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no fuss travel

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Everything posted by no fuss travel

  1. There is a roll call but it is not very active. We will see you onboard.
  2. We got ours about three weeks after the cruise ended. They mailed a cheque to us. If it is a large amount, head office usually refunds it as the ship usually does not have enough cash on hand to pay it out.
  3. The whales around Victoria are usually more plentiful than earlier months. They seem to be arriving back to the area later and later each year. Also the waters are more protected so you have less chance of having a rough ride. We watch the whales go by from our front yard and see lots of whale watching boats go by. You can see Minke, Orcas (actually dolphins) or humpback. With the humpback if the whale watchers are annoying them, they will take a deep dive and usually do not come up for a long time after well away from the whale watchers. If the Orcas are flapping their tails, they will then take a long dive to get away from being hassled. They do not stay as long under the water as humpbacks.
  4. We were on HAL for a New Years cruise. Oceania's food beat them hands down. The only decent dinners were on the Gala nights on HAL. I think if you look at most cruise lines now you will find that their standards have slipped since Pre Covid. They cannot get enough experienced staff, there has been problems getting supplies, the wars, the weather all contribute to the complaints. It will take a while for all the cruise lines to reach preCovid standards. We will just need to be patient. If you also take into account, Cruise Critic seems to be getting poor reviews, but the ships are sailing at capacity or almost capacity and the complaints are not that numerous. That means there are more satisfied passengers, than dissatisfied. Take the complaints with a grain of salt. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and the only opinion that counts is your own to you. What one person does not like, you may love. Just go on your cruise and enjoy. It is nice to be able to cruise again.
  5. The wall around the bathroom held magnets as well as the wall the television was on. Use the stronger magnets that will take the weight. We tested the walls when we were on the Vista as we were thinking about doing the ATW 2026 but will stay with the 2025 as it covers several areas that are on our wish list.
  6. Remember that many countries are land locked therefore not accessible to a cruise ship.
  7. We have had a decorated cabin for our birthdays, a cake each time as well. There was one. blip which was funny as a previous TA had given Oceania the wrong date for our wedding anniversary and Oceania celebrated it one month before the actual date, upon finding it was the wrong date, we received another cake on our actual anniversary. The cakes are delicious and if we are not sharing a table, we ask the staff to share the cake later.
  8. It's not only Oceania that has problems fixing things. We were on HAL, and they could not stop the leak that kept the carpet sopping wet the entire cruise. They told each day it was fixed but when my husband got up in the morning, wet feet again. All cruise lines are having problems and unfortunately if we want to travel we have to accept the bumps and roll with them. We still laugh about the wet carpet and as the ship was almost full, they were willing to give us an inside cabin instead of the suite that we had paid for. We put up with the wet carpet.
  9. We did an Oceania cruise, to Japan which included several ports and then got off and did a land tour of Japan. It was a great way to see more of Japan and yet still have the pleasure of sailing into many Japanese ports.
  10. They do carry your credits forward, but you may have problems with the nonrefundable ones. No they won't let you book ahead until the time they normally open for booking. It is quite irritating at times
  11. Destinations staff do not work for Oceania. Oceania contracts the people that work there. Destinations has been caught many times with incorrect information that has been sent by the individual port services. Yes, it is frustrating but that is just one of the many bumps you may encounter while traveling with any cruise line or tour company. The CD is given no information from Destinations, so they really can't answer your destination questions.
  12. Hal is super efficient at embarkation and debarkation at Fort Lauderdale. Our experience for the New Year Cruise was great for this part of the cruise.
  13. Sometimes I will take the Oceania tours so that I know the ship will wait if it is a port I have been to previously and I know the traffic is horrendous. We were lucky a couple of times when we just beat the Oceania tour bus back to the ship or when we got out of our private tours bus and ran for the port. their was 8 of us and we let the staff know that the last four people were right behind us but couldn't run as fast as we could. I slowed down once I saw the gangway to give them a chance to catch up. We tend to do private tours when we are staying overnight on the first day as you see more for less dollars. Also the hop on hop off bus is more reasonable to purchase on your own off the ship.
  14. What I liked is that you could get a light lunch without having to stand in a line. Enjoyed the baked goods which were available at times when Terrance was closed. It was air conditioned which was much appreciated when going through the Panama Canal, you could duck in, get a sweet, get cooled off and then head out on deck again to enjoy the view.
  15. The biggest bulk of the passengers are American. After that the lineup changes according to where you are travelling. Usually the top 5 nationalities will be Australia, Canada, Britain, and another European country. Last year on the Nautica, there was more Dutch, Germans and another country than Canadians. The Mediterranean cruises tend to have more representation from Europe. Hope that helps.
  16. We had port times shortened on HAL when we were doing a cruise for New Years. Previous cruises on other lines we have had port times changed. You just have to go with the flow. Enjoy your cruise and forget about the little blips.
  17. According to information I received today, itinerary and details will be released March 13 on the Vista
  18. 2026 is definitely on the Vista. Ray Carr, the Cruise Director confirmed while we were aboard Vista. Itinerary is not coming out until February 2024
  19. When on the ATW we had excellent service from the. laundry room. It was suggested to us that we bought treats for those who work in the laundry room as a special thank you. We asked crew members what treats would be appreciated and at a port went to a grocery store and bought. I know that the staff received the goodies because the housekeeping manager brought them up to reception so that I could give them the gift. Any cash tips we gave to other staff which we saw on a regular basis was kept by them as gratuities for the whole crew were paid into the pot. Quite often if you have unrefundable cash in your shipboard account, you can ask that it be given to the benevolent fund where it will benefit any crew member in need.
  20. There was no mention of the end of cruise evaluations in Daily Currents or by the CD on the Vista before we finished our cruise on Vista November 19
  21. Yes I found a refund when I checked my credit card but no explanation. I didn’t look until yesterday when I found out the flights were canceled. fortunately we are at the airport n I now with a flight that our agent got us on. We got the last 2 seats
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