Wol

6 hours ago, cbb said:

I'm probably the only one on this thread that wishes we still had a wall phone by the bed

 

--good for someone who needs immediate help

-takes up less real estate on the desk if it is on the wall and we will have enough stuff on the desk top as is--partially because we can't rely on wall magnets anymore to keep us organized!!!

 

We too!

7 hours ago, cbb said:

ok....so tell us what you saw in the video.  Tried changing browsers still nothing.  I'll get my live-in computer guy on this sometime today. 

 

You've probably got a very good antivirus program....

16 hours ago, cbb said:

I read that the combo was not well received on Sirena but didn't know that a decision had been made.  Good to know they've kept them as 2 separate restaurants--at least on Insignia!

Good news indeed! I did hear from one of the senior roving quality managers last year that they were reviewing the decision to put Red Ginger across the R class but hadn't seen any indication that it was not to be implemented.

3 hours ago, LHT28 said:

maybe he does not know

that is  what I was trying to find out   from his post #378  😉

 

I think there was  a thread on this last year  but some say yes it can be done & others say no

We never get any non-refundable OBC. In the US the travel agents often let you have a proportion of their commission - in Australia it's unheard of. In fact we have been charged $55 each just to walk into a travel agency whether or not we buy anything!

BTW could posters refrain from including the photos that were originally posted when they reply? They all have to be downloaded each and every time !

39 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

were your gratuities prepaid  & this OBC was in addition to them

What Oceania ship allowed this ?

Yes, gratuities included. Regatta, Sirena, Insignia and Nautica. We stopped going on the big ships some years ago.

39 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

 

All I can say to the above is that we have on at least half a dozen occasions made over to crew gratuities unused OBCs, on several ships. It is designated as "Gratuities" on the final statements.

54 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Yes it looked like the  lighting had changed to LED  it is much brighter

Did they remove the big wall  that was in the centre of Horizons? 

How about the smoking room is it still there?

It looks as if they have - a pity. We like to sit the quiet side of that at tea - so many of the quartets are just too loud for conversation.

Another mistake is using the handles that are in fashion this week - we have just spent hundreds replacing similar ones in our new house with rounded ones that don't dig big holes in your body when you brush against them.

6 hours ago, RetiredLifer said:

Thanks for the pictures.  So far, I like what I see except for the carpeting in what I believe is Martinis. The rectangle patterns gives me the sense of an optical illusion and I feel "sea sick" just looking at it.  Like to see what they did to Horizons.  Will be on her for a couple of segments of the World Cruise.

You beat me to it! Rather like those Iberian wavy tiled piazzas which make me swim around.

5 hours ago, LHT28 said:

have  you personally done that with Oceania ?

Yes, many times.

56 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

OMG  how will people spend their OBC ?? 

Easy!

You can make out with reception before the account closes that any unused OBC goes into the crew gratuities.

In the past we've done that or, on several occasions bought watches and the like and entrusted the GM with giving all non-officers raffle tickets for a draw - the crew really seems to get a kick out of that.

4 hours ago, LHT28 said:

 

How long ago was that ?

 

I recall many years ago on one of the crossings  they started work on the ship   many unhappy sailors  ..as they should  be

 

On 11/4/2018 at 12:55 AM, LHT28 said:

Oh I hope  they are not going to be  ripping up things  in the public areas 

enjoy the cruise

Plus one!

We had the pre-dry dock experience a few years ago several days before Vancouver on Regatta. They were jack-hammering paint off the decks all the time with bits all over the place, and the Regatta lounge was denuded of carpet, etc etc.

It's all very well, but commercial economics seem to be taking precedence over passenger requirements. It's not as if Oceania is a cut price cruising company and being taken for granted is not what we expect.

Report back!

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

if you cannot log in how do you know the OBC is in AUD?

Because my wife can log on - using the very same password. next question?

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

 

 

5 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

When you look at the shore excursions are they in AUD or USD?

On the Canadian site  they show in CAD if  I want to pre book them

Excursions are only a generic set of pages, not specific to a passenger. Our invoices show our OBCs in US$ but online they show up as AU$ - which are very different nowadays!

That's when I can log on - at the moment the O website won't accept my (correct) password and if I ask for a password re-set it says I will get an email but I never get one!

The email address that I enter turns into upper case by itself and I think the same is happening to my password which has a mixture!

I can see another email to Mike Moore coming up.....

We have just seen the OBC turn up - and it's in Australian dollars! Not what the invoice says.

I've been in a cruise ship shower stall with glass door. It was open (no glass) from maybe the last 10 inches down to the bottom. I was a little afraid that water could get out onto the floor, but little did. I liked the glass door - more modern, and likely more easy to clean than a curtain.

 

I certainly like glass doors when you have a big shower, but the R ships' showers don't quite come into that category! The attendants change the shower curtains every few days anyway.

