jondfk

We sailed twice on O in 2022 (our first O experiences btw). Both sailings on Regatta, both in PH2 category, actually two doors apart from each other). Our butler experiences. First sailing in April. Papeete to Los Angeles, 18 day sailing. We had doubts as to how useful a butler would be to us, but we found small things to ask which were generally delivered. We had a failure in the shower of our cabin and the butler insisted that he be allowed to "handle" it, okay I thought, but unfortunately the initial repair was entirely unsatisfactory. His second attempt was fully okay though "great" service would have had him check the first repair before I discovered it, so, not perfect. On the other hand, all breakfasts ordered were perfect and delivered within 5 minutes of requested time. I ask for club soda in the minibar (I drink 3 each day), this he couldn't accommodate which was odd as there were cans readily available in all bars. I developed a routine of grabbing 1 every time I passed by a bar which was sort of silly. Butler's solution was to offer sparkly Varo water which would have been fine except that the bottles don't actually seal leading to most of the bubbles being gone upon delivery. We asked for help with specialty reservations, which he provided, honestly though on such a long sailing additional times were't challenging and we found stopping by the deck 5 desk more productive as one received immediate feedback and alternatives. These were the only shortcomings and believe me we left with a vary favorable opinion even considering these few faults. Second sailing in September. Los Angelas coastals (2 back to back) 16 total days. Understanding the routine we made better use of our butler this time and wow was he fabulous. He proved useful within minutes of boarding when I realized I had forgot my USB-C charge cable for my iPad. I was considering scrambling to a local target for a replacement but butler insisted I "trust him" to find something. I suspected he would tap the lost and found, he returned within 10 minutes with a cable, his own, from his stateroom. I asked whether he could spare it and he insisted that he could - for the entire cruise. Wow. I made the same club soda request which was answered with a smile. He monitored my usage and quickly enough made certain there were 4 in the fridge at all times. Breakfast services was similarly prompt and perfect. We thought well of the first guy, but the second one redefined good. Hope my long feedback is of some help.

I thought I was alone, clearly not. All of mine on both booked voyages are gone. Hopefully they will return soon. It does give me second thoughts booking shorex worrying they could similarly disappear … along with my money. The whole problem doesn’t scream “luxury” by any means.

I'll go a step further and say that online checkin appeared to me to be totally meaningless for our three O cruises this year. Every step was repeated at boarding, many multiple terms, for example, our passports were checked 5x when boarding in Papeete. Our credit card twice both in PPT and LAX. Likewise, don't bother doing the advance muster video 3 days ahead. You'll be asked to do it again 1 day ahead. Neither will make any difference you'll have to endure it a 3rd time to enable your cabin video system. Don't bother getting a boarding group either. Boarding is a mass process, no one will ever ask what your group or time is, strictly first come first served. In short, while we found we love O, we also found that none of the advance planning software stuff works as described. The best tip I can provide is arrive late, as late as you dare, that first day lunch in the Terrace is bedlam, enjoy a leisurely shoreside lunch somewhere and head towards the gangway no earlier than 3pm. You'll have the embarkation staff all to yourself and will sail straight through from curbside to cabin.

We've spent time this year in 8042 and 8046 both of which are under the restroom / patio areas. Never heard anything from above. The furniture in the patio is more or less fixed, very heavy metal stuff. It could be moved, but probably would take 2 or 3 crew members to do so. On the other hand, the chairs in Waves are dragged around both for set up / clean up and by guests getting themselves seated. To be avoided.

