pinotlover

On our last cruise in April we were waitlisted for one tour. Upon boarding, we found that Destination Services had no record of any waitlist, but there was availability of the tour, so I then booked. I would not count on clearing any tour waitlist pre cruise.

I won’t book any PH cabins on Deck 8 Starboard side from under mid Terrace Cafe to end of Waves. Those are the odd number rooms and don’t apply to the port side even numbered rooms.

Hawaiiandan was once a regular contributor here. I haven’t heard from him since he canceled the 2022 cruise we were supposed to both be on. He had once been one of the lecturers on a couple O cruises. After all the submittals required for the job, I believe he said it was 4-5 months pre cruise before he got his contract. Perhaps he’s reading and can reply. Maybe someone currently on board any of the ships can query a lecturer and see what the current drill is.

There was a time they did, but I believe no more. The system was impractical. If they had a no show or cancellation they would call the cabin of the people on waitlist. Well most people didn’t sit around in their cabin until 7:30 or so waiting for the call. They did that method to stop all the people standing around, in the way, outside of the Specialties hoping to get a table. I remember once they had the hallway leading to Jacques so jammed, people with reservations had trouble getting to the door. Then they stopped allowing the Maitre di the privilege of handing out extra reservations for awhile. That and some palmed handshakes. Moral is: it’s always been a moving target. What they did six months ago may well be different today.

Mad Dog 20 20 is still being sold at most wine and liquor stores.

Some lecturers are very good, some ok, some poor. Chances are the contract for that cruise hasn’t been let to date. Two points: 1. The phone receptionist has no idea who that lecturer will be this far in advance 2. That same clerk would have zero personal knowledge of any of the lecturers ability. Even if he by chance did, they are trained to tell you they are all good. Your question isn’t a bad one, it’s just way ahead of schedule.

No! Best bet is through the Reservations Desk. On some cruises, the Maitre de wouldn’t talk to walk ups or give out any reservations unless they have a confirmed cancellation. Others are more liberal. Either way it’s not your best bet. I’m guessing the issue above was the party of 5. There are no tables for 5, so it’s the same as a party of 6. That’s a large group trying to get extra reservations. Perhaps being flexible and trying as a party of two or three may have yielded better results. There was also zero mention of what time slots they were trying for! 🙄. Additionally no mention of how long a cruise. A lot of details went unmentioned, except they were “impossible “ to get, but she got one! 🤪. Has the definition of impossible changed?

A few random thoughts since I’m the target of some of the comments: A few years back, Chedders Restaurant was named our best local fine dining restaurant in a local survey! 🙄 Wouldn’t make the top Five from those that actually go to fine dining restaurants.On another thread a person was raising Cain because a Ruby Tuesday had been named the best local restaurant, by Yelp, in his town. Fact was, they had a one star Michelin rated restaurant, which people drove for miles to eat at often spending the night at local hotels to do so, but the survey says Ruby Tuesday’s. I have zero clue what many here rate as outstanding or flavorful. Case in point, a couple of the Cheerleaders have posted that ALL the wines on the “ wines by the glass “ menu were outstanding! Really?? I do wine as a living. Some of those wines are in fact good, quaffable, and go with the food adequately. But outstanding!! 🙄! Do those folks have any clue what it takes to get an outstanding rating in the wine world? Have they ever drank a truly outstanding wine in their lives? Good is Good, no problem with good, drink good regularly, but we should never confuse outstanding with good. In the wine world only 2% or less of wines get outstanding ratings. Of course the adjectives of Very Good lies between Good and Outstanding! None of those that are truly rated VG or Outstanding are on Oceania’s wine by the glass list. That in no way makes O’s wine list substandard . It only means people are using adjectives which are highly off target. And please, No if some rot gut wine is outstanding to me, it’s an outstanding wine. Life isn’t that subjective. One can love bland food. They may not want oregano, rosemary, basil, sage, garlic, or a long host of other ingredients incorporated in their dishes. Their tastes. Don’t be confused when some comments that the dishes without them aren’t as flavorful as they could, or authentically should, be. I realize that I’m probably the problem. I grew up in a world where kids might get participation D’s or maybe a C, instead of the F they earned. Today’s high schoolers get participatory A’s and B’s and have a median gpa of over 3.4. Outstanding and brilliant in nearly every class! 🙄 If that’s true why can’t MD 20/20 be an outstanding wine for some? 🤔 Guess I need to know who some of these raters are.

Of course there is another sale coming. And another, then another. Oceania is going to be running a Sale! 😂. Who’s thunk it! 🤔

Take a look at Blacklane. Very professional service and typically less than a taxi.

First, let me say that @FlyerTalker could probably address this issue in more detail and hopefully he joins in. Background, I recently ( and foolishly) agreed to host and lead another wine group tour in 2025 and have been working with the sponsor on the details. What I have learned: The world has changed quickly and dramatically in the past couple of years. Travel, both domestically and internationally has exploded. To point what this means is that (1) the airlines have significantly reduced the number of bulk discounted tickets they sell along with the flights they even offer them on; (2) the procedures of when and how much must be paid for those tickets have also been changed. We now have more competition for fewer seats, that must be paid for earlier. I believe it is impractical for Oceania to even attempt to hedge air prices, within individual cruise fares, two years out. An important thing to remember:NCLH runs it air department as a profit center. It’s there as a convenience for its customers, a convenience those customers should expect to pay a premium for. In effect what Oceania is now doing is shifting the air travel risk to the clients. Call us, after 270 days pre-cruise and we’ll check the market. If any of the bulk air discounts are available, we’ll price them to you, with our mark up. If not, we’ll price the available go rate to you, with our mark up. In today’s air market, those that like to wait last minute will probably get a crushing price with poor connections. Many of Oceania’s customers frequently pay significantly for the many conveniences that O offers. Hotel stays, transfers, shore tours, and now air fare. They still treat you like an adult and allow you to DIY all the above if you so choose. If you don’t like their mark up, then DIY. If you opt to pay their convenience charges, you can do that likewise. In most cases, I wouldn’t want to wait until 4-5 months out to lock down air, or decent air, in today’s international markets. Will probably become the greatest identifier of the Lookie Loos, they’re the ones with cruise Payment in Full approaching and no air.

