Mura
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Posts posted by Mura
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Good points, Roothy.
It also occurred to me in this discussion that I have never encountered rudeness or abruptness in dealing with the reception staff. Maybe I've been lucky! I'm not saying it is impossible that this happened, not at all. But I think most of the staff at the desk do their best to be polite. I have observed a few times when they really needed to be patient. (Not in dealing with ME, of course! :D)
But sometimes we don't get the answer we want. T And then again we never know when someone is having a really bad day and is about to lose it ... (Of course, if you are in a service position you should have been trained not to let that interfere with your dealings with the customer.)
I know that I would NOT do well in such a position ...
Mura
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Okay, I'll play.
Jacques
Polo
Toscana
Red Ginger
Among my favorite dishes are the mussels in Jacques and the prime rib in Polo.
Mura
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There were quite a few guarantee people on our Nov. 20th cruise out of Barcelona that didn't have their cabin assignments until a very few days before the cruise. And I've even heard of some lucky few who don't know where they'll be staying until they arrive on board.
Mura
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On our first Marina cruise we were in a Vista because we were "coerced" to move from another cruise. (It's a rough job but someone has to do it.)
And you betcha we thought that it was a REALLY long walk to the restaurants! I can see where the crew feels this even more.
DH always likes to take a short walk after dinner, but when we were in the VS he didn't feel the need. He got the same effect just in returning to our cabin.
Mura
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Caroldoll,
A certain amount of changing around of crew is going to happen if only because when their contracts end, they go home for a while. When they return, they may go to a different ship or not.
But there's no way to compel these people to stay on board permanently.
No, of course *I* know that *you* know that!
But I don't think that Oceania -- or any cruise line -- is deliberately moving people willy-nilly. Sometimes they move people because of a need. But they are always going to have to be replacing people, even if only for a month or two.
I have indicated that we went through a definite lack in service in O's early days because so many of the crew left the ship at the same time. That's the ONLY time we experienced that.
And we have encountered crew members we knew from one ship on another ...
I'm not sure if it's more difficult for the crew in terms of servicing the "O" ships as opposed to the "R" ships. But that might be a factor.
Mura
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Just to chime in, my husband continues to prefer the "R" ships -- those we know the best.
I have a slight preference, I think, for the "O" ships. And that is primarily because of the extra dining venues.
I prefer the smaller ship but want more restaurants! Okay, I can't have both! I have accepted that, and we continue to cruise on both.
If you read the reviews here you will see that there are those who prefer the smaller ships, and those that prefer the larger ships. Many of us come in somewhere inbetween ... Both have their special attributes.
Mura
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Lyn, your cancelling two cruises, and maybe three, may well have an effect.
But you shouldn't need to go to those lengths to get action when things clearly are not working.
Carol, why should we flame you? That sounds very difficult indeed and when you're in an OS you do expect SOME accommodation. I was surprised to hear you had problems since from what I have read of your previous posts you've been very happy. But I would not be happy with what you described either.
Mura
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I'm not trying to make excuses (really!) but I'm wondering if the restaurant glitches could have been due in part to new hires.
I say that because our one B2B on O was also our first cruise with them. The first leg had impeccable dining room service. At that ending port a majority of the crew left the ship and their replacements left a LOT to be desired for 4-5 days. Eventually they caught on.
We also had a similar experience to your waiting and waiting while the next door table was served promptly on one of our Renaissance cruises. That night we were a party of 6 seated right by the waiter's station. He kept serving everyone but us. When we complained, we finally got service. A similar situation occurred on our recent Marina cruise where we were again seated by the waiter's station, although it wasn't nearly as bad as that first experience. You'd think that if they have to trip over you whenever they go to the station that they'd notice you've been overlooked.
I won't go so far as Pacheco in saying the specialty restaurants can be a crap shoot although I *will* say that we've been more disappointed than many others in Toscana and Red Ginger. They just don't do it for us. Polo and especially Jacques do, but any restaurant can have an absolute disaster, I'll agree with that.
These aren't meant to be excuses but perhaps reasons.
Then again, there's no justification for rudeness or curtness. Ever.
I know, Lyn, that you don't complain lightly and you've cruised on O for a long time. If you're unhappy, I don't doubt that there's a good reason for that. I'm just sorry that we won't see you on the NY-Dover cruise in May. I was looking forward to cruising with you again.
Ruth, I'm sorry to hear your expectations weren't met. (No, I'm not a stockholder!)
For what O is charging these days, everything SHOULD be perfect!
