Snaefell3

It appears that O plans to sell the 'R'-class ships as too old before the drydocks after these and has decided "refurbish, but no structural changes".

3 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

Is dinner still at 6:30? I remember reading somewhere that (at least on some ships) it starts at 6 now?

To refresh your memory, when there's a lot of pax vs specialty slots (e.g. 7-day voyages) O will start serving in the specialties at 6pm.  Otherwise, it's 6:30pm.

2 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

and my guess is the first place they are going to go looking for this information on flights, etc is [not?] in the Mumblings on Marina thread. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Good point, but Mumblings *is* where the person who just brought up the issue is going to look, and the other person may or may not exist.

(I'm reluctant to answer in Mumblings *and* start a new thread).

3 hours ago, cluso said:

They must use that phrase ["berthing conflict"] a lot.

Two comments:

• The Juneau city government has decided they've got too many cruise ships coming, and are limiting berthing support.  Monterey did the same in '23.

• O has a history of not checking that a berth they plan to use isn't already booked by some other cruise line.

1 minute ago, EJL2023 said:

Does that make it right? 😉😜

Nope.   But look up "King Canute and the tide".   🤷‍♂️

Just now, EJL2023 said:

Hmmm,  I thought this thread was about current Marina cruise, but once again seems to have gone astray.  

Been on CC long?   😜 😉

2 hours ago, SophieM said:

So strange, then, that they waited until to jet bridge to check for bigger liquids. 

Hypothesis:  Not all flights from the airport are headed for places with that TSA liquids limit?  

There is no way they could claim they could prevent a BadGuy2 (who can bring liquids into the secure zone) from handing the liquids off to a BadGuy1 (who is headed for TSA-land).

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

Different airports, different parts of the world are hit with specific security alerts on a regular basis. Airlines and/or airports implement differing precautions and procedures without unduly alerting or alarming passengers. Differing precautions used this week may not be in effect next week..

Yep.  And some precautions will not be in response to any specific threat, but rather will be invoked on a random basis simply to keep any bad guys guessing about whether such would be in place on their target date.

3 hours ago, SophieM said:

The only other semi-interesting thing was all electronics had to be completely powered down for taxi and takeoff. That was a first for us. 

Powering down has nothing to do with your aircraft except that at 35,000' a cellphone radio (be it in a computer or an actual cellphone) will tie up a channel on every cellphone tower within 200+ miles of the aircraft.  The more sparse towers are out in the local boonies, the stricter the locals will be on pax' electronics.

10 hours ago, jonthomas said:

Thank you to all.

I'm ok with the new port.

But if I had booked a tour in Wrangel and it was cancelled, I would expect a refund without any issues.

The other issue I have is that O let us know in an email that they were dropping Wrangel because of berthing issues. Now I see that they planned to go to K if the port was finished on time. Seems shady.

Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence"

Submitted for perspective:  Vista was supposed to overnight in Norfolk on her March 16th voyage, but that was cancelled because of a "berthing conflict".  Seems they planned to use a berth which Carnival Sunshine has using for years on a day she had booked years ago.

> Bathtubs are R ships?

No.  The 'R'-class ships are slightly larger.    ::runs and hides::

8 hours ago, jonthomas said:

NO tours are available in this port.

From  https://www.oceaniacruises.com/shore-excursions

• Prince of Wales Whale & Marine Mammal Quest (KLK-001)

• Taste of Klawock and Totem Park (KLK-002)

• River Hatchery and Lake Kayaking (KLK-003)

• Klawock Highlights Tour (KLK-004)

7 minutes ago, clo said:

I love FB BUT I do not like...no, I despise, ...people who share things without fact checking. Period.

Please have some mercy for folks who do fact-check and miss what's in front of their eyes.  ::raises hand::

47 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

I think it's the same Jacques offerings every night, not a rotating menu.  But, maybe others have other experiences.

On Regatta last March, the Jacques' offerings were the same three entrées each night: salmon supreme, sirloin steak, and herb-crusted rotisserie chicken.

1 minute ago, MEFIowa said:

Not really, see the loss of Jacques, replaced by Ember. And IIRC the menu at Waves is different on Vista now than when I was on Riviera 11/2023. Loved the Mahi Mahi on Riviera. Not in a burrito. Etc. 

Understood.  I'll get back to ya in 29 days 😉 

37 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

A weird strategy for O, pay more & get less with Vista. So glad we were on Riviera in the Med 10/30-11/19/2023.

My bad.  False info.  Disregard.

28 minutes ago, edgee said:

Yes there are still lobster medallians.You are not getting or looking at full pic of what I posted. Difference in surf and turf on the Vista  though is that the wagu beef with lobster is ground waygu rather than medallions of wagu as in the past.

Thank you for the clarification.

Sorry for the Chicken Little moment, folks.  Lobster *is* still there 😄 , I just couldn't find it because it moved over to the "Burgers" column rather than where I was used to finding it 🤦‍♂️ .

@edgee?  Thanks again.  I board Vista in 29 days, and have been carefully --uhh-- managing my expectations.  😉

9 hours ago, vipro said:

Sorry, do u mean there is no more lobster in Waves and pool grill on vista any more?

Alas.

Just now, vipro said:

Wait. U mean they serve lobster tail at the buffet every night? That's awesome. We didn't even have that in regent (where there was only lunch buffets)

Yep.  Granted, it's Florida lobster, not Maine lobster.

Phasing out (but only gone on Vista so far) Waves, the pool grill, serves a surf and turf sandwich with lobster and fillet mignon.  It's being replaced by a waygu burger.

1 minute ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Uh, no?

 

I used it in the sense of this definition:  a person who offers an argument in defense of something controversial.

Ah!  Gotcha.  Accusing a line of screwing up is defending them.

Well...  Good point.  "Screw-ups" is not as bad as "evil money-grubbers".  

6 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

Seems like this thread would be better suited for either Norwegian or the Antarctica Port of Calls forums. 

On the surface, yes.  But it's really about "how cruise lines come to make pax irate at them", and O has a talent for that, no?

Or --just maybe-- O just attracts irate-prone pax?  😉

13 hours ago, Snaefell3 said:

⋮

a screw-up at the last minute

⋮

55 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

⋮

(That requirement also would have nothing to do with the "go slow" excuse that has been cited by some apologists....)

"Apologist"?

"I don't think that word means what you think it means"

— Inigo Montoya, Princess Bride

42 minutes ago, ppanyan said:

I think I heard/read someplace that many of the dishes from the GDR are also available in the Terrace Cafe.  Is that true?

Yep.  The crap-shoot is "which?"  😉

Remind us, please, where Marina is headed?

(I just looked on O's website and they've already blanked it out)

2 hours ago, TRLD said:

There are also the recent changes in ship certification requirements for ships sailing in polar waters, that have kicked in over the past couple of years. The exact dates are different for each ship based upon recertification dates for each ship. There was some discussion about it a couple of years ago and how the rule changes would prevent most of the sail by ships from going as far south. So far most lines have been less impacted than expected, but maybe the new rules are getting enforced. If so they would put most of the peninsula out of reach for non polar reinforced ships.

Uhh...  No.

Both Paradise Bay and Admiralty Bay are south of 60ºS, and subject to the same certification requirements.  Star headed for Admiralty Bay, so it wasn't that that kept her from Paradise Bay.

NCL has stated that Star had to go slower than was planned and so simply couldn't get to Paradise Bay and back before the next cruise.  I've speculated upthread that they discovered a screw-up at the last minute: no one had loaded the new 2023-24 IAATO marine mammal speed restrictions into the voyage management plan.