pinotlover

Check bags with hotel concierge. Enjoy the port city with a long lunch of local delicacies. Get to the ship at 15:00 or so for an easy check in. Buy our beverage package upgrade to the premium package, head to the cabin to dump the carry on. Go to the bar for bubbly . If in a PH, listen to the Butler’s pitch for on board wine tastings and Bin End specials. Short wait for luggage delivery to unpack while I obtain another glass of bubbly. If in an A2, trek downstairs to explore the options not given by the butler. Head upstairs to Horizons, after safety drill, for Happy Hour and sail away. Sometimes off to the upper deck for even more spectacular sail aways depending upon port. Depending upon itinerary a M&G may be involved. As events evolve, off to the GDR for dinner with newly meet cruisers. Times flexible depending upon events. Maybe dinner is at 7:00, maybe 8:30. Who cares , it’s vacation!

Got the brochure today. My biggest surprise was the number of segments on the 23 ATW listed on the Upgrade sale! 😳.

In which decade was that!!?? Complaining about WiFi on Oceania is like complaining about no rain in the Sahara Desert! If you have any water, you’d better be conserving it. It’s not going to rain.

Hi tech or low tech, I’m against neither. We had a long discussion about QR codes replacing printed menus . A lot of people were opposed. The only thing, and it can be multiple, I’m against is anything that puts more demand on Oceania ships wifi! I’ve been on cruises where I can only check email every three days or so. Telling me they’re taking away Currents and to use the app, is a no go, when globe just spins. Outside of maybe choosing whether to bring a bottle of white or red to the GDR, why do people need to know what’s for dinner at lunch? The menus in the Specialties haven’t changed for years, maybe a decade! No guessing there. So yes, I’m against more demand, for non essentials, on the already overtaxed wifi system. Hi tech or low tech.

For the OP, or another current cruiser, please ask one of the onboard OCAs when the next cruise release will be. Should be sometime in the next 6 weeks. They may be pushing the LD sale and not want to discuss it, but any information would be appreciated.

ORV; You’re not considering a chip implant are you? 😳 😂🥂

So we agree. Thus my comments on cell phones lighting up on most every Trivia question. They are consulting their smartphones for the sole purpose of cheating to win. How childish!

I’m an old fart. Cheating on tests, or plagiarism on papers, resulted in a trip to the Dean of Men. If the first trip didn’t yield an exit from the school, the second absolutely did. Memorizing questions and answers from past tests isn’t cheating. Downloading all of them on your cell phone and calling them up during the test is, at least to old farts like myself. Perhaps at your “ institution of higher education “ is was totally acceptable. Different era.

I’ll never forget our favorite CD Barr kicking an entire team out of Trivia for blatant cheating. Prohibited them from participating in any other Trivia events for the rest of the cruise! Other CDs just allow people to Google answers without impediment. Took the fun of the competition for us, so we rarely participate. It’s amazing, to us, that some keep questions and answers from multiple past cruises on their phones so to get answers and gain more points. O points can’t be that precious, so trying to combat short term memory loss is the obvious issue.

An Oceania app. What a great plan! 🥴. Put more pressure on the ship’s WiFi that already runs at a snail’s pace! 🙄 I don’t need to read Currents, I’ve got an app! Let me check the app for what’s for dinner. Yep, just what the system needs! 😂😂. All those cruisers, not able to sleep, can be glued to their smartphones at 03:00 to see how long the ball spins so to check their app!

Yep! I have the pictures pictures of my grandparents and great grandparents . They’re special to me. Today, people take digital photos and send them to the “ Cloud”. They die and no one has the passwords to retrieve them. The Cloud eats them.

😂😂 The 2021 Champagne crop was about 30% of normal. Worldwide shortage of Champagne at most any price. Shipping issue, empty bottle supply issues, on and on. O won’t be serving up Tatt anytime soon.

Oceania has never provided only Champagne as its sparkling wine. It has actually featured a couple good American bubblies over the years. Since Chandon is the subject, they make sparkling wine in Champagne, California, and in Australia. If you similarly find the U. S. version lacking, then forget the version from Oz!! 🤮

On the R ships, even in a PH, I take my showers in the Spa. Typically, but not always, the same on the O ships. What these upgrades means for me is that I’ll be taking less trips to the Spa on the O ships.

Doing a lot of looking. Our problem is I performed a horrible self inflicted wound and bought Biz Class tickets for our cruise. They are cancellable , but at a sizable cost. Therefore, I’ll allow the events to play out. What we certainly won’t do, for months to come, is front Oceania any other money for tours or any on board activities. NaDa! That basket will stay empty! 🥸

My comment is that Oceania’s cost per bottle is in the $5-$6 range. May be less on a large marketing arrangement with Chandon. Quality of the provided Sparling wine has varied tremendously over the years.

Disappointing if true, however not much quality change from the St. Germain they had earlier. Typically retails at less than $20/ bottle, closer to $16 in some areas. Oceania price is around $6/ btl. Enjoy!

Hopefully we’ll get a reply to this from someone that has cruised since at least July. What happen on the Mayflower crossing or during the heights of Covid are old history. What’s happening today??

We found, on the Marina, they would open them daily upon request. Nightly, they were closed and relocked. So when you want them opened, you daily had to find a steward to get it done.

We are doing Buenos Aires to Lima this coming season. Lots of excellent private tours , for most of the ports, are available for sign up on our Roll Call. Absolutely no reason to pay Oceania’s exorbitant prices for most of the shore tours. If you are new here on the Board, look at the top of the Oceania page and clink on Oceania Roll Calls. Then follow the prompts for ship and month and find your specific Roll Call. You have options. Pick and choose your excursions as they interest you. Often private tours, identical to those offered by Oceania, are offered at half to a third as to that charged by Oceania. Enjoy your cruise!!

Not blaming Jancruz the least. She’s been great on this Board. I worked in corporate America for years. Even to people like Jancruz, they’ll lie through their teeth to maintain the Company story. The O VP knew he was lying when he talked to her, the Company just wasn’t ready to release the real facts. They’ll lie to her just like they will to any of us. Not Jancruz’s fault. I realized I was taking a risk in booking flights, even with her assurances. We are flying Biz Air, plus wanted to avoid the 2-3 stop routes getting to our destination might incure. One stop is enough. I rolled the dice and only time will tell if we came up with craps. If we get cancelled, since we Embark in Istanbul, we may just do a Turkey land tour and see if we can just do round trip out of IST. That would make three cruises out of Istanbul for us cancelled by O. It would be time to blow them off for that part of the world.

Also, some of the Groups negotiate corkage fee rates ( or lack thereof) for their Group members. Be careful trying to expect uniform “ one size fits all “ policies across a wide spectrum of passengers.

Will 330 passengers even pay for the fuel burned?

We’re on it also. I screwed up and just last weekend bought air based on Jancruz’s comments! Significant cancellation charges. Wait and See, but don’t have much hope. Just thinking about the humor if the Swingers on the July charter end up having the “ maiden “ voyage! 🥴😂! I’m sure FDR would be thrilled to be on that cruise! 😎

I have warned fellow cruisers of this issue repeatedly. The industry is struggling with both manpower and supply chain issues. Multiple ships are being delayed.