mauibabes

@Sthrngary Absolute BUMMER on the Polo meal. Let’s hope it is an aberration. We know nothing is perfect as you have said but you need a little chat with the Polo Maitre d. He/She needs to know that their team really dropped the ball. If not the Maitre d, then mention it to your Outstanding Butler, the message must and will be shared. We have had an unacceptable experience in the past and shared it in our mid cruise survey. The day after I submitted it, I had a call from the Sr. executive chef and we were invited back and this time it was the Polo Chef who ensured we were not disappointed as well as the Maitre d. That Maine Lobster is usually very good so they need to know there are issues. When you go to the O Club Party, I am sure the Restaurant Manager and Food and Beverage Director will be in the Receiving Line. Share your experience and give them a chance to do better. We just got off Vista and ate in the Waves/Pizzaria one evening and while the pizza was OK, Chicken pineapple Hawaiian, the chicken was tasteless. Bad choice of toppings on our part. IMHO you might just be compounding your experience. Glad to read you elected to bring some good wines aboard for some special meals. On our last trip we brought 6 bottles of Silver Trident, Benevolent Dictator, Pinot Noir on board. It should be available on Riviera as well and they sell it it for $125. I bought it at the Silver Trident Tasting Room in Younteville CA and even paying the $25 Corkage, we probably saved $30-50 a bottle. I mention this wine because it is Excellent and the Silver Trident owner/partner is Bob Binder, one of the CEO’s who helped FDR start Oceania Cruises over 20 years ago. Should you have time and the availability to try Privee as I mentioned awhile back, you could really give them an opportunity to “Make it Right”. Maybe in mentioning your experience to the F and B or RM, you could ask about booking Privee. You never know, they might even take you up on a dinner invitation and Comp it as well 😇🙏. Believe me, they want you to leave Riviera having had a FANTASTIC cruise experience. Just some thoughts, Mauibabes

Not Laurence, she is definitely French. Late 2021 or early 2022 two ladies were promoted to GM’s and have been great successes so you have Laurence’s colleague but I have not met her yet. Any additional insights for O and Riviera, shoot me an email. gerryesker@gmail.com Enjoy, Mauibabes

@Sthrngary You have just received the First Timers invitation to the O Club party. They will host a couple more for those guests at varying levels in the Club loyalty program and Platinum members and above normaly are invited to all the O Club parties. I am sure the four you will enjoy your party. Wine, Champagne, Punch and appetizers will flow. If you want to call your own specialty drink, alcoholic or non, just ask one of the waiters and it will be delivered 😇👍 Continue with your welcome to the Oceania family. Enjoy, Mauibabes

Not Laurence, she is definitely French. Late 2021 or early 2022 two ladies were promoted to GM’s and have been great successes so you have Laurence’s colleague but I have not met her yet. Any additional insights for O and Riviera, shoot me an email. gerryesker@gmail.com Enjoy, Mauibabes

@Sthrngary Gary, loved your Jacques menu items. Besides trying the Sea Bass for 2 on your next reservation, you have to try the Pumpkin Soup, AMAZING and IMHO, EVEN BETTER THAN THEIR FRENCH ONION. Any chance the General Manager was Laurence Barasse? If so she is WONDERFUL. We spent 46 days with her coming out of Covid on Riviera. Invite her to dinner if you go to Privee, she will go if she can fit the schedule. Absolutely delightful lady. Mauibabes

@pinotlover No, we have not dined with the staff but two weeks ago we were privileged to take a Galley tour on Vista with the Executive Chef and F&B Director and saw menus and were shown the various ingredients that are stocked, some of which are for staff meals only. Just sharing some insights with my O family. Yes, the MIA Chilean Sea Bass was probably due to a supply issue. It was resolved within 10 days but by then we were off the ship and the new guests benefitted. Enjoy, Mauibabes

We had Sea Bass on Vista last week, it was our “Last Supper” 🙏👍. They have substituted Cod when they have run out or the shipments did not arrive on schedule or did not pass the QC test. We have had that happen various places in the world, especially with fresh fruits, vegetables and other staples. F&B and Executive Chef left the unsatisfactory product on the dock and we left. Ran out of sea bass on Marina last January 🤣 I am not a Miso Glazed Cod person, Chilean sea bass only. They really do everything they can to maintain their standards and that includes special ingredients for the Staff kitchen and dining. Just Enjoy, Mauibabes

