willidc

6 hours ago, bob brown said:

So far, I have only sailed aboard the Insignia, but aren’t all the Oceania ‘R class’ ships pretty much the same, if not identical?🤔

Very true.  With the Sirena exceptions noted above and some changes in Horizons for Insignia's ATW sailings (like Artist's Loft) physically they are pretty much the same.  Not all built in the same year, so I am sure there are those that could point out differences. 

What was so outstanding about Nautica (and I speak from sailing 2012 through 2016 particularly) was the family feel on the ship with both guests and crew when we took our first Far East cruise. I can think of a specific GM (now on a newer O ship) that was a big contributor to that feeling as well as some other higher ups that propagated that feeling throughout the ship.  We met crew that had been with the ship since it began sailing with O under the Nautica name. After Marina and Riviera debuted, we talked to quite a few crew members that wanted to stay with Nautica.  Mentioned, we weren't the only ones that could not put the difference into words, thus the "she's got a way about her".

But we began seeing Nautica crew on other ships .  I specifically remember one delightful Russian crew member working at Reception who said she would never leave Nautica.  We noticed her on our Marina Baltic cruise about two years later.  Marina visited Russia in those days and we had two overnights in St.Petersburg and she was asked to switch to Marina for a number of reasons, her assistance with language begin one.  She was not happy for the move and said that more people being asked to leave Nautica for other O ships.  I would have thought that she would welcome the larger and newer ship.

Over the years, some of that rather unique ambiance that I speak of has left Nautica, but as of November 2022 we still felt that we were 'home', just not with as many 'family members'.

Sorry for such a long answer to a short question.  

2 hours ago, sailing oldie said:

We've just negotiated 2 price reductions on our 2025 cruise, before final payment. Each time, the Oceania agent had to cancel and rebook on a new reference number.

Were you given a reason why this "newish" procedure is in place?  The only benefit we saw for O was that with a new booking #, the "guaranteed lowest price" would no longer apply since it is no longer technically an onboard booking. And the final payment was moved up which may trigger some other constraints.  And we took the $100pp hit on shorex allowance.

But none of that makes sense unless either they plan to limit us to one lowering of price or if they intend to lower the price again and we would no longer qualify for onboard booking lowest price guarantee. 

8 hours ago, jagoffee said:

Has anyone ever needed to cancel a cruise (and rebook) to receive a price reduction on Oceania prior to final payment?

 

Thanks

Yes. We needed to do this at the end of August 2024.

Our Dec. 5, 2024 sailing on Vista had a significant price drop with the Flash Sale about a week prior to final payment which was to occur on Sept. 6, 2024. We DID book onboard in June 2023 for this cruise first under O'Life, then months later converted to SM under an early price reduction. With the end of August Flash Sale, the only way they would permit us getting the reduced price (almost $1000pp) was to cancel the cruise and rebook as new with a new booking number.  The only thing we lost was $100pp shorex credit since that was reduced at some previous time for bookings and they did not grandfather us in for the new booking.  

We had to PIF immediately since we were booking under the current rules (not those from June 2023) and we were already past that date.  We did NOT lose our original cabin.  We were a bit puzzled since we try to always book onboard and have not had to do this previously when prices dropped since we get the "guaranteed lowest price until date of sailing".  We are not sure why we had to cancel and rebook this time, but Oceania indicated this was how it was to be done and we are still pleased with the outcome.

Good luck to you!

6 hours ago, jonthomas said:

" o food overall better",

That's the most important issue for us. Have heard all the Viking history,  all about Bayeux tapestry. Can't hear it again. Pool area very hot and stuffy, as they refused to open roof, causes friction with wind, uses too much fuel.

Friends Sent food back several times, just gristle and fat.

I could go on, but there is no point. Our Viking cruise was March 2022, never again. We have our line of choice and like everything about it, no need for any experimentation.

We are with you on the Viking evaluation with one more point.

Our Viking was a one and done for us for a few reasons.  We were lucky to have found two couples whose company we enjoyed very much which made the Viking cruise a good experience. But here is one thing that we have noticed regarding Viking vs Oceania not yet mentioned.  It is the people.  We like the Oceania people very much as a group and for the most part.  🙂

Yes, there is always the occasional exception to the rule though.  

Lojay 2,

Here is a copy of a response I have made several times in other similar threads previously.  It is about a year old, but still accurate, I believe:

"We have had three GTY bookings.

The first was on the third sailing of Riviera in 2012.  We were GTY Oceanview.  We were nervous and made several calls to Oceania since we had to leave for the airport and still did not have a cabin number.  When we got to the dock, they looked up our name and gave us the cabin number 10105.  Told them there must be some mistake since we had Oceanview GTY, but they tagged our bags with the Concierge cabin number three decks up and we boarded the ship.  