Mura
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I'm one who would advise you to buy your own bottles if you want them. That is what I do.
The package gives you a choice of wines by the glass. I am told they are fine choices. But I prefer to buy my own bottle, and if you go to the "wine sale" on the first day or two after boarding you can get some bargains (although subject to the gratuity).
Or you can bring your own bottles on board ... just bear in mind that those bottles are subject to the corkage fee. Bottles you buy on board are NOT. (So if you buy on board you pay the gratuity but not the corkage fee, and if you bring it on from outside you pay the corkage fee but not the gratuity.)
The problem with the $40/day package (as I understand it) is that you are limited to beverages WITH MEALS. So in that case, you might want to consider the more expensive package.
Those who like these packages are sure to chime in! I'm one who doesn't participate ...
Mura
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Let us also vote for the GDR at lunch (and breakfast as well). If we aren't off on a tour, that's what we normally do.
We alternate with Terrace and Waves, yes. But we really like the leisurely service in the GDR.
For lunch, you can check the menu posted outside and see if you'd rather do Waves or Terrace. Breakfast is a standard menu. (Don't miss the Eggs Benedict of Lamb Chops.)
Dress is casual, so that's not a problem. Only at dinner time do they "up" the standards. And even then, it's far from formal!
Mura
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I cannot be definitive here, but in my 10 Oceania cruises we've never had to wait until *all* the ship's tours have left.
Just get to the sign-in place early. If can be more difficult if you have a group, not just yourselves.
And if you are just a couple (or even a small group), you can usually sneak in on one of the tenders intended for the tours. They tend not to fill them up with ship's people.
But again, sign in early.
Another thought ... we've only done a couple of Caribbean cruises, and I remember no problem at all at St. Lucia but then again, we just went out to hire a cab. So we may not have been trying to leave early ... the only time I had a real problem was on Marina in Sorrento when I listened to the Destinations person who said "come at 8:30" when she should have said "come at 8". Some of our group of 8 got off at 8 or 8:15, the others of us were rather later. So we missed some time on our tour, but it wasn't a disaster.
I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I have NEVER EVER encountered a situation while all non-tour people had to wait until all the tour people were off the ship. Not even when we were in a tender port.
Was I lucky?
Mura
P.S. Some have said that if you have a "gold" card, you can get on any tender by just going there. I haven't tried it myself, don't think I would. But if you are in a suite, it might be worth an effort if you're really worried about meeting your guide on time.
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My recollection is that it's usually the first night out, especially if that's a sea day.
But don't depend on my memory!
I know that several times we've had to postpone our M&G because of the captain's party.
Mura
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I cannot speak from personal experience on both lines -- only having sailed on Oceania in recent years -- but from what I read here, there are plenty of Oceania fans who are equally happy on Azamara.
There are some differences, but perhaps not large enough to matter to people who like the "R" ships.
We ourselves have looked in Azamara in the past but we never found the right itinerary at the right time.
Mura
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I agree with Arlene. I, too, have set up numerous Meet & Greets on the "R" ships. They have always been held in Horizons around 6pm. (Some others set up morning get-togethers but with 60 people I would recommend cocktail hour). (Even on Marina the M&Gs have been set up in Horizons.)
Don't assume that O0ceania won't cooperate. Go talk to the Concierge on Deck 4 with a list of participants. He will suggest a time and place, depending on what else is going on (not being sexist but I've only dealt with mail concierges on the "R" ships). They won't want your event to conflict with the Captain's Party, that's for sure. But I've always found them to be very cooperative, and they also send out invitations to all the participants. A sea day is best but it isn't always possible, depending on the itinerary.
The list for the Concierge only needs to have the names and room numbers. For my own personal list, I keep names, home towns, email addresses and cabin numbers but that is because I make up name tags. Not everyone does this but I like to. On the name tag I just have names and home town, not the cabin number -- because not everyone wants that information published. (Others will have the stick-on name tags with writing implements so that you can add your name.)
On our recent BCN-Rio cruise we had so many people that another passenger volunteered to help with preparing the name tags. Her practice is just to print the first name in as large a font as possible, along with the screen name. The only problem with that is that in my experience, I get many people wanting to join in the M&G who do not participate actively on CC. So screen names become irrelevant.
Mura
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I yield to your superior knowledge! :) It always sounded like it ended with a "t" to me ... or perhaps since it's been a while since I heard the phrase I misremembered. Probably the latter.
Mura
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I did! I have several London friends who always refer to South Kensington as South Kent. Sorry if I confused you!
