NC Garden Traveler

Olga, I started a roll call for the cruise earlier today. Join and let's stay in touch.

David

Nautica has been doing its annual Cape Town to Singapore run every February, and then continuing on to China, Japan, and back to Bangkok in March and April for as long as I can remember. By the time Nautica gets to India, it's May and its hot (upper 90s) and I'd rather be in North Carolina.  By going in January, Sirena will be enjoying average temperatures will be in the low 80s. As noted in my initial post, it's not about being there, but being there at the right time.

We love to cruise in January and February, but after several cruises in the Caribbean, we want to do something else. The Southern Hemisphere during this time period is their summer and is hot. I was delighted to see that Sirena' in the winter of 2020-21 is doing South Asia  I'm a believer in being at the right place at the right time and think going to India in January is a great idea. Very few other cruise lines are in the area at that time of year. 

We did our first Viking Ocean cruise this past January. I was amazed how many of the passengers were Viking River veterans who had a little or no prior ocean cruising experience. But they were avid Viking fans. I will admit their ocean ships are beautiful and functional (especially the bathrooms and Atrium, which benefits from not having  a casino - but realize that there are not casinos on river boats). The food was well prepared, but nothing fancy. The enrichment lecturers were also very good. The exceptionally good reviews are partially merited, but are substantially skewed by the fact that they have a large and loyal customer base that have done river cruises with them. .

We have not been on Azamara, but I'm guessing they have a significant number of customers who rate it relative to previous cruises on Royal Caribbean.  

We are booked on the Breeze's Panama Canal & Costa Rica cruise this coming January. Windstar's published itinerary includes a day at Isla de Coiba, but provides no information on planned activities or excursions on that day. In the past (before the Pride ran aground at Isla de Coiba last December), my understanding is the this stop included an onshore picnic and excursions. Does anyone out there have any insight into what activities are planned for the upcoming season? My understanding is that there are some good snorkeling locations near the island, but don't know any details.

We just booked our first WS cruise this coming January. We will be on Breeze. Can reservations be made prior to boarding?

The link provided by Celebrity mentions Amras River Cruises, which is a different river cruise line than AMA Waterways. Based on a quick read of Celebrity's post, it appears they are marketing a vacation package that combines a river cruise on Amras and an ocean cruise on Celebrity.

HDS,

Thanks for the information. Sorry to hear that the river level is so low. Predicting rainfall is difficult, but your comments about the Viking crew and the day boat cruise option upriver from Dresden are much appreciated.

Do you have any idea about how the draft on the Fontane compares to the draft on Viking's two new Elbe River ships (Astrild and Bestla)?

NC Garden Traveler

Hi, seabreezer. Try this one: http://view.email.cruisecritic.com/?j=fe9115727366007572&m=fe911570736003797d&ls=fe201077736d0175741073&l=ff5913777d&s=fe4f1d79736502757111&jb=ff971272&ju=fe5e15727d66007e7212&et_cid=1262487&et_rid=99616845&r=0

 

We're working to convert it to a regular story on the site :)

 

Carolyn

Carolyn,

Thanks for providing a link to CC's river cruise summary. I think you have done a good job capturing a sense of what the various lines offer. Getting back to the OP's orginal question of Uniworld vs. Viking, I think your summary is quite useful. Some folks travel to sight see and are happy on a ship with Scandanavian decor, while others want to be pampered with plusher, more elegant French decor.

We generally choose our travel based on itinerary, and enjoy Oceania for ocean cruises. As noted in your summary, we would probably also enjoy river cruising with AMA. However, we have only done three river cruises spaced over the past 12 years, with two on Viking and one on Avalon. We enjoyed all three, but would note that the river cruise industry has changed significantly over that time period. Clearly, river ships that were built in 1990 are very different than those being built today. Too often, people form an opinion about what is good vs. bad (or good vs. best) based on a single experience at a specific time and location. My impression based on our travels (and from talking to others) is that generalizations are difficult.

