Please share best-kept Nautica secrets

[china addict]

Hi! I'm booked on the Aug 11 Barcelona-Athens cruise and would like to hear from recent returnees about their secret discoveries, both on board and in ports visited. For example, I've read on the Boards that the chocolate lasagna is divine, so I'll be trying it on Day One, not Day Ten. For those of you who have just returned, do you have any special discoveries to share in any of the ports? Did you have any "Gee, if only I'd known" moments? Anything you would do differently next time around? My husband tells me not to over-pack, but I will anyway!

 

Looking forward to your helpful hints. Thanks.

[LHT28]

Don't pack too much is my first tip.

They have laundry onboard ...go if you are early back from a shore trip...don't wait for a sea day if you use the laundry room

 

Cappucino is very good and the sugar stick! ;)

Don't miss afternoon tea in Horizons 4pm

[ClaudiaF]

If you tell us the ports you will be visiting maybe we can share secret spots:rolleyes:

[spindrift]

Go for the specialty restaurants--especially the Polo Grill and the Matre'di - Carlos - no one better at sea. Have a great trip.

[drwong]

At sea, you can eat as much as you want as long as you're facing the bow of the ship during meals and you won't gain a pound!

 

When you get back on shore, however, the enhanced gravitational pull of the land may cause a temporary weight change, however. :rolleyes:

[daquri]

At sea, you can eat as much as you want as long as you're facing the bow of the ship during meals and you won't gain a pound!

 

When you get back on shore, however, the enhanced gravitational pull of the land may cause a temporary weight change, however.

 

 

Now that IS a well kept secret! Who knew?!

[Jancruz]

I wish I knew they had the best Peach Martinis ever..I would have started drinking sooner!! hic

Jan

*****

[exgeordie]

If you buy new clothes for the trip make sure they are a size larger than you usually buy as the ocean air does cause them to shrink!!:):):)

[ricktalcott]

Three small secrets:

 

1. If you need a full length mirror (and the room to see yourself in it) go to the handicapped bathroom near the rear elevators.

 

2. The salon has a 7 head shower that is worth going to the 9th deck for: actually, one for each gender. They are in the changing rooms in the spa, but if you are shy about just walking past the spa receptionist, there is an access door to the hallway from the gym -- last door on your left as you approach the exercise machines.

 

3. Decks 6, 7 & 8 have rooms in the front corners with no balconies but large port hole windows i.e. the same size as the 4th floor square hole rooms. These rooms are larger as the deck 6 & 7 balcony rooms because the balcony space is included into the room, yet they sell for the price of a non-balcony room.

 

Enjoy

 

Rick

[china addict]

Thanks guys! Your feedback has been great. I will become intimately acquainted with Peach Martinis and Carlos in the Polo Grill on day one, and seek out the 7-head spa shower but avoid all full-length mirrors for the duration of the cruise. Glad to hear that sea air makes clothes shrink one size, not two. Exgeordie, I've got to ask. Are you from Newcastle?

[exgeordie]

With a name like that where-else!!!!

 

Long time ago though, but still a bit of the old acccent, yenoo!!!!

[cruisin'cats]

1-don't take the 'company' cabs that are waiting on the pier in Istanbul unless they go metered. We were taken for a ride, you might say, having agreed to a 10 lira fare to go to Neve Shalom Synagogue only to find ourselves (there were 4 of us) dumped at the curb on a busy street 10 minutes away from the ship being told that our destination was just up the street (that the cabbie couldn't drive on) and around the corner. 45 minutes later after walking all over the place, we found our destination. I suggest that you walk away from the ship to the main street just above the pier to get a metered cab and give the address of the pier not say the port/ship name when returning and departing for a private excursion.

2-go book your dinner reservations at Tocana and Polo IMMEDIATELY upon embarkation and have an idea when you'll want to eat at these places when you go upstairs to do this so you can move through the reservations line quickly (and your fellow PAX won't want to throw you overboard for hemming and hawing about when and if...)

3-after you do #2, you can go back, if you choose, this way--call on any particular day and ask if you can get a reservation--and if there are any cancellations. Even if they don't have any cancellations when you call, ask to be notified when one is made--and state that you are flexible about timing, incl. last minute. Doesn't matter which class you've booked on the ship in this case. We were concierge class but people in the regular class did this regularly with good success.

4-Toscana has a lot of food on the menu and most of it was delicious--COME HUNGRY! The Osso Buco is excellent. The veal chop was too.

5-Polo's meats are good, though not all cuts are great. My porterhouse was tough two of the three times we ate there, the other time I ordered the lamb chops and they were excellently done. I should have sent the porterhouse steaks back when I discovered that they were tough--and didn't. Mea Culpa but I think the steaks could've been better. DH said that the strip steaks were fine. Others liked their filet mignons. I'm a Del Frisco's (or, when in San Diego, Rainwater's) kind of gal--I like great hunk o' cow, not merely good steak.

6-sometimes there is a wait in the Grand DIning room for larger parties that want to sit together. This didn't become a problem for the 8 of us who'd met on the ship and became friends--the Maitre 'd asked us if we'd like to eat at Toscana because they had a large table ready when we arrived--and we said yes! Not a bad thing at all. On the last night there were 10 of who wanted to sit on the aft deck to eat in Tapas together. There was no table for that large sized group--no worries! Someone in our group asked for assistance and Voila! the staff carried a large table out to the deck and set it up for us! Bravo!

