On Riviera Now- 1/14 - 1/28

[tgg]

32 minutes ago, thilton said:

Thanks for starting this post. I am not on this cruise, but my mother in law and friend are. Her friend tested positive on Monday and they are both quarantined for the remainder of the cruise.  She has not tested positive yet, but she needs to quarantine with her room mate. My Mother in law suspected it was from the casino, as they heard many of the casino staff were positive. Just a speculation though.  I'm so sad for them. I'm going to try to send something via the cruise line to their room. 

So sorry to hear that they will have to spend the next 10 days in quarantine. What a way to test a friendship.

[Nymich]

2 minutes ago, tgg said:

So sorry to hear that they will have to spend the next 10 days in quarantine. What a way to test a friendship.

+1

[StandbySea]

3 minutes ago, tgg said:

So sorry to hear that they will have to spend the next 10 days in quarantine. What a way to test a friendship.

So sorry to hear this...sending healing energy their way . 🙏 

[pinotlover]

A question for those currently sailing.

 

Is the crew enforcing the dress codes at the dining venues where such codes apply, or are they allowing some to proceed that are glaringly not within such codes.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, thilton said:

Thanks for starting this post. I am not on this cruise, but my mother in law and friend are. Her friend tested positive on Monday and they are both quarantined for the remainder of the cruise.  She has not tested positive yet, but she needs to quarantine with her room mate.

Too bad they  are quarantined 

Hope they are in a balcony cabin & can sit outside

With this variant it could have been picked up anywhere

[clairol]

1 hour ago, thilton said:

Thanks for starting this post. I am not on this cruise, but my mother in law and friend are. Her friend tested positive on Monday and they are both quarantined for the remainder of the cruise.  She has not tested positive yet, but she needs to quarantine with her room mate. My Mother in law suspected it was from the casino, as they heard many of the casino staff were positive. Just a speculation though.  I'm so sad for them. I'm going to try to send something via the cruise line to their room. 

I am so sorry for your mother in law and her friend. Wishing them a speedy recovery and hopefully they won't find forced time together not too trying on their friendship. It would be interesting to hear firsthand about the Oceania quarantine experience.

[espmass]

59 minutes ago, tipsygirl said:

Thank you for asking this question. We plan to be on the Feb 7 cruise and also would hope to have  our morning gym time. FYI I just at my regular stress test on a treadmill with a mask required. No problem. I wore  KN95 .We will wear a mask in the gym even if not required.  I would hope for some organized social distancing on machines in the gym.

 

I always wear a mask at my gym although not yet a KN95 one.  My gym is a private one for my community and I go at 5AM and am usually the only one there so a regular mask has not been an issue.  I figured on the KN95 on the cruise.

[StandbySea]

14 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

A question for those currently sailing.

 

Is the crew enforcing the dress codes at the dining venues where such codes apply, or are they allowing some to proceed that are glaringly not within such codes.

Not glaring..for most part guests are following...  From what I have seen.  

[espmass]

Sorry to hear that apparently a passenger has been quarantined.  Hope it's one case and not a breakout of cases and hope the passenger is all right.

[StandbySea]

4 hours ago, espmass said:

Can anyone give me some personal observations regarding the gym?  Spaced well?  Ventilation?  Wearing N95 or regular surgical-type masks?  Crowded?  Cannot start my day off without time in the gym!  Thanks.

I wore kn95 mask every time.  Some wore cloth..I kept distance from others.  Sanitized b4 and after equipment use the machinery and myself.  It was full at times.. I did not go in then.  This was just the other day I most recently saw.  All wore masks..again kn95 were mostly worn eith few cloth exceptions 

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, Jayne E said:

Booking a $26,000 PH cabin with our Preferred Partner TA on Vista and moving 8k FCC to it didn’t work.  Neither did 4 other “more expensive” cruises. As you’re on board now, you apparently weren’t forced to attempt your above stated FCC strategies. These ships are sailing half empty and O wants to retain as many passengers as possible. 
 

Oddly enough, this cruise is sort of a result of one aspect of that strategy (x2). We were scheduled to do OZ/NZ in January 2021. Before O cancelled it, I had unrelated intel that was clear it couldn’t happen. So, I requested a transfer to same cruise January 2022. OK’ed. This past summer, intel said “no way” for OZ/NZ again. Requested transfer again before O cancelled. However, changed destination to current itinerary. OKed again. 

 

Normally, I might have waited longer to cancel. But, as you know, there were a ton of 2020 FCCs issued - all looking for dwindling cabin availability within a year of their issuance. Last thing I wanted to do was fight with others over the “scraps.” So I made my pitch ahead of the crowd each time and got the requested changes.