However, I do believe that companies that expand rapidly go through 'growing pains.' Some of the negative posts that I read on CC about Viking are a reflection that it is building an amazing number of new ships that are staffed by new hires. Oceania had similar problems when they doubled in size when Marina and Riviera were launched. Rapdily growing companies need to work hard to maintain consistency of their products.

I appreciate the efforts that CC makes to help consumers make informed decisions about their cruising options. Ultimately, however, happiness and satisfaction depend on the preferences and attitudes of the consumer.

I had booked the Elegent Elbe cruise for 2015 earlier this year on the Schumann and discovered yesterday that Viking will be launching two new ships specifically for the Elbe in 2015. I would have been OK with the Schumann, but I rebooked our cruise on the Astrild (Beyla's new sister ship) earlier today. I'm going to start a new thread with the title 'Viking/Elbe/2015' if you want to start a dialogue.

David

Have been thinking--would line/itinerary/year work. An example might be: Viking/Elbe/2015. Then all Viking cruises in 2015 would not be lumped together and others who have travelled on that trip might be able to answer questions. It would all give others on an Elbe cruise another avenue for information. Thanks for listening. Pat

It sounds like PacMom and I are in the minority, but I agree with her. I have booked a Viking/Elbe/2015 cruise. I think it would be very frustrating to use the line/year format. I have no interest in reading about Viking trips to China or on the Rhone.

I do like the idea of using 'Ports' as a way to share information related to a river. The challenge will be to get CC users to use Ports to organize river information. Would it be possible to actually create a 'Rivers' category as a major heading, with subheadings for the Elbe, Rhone, etc?

Best wishes,

David

We were on Nautica in March. On one of the sea days, they scheduled a food and wine paired tasting in Toscana right after lunch (1:00). Unfortunately, we had lunch in the GDR that ran long (due to enjoyable conversation) and didn't get to the tasting and don't know the details, but I think the food was mainly small portion/tapas.

However, if the goal is to a paired tasting of food and wine is the goal, why not schedule it in Toscana or Polo at lunch time and make it a real meal?

David

I'm not trying to re-start the 'flames' associated with this thread, but I think some follow-up comments and discussion may be useful.

I'm Nancy's friend who was on the Beijing-to-Bangkok cruise that responded to her e-mail asking if there was any illness aboard Nautica during our cruise. I am the source of the 20% illness estimate noted at the start of this thread. As such, I'd like to provide some first-hand comments regarding the basis for this estimate. I want to emphasize that I am a cruiser with a fairly good understanding of statistics, and not a medical professional. I also have a good understanding of facts versus inferences, and potential errors associated with interpretation of sparse information.

1. As introductory background, I coordinated private tours for a number of people during the cruise and made dinner reservations prior to cruise with most of these couples. Through these contacts as well as the Meet and Greet and daily Team Trivia, I had fairly frequent contact and communication with approximately 60 passengers, equal to just under 10% of the guests on the cruise.

2. When we boarded Nautica on March 10, all guests were given a letter stating that in excess of 2% of the guests aboard the previous cruise had reported illnesses and that this notification was being provided as required by the CDC. Note, 2% is the threshold level that requires notification, not the % of people actually ill. Nothing was said in the letter regarding that nature of those illnesses or what should be done if a guest became ill during our cruise.

3. At the CC Meet and Greet on March 11, several people brought up Oceania's '2% letter' but no one I talked to was aware of any sickness among current guests.

4. On March 12, we went with 2 other couples on a tour of Seoul. On the ride back to the ship, one of the husband's reported not feeling well and was nauseous.

