Mura

Point well taken!

M

well i am a single and i am really not calling often for cabin breakfast, meals ... well this cruise not even one meal.

he kept on suggesting to serve items every day again and again ...

Vistaman, obviously his frequent suggestions irritated you. But from his side, maybe he just wanted to be doing SOMETHING. I also recall one time when my husband asked the cabin stewardess NOT to tuck in the sheets and she said her supervisor would give her demerits if she did so. There could be something like that going on with the butlers as well.

I have occasionally seen complaints about butlers who haven't been cooperative but it's quite rare. I know that when we first had butlers we were like you, and just didn't use them. My recollection is that we were never pressured by those butlers to do *something* for us but it was quite a while ago. We've learned to appreciate what they do for us. (Can we live without them? Sure!)

I'm not trying to change your mind about your opinion of Oceania. Clearly you weren't happy with your cruise. I do remain a cheerleader (pretty much, but I can see warts where they exist). But that doesn't mean I cannot accept that someone found Oceania wanting.

Mura

Back to the "tipping in advance" question.

We ourselves never have. I know there are regulars who do.

We do reward with extra after the fact. We've never felt the need to "encourage' the butler to give us good service by tipping in advance.

You know, it does depend on your butler. Maybe we've just been lucky, but we've had marvelous service without tipping in advance. However, I've seen comments here at CC where butlers were just about useless -- certainly not cooperative. But we've never found that. We've never had the same butler twice, but they've all been helpful and just all around wonderful.

In fact, they have often done more than we requested. Like when Howard went back to the room to get the bottle of wine we'd forgotten and he returned with our butler. The butler could easily have said, "Okay, take it yourself", but he did not.

You should NOT have to feel that you need to tip in advance. And if you are not happy with the service you are getting, talk to the Hotel Manager.

Another consideration is just how much you are going to require of your butler ... if you think you won't use him much, don't worry about it. If you

use him a lot, reward him accordingly.

The thing is ... we started out not using them at all. And gradually, as we've had more cruises, we use them more and more...

Mura

Yes, both Bathrooms in the big Suites are being redone and the Jacuzzi's are going to fade into history. By the way, you are the only person whom I have ever heard say anything kind about those Tubs.....everyone hated them!

Well, it's definitely not the first time I've been in the minority! But I loved them ... especially on that cruise.

Mura

Frances,

My mind may be playing tricks on me but it seems to me that the captain's party has indeed usually been held on the second day, especially if that is a sea day. It can depend on the size of your group whether that would be a problem.

Even though Oceania doesn't "host" these gatherings, I've always found them very helpful in setting them up and giving me a time and venue. I just go to the Concierge. This has been true of the "R" ships and Marina (we haven't been on Riviera yet). The ship also sends out invitations to all the people on my list.

If it's a small group, this wouldn't be necessary. I didn't notice when your cruise will take place, but perhaps a TA could get an answer from Oceania close to the departure date. The might already know when they're going to schedule the Captain's party.

Mura

Question about the "R" ships OS and VS bathroom changes ... if anyone knows:

With the oversized showers I assume the jacuzzi will disappear? If so, that would disappoint me very much -- not that we've sailed all that much in either category (just once in each). The reason is that the first and only time we were in an OS I had just blown out my knee and the jacuzzi was of GREAT benefit. It wasn't a matter of desire; it was a matter of great need. Admittedly, this is an unusual situation!

Mura

We didn't learn that the hard way about JFK but we DID learn it. We had a 7:25 am flight (which turned out to be 10:00 am but that's another story) to Vancouver with a very brief time to get to our flight to Beijing.

The airlines had told us when we needed to be there ... unfortunately the airport didn't open until 6am -- or maybe it was 6:30 -- and the lines were absolutely incredible just to check in. I've never seen it so bad at JFK.

We did get on board in plenty of time and were all ready to take off promptly at 7am when they made an announcement that ... is the other story! And yes, we did miss our connection in Vancouver but were able to get onto an Air China flight. We were the last people to board.

