Semolina

Do agree that the smoking permeates other areas. It definitely affects the sun chair area on the main deck. Cigar smoking is definitely worse than cigarette smoking. I agree that they could do more to enclose the smoking areas. My husband has mentioned this a few times. We have cruised with Oceania many, many times and we love them but the smoking area does cause a problem.

I too have been enjoying your writing. I don't know what you do for a living but I hope it incorporates writing and of course a sense of humor. We have been on many Oceania cruises but haven't been on Marina for a while. We will be cruising on her in March and also Riviera in September and I must say you have reminded me of some of the advantages of travelling on the bigger ships, most notably the extra selection of fantastic food items.

I just wanted to say that one of the things we really like about the smaller ships is the more friendly feeling from crew and passengers alike. Obviously smaller is more intimate and we tend to make new good friends on the smaller ships rather than on the bigger versions. I think the same applies to the GDR and other restaurants on the ship. So there are advantages and disadvantages on whichever version you choose.

On our last cruise on Sirena we also suffered some abominable behavior in Tuscan Steak. I think it sounds like a different sort of bad behavior from what you endured. Ours was more of a sickeningly bad taste behavior and it certainly shocked us plus some of the waiters. There certainly are a few cruisers to avoid but on the whole we find the Oceania clientele to be a very well mannered and friendly crowd.

I hope that we may meet on another cruise whether it is on Cruise Critic or on the actual ship. I have certainly enjoyed your artistic descriptions and your mouth watering photos. Have a good journey home.

Jennifer

If it is a virus that's going around right now it seems it will be difficult to get rid of because more people will bring it onboard. My daughter had this virus just after Christmas and that was in Vancouver, so it is everywhere. I was thinking the same thing about the hotels. We are having one night in Miami before we join our friends for 3 nights, then we will board together. Maybe at least the bug isn't as bad as Noro. My daughter's lasted 24 hours.

I am supporting the request to watch the hygiene in the hotels before boarding. The bug will spread from ships to hotels and vica versa.

I hope that some of you on Marina next week will continue the updates on the health of the ship.

Good luck to everyone who is on her and have a great time! Here is to a healthy cruise.

Sorry, I meant we will join Marina on March 7th.

Have a fantastic time with your friends.:)

Well I enjoyed your elegant and poetic post and I shall watch for your future blogs and posts. We were on Marina shortly after her maiden voyage and we have cruised on her one time since. We sail more often on the 'R' ships. However it will be interesting to hear how you find the restaurants. On our first Marina cruise we loved Red Ginger. We placed Jacques last on our choice of rating, however on our 2nd Marina cruise we placed Jacques as number one choice and Red Ginger as number 3. They had changed the menu in Jacques.

I do wish you good luck on your cruise tomorrow. We will be joining Marina on March 2nd. I will be very interested to hear updates on the health situation. I think their deep cleaning before you board will do the trick. That is what we found in a similar situation on Insignia last year. I feel sorry for all the extra work for the crew.

Bon Voyage

We were on Sirena and friends in PH had no tub, so it would seem to me they plan that change on the other small ships.

One other thing. Although we basically loved the updating of Sirena we were disappointed with the beds. They were not as comfortable as the Tranquility beds we have had on the other ships. Everything was nearly new an yet there was a bit of a dip in our bed. I reported this to our housekeeper and he spent time working on it and improved it. They also offered to replace the mattress. The problem was the mattresses were different even though they were still called Tranquility. I did let several of the management know and also wrote it on my shipboard review. We were told they were putting these beds on all the ships but perhaps they won't. I'm sure others must have noticed a difference.

This doesn't sound good at all. However we were on a cruise on Regatta around South America a few years ago and Noro did get quite bad. It was a 30 days cruise but they gradually got it under control and cleared the ship. It seemed to be brought on in Lima. Perhaps it was the ceviche ice cream!

I don't think we have had Damien LaCroix on any of our cruises with O and we have done 20. Hmm, is he doing his job? That doesn't sound too good either.

This does seem to get more worrying. All you can do is keep washing hands and don't touch anything unless you have to. Even when there is no GI onboard I use our bathroom whenever possible because I read that this was a sensible thing to do. Maybe use those little tissues they put in the bathrooms to hold onto the railings on the stairs.