5. On March 13, we had a dinner reservation in Polo with 3 other couples (none of whom had been on our tour in Seoul). That morning, all 3 couples reported that at least one of the pair was sick, that they had visited the on-board medical staff and had been quarantined in their room, and would not be able to join us for dinner. Over the next several hours, I saw several cabin stewards washing hand rails in the the hallways and stairwells, dining room personnel positioned near the hand 'sanitizer stations' at the entrance to all eateries, and that the self-service laundry was closed. I also noted that a large number of cabins (20-30%) in our hallway on Deck 7 had "privacy please - do not disturb" placards on their doors (which could be explained by slow recovery from jet lag, illness, or other things). At the Captain's reception that evening, we were told that the ship's crew would not be shaking hands to reduce the potential for spreading germs. At Polo, the waiter told us that the kitchen would not be able to serve any rare or meidum rare steaks. Taken as a whole, I inferred from these 'facts' that there was a substantial and widespread 'bug' aboard and that Oceania had implemented its 'action plan' to minimize further spread. However, there were no statements issued by Nautica explaining the situation to their guests or the what and why of the steps they were taking (other than hand sanitation).

4. On March 14, I accidentally walked down the the 4th deck corridor where the medical office is located and discovered a relatively long 'waiting line' in the hallway. We docked in Shanghai at 8:00, but were told that debarking had been delayed while the Chinese authorities reviewed unspecified conditions on the ship (which I interpretted to mean santitation and health information). The ship was cleared for debarkation at around 8:45.

5. On the morning of March 16, 3 of the 4 couples who had booked a private tour of Nagasaki on the March 17 indicated that at least one spouse was still not feeling well and might need to cancel. However, by that evening, everyone was feeling better and, except for one husband who felt weak and wanted to stay aboard to rest, everyone was ready to go on the tour.

6. Most of illness was intestinal and appeared to take 2-3 days to run its course. I was not aware of any additional intestinal illnesses after March 17. My e-mail response to Nancy on March 20, noted that sick passengers earlier in the cruise may have been "20% or more" earlier in the cruise but had decreased significantly.

7. No information was provided by Oceania staff during the cruise regarding how many people were affected, the nature of the illnesses, or things to do if further symptoms were noted.

8. During the latter half of the cruise, a number of passengers developed nasal congestion and a cough. Based simply on who was sick, it did not appear that the intestinal problems of the first week of the cruise and the coughing during the latter half were not directly related to each other. However, the heavy use of disinfectants to control the initial outbreak may have resulted in nasal and bronchial stress and led to subsequent coughing.

In summary, I understand Oceania's concerns about not causing a 'panic' by announcing widespread illness that makes it's way into the news media, and I think the Natica crew and medical staff did a good job getting the problem under control. However, I would encourage Oceania (and other cruise lines) to reassess their communication plan with passengers about the nature of any disease or illness outbreaks, and about meaningful preventive measures (other than hand washing and general sanitation). I'm surprised that the CDC requires cruise lines to notify passengers when more than 2% of the passengers on a prior cruise were ill, but that no additional notifications or information sharing is required if additional illnesses occur.

Several earlier posts on this thread noted that commenters should stick to 'facts' and not speculate. To those commenters I would reply that if you are sitting in the midst of illness and no one provides any information, speculation is inevitable and that honest discussion is the best approach to problem solving. If Chritopher Columbus had stuck to 'facts' (as they were then understood), he would have never left Spain.

I'll be happy to respond to any requests for additional details.

David

Currently on Marina and have withdrawn $500 twice from my self funded Bon voyage gift.

Used cash in casino and on shore. No 5% haircut.

I realize that I'm probably becoming a bit OCD about this, but I'd really like to get to the bottom of Oceania's policy. Rather than trusting an answer from someone answering phones in Miami, I guessing the folks who are employed as Pursers on Oceania ships know what the rules are. Kiawahdon, if you are still on Marina, would you be willing to discuss this topic with the Purser? I'd love to know what you find out!

Thanks,

NC Garden Traveler

Regarding the posts from hondorner, qldtravler, and JimandStan last night:

Each of these posts contain some useful information, but let me dig a little deeper. The situation I'm dealing with is in Southeast Asia where guides want to be paid in USD, as qldtraveler notes. Unfortunately, ATMs in Vietnam may be useful if you need dong, but aren't of much value if need USD.

