iowananny

We like our bag but one is all we needed so we did return the second one we were given. We used it every day and bring it back on every cruise. We even bring back our aluminum water bottles and return our new ones so they can be reused. Little things can make a difference. I may sound like an environmental nut case but that makes me happy because I am.

I've had the unfortunate experience of not having my luggage show up with me. I wanted to wear appropriate clothing, but I was not willing to pay the cruise ships price for clothing I really didn't want. So, for the first few nights I wore the nice jeans I wore when I'd arrived. We shared a table and laughed and talked and had a great time at dinner. No one at our table cared. And this on a cruise ship that had formal nights. Oh yes. I did hear snide remarks from those who wanted everyone dressed to the best, but I still had a good time. Remember, sometimes people don't have the choice of what to wear with today's airline luggage delivery. Your dinner is not going to be terrible because someone sitting next to you is not dressed to your standards.

I wish there was a clear answer to tipping. We just returned from a four-night trip to Mexico City. It was arranged by a tour company. We were afraid to visit Mexico City because of the dangerous conditions in Mexico. We had been hoodwinked. No one ever even looked like they wanted to kidnap us and there were not criminals around every corner. It's a vibrant fun city with a lot to do but enough of that I'm talking tipping. The tour company sent us an email with the expected tipping for everyone from porters to drivers to tour guides. They said to use US dollars and so we did. No one complained and seemed happy with the amounts the company had recommended. They were reasonable and we felt they were fair. We never converted any money into a peso which was nice as we didn't come home with a few extras with no place to use them. This is not the first country we've visited where the dollar is not just welcome but preferred. We always try to do a little research before we visit a foreign country. With ATMs everywhere it's easy to convert a little money into the local currency at little cost but in today's world a credit card seems to be the answer. 98% of all transactions in Sweden are done electronically. You want a bottle of water, give them your card. They won't blink an eye, it's what they expect. Afte covid, tipping in the US has become crazy. Last summer I bought some sweet corn from a vendor at the local gas station. They had a tip jar set out. I'm not going to give a tip to someone for putting four ears of corn in a bag. But maybe some see the jar and feel obligated to do so. To each their own. I especially dislike those who demand a tip. I hate embarking in Miami where you're told you won't receive your luggage if you don't give the porters money. This is a case where tipping is just plain wrong.

I'm going to try the eggplant timbale. I've always had good luck with her recipes.

The horror that is quarantine! I was jailed for three days once on a Princess ship (a flu that was preCovid) and I could only order from room service. You made the best of a terrible situation. I would have been thrilled with Applebee's fish and chips after one day of Princess room service! (BTW, the best fish and chips I ever ate was from a little chippy in Leicestershire.) We were jail for 6 days a couple of years ago for covid. And I didn't even have one symptom. We were going into Israel and they demanded that you had to be tested before entering. I'd just gotten over covid and that could have been the cause of my positive test. At least my husband coughed a; few times. We weren't sick but we were bored. We were in an inside cabin as it was a port intensive cruise (at least for the rest of them). But they moved us across the hall to a balcony room which was nice. It was on Nautica so it was a small ship. We could order from room service or the dining room but after a couple of days I got to know the guys on the phone and we could order from any dining room including specialties. Wasn't the best cruise ever but we ate good. We watched a lot of movies and I got to see my husband cry at the end of "The Notebook". It could have been a lot worse, at least we weren't sick. Best fish and chips I ever had was at the Oslo Radisson airport hotel. We'd toured all day and the cab driver dropped us off and we were tired. It must have been fish. It was so good. Only thing bad was those stupid mushy peas. I'll never figure those out. Who wants them?

He was not a typical passenger and sometimes it's better just to laugh rather than get mad. And when they left all four of us who had seen their antics just laughed.