Mura

Whenever we've tendered, we have sometimes seen lines but they haven't long ones. (At least we never encountered long lines. Maybe 5-6 people in front of you, and it's just a matter of signing in for your tour.) You get your ticket and wait ... usually not for long. As has been said, after a certain point you can just go to the tender. That is fine if you are just going to walk around the port, but not terribly helpful if you've scheduled a private tour.

Mura

Do not believe the rules have changed ;)

I don't either, Lyn, but you never know!

Just hedging my bets ... or comments.

Mura

However, 3 days ago I was told I would have to cancel one and pay a penalty if after so many days. I was also told that If I booked say a B1 and was wait listed for a PH, then should the PH come through I would still have B booking to pay for and cancel charges.

This is crazy but what I was told 3 days ago by Oceania

In July 2010 we were booked in an A3 (actually, if I'm correct it was a guaranty but we did get it) -- also wait listed for a PH. That PH never became available because this was a very popular itinerary. We didn't have to cancel the A3 in order to be waitlisted for the PH. That DOES sound crazy!

Of course, the rules could have changed in the past three years.

Mura

Yes, go to the Lounge. Remember that with 684 passengers as opposed to 1250, it should not take as long for the tenders to load.

Mura

I have no idea how long your tender ride will be but Regatta uses the same colored ticket system as the "O" ships do. I suggest you get there early if you have a private tour to meet.

When we were anchored in Sorrento I called and asked what time we should be there for a 9am tour and was told 8:15. They lied! So err on the side of caution. (We were on Marina for this cruise which could explain why our tender was called so much later than anticipated. My point is just that if suggest a time, that you get there even earlier. Just to be safe.)

Mura

Storm Cat,

You aren't alone in not being aware of the Roll Calls, especially as a new poster. There have been several other such inquiries this week from newbies. I made the same mistake myself at first -- I was used to another list that had far fewer members where all cruises were discussed at the main page.

The complication of a ship leaving you at the last port is more serious if your next port is in another country and the ship has your passport! I'm on a May cruise from NY to Dover, and we're planning on a private all-day excursion to a national park from Corner Brook, New Foundland. The next port is not far from Corner Brook and wouldn't be hard to get to if we had to do that -- EXCEPT that last year's cruise didn't dock at that port because of weather. And if that happens this year, it's a four day (or so) sail to the next port -- Dublin.

The membership here is split (I wouldn't say 50-50 because I have no idea of the percentages) between people who prefer private tours and those who prefer ship's tours. And there are ports where even people who opt for private tours whenever possible will play it safe with a ship's tour. My husband and I tend to do both, although on our last cruise we only did private tours because the ship's tours were so incredibly overpriced.

It always depends on your preferences.

If you haven't been to Istanbul before, this is one of our favorite cities. Just beware of cab drivers!

Mura

Ooops. This posted itself ... so I haven't had a chance to proof it!

J&S,

I'm thinking that as with most things, this can also be relative.

The only time we were ever on a ship's tour that was late was not on Oceania but in that case the tour bus broke down and we had to wait for a replacement. It was supposed to be there in half an hour but it was more like an hour and a half as I recall. Also, this was on a Buenos Aires-Valparaiso cruise and we were at a very small port. So the ship waited.

Would it have waited if we were six hours late? Hmmm.

This was also an itinerary with two day sails between ports and very little public transportation above.

But you're right -- it's best not to assume. Passengers were late arriving to the departure port on our Panama Canal cruise (which *was* with O) because of weather delays, and the Captain couldn't wait for them because we would have lost our slot for the Canal. That trumped the needs of the late passengers who were using O's air.

Mura

Jaye,

As far as ship's tours are concerned, there won't be last minute additions so if you see a tour you like listed on line, don't be afraid to sign up for it. Sometimes tours are eliminated because not enough people signed up for it, but that doesn't happen often.

Many of us prefer to do our own private tours -- smaller groups and the ability to design your own itinerary are prime factors. But it is definitely true that if your ship's tour should be delayed, the ship will wait for you. They may not wait for a private tour.

