ChadnKate

Agree. Found that sliding closet door a real pain.

It was back in the mid 70s. Worked with a company that did group trips Maybe TIA, Trans World or one of those. Only remember the excitement. Landed back in Bangor until another plane was sent for us.

Nobody has crashed with us in it yet, although I was on an L1011 Tristar back in the day that lost one of its engines. Literally, it fell off!

Unless all you drink is beer the upgrade cost is about a drink and a half per day not during lunch or dinner. We take the regular perk as part of our Olife package. Even if that upgrade cost isn't met every day its nice to have the convenience of doing what you want when you want.

Turkish Air fabulous, at least in the front of the plane. Istanbul Airport clean and efficient. We use Blacklane for our ride in to the Conrad on the Bosporous. You can use United miles to book Turkish Air. Had a direct flight from Miami. Iberia Airlines, Madrid Airport not so fine. Acceptable. Just don't expect to easily get your VAT tax back there - very fragmented and confusing. Miami airport a frenetic mess. Actually found more English spoken back in Madrid.

For our May-June Oceania Sirena cruise from Istanbul to Southampton with an additional 5 days in Madrid we had no missing flights but issues with luggage. Not missing or delayed luggage but Miami airport issues. Even though we had arranged for a wheelchair for Kate to help with the distance from airbridge to our transportation home, there were only 2 wheelchairs for 7 passengers who reserved in advance. We were told Emirates had snagged them all! After waiting 40 minutes we just gave up and walked. Hit the dreaded zig zag customs lines that wheelchairs bypass. When we finally got to the carousel the luggage was just arriving. In that we had a lot of luggage for our 6 week vacation we looked for a porter. Guess what. Covid strikes again. Not fully staffed. None to be found. Fortunately all 6 bags had wheels so Kate would walk 30 paces ahead and wait while I shuttled them 2 by 2, never letting them out of site. After about 10 of these relays we got to the waiting car. I know this is nothing compared to lost luggage or missed connections but not being young anymore it’s great to travel on Oceania. Truly worth the hassles. But make sure your luggage has wheels.

Book earliest if you are getting reward flights. If points drop you can cancel and rebook or call and they will usually do that for you. As long as there is COVID in the world it seems change fees are usually waived.

Tips for a better cruise travel: Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Put Apple Airtags or similar tracking devices in all checked bags. In your carryons too. Put two luggage tags on each checked bag. If you travel with ordinary looking bags, wrap then in a colorful "skin" which you can find on several sites including Amazon. This makes them easier for you to see when coming off the carousel. Harder for someone else to mistakenly grab. Also put a colored strap around each bag with your name in magic marker on the strap. This also makes it easier for the baggage handlers to load your bags more precisely, and less likely to be a victim of random thievery - harder to open. This sounds like a lot of work but truly just takes a couple of minutes. In the cabin just put the wrap and strap inside the empty suitcase which you store under the Oceania bed. Arrive at least a day early. Usually Oceania cruises start in an interesting port but they don't offer excursions to those embarking. Enjoy yourself for a day or two there! I always make an itinerary sheet with dates, phone numbers (including Oceania's and our cruise booking number) and leave a copy on the top inside each suitcase. It also is useful to give to your kids, house sitter or whomever back home who might need to reach you. This includes the lost luggage department of the airline! Cross pack essential items. His change of clothes in her bag. Hers in his.... Always keep all medicines in your carryon. Oceania will let you bring wine onboard. Assuming you are going to bring more stuff home than you travel from home with, put those bottles in the triple sealed bubble wrap special sleeves you can get on Amazon for about $6 each. After the wine is gone they lie flat and take up little space and can even cushion any breakables you buy to take home. As to TSA: if you bring any significant volume of jewelry (real or costume) put them in a pouch where you can easily grab it from your carryon and put in the X-ray tray with shoes, etc. If you don't TSA may flag you for a lengthier inspection. Know your travel insurance: its policy number, phone number, and its protections. An ounce (or 2) of prevention ......

Assuming you can leave your room, you can pretty much determine the number of COVID cases by counting the tray/carts across the cabin doors. We had 3 on our PH floor, then one by one they disappeared. Saw another down one floor.

We have 4 Vistas booked for 23 and 24. Love the fabulous design of all the cabins, but the extra space, closet space, and bathroom space of the PHs is appreciated. The Butler is nice but the other is more appreciated. PH necessary - no. Enjoyed - yes. If you are on the R class ships the difference in spaciousness is a qualitative not just subjective criteria.

We had booked it for a June 2nd excursion from Le Harve while on the Sirena. Cancelled when we realized that Kate wouldn't/couldn't do the 565 stair steps to the top. Found some fabulous YouTubes though.

