT beware, when we were in La Spezia I was able to join the Communist Party of Italy in a half-day Friday national walk out transportation strike. Of course, on a Friday. Had a big march down the main street. Lots of flags. Their hammer & sickle brought back my Cold War memories in my USAF intelligence analyst days. And he was lonely, I thought, since I think I only saw one of their flags. Those were the days, the once powerful CPI brought low today.

Am I missing it, but what is the MONTH for the "We have been looking at a 10 day cruise ending in Rome"? You rightly want to avoid June, to miss the crowds.

We were in Rome of Riviera 11/2023. The Athens to Barcelona cruise. We paid a pretty penny for our private driver and guide for Rome but it was worth it for we got right in to the Colosseum & Vatican and also saw ALL we could in the time we had.

During weekdays in school months the locals aren't really out in the places. Only the tourists. And tourists struggle to travel much if their own home country is also still in school. Mostly adults travelling then.

We had fantastic weather the entire cruise. I was wearing shorts in Athens, Istanbul, Rome and Barcelona (where we ended 11/19/23). And the hordes of tourists are down. BUT as always, you have to get to the tourist site early to avoid the crowds that will be there. Getting to the Acropolis or entrance to the St. John's Fortress (Montenegr

Our B2B included days in Bari, Messina (Taormina), Naples, Rome and La Spezia (diverted from Livorno due to weather). And we started in Venice, 3 nights there before the 1st part started in Trieste on 10/30/23.

22 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

@FetaCheese on the picture.  It was suggested to me by someone I really admire to lose the Avatar.  It made me look mean and angry. It might make people not even consider read what I wrote.  Yet my posts were not so.  I thought about it and said, ok, makes sense to me. So, that is really me.... 

AND now it makes it easier to find you onboard. On our cruise on Riveria late last year in the Med I think you were the 4th or 5th person I'd walked up to asking, "Are you, by chance, the Southern Gary who posts on Cruise Critic?" [Guess I should've known you be hanging out at the pool bar? And it was Gina who said, "Maybe that's him? Go ask. I was getting frustrated by the weird looks I was getting from those I had asked before.] 

I'm 6'2" and about 180 lbs. I used the shower on Sirena just fine on our 10 nights 11/2022. Learned to open the shower doors a particular way and it worked just fine. My much smaller wife had absolutely no trouble with it at all.

3 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

Many of us booked or refared using the ESS in 2023. The cruise I just booked is for 2025.

If I used past deals as a yardstick I would probably often just find myself staying at home.

So I book based on what I consider is good value for 2024/2025 conditions....

The ESS was only 12 months ago. So a RECENT sale. Hardly far in the past. So it just reminds us that there are SALES and then there are sales. This latest one is a mere "sale". Unimpressed with the prices or the itineraries. Of course, we'll be looking at O's ongoing sales. Which they do year after year. Some a lot better than others and some mainly little to do about not much.

Since we cruise for ports & excursions, lots of "junk" cruises for us. Take that 21 days Rio to Buenos Aires. Starts with overnight in Rio and ends with an overnight in Buenos Aires. NO overnight in Montevideo. Just there from 0700-1700. And 8 sea days! Some pretty mediocre ports.

As for pricing, looked at the 10-night Athens to Istanbul on Vista. No sea days, which is great, but the price doesn't compare to the Extraordinary Saving Sale of 2023. We did 10-night A3 Trieste to Athens for $1899 PP and 10-night B3 Athens to Barcelona for $1749 PP. As B2B on Riviera, cruise only (pre-SM). This sale has a B5 at $3,080 and a B4 Veranda at $3,460. The A4 at $3,570. Not even close in price.

1 hour ago, JDPCruisers said:

We are considering Oceania for the first time (Vista for ~3 or 4 weeks) but from reading many of these posts it seems like those have cruised her repeatedly are disappointed on the current product and direction it seems to be headed in. We would be coming from Celebrity (Retreat suites) and looking for a less hectic experience (meaning less people) and a higher crew to passenger ratio for the service and amenities....

I would consider more than just Vista! Or Allura. There are 6 other ships.

We've sailed on Riviera for 30 nights since 12/2021's 10 nights & 20 more nights 10-11/2023 and 10 nights on Sirena (11/2022). I was just 58 on the first cruise. I'll be almost 61 when we do 22 more nights on Sirena 8-9/2024. My wife is 2 1/2 years younger.

