ak1004

You are so obsessed with sales, promotions, pre-SM, post-SM etc. that you are missing the big picture. To me it's pretty simple: if I see an itinerary that I like at reasonable price, I book it. It could be O or any other premium/luxury line. I don't care what the fare includes - it might include things we don't use like alcohol, it doesn't matter to me if the itinerary and price are right. I don't care what the price was in 2022 or 2002 and what it included then. Sorry but I'm done.

Once again, meaningless without mentioning cruise length and category, and also completely irrelevant. SS and Crystal prices increased by 25-30% in 2025 compared to 2022, so what?

When you say price rose by $800, it's meaningless. It depends on cruise length, category, etc. How can you make such a general statement?? Cruises that I tracked increased by $400 for category that I tracked. Those were 10 nights cruises in Europe in OV. I'm sure 30 nights cruises increased by much more and 7 nights cruises by less. PH definitely increased by more. We booked 2 cruises on Vista in Europe for 2025. One at $330 USD pp, one at $360. I could not find better value with any of premium/luxury lines. If one of them goes on sale, we will rebook. Otherwise, we are happy with the price, considering the prices I see in 2025 on SB, SS, Crystal, or even Windstar. I couldn't care less what the price was in 2022. It's completely irrelevant.

Probably keep bashing the SM?

Hank, thank you for your reports and glad that you are enjoying Vista. I'm sure you will cover it, but 2 quick questions: Does Vista feel more crowded than SB or EJ, and how does the food compare to those two lines, in MDR and specialty restaurants?

I don't know why people still continue comparing pre-SM with post-SM. OLife is history. The only thing that matters is how the current prices compare to other lines. If you still see value with SM, continue booking SM. If not, vote with your wallet and book another line. It's that simple. We booked 3 cruises with SS despite the fact that we don't drink and prefer to book our own tours. Why? Because the itinerary and the price were right for us and those 3 specific sailings provided better value than O.

Maybe they can give the credit only if they cancel, not the customer (or the port is missed)? Same as with cruise cancellation policy. They cancel = full refund. Customer cancels = cancellation policy applies.

I believe this is a common problem for all lines that have "free" (included) excursions or excursion credit. Consider Silversea as an example. Their pricing is significantly higher than their closest competitor Seabourn because they include 1 "free" excursion in each port. However, when I'm looking at our upcoming SS cruise in May, about 70% of the included excursions are waitlisted or full. They have "select" excursions which are extra cost. So you paid more for the cruise itself, and now you have to pay extra for some excursions because the included excursions are full. Also, if they miss a port or cancel an excursion, there is no refund or credit. This is even worse than O. This is why many people consider "free" (or included) excursions not a good deal for guests. You pay for them indirectly, but in many cases you cannot use them. I don't know what a reasonable solution would be.

Matter of expectations I guess.. While not any of my cruises has been absolutely perfect, I've had a wonderful time on all of them. We always embarked with the attitude that we would have a good time and we always did. I know I'll be well taken care of, see lots of interesting sights, and not have to worry about cooking or cleaning up after myself. If we miss a port for some reason, that's a risk one takes going on a ship as opposed to a land trip. Some of those reviews just make me laugh. People don't appreciate what they have.

Thanks for the report. Silversea which is supposed to be an ultra luxury line, starts the check in at 2pm, and cabins are ready at 4pm. And I don't remember anyone greeting us with a glass of champagne on our recent SS sailing. I remember Bermuda was cancelled last year too on a sailing around this time. I'm not sure why they keep schedule stops in Bermuda in March knowing that those stops will probably be cancelled.

I posted a comparison of SS and O a while ago: To me, O provides a better value for money, especially after recent dramatic price increase on SS. I don't really care what category each of them belongs, they are comparable to me in areas that are important to me, at least when comparing the newer O ships. SS has excursions included in price (one in each port), but some excursions are still extra, and even some included excursions are sold out months before the sailing, so this is not much different from O.

Not all lines increase prices at the same pace. SB and O are still very reasonably priced and are much better value for money.