Jimand Stan, can you further comment on the change is getting cash onboard in Southeast Asia? I haven't seen anything on the topic. Does your comment about money laundering imply a concern counterfeitting of USD? If so, are Oceania and others being encouraged to not provide cash, including to not cash travelers checks? I'd call Oceania and ask the question, but at this point I'm reluctant to trust the answer I'd get!

Thanks, NC Garden Traveler

Sweetpea,

The fact that you can't get a consistant answer from Oceania is very annoying. The first person I talked to gave me the same answer you got ($500/day from on-board account is OK). When I called back a couple of weeks later to set up an account, the rep said he would be able to take my money but that I couldn't withdraw it for on-shore expenses. When I explained that this contradicted the earlier information, he put me on hold to talk to his supervisor, and came back saying that his supervisor confirmed that you can't withdraw cash from a refundable OBC. He said you can withdraw $500/day as a cash advance with your credit card, but noted that the transaction would be subject to foreign currency exchange fees since Oceania uses a foreign bank to process on-board credit card transactions.

I subsequently found another CC thread discussing this topic and found a person who posted that he had an e-mail from Oceania confirming that that you could withdraw money from a refundable OBC, but when I contacted him he said he didn't actually have anything in writing, but argued that it is your money and you should be able to withdraw it when you want. I then contacted Oceania a third time, and tried to clearly state that I wanted to set up a refundable OBC prior to a cruise so that I could use the funds to cover on-shore expenses. The third agent restated the second reps position and stated that OBCs were specifically for on-board expenses and that if there were funds still in the account at the end of the cruise Oceania would issue a credit to your credit card as a refund. I found another posting on CC that stated that the purser on his cruise had sufficient funds on-board to give him cash rather than a credit card credit to settle the account, but that it was at the purser's convenience.

The bottom line from my discussions was that I could set up an OBC account and perhaps talk the purser into letting me take out cash, but that there was a very real possibility (if not likelihood) that he or she would refuse to do so. Before I would set up an account, I need to be certain that I can get the money out when I need it. Oceania's inability to provide consistent responses to this basic question is pretty darn amazing!

The only answer that I did consistently get was that the ship would exchange US-denominated travelers checks for US currency without imposing a fee and that there were no stated limitations on the dollar amount of such exchanges.

I you talk further with Oceania and get a clear and definitive answer, please let me know.

Thanks,

NC Garden Traveler

I started this thread back in December seeking input on options for obtaining cash from the ship purser to pay for on-shore expenses. This posting documents what I have subsequently learned based on followup conversations with Oceania and others.

1. There are two types of OBCs: refundable and non-refundable. Refundable OBCs can be purchased by you, your travel agent, or anyone else. Both types are specifically for on-board purchases, and neither allows cash withdrawals for off-ship activities during the cruise. Any remaining balance on the account will be refunded at the end of the cruise either as a credit card credit or as cash (the choice is Oceania's). Non-refundable OBCs are issued by Oceania as a sales promotion and are lost if not used during the cruise. The benefit of OBCs is that Oceania does not impose a transaction fee on such purchases, whereas they do impose fees on credit cards. The inabiliity to exchange refundable OBCs for cash during a cruise contradicts statements made in several posts made elsewhere on the CC Oceania message board.

2. Oceania will cash US-denominated travelers checks without fee if you want US dollars. If you want any currency other than US dollars there is a transaction fee. Unfortuantely, many US banks no longer handle travelers checks and they are hard to find.

3. Oceania will allow cash withdrawals of up to $500/day against a credit card, but there is a transaction fee on-board as well as a foreign bank transaction fee.