You should look at the available tours online (offered by Oceania) and also go to your Roll Call to see if there are private tours that you might be interested in joining.

Mura

I see this is your first post. You'll get better results by going to your roll call:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1934327

You would be most unlikely to find any fellow passengers at this general message board.

Good luck!

Mura

It turns out the problem was self-inflicted. Somehow I misread the embarkation date on our invoice and even though I had the correct booking number the system wouldn't accept the information.

Understandably! It's all fixed now.

Mura

That sauce on the kobe beef ... I'm salivating at the memory. And the wine they served with it wasn't half bad neither.

Dan, believe the others. These are small portions of each course.

I will say that there was one young lady who had problems at our table, but she was very young and very slender and I think the problem was that she had too much to DRINK ...

Mura

Just to clarify, have you tried to add your booking? It has never shown automatically for us. If you're booked you can add it regardless of time to embarkation. Can add not-yet-booked-but-interested-in sailings as soon as they are on the web site.

If you want to buy ship's Shore excursion or restaurant reservations directly then you'll need to get the booking available or through your T/A

Yes, I did, and that is the problem. They had one listed there with a booking number and cabin number that is NOT a cruise we have booked. But the one we do have (I have an invoice to prove it) does not accept the information. I'm going to try again today and see if the problem still exists. If so, I'll just call them tomorrow to straighten this out.

I have a fear that somewhere in the system they have a record of our booking a Far East cruise around the same time as the Lima-NYC cruise that we actually booked.

Because I sure didn't enter that Far East cruise at the Already Booked section! And I thought that I had entered the Lima cruise ...

Curioser and curioser.

Mura

As far as that list for the "in suite" liquor you can order, it's quite an extensive list. You also are free to go all booze or all wine if you choose. When they started this system you got a set group of four bottles (gin, vodka, rum and scotch I THINK) plus two bottles of wine, one red and one white. But now you can select your own.

They do now have bourbon on the list as well.

Mura

THanks. I'll just call them then.

Mura

Well, ahem, we were up there ... in an Oceania Suite. I figured I wanted to be in one at least once to see what it's like.

We are in a Vista for the upcoming May 2014 NYC-Dover cruise, but the next cruise we've booked is also on Marina, April 2015, Lima to NYC. And for there we'll be back to our normal PH.

If we'd been in a PH on the Rio cruise I'm sure we would have had to wait somewhat.

Mura

Recently when I checked what was there after our upcoming May 2014 cruise I discovered a Far East cruise we never signed up for -- it even had a cabin assigned.

But the cruise I really DID sign up for (May 2015) is not there. At all. I have an invoice number and an assigned cabin but the website just asks me to "book", no to "manage the booking". (Or however they phrase it.)

So I deleted the incorrect one and tried to register the correct one. So far today nothing happens. I've only tried about 5 times.

Is anyone else having problems at the website doing similar activities? I hate to call my TA for something I should be able to handle myself.

Mura

I haven't done this myself but several passengers I knew on the BCN-Rio cruise (departing Barcelona on 11/20) left the ship on the first day. I THINK most of them flew home that day rather than staying on in Rio. But others who'd done something similar on earlier cruises thought it was a better way to do it.

For those of us who stayed on board, we needed a full day's activities -- what to do with luggage? -- before we could go to the airport since flights to North America (at least) are late at night. (We solved that problem with a full day tour that took us to the airport, but we ended up getting there AWFULLY early for an 11pm flight.)

If you have an apartment for 5 days, why not? You certainly will avoid any departing crowds the next morning.

Mura

I have not needed the medical staff on Oceania's ships for anything really serious (other than my blown meniscus in 2005, but that didn't prevent me from continuing the cruise) -- but for our relatively minor (if expensive) problems, we thought they were top notch.

Far better than Viking in 2003 who couldn't refer us to a doctor for bronchitis in Basel. We found the hospital on our own.

Mura

P.S. I refreshed the page and saw I'd posted here and said WHAT???? Now I see the thread has migrated beyond the restaurants! Not unusual ...