We're new to O, first sailing just in April, then again in September for a total of 35 days all on Regatta. Both sailings in a PH2 cabin. Some observations from our fresh eyes. - There can be no doubt cabin category plays some role in seating. This was quite obvious to me even as a first time O passenger. We frequently dined on the early end, and always got a 2-top if we wanted it, though we occasionally arrived with new friends and shared a table. - We did see a small handful of folks waiting in the bar area to be seated when we exited on a couple of evenings. The hostess commented that "everyone came at once" on one occasion but the staff worked hard to turn vacant tables quickly. My guess is the only time you might actually face a wait was sort of 1 hour after the GDR opened, before the earliest two tops started to clear. - I did note that even on evenings where a wait occurred there were many (many, many) large tables vacant. There comes a point in the evening when it might be logical for O to seat a twosome at a table for 4 or 6 recognizing it's unlikely that dozens of folks are about to descent with "we prefer to dine with others" requests. As logical as this sounds to me, I never saw such a modification put into action. - On the question of pacing, for the most part staff were attuned to the differences in number of courses ordered and how engaged the table was with activities other than consuming their meals. When dining alone, and ordering our typical 3 courses, every service team but one allowed us to follow our own pace, one team did anchor us to a nearby table for 8 which stretched our usual 1 hour 15 minute meal to more than 2 hours but that was a (notable) aberration. A word with the Maitre'd avoided a repeat. Overall, we found the GDR experience quite good, in fact in our live from I commented that service and meal quality in the GDR was equal to many specialty restaurants on other lines, and indeed far superior to Toscana on our April sailing (for the September sailing Toscana won an award for most improved in our minds).

I have no fundamental objection to the large bottles (I'd never bother taking bottles large or small home). What I do object to is non-functional large bottles. While refillable, the pump mechanisms certainly don't have an infinite life and I've yet to encounter a hotel or cruise line that has any sort of system in place to confirm the dispensers actually work properly. Moreover, most of the time (in my experience), complaints that the pump doesn't work simply can't be corrected because there is no plan for replacing them . . . ever.

I'll be honest, I sort of screwed up, I never imagined that particular itinerary would go on day one. Our previous transpacific from Papeete to Los Angeles had wide open availability for months, but that was then and this is a whole new world. Not a mistake I'll make again I promise.

Wow, those tropics releases went quick. . . . I couldn't get through to my consultant on the day of release, reached him on Thursday the 3rd only to find a single PH1, 2 PH2 and 2 PH3 cabins left for the sailing of interest. The sailing is a repositioning from Papeete to Honolulu. One wonders where the ship will go after Honolulu? Perhaps a couple of 12 days around the islands with a jaunt down to Fanning to meet the PSV requirements, NCL still has an obligation to sail to Fanning so maybe . . . it's a really neat port nearly undeveloped but quite beautiful. We went there twice on NCL Star back in the day.

Yes, and the assistant steward too. Our first O cruise we were a bit uncertain whether / how best to use the butler. Fairly quickly however we found small asks that he could provide quickly and efficiently. Butlers do vary however, we thought our first one was quite good. However, on our second (and third back -to-back) sailings we had a butler which was on a whole other level. A small example, I asked for lime slices for the mini fridge (I drink about 5 club soda per day with lime in each) after a single request my fridge was never without, it's a tiny detail, but a good example of how attentive a good butler can be. Having said all that, in addition to the O defined gratuity, we tip a few dollars cash the last day for excellent service from the butler, steward or assistant. Our first O sailing the latter two did nothing to earn extra consideration, our more recent sailing saw all 3 rewarded with a bit extra. There is endless debate whether such extra consideration actually benefits the crew member you hand it to, regardless, we like to acknowledge exemplary service both at sea and when dining out at home.

Welcome. As a recent newby myself I’ll take a swing at some. Vista suite, I have no knowledge. As for internet, everyone gets access included in their fare. Dinners in the main (Grand) dining room don’t require reservations, just go when you’d like to eat, with anyone you’d like to dine with. Generally no wait, but I’ve seen a small queue on busy nights. Specialty dining reservations are required, you’ll have first crack with you’re vista suite. Your butler can get additional reservations once you board. As for the liquor package I assume you are referring to the OLife beverage package. Realize that this includes beer and wine only, and only at meal times in dining venues. The wines are middle of the road, I’ve found a favorite red and white but admit I’m not hard to please. You can upgrade to the premier beverage package for $20 per day, this opens the bar for mixed drinks and hard liquor with the usual favorites represented, if you drink a bit, the upgrade can quickly pay for itself. Personal call.