@Sthrngary OH, major slip up. You said you were off to Jacques tonight. Hopefully this is not too late but the Sea Bass for two is FANTASTIC. Baked in a Pfilo dough creation as a fish, great presentation. If not ordered, maybe you will see it served to another guest. And the Candy Store just keeps on giving 😇👍 Mauibabes

@ORV 👍 major DITTO. We were a little slow on the switch from ATT but did so about 5 years ago. Even added grandsons to our plan for only $10 each per month. Now married, they do not want to leave parents and grandparents plans, it costs tooo much. 😇 Mauibabes

@Sthrngary Yes, kid in a Candy Store is correct and it sounds like you have struck it rich. Almond Croissants, ah yes and don’t forget to try the Sticky Buns in the TC at breakfast. You can order Coffee drinks from the waiters but they still won’t be Baristas level. You can ask the waiter to get your Coffee drink from Barista, they will have to run up a flight of stairs but have been known to do so. Should your Butler just happen to drop bye your table while in the TC, I am sure he will bring one from Baristas for you or the table. They do aim to please. If you are back in Toscana, consider the Dover Sole and someone at your table must order even an appetizer size Lasagne so four forks can devour it. Absolutely the BEST, had it 4 times on our recent Vista 16 day trip. Not a fan of the Olive oil and Balsamic cart, more for others then. After 12 years of tastings from the cart in Toscana, we have settled on the 274 Olive oil and the Modena sweet or sweet/sour balsamic to go with the Focaccia. 😇👍 FYI, while the TC and GDR restaurants may offer the same sounding items, order those specific to a Specialty restaurant from that restaurant and not elsewhere, they just always seem to be even better. Enjoy the Candy Store 👍🤪🙏 Mauibabes

The last time I reserved Privee, it cost $300 for the room and I could invite up to 10 guests for a Private dinner. That was January 2023 on Marina. it is a different program on Vista however. Mauibabes

Quick, consider a switch to T Mobile 👍😇 You can get a new iPhone 15 and pay less for even better service is my experience and a senior discount, check it out. I believe it makes no difference whether an iPhone or Android and I was offered phone call minutes at $.25 and required no extra calling plan. If on line and communicating with another iPhone, you can FaceTime and as I recall it cost nothing. Chatted with my grandson showing him pictures of a spewing volcano from the South China Sea or somewhere near Indonesia. Definitely, keep your phone in Airplane Mode while on the ship unless you like hefty phone bills. Mauibabes

In my experience that is not correct info from your TA, perhaps there is another reason than O Life. We have not done any cruises under Simply More, all O Life and we received Shareholder SBC on every cruise, well over $1000 of SBC . Try going on line and print a copy of your booking from your account. I think you will find the SBC info shown on page 3. If not there, resubmit your application and ask for an update and copy for your account purposes. Never hurts to ask again as it could just have been missed. Enjoy your cruise. Mauibabes

@Sthrngary OK Gary and friends, you will have embarked and begun your O Riviera experience. We did your same cruise on Riviera coming out of Covid and you will really enjoy your ports of call and tours, I am sure. Let me offer a suggestion for another great way to enjoy Riviera. Head down to the Reservation Desk or send your Butler and book a Private evening in Privee and pick a night with a later sailing so you can watch the port fade away as you sail on to, “what’s next”. I know there are the four of you and Privee has room for up to 10 so you can add some new found Oceania family of friends or just make it an unbelievable dinner for you and BFF’s. Privee will cost you $300 for the night and there are at least four menus to choose from so enjoy. Every time we are on Riviera or Marina we have booked Privee for all those special occasions like 🎂 and Anniversary’s or perhaps a trip of a lifetime with friends. IMHO, it is a MUST. Have a FABULOUS cruise and we look forward to reading of your experiences. Mauibabes

Ditto on the cookies on the previous Vista cruise. I did try them daily however to see if perhaps they had mistakenly put out the sugar free version across the board but alas, they were lacking. Now then all the wonderful goodies in Baristas made up for a benign cookie 🤪👍. Maybe it was O’s effort to provide us with a Weight Watchers version of cookies. Has Oprah Winfrey joined the NCLH Board? So much for humor. Mauibabes

Not sure it is exact room and date and itinerary but it was the 7 day California Coast cruise but the pp rate with airfare included is $2749 and includes Simply More. If the $3398 figure is for two guests, then the price has increased. Good Luck, Mauibabes

