MEFIowa

My initial thought, having done a B2B on Riviera 10-11/2023 is...do NOT wait that long to book excursions, whether private or thru O. You may find selection limited. And the best gone. We book ours nearly 7-9 months out. My wife finished our private & O excursions for our 8-9/2023 B2B on Sirena in the Baltic last month. Final one is to the ABBA museum. (I hemmed & hawed about it.) She did nearly all of ours in Dec 2023.

Aden and its fascinating history... "Prior to 1937, Aden had been governed as part of India...During the course of 1955, 5239 vessels called at Aden, making its harbour the second busiest in the world after New York." ... Then the Aden Emergency from 1963-67... Finally a massive British fleet takes everyone away a year early. Followed by the now endless chaos with the communist regime and its successors and civil wars.

This IS Europe: "Mediterranean: "April-November" (p. 89) Scandinavia & Northern Europe: "April-October" (p. 117)"

Never noticed it before, but the big 2024 Collection of Voyages, 194 pages, shows the "seasons" for the cruise zones, including: Caribbean: "September-April" (p. 29) South America: "November-March" (p. 49) Asia & Africa: "October-May" (p. 61) Mediterranean: "April-November" (p. 89) Scandinavia & Northern Europe: "April-October" (p. 117)

Not for all cruises, since O has changed things in the rather recent past. So I'm discussing 2024 cruises. Many booked long before any changes. Just went into my account, our two upcoming cruises have 90 days before final payment. - For our 8/28-9/9, 2024 cruise, final payment is May 30th. 90 days out. Booked 5/2022. - For our 9/9-9/19, 2024 cruise, final payment is June 11th, 90 days out. Booked 7/2023

If you see a sale price that lowers the cost of your cabin, I'd contact O. I tend to use sales (esp. cabin upgrade sales) to go from a G or F to a better cabin (C-B-A) for what is a similar price. A bit rare for O sales to impact cruises so close to happening, but I'm guessing it can happen. I forget how many months or days one has before final payment is made. Thinking it is around 90 days. Got one in late May for a late Aug cruise. So I'm watching every sale. A new one should start March 1st. Just in case mine is included.

Though maybe they'll add the IHOP or Waffle House or Denny's equivalent to Allura & Vista to go along with Ember? More savory American specialties, but for breakfast! 😉

Sandy Point (Punta Arenas) has an interesting history, including everything from penal colonies to immigration: "Croatian immigration to Punta Arenas was a crucial development in the region of Magallanes and the city in particular. Currently, this influence is still reflected in the names of shops, streets and many buildings. Punta Arenas is said to have the largest percentage of Croatians in the world outside Croatia and the former Yugoslavia. Punta Arenas also has the largest percentage of residents of British descent in the whole Chile. Punta Arenas is home to the southernmost Hindu temple in the world, which is used by the relatively small, but significant, Sindhi community in Punta Arenas. Sindhi merchants began arriving in the area during the early 1900s, and today constitute one of the largest communities of Indians in Chile."

Though for so many 2024 cruises both general pricing and that "% off" is rather complicated over time, given how long the cruises have been available and the implementation of Simply More last summer. We booked our upcoming 9/9-19/24 Baltic cruise way back on 7 May 2022, over 2 years before the cruise. And over a year before O implemented Simply More. Our original G cabin (since upgraded by a later sale in Oct 2022 to a C1) was $2,499 PP. General price increases after that raised the book rate, first to $2,599 and then to $2,699. But then when SM came out the least expensive inside cabin was listed at $3,199 in the 2024 Collection of Voyages (I received the big book on 9 Aug 23.)

As we approach the end of February next week, Presidents' Day came and went yesterday. The New Year Sale ends 2/29. Has anyone heard anything about what the next sale/promotion will be come March 1st?

Yes, I'm aware. Just fascinating how these weren't in the original plans, for a project that had design and engineering work done years in advance. And O prints up a huge book that is partially outdated just on the deck plans before the ship is ever in service.

Interesting that O sent out the huge 130+ page book on Allura back in 9/2023. Deck plans found on pages 84-85. At that time no dedicated Creperie or Ice Cream venues shown.

I've seen these issues on past cruises, on both our recent 20-nights in the Med on Riveria (Oct-Nov 2023) and on two separate cruises in the Caribbean (2021 & 2022). O doesn't seem to shine here, Destination Services or tendering. Learned that if we wanted to be off the ship early, we got in the line as early as possible. Whether to get tickets for a tender for our independent excursion or to walk down the gangplank. Was a minor irritant to find that shuttle services were running throughout the day, rather than the claimed meal break period. Do keep in mind that O contracts for the shuttles. Each operator is different. All you can do is ask questions, be vigilant, and go with the flow once you figure it out.

Happiness = Reality - Expectations. Informed reasonable expectations lead to increased happiness.

Though neither my wife nor I enjoy the string quartet, yet we both love cruising on Sirena & Riviera. I did chuckle thinking about the chairs on Riviera on deck 6 where the quartet often plays, that after the refurbishment were too small for my 6'2" body. More useful for elementary school children. A form over function miss. (We were on Riviera 12/2021 and 10-11/2023.)

Thank God for the usually wonderful TC and menu. Though since O says this about Ember-- "PURE AMERICAN TRADITIONS Welcome to Ember, where savory American classics come to life with a modern twist." --guess this is the sort of menu a tourist expects to find in a suburban American strip mall chain restaurant? One may wonder, what do French, Greek, Italian, and Spanish tourists expect to eat when it comes to "savory American classics"?

