pinotlover

1. If they put Jacques name on a new restaurant, they owe Pepin continuing additional royalties. 2. Some of the current passengers have stated they are pleased having a sit down service venue of simple American food. They emphasized simple and American. Still haven’t heard of anyone aboard asking for a second reservation.

A bit of old and new. One must put together their own group, of up to ten people, and then check with the dining reservations people on the availability of Privee on any given night. The Group can choose either dinner at its appropriate costs. I was told by a guest that the minimum is ten for a dinner. It is not published anywhere I can find, but it appears, from those that asked, one must pay the $300 room fee plus the dinner fee. Cost of Dom P is $395 + 20% grats, Odyssey is $150 + 20% grats. I don’t know for sure, but have not heard of or seen anyone doing the dinners. It has been used for traditional Captain invite dinners. The ship does advertise the special wine paired meals in PG and Toscana. First come first. They have not provided a menu of either the food nor wine served. One dinner is $99, the other $199. While we’re on it, they are offering a wine tasting for $99. The wines tasted are a mystery as no one can seem to find out what they are. I declined the mystery tasting, so can’t report on it. I truly don’t know whether all this is planned mysteries or just typical Oceania non communication. I suppose they want you to pay to find out. 🙄😂

What’s amazing to me is Oceania provided the Germain back in the 2017-2018 timeframe and it was meet with nearly universal poor reviews. As I remember, in 2019 they finally poured out and a new bubbly was brought aboard. We didn’t have Germain on either our Oct 22 or Feb 23 cruise, but another far better brand. They now debut their newest ship for review and reverted back to a plonk bubbly. I just don’t understand the move other than Germain gave them such an outstanding deal price wise they wouldn’t pass on it.

Currently on Vista. By the glass, it’s Germain or a Prosecco only. The Monopole is the wine provided for Concierge and above. Definitely not a Germain fan. They were pouring it for free at the Cpt’s Reception and I dumped mine after a couple sips!

A lot to reply to here. First: 30 years ago, I bought a struggling company and started the process of turning it into a very successful company that I sold 11 years later. Part of the turnaround process was indeed firing about 10% of my non margin or low margin customers for two consecutive years, and replacing them with higher margin customers. Regardless of business plan, there are always customers you are better off without, even if they are paying customers. Itinerary, itinerary, itinerary. Sometimes Oceania has the best itinerary, other times they don’t. Today again, we talked to a couple that raved about a recent Hurtigen cruise they did. They weren’t raving about the food or incredible service, but about the exceptional itinerary and all the things they got to see and do which aren’t possible on lines like Oceania. The food was OK aboard ship, but they had ample opportunities to eat great meals ashore, so the ship’s food wasn’t the main event. We took two food vacations last year. One to Charleston, SC, and the other to Portland, ME. If I go somewhere for the food, then we go for the food! Ships can’t touch the meals we had, nor do we expect them to. On a ship, the ports visited matters most. So PHDiva, do as we do, and search for the itinerary that excites you the most. You’ll then manage OK with the food.

On Vista now. Embers compares to an upscale American chain restaurant like J. Alexander or P. F. Chang’s serving you in Des Moines. Strictly American food and in and out in 1-1:15 hours. Popular with some, ho hum with others. I haven’t heard of anyone clamoring for a second reservation there. I do believe it will have a following.

One must remember Oceania was taken off the South Pacific route because it couldn’t regularly fill the ship. Our 12 day Marina FP cruise had less than 800 passengers. Some of those Papeete - Sydney and back runs had even less. That equals R ship. The Riveria is now indeed headed for Asia. The trick will be to keep it near capacity to make it profitable.

Actually Oceania can buy wine, beer, and spirits at prices far better than wholesale direct from the producers. Completely different price levels.

😂😂 The number 1 heard complaint on our current Vista cruise is not food, service, or mechanical problems, it’s dealing with Destination Services and tours not being even remotely as advertised. Of course certain posters here constantly and aggressively push the Oceania tour option! 🙄 I sat in downtown Limassol today listening to several O passengers complain about how bad their O shore tour was, and had been for the last three days. I gave them clear instructions on how to access the Roll Call here on CC for future cruises. The first thing out of one of their mouths was “ we might miss the ship and be left behind “! I shut up and thought “ Lady, you deserve whatever Oceania gives you”!

Fwiw, knowing the OP can’t imbibe, the quality of the champagne provided far exceeds that of the red wine provided. Your newly made friends will far more enjoy the bubbly.

The breads and bakery items on Vista have been excellent. Best on any of the Oceania ships in awhile. The various cookies however are horrible. Really weird!

We’re itinerary driven. We walked aboard Vista and was told an hour had been shaved off one of our ports. 🤬 I suppose the Captain had a dream the night before and had changed the cruise schedule . Problem with that theory is the ports knew well in advance, as did our tour guides. Oceania, abhorring customer communication, opted to wait until boarding to inform we passengers. Typical! Speaking of food. Prime Rib is now completely deleted, on the Vista, from the Polo Grill menu. Staff says it will not return. Even though ordered medium rare tonight, my ribeye was between medium well and well done. Another Typical! The 12 Oz steak is cut so thin it would be difficult to cook even medium if flipped on both sides.

Everyone has two weeks to sign up for any O cruise available under the current T&Cs for cruises until mid 2024. Why wait to sign up if you like the current deal? Worry about 2025 later!

