Busy Mum

1 hour ago, ORV said:

I know 24 is a couple of years from now, BUT, is any cruise line currently sailing into this area? 

 

18 months or so ago most of us thought things would be back to normal by now. 

As far as I’m aware there are no ships currently sailing in Asia. 😩😩

23 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

Due out in April is my understanding. Hopefully you will get some awesome itineraries to choose from. 
Mauibabes 

Thank you so very much mauibabes, I’ll keep an eye out in April. I very much appreciate your reply. 😀

Hi all,

Just wondering if any of you O cruisers could advise me when to I could expect the release date of the Asian 2024 cruises? I’m particularly interested in March/April 2024 in & around Japan, in fact anywhere in the Asia region. Thanks for any input you can give me.

Stay safe & well.

Vicki. 😀

Thank you everyone,  I will continue to research and look at YouTube videos.

Vicki. 🙂 

Hi,

Before I ask my Mini Suite question, I have searched high and low for the answer to my query and I just cannot find the answer.

I'm hoping someone can help. My hubby and I are looking at a 21 day cruise on the Royal from Sydney to Tokyo in 2024 and we would like a Mini Suite.

My question is: with the balcony what level is best and also I do not want a 'dark' balcony, with an overhang/extended roof line.  I'm currently looking at C deck mid ship, would this be a good choice?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Vicki. 

On 12/3/2021 at 4:55 PM, MicCanberra said:

Sydney to Japan, April 2024

Yes, this one certainly has our interest also! 
Very good pricing. 
We were meant to cruise on two seperate occasions on the Pacific Princess, to Japan, but Covid & selling of that gorgeous ship ruined that. 😢😢

On 9/13/2021 at 7:45 AM, SummmerInKefalonia said:

Early October.

Great, thank you. I’m also very keen for 2023/2024, let’s hope the world will be ready by then & more importantly, we all have our health. Vicki. 🙂🚢

9 hours ago, MSEm said:

The Oceania (formely R-1) ships carry 686 passengers, The newer Oceania O-class ships carry 1250 passengers.

Viking ships carry 930 passengers.

I enjoy the spicier dishes served on the Viking Ships and of course the ice cream.

We have sailed with Oceania several times. I prefer the older R-1 ships .

On our last 2 Oceania cruises Tacos were on the buffet. The trimmings for the tacos was chopped sweet peppers, avocado slices and tomato sauce.  If I sail with Oceania again I will be packing several small containers of Salsa.

There is no casino or big shows on Viking.  Viking will have several lecturers on history, culture, and other subjects.  If you cannot attend the lecture, you can always view it your cabin. After a full day ashore we do not attend the big shows on board a ship.

If the ports are the same I my preference is Viking.  If Viking does not offer a cruise to ports I want to visit I would book with Oceania.

You just need to decide what type of entertainment you want on board the ship. Sailing with either Oceania or Viking will be a big change from Princess or Celebrity.

Thanks for your thoughts. We are certainly ready for a change of ship so I will continue to look at the itineraries & dream! Sure hope we can get to see the world again, once the world recovers & we are allowed to travel again!

Stay safe & well.

Vicki. 🙂

On 7/16/2021 at 12:04 AM, maxamize said:

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/ships/vista/suites-and-staterooms

 

Modern, stylish but in my opinion also a little underwhelming. I do hope the staterooms and suites will feature bathtubs and separate showers. 

 Watching the video, all I could think of was WOW!! 🙂 

Vicki. 🙂 

21 hours ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

Been on both, more Oceania than Viking Ocean, but enough on both to feel I can help you with my observations.  But of course it's just one person's opinion.....Anyway, both are wonderful, and similar is many ways and not similar in others.  If you like a more lively cruise experience, with more activities, shows, zippier cruise director, more modern music, etc. you may prefer Oceania.   That's not to say Viking doesn't have activities/music, but they're quite low keyed in my opinion.  If you like having an included smallish excursion in each port (no charge) you may prefer Viking.  If you don't necessarily like any ship-arranged excursions, and don't drink much, you may find Viking a little overpriced, as the price has to cover the free half-day excursion in port, plus wine and beer at dinner and perhaps lunch too.  The use of the thermal pool, spas, etc. in Viking are also free versus a small charge on Oceania. 