YES, you will get a less hectic experience on all of O's ships, but the least hectic on the 4 small Rs (e.g., Sirena). The two O-class ships (Marina & Riviera) and now Vista (later Allura) have twice the passenger capacity.

We had just 719 passengers and 780 crew on Riviera 12/2021, during COVID and we were treated like royalty. BUT we had over 1230 passengers on Riviera on our 20-night B2B in 2023 and we still felt like we were treated outstandingly. And we felt the same on Sirena, when she had about 635 passengers.

Just do NOT expect a lot of nightlife. Things are pretty quiet in the evenings. But we like that as we cruise on port-intensive cruises, getting up 1st thing to be off as early as we can to spend the entire day ashore where possible.

6 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

Horses for courses!

Though that has me thinking of...

- Kotor & the St. John's Fortress. Trust me, climbing those 10,000 steps up is a lot easier going up at 0900 in the shade and then coming down at 1100 in the sun. Watching all those poor people climb up in the heat. They didn't even realize how far they still had to go.

- Athens and the Acropolis. Hardly a line at 0900. But when we came back down & out at 1100... OMG. I swear it was 30 people wide and 3/8s a mile long!

Early birds get no lines and race horses get their first.

20 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

Then maybe you should try the GDR just once. You can’t really say that the TC is the best if you have tried everything on offer!

We have NO desire to do a slow sit-down in the GDR. We do do the specialty restaurants. I do periodically try Waves in the afternoon. And always for breakfast. Did Riviera's pizza station by Waves once, too. We cruise for excursions and are off the boat first thing daily. Our upcoming 22 nights on Sirena as a B2B has 2 sea days. We'll do specialty restaurants on those. But we much prefer eating under the stars in the TC when we can. Great food we can eat in under and hour. Then some of our own alcohol in our cabin as a nightcap before retiring around 10 pm. Then up to be off as early as we can be. At every port.

Whether for lunch or dinner, we thoroughly enjoy the TC! So much that in 40 nights on Riviera and Sirena since 12/2021, we have never eaten at the GDR. TC is the perfect combination of ease of access and speed as well as food choice and quality. And we're about 60. I'm one of the last Baby Boomers, born '63.

17 hours ago, roothy123 said:

... When I think of all the things I don't use on a particular ship or individual cruise, I sometimes feel the "cruise only" price that I paid on Oceania (pre-SM) as well as on Viking resulted in lots of money spent on liquor, casino, spa, "free" excursions that I didn't use....

I'd suggest "cruise only" with purchase impulse control.

- Liquor: You can bring as much beer, hard liquor and wine on board at embarkation and in ports. I can enjoy them in my cabin. Haven't spent a penny on O's alcohol. And we get to drink for free on the Repeater Party and Captain's Party. Two nights each cruise.

- Casino: Just don't go. (But then gambling isn't included in SM either.)

- Spa: What a waste of money given their horrific mark ups. Get one before the cruise or after the cruise back home. You'll probably pay less for two back home than one on ship.

We've done 40 nights off "cruise only" cruises on Riviera & Sirena since 12/2021 and have 12- nights on a SM cruise followed by 10-nights on a "cruise only" cruise on Sirena as a B2B starting 8/28/24. The SM cruise is "simply more expensive" on a per-day basis, with the add ons being worth pennies on the dollar (a beer at lunch I can't have when I'm off in port during that time is of no value). And for the most important excursions to the most fascinating places, we book our own (e.g., Ephesus & Rome) or use dirt cheap public transportation (Athens, Barcelona, Istanbul & Venice).

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

... We were on another line years back, and walked to the Vasa museum on our own. I  hadn’t planned on spending as much time as we did there….it was fascinating. A great museum.

We're at a pier farther away. The one the farthest away if memory serves me. I'm thinking we're actually overnight in Stockholm.

4 minutes ago, Woofa said:

... Whether or not this prices O out of our future plans remains to be seen (our second O cruise is on Marina in November and we still have cruise only,) but I would prefer to look a little more positively at the outcome....

Our B2B on Sirena in the Baltic in Aug-Sep 2024 is half SM and half cruise only. Booked the cruise only in 2022 when the itinerary came out. Added the additional part under the SM sale in the summer of 2023. Will be interesting to see how many lunches we get to have beer or wine at since this is a highly port-intensive cruise, which we wanted, and we're off the ship every day we can, first thing. Of course, we booked some O excursions to use up the credit. Mostly unimpressive choices. But then in Stockholm I want to see the Vasa ship museum and my wife the ABBA museum. 😉