Live from 12/23 Riviera “Alluring Caribbean”

[Host Jazzbeau]

8 hours ago, Robjame said:

they told us that someone on floor 11 is responsible for jamming the toilet

That was going to be my guess.  All ships have the same vacuum toilet system, and if somebody puts in a plug it will stop up the whole line.  The insensitivity of some passengers [to keep doing it] is astounding!

[LGW59]

On 12/30/2022 at 12:46 PM, MEFIowa said:

You're making a lot of assumptions. When everything is case specific. AND the CRUISER and his/her doctor should know or reasonable suspect whether someone should cruise or not given their age, physical capabilities, pre-existing conditions, etc.

 

BUT see the old thread here about people cruising with spouses who have dementia. Do I think anyone with dementia should be cruising? When there are other places and things they can do?

 

And on Riviera 12/21 there was one elderly passenger we still call our "ghost". She'd come up from below hourly, walking slowly, to smoke on the pool deck area. She'd always ask the time. Then go back. One early evening she was smoking with my wife and said she needed some help. My wife, an angel, escorted her to her room and helped her. She needed help dressing! But my wife so no sign that she was with anyone else. Should she have been cruising?

 

And would you like to see the pictures of our "Boris Karloff" on the stretcher as they try to get him to the small CG patrol boat circling in rough waters for a rather long time? He was in public for the world to see all strapped down. Death warmed over hardly does justice. And I'd guess he looked in his late 80s. Should he have been cruising?

You took photos of a person in medical distress??  Nuff said...

[SophieM]

6 hours ago, shepherd really said:

How you feel about flushing adult diapers really Depends on the individual.

Groaaannnnnn. 🤣

[Verokaren]

20 hours ago, SophieM said:

 

Hi, Karen! It’s Jane (& Ed) from the Tahiti cruise last year. Happy New Year!

 

Hello Jane and Ed!!

 

Your ears must be ringing as Mark and I were lamenting that we wished you were here with us on this sailing on the Riviera! Hope all is well in your world. We would love to catch up! Let us know what you have booked coming up. 
P. S. Mark was lucky at the Blackjack table last night 🙂

 

[MEFIowa]

16 hours ago, LGW59 said:

You took photos of a person in medical distress??  Nuff said...

I took photos of the US Coast Guard patrol boat and the open hatch with platform extended on Riviera where the individual was strapped in a stretcher attempting to be transferred. The crew and a nurse there, too. From the pool deck. Along with a plethora of other passengers. I suspect some video. As we watched the small CG boat circling for half an hour in rough waves off Key West. As if anything like this isn't photographed or videotaped by people standing by! Get real in 2021/22/23!

Edited January 5, 2023 by MEFIowa

[SophieM]

5 hours ago, Verokaren said:

Hello Jane and Ed!!

 

Your ears must be ringing as Mark and I were lamenting that we wished you were here with us on this sailing on the Riviera! Hope all is well in your world. We would love to catch up! Let us know what you have booked coming up. 
P. S. Mark was lucky at the Blackjack table last night 🙂

 

Oh, dang, Karen—if only we’d known. We board on the 14th. Do you get off then? Tell Mark way to go at the table and to get it warmed up for me. 🤣 We were on the Riviera in September, too, and I think the dealers were on a 9 month contract. I wonder if it’s still the same group?

 

We are also doing a transatlantic Miami to Barcelona on 4/6, Reykjavik to London on 8/22, another TA Lisbon to Miami on 11/20, and Rio to Santiago de Chile on 1/21/24. I think we’ve gone a bit crazy. We’d love to catch up, too!

[SophieM]

The pit boss’s name in August/September was Malvin. 

[InsGuy3]

On 12/24/2022 at 12:57 PM, schmerl said:

Thanks to all who have been posting. We will board Riviera March 2 and I love hearing about the ship.

Agreed. We will be on the same cruise March 2. Can’t wait. 

[ToxM]

We disembarked yesterday after a lovely cruise. Have to say disembarkation was a bloody mess. Worst we have had with O. We always ask for latest time and never rush to get off the ship. I’m this case the line snaked 4 ways through martinis and the via the lifts and it took us 40 minutes or so to disembark. The colour codings and number system was disregarded by the crew I think as it would have been obvious to anyone with a brain that they needed to wait to let the queues subside. Terrible in O’s part. 
 

We had a fabulous cruise and a lovely night pre cruise at the intercontinental tap and an amazing post cruise stay at The Betsy  

 

We had 4 poker tournaments. I chopped first place twice, third once and second once and on the final evening I got a royal flush on Video Poker for 2000 bucks! 
 

