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Any excursion in any category, including services such as renting a car through the ship where that is available as an option.

I'm onboard now and the O Club Ambassador in her presentation about Simply More said that the Ship Excursion money is only for excursions, cannot be converted or used for anything else. If you don't book ship's excursions, you lose the money.

@vlthom ... the O Club Ambassador on Insignia answered that question as if you stay with O Life on an existing booking you only get one login per cabin.

While I am a strong proponent of doing expedition cruising in Antarctica — we’ve been twice and are booked on our third expedition in 2025 — I was surprised at how much I enjoyed our brief foray into Antarctic waters on Oceania’s Insignia this year. It was part of the world cruise itinerary, so for us it was a “bonus return visit” to Antarctica. Being on the smaller side — under 700 passengers … similar in overall size to Quest, I believe — the ship managed to get into places I didn’t think it would venture. That we had a great ice pilot, and a captain who was willing to listen to the advice of the pilot, were important factors in where we went, what we saw. If Antarctica is part of an otherwise good itinerary on a small cruise ship, I would consider it again. Yes, no one got off the ship during Insignia’s time in the Antarctic. For those of us who had been before, it was a very nice “repeat trip” and I know of at least 10 couples who have since booked expedition cruises back for a more in-depth trip. So, it was a good “promotional trip,” if you will. By the way, we had the most amazing bubble-feeding whale behavior right next to the ship. So regardless of whether on an expedition or a regular cruise ship, the place to always be is on the outside decks. You never know what you will see.

Not required to upgrade … you can reprice if you wish at the prevailing rate once Simply More comes into play. Or you can keep your existing bookings as is. I am on the ATW at the moment and this is how the O Club Ambassador explained it at her presentation earlier this week.

Deleted content due to duplicate info.

The big ships have to stay outside the protected harbor, so the tender ride is anywhere from 15-20+ minutes depending on the designated anchorage. If it is rough at the anchorage — and more often than not it can be — then you won't be tendering and the ship will skip Stanley. We've been twice now (most recently about 1 month ago) and made it ashore both times (easier/shorter tendering on the 50 pax vessel in 2007 because we were able to get inside the harbor entrance).

We are in a B veranda on Insignia right now and only 220V by the bed and USB. American 110 outlets by the desk ... one of them in the kneehole. I did hear that Penthouse cabins are different, but no first hand experience of that.

I am looking forward to reading your review. I am curious how far south you got in Whaler’s Bay as we also got into the Bay in 2015 when we traveled there on Ortelius (Oceanside Expeditions).

Returning to the original topic of drive by sailing reports. Oceania Insignia just completed it’s 3-day drive by a couple of days ago. Although I am still a strong proponent of expedition cruising in the polar regions (have done this twice), I will say that this was a very successful trip (part of the world cruise). We had an excellent bridge team that worked in close cooperation with the ice pilot and the expedition team leader to get us much closer to the scenery than I expected … Dallman Bay, Neumayer Channel, Gerlache Strait, Andvord Bay (Paradise Bay was blocked by ice), Errera Channel, and then up to the South Shetlands … Deception Island (did not enter the caldera), Half Moon Island, Greenwich Island, into Admiralty Bay on King George Island. We had the Drake Lake both ways. An amazing whale bubble feeding fest in Andvord Bay, with humpbacks right next to the ship. Penguins were little more than distant dots, but then I didn’t go with any other expectation, so not a surprise. Also, leopard seal on an ice floe … and crabeater seals on another ice floe … both fairly close to the ship and identifiable without binoculars. We managed to tender into Stanley on the way north. Another success. Did I miss the landings that we’ve done in the past? Absolutely. But Antarctica is amazing however you get down there.

Exposed … also, there may be quite a bit of ice, as was the case when we went there in January 2007. We did a zodiac cruise through the brash ice, which sounded like a blender crushing ice. No way to get ashore.