If you have the OLIFE package and drink only a couple outside of meal times you'll quickly break even. However, it's important to consider when you actually drink. For example, if you, like me, are a cocktail or two before dinner sort of person, the upgrade might not make sense. Why? O has a 2 for 1 cocktail hour every night from 5:00 - 6:00. Pay for one, get two (or get a double) which is generally enough for me. Also, every sailing there is a captain's cocktail party before dinner too one night when most drinks are on the house. On the other hand, if you're the sort who likes a bloody mary in the morning, a couple beers by the pool mid day, a drink or two before dinner and a nightcap before bed - the $20 uncharge is a great value. I've done both within the past year, for sailings with a lot of sea days, I definitely found value in the upgraded package. For sailings with lots of port days, not so much.

Everything FlyerTalker has said is correct. Frustratingly, international arrivals into the U.S. require the passenger to be fully cleared, luggage included. You'll go through U.S. immigrations, claim your luggage, go through customs and then hand your luggage off again to your onward carrier (in this case Air France). Some airlines make the luggage hand off easier by stationing baggage handlers just beyond the customs clearance area, not sure if this is the case with AF. TBIT = Tom Bradly International Terminal. Most (though not United Airlines) international arrivals and departures go through this terminal - including Virgin Atlantic and Air France. United Airlines have their own immigrations and customs facilities in Terminal 7. Something that doesn't seem to apply to OP, but may be useful information for others. Hope this helps a bit, and many thanks to FlyerTalker for getting the process so very right.

Thanks all for your comments and especially to those who are posting current experiences. We are booked on two Seaborne sailings in 2023, Ovation in June and Odyssey in August, our first. We sailed Oceania thrice this year, at a per diem about 1/3 less than Seaborne, even still, the main dining room was open daily for breakfast and sea days for lunch. DW does not under any circumstances do the buffet, when this is the only option, I become her waiter, which is fine on calm port days but undesirable on busy sea days. We are certainly hoping the dining room will be an option at least on sea days. We are eagerly looking forward to sailing Seaborne but will say honestly that daily buffets for 2 out of 3 meals, at the prices charged will not make us loyal customers.

You don’t say whether you’re doing air with O air not. If so, for our sailing last April, pax were transported to the Intercontinental where a ballroom was set up with a light breakfast buffet. Busses returned about 11:30 to transport both those who arrived late evening via Air Tahiti Nui, and those who arrived at 5:30 with Air France. So that’s what you’ll be doing if you’ve left the arrangements to O. Now a bit of advice based on our personal experience. DON’T under any circumstances do what is described above! Why? Papeete has no terminal at the pier. The 9 busses from the intercontinental left basically nose to tail and dumped their 450 passengers in the 100* mid day sun. The line to board took well more than 2 hours with little shade and no water. Don’t do it, just don’t. Instead, get a day room or resort pass (at the Hilton or Intercontinental), get a nap in, a bite to eat, a shower and leave for the ship no earlier than 3pm, 4pm would be better still The embarkation process in Papeete was by far the worst we’ve ever experienced and by far the most disappointing part of an otherwise lovely sailing. Sorry for the rant, but since you ask…

Fair point, but I checked my bill today and would still say I’m about 1 day ahead not having a package, I’m quite a moderate drinker though and it’s easy to imagine somebody drinking 1 more every day coming out ahead. I like early day bloody Mary’s but my god their juice is so spicy I’m limited to one a day, that could make the difference. Btw I don’t remember such a spicy mix in April.

$60 per day, it’s okay if only one in the cabin purchases and uses. I did so on our prior sailing, but not one the current one which has a much higher ratio of port to sea days.

I will say that after the first poor incident service has been supreme. Someone way back in the thread commented that O seems to be responding to feedback, definitely true in our case. It’s clear some sort of note has been added to our file - fine so long as the mission was accomplished. the only question that remains is whether the note will be copied forward to leg 2 of our B2B.

We weren’t sharing, but the waiter nonetheless let the large table next to us dictate the pace of our meal which is, as I wrote, just plain lazy.