Second time, we ended up about two months prior to sailing with the same category we had booked.  But as previous posters point out, we were very happy to just be on the sailing.

Most recently was November 2022 on a MidEast sailing that was 'full' for months with a backlog of people who had been cancelled during pandemic.  We cleared the GTY into cabin 7000 on Nautica which had a balcony with no roof.  Great if you want direct sunlight with lots of motion facing forward, but it was not the cabin we would have chosen.  We watched the booking daily until we saw another cabin open up in the same category in a location more to our liking and called immediately to have it changed.  So, the GTY got us on the ship so we could plan, but persistence paid off in moving to a more desirable location.  

My point is, we have had three GTY bookings with three different outcomes.  But all were happy endings.

Enjoy your cruise!"

13 hours ago, ORV said:

I’m currently on Nautica and the CD mentioned something I did not know on his morning TV talk. We’ve had US Coast Guard inspections and this was the reason we couldn’t embark a couple of days ago until 3pm. Being in Scotland this seems out of the ordinary and he said it was because Nautica has not  been to the US in 20 years or more. I don’t know if he is right or not but thought that was interesting.

We cannot say if he IS right or not either.  But when we began sailing with O in 2012, people who were more seasoned O travellers gave us some great information over dinner one night.  I remember they said that Nautica was the "exotic itinerary" R ship.

I just checked our six sailings on Nautica and see Hong Kong to Beijing (2014), Bangkok to Mumbai (2018), and Abu Dabi to Dubai in late 2022 being the last Nautica sailing for us.  All pretty exotic.  The least exotic was 2019 Canary Islands/Africa. 

Nautica has been our favorite R ship but not sure if it was our ports visited with her or something else.  As Billy Joel would say "She's got a way about her".

Thanks for the tidbit. It brought back some nice memories on a Monday afternoon.

You may have better luck going to your Roll Call.  There are usually people looking to schedule private tours there and have experience with private tours or a mix.  Even if you are not interested in a group getting together for a tour, they typically have previous experience with some operators and guides they could suggest.

And you may also get some suggestions from this board as well.

Enjoy your cruise!

5 hours ago, NewSalty said:

Well, in our case, they gave us is the bronze benefit on a cruise that is close to a year away. 

My takeaway from the mish-mash of answers above is that the process is somewhat irregular. Careful monitoring seems to be the order of the day. (One more thing to keep track of!)

We were on our 22nd cruise and our invoice from an early booking date still showed 19 Gold.  As your experience is rather common on invoices and website, from our experience on all previous levels, we have been treated to the appropriate level of OBC for loyalty in all cases with notification cards on the desk in our stateroom upon boarding.  Never an issue. 

I once questioned this confusion on invoices prior to boarding and was told that we officially are on the next loyalty level when we "set foot on the ship".  Since we have never had an issue automatically getting the appropriate perk once on the ship, we now just  ignore what is on a usual and somewhat dated invoice.  

Enjoy your cruise!

Welcome to Oceania!

Poster 'dock' posted on July 27 an excellent comparison of his many years sailing with X vs his first sailing on O.

Check for the following on this board: 

"Celebrity Loyalists on their First Oceania Cruise, Vista July 23- Aug 02"

Our preferred location on the R ships (Nautica be one of them) is AFT between the aft elevators and Owner's Suite at the back of the ship with Deck 6 our usual deck.  We have been in cabins in this general location at least 8 times and find no noise issues from the GDR...neither in the evenings nor in the early mornings.

Morning docking will likely be the noise and vibrations that you will experience, but it has never been enough for us to consider another location on the ship.

Welcome to Oceania!

Riviera was also our first O cruise in 2012 on her third voyage.  Beautiful then and beautiful when we completed our 21st O cruise in Feb 2024.

Enjoy your cruise on Riviera!

14 hours ago, osandomir said:

With all respect I understand that people have their own preferences on how to cruise and where to spend their money on vacations. But personally we think that the food in Spain including Barcelona is amazing. Then we’re not normally going to the restaurants in the heavily touristy areas in any city. But obviously, not everyone’s taste is the same.

I agree about everyone's taste.

Since we have already gone off topic, here is something to add to Barcelona comments:

Just an interesting tidbit about how tastes vary.  My mother's parents were both born and raised in Spain in the Barcelona region.  My father was born in Andalucia near Seville and came to US as a toddler.  I grew up speaking both English and Castillian spanish at home and am very comfortable just about anywhere in Spain.  