Carlos, the pianist on Insignia, is on in Martinis b/w 6:00-6:45 / 8:00-8:45 / and 10:00-11:15. The quartet is playing in the upper hall from 7:45 to 9:15 (in two shifts); and then there is the show in the Insignia Lounge from 9:30 to 10:15. Whether this will be the case on your cruise I cannot say.

Currently, in person muster drill on embarkation day for each segment of the world cruise on Insignia … including going out to the lifeboat stations. The secondary muster, if you are on a segment/cruise that is 14 days +, is done over the P/A system … you listen to it wherever you happen to be; do not have to go to muster stations for that one (at least we have not had to yet).

We have done lots of expedition style voyages that required getting in and out of zodiacs. If you have a decent sense of balance and agility, you'll be fine. At 5 feet 1 inch ... I sometimes find getting in a little more challenging ... depends on the terrain and how high the nose of the boat is sitting. But there are always plenty of staff around to help if necessary.

you need to send me an email as described in post #5 ... then I will send you the link.

See post #5 here.

There will be snippets about Oceania, but my blog is mostly destination driven. If you have a specific question, leave a comment on one of the posts and I will try to answer it.

It can be almost immediately after you leave the Beagle Channel, which may take a couple of hours. The ship should advise you if the seas are going to be rough, so you can prepare. Check with the front desk personnel. It really is luck of the draw and you could have the Drake Lake. It also depends on your susceptibility to the motion of the ocean. What is rough for you may not necessarily be the case for me or others.

Once outside the Beagle Channel, you’re fair game for rough seas. On our first trip, we headed to the Falklands from Ushuaia, not really crossing the Drake until later … that day was one of the roughest of the trip and the Drake was a piece of cake after that. It’s just luck of the draw.

OCEANIA INSIGNIA ATW 2023 BLOG Greetings ... I will be blogging our 200-day+ voyage. However, I have set my FindPenguins blog for this particular trip to Followers Only. (The only difference between this and a public blog is that you need to receive a "private link.") You do not need to set up a FindPenguins account to follow the trip ... simply click the "private link" whenever you want to check for new postings ... no notification when new footprints are uploaded unless you are a Follower (for which you would need to set up a free account). If you would like to receive the "private link," send me an email at eerkun (format for yahoo). Please mention your CC handle in the email so that I know the request is not spam.

ATW 2023 on Oceania recently replaced switched things around when it removed the ports in China. The itinerary now includes Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, and Taiwan and additional ports in Japan.

180-day is the official world cruise, so yes, the shoreside events do apply to it. You do not need to do anything. Your invoice from Oceania will show these as already reserved. If you don’t have the invoice from O, ask your travel agent to send it to you. Details of the events and tickets will be provided onboard. we have not done any of the overlands, but the general consensus is to book them as soon as they are available to do so. If you have not done so already, find the roll call for your world cruise and join it. Also, suggest following/reading the roll call for 2023 (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2770541-december-28-2022-atw-2023-mia-sf-sf-sf-and-all-other-versions-segments)… or previous years. These roll calls always have good discussions that will help answer your questions. in my signature below is the link to the 2017 ATW blog I wrote…you might find some helpful info there as well. On this board, I believe there are a couple of threads from previous world cruises on O that at least one person wrote … again helpful info. Perhaps the authors will see your question and post the links. I am on the road, so cannot provide the links myself. have fun planning.

Dressy sandals are quite OK.

We've never had problems with magnets in checked bags.

I’ll have to remember about ginger beer. We’ve done the Greenland to Reykjavik crossing three times … conditions are luck of the draw … had flat calm once, rough another time, rough-ish on yet another time. The ship was returning to Greenland after dropping us off after the third crossing and they were expecting very rough sea conditions … rough enough to begin securing breakables before the ship set sail again. Go with the necessary meds/precautions, stay low on the ship and near windows from which you can keep an eye on the horizon to stabilize your inner balance; fresh air does wonders.