Ditto Sny, our experience as well. Shipped bags to Alaska once and to Miami last December. No International experience to share however and that cost is MUCH more expensive. Definitely convenient when traveling during the holiday rush. You can not ship a variety of items however so read the list on the specific websites, especially no alcohol. Enjoy, Mauibabes

The guest could not get CC on Vista for the 16 days. Maybe they did not know how to get it. Since it wasn’t me wearing the HA’s I can not answer how they used their aides or not. Just sharing some experiences shared by others with me. Bottom line we want to see people have the best cruise experience possible, noisy or not, HA or not. Mauibabes

Let me share a few thoughts. We have sailed on Vista twice, actually just got off on 11/1. On the first cruise we were forward on Deck 11, we had no issues related to noise. As for TV noise, we have heard it on any of the ships. I do not believe it is an issue specifically of the ship but more related to the guests in the staterooms. We were traveling recently with a number of friends and most used hearing aids and often had to be reminded to turn down the volume by their non hearing aide wearing partner. One HA wearer included a suggestion in their survey for Oceania to include Close Captioning on all TV’s in an effort to get guests to reduce the volume. An EXCELLENT suggestion. I believe there can be noise issues in any room category and it makes no different how much you paid for the room. Some of the worst rooms for noise we ever had were PH-1’s. Even an Oceania Suite can be noisy. IMHO it is Location, Location, Location. Next I would say it goes back to the noise sensitivity of the guest. My DW absolutely lost it in 11065 on Riviera about 2 years ago due to the noise from the TC and Waves beginning about 3:00 a.m. Limited sleep for two nights sent her over the edge. Yes we complained and yes we were able to be moved to a different PH, far from the offending Aft location. Bottom line, we all process noise levels differently so definitely pay attention to your Location when you book and discuss your needs and issues with your TA or O Rep or even other experienced Oceania cruisers. You can really have a bad cruise experience with a noisy room. Good luck and pay attention to what is around you. Mauibabes

I understand there is a singing and dancing late happy hour 10:15-11:00. Not good for someone who goes to bed earlier. Since Horizon has been realigned moving the Band and dancing area to the Right side of the Deck, IMHO, only the Port side would work for me.it will be interesting to hear comments from any of the Oceania Suite and Vista Suite guests to get their take on their experiences. Mauibabes

It will take awhile, not scheduled back on O until October 29, 2025 on Allura. I am sure his wife will give him some encouragement to sail sooner; you know, happy wife, happy life. Mauibabes

I am sure it is an individual decision. We travel with friends, Silver level and we call him Lobsterman. He eats lobster somewhere on the ship daily. His favorite is the Jacques Lobster. now me, I don’t even like the Lobster Bisque which I tried last week but that is just me and lobster. enjoy what you like. Mauibabes

Some under Horizon 10007 and 12009 are reportedly very noisy. Met some people on Miami- LA trip that were incensed. Staff tried to make improvements but it will not be resolved without a future trip to the Dry Dock. If you want an O suite, I would opt for the Port side 🤞🙏 I have booked Port side under the O Suites in PH’s for an Allura sailing. Hopefully no vibration, music or dance noise will reverberate down to Deck 11. Mauibabes

@Mkdvmz Glad to hear you had a successful fist day experience on Riviera. We are 4 days into our Vista cruise and it is going GREAT. You mentioned an almost inedible Veal Marsala. As someone who absolutely loves Toscana, you must seek out and tell the Maitre d and let him know because believe me they want to know. A quiet conversation and ask him if there might be another opportunity to dine in Toscana before you make any decisions about their Specialty dining. It’s back to Toscana for us tomorrow and we expect our meals to be wonderful. DW says the Lasagne is absolutely #1 and like all the pasta dishes, they can be ordered appetizer portions and if they have a Chef’s special pasta, try a taster, they are usually excellent. Have a great cruise and if there are issues, be sure to tell them. Mauibabes

@Sthrngary Fantastic,less than 30 days to go and I have loved your process and all your shared information and wisdom. Reams of paper and a 30 minute you tube video, OMG. With the stuff hitting the fan in Israel, now is the time to pay close attention to other events in other close bye countries. We have had Istanbul cruises cancelled or modified 3 times over the years and NOT made a successful stop there. The President of Turkey has come out on the side of the Palestinian’s so there is always the possibility your itinerary could get a last second modification. Whatever cards are dealt, have a FANTASTIC first Oceania cruise.😇👍🙏🤞🛳️ Mauibabes