Growing up I tried and tried to enjoy the cooking from my mom's side of the family and just never took to it.  However, when she cooked meals that my dad requested, I enjoyed just about every single one.  My husband and I have been in Barcelona quite a few times for land trips and to board some of our O sailings.  Again, I have tried and tried to enjoy that cooking at more restaurants than I can name.  All were highly suggested to us.  However, I can still say that I have never had a 'nice' meal in Barcelona that I have truly enjoyed.  Yes, we even tried El Rey Juan Carlos when Oceania put us up there before one of the first Riviera sailings in 2012.

No hope, sadly, for this 100% Spaniard for that Barcelona food. 

Yes

We have a NYC-Montreal on Insignia for Sept 15-30, 2024 booked May 2023.

We usually book tours very early, but waited until early Feb 2024 and found ourselves on a Waitlist for our preferred Ottawa tour.  We booked another tour in place of the WL one. We were told that we would be notified if we cleared the WL and the one booked would be cancelled and replaced.

Sure enough, in late June (last month) we got an email "Shore Excursion Waitlist Clearance Notification" in the subject line. It contained a PDF for PreSelected Tours indicating the change, as well as the entire invoice/paperwork since, there was a small change in price for the WL tour.  That was followed up with an email directly from a member of the tour dept indicating the change.  Note:  These notifications came very close or after to Final Payment date.

If you clear prior to getting on the ship, it will be easy for you to get the message if they follow this procedure for all WL tours that have cleared for guests.  We felt it was well handled.

Best of Luck!

We have not sailed in 7100, but have sailed in 7104 for 22 days.  Our favorite locations on all Oceania ships is aft, midway between aft elevators and Owners Suites.  Very quiet hallway and none of the motion that may be experienced far forward.  We like a little motion and find it calming though.  Some say there are vibrations in the aft area cabins, but we only notice at times during docking and we are usually up for the morning by then. Aft elevators are typically less crowded than fwd elevators (just our experience).  And as already mentioned, it is nice to be on the same floor as laundry, but do not forget your three Concierge complimentary bags of laundry. 

We have our 24th Oceania cruise booked and I would say you have booked in our favorite neighborhood.  (unless, of course, a bargain pops up and we need to move to a different location).

Enjoy your cruise and welcome to Oceania!

I posted this June 4 on another Sirena thread.

This is a good thread for me to repost since the R bathrooms are often questioned:

"Our son just got married Saturday and is spending his honeymoon on Sirena for the Seville to Dublin segment. Their first Oceania cruise was on Riviera18 months ago for their engagement.

They are in their early 30s. Their cabin is almost completely forward on deck 7.

We are also hoping that this is a good sailing.  We have 21 Oceania sailings under our belt.  Have sailed all of the ships except Sirena. So we could not relate anything to them other than what we have experienced on the other R ships.

BTW, they boarded the ship today.  After flying overnight he texted us that at 6'3" and about 185 pounds he found the "small" shower to be "fully functional" for him."

On our last three cruises (Riviera, Nautica, Marina) we have been able to have room service breakfast on disembark day.  One time we were able to order breakfast for a 4:45AM delivery.  It came fresh and on time with a smile and wishes for 'good travels'.  

On 8/21/2023 at 12:32 PM, elio111 said:

I have been a shareholder for many years and always received the OBC applicable to the cruise      I have a cruise coming up in November ,send my forms in and was denied the credit  because I booked my cruise during a promotion and is no combinable with any promotion.      This is the first time in 13cruises that it was denied.      Has this happen to anyone else?     The shareholder benefits should not be according the fare you pay.  If this is Oceania way to save ,I will sell my share and I will book any future cruise at the possible  fare ,as I have done past.

We were denied shareholder OBC on our 20th milestone cruise.  The 20th was deeply discounted, but far from "free" even with us doing our own air.  Still, I understand why they denied the stock OBC on milestone cruises---the cruise price alone is such a huge loyalty perk.

14 hours ago, CaptainCook808 said:

Finally I find it interesting that you think Oceania is substantially superior to Viking and Regent. You of course are entitled to your own opinion on this but I think most would agree with me that Viking is comparable to Oceania and Regent is superior.

We have not sailed Regent, but would like to in the future.  For us, it is hard to justify the higher price than Oceania at this point.

But as for Viking, we have sailed both their river and especially their ocean cruises.  Both were a 'one and done' for us mostly due to the ambience, service and quality regarding food.  NOT comparable for us.  Yes, we have over 20 cruises on Oceania, but we also have sailed with Cunard, HAL, Disney, and a couple mass market lines.  Until Oceania disappoints, we will continue to sail with them.