 

The curtain does allow you to encroach outwards without constantly banging against a glass door, so I prefer that. Until a couple of years ago the curtains had a corded hem which slid down the track and kept the bathroom door side watertight but that seems to have disappeared.

I was thinking the same thing. I sort of liked the feeling of walking into a Downton Abbey set, with butlers at my beck and call. To me, cruising is special and "old school." If I want sleek, white and modern, I can find that at any number of hotels and resorts. Also, if it's meant to look old and elegant, a few scratches are patina. White furniture with scratches is simply dirty.

 

Mary

Couldn't agree more. I know that some decry the old fashioned decor on the R ships but I think the majority keep coming back BECAUSE they like the style. Oceania are trying to change the very things that most of us like, and there's a lot of - better - modernistic ships out there that those who prefer that look to cruise with rather than a tarted-up version.

I expect the TVs are being updated (they need it) but time will tell whether the sound will impinge on the next cabin since they are bolted to the wall, plus the fact that they are likely to reflect the window rather well if you like sitting in bed to watch.

The bathroom does look better, but I wonder about the practicality of the glass shower doors.

 

Wol, where did you see photos of the bathroom? I didn't see one for the A-E cats....

 

I took a couple of photos as we prepared to leave the ship, but it was very hurried and I hadn't time to go in and they are only of the basin and the shower door is just visible. The room's so small that you'd have to stand on the loo with a fisheye lens to get much in!

We looked over the demo cabin on Nautica last month: it's better than we had feared - lighter and of course not as "used" as the old furnishings. I think with all the white and light colours it may get grubby quite quickly: the modern, almost minimalist look has to be pristine to work, whereas the old dark furnishings can accumulate quite a bit of superficial damage and still be acceptable.

The bathroom does look better, but I wonder about the practicality of the glass shower doors. I know that some find shower curtains to be downmarket, but they do make it possible to move around in what is a tiny space without banging against something solid. The glass doors might restrict one's movements while showering - we will see on our next Nautical cruise.

I am one who appreciates the dark, slightly old-style decor - and especially before they spent money and replaced the Terrace wall pictures with that ghastly stone brick wall!

But old ones spend far less onboard than new ones. And they have to give them loyalty perks whereas new ones cost them nothing.

Possibly true - but only one part of the calculation that a company has to make.

This fervor for new ships is nothing if not a double edged sword. Whenever they come, the new ships may have all of the new bells and whistles, but they will certainly be far larger than the R ships, and perhaps larger than the O ships.

I'm quoting FDR directly here, "EVERYBODY builds larger"....and he said that before he was affiliated with NCL. ;)

Another quote that to me shows FDR is somewhat losing the plot!

Oceania has been very successful - as we are told at length at every Captain's cocktail party - by targeting a niche market and keeping loyal guests. In the immortal words why fix what ain't broke?

The loyal guests are just that - loyal - BECAUSE of the small ship feel, the demographic guest lists, the lack of children onboard, the friendliness of the staff etc. To branch out into the medium/big ship field would not be progress for the brand, even if from the POV of the company they might fill the vessels with (new) passengers - less the ones who go elsewhere.

I don’t know if this applies to your situation but I found that on longer cruises one has to “spread” their reservations over the entire cruise. For example, you can book 1/2 of allowed reservations (one in each restaurant) in the first 7-10 days and the rest later on. This was the case on our 19 day cruise.

We are only doing the one sector (Long story - we had booked the SOU - SOU - Stockholm originally, cancelled it all due medical issues then later rebooked the SOU - SOU while on Insignia!) The booking site seems to get confused when everyone's on it trying to get 1830 bookings and comes up with conflicting error messages at the same time.

Now we have one short of the "correct" number (won't allow the remaining one) and.... confirmations of all the correct ones PLUS one more by email!!

The Oceania website has always been a coding mess. Instead of scrapping it and designing a newly coded one from scratch they have put patch upon patch to the original and, as will always happen when this is done even if the "old" bugs are patched inevitably new ones emerge.

The "new" restaurant bookings pages seemed better than the old ones, but have introduced several different issues. I found I could only book one less than the allowed number in Toscana yet kept being told (a) that I had one to go and (b) that I was already at the limit!

Mike Moore used to monitor this site and was receptive to comments (mmoore@prestigecruiseholdings.com) but he hasn't been around recently.

>>Why is Oceania not expanding and thus "allowing" Viking Ocean to surpass it in terms of fleet size? What Oceania seems to be doing (or not doing) is like what Azamara was doing (or was not doing) when Oceania overtook it.<<

FWIW My read has been that NCL will allow Oceania to fade away and hope that the loyal membership will migrate to Regent.

I think they are mainly wrong if that's the "plan" (My quotes)