Mura
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In sum, it's a long, leisurely evening. You start out with the half hour of a champagne cocktail (or whatever the aperitif is), then you go into the restaurant at about 7:30. Service is leisurely for the 7-8 courses.
If you want to see the show, don't plan on La Reserve.
Mura
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Just a word of caution when ordering the food. My friend thought he was being helpful when he listed his courses as 1, 2, 3 and ended up with 1 starter,2 lobsters and 3 deserts. We all had such a laugh about it, including our butler.
That WOULD be a lot of food! :D
Mura
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Never were charged for additional guests. We did however remember that our butler worked extra hard when it came to his tip!
That goes without saying! Just as you would if you have a cocktail party with hors d'oeuvres and such.
Mura
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That's good to hear. It didn't make much sense that they'd charge for guests in the suite when they can just go to the restaurant and eat for free.
MURA
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Well, to begin with I prepare my own itinerary. I include on the itinerary flight and hotel reservation info as well as basic tour information. I also include dinner reservations there but not extreme detail.
Separately, I have a file for the trip (I'm a word perfect gal) that includes all information about the tours I have set up. This includes participant names, their emails, costs, etc., not to mention all previous correspondence. I bring all this with me on my laptop, although I also have a printout of the basic information (by no means, not everything). I print out a separate copy of participant information for the guide to use as well.
I do NOT do a spread sheet! But I have more information with me than I will never need since I bring my laptop with me.
Mura
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Regarding guests for dinner in your suite ...
In an OC and a VS you could seat four, but no more ... unless they provide a topper for the table that will increase the size. (Personal experience.)
However, I was told by another cruiser that they would have been charged to invite guests into their suite for dinner! I don't know if that's truly the case, but he was quite sure. So you might want to check that out before inviting someone in.
OTOH, if you are in a suite you can invite people in for cocktails and your butler will serve ... I'm not sure how the pricing works there.
When we invited people in for cocktails in our OC in Nov/Dec 2013, we had enough "in house" liquor that no extra cost was involved. But then again, we didn't have a big party, just two couples on a couple of occasions. And we didn't use the butler to help out.
Mura
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Beach,
We have been there multiple times as well. Lisbon is one of my favorite cities.
But in your situation, I would take the deviation (just to be safe) and go in one day early. Unless the flights offered were terrible, in which case I'd do my own air and STILL go in at least one day early. I like Lisbon so much that one day isn't enough, but I can understand where you don't want to have the hotel expense just for the sake of coming in early.
But I reiterate what I have heard ... if you take the hotel package for one night I understand from what others have said that you will not have to pay for the deviation or the transfer. Not it does depend on the hotel charge for that one night. If it's per person, it probably doesn't compute (although eliminating the deviation charge could certainly help). If it's per room -- as now has happened on occasion -- that's something else.
I'm gathering from a review of the thread that you are doing a TA, Lisbon-Rio. We just did BCN-Rio so I understand the problem with booking flights!
In our case we booked our own air and went into Barcelona two days early (and like you with Lisbon, we've been there a number of times.)
I would check your itinerary myself to see what the hotel package is, but not having specific dates I cannot and you sound savvy enough to check it out yourself!
Mura
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Catherine,
It may well depend on the specific cruise and how many sea days you have.
Our recent cruise (departing Barcelona on Nov 20) was a transatlantic, so we had lots of sea days. I think we had three or four of those demos and all were at 11:00 but one of them MIGHT have been 11:15. They were squeezing in lots of enrichment activities in the mornings.
Going back to earlier cruises where we only had one sea day on the entire cruise, the demo was probably on that sea day ... but I don't remember the specific time. I just know it wasn't later than say 11:15 or 11:30. Definitely NOT in the afternoon.
Oceania might be able to answer this question for since your cruise is leaving soon. (When I've been booking a year and a half in advance on our last three cruises, two months seems to qualify as "soon"!)
Mura
speciality restaurants - rank them!
in Oceania Cruises
Posted
And we've not been impressed with Red Ginger, although we expected to love it given the reviews we read before our first Marina cruise.
We've also never been that impressed with Toscana, but still I rated it above Red Ginger.
As we often say, different strokes for different folks. That's why this kind of thread is particularly difficult, I think.
I'll echo Jim in that we also like the GDR (although we disagreed on all the other restaurants, I think!). (And those breakfast lamb chops ... to digh for!)
We've rarely had a bad meal there on ANY of the ships, and we like the increased variety. On rare occasions we've had poor (or disinterested) service, but that has been very rare.
Mura