Personally I agree with you 100%. We don’t drink alcohol and we prefer to book private tours. But based on the discussions with many guests, and number of Oceania buses in every port, most people are not like us. Most people do drink alcohol and do at least some ship tours. This is why I said “average”. And even while we prefer private tours, on most sailings there are at least 2-3 ports where we take ship tours, for various reasons (safety, security, lack of reliable local tours companies etc). So while we are not happy with SM, we will find use for the ship excursions credit. Which means that for us, O is almost as all inclusive as SB.

I agree, R ships to me are less appealing. To me, ships like Vista and Riviera are much closer to luxury lines than to mass market. That said, cabins are only one parameter. Crystal cabins are smaller than O newer ships, does it make Crystal less luxurious?

We enjoyed our A cruise very much. The Azamazing evening and white night were a lot of fun. Food was not as good as O in my opinion, but still very good. Officers much more visible and approachable. But the cabins and showers are a huge drawdown for me (the main reason we like O ships better on Oceania).

I would say that "average" guest is interested in alcohol and at least few ship excursions. So "on average" the excursions credit offsets what you have to pay for an upgraded drinks package, which leaves only gratuities as the main difference in inclusions between O and SB. $18/day is not really material when you pay $500+/day for a cruise.

Yes, we enjoyed them too, but larger cabins are priced similar to SB, sometimes more (and the suites are still slightly smaller than entry level cabins on SB). Only some very unique itinerary would convince me to try them again.

For us, our SS cruise in May will be probably the last one. The quality just doesn't justify the current prices. I was willing to book SS when I could get maybe for 10-15% more than O. Now it's 40-50% more, no way. Some SB sailings are very reasonably priced. Explora is still more expensive than SB, and I didn't find any itineraries that are more unique than other lines. I assume things will get better when they roll out more ships, but for now O and SB will probably be our lines of choice, and possibly Windstar. There is just a limit of how much we are willing to pay for a cruise.

SS says they are all inclusive - and yet charge for 2 out of 8 restaurants, premium internet, laundry etc. No line is truly all inclusive. What matters is are the things that important to YOU included? Personally I couldn't care less about adult beverages since we don't drink. But I do care about specialty coffee and tea. I do care about specialty restaurants etc. So I don't care that O is called premium and SS is called luxury - to me they are in the same category.

There are few things worth mentioning. First, the Essential fares are non refundable. Not only the deposit - you have to pay the whole amount at the time of booking, and it's 100% non refundable. The pricing of Essential is similar to previous pricing of P2P, just now it excludes excursions and fully non refundable. The pricing of P2P and D2D went up by 25-30%. SS prices are now around 40-50% higher compared to O when you look at Essential prices, and the inclusions are almost the same (the cost of the drink package on O is offset by the excursions credit more or less, so the only thing not included on O is gratuities). When you compare SS to SB which is in the same class, and have similar inclusions, SS is now more expensive by at least 10-15% for the Essential fare which is non refundable. But at least they are relaxing the dress code..

Completely agree. I could never understand why some people are so obsessed with what other people wear..

Well, if the dress code is the criteria, then I guess Regent, SB, Explora and Crystal are all mass market lines!

On our two previous sailings (Dawn and Spirit) jackets were enforced only in the dining venues. You could see may men on the theater without jackets on informal and even formal nights. Hopefully it will stay this way.

So this is what I read: For people who sailed on the Nova, is this enforced? I know that even with the current dress code, people would still have dinner in the Grill without a jacket, but if I want to go to one of the lounges or see an evening show, will they turn me down?

I think there is a huge disconnect between corporate actions and on board experience, and this is true for most lines. Just look at Oceania, Regent etc. We did 2 SS cruises so far, both post Covid. I cannot compare to what it was before Covid and before the acquisition, but overall we had a great time. It was not perfect, we did notice some service issues, but we would gladly sail on SS again given the right itinerary and pricing. Food was not as good as O in my opinion, but still very good overall. So I guess it's all relative - people who can compare with how it was few years ago, probably notice some cutbacks, but this is probably true for all lines. P.S. What was the “you can’t eat your caviar here” incident in the lounge?