Riviera is looking beautiful, there was some teething problems with a full sailing but it was all fine and just one crew member was a bit surly. 
 

overall a great cruise!

[LHT28]

58 minutes ago, ToxM said:

We disembarked yesterday after a lovely cruise. Have to say disembarkation was a bloody mess. Worst we have had with O. We always ask for latest time and never rush to get off the ship. I’m this case the line snaked 4 ways through martinis and the via the lifts and it took us 40 minutes or so to disembark. The colour codings and number system was disregarded by the crew I think as it would have been obvious to anyone with a brain that they needed to wait to let the queues subside. Terrible in O’s part. 
 

 

disregarded by pax also

it is always a mess

We have found people blocking the elevator bank with their luggage  while waiting for their colour to be called 

standing near the exit  waiting

we had one woman  pushing through the line because her colour had been called 30 mins prior  but she was busy chatting  with people so now she felt she should be at the front of theline

 Sorry but  some people   just cannot follow instructions

[ShipShapely]

yes WAS A BIG disorganized mess... we were rushed to be called half hour early - could not finish breakfast... only to sit in the airport all day... no need for that. 

[dancingcgal]

On 1/4/2023 at 5:02 AM, Verokaren said:

Ugh!  What stateroom?

Did others on deck 7 going toward midship from you have this Overflow or Stink? 

[ToxM]

13 hours ago, dancingcgal said:

Did others on deck 7 going toward midship from you have this Overflow or Stink? 

 

We were in 7099 and had a blocked loo so it wasn’t just aft. 

[dancingcgal]

3 hours ago, ToxM said:

 

We were in 7099 and had a blocked loo so it wasn’t just aft. 

Oh no. Did it overflow on floor or rug? How long to get fixed & Stink smell out? 

[ToxM]

45 minutes ago, dancingcgal said:

Oh no. Did it overflow on floor or rug? How long to get fixed & Stink smell out? 

It got stopped up (we didn’t do anything to it) on the night before disembarkation, we just stopped using it tbh. nasty situation - never happened to us before on O - and I have been on deck 7 a few times. 

[kitty9]

We embarked on Dec 23 and will disembark Jan 14.  There have been a few disappointments and some really good things.  We feel the food is going downhill, especially if you’ve been a long time O cruiser.  The buffet is the worst.  Not only is the food not tasty, but the presentations are downright bad.  To quote a man who was standing next to me, “why do so many selections look like they’ve been chewed and spit on a platter?”  Another evening, the pork roast was covered with  some kind of white stuff that looked nasty. A woman said it looked like the pork needed a trip to the med center for some antibiotics.That’s a pretty accurate description.  And why do they repeat the menu items two days in a row?  For both the lunch and dinner menus in Terrace, it was Caribbean night on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the menus the same.  And what the hell is it with O’s penchant for no sugar added everything?  Pastries, cookies, cakes are either drenched in honey or bland as hell because O has gone sugar free.  Damnit, I’m on vacation, and I want some desserts made with sugar.  You may not get sugar, but they are over salting everything else.  Now, I can be a salt person, but I’ve had to send 4 entrees back because they were so salty.  I guess O only cares for diabetics and not high blood pressure.  Give us a few desserts with real sugar. Cookies without sugar are like eating sawdust.
 

Service has been great in the specialty restaurants, but again, in the buffet it can be bad.  I was next to a woman at breakfast who wanted papaya, and the girl kept telling her it was mango.  The lady was very polite, but the server kept insisting it was mango——and she was getting pretty nasty about it.  Finally, another server came over and pulled the girl away and told her it was papaya.  The girl just shrugged and walked away.  The cooks at the Terrace grill are really bad.  First, they need English lessons because they can barely speak or understand the language.  My sister ordered a burger, well done with no cheese and he gave her rare with cheese.  She said “I asked for no cheese”, and he just looked at her, scrapped the cheese off and gave her the burger back.  At breakfast we each ordered an omelet——mine with ham and tomatoes and she with mushrooms, tomatoes and ham.  I was given cheese and green peppers, and hers was ham only.  This grill chef is the worst.  Either he can’t understand English or he just doesn’t listen.  
 

Food the specialty restaurants are as good as ever, although they are way too liberal with the salt.  Service has been great and no major complaints.  I have heard a few long time cruisers say that the specialties need to refresh some of the menus, after so many years of being exactly the same, and I do tend to agree. 
 

There were nearly 100 passengers who didn’t get to Miami on time, and quite a few who didn’t have luggage.  Spoke to a woman from Toronto who still didn’t get her bags until 6 days in, and a couple who’s bags arrived in San Juan.  Not O’s fault and they worked hard to help those passengers.
 

