edgee

And the only case of norovirus i have encountered in 45 plus cruises was on a ship with a crew served buffet....Oceania Marina...so, indeed: who knows?

Point is self service buffets are common on nearly all cruise ships as well as the world in general. Measured by number of reported norovirus incidents have seen no evidence that Oceania's staff served system is any safer. Except for some glitches in efficiency it causes, Oceania's system is not a bad thing. However it is not a reason to cruise Oceania over similar cruise lines in my opinion. For others it may be a big deal and thus they use it as a factor in making their choice of cruise line. Choice is a good thing. I choose Oceania for many other reasons.

Yup. List shows very very miniscule number of reported outbreaks, especially compared to the number of folks who cruise each year and some on very small ships where just a few cases trigger the reporting threshold. Zero in 2023 on any ships bigger than 2300 passengers, again probably indicative of a silly numbers game so even medium sized ships by today's standards do not have enough cases percentage wise to trigger reporting.

You can make voice or video calls or send texts on WhatsApp. However both parties must have downloaded the whats app app. So have folks you call like your spouse or relatives back home download it and you are good to go. We found many businesses in Europe had the app in their phone systems so we could call them on whats app. Here is link to an explanation: WhatsApp Voice Calling: Everything You Need to Know (makeuseof.com)

Dottie will be on Insignia until February. She leaves the ship for vacation down under in February. Ray Carr will be cruise director after she leaves.

If you like Tom Drake check out his daily cruise and travel news podcast. Easy to find on any common podcast platform.

I read the post as saying they are still on the cruise and are saying they have not yet gotten to Ember.

We have Verizon service and had no trouble making wifi calls while on Oceania Vista a few weeks ago and also in Israel and Europe in August. Calls seemed to work a little better when we used Whatsapp for calls between DW and me on the ship and our kids at home who have the Whatsapp app. But regular calls on wifi worked pretty well too.

Not our experience. May be ship specific because on Vista last month we had left over SM credit due to excursion at our final port being cancelled. Front desk told us we would lose the remaining value of the benefit unless we used it. With no more ports were told only remaining way to use it was for culinary classes if there were any openings. We went to excursion desk and they confirmed that to be true.

Ship's cell phone towers should be irrelevant to someone making use of Verizon travel pass, as they are not included in the travel pass program. Ten bucks a day for each country for unlimited calls and lots of data with some limits. Then while on ship keep phone on airplane mode and use wifi calling.

LOL...With 75 day window you will be fine. I am booked on a Regent cruise with specialty bookings opening Jan 1. Fortunately they have gone to a more comfortable 8 p.m. ET opening time for reservations.

Thanks for your comments. I believe that the key to getting or not getting lower price and keeping book on board benefits is the reference to the price being offered to the public. I did not see the better price on Regent website, but on a very popular website offered by a major primarily on line TA with a special code next to it...so not sure it was "available to the public" by their definition. I then sent a screenshot of that to my travel agent who works for another very large agency and they matched the significantly lower price for her. As I noted, my agency has connections pretty high up in Regent and request to keep on board benefits was rejected at that level. Final payment date was 2 days ago, so at that point I paid the price without on board discount and will get a check from my TA making up what I am unexpectedly losing, (except $100 shareholder credit), so I am good. Will take a crack at getting the shareholder credit restored, however.

Don't want to get too personal, 😉 but if your cruise is booked as heavily as mine, better be fast! 🙂 Was up til midnight for upcoming Vista cruise and all of the early tables for two were gone by 12:07. And we have the 60 day booking window for Concierge class!

Sarcastic arrogant lecture misses the mark here. It is indeed a new issue in terms of the reneging that Oceania has done on initial promises to offer FCC and the inconsistency with they have handled requests by guests who feel especially unsafe going on a cruise adjacent to a war zone. Basically you got your money back or at least FCC if you contacted the right consumer advocate or you did a charge back on your credit card. If you made a polite request you got nothing.

How is that an easy solution if staff cannot keep your tips since they must turn into the pool money they receive from "removers?"

Was surprised to learn today that Simply More excursion credit cannot be shared between guests on same account in same cabin. DW and I take same tour nearly always. However, I called Oceania today to book a tour for her alone. Her tour is $119. We each have $98 unused SM excursion credit left to use. I asked if my unused credit could be used to cover the $21 additional for her to book the tour. Answer was no. We will have to pay the $21 difference for her while my $98 sits unused. Not a big deal, but slightly disappointing, considering that the credit is advertised as a set amount "per cabin."

Fine to dispute views expressed in my posts. Not interested in paying for alleged facts to back up your assertions. That being said, I won't dispute that many feel better cruising with Oceania because of their obsession with this no/very limited self serve policy. However I still doubt there are any real facts that O is safer because of it. Also, recognizing that the policy creates backups in the Terrace particularly in the salad and dessert areas, I was disappointed that on Vista, there was no redesign of these areas to aim for better service.

And nearly every other cruise line, including luxury ones has them with no "scientific rigor" showing that O is safer...or if there is, please share.

Sounds logical, but IMHO it is the appearance of being more sanitary, not sure there is any proof. IME out of 45 cruises the ONLY norovirus alert with extra precautions having to be taken was on an Oceania cruise. (Marina). Still many opportunities for passengers' "grubby hands" to touch things such as expresso machines in lounges and in Terrace and shared condiments in Terrace, soda refrigerators in lounges and spa deck. Interesting that on Regent, the entire buffet equivalent to Terrace is self serve.

Vista library is large for a cruise ship with lots of new books.

Another tip: The on board credit for on board booking can be applied to either the cruise you are currently on or on the future cruise you are booking. Definitely take the credit on the current cruise instead if the future one. I am glad that I did. The cruise I booked became available at a fantastic sale price. New price was $5000 (for 2) less expensive than the original booking. Regent agreed to give me the new price. Catch was I lost about $600 worth of benefits including on board booking discount, Amex Platinum $300 credit and $100 shareholder on board credit. If I had applied the on board credit from future cruise booking to the future cruise I am sure I would have lost that also. Side note: Originally my TA was told that I would only lose the AMEX on board credit. Even though it was Regent who reneged on assurances by their agent that I could keep on board discount, my TA offered to cut me a check to make up for Regent's failing to keep their promise. I appreciate my TA!

The one addition to Vista we liked very much is Aquamor restaurant. We are returning to Vista next month and are looking forward to enjoying it again and are excited that it is being added to the Marina, just in time for our 25 day itinerary this summer. On the other hand, the expanded Barista's with their bakery which puts out 4 or 5 items at a time is not much of an addition. And Ember....well you already know what many folks think of that.

Agree. And perhaps easier sourcing of ingredients.

And we could not get extra reservations at Red Ginger....guess it depends on timing of when one inquires.

You noted that point in previous discussion. We were on 2nd half of your B2B and got a second reservation with multiple choice of times on a few hours notice. We were offered more on other nights which we did not accept. As previously pointed out, we liked Ember as an occasional alternative to GDR or Terrace, but find it disappointing as a really special place to dine like Jacque or Red Ginger.