When does this cruise end? Is it the 22nd? Perhaps they can deep clean the ship before they have the new boardings.

Do the crew seem sick?

I wonder if it is harder to get rid of this problem on the bigger ships.

Keep posting and good luck.

We have been in touch with a management contact that we have in head office and apparently the Coastguard picks ships that they check on a purely random basis. It has nothing to do with anything that might be happening onboard the Marina. So I think everyone can cross that concern off the list.

Please, keep up informing us all about the situation as you see it onboard.

Thanks everybody

Has anyone thought to ask the GM onboard what the situation is with viruses right now. Who is the GM on the ship right now? It might be good to ask some questions.

Hi there

I think you will find your check in will go fairly smoothly. Oceania are very organized with their arrangements at check in. They have designated lines for the different levels and we have never had a problem. It might be a little worse than usual given the circumstances but I don't think you need worry. Yesterday I saw the lines for boarding a Princess ship! That was enough for me to decide never to go on one of their ships. We always find that boarding is very quick.

Good luck. We are on there quite soon but after you.

This is worrying but perhaps it is what they say and completely random. We are trying to find out more as we are boarding in a few weeks. Would the coast guard have the equipment to check for Noro? It doesn't seem really likely, however I have noticed Marina has had a GI problem on and off for weeks. It seems like they never got rid of it. With regard to the disinfected entrance mats, they are perfectly normal when the ships are in 3rd world type destinations. We have had those in use on a lot of Oceania cruises, also the supply of hand sanitizer spray in our rooms. I hope that the hygiene routine on the ship has been stepped up as an extra precaution. I think if the virus is higher than a certain percentage, the ports won't let the ship dock so lets hope they are keeping it under control. I really dread catching that Noro virus.

Earlier this year on Insignia the virus was bad and the housekeepers were changing all beds everyday along with a lot of other precautions. Has the situation become that serious yet? Take a look around the medical center and see how many are waiting to be seen. On one cruise they even had sick passengers in the corridor!

I hope for better news. Please keep posting.

Jennifer

We are in our 70s and 80s and were told by our travel Dr. that the risk of catching yellow fever on our Amazon cruise was much greater than the very rare risk from the yellow fever vaccination. After a great deal of deliberation both my husband and I decided to go ahead and have the vaccination. My husband had his last week and I had mine this week. So far we are both fine. The nurse who treated us said she had never had an older person with a serious reaction and some of her patients have been in their 90s. We were told by our travel Dr. not to go on the trip if we didn't have the vaccination. We live in the USA but our friends in London have also been given the same recommendation for their Africa trip. I hope this might help some others decide. It only takes one bad mosquito!!

Thank you so much for your reassurance. I have also heard from 3 friends who went cruising on the Amazon and they had no trouble with mosquitoes. We shall use Deet and spray our clothes and we are planning on taking the malaria meds Malarone.

I feel a lot happier now and I am looking forward to the cruise.

I love your phrase 'Adventure before Dementia' I will remember that!

Thanks again

Jennifer

We are going on a cruise on the Amazon and the travel Dr's department told us we are too old for the yellow fever vaccination although we are both in good health. I am middle 70's and my husband is early 80's. They then told us we shouldn't go to the Amazon. We told them it is too late to cancel. They then said we should stay inside the ship in the air conditioning and not go outside. There seems little point in going if we can't go anywhere. Does anyone have any advice? Does this sound like a medical person who is too conservative. It was at a medical travel center but it wasn't the Dr. I think it was a nurse as the Dr was away. We have a lot of insect repellant and plan on covering up but we are now a bit scared.

It seems a while since anyone has posted here but if anyone is out there and knows anything please reply.

I have a UK passport and I have been told that as I am entering Vietnam 3 times within 15 days, twice from the cruise ship and once having exited to fly to Siem Reap for 2 nights, I will need a visa. I have read on a government page that UK passports don't need a visa for Vietnam. Does anyone know about the 3rd exit/entry situation?

Also, does anyone have information about a visa for Cambodia from the cruise ship?

I am on Oceania, Singapore to Shanghai. Does anyone know about UK visas for Shanghai and Xiamen?

Thanks

Jennifer