4. Because of concerns about electronic hacking, some banks recommend buying a pre-paid debit card as a safe alternative for getting cash in foreign countries (i.e., as a modern-day replacement for travelers checks). Sounds like a reasonable option, but Oceania says that they would handle such a withdrawal the same as the do a credit card and impose the same fees.

Hope someone finds this useful. If anyone has had other experiece or suggestions, let me know.

David

I'm on a Oceania Nautica cruise (750 passengers) in March that starts in Tianjin, goes to Seoul, and then to Shanghai (we will be docking at the Gaoyang Road cruise terminal just east of the Bund). Everyone on the cruise will have already gone through Chinese immiigration/customs when they fly into China and I'm sure our passports will be checked again when we board the ship in Tianjin. How much time is likely to be needed for visa checking/clearance in Shanghai? Specfically, how long does it typically take to get from the end of the ship's gangway to the door of the the tour guide's vehicle? We are planning to go to Suzhou immediately after arriving and am trying to figure out how much time we will probably have for sightseeing once we get there.

Thanks,

NC Garden Traveler

An approach I am using is to use my frequent flier credit card to buy myself a significant on board credit as a bon voyage gift to myself. Oceania has confirmed via email and the cash will be waiting for me when I board. Only limitation may be that I can only "withdraw" no more than $500/day. Not really an issue for me.

Kiawahdon,

Can you e-mail me a copy of the e-mail you have from Oceania related to buying and cashing OBCs? We leave in about 6 weeks for a week in China prior to boarding Nautica's cruise from Tianjin (Beijing) to Bangkok. I've arranged a couple of private tours in Vietnam where the guides want payment in USD. I have talked to Oceania twice about buying OBCs now and cashing them during the cruise. The first Oceania agent I talked to (several weeks ago) said that was OK. When I called back last week to actually buy OBCs, the agent said he could process my buy order, but that I couldn't withdraw funds during the cruise (i.e., that OBCs were for on-board purchases only). My e-mail address in dmwhite_nc at yahoo dot com.

If anyone reading this thread has experience with this approach, feel free to jump in.

Thanks,

NC Garden Traveler

I contacted Oceania and the answer is you can pre-purchase OBCs and withdraw up to $500 per day in cash. The advantage of pre-purchase is that there is no foreign transaction fee (charging them via credit card while aboard incurs foreign transaction fees as has been discussed elsewhere in another thread).

I'd also note that my call was answered very quickly (<15 seconds hold time). In another thread, a poster noted that he was upset about long hold times so I thought I'd add my experience to this post.

David

We are taking the Nautica cruise to southeast Asia in March and are doing a week of independent travel in China before boarding Nautica. Several of the tour guides in Vietnam have requested payment in US dollars. The cumulative amount is more than I want to carry on my person prior to boarding Nautica. Is it possible to deposit money with Oceania prior to the cruise and then withdraw money on an as-needed basis from the ship's purser? The total dollar amount is over $1,000 and I don't want to run into a snag after we get there.

Thanks,

David

Whether you are happy or not with a cruise line's air booking service, I think there are several 'truth in advertising' issues that warrant highlighting. I normally do our flight selection and purchase the tickets myself, but used Viking on a recent river cruise based on an advertized "$550/person discount."

We booked a Viking cruise to Southern France 15 months in advance. They claimed the airfare was $1600 per person pre-discount (I don't know where this number came from) and $1050 with the discount. However, because we wanted to do some additional sightseeing time after the cruise ended, we had to pay a custom air fee of $150 each, which increased the total cost to $1200. Out of curiosity, I checked the cost of the airfare about 6 month prior to the cruise and found that I could have booked it myself for slightly under $1000. OK, maybe airfares dropped, but I question where the original $1600 claimed cost came from.

The second frustration was that although Viking reserved the seats, they do not pay for them until 45 days prior to the flight (although they required payment from me at the time of booking). Because they were not paid for, the airline (Delta) would not allow me to upgrade the seats to economy comfort until the tickets were issued. Fortunately, there were still EC seats available at 45 days out, so I was able to upgrade.