 

The passengers on both ships are similar, with those on Oceania maybe more-traveled and perhaps a tiny bit younger on average.  But it's a good crowd on both ships.   Service on both lines is excellent; so is food.  I think Oceania's a little better with the food, but not by a large margin. Itineraries are better on Oceania, and they go all over the world, including some fairly small, lesser known ports that turn out to be fantastic. And I love Oceania's smaller ships - 700 passengers or whatever.  Decor on Viking is really nice and modern, which I love.  But Oceania recently remodeled, and they're looking pretty snazzy too.  Rooms are similar. Oceania has cheaper inside rooms that aren't bad, and the price difference is substantial compared to a room with a balcony (veranda).  Bathrooms on V are awesome.  V ship seems roomier.  It's a large ship in relation to the number of people they carry. The optional excursions offered are about the same; perhaps a bit cheaper on Viking though.  On Oceania you tend to see more people doing their own thing for excursions - arranging shared ones with people from Cruise Critic "Roll Calls" or doing private tours or group tours they've found. Both lines offer free internet, wifi, self-service laundry.  Small casino on O (spouse likes that; I could care less!)  Both have port talks and afternoon tea/cakes.

 

Honestly, we love both lines.  And yes, both definitely have a casual (but not sloppy) feel to them, and great food. Oh, one thing we really like about O is the grill at the back of their Terrace restaurant.  The Terrace (outside/inside dining) is basically an upscale buffet in which food is served on the buffet line rather than letting people get their own food.  Utensils are on tables; servers bring you water & drinks. (Actually I think Viking is doing this "we serve you" procedure now, too, because of Covid.  But O always did it.)  Anyway, there's a part of the O buffet where you can order lamb chops, steak, lobster and perhaps a few other things, cooked to order, with potato & veggies.  It's casual, but cooked to order, and there's plenty of room to eat outside if the weather's nice.  

 

Hope you get more opinions; hope this helps. You can't go wrong with either.  We pick 3/4 by itinerary.

Thank you for your wonderful comparison as we have been looking recently at both lines. We have not cruised with either line before but are certainly keen to try the smaller ships from now on. We have cruised many times with Princess & around 6 times with Celebrity. Unfortunately Princess disposed of their last remaining small ship, the Ocean Princess, so time to look elsewhere we think. 
Stay safe & well.

Vicki. 🙂

Hi all, I’m reading this thread with interest. We have cruised on Princess & Celebrity & not on Oceania & Viking but would definitely like to try both, when the world allows us. 🙏 DH & I much prefer the smaller ships & that’s something Princess are very limited in now & also Celebrity. Go away Covid, we are keen to do more exploring. Stay well & safe everyone. Vicki. 😀

3 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

When we cruise with the Plus package, I always give the mini bar contents to the cruise staff - just pack it into the blur Princess bag and hand it off to your fave crew member! They will be very grateful! 

That’s such a lovely gesture & one I hadn’t thought of before, so thank you! 😃🥂

No email here in Australia, well not for me. 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

11 minutes ago, Gretchendz said:

I suspect that on the internet they are making the calculation that people will go to the Princess Plus plan. I am not thrilled either, but at least they kept the free laundry for elites 🙂

 

Mmmm…..one does wonder how long the free laundry will last. To lose that perk would be a big drawback for me! 😟

5 hours ago, Aloha 1 said:

Vista 2023 sailings, September. Rest of 2023 for the fleet, early October per O.

Great, glad they will be opening this year. I’m particularly interested in November 2023 as I’m fairly certain I will need to move our November 2022 further out. Stay well & safe everyone. Vicki. 🙂

42 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Well being mildly inspired by Mr. Walker's tour of the Rockies we put a similar trip on our "we should do that list". Well Lynn was texting her nephew who recently moved to Nipawin Saskatchewan from Kelowna. So suddenly we are going to Saskatchewan At the end of August through the beginning of September. It will be a great road trip for our Subaru Forrester. We'll do the quick run out by direct route, have a nice visit and do the return at a much more leisure pace. We've never really had a look at the "Badlands" around Drumheller so that could be interesting. I also have a cousin in Red Deer and we will spend some time in Banff and make the Icefield Parkway one long photo op. Maybe come home by the Fraser Canyon route, I haven't driven that route since the Coquihalla Highway opened up.

Hubby & I visited the ‘Badlands’ in 2019 with our wonderful Canadian cruising friends. The area is so incredibly different & fascinating, would love to go back. Banff & the Icefields Parkway is incredible, you sure have some amazing places on your doorstep! Enjoy your trip. Cheers, Vicki. 

