Marina May Refit

[Baz-t]

Reading of the launch delay of Allura, I am getting nervous now about our Marina cruise due 18 May. Will it happen or will this be another refit delay? I note on the Oceania website that all suite categories are now show as waitlist. 

 

 

[Vallesan]

7 minutes ago, Baz-t said:

Reading of the launch delay of Allura, I am getting nervous now about our Marina cruise due 18 May. Will it happen or will this be another refit delay? I note on the Oceania website that all suite categories are now show as waitlist. 

 

 

I have wondered whether or not this cruise will actually go ahead. When I booked last summer it did cross my mind that it may not because the refit could overrun.

However things have changed since we booked. Firstly, this cruise was massively reduced in the Summer Sale so it’s possible that it is actually all waitlisted.

Secondly, with so many ships have to re-route via South Africa rather than Suez the cruise lines are losing fortunes apart from lots of good will.

 

My thoughts are that Oceania will do it’s very best not to cancel anymore cruises than necessary. Fingers crossed that this cruise does go ahead, albeit with an upgrade possibly less than the one promised.

[EJL2023]

1 hour ago, Baz-t said:

Reading of the launch delay of Allura, I am getting nervous now about our Marina cruise due 18 May. Will it happen or will this be another refit delay? I note on the Oceania website that all suite categories are now show as waitlist. 

 

 

One never knows for sure but they did cut back some on the refit so with that being done perhaps a better sign will be able to get done in the scheduled time allotment. Also would not let the Waitlist be too bothersome as we have a cruise on Marina for October and it is also now completely under the waitlist category. 

[Vineyard View]

I sure hope this sailing goes smoothly for all of you. We were booked on this itinerary, but sadly had to cancel. It’s a great itinerary. Oceania is not repeating it Spring of next year. I looked. 

[Vallesan]

35 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

I sure hope this sailing goes smoothly for all of you. We were booked on this itinerary, but sadly had to cancel. It’s a great itinerary. Oceania is not repeating it Spring of next year. I looked. 

Thank you and sorry you had to cancel. It was the itinerary that really appealed to me and of course when we booked it was a great price … bonus! Now just have to keep fingers, and toes, crossed that it happens!

Edited February 12 by Vallesan

[Vineyard View]

It was a great price and the itinerary was really attractive. Totally bummed we can’t travel this year, but looking forward to next Spring. Be sure to let us know how wonderful it is! 

[Redtravel]

Haven’t gotten our air flights yet.  Starting to wonder if it will really sail.  
We don’t usually book cruises on ships that are just coming out of dry dock. However, the itinerary was good, and the price was right.  The itinerary is very much like a cruise that we were booked on in August 2021.  That was canceled. Hope we sail.

[Vallesan]

31 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

Haven’t gotten our air flights yet.  Starting to wonder if it will really sail.  
We don’t usually book cruises on ships that are just coming out of dry dock. However, the itinerary was good, and the price was right.  The itinerary is very much like a cruise that we were booked on in August 2021.  That was canceled. Hope we sail.

I know how you feel!

 

We have booked flights but do feel it might just not happen. My thoughts are that because they have downgraded the refit, and given the amount of revenue they have lost over the last few years and now the war in the Middle East they will do their very best to have this sailing as scheduled. 
 

Think this may be a bit of a waiting game. Fingers crossed!

Edited March 3 by Vallesan

[Ramz56]

Discovered this LinkedIn post showing the Marina in the Fincantieri dry dock in Palermo, Sicily. The LinkedIn post was from 3 days ago.  Looking forward to our voyage in November and are hoping the "New" smell is still there while we are on-board.  We sailed the Viking Saturn in November (2023) six months after it's refurbishing and everything still looked and smelled brand new.

[Vallesan]

22 minutes ago, Ramz56 said:  Looking forward to our voyage in November and are hoping the "New" smell is still there while we are on-board.  We sailed the Viking Saturn in November (2023) six months after it's refurbishing and everything still looked and smelled brand new.

 

We are sailing on the first post refit sailing and are just hoping the ‘new’ smell isn’t too overpowering!

[LadyCruisers]

We’re sailing on the June 24 and July 6 post refit sailings. The “smell” should be just right. Excited it’s getting the new pizza oven in Waves. Recently on Riviera and Vista who both have it, and we love the pizza at night from it. We very often order one as an appetizer and they bring it to your table in the Terrace. Glad Jacque is staying and that Embers is not replacing it. Did not care for Embers at all on Vista. Looking forward to the addition of the Aquamar Kitchen. Enjoyed it especially at lunch and for healthy choices. 

[edgee]

2 hours ago, LadyCruisers said:

We’re sailing on the June 24 and July 6 post refit sailings. The “smell” should be just right. Excited it’s getting the new pizza oven in Waves. Recently on Riviera and Vista who both have it, and we love the pizza at night from it. We very often order one as an appetizer and they bring it to your table in the Terrace. Glad Jacque is staying and that Embers is not replacing it. Did not care for Embers at all on Vista. Looking forward to the addition of the Aquamar Kitchen. Enjoyed it especially at lunch and for healthy choices. 

