On Riviera Now- 1/14 - 1/28

[gbits]

9 hours ago, catgirl411 said:

We will be waiting anxiously to see how your itinerary gets revised. I was feeling so optimistic about our 28/1 sailing but now I must say i’m a bit worried. 

+1 for 2/7 cruise

[gardenbunny]

30 minutes ago, gbits said:

+1 for 2/7 cruise

 

30 minutes ago, gbits said:

We will be waiting anxiously to see how your itinerary gets revised. I was feeling so optimistic about our 28/1 sailing but now I must say i’m a bit worried. 

I have been following this topic and I am also wondering how the ports on my Feb 11 now on Marina transferred from Sirena will be changed.  I booked the cruise to try Oceania and to have a first visit to St Vincent and St Barts.  So excited about the change to Marina and keeping fingers crossed for those 2 ports.

[LHT28]

JMO

Anyone cruising during the pandemic  should expect things to change  probably even in the next 6 mths

The virus has changed  & it does not seem to care if you were jabbed several times or not 

all you can do is try your best to stay healthy .wear a mask  wash your hands often  & roll with the changes

 

I wish I had the stamina for all the hoops to jump  so I can cruise but  I do not so will wait to see what the future holds for cruises

Enjoy life ..it has an expiry date

[catgirl411]

This may be stating the obvious but the more ports that are closed to ships (individually because of number of cases or just closed to all traffic), the less ports available for all the ships out there in the Caribbean.  This no doubt adds to the complexity of rescheduling. 

[Twiga]

42 minutes ago, gardenbunny said:

 

I have been following this topic and I am also wondering how the ports on my Feb 11 now on Marina transferred from Sirena will be changed.  I booked the cruise to try Oceania and to have a first visit to St Vincent and St Barts.  So excited about the change to Marina and keeping fingers crossed for those 2 ports.

The new invoice for the February 11th Marina cruise shows that St. Barts has been replaced with St. Maarten.  See the excursion ports listed under Manage Booking.  It says St. Maarten, also.  I am sorry that we won't visit St. Barts, but I have never been to St. Maarten.  I will be happy just to be back onboard the Marina!

[gardenbunny]

Twiga - Yes.  I just this minute saw it!!  My booking had finally been transferred this morning so I have been reserving my dining.  Then went to excursions and that is when I saw it.  Soooooo bummed.  I have been to St Martin and St. Maarten several times

But so it goes in Covid time - just good to be back on a ship….and first time on Oceania - yea - and got upgraded to this beautiful ship and a veranda cabin!!

Life is pretty good 😁

[Host Jazzbeau]

12 hours ago, Nymich said:

I just hope they are on "Island time" when they start banging on those containers in the morning!

So the good news is that today is a national holiday in Barbados so the shipyard is closed and it is totally quiet outside my window.  Of course that means the bad news is that today is a national holiday in Barbados so almost everything is closed...  But I'm happy with the smoothest-sailing 'sea day' ever!!!

[davencl]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

So the good news is that today is a national holiday in Barbados so the shipyard is closed and it is totally quiet outside my window.  Of course that means the bad news is that today is a national holiday in Barbados so almost everything is closed...  But I'm happy with the smoothest-sailing 'sea day' ever!!!

Yes we're enjoying the quite too but the little boy in me also enjoys watching all the big machines. 🙂

[Flatbush Flyer]

16 hours ago, pilgrimage said:

 

We were in 8131 on the 12/23 cruise, which is almost directly below 9135.  I would expect a lot of engine vibration when underway, but the rock and roll was no problem.

Though it is a bit more noticeable on R ships than O ships, R cabins just aft of the rear elevators and O cabins midway aft of the rear elevators (like 8031) are either side of the stack. Some vibration, associated with a seemingly harmonic convergence of engine/shaft/et al. conditions occasionally will be noticeable in the hallways. Though not just based on speed, I’ve noticed it mostly at speeds exceeding 17 knots. 

[dolphinlady1957]

My cabin/bathroom (9135) on the Riviera will be bigger than a similar cabin on Regetta?

I was on the Regatta two years ago in March in French Polynesia. We turned around half way thru the cruise because of covid to go back to Papeete port. We were on our way to Bora bora. Bummer but got a 50% FCC. So here we are trying it again next month. 

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Though it is a bit more noticeable on R ships than O ships, R cabins just aft of the rear elevators and O cabins midway aft of the rear elevators (like 8031) are either side of the stack. Some vibration, associated with a seemingly harmonic convergence of engine/shaft/et al. conditions occasionally will be noticeable in the hallways. Though not just based on speed, I’ve noticed it mostly at speeds exceeding 17 knots. 

 

[gardenbunny]

I know why St Barts was removed for Sirena itinerary moved to Marina - ship is too large - only small passenger ships like Sirena allowed.

So I will try again next year….