Currently aboard Vista. The Champagne provided is Heidsteck Blue Top Brut Monopole. Exact same as provided on our late Feb Marina cruise. Unfortunately, it appears that Oceania did a new deal with Germain for its “ by the glass “ champagne. I was hoping we were past that plonk! 😢

Since none of these changes will affect my currently booked cruises ( contracts) that extend well into next year, I’m perfectly happy avoiding all this guesswork and waiting until 7/1 to see what happens. The new cruise releases don’t start until at least August for the new A ship. Plenty of time to do analysis before anything will be booked.

A few observations about the GDR, in general, and on the first day of your cruise. First, getting that Specialty reservation the first night. Don’t count on it on many cruises. If one’s cruise is a segment of a multitude of Grand Cruises options, that means you will probably have a multitude of B2Bers on your ship. I been on O cruises were less than half the ship boarded with us. Everyone of the on board B2Bers have first options on any opening in the Specialties before the new group boards. Having been one of those in the past, we often jump on those reservations to avoid the GDR or Terrace on that first night for new segmenters. Chances for newbies may be slim. If, however, one is on the Miami-Miami or Seattle-Seattle milk runs, or other similar cruises with few B2Bers, reservations on night one are indeed often available. The Great Line Up. There exists a substantial number of Oceania guests that have no desire to share the company of other guests and want to strictly dine alone on a two top. Those are predominantly the guests that show up early and form a line so to get one of those limited tables. We enjoy sharing and meeting fellow guests so we aren’t interested in the early lineup. Second, we prefer to give the numerous mobility challenged guests plenty of time to get the wheel chairs, scooters, etc, a chance to get situated before we come in. Some of the more elderly guests, accustomed to eating at 4;00-5:00, at home, likewise line up early so to retire early. We find that simply waiting until 7:00-7:30 yields a seating with out lines or inconveniences. It’s not like we’re ever starving on the ship, so the short wait pays dividends for us. Hopefully this gives some clarity to the situation.

😂😂 Jan; Only attempting humor along with ORV. People have no interest in paying for what they don’t like, but want others to help pay for what they do. Maybe we’ll just take the No lobster discounted package. 🥂

I agree. I’m not a frozen lobster fan like some here, like mine fresh. How about only serving lobster once per segment or doing up charges for all those double surf, no turf ers? I should get a lower ala carte rate! 🍷

Currently on the Vista. My take on the pizza at dinner. My wife and I split a pizza for dinner. It was at first very good and I give the staff kudos. However, it was served on an unwarmed white plate sitting up on a holder. At 65-70 degree F ambient, In Waves, it cooled very quickly, and by the second piece we were eating cold pizza. Some people enjoy cold pizza, we don’t. Seems there should be some way to keep it warm at the table. Potentially good pizza, but won’t reorder as is.

I don’t dictate what, and the form of, any perks my Travel Agent gives me as some here apparently do. Besides OBC, and PPG back when we had to pay it, we’ve been comped La Reserve dinners, pre cruise hotels, and other things appreciated by us. We always say thank you for what we received. In these times actually find it a bit distasteful of those folks demanding a spreadsheet analysis of income along with their take. Wonder if those folks demand kickbacks from their doctors on Medicare payments, or from their pharmacy for the Pleasure of doing business with them?

New releases are due out August through October. We’ll see if that time frame meets the definition of “ very soon” in Oceaniaese!

Very minimal noise. Not a problem.

Travel Agents are compensated differently, very differently, so expectation must be adjusted accordingly. Now, if your question was regarding the Travel Agency not the individual Agent, then the realm changes. For some the perks are actually coming directly from the Agency. So you must understand how the individual relationships between the Agencies and their Agents work. I believe it’s best for one to determine and know what they want out of the relationship perks and services wise. That’ll help determine what you receive from your Agent and Agency. Some of the bored DIYers here think nothing of spending hours on the phone at 1-800, and avoid using a TA. Is that what you want? My monetize perks may not be as great as some here “ claim “, but I have not done Dial a Clerk in years and have no interest in starting so now. I gladly surrender a couple of percent for that privilege! You need to figure all that out before you can even ask the question intelligently. Different strokes for different folks.

He just omitted the first part of each world, kind of like silent letters. So that’s actually Merican French, Merican Etalian, Merican Greek, etc. You know that real Merican Etalian like they serve at Olive Garden. Not any of that authentic stuff like you’d find in a restaurant in Amalfi, that’s ethnic stuff! 😱😂 Having none of that stuff! Gonna stay on the ship where it’s just like eating in Des Moines.

When I bought my last car, the salesman came out after my first offer with a new price offer telling me how the deal saved me $XKs . Questioning him, his savings number included the cost of me being able to save $10 everyday for a year on a free car wash that the dealership would perform. I walked out. I have the same feeling here every time certain Cheerleaders make their saving calculations on those often fathom $199 OLife shore tours. I have been on several O cruises where exactly zero such tours were offered. The most expensive included tour would be a 3-4 hour tour priced at $135-$155 that could be booked privately for half that. On others maybe one $199 tour existed. Instead of paying for that daily free car wash for a year, I beseech thee to actually look at the offered tours on your specific cruise to see what fathom savings might be available. I’m willing to bet it won’t be the numbers a certain Cheerleader is giving you.