My favorite chair hog story is a classic. On our last Caribbean cruise my husband had left for a tour and I was on the Vista sitting in the on a couch on the center of the boat near the bar. I was visiting with a lady when a man and woman came up to the seating arrangement we were at and put down books, bags and other paraphernalia in the shaded area we were sitting in. Then he sat down and with his phone on the speaker selection he first called an airline and demanded that their seats be changed for what I assume was his flight home. He insisted his wife was severely disabled and she needed to sit at the front of the plane, preferably the bulkhead or first class. He never mentioned paying extra for these seats. While he was making his demand his wife, or maybe it wasn't, he might have brought his girlfriend along too and his severely disabled wife was in their cabin, was rearranging deck chairs for them with clips to keep their towels on so everyone would know they were taken. After receiving no satisfaction from the airline, he angrily hung up and called the hotel he had stayed at before the cruise. Again, on speaker so we could join in on the fun. Apparently, the pool had been closed the night he was there and he wanted all his money back for the inconvenience. Again, he received no satisfaction but again he was going to call the supervisors and get what he wanted and the person he talked to would probably lose his job. After all his troubles he and the woman he was with, who didn't seem at all severely disabled left apparently to get something to eat. We sat there for over a half an hour after they left and they never came back although they had not two but four chairs waiting for them. We both left but when I came back later their four chairs were still there with their belongings and no sight of the angry man and his severely disabled wife. The woman I was talking to called him the most obnoxious man she had ever seen. Lots of entitled people on cruise ships. They wanted loungers in the sun and chairs in the shade and by god for what they paid they deserved them. Forget about others, they don't matter.

I'm with you on this one. On a 14 day cruise I get tired of all the "fancy" food and a pizza or something a little less fancy really sounds good. We loved Aquamar and we're not health food nuts. It was just decent fresh food served in a lovely setting. We were always more than pleased with our food and apparently others were too as it got crowded as the cruise progressed. I didn't look at it as a cost cutting restaurant just something that obviously people wanted due to the crowds. We both loved the food we got at Ember. I didn't find it any louder than the Grand Dining Room. There was no paper tablecloth and crayons were not provided. All in all, we found the food on Vista to be very good. Our next two cruises are booked on other ships, and we'll enjoy those too, but we'll miss Vista and hope to cruise on it again in the future. I like Giada's food. I make a lemon pasta recipe of hers and it is really good. I've used it over and over again and when served to guests they love it and don't realize how easy it is to make. I don't know what kind of person she is but every recipe of hers I've tried has been good. We also ate at her Las Vegas restaurant when it first opened. I don't remember much about it except that we left happy. By the way, not all of us in Iowa are know-it-alls although we have more than our fair share.

i think we must remember that O carries many older passengers. Sometimes they cannot wear the stylish shoes some of you want them to. An example of this was my mother. She had a bicycle accident as a young child and broke her ankle. It was not treated correctly and never healed properly. She had several surgeries as an adult and while it became better it was always a problem for her. Finally, she had to resort to orthopedic shoes and a brace. Because of this she was able to walk the last twenty years of her life, but the shoes were butt ugly and the brace made it even worse. My mother loved dressing to the nines, and this didn't fit with the look she wanted but she wore lovely pant suits and floor length dresses to formal occasions. She still wore shorts around the people she loved and cared about her, and she knew wouldn't care about her shoes. I'll admit I don't like to see Crocs and flip-flops in nice restaurants but sometimes the rubber soled shoes are worn for a reason. I'd rather see people standing on their feet than falling because they feel the need to wear a certain type of shoe. I think the best advice is to ignore people's shoes. Once they're at their table you never even have to see them again.

