ppanyan

@dock Our sailing is not until 2025, so you'll get a chance to see the cabin first. I would definitely be interested in your comments on the cabin after your sailing. Thanks.

Glad you are happy with that cabin. I had considered those aft PH3's but was thinking they might be noisier than the fore cabins. I agree their location looks good. Interesting, though, that you were assigned it from a guaranteed cabin rate. I had thought that the less desirable cabins were allocated to the guaranteed assignments. But it sounds like you don't think it is less desirable.

@mauibabes We took 10034, which is a bit closer to the elevator but also a bit further from the laundry. You mentioned that the couch in that cabin is a sofa bed and hence a bit firmer. I don't think that would be a problem. I am definitely looking forward to going to Barista's to get my coffee and have a sit watching the views.

I have used Shore Excursions Group for independent excursions. This outfit also seems to be the preferred independent outfit from my TA. Shore Excursions Group has a guarantee to get you back to the ship on time or they will get you to the next port for free. Fortunately I have never had to take advantage of that guarantee.

Am booking it first thing tomorrow with my TA. Thanks!

@mauibabes or anyone else familiar with Vista: I am debating between PH3 cabins 10034 and 10032 on deck 10 port side just forward of the front elevators. (The starboard PH3 cabins are already taken.) Any recommendation between the two? I am wondering if 10034 is too close to the elevators for noise (is there really a lot of noise or is it not very noticeable?), but also wondering if 10032 is too close to the laundry room. Are there interior crew doors across from either? Thanks for any insights.

Yay! My future cruise is saved from disaster. 😃

Can I get a cafe mocha at Baristas? I don't see that on the menu. I can't drink coffee without chocolate in it. (Sorry, coffee purists...)

"We certainly did not". Hopefully that refers to you not having issues with the motion of the ocean rather than not enjoying the savings and cruise. 😮 As for ship motion, I have generally stayed mid-ship just because that is where my TA has recommended. I have experienced side-to-side motion before on cruises, which has not bothered me. So I'm guessing that forward-backward motion might not be an issue. Looking at the full length of the ship, though, I think those PH3 cabins are actually on the border between mid-ship and fore. So probably okay. Thanks for the reply to my question.

Are there any issues with the PH3 cabins on deck 10 of Vista? Those cabins are just forward of the front elevators. Those PH3 cabins seem well situated, so I'm wondering why they are PH3 and not PH2. The reason I am suspicious is because on deck 9, the A2 cabins extend from mid-ship to past the front elevators, and on deck 8 the B1 cabins extend similarly. So why on deck 10 does the cabin category go down just past the front elevators? Are there crew working rooms on the inside along that hallway that make them noisier, or some other adverse condition? I think there is a laundry room on the port side, but would that affect the starboard side?

I was on Apex in January in a Sky Suite. I only saw my cabin attendant, never saw a butler. Of course maybe there was a butler out there who had the misfortune to always knock on my cabin door when I wasn't in. I always went to the Retreat Lounge to talk to the hosts there to handle my requests/issues. They never told me to talk to my butler, so maybe.... no butler?

I was on the Apex in January in a Sky Suite. I only saw my cabin attendant, never saw a butler. I went to the Retreat Lounge to talk to the hosts there and they handled any requests/issues I had. Of course, it's entirely possible there was a butler out there somewhere who had the misfortune of knocking on my cabin door only when I was not in the room.

Regardless of whether you remove items or not, be sure to check that the mini-fridge is completely stocked with all expected items when you first go to your room on embarkation. I failed to do that. Later when I realized an item was missing it was too late. I got charged for an item that I had not consumed. Interestingly, there was an extra bottle of champagne and water hidden behind a curtain that I also did not notice until later (which is what prompted me to finally check the mini-fridge). I suppose I was as unobservant as my cabin attendant when checking my room on embarkation.

I am considering booking a cruise for next summer of 2025 on Vista. I'm wondering if anyone has comments on the following cabin booking strategy assuming that there will be at least one promotion this year for at least a one category upgrade. I would like to ultimately be in a PH3 or better cabin. One strategy is to book an A1 category cabin and then count on a category upgrade promotion to kick me up to PH3 for no additional cost. Another strategy is to book a PH3 cabin and then count on using a cabin upgrade promotion to get a discount (rebate) on my PH3 cabin down to the A1 price. Thoughts on which is the better strategy?

I did Le Petit Chef on Apex in January. Although the lobster dish was absolutely fantastic, I found the animation "show" to be underwhelming. I'm glad I did it for "free" using OBC rather than pay. I had thought there would be table animation throughout most of the meal, but really it was just a short animation before each course. Cute, but in these days of so much good animated graphics all around us in life, I found the animation at Le Petit Chef to be a bit out-dated*. The waiter did tell me that there were plans to produce a more enhanced animation later this year, so hopefully the show will improve with time. *Disclosure: I used to do computer programming, so perhaps my threshold for good graphic animation is higher than otherwise.

I see that the Concierge cabins on Vista are listed as being 291 square feet with a 27 square foot veranda. Do you know if the 291 square feet includes the veranda or excludes the veranda. Different cruise lines include or exclude the veranda from the cabin square foot size even when they list the veranda size separately.

I seem to have started a bit of a storm with my initial comments on Luminae. My issue is not necessarily with the menu, which had some interesting dishes listed. My disappointment was with the quality of the food. Case in point: One night I ate at Le Petite Chef and had lobster. I was blown away with how fantastic the lobster tasted. Another night I ordered lobster at Luminae. There the lobster was no better than lobster cooked at a chain restaurant. Similar situation with a few other dishes. I will concede, though, that the duck at Luminae was one exceptional dish I did have there.

I just sailed on the Celebrity Apex. The waiter in Luminae was very reluctant to let me order anything from any of the other restaurants. On Apex, Luminae is at the front of the ship and all other restaurants are at the back of the ship. The Luminae waiter insisted that any dish I wanted from one of the other restaurants would take a long time and be cold by the time it got to the front of the ship. I'm not sure if the waiter was being lazy or honest. But to be honest, I wasn't thrilled with the food and service in Luminae. I actually ate in Blu more since the food and service were better there. I would not book Retreat for the restaurant. I book Retreat because the rooms are so much nicer and I also really like Retreat lounge, which is a nice haven from the crowds in the rest of the ship.

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

Thank you everyone for your great helpful replies. Sounds like I won't need to be worried about being bored with the food on Oceania. Makes me more confident booking a cruise with them. Thanks!

I am considering to sail on Vista in the Mediterranean next year as my first Oceania cruise. I have heard that the food on Oceania is better than other cruise lines. I just got off a Celebrity Apex cruise and the food was very disappointing. One thing I did not like on Celebrity Apex is that the buffet and restaurant menus did not really change much from night to night. I like the informality and convenience of the buffet, but honestly the Oceanview Cafe on Celebrity got really boring after a few nights of the same offerings every night. There wasn't even a themed set of dishes each night to reflect the region/port we were in, which some other lines do. The restaurants weren't much better. So my question is if the menus in the main dining room and Terrace Cafe on Oceania Vista are changed up every night to keep things interesting.