The third frustration was that when we got home, we received only 25% mileage credit on our Frequent Flyer accounts from the airline. I called the airline and was told that flights booked through cruise companies are 'deeply discounted' and the FF mileage is generally not credited or significantly reduced.

All of the above may be well known to others who use cruise lines to book flights, but I'm unlikely to use cruise air services again.

NC Garden Traveler

My wife and I enjoy both ocean and river cruising and just completed a Rhone River cruise on one of Viking's older ships (built in 2000 and scheduled to be taken out of service at the end of this year). We enjoy the food, bedding, and service on Oceania, but we realize that there are lots of places in the world that we want to see that aren't accessible by ocean liner and don't enjoy living out of a suitcase. We chose Viking after reading posts on Cruise Critic and concluding that most river cruise companies have very similar itineraries, essentially all companies have proponents and detractors (and that most river cruisers have traveled on only one line), and that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder.'

After much deliberation, we selected Viking based on significantly lower price than AMA and Uniworld (perhaps because it was an older ship). Prior to the cruise, I had a few pangs of buyer's remorse (I'll never use Viking Air again, but I don't use Oceania's either). We knew the cabin was smaller than on Oceania (but also realized we were taking the trip to see southern France, not to sit in a room) and the food and service wouldn't be up to Oceania standards. With our expectations thus set, I have to say that we actually enjoyed ourselves and the cruise.

The food was prepared from fresh ingredients and varied each day. All three meals were better than expected, especially at lunch and dinner. The house red wine changed each day and was reasonably good (the white wines were disappointing) and there was no corkage fee if you wanted to bring your own bottle (since the tour included Burgandy and the Rhone valley, we bought bottles at several stops). The bed was below Oceania standards (but that can be said for lots of beds). The tours guides were generally quite good and the electronic head sets were useful, but not intrusive (Viking provided separate tours for active and slow walkers). Overall, we had a good time. It wasn't up to Oceania standards, but we didn't expect it to be.

Will we river cruise again? Yes.

Will we go with Viking again? If the itinerary is interesting.

Will we judge compare a river cruise to Oceania? No we won't because they are inherently different.

My two cents,

David

P.S.: Our next cruise is this coming March on Nautica from Tianjin (Beijing) to Bangkok with a week of independent rail travel in Shanghia, Hangzhou, and Beijing beforehand and a week in Kyoto and Tokyo afterward. Given the choice between visiting China by river cruise or by rail and ocean liner, we chose the later.

We are booked on Nautica's Beijing-to-Bangkok cruise in March 2104. I'd appreciate information on where the shuttle service provided by Oceania drops of at in the city. Was there one drop off point or several? Do you remember where the points were? Can the shuttle on the day of debarkation to carry luggage?

Thanks,

David

I agree with the comments made about adding more time in Shanghai and Istanbul.

We are on the 2014 Nautica cruise from Beijing to Bangkok. With high-speed rail in China (200 mph+), you can get from Shanghai to Suzhou in 30 minutes and from Shanghai to Hangzhou in an hour. If you don't think there is much to do in Shanghai, you haven't done your homework!

Two other comments on the Beijing to Bangkok itinerary. Advertizing a 7-hr port stop in Halong Bay as Hanoi is crazy. It's a 3-hr drive each way! To have time to visit Hanoi, you either need an additional day or a port stop of at least 12 hours. On the other hand, my current reaction is who came up with the idea of spending 8 hours in Dalian, China? Maybe I'll be surprised, but at this point it looks like a wasted day that would have been better used as a day at sea combined with a later departure from Beijing and earlier arrival in Seoul.

Istanbul is one of the great cities of the world. We sailed from Venice to Instanbul on Insignia several years ago. We spent a couple of post-cruise days in Istanbul after the cruise and had a great time. We'd love to do another cruise out of Istanbul, but have no desire to go back to Athens.

NC Garden Traveler