mauibabes

It sure looks to me that the Terrace Cafe outdoors is covered from the sun and rain which will make dining great out there. Of course those who like to be under the stars, you will have to fake it a bit. MomC, we will be back on Vista in October just to make sure Vista is ready for you. From what we have seen and heard from some others on board now, everything looks to be exceptional. No one wants to let Frank down as Vista is really an amazing creation by the consummate professional of the cruise industry. What a way to say goodbye as he heads into retirement. We have sailed on O for over 15 years and talked to staff in Miami and from travel agencies and he is revered as a leader and visionary and down right “Great Person”. Thank You Frank, and we look forward to meeting you on Saturday at the Meet and Greet with Bruce and Marilyn and the Cool Chile’s. Mauibabes

Based on your Q, is the B-1 the highest level Stateroom? R, O or A Class ship as the number of restaurant options increases? If the other couple is in a Concierge Stateroom, they will be able to book the reservations 60 days out. Add another 15 days if in a PH. Whatever the date reservations open, be aware you can go on line approximately midnight EST to secure the best available dates and times for your Specialty reservations. 45 days out can have some reduced availability. Any chance you are using a TA? They might be able to book for you as well or clean the reservations up if you have run into any glitches in the booking process. A phone call to Oceania on that date can be helpful as well. Good Luck and Enjoy your cruise. Mauibabes

Start with your Travel Agent and let them handle it. Mauibabes

The Friends and Family cruise set sail yesterday on her way to Valletta Malta for her Christening. It can be viewed on line, noon PST and adjust your clocks accordingly. I thought We’d share some photos my DW pulled off the various sites. I did not include any photos from the Sunday Brunch but I can assure you no one is “starving” and it looks amazing. The Chef ratio is 1 per 10 passengers so they are taking good care to maintain “The Finest Cuisine at Sea”. ENJOY, AND BYE THE WAY, SHE HAS STARLINK 👍🤪🤙 Mauibabes

Classic, I guess I am used to the Oceania excursion pricing and do not find it excessive when taken in total. We book a combination of Private and Oceania tours, we take the O Life Free Excursion option so we can book tours up to $199 and pay the equivalent of $100 for them, and we book enough tours to qualify for the YW 25% discount. On a Southampton to Reykjavik to NYC trip I think we got our average cost per excursion down to $77 per tour and we did about 14 tours and some were 5-7 hours and none shorter than 4. Yes, on the surface they do seem pricy but that is an ala carte price so you have to do some work to make your excursion experience more cost effective. We have found since resuming sailing post Covid, tours are a challenge for the Operators and Oceania and inflation has driven up touring a lot. I know we complain a LOT about gas prices but we have yet to be in a country that has gas prices cheaper than we do. Many tours have been cancelled or become non existent. Guides have left the business and countries have levied new requirements on the existing companies. Gee, does this sound familiar to jobs in the USA and the Government? Enjoy your travels, however you take them. Mauibabes

Not to my knowledge but Regent does. Not sure why either. Mauibabes

Oceania handled the transition to new ships exactly the same for Marina and then Riviera. While they will have raided the talent pool, there are still a lot of wonderful staff to care for guests on the other ships. This transition has been planned for years and we are over 18 months past the Covid decimation of the cruise lines. There are a lot of great managers and talented staff there for us all to enjoy our cruises. We are looking forward to reuniting with these great people next weekend in Rome when we board Vista. It will be Old Home Week 👍🙏😇. Lots of smiles and hugs to share and undoubtedly some tears because the staff is that much a family. JMHO, Mauibabes