Paul, the cruise director, is fantastic.  He’s fun, funny and runs a great game of trivia.  He’s also friendly and approachable.  One of our most favorite CD’s ever.  
 

Any questions?

[ToxM]

I think the reason they run the same buffet two nights in a row is so that anyone who has a speciality reservation won’t miss out on a special buffet. 

 

From reading (and experiencing very recent changes) it would appear that FDR Jr is a bit of a new broom who has his eye on the pocketbook. 

 

As I stated above, I am unsure as to when O made the decision to sail full occupancy again, but from our 23rd December cruise I feel it was quite recently as the staff were struggling. Again as I stated for th most part everyone was their usual lovely self, but a full ship was clearly a very new concept for some.

 

Either we are ALL resistant to change, or things are very rapidly changing to save as much money as possible. 

 

I do fear for O as whilst loyal, regulars know what standard they expect. 

[ShipShapely]

Do not agree with your assessment of Terrace Cafe   although of course cannot dispute your individual experiences. Not everything is sugar free by a longshot. I cannot handle lactose and was appreciative of the plant based ice cream. There are loads of fully loaded sugary stuff. I like all of that too. Almost everything we had in terrace cafe was as good as ever. If you had problem with the staff should have asked for the manager. The food is lovely and well presented. Did not eat at Terrace at all for dinner this cruise. I do not like getting up and down at dinner - I have to do that at home. 

The real issue I think is that the dining hours are too narrow. At breakfast the GDR only open 8-9 most days which is ridiculously early and brief. There is no lunch being served at all in GDR!! 12-2 is way too short for lunch on terrace... especially for ppl getting  back from excursions. 

The result is extra stress and pressure being put on the staff preparing all those custom breakfast and lunch orders that you had trouble with. 

[ToxM]

It did appear to be a pot luck as to what time the DGR decided it was open for breakfast in the morning and frequently held little in common with what was printed in Currents.

[MEFIowa]

Always fascinating to compare similar recent experiences. Didn't have any such issues off Sirena (11/18-28/2022) in the E. Caribbean. TC was fantastic. As was Waves; love breakfast there each morning. Service and crew fantastic. IIRC we had about 630 passengers.

 

And did thoroughly enjoy CD Paul on Riviera 12/21 in the W. Caribbean (though we only had 719 passengers then).

[ShipShapely]

4 minutes ago, ToxM said:

It did appear to be a pot luck as to what time the DGR decided it was open for breakfast in the morning and frequently held little in common with what was printed in Currents.

I found out that it stays open a half hour later on days that are in port vs sailing....says so in the Currents....but could not keep it straight to be honest....in any event - not long enough. 

[ToxM]

6 minutes ago, ShipShapely said:

I found out that it stays open a half hour later on days that are in port vs sailing....says so in the Currents....but could not keep it straight to be honest....in any event - not long enough. 

Its supposed to be til 9 on port days and 9:30 on sea days … currents and the sign on the wall frequently contradicted each other. It was a magical mystery tour. 

[osandomir]

On our recent November 28th cruise on the Sirena we found the GDR opened for breakfast way past the printed hours on the days we went there. The food and the service was even better than we remember from our previous cruises, so we had breakfast there more often. The Terrace was a bit busy on the days we had an early start, longer wait for juice or coffee from the machine. On the other hand, I found the lines for omelets was even shorter than we used to. 

 

The experiences are varied for the other cruises, though. I believe it’s also upon the management. Also, the managers and the crew were very friendly on our cruise, especially the ones we were familiar with from pre-Covid  times.

 

We didn’t expect much because it was an end of the year cruise funded largely with the FCC holders. Were surprised how it generally exceeded our expectations. There were some problems as well but not enough to ruin our cruise experience in any way.

[kitty9]

As an example in Terrace, the salad bar was always well stocked with many choices.  I had the salad almost every day, but only once or twice on this trip.  You’d find radishes, celery, chopped eggs, peas, carrots, cucumber, corn and some kind protein.  Now, it’s lettuce, shredded carrots, peas and one other veggie.  No protein, no eggs, no radishes.  And the salad bar hasn’t changed at all during the day.  

[ShipShapely]

Hi  "Kitty" - I spoke to my travel agent about some of these issues and he said it was important to write to GuestRelations. It would really help - you are giving really good detailed constructive criticism and they need to hear it. Here is the email address guestrelationsoci@oceaniacruises.com

I encourage everyone else with simlar commentary to do likewise.