21 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Hardly.  If the latest number posted was accurate, that is approx 16 per 100K population, which is relatively low compared to course of the pandemic.

Compared to our Covid numbers they are ‘mind blowing’. Stay safe Steelers36. Vicki. 🙂 

20 hours ago, scottca075 said:

 

1/23/21 there were 171k daily cases, 2/23/21 there were 72k daily cases, 3/23/21 there were 52k daily cases. I call that trending down.

Oh my goodness, what terribly frightening figures they are. I can only imagine it’s going to be quite some time before our world goes back to a ‘new normal’. Stay safe & well. 😊

4 hours ago, nini said:

Got it. I think you will will really like it. We really enjoyed ours decks below you.

It allowed us to touch the wall of the locks on our Panama Canal cruise. Bon Voyage'!

That’s great to hear Nini & thanks for your well wishes! Here’s to cruising happening once again. 😁🚢🚢🤞🤞

Stay safe & well.

Vicki. 😊

Just now, Busy Mum said:

Yep, sure do. 🤣👍🚢 The photo above the Public Deck photo is C728. 😊

C728 photo is at post #3. 😁

32 minutes ago, nini said:

I sincerely hope that you DO REALIZE that the "Aft balcony" which Parrottdizes posted,

is actually the PUBLIC AFT DECK on the Caribe deck. THIS IS NOT  the private balcony

of C728! We were 2 decks below C728 (in E728) which also buts up to a public

aft deck on the Emerald deck.

Yep, sure do. 🤣👍🚢 The photo above the Public Deck photo is C728. 😊

6 hours ago, Parrottdizes said:

That is a picture of the C728 balcony. We have stayed in C728, C726 and C727. C728 and C727 would be our first choices if we were to cruise on the Coral Princess again. 

There are public aft balconies on the Coral. The balconies are wide enough on the Caribe and Baja decks to have lounge chairs. We have been lucky enough that our fellow passengers didn't slam the door to the aft balcony. Besides ourselves, we seemed to be the only ones to use that aft balcony at night.  

Looks wonderful, thank you so much for sharing these photos. Now to get back to cruising in these very uncertain times. Stay safe & well.

Vicki. 😊🚢🚢

On 2/24/2021 at 1:58 AM, Parrottdizes said:

I have sailed on the Coral Princess 3 times.....each time on the Caribe deck in the AFT section of the ship. This particular area does have Mini Suites, most of which are partially covered. However the most Aft cabin on each side of the ship is uncovered. We do love this ship and would book in the AFT section on the Caribe deck if we were tp sail on her again. 

Thank you for this photo. Our Princess Planner has allocated us C728 for a 28 day cruise (it was not my first option) but I do like the look of it, from this photo. Let’s hope for good weather as we cruise around Australia, in April 2023. Everything is crossed for this cruise.

Vicki. 🙂🤞🙏🚢🚢

2 hours ago, srpilo said:

 

No, I mearly referenced that Scott Morrison the Australian PM said this week that due to the slow roll out of a vaccine in Australia that he doesn't see Australia opening to international visitors this year (2021) and that he doesn't expect a satisfactory level of vaccination in Australia (70%) until the very end of the year at which time he'll be willing to discuss opening of borders. 

So I just surmised that if Australia does indeed remained closed til at least the end of 2021, that Princess might need to cancel the 2021-2022 season... Crazy Times !!

 

But Fingers Crossed it Doesn't 🙃

 

Ok, thanks for clarifying. Yes it’s certainly crazy times & who knows when we will be able to cruise again.

Stay safe & well. 
 

Vicki. 🙂

16 hours ago, srpilo said:

 

I'm currently booked on the 2022 Emerald Sydney to LA 27 day, but already fearful that NZ & OZ still wont be open this winter for cruising, with Princess canceling the entire 2022 Australian season. But just as hopeful if Princess would/does cancel the 2021- 2022 Emerald sailings in OZ that they'd instead be able to schedule a couple 28 day Rt-LA Tahiti- Hawaii  sailings as a replacementi in 2022 (????) 

 

 

Hi srpilo - you mention ‘Princess cancelling the entire 2022 Australian season’. I am not aware of this, can you please advise where you heard this, the Aus/NZ cruises are still up on their website.  Thank you.

Vicki. 🙂