Okay, I don't want to sound rude to anyone but when we cruise we find an itinerary we think we would enjoy at a time that will work for us. If we feel we can afford it, we book it. We will use the shore excursions O now offers and the drink package which is what we've always selected in the past. Our travel agent has found some upgrades for us in the past and we appreciate those. We've never had a bad cruise or felt we've been ripped off. But if there is anything about a cruise that bugs me is sitting down next to a person who rambles on and on about how little they paid for the cruise and what a great deal they got. Once I've paid I can't even remember the exact cost I've paid. All I know is it was something we could afford and we feel comfortable with. We're not extremely rich people and have never booked above concierge level but have always had a good time. I don't think we're throwing our money away. If you have a good time trying to find the best deal then more power to you, just remember it might not be as important to others. We like Business Class when we fly overseas. Yeah, it's a lot more money and we arrive at the same time as Economy but we arrive feeling a lot better. We're not a young as we used to be. Everyone should be able to decide how they want to spend their own money. If you don't like Simply More then find another line that fits your needs.

I wish they would serve the bread as they do the pastries at breakfast. The waiter would come to the table and ask what you would like, and you'd take one. If you'd like more you could ask for another. When we're at a table for two there is no way we're even going to come close to eating all the bread in the basket, but both my husband and I do like to have bread with our dinner. I do think Oceania is doing a good job at serving smaller portions most of the time. They serve an older demographic, and the sad part is as we get older most of us just can't eat like we did when we were younger. I've gotten to the point where I refuse to feel uncomfortable because I've eaten too much.

Yes, I'm sorry you misunderstood. And I apologize to all those named Nora. It was a typo, it was an outbreak of Norovirus.

We were on a TA from Barcelona which embarkation was delayed several hours due to a Nora Virus outbreak on the previous cruise. They were doing a deep cleaning of the ship. When we got on there were restrictions that were listed in a previous post. No laundry rooms, library books not available, no cloth towels in the washroom, even little things like no salt and pepper shakers on the table. It lasted for about a week because every day a few people got sick, and illnesses had to be below a certain number before things could get back to normal. There were very few sick people on the ship but they were still taking precautions.

I wish I could tell you the name of the food tour company that we used but I just can't remember. I do know I found them by looking through Tripadvisor reviews. I've used that method for quite a few tours we've taken and always have been pleased with the results. Sounds like you've got a good trip planned. Have a lot of fun. From crazy Nancy who feels kind of stupid that she went to Rome with all the wonderful things to see and was most impressed with a rock mask just because Gregory Peck put his hand it. I'm so lucky to have a husband which puts up with a lot of my crazy ideas. Next week we're heading to Mexico City because I HAVE to see Frieda Kahlo's Blue House before I die but I'm also going up in a hot air balloon for him.

We were in Rome a day early for a TA on the Marina. It was their second cruise after they started cruising again after the pandemic. It was a weird time with masks required and a limit to the number of people in certain places. But we had fun in Rome and a fun cruise too. We arrived in Rome in the morning and were checked into our hotel by early afternoon. That evening we took a food tour. Don't ask me which one but it was a lot of fun. There was a lot of walking but we'd stop for food along the way so it didn't seem that bad. It lasted about 4 hours and we were able to sample all kinds of Roman food. I highly recommend a food tour if you're just in Rome for a short time and want to try a variety of food. We ate very well that night and it was not just samples of food. I wish I could remember the name of the company, but we've taken food tours in several cities, and they have always been good. I don't think I'd ever been so tired and full as I was that night when we returned to our hotel. The next day we took a private golf cart tour. It was recommended to us by our travel agent although we booked it ourselves with Viator. I was a little afraid of driving around Rome in a golf cart but once we got started my fears eased and we had a great time. The guide was able to take us down narrow streets that cars can't go. I told him I wanted to see the sights I'd seen in the movies. For me the highlights weren't the big monuments but seeing the truth rock that Gregory Peck put his hand in in Roman Holiday and scared Audry Hepburn when he had his hand up his sleeves when he took it out. Of course, this might not appeal to everyone but I love old movies and I was very happy with our tour, and we did see many of the major sights also. You could have the tour customized to what you were interested in. What was nice is the golf cart picked us up and dropped us off so it was super easy to do. Just a couple of things that we enjoyed during our short stay in Rome.