To start, Tokyo is a huge City, so the question can’t be answered without knowing which part of Tokyo you plan to stay. Cab or limo fares can’t be quoted without precise information. Easiest solution is to take a subway to the nearest train station and then take the train to Yokohama. Cab fare from Yokohama station to the port is around $25 max depending upon whether you arrive at the Shinkansen station or the regular station. We took both the subway and Shinkansen system and both are easily navigated.

I disagree. I believe a cruise ship can serve authentic French country cuisine. I believe a ship can easily serve NoNo food. What a cruise ship, or any venue can’t do is serve authentic NoNo French country cuisine. Once you’ve stripped away the garlic , onions, various Herbs de Provence, plus more, etc that makes the dish authentic, solely to appease the NoNos, the magic is gone. I know not all tourist want authentic food. One of the reasons Toscana is so Americanized. I would personally be happy if the venue offered just 2-3 items, in each category, that was authentic. Clearly mark those items as so, then leave the remaining items for the NoNos. I think it’s easily workable.

Save more than tge 25% discount by participating on your cruise Roll Call. You’ll save lots more!

Of course avoiding Boardamania altogether is another option. Choosing high time Boardamania was solely your choice. I would like to hear the experiences of those that choose a different option, that being arriving for check-in at 3:00 or 3:30. Same, or vastly different?

Fwiw, back, not long after Vista was first announced, one of our OCAs laid out many of the changes to expect that differed from the O ships. One of those was the change over from Jacques to a more country French restaurant. We got Embers instead and apparently now know the reason why. Sounds like we may yet get that French country, in about 3 more years. 🙏

Agree also. Just hypothetically, which group do you believe is squawking for earlier dinners? As a working stiff, 6:30 was always a nice target to get home, or at least get out of the office. Then an adult beverage and relax before I’d even consider eating. Eat at 5:00-6:00!! Who does that? Uh, group1. My favorite river cruise line, Uniworld, doesn’t start dinner until 7:00. Maybe that’s one reason they have a different demographics. People flying 7 or 14 time zones don’t feel the need to follow the exact routine they do at home.

A question, but not the important question. That is “ whom is Oceania wanting to attract?” That group that doesn’t buy drinks, go on ship tours, and biggest ship board activity is the knitting/yarning/gossip group; or a different group that does indeed hit the Happy Hours, does after dinner drinks, and goes on those expensive excursions?

Exactly! Demographics on any cruise can swing dramatically. It’s currently a Forest Gump “ Box of Chocolates “. Even though we wouldn’t be interested, it would be interesting to see how many would sign up for an Oceania Geriatric Cruise. The reception may be tremendous, or? 🤔

There has to be some surprises! 😂 we’ll see what kind of neighbors we get! 🤔

1. Read your Oceania contract. Reservations opening date is plainly stated therein. 2. To make the reservations, you have to go to the Oceania website to manage your cruise, dining, and do it there.

I’m looking forward to our cruise on her likewise, but expect no difference between being on her and our Vista cruise. Only the ports are different.

To change the topic slightly for the Newbies. What this discussion has illustrated clearly is that perhaps except for 7 day cruises, additional reservations in the Specialties are easy to come by. One just has to not be rigid in their habits and take an 8:00 or so eating time. As continually repeated here those restaurants are mostly empty by 8:30. On another issue raised, dinners don’t have to be heavy affairs. First of all, being raised in the American South, we had dinner at 12:00-2:00. We then had a lighter supper early evening. Our main meal on Sundays is still Sunday Dinner, at around 2:00, with a light supper ( maybe only dessert) for supper. While cruising, we still have, on some days, our primary meal ashore during what’s referred to as lunch, then a much lighter dinner back aboard ship. Even when we do the Specialties, it’s most often the fish or veal selections which are much lighter by nature . I enjoy the prime rib in Polo Grill, but that’s a perhaps once a cruise thing. Eating late heavy dinners is a personal choice . Plenty of options to eat well but not heavy.

Bingo!!! The Social Director, and Oceania , are correct. If dining started at 5:00, many cruises would indeed be ghost ships by 7:30. This is much like my aunt’s assisted living facility, but wait! 🙄 That would turn many off. It’s all fairly simple, the time is what we train our bodies for it to be. We got on an airplane and flew to Tokyo. What time was it? Fourteen hours difference between CDT and Tokyo time. We trained our bodies to adjust. We’ll likewise train our bodies to adjust to Italian time and Italian schedules in September. If part of that adjustment is eating later then so be it. If/when I don’t want to adjust to time changes, different cultures with different habits, different foods, etc I’ll set at home. Or, take a cruise on an Merican cruise ship and listen to other likeminded complain. Perhaps the answer is separate, but equal. Oceania sometimes sponsors Swinger cruises. Oceania sets the rules for those paying guests abit differently. Most non Swingers probably don’t book those cruises. Maybe they need to advertise certain Geriatric Cruises. Happy Hour 3-4, Dinner 4:30-6:00. Showtime 7:00. Then people can choose those cruises, or cruises with the regular established times.