 

At the same time, we had collected several 2020 refunds and “bonus” FCCs (in the beginning when these were being given out for cruise mods and cancels) and ended up needing to do sort of what I think you posted above: I.e., trying to use the promise of multiple bookings (with cash in the mix) for two other new cruises that would require an FCC “use by” deadline extension to later this year (2022). With the plan being to use my Preferred Partner TA only if needed as a backup, I contacted O directly with the whole deal laid out and got the OK on two segment for this mid October through early December.

 

All that said, I have to admit that “that was then and this is now.” Three ships currently operating and O wants to stay the course as much as possible. So, getting exceptions may not be that easy. Hopefully I won’t have to test the theory with our next CPT-LIS-NYC on Insignia from May to July!

 

Related to this all is the ongoing discussion of O doing/not doing what some folks are convinced is right and fair. You said you wanted to hear my “defense” of the “case-by-case” consideration.

 

Perhaps you misunderstand (or I have been unclear). Acceptance and Agreement can be vastly different things. Right or wrong/fair or not (in either of our minds) is irrelevant when it comes to Oceania’s historical behaviors on all sorts of issues. Though there are occasional tweaks to O policies and practices, the “bottom line” remains that O has stayed the course on much of its original drive to corner a niche market that would live with its idiosyncrasies in order the reap its rewards (IMO, a value laden quality experience for accomplished/well traveled folks who have worked hard for their money).

FWIW, I don’t disagree with you that preferences given to Preferred Partner TAs often means better treatment. Hell! “PREFERRED” is in their title!!!

 

And I don’t disagree with the theory and practice of each of us having a Plan A we want O to accommodate when the “poop hits the fan.”

 

However, where I may differ from quite a few unhappy folks is that I have studied O’s behaviors (personally and professionally) for many years and I am confident that, while FDR and whoever is “watching the O store” at the time may be open to some policy/procedures modifications in slow/steady increments, it is unreasonable to expect much at O to ever change drastically or in a knee-jerk fashion - particularly when threatened by a significant long term unknown like Covid. 

So, my stance on O’s whatevers has nothing to do with “defending” policy. Rather it has to do with understanding the big picture and doing what may be necessary to achieve a best result for me. 

And please do know that I have my own Oceania axes to grind ranging from the current bread situation (see other posts) to the fairly significant not-just-Oceania long-standing US based cruise industry employment preferences regarding primarily deck and engineering officers.

Finally, should either of us (or anyone else) become so displeased with O that we decide to vote with our wallet, just remember that we are mere rounding errors in O’s daily bottom line (and there will be plenty of unhappy Celebrity and Viking cruisers to take our place. Moreover, if we ever did jump ship, the cost of that is that we’d need to make our own “duck and watermelon salad” and “aragosta fra diavolo.”

 

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Flatbush Flyer
Rounding errors (not founding)

[macaroni]

16 hours ago, Nymich said:

Good catch on that one.  Looked at the Currents and it does seem bare.

 

Last cruise it said Afternoon Tea with Bellissimo String Quartet now it just says Afternoon Tea.

 

BTW we had a nice visit tonight with OP macaroni out on the Terrace aft.  We had some good laughs out there!

Yes…. We had an enjoyable meet.   Did some good laughing.  Nice to put a face to the name.

we compared stories!

[Jayne E]

2 hours ago, espmass said:

 

I did ask for a specific transfer to a different cruise that we had selected and still a no.  Believe me, we tried.  Obviously our TA is not the "right" O TA but being a first timer with O I didn't know any better and used a trusted TA I have been doing business with for about 15 years.  I plan to let O know how unhappy and stressed I was with their decision but in the meantime, I am sure I will have a wonderful cruise.

Being a 1st time O cruiser or your TA status appears meaningless. My TA is a top agent for O and we have 15 cruises and 6 pending. We’re gotten the same NO. Explanation is that no one has been permitted to cancel February cruises for FCC. So who is lying?  Oceania or the multitude of people on CC?

[Jayne E]

2 hours ago, thilton said:

Thanks for starting this post. I am not on this cruise, but my mother in law and friend are. Her friend tested positive on Monday and they are both quarantined for the remainder of the cruise.  She has not tested positive yet, but she needs to quarantine with her room mate. My Mother in law suspected it was from the casino, as they heard many of the casino staff were positive. Just a speculation though.  I'm so sad for them. I'm going to try to send something via the cruise line to their room. 

So sorry for their situation and wishing both well. Isn’t this a good enough reason for O to permit cancellations? O staff are obviously infected and have spread the virus to passengers. It’s no ones fault but future passengers shouldn’t be subjected to this if they wish to cancel. 

