msn123

As long as I am enjoying a cruise I don't care about the "proper" pronunciation! (This thread made me laugh.)

One of our best Mediterranean cruises was a November one a number of years ago. The weather was perfect and the summer tourists were gone. We got very lucky with the weather, but knew we were taking a chance since you obviously couldn't control that. You need to be back on board by the time it gets dark anyway, so I wouldn't be concerned about that. Vista is a beautiful ship. I would say you should go for it!

I agree that they should always use providers who have "whisper" or VOX systems. Especially since they are now filling the buses to capacity on many tours it is impossible to hear guides unless you are right in front of them. Then they turn around to lead and keep talking and no one can hear. (Don't get me started on the tall folks who push ahead and then don't move and the shorter ones spend most of the tour looking at tall backs!)

Usually the excursions shown for a port remain similar year to year. You can book them when they are officially listed about a year out. My advice would be to book them as soon as they become available. With the Simply More program, many do reach their maximum number of participants. You can always keep checking and switch things up if something more interesting to you gets scheduled. Reaching out to customer service is the best way to book excursions. Sometimes on line doesn't figure the prices correctly.

https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/ We transferred from Heathrow to Southampton and planned a stop at Stonehenge (got our own tickets there) along the way. Our driver also did a quick stop for us to see Salisbury Cathedral. Most accommodating. They do transfers from the port to Heathrow, too.

The Aquamar Terrace is pretty small and there are chair hogs there, too. The champagne can be brought to a dining venue, but if wine and beer are now included is that of additional value? We have done concierge level on longer cruises with more sea days. On shorter cruises that are port intensive we don't see much added value.

Sadly, pretty useless.

Last Friday I got an automatic email saying the request had been received and it showed up as a credit on my invoice about and hour later. Maybe the elves were working overtime! (I know some credits cannot be combined with some of their sale pricing but have never been denied the shareholder credit.)

Not a problem to do, but you would be wise to arrange transportation in advance and take your own bags off the ship.

We usually go up to the pool deck or above so we don't miss any of it!

You know, it really is not that difficult to log off one device if you want to use a second one and only have one account. At least for us this is not a big deal.

It will be much less expensive to do a bit of research and set up a private excursion doing what you want to do. Unless you have tons of shipboard credits you are basically paying big bucks for a middleman (Oceania) to set it up for you.

We have booked a private transfer from Heathrow to a hotel in Southampton with a 2 hour stop at Stonehenge on the way. Have to buy our own tickets to Stonehenge, but they were very explicit as to how to do it. internationalfriends.co.uk We plan to explore a bit in Southampton the next day before we board the ship.

i have my boarding documents without having to struggle to upload the picture. On the form there was an option to take the picture later. They always retake it when you check in anyway. Made it a whole lot simpler.

If you take the excursion option, you can book excursions up to $199.....which can be a decent deal even though most excursions are overpriced.

Deb, Hope we get to cruise together again! Glad to see you are back traveling. And we should compare new knees at some point!!! Margie

If you are on the Marina the ship overnights in Hamburg. Not an issue with an early flight in that instance. Our flight leaves at 10 AM. If we had a morning port arrival I would have booked an afternoon flight. Plenty to see in and around Reykjavik. Stay an extra day if that could work for you.

The Marriott Biscayne Bay was easy and convenient when we did it in December. (And there was a Publix within walking distance if you want to pick up some wine to have in your cabin.) It was a quick Uber to the port, too.

You would probably do better finding a private tour operator who can customize a tour for your group. I would bet it would be less expensive to go that route. Spend some time online and compare.

We use AMEX to receive the credit, too. In our years of cruising, once or twice we have been told that on some special fare offers the AMEX credit is not able to be combined. My agent figured out what was the best way to book it and we took whatever it was. If you read the Oceania fine print you can see that they make (and can change) the rules. We always ask for an invoice after final payment to make sure it shows.....and that is after we deal with the shareholder credit, too!

You will pay for the full cruise, but if agreeable to Oceania you should be able to disembark.

Hire a private driver to pick you up with your luggage and arrange a couple of hours touring the island with a drop off at the airport.

Paul Baya is opening Vista.

Sign up sheets will be in the card room. Then put together your own game from those who sign up. there may also be unhosted times suggested in Currents.

mumcat, Email me at margnewman"at" aol "dot" com. We have a late afternoon flight from Barbados next month. I did not want to wait to see what Oceania might offer and found a company that will do a 3 hour tour with an airport drop off.