Sorry, not aware of one but the costs of flights is much greater than the bags. If you travel mostly on one airline their card is great for that. We land up on different airlines. On the last trip we were on Iberia, Turkish Air and British Air. A great resource is the website thepointsguy.com.

I forgot to say that as we book our cruises more than a year out we are always able to get lie flat Biz seats with points. I start looking at all alternatives at 14 months out then refine the search at 13. Sometimes they are available at @ 355 days but always by 330. When we get our flights booked, then we know when to get our pre cruise hotels. Same for the reverse in coming home. Other than taxes and a few other monthly expenditures, we earn an average of 2.5 points on all our expenses. Regardless of your annual family "budget" this will mount up over time. I believe there was a question about getting a credit for not using the Oceania air services. Yes you can. We do. I take that money and look for the annual sale on American Airlines miles and stock up then. Over time that bank of AA miles as been very useful, even allowing for the Airlines' devaluations by increasing the miles they require for flights.

If you want to play the miles game consider ditching the airlines cards. Use AmEx Everyday Preferred for all regular stuff. Make sure you use 30x/month to get the 50% bonus - like for AMazonand recurring charges. We get 3 points for gas, 4.5 at supermarket. All AmEx points can be used for many airlines including Delta, BA, etc. That cad is inexpensive, @ $100/year. Use a Chase Sapphire card for Chase points, transferrable to United, BA and many more. Sapphire earned points are double for all travel and dining, or triple for the Sapphire Reserve card. That one is expensive but it automatically credits you with $300 for the travel costs. There are many ways to get and use points, but if you cruise you earn them when you charge the cruise and spend them when you fly there.

My wife's order there: no turf, no bun, no fries, just 5 pieces of lobster with lots of lemon slices. The lobsters pieces are small.

We were on a B2B in May. 2 Captain's receptions at 5:45. 2 Oceania Club (ie - repeaters) receptions at @ 6:00.

Before we did our B2B on the Sirena from Istanbul to Southampton, we had our TA book 2 Vista cruises in 2024 that had just been released. While onboard I asked the Oceania Club Ambassador to see about the onboard booking discounts. As we had booked them within the 30 days prior she happily reran them to get us and additional $400 booking savings for each plus the (two) $100 OBCs for us to use. My impression was this was SOP so no big deal.

Did that too. Thanks

We board the Vista in Trieste next May 20th. We arrive in Venice on the 17th and need to get to Trieste by noon on the 20th. Because we (always) have too many luggages we need a nonscheduled transfer. The train is definitely out for us. I have arranged a transfer leaving Venice by 9am with water transport to the minibus that will drive us to Trieste. It's expensive (@ $500USD). I know Oceania will give us a $250 OBC but am hoping that someone who will also be staying pre-cruise in Venice will want to share. Please let us know.

Glad you love Oceania. We were hating (well seriously irritated with) our cruise on Holland America in 2012. Looked across the Livorno harbor and saw a smaller, pretty white ship with an "O" on the smokestack. Asked whose that was and told it was Oceania. About to do our 15th cruise with them. Haven't looked back. In fact looking forward to 4 cruises we've booked on the Vista!

They will charge for the entire trip upgrade. We do that too, as soon as we get onboard. Also the wifi streaming package. Then you just gorget about it. You know what your cost is, and no surprises later. You should look at your bill on the room TV from time to time.

The earlier post is correct. Oceania is great about it if you are onboard and test positive (assuming you had a negative test before). As long as the distress you feel does not warrant an onshore facility, you stay in your cabin and are brought your meals. Good new is that the TV system now is like on a good airline. Movies are all online, you can keep entertained. I certainly would ask to be upgraded from normal free WIFI to the one that allows you to stream Youtube, Netflix etc. In any case it isn't expensive to upgrade. I've heard that is you are in a small inside cabin you may get upgraded in the ship has plenty of capacity. We were on the Siren recently for 28 days and had a couple of friends who landed up in their rooms. If you are in a PH your butler can get you dover sole and miso glazed sea bass every night! You should have medical insurance, maybe an umbrella policy for airfare etc. Before we sailed our pharmacist gave us a dozen test kits - apparently the government over ordered so being over 65 we were given a bunch. Took several extras along and at the end gave to our cabin attendants who were grateful. Guess they too like to avoid the medical center if not necessary.

All restaurants are never filled on the same night. Add the number of dining seats in the specialty restaurants to those in the GDR and Terrace Cafe you will easily considerably exceed the number of passengers. Moreover a number are dining in their cabin, or who did the High Tea and completed their evening food. there is lots of excess capacity. What limits the use of say, Red Ginger, is that they only take in a portion of their evenings patron at each half hour - 6:40–7:00–7:30 etc. This assures the quality of service and food is maintained. As an aside, Vista will have more places for lunch. Near Waves Grill will be the Aquamar Spa Grill. Embers will do lunch and Red Ginger too!