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We disembarked last Saturday and self luggage carrying folks were called about 7:15. First group with ship handled luggage was promised for 8 a.m. but were actually called at 7:40. We were headed straight for LAX. Saw Uber/Lyft lineup area seemed pretty mobbed so we went straight to taxi line with no wait. 65 dollar flat rate taxi to LAX..took 35 minutes on that Saturday morning.

We just left the Solstice 4 days ago. We had Starlink and it was awesome. Very fast internet. Just like at home or in a hotel. I streamed the entire Superbowl on my computer so I could watch hi Def FOX broadcast with U.S. commercials instead of poor quality ESPN Caribbean broadcast on the ship TVs.

Problem not solved for those of us who want to enjoy the casino but cannot due to smoke.

I enjoy the casino most every evening when I cruise. Just learned today that Explora Journeys plans to have a pretty active casino. I will give them a try. They are already marketing discounted cruises to the "high roller" crowd.

S class(named after first ship in class): Solstice, Equinox, Eclipse, Silhouette, Reflection E class (named after first ship in class): Edge, Apex, Beyond, Ascent

Wow. Are you sure you had Starlink? We are having such a different experience. I streamed entire Superbowl on my phone and on my computer. It came in perfectly. Nice to watch the U.S. broadcast in hi Def with commercials instead of ESPN Caribbean pickup with no U.S. commercials and mediocre picture quality which was shown on the ship.

We are on Solstice now. We are eating in Luminae (for suite guests) and I think the food is pretty good. However the food in the buffet seems to have slipped in quality. Now that good news: I was concerned that the condition of the ship may not be great due to postponement of the Revolution makeover. While decor is state of the art 2001, carpets and soft furnishings are in pretty good shape. The ship is in much better condition that the Eclipse was when we sailed her in July. And finally, the internet! Upgrade to Starlink system is wonderful. For the first time on a ship, internet is as fast and reliable as what one would expect at home or in any hotel. No more frustration with slow or unreliable internet is a very good thing!

IME..In every case where I have had changes in port times, ports cancelled or full cruises cancelled I gave gotten an email directly from the cruise line. This has happened to me in recent years on Carnival Corp, NCL and RCCL owned companies including Celebrity, HAL, Regent and Oceania. May also hear from my TA, but in this age of email, first word always comes from the cruise line.

Dealer manually inputs position of player so size of each bet can be monitored. I sometimes switch between playing one hand and two hands at BJ and each time I change from playing one circle to two or two circles to one, dealer inputs what betting circles are or are not being played by me prior to dealing.

One option for comp or reduced price cruises is to work with one of the travel agencies which specialize in booking hotels and cruises on a comped basis for gamblers. Cannot mention them on CC but not hard to google.

According to HAL website FAQs, the list you posted does not include all the ships with entirely non smoking casinos. Correct list is:Eurodam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Noordam, Oosterdam, Westerdam, Zuiderdam

You make a generally good point, but lately it seems like info you are linking to is not always up to date./reliable. For example, according to the FAQs, there are examples of Pinnacle class ships that should have allowed casino,smoking, but they did not. Perhaps this is part of a transition out of stricter Covid rules.

Not a surprise to see it finally documented after some of what I have read, but no casino is a deal breaker for me.

True, I accept your correction, but it appears they will end after 2023.Eclipse will be moving to the Atlantic and Solstice will be back to doing Asia when not in Alaska.

True, I accept your correction, but it appears they will end after 2023.Eclipse will be moving to the Atlantic and Sostice will be back to doing Asia when not in Alaska.

Mexican Riviera cruises were a one off event with Solstice having nothing else to do as the world recovered from Covid. I am looking forward to one in a couple of weeks. Doubt they had anything to do with demand. Indeed, they are practically giving them away to casino players using very very liberal critieria to help fill the ship. After this year, none are scheduled.

I believe, while Oceania's staff served system provides the facade of a safer experience, I do not believe it makes a whole lot of difference. In nearly 50 cruises, 8 of which have been on Oceania the ONLY norovirus outbreak we have experienced was on an Oceania Marina transatlantic and the situation was poorly handled by the crew. I just completed my first cruise in many years on Regent and found it interesting that NCL Corp's cruise line which is supposed to be a step up from Oceania has an entirely self serve buffet.

In other words a no smoking area of a casino is like a "no pee" section of a swimming pool!

Ours just changed last week from "pending" to available 30 days before our cruise on Solstice. Printed them out with no problem.

Posted below is my comment to a recent discussion. It relates to my experience https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2904891-thoughts-on-the-larger-vs-smaller-ship-experience/?do=findComment&comment=64598436

Other issue is that Oceania's record of missing ports due to weather, maintenance issues or whatever is one of the higher ones in the cruise industry. That would concern me.

Dottie Kulasa will be on a portion of the Insignia world cruise, according to her husband Tom Drake speaking on his podcast. Likely the last portion, as they are on the Sirena for a few more weeks, then after some time off will join the Insignia.

Sure will be a gorgeous new ship. Depends on what your expectations are in terms of entertainment/activities/enrichment. While Oceania offers them they tend to not excel in any of these areas, so for some sea days are a little dull. Others love a somewhat quieter ship compared to large mainstream cruise lines and feel that Oceania strikes a good balance of quiet ship/vs lots to do.

I see your point but Oceania's level of communication during any sort of operational hiccup is usually terrible. It seems to be part of their corporate culture to go to nondisclosure mode with guests and only give minimal information. Of course there can be, as you put it, "too much play by play," but on the scale of too little vs. too much communication, Oceania leans quite far in the too little direction.