So, as regards cruises and sales: We will NOT find O cruising in the Caribbean, off season. And you'll most likely pay more to cruise on O in Jan-Feb in the Caribbean, peak season. So, IF you want to save money, you may find a good cruise either early or late in the season, but still in season, but NOT in the peak of the season, where you typically pay more for the same cruise.

Glad you learned something, but just hope you pay attention to sales. You seem to want to pay attention anything but sales. Yet you seem confused on two different topics. First, late November is not off season. Second, off-peak season is a different issue altogether. Thus, June-July-Aug would be both off season and off peak season in the Caribbean. While Jan-Feb would be both on season and on peak season in the Caribbean. NOTE how YOU conflate the two concepts in your response. - Off season - Peak season

Spent 10 nights on Sirena 11/2021 (B2 cabin) in the E. Caribbean, after spending 10 nights on the larger Riviera 12/2021 (A4 cabin, concierge) in the W. Caribbean. (We also spent 20 nights on Riviera in the Med 10-11/2023 but will be back on Sirena for 22 nights in the Baltic 9-10/2024. We cruise for ports and excursions, so the ship isn't quite that important to us. We're in our late 50s.... - That $3000 increase in price to a PH is significantly MORE than we paid for either of our first two cruises ($2099 Riviera and $2249 Sirena). I can't imagine paying that much more as long as you get a veranda cabin. - Bermuda is its own rather unique cruise, not too port/excursion intensive. That means the ship itself is a lot more important than it will be on a port-intensive cruise. The R-class ships have small showers for their G-A cabins. And only 2 specialty restaurants. The night life will be tame and the entertainment relatively simple. The food is fantastic. The pool is tiny, more for walking around than swimming. You'll meet a wide variety of well informed interesting people. Only you can tell what interests you. We couldn't imagine a cruise to Bermuda, but if we did, we'd want to be on the larger O-class ships for the 4 specialty restaurants, bigger pool, concierge lounge & therapy pool (Riviera only).

Objectively, there is no comparison about the food and dining experience between Jacques and Ember. Ember is NOT a serious selling point, but a cost-cutting measure. Yes, some really do love Applebee's or Ruby Tuesday or such restaurants. No one pays a fortune to dine in them. Nor do foodies rave about them. And no, I don't want my Mahi Mahi in a burrito. (And yet you're expressing a type of "an opinion". The sad influence of the cognitive dissonance of Vista Cheerleaders. They pay a lot more. And often for what, exactly? I still chuckle at the Riviera Cheerleaders post its update. We sailed on her 12/2021 and 10-11/2023. So much of that update was form over function. Tiny chairs on deck six unusable for anyone over about 6'. Scandinavian minimalism aesthetic. Cold and boring.) But then we see page after page of discussion on subjective issues like...cookies!

Weather is unpredictable. We had FANTASTIC weather from Istanbul to Barcelona & all points in between from 10/30-11/19/2023 on Riviera. I was wearing shorts & a t-shirt in Venice on 10/29 and in Barcelona on 11/20. Rained one morning in Split but was done by 1 pm. Glorious weather in Athens, Ephesus, Heraklion, Naples, Rome, Taormina, etc. We had much BETTER weather than what you'd have in say July's brutal heat and massive waves of sweaty tourists.

We were on Riviera 10-11/2023 for a B2B and we stopped in Istanbul over 2 consecutive weekends, for 2 nights and 4 days on 11/5-6 and 11/11-12. We were there when the Istanbul Marathon was happening. There were a couple of pro-Palestinian demonstrations but nothing to large or out of control. I'm not sure much ever happened in Istanbul, though Turkish security forces did arrest a large number of militants all across Turkey back in late Dec 2023: "Police in Turkey have arrested more than 300 people for suspected links to the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group during sweeping raids across the country, the Turkish Interior Minister has announced. “304 individuals were arrested during the “Hero-34” operation carried out simultaneously in 32 cities against the terrorist organisation Daesh," Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X." (12/22/23)

The Rs have the smaller bathrooms compared to the larger O-class ships. Stayed on Sirena in a B2. NO bathtub. Small shower. A big complaint for many. So no bathtubs on the Rs for the G-A cabins. (Never stayed in a PH or above.) Some of the cabins on the remodeled O-class still have bathtubs.

Did you MISS the TITLE of this thread that includes the critical word SALES? The whole point of SALES is to save money. Which I have. But 12/13-23/2021 is NOT off-season for the Caribbean (right before Christmas), and 11/19-29/2022 isn't too far off peak Caribbean either. I'm from Iowa and it gets cold here then. I suspect so much of what you want to consider "on-season", esp. Jun-Jul-Aug, is tied to the school year and children in or out of school. My kids are in their early 30s. Nothing was "off-season" in the Med in Oct-Nov of 2023 as we had amazing weather for 20 days. I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt in Venice on 10/29/23 and again in Barcelona on 11/20/23. Was around 65 deg F.

I'm glad you're tracking what I write so closely! BUT... we have two upcoming cruises in 2024. I've NEVER been in a C before. That is starting in Stockholm on Sept 9, 2024. Originally booked as a G (60xx) for $2499 PP on 7 May 22, but rebooked off a sale on 20 Oct 22 as a C1 (70xx) for $2849 PP. This is one of the "big" Cs. Up on deck 7. Forward. I booked the 11/2022 Sirena cruise while on Riviera 12/2021. That got us a discount. Now I can't remember how much "off" we received. Was it $200 or $250 PP? Sadly, it never went on sale!