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 minutes ago, gardenbunny said:

I know why St Barts was removed for Sirena itinerary moved to Marina - ship is too large - only small passenger ships like Sirena allowed.

So I will try again next year….

I don't think so – we're on Riviera now and scheduled for St. Barts on Tuesday.  We may or may not actually call there, but it won't be because of ship size.  We will anchor, so maybe the ship is too large for the pier – but not for the port.

[cruisingxpert]

15 minutes ago, gardenbunny said:

I know why St Barts was removed for Sirena itinerary moved to Marina - ship is too large - only small passenger ships like Sirena allowed.

So I will try again next year….

The ship isn't too large.  We were there in December.  St Bart's is an anchor port.

[gardenbunny]

Thanks for the info.  I appreciate it.

I was trying to figure out why it changed…guess just Covid.

 

[macaroni]

Ok….our itinerary has now changed…sea day instead of st. Vincent, st. Martin again instead of st. Kitts, Tortola instead of st. Lucia and then we keep st. Barts…….

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just got the awaited announcement from the Captain about the rest of our ports:

•  Jan. 22 – St. Vincent cancelled – now Sea Day

•  Jan. 23 – St. Kitts cancelled – now a second call at St. Maarten from 7 to 7

•  Jan. 24 – St. Lucia cancelled – now Tortola 7 to 7

•  Jan. 25 – St. Barts is still on! – arriving earlier:  7 to 4

•  Jan. 26 – still Sea Day

•  Jan. 27 – still Sea Day

•  Jan. 28 – still disembarking in Miami

 

[Nymich]

1 minute ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Just got the awaited announcement from the Captain about the rest of our ports:

•  Jan. 22 – St. Vincent cancelled – now Sea Day

•  Jan. 23 – St. Kitts cancelled – now a second call at St. Maarten from 7 to 7

•  Jan. 24 – St. Lucia cancelled – now Tortola 7 to 7

•  Jan. 25 – St. Barts is still on! – arriving earlier:  7 to 4

•  Jan. 26 – still Sea Day

•  Jan. 27 – still Sea Day

•  Jan. 28 – still disembarking in Miami

 

All in all a nice save imo

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just now, Nymich said:

All in all a nice save imo

Yes, much better than your prior cruise of mostly Sea Days.  Tortola is new to us, so looking forward to it.  I guess we'll be real experts on St. Maarten by the time this is over 😁

[Nymich]

9 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Yes, much better than your prior cruise of mostly Sea Days.  Tortola is new to us, so looking forward to it.  I guess we'll be real experts on St. Maarten by the time this is over 😁

Yes we had Sea days with 4 ports and had the Signature shows.  Then we drove the entertainment team out.......Sorry but maybe we catch a break and they all resurface at once!

 

Tortola is beautiful we have only been there once.

Edited January 21, 2022 by Nymich

[macaroni]

What are some beaches to go to on Tortola…we have only been once…we usually stop there on our way to virgin gorda….

[funtime18]

28 minutes ago, Nymich said:

All in all a nice save imo

S

[funtime18]

I have a question although not sailing until March 8. Are any of you taking private tours in any of the ports?  I had planned on booking 3 but not sure I should because of Covid and the fact we might not even go to those islands. I just didn’t want to to go to the beach at every stop since I haven’t visited any of the islands on our itinerary.

[Jim and Monika]

We always took the ferry from Tortola to Virgin Gorda and went to the Baths.

[catgirl411]

57 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Just got the awaited announcement from the Captain about the rest of our ports:

•  Jan. 22 – St. Vincent cancelled – now Sea Day

•  Jan. 23 – St. Kitts cancelled – now a second call at St. Maarten from 7 to 7

•  Jan. 24 – St. Lucia cancelled – now Tortola 7 to 7

•  Jan. 25 – St. Barts is still on! – arriving earlier:  7 to 4

•  Jan. 26 – still Sea Day

•  Jan. 27 – still Sea Day

•  Jan. 28 – still disembarking in Miami

 

Thanks for the update. I’m glad to hear St. Barts is still in play. It is supposed to be our first stop on the 28/1 Sailing.  I think Martinique is iffy, as is San Juan, who knows about St. Lucia and the others.

[Host Jazzbeau]

22 minutes ago, funtime18 said:

I have a question although not sailing until March 8. Are any of you taking private tours in any of the ports?  I had planned on booking 3 but not sure I should because of Covid and the fact we might not even go to those islands. I just didn’t want to to go to the beach at every stop since I haven’t visited any of the islands on our itinerary.

I had two booked:

•  Martinique – Tours by Locals very promptly refunded my payments when the port was cancelled

•  Barbados – Skinny Carson gave us a great tour of the Hunte Gardens, Bathsheba, Amalee Cove (waterspouts), Little Cove (beautiful rocks and surf), and all around the island – highly recommended

 

The only port they told us would not allow private tours was St. Lucia, which ended up being cancelled anyway.