Yes, we I did a river cruise, Amsterdam to Budapest. We found the Tauck portion of the trip to be outstanding. The Boat portion was certainly not up to Oceania standards nor was the food. Met great people and had a wonderful time in spite of some personal issues and inconveniences. Last Fall we did a Great Lakes tour and Tauck uses Ponant for the 7 days of sailing. Ponant is NOT Oceania so we would only rate it a C+ or B-. Service was great but the 5 Star French Chef’s cuisine was terribly lacking, as was the quality of the food. The Tauck team was outstanding but most every aspect of the tour plan hit major glitches. We lost some exceptional venues, a major hotel foul up in Chicago. Oh yes, we caught Covid and were quarantined for 5 days on the ship. We reconfirmed, NEVER book an inside room if you are going to be locked in your room for 5 days 🤪🤬. Through it all, Tauck stepped up like the exceptional tour company they are and owned the trip failures. Refunded all guests $2000 cash, the Fairmont in Chicago gave all guests $500 for cancelling the nights reservation. Tauck also gave everyone a $1500 FCC but many of the people were willing to throw away that FCC. If We are going to do a land tour in the future, we will definitely do it on Tauck. We hold any cruise company to the Oceania standard and we believe Tauck is the BEST and it fell far short so no more river cruising for us, only Ocean cruises. Our 2 cents and experience. Mauibabes

You can bring your wine and a bottle of Single Malt aboard. You can also pick up your Single Malt at a port along the way if you choose. The only thing about bringing your own beer, wine and spirits aboard, please drink them in your Stateroom. We always bring wine aboard or other beverages but we likewise always pay our Corkage fees because we do not want to see this privilege cancelled by Oceania. Enjoy your cruise, Mauibabes

Ditto Basor, we only lost it on our 20th, FREE cruise. Apply and worst thing that can happen is it is not granted. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Mauibabes.

@hmorrow Wow, over 100 cruises, amazing. All that experience and cruise education will make it easy to understand Oceania and its differences. 11 days for your first O cruise, is it on Vista? If so we will see you at the Meet and Greet. If not Vista, enjoy your cruise on whatever ship and the many itineraries that are NOT in the Caribbean. We will be back to Miami in October but it will be a quick exit and on to the Panama Canal transit and the Pacific. Enjoy, Mauibabes

It’s the weekend and O does maintenance on the system on weekends so things can go a bit wonky. Check Monday morning and if there is still an issue, contact your TA or Oceania directly. This is a common occurrence so don’t get excited. Mauibabes

Why would he not, he is the CEO of Oceania Cruises and Vista is his new ship. I did learn that Frank will be holding some VIP activities on the Founder’s Cruise. Definitely looking forward to meeting him at the M&G and any other Oceania executives who will be on board. We are ready to sail on Vista 👍🙏😇🛳️ Mauibabes

Definitely try Monday when the are open, or Sunday. The credits are OFTEN PROVIDED, so just ask and if the initial answer is No, ask to speak to a Supervisor. Mauibabes

@MnDAL Preparation, just be flexible and make sure you wear knickers that don’t twist 🤪🙏 Embarkation, people do not pay attention to their reservation times so there is a large group at the very beginning. Some posters here suggest arriving after lunch and it is pretty quick. If in a PH or above, there will be dedicated lines and that helps the process. you are on ships that max at 1200 so it is not a mass of humanity. Remember every port handles embarking and debarking differently and Oceania is not “in charge” of the port, just do as directed. Check in at your Muster Station on your way aboard so you are checked off, then head for the Terrace Cafe and start enjoying yourselves. Kill some time before your Stateroom is available by checking out the ship. With a new ship in the mix next weekend, lots of people will be doing familiarization walks. Get to know your Stateroom Stewards and Butler if you have one. They are wonderful people who love to be helpful. Let them, especially the Butler’s. After you board, if you need to adjust or request Specialty reservations, head directly to the Reservation Desk on Deck 5. Often that first night’s reservations have availability so you might be able to snag an extra one based on availability. Be flexible on the time. You will hear lots more so this will get you started. Enjoy and welcome to the Oceania family. Mauibabes

Work with your TA anyway, he/she is the key because O phone staff are supposed to direct you back to them. Even if you don’t have 6 weeks, ask anyway. They will update your file accordingly. Ask for whatever you want. The Passenger Decks are on a Coke contract but the Staff Store can get anything available in the ports so your Butler/Stewards will stock your refrigerator from their Store. It does make a difference if you are in Ports and countries that have the kind of drinks you want. You may not get it but you can always ask. Mauibabes

IMHO, YOU GOT LUCKY ! Congratulations and we know you will love Riviera and your PH. Use your Butler, let him help you. Enjoy, Mauibabes