We don’t have decades of O experience which is perhaps helpful. Still we sailed Regatta for 18 days in April, and are currently onboard for a further 16 days. A few comments comparing our first voyage to the current one. 1. On both sailings we ran into a dud service team in the GDR, can’t say it was inexperience either time but the problem was the same. In both cases they attempted to “join” us with a larger table meaning let the large table set the pace, it should have been obvious that this wasn’t going to work when they ordered 4 courses and we 2, still we had to wait through two of their courses before advancing our own meal. It happened the first night of the current sailing, the host asked about our meal on the way out and we provided honest feedback, service since has been spectacular. I’d label such service as lazy, trying to minimize trips to the kitchen. Lazy. 2. We had two quite lackluster experiences at Toscana in April, so much so that we were reluctant to try again, but we booked for night 2 with low expectations. Wow what a turn around, service great, food great, we even saw the olive oil cart this time. We don’t have another booking, but I wish we did, perhaps something to change for our second segment. 3. As for food quality, I’d say clearly better than other lines we’ve sailed. But a few disappointments, notably veal based dishes which should be tender (assuming it’s not overcooked) have been routinely as tough as shoe leather. One dish simply couldn’t be cut with any available knife. Otherwise however most meals have been very good or better. Pasta dishes in particular seem to be exceptional, something we noticed in April as well. in the main were are more than satisfied with O food and service though we do note both can fall down on particular days or dishes.

I couldn't agree more, on our April Regatta sailing menus were routinely posted well after the GDR had closed for lunch. It was frustrating with 10 sea days and many lunches to consider. Never occurred to me to ask the butler for paper copies, will absolutely do so when we're next onboard in just two weeks time.

Okay, if folks are talking about staff onboard I'll ask . . . Who was playing piano in Martini's? We had a young (ish) Australian woman for our transpacific in April by the name of Kelly. She was boffo, fantastic, creative, friendly, everything most entertainment staff are not. I know she was slated to go home in June but it would be great news indeed if she were back aboard for our upcoming coastals.

True, no terminal in Papeete. Still, there was no effort whatsoever to organize folks by scheduled arrival time and I doubt there will be any effort to do so in Los Angeles (or Miami) next month either. O had maximum control of Papeete arrivals since nearly everyone (though not we) arrived on one of two O flights, had O hotel arrangements, or both. Logically, they could have dispatched busses from the Intercontinental by boarding times, with a bit of spacing between busses.

I can’t say what the practices are for Miami, but will say I was completely shocked boarding my first O sailing on Regatta in April in a PH. None of the priorities or practices described on the website, brochures or checkin packet was true. No staging by boarding time, no priority given to suites or PH, no regard to O status. Just a two hour line standing in the beating sun going through endless document checks and rechecks, 6 passport checks, 4 Covid test checks, 3 vax card checks, two credit card swipes, probably the least organized / most duplicate boarding process ever. We sail again on April 9 and are aiming to reach the terminal at 3:00 hopefully hours after everyone else has piled aboard. Don’t believe a word O says aboard boarding priority or practices.

On Regatta in April (PH) we did get one. It was nice to have onboard but I do wonder what I'm supposed to do with the mountain of Princess, Marriott Timeshare, Celebrity, etc, etc, etc tote bags occupying a corner of my closet. Realizing they may have become scarce, and not wishing to further add to my pile, I placed our April bag into our luggage this morning. It's perfectly serviceable as is of reasonable quality (let's be real here it's nothing I'd spend actual money to purchase) and suffered very minor wear only around the ship and a couple shore excursions over the course of 18 days. Perhaps a better solution would be stock the bags at a nominal price of say $5.00 in the gift shop and offer guests a $5.00 gift shop credit to be spent as they like (I'm guessing the bags cost for less than this in volume). It would be a win / win. Guests who actually want the tote would get it for "free", guests who prefer something else could spend it on regular priced trinkets or bobbles.

No, it was offered by the glass only at Polo Grill. I was surprised they offered wines by the glass outside of the package. But, as I said, I like the wine and choose to pay for a glass.