[catgirl411]

Please tell me that once I am on board that I will be able to relax somewhat.  On Sunday, We still have to get through a 2 hour winter drive to the airport (yesterday’s major storm here reminded me of that possibility), pre-flight testing, a flight to Miami, four days in Miami, including a trip to Miami Beach for a PCR test and the the pre-boarding  antigen test and check-in process for our Jan 28th sailing. It should be a relief to be on board because the stress beforehand is worse than normal.

[Nymich]

1 minute ago, catgirl411 said:

Please tell me that once I am on board that I will be able to relax somewhat.  On Sunday, We still have to get through a 2 hour winter drive to the airport (yesterday’s major storm here reminded me of that possibility), pre-flight testing, a flight to Miami, four days in Miami, including a trip to Miami Beach for a PCR test and the the pre-boarding  antigen test and check-in process for our Jan 28th sailing. It should be a relief to be on board because the stress beforehand is worse than normal.

I think you will be able to relax but come with reduced itinerary and reduced entertainment expectations.  The Jan. 4 cruise was the port surprises and imo the Jan 14th has been the dive in entertainment.  We have had an awesome 15 days so far!

Maybe by the time you step on the Ship all will be back on track.  🙂

[basor]

21 minutes ago, Jayne E said:

So sorry for their situation and wishing both well. Isn’t this a good enough reason for O to permit cancellations? O staff are obviously infected and have spread the virus to passengers. It’s no ones fault but future passengers shouldn’t be subjected to this if they wish to cancel. 

It was unclear that the passengers did not contract the virus prior to boarding.  It can take several days for the virus to test positive after contracting so the passengers could have brought it onboard.  Also, the crew have been quarantined on the boat and the passengers are the ones coming and going so, it would appear, that the passengers are spreading the virus to the crew not the other way around.

[Jayne E]

2 minutes ago, basor said:

It was unclear that the passengers did not contract the virus prior to boarding.  It can take several days for the virus to test positive after contracting so the passengers could have brought it onboard.  Also, the crew have been quarantined on the boat and the passengers are the ones coming and going so, it would appear, that the passengers are spreading the virus to the crew not the other way around.

Yes, you are absolutely correct. Most certainly could have been passengers to crew. 
Either way, future passengers should be able to cancel and avoid this, should they wish. 

[StandbySea]

3 minutes ago, basor said:

It was unclear that the passengers did not contract the virus prior to boarding.  It can take several days for the virus to test positive after contracting so the passengers could have brought it onboard.  Also, the crew have been quarantined on the boat and the passengers are the ones coming and going so, it would appear, that the passengers are spreading the virus to the crew not the other way around.

This is very true and can't be avoided due to the delayed positive results even when infected.   That's what makes this so tricky. You said this on point with tact and respect for all.  That is why remaining vigilant and wearing suggested kn95 masks issued and using them.   Social distance as much as possible washing hands as a constant habit and wiping down my door knowbs and furniture..faucets etc..and lysol spray.  It is also a practice that the housekeeping staff is waiting until you are out of your room 15 min before entering as one of the protocols. You can requested while in your cabin and go out on balcony...we wear masks out of respect for the crew during this and room svc so all are comfortable. 

[catgirl411]

50 minutes ago, Nymich said:

I think you will be able to relax but come with reduced itinerary and reduced entertainment expectations.  The Jan. 4 cruise was the port surprises and imo the Jan 14th has been the dive in entertainment.  We have had an awesome 15 days so far!

Maybe by the time you step on the Ship all will be back on track.  🙂

As long as the food is as good as the last time (Oct 2018), we will be happy!

[Jancruz]

49 minutes ago, Jayne E said:

Yes, you are absolutely correct. Most certainly could have been passengers to crew. 
Either way, future passengers should be able to cancel and avoid this, should they wish. 

Jayne, could you start another thread with your problem, maybe someone else can help you..

Jancruz1

[espmass]

I might have missed this with so many comments, but did you get to port at St Maarten today?

[Flatbush Flyer]

12 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

Jayne, could you start another thread with your problem, maybe someone else can help you..

Jancruz1

Jan: So sorry that you are not on this cruise. As it turns out, we have most of the ports intact (though Antigua is now on a different day) and all is as good as can be expected including essential safety precautions like Covid era just-to-be-safe quarantines. 

As aforementioned, the casino is currently closed. But, like many O regulars, I was surprised to learn that there was still (ever?) a casino on an O cruise ship.👀😉

[Flatbush Flyer]

4 minutes ago, espmass said:

I might have missed this with so many comments, but did you get to port at St Maarten today?

Excellent (for the Caribbean). Picture postcard location and oh so much cleaner than Puerto Plata.

I highly recommend the America’s Cup excursion— a hands on experience that had quite a few folks remembering where their various muscles are located!

[StandbySea]

8 minutes ago, espmass said:

I might have missed this with so many comments, but did you get to port at St Maarten today?

Yes!!!!  About to depart! ; )