We have gotten excellent recommendations regarding food on Virgin, but we think we would feel like chaperones on their ships since we are in our 70s now.  But may still go ahead and try them.

14 hours ago, scooter6139 said:

Moved from A4 9007 to A3 9043.  I have to laugh at myself for paying more $$ to avoid a tub/shower combo.  🙄

But!  There's more!  You are now very close to the concierge lounge and the laundry.  We were in that cabin in 2023 and loved the location.

1 hour ago, kibutzer said:

Curious can you find out name of CD, and GM?

On this June 4 Sirena sailing, the CD's name is Dottie Kolusa.  Our contacts on the ship did not know at this point who is the GM .

55 minutes ago, MomC said:

To me, the amenities that I like are the 3 bags of laundry, the expanded room service menu, the pressing of clothes, access to the Aquamarine Spa Terrace—plus the concierge lounge.  Do they add up to $116 a day?  No, but I have booked close to that lounge and will enjoy meeting people and having access to all that it offers.  For me it’s worth it, but for some it’s not.  Personal choice.

In addition to the above, we enjoy the welcome champagne as a nice touch, but

the most important amenity for us is the ability to have earlier booking for the specialty restaurants.  Our dinners are very important to us and getting the reservation at the time and table for two on the days we want make Concierge very attractive.

We typically book a balcony at the beginning when we see if the Concierge rooms are much more expensive (and $116/day we would consider much more expensive). If the sailing sells well quickly, then we keep our balcony.  But I check regularly and during promos and have found that we can get into that A category much cheaper on most sailings we have booked by waiting and watching until we leave home for the airport.

On our last two cruises we did use the Concierge crew member on the larger ships in the Concierge lounge. Nice and convenient on Deck 9 where we prefer to be onthe larger ships. 

It is a personal decision as to if it is worth it.  Do you want to be on THAT particular sailing?  Then you can book the A1 and check often to see if a B category cabin opens up. In cases like yours you can WL but then don't have a guarantee that you will be on the ship. Your decision.

Best of Luck!

Our son just got married Saturday and is spending his honeymoon on Sirena for the Seville to Dublin segment. Their first Oceania cruise was on Riviera18 months ago for their engagement.

They are in their early 30s. Their cabin is almost completely forward on deck 7.

We are also hoping that this is a good sailing.  We have 21 Oceania sailings under our belt.  Have sailed all of the ships except Sirena. So we could not relate anything to them other than what we have experienced on the other R ships.

BTW, they boarded the ship today.  After flying overnight he texted us that at 6'3" and about 185 pounds he found the "small" shower to be "fully functional" for him.

We will be watching this thread. Thanks!

.

On 5/23/2024 at 4:11 PM, Queenvee said:

Thanks for your insights. I don't get seasick and always book interior cabins so am not worried about that.  LOL re: shower - I'm sure I'll be fine with them.  Glad to hear the confirmation about deck chairs on the promenade deck since I can while away hours watching the water, clouds, dozing and reading.  

Regarding the inside room on Insignia---While we did not do a TA on Insignia, we did do a sailing from Sydney to Papeete (20 days?) as part of the ATW in 2016 in an inside (7002) at the extreme front of the ship.  It was a last minute (3 week notice) booking that came up at an incredible price from our TA with the caveat that we could not pick our cabin.  We had high winds that we were outrunning for the first half of the trip and there was more motion than being in an inside midship, but we never got seasick. 

My favorite reading location is usually underneath Lifeboat#1.  Few people use the loungers there, very close to Baristas if you desire a nice coffee break from reading, and you can't get much closer to the water.

I think the inside room on the smaller R ships is one of the biggest bargains on Oceania.  The square footage is only about 20 sq ft smaller than balcony (if memory is correct) but with no doors to a balcony, the bed is against the back wall making the room seem larger with better traffic flow for us. 

Insides on Marina/Riviera have no sofa so my husband will not sail in those insides and we usually get a concierge cabin on the larger ships.

You sound like someone who would likely enjoy Oceania.  We had sailed Cunard long ago and also HAL long ago on the Kungsholm.  We now have our 24th Oceania sailing booked since 2012 and we have enjoyed every one.   

Give us a try!

If your time is flexible and you truly would rather experience a cooking class than do anything else at that time, then do not give up.

With Chef Stephanie on Marina, I was told to show up at about 3:50 because people do not show sometimes, say they forgot or are at the pool, etc.  Waitlist calls at that point often are not productive since many are maybe not in their room.  So, if I would be standing there at 4 PM I could possibly "get lucky"-----which has happened twice for me.  While you cannot pick which menu to cook, one time I did get the elusive seafood menu with four or five different items.

Good luck!  And enjoy your cruise!