Yes, refund applied. Actually my SBC was credited back. my understanding is that Privee on Vista will be more like a La Reserve gourmet/wine pairing dinner location for 8. On Marina and Riviera it will continue to be available to book for the evening at the $300 rate for Private dinner parties. Mauibabes

JT, what a transformation. I recall back in another life you were not satisfied at all with your Oceania experience and definitely “had you knickers in a twist “ as a buddy would say, over some different understandings, expectations and policies by O. We have had similar experiences and have tested the waters with other lines with friends but ALWAYS return to Oceania. So much so we achieved Platinum level a couple years ago despite Covid. Even so called all inclusive, fine dining lines. We all learn our lessons and never know how well we have it until we have tasted that so called greener grass. I remember a long time ago returning from an overseas deployment with my unit and as we exited the stairs and reached the tarmac, the SSgt. in front of me got down on her knees and kissed the ground, so happy to be “Home”. You my good lady are like we and that SSgt, SOOO happy to be home when we get back to an Oceania ship. My DW does not do gourmet, does not do fish, and is not big on Asian fusion foods but will NEVER leave Oceania. We have found our niche and our family. Welcome to “our” home all. Mauibabes

@DENIE Thanks for the Vote DENIE. Mauibabes

Major DITTO Jancruz1 Country Club Casual and not Pretentious! I am undergoing a major “Sport Coat or NO Sport Coat” packing decision as we prepare to head off to Rome in a couple of weeks for the Founder’s Cruise. We are really getting excited and feeling giddy about being able to share the cruise with FDR and others from Oceania AND OUR OCEANIA FAMILY. Mauibabes

@CruisinShips IMHO it would be a GREAT mistake to walk away from a Vista cruise booking, especially since no one has any idea what the experience will be like. Years back we were like you only not nearly as many cruises under our belt but we had been thru Princess and RCL and X and even their best did not compare to our first Oceania experience in the Mediterranean. We told our cruising friends we have found a pearl in an oyster and they needed to “try it, you’ll like it”. We kept cruising O and they finally joined us on Marina and together WE have never gone back. We have met some fantastic people from all over the world over the years on Oceania and it is those guests that make up an integral part of our Oceania family. The staff is the other critical part of our O family. The staff really do understand customer service and will do virtually everything to ensure we have a fantastic cruise. We were able to sail on one of Marina’s Inaugural cruises and also Riviera’s early voyages. Vista is next and you can just blow off some negative commentaries because there is NO WAY anyone is going to do anything to make Frank Del Rio’s final nautical masterpiece anything but AMAZING. If you are fortunate enough to have a reservation on her, you are blessed. We have sailed with 30 something’s, 40 something’s and all the way up to guests in their 90’s. You will find a different mix of guests, not just people taking a cruise, or cruisers, but World Travelers. Believe me, you will fit in quite well and really enjoy yourselves. O guests are not Pretentious, ok you might find a few, but those are often younger couples who are focused on “themselves”. We have sailed with lots of first time cruisers, first time Oceania cruisers all the way up to guests with well over 1,000 days at sea on Oceania. Just great people and part of OUR Oceania family. Don’t miss your opportunity to be one of the first on Vista and in August, you might also be fortunate enough to book one of the Inaugural Allura sailings in 2025, JMHO. Enjoy your new, expanded family. Mauibabes.

And if one is not included in the hair dryer bag, just ask your room steward or Butler. Enjoy your cruise. Mauibabes

I am sure everyone has spent minutes to hours on Hold and it is frustrating. Last week I had to call twice, spent about 45+ minutes on Hold and in the conversation with my Representative she advised me it has been VERY busy with the SALE. She had just checked and there were 51 calls on Hold. If you have a TA, let them sit in the queue, if it’s you calling, maybe try calling at varying times of the day. They have call centers in Miami and in Omaha so don’t get frustrated, just put your call on a Speakerphone and go about your business. 🤪🤬😇👍🤙 Mauibabes

@Gangway IMHO, if you can move up to a Riviera Penthouse for what you already have spent for your current booking, GRAB IT. The benefits of the PH are very nice and Riviera is beautiful and you are out no more $. Again, JMHO, Mauibabes