We are sailing Marina in July to Norway, Greenland & Iceland. Enjoyed Aquamor on Vista for two recent cruises. However I hope they find a way to provide better cold weather barriers on the Marina version for cruises such as ours as well SA/Antarctica, for example, or there could lots of crowding at the big indoor table!

[EJL2023]

Per Cruisemapper, Marina has left Palermo and headed to Barcelona for its first post refit cruise to start 5/18.

[Vallesan]

Whooopeee!!

[rheasue38]

Hi!

We are also on the June 24th and July 6th cruises. We order food at Aquamar and they deliver it to us in Terrace. We have been on Vista several times. This is our 54th Oceania cruise.

Rhea

[chloemonkey]

2 hours ago, rheasue38 said:

Hi!

We are also on the June 24th and July 6th cruises. We order food at Aquamar and they deliver it to us in Terrace. We have been on Vista several times. This is our 54th Oceania cruise.

Rhea

Just curious.....why you wouldn't just eat at Aquamar?  Maybe I am missing something  And I only hope to live long enough to get to 54 cruises Oceania!  Good for you!  

[rheasue38]

It is not air-conditioned and we have sailed on vista in the Caribbean and last summer it was more than 100 degrees in Europe

[LadyCruisers]

We are also b/b on the June 24 and July 6 sailings. I think the weather to dine in Aquamar should be perfect considering the Northern Europe and Norway itinerary. We also enjoyed Aquamar on Vista. Also looking forward to the new pizza oven they have added in Waves.  Loved it on Riviera and Vista.  Getting close. 
 

Barbara

[rjp50]

If anyone will be on the Marina after this retrofit I'd appreciate any observations or photos about what has been changed - especially in the PH staterooms.  I've seen YouTubes from the Riviera after its updates and they look very nice.  Hoping that Marina is comparable.

[LadyCruisers]

We sailed last year on Riviera in a PH after its refit. The cabin was fabulous. 

[edgee]

1 hour ago, rjp50 said:

If anyone will be on the Marina after this retrofit I'd appreciate any observations or photos about what has been changed - especially in the PH staterooms.  I've seen YouTubes from the Riviera after its updates and they look very nice.  Hoping that Marina is comparable.

I am sure it will be beautiful. IMHO big question is what kind of shape A and below cabins will be in post drydock since Oceania has announced they will not be completely renovated as was done on Riviera. Supposedly they only have time to do some soft good work on those cabins. Yet AFAIK Marina's current drydock has same amount of time allotted to it as Riviera had. Probably all about the money involved.

[EJL2023]

28 minutes ago, edgee said:

I am sure it will be beautiful. IMHO big question is what kind of shape A and below cabins will be in post drydock since Oceania has announced they will not be completely renovated as was done on Riviera. Supposedly they only have time to do some soft good work on those cabins. Yet AFAIK Marina's current drydock has same amount of time allotted to it as Riviera had. Probably all about the money involved.

Are you really sure it was same amount of time???? Last cruise ended I believe on 4/28 and starts 5/18…..approximately 20 days.   There is a thread here on CC with regard  to the Riviera refit.  The first post in the thread is a photo of it in dry dock  in Marseille and that is dated 11/9/22.  The first cruise after its refit was 12/7/22….so around 28/29 days….would assume a lot of extra refit could be done in those extra 8/9 days.  

Edited May 17 by EJL2023

[edgee]

22 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

Are you really sure it was same amount of time???? Last cruise ended I believe on 4/28 and starts 5/18…..approximately 20 days.   There is a thread here on CC with regard  to the Riviera refit.  The first post in the thread is a photo of it in dry dock  in Marseille and that is dated 11/9/22.  The first cruise after its refit was 12/7/22….so around 28/29 days….would assume a lot of extra refit could be done in those extra 8/9 days.  

Thanks for correcting the specifics. However, assuming you are correct, O is certainly not blameless for how this all happened. First they announced that the refurb would be equal to what was done on Riviera and be done in 2023. They even informed passengers about changes planned so that most regular cabins would lose their tubs.  Next they announced postponement of refurb until 2024. Then they announced they would not be doing major work on regular cabins due to lack of time. Seems with proper planning they could have avoided this supposed time problem or at least announced the lesser refurb sooner. In any case, a bit of good news did come out with change in plans...they decided to add Aquamor to the Marina!

 

[chloemonkey]

Not sure how this fits into the discussion but we sailed in Vista Suites on the Riviera both before and post refit....and I was really disappointed in that the only change that I could find was the carpet had been replaced.....  But also figured that they were doing more in other staterooms....Did not see any discernible changes elsewhere.....so curious as to what if anything has been done to the Vista Suites on the Marina.  Of course even if it's NOTHING....we will still be happy........