SophieM

On 4/15/2024 at 3:43 PM, Pearl64 said:

Contacted my TA today. Our cruise April 1-13, 2025 will disembark and embark from Tokyo International Cruise Terminal and not Yokohama. The Kyoto stop is not known at this time . Oceania claims it is too early to know. I guess both our guide and we will need to be flexible.we also need to wait for the “free” hotel  choice to be announced. Some ship excursions are already full. Hopefully this will all work out.

1 hour ago, Rainbow3fe said:

I appreciate your help. 

 

We are n this cruise, too!

And, I think they’ve just extended the requirement for another year. 🤣

We’ve been told they will hold your table for 15 minutes past your reservation time. I do agree with Vallesan’s comments. 

16 hours ago, sunnies said:

We embark in Tokyo on April 1 so sadly will miss you. We will spend 2 nights in Tokyo pre cruise so perhaps our Pandaw group could have a reunion. 

We’re not a member of the Pandaw group, but we’ll be on this cruise, too!

49 minutes ago, ORV said:

I also got that survey. Unfortunately it didn't have a spot to put any comments or suggestions. They only want answers that will reflect the outcome of what they've already decided should happen. Many surveys are written this way. 

I agree. No opportunity to comment and several of the questions were too broad. Sadly, I think it is typical of the O end of cruise surveys, though you can comment on those. 

12 minutes ago, woodley said:

We did a ships tour which was great but a little rustic.  The local school put on a dance performance which was really great.  Just out of the port gates there was a small craft market set up and you can walk into the town but to be honest there is not that much to see.  However the people are so friendly and constantly stopped us asking to take pictures with us and a couple of times we were asked for our autographs which I found very strange.  We loved this stop on our cruise and hope it retains its charm once tourism takes a hold here.

Thanks!

2 minutes ago, globalgertie said:

We just walked around and were able to talk to a couple of the residents.i don’t think they get a lot of tourists. When we got tired of walking, we took a pedicab (don’t remember if it was pulled by motorcycle or bicycle) back down to the port. Very interesting to see posted signs with arrows pointed uphill to evacuation areas, in case of tsunamis. When we were there in early ‘19 they were building new docks, so I hope they have cruises using them, if they are finished. 

Thanks for your reply!

We will have a port call in Sabang (Pulau Weh), but I haven’t been able to find any tours other than those offered by the ship. If you have been there, I’d really appreciate any suggestions. 
 

Thanks much!

30 minutes ago, LuAnn said:

Do they still have the "Art Hunt" where you go around trying to ID the items? They had that on Vista in October and it was fun!! 🙂

They do!

6 minutes ago, ORV said:

We were dining with a group at Jacques and someone asked if we could have our dessert delivered to the room. They took everyone's room number and delivered it around the requested time. We all wanted to hit the evening trivia and didn't have time to wait for dessert. First time I've ever done something like that. They came about 20 minutes later than requested. No big deal. Only thing I didn't like is there was no ice cream with my Jacques Favorite Apple Tart. Blasphemy. 

OMG! 😱

27 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

Just order room service perhaps. 

My thoughts, too. 

I am also curious about this and would like to hear from anyone who has been stopped.

Thanks!

My husband often goes to the spa to shower when we’re on the R ships. 

So many bad puns. 🤣 Love it!! Sorry for those on board, though. 

Oooooohhhh, we should be getting ours any day for our 4/28 on the Riviera!

Dinner soon??

2 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

Weird, a topless woman on a beach at St. Bart's doesn't cause the end of the world, but a topless woman on an O cruise ship does? Odd how a tiny bikini makes all the difference. More power to the nudists if they've got the numbers to charter the ship. The nudist colonies and resorts, like bowling alleys, have struggled in the USA.

 

The more fascinating issue is...do they change any policies in regard to cellphones? They say the rise of cellphones that can take immediately take and store high quality photographs has hurt the nudist business.

The cruise we followed was a swingers’ cruise, so perhaps more than just topless women. And, gee, what about the bottomless men??

1 minute ago, Vallesan said:

The article was a few weeks after my email and it does clearly state that PH bathrooms will be refurbished but no mention of ‘all of the staterooms will have a fabric and upholstery refresh’ so who actually knows!!

 

We are due on the first cruise after refurbishment so it may just be a case of ‘wait and see’ what actually does happen!

I think that’s the best advice. Having been on the refurbished Riviera and just last month on the Marina, I can safely say, for us anyway, that though we’d love to have the redone bathrooms, their lack is not a deal breaker by any stretch. We found the Marina to be very well maintained. I think O is doing all they can/as much as they can while still recovering financially from Covid and bringing the new ships on board, so to speak. 🙂

1 hour ago, Vallesan said:

I think I’m sorry I asked the question now!!!!

No kidding! We were on the Regatta in French Polynesia a couple of years ago that immediately followed a similar charter. It was a bit unsettling thinking about it. I’m going to say the crew got an eyeful. 😳

4 minutes ago, dirtydan said:

Usually a pill line in the shower. 

 

I would instead use the free machines located on every floor.

Regatta only has one laundry room, which is on Deck 7. 

1 hour ago, Snaefell3 said:

The problem often is that if the forecast says conditions might kick up before the last tender of the day is scheduled to run and can't, he doesn't want pax stranded ashore.

We had that happen in February. It was fine going in, but it turned really rough in the afternoon. We were on one of the last tenders, and it was really rough. After a few passes, we were able to pull along side, but then the mooring rope broke, and it took several more. Several people were rather panicked. Not us, though. 🙂

Idle curiosity question to anyone who is on this cruise or the last one. How is the new cruise director doing? She seemed a bit of an odd choice to me, but what do I know??

1 hour ago, MVPinBoynton said:

I have just posted my review of our Oceania Riviera SE Asia cruise that started in Singapore.  We stayed there 3 nights before the cruise.   I definitely recommend getting the Grab app.  It is just like Uber and made getting around so easy.  It also saved us a bunch getting to the port. I have lots of photos and some videos during our visit there in the review.  A link to my reviews is in my signature. 

Thanks for your post and link to your review! We, too, will be on the Riviera, having last sailed on her shortly after her refurb. Our itinerary is Singapore to Dubai. 

Thanks so much to all who have posted so far! We will be there towards the end of April and can’t wait! I’ll look forward to reading more posts and adding my thoughts, too, after our visit. 
 

Jane

We just ended a cruise in Santiago a few weeks ago and stayed at Hotel Le Rêve. It’s a small boutique hotel in a neighborhood with a number of restaurants nearby. We were quite happy with it. 

Just now, SophieM said:

Same here! Patrick has retired, but his assistant Shaun Jaffray took over. Shaun’s mom was our driver. It was quite the ride but so worth it!

Shaun’s company is Adventure Falklands.