7-if you've never sailed on a smaller ship (we hadn't before this) be prepared for the amazing beauty of a smaller scale ship! When/If you forget something back at your cabin it'll take all of 5 minutes for you partner to go get it and you won't feel guilty. On the mega ships you can expect your partner to be gone for 20 minutes (easily!) going there and back. Not on Oceania's Nautica!

8-our cruise companions were generally older than us by 15+ years BUT this doesn't mean that we didn't find a nice group to befriend, it just meant that we had a range in our ages that made it more interesting. I had my 50th birthday on the ship and, though there were a few younger (than me) people onboard I was defnitely at the younger end of the demographic.

9-Don't expect there to be an extensive amount of shopping to be done onboard. The shops are limited and I didn't find the selections all that well planned out or appealing to my tastes. Prices were no bargain too.

10-if you are a fan of good single malt scotches--not all the bars have access to the best of the list. The best location for single malts on a menu goes to the bar at Polo which, unfortunately, is only open when the restaurant is and has very few seats. But reading the scotch menu and tasting something really good was worth it.

11--PILLOWS on the ship are feather filled BUT you can indeed get a foam or not feather filled pillow, you just have to ask for it. Call your cabin steward or stewardess and have them bring you the kind you like. I was up half the night trying to plump up the feathers before I called and now know I wasted a lot of my time being uncomforatble that first night.

12--be prepared for people to complain about being nickeled and dimed all over the ship. Like I said, the ships shops are not cheap and you can get better perfume pricing online or elsewehre. But for crying out loud--deal with it and don't ruin everyone's vacation by continuing to complain to the fellow PAX, tell the management.

13-the beds are very comfortable; the duvet is very comfortable; the sheets weren't too bad--too news and a bit scratchy for this princess, I'm afraid. Oh yes, if you like the linens, robes and towels, you can buy the whole ensemble online while you're on the ship by going to the computer room and going onto the only free website offered--Oceania's website! (Not surprised, are you?)

14--Everyone on staff says Hello so much that you'll be programmed to greet them before they greet you by the third day. Give in to the power of the Happy Face!

15-Not all the wines on the wine lists are overpriced. The higher end ones are really reasonable. If you know what I mean then you are someone who likes great wines and is willing to pay the price for the experience of trying them in restaurants. Our bottle cost $168 in Polo and lists retail for $150. And it was worth it! However some of the lower end wines were definitely priced in multiples of the retail prices, as you would find on many land based wine lists.

16-night time is relatively boring because most of the people on these port intensive trips go to bed exhausted and early (certainly earlier than my husband and I do). HOWEVER--the shuffleboard game pieces are up on the sun deck and you too could be one of the crazies that plays shuffleboard at 1 AM like we did. Hey--no crowds!

17-the demographic on our cruise tended to weigh heavily in the late 60's early 70's end of the age group. I turned 50 on the cruise and, while there were a few younger adults and one 9 year old child on the ship, I was amongst the younger people on the ship. Let me counter this by saying that this didn't bother us once we got to know people. Our 'gang' turned out to be a wonderful mix of ages and backgrounds and we meshed quite well. I imagine that it might have been lonely for the 9 year old, however. I don't know, I didn't ask her.

18-There is a Concierge in the lobby. That's why there's this guy sitting at this desk in the middle of the Reception area but he didn't go out of his way to make his purpose known unless you knew to ask him something. At least our guy, Robert, wasn't exactly effusive about going out of his way unless asked and pressed into service by us. The reason I say this is because we learned that one can order a birthday or other occasion cake sent to a fellow passenger's cabin (free of charge) if your Concierge is asked to arrange it. We'd gone to him to ask how we could enliven the birthday of a fellow passenger and fellow Cruise Critic member (you know who you are!) and he wasn't very forthcoming...until we asked the right questions and then he came through.

At least now you'll know why that person is sitting at that desk.

19-Set up a third party internet address for people to contact you if you're likely to check email on the ship. The line assigns you a web-address that comes with your documents but then charges you $2.00 for each incoming and each outgoing message. It's cheaper to use the internet cafes off ship (we averaged about 1 Euro for 15 min. onshore). OH and the ship's connections were VERY SLOW...no wonder they're charging you per MINUTE to use this slow system. (I think it was $0.95 a min.)

20-Check these message boards for private tour guides with good recommendations (like Nejat in Turkey) because they charge a lot for excursions that are cattle call kinds of bus tours. This was the first time we'd ever arranged a tour privately and we took two cruise line offered tours on this trip as well (Katacolon and Athens 1/2 day)--there is no comparison with having a tour guide who is leading 8 people around and picking out nice restaurants to have lunch with you at when you take the cruise tours. Even if the price is close, it's not close enough to enjoy. I'll do my best not to take a cruise sponsored tour ever again if I can find an alternative.

21-FREE air fare--ask for a credit, find your own or know which flights are workable for you in advance and be willing to fork over for the deviation fee. The flights we were originally assigned for the free program worked out OK--but then they were changed about 4 days before we left to some awful flights that would have flown us across the US to return back east again...and we had to pay not only the deviation but the price differential because of the late decision to change the flights--but at least we got a non-stop flight from Athens to JFK and had to add on the car service cost to get back to our home in Southern NJ. Despite the upcharges it was worth it to us in the end.

22-Keep in touch with people through Cruise Critic message boards before you go--and then you'll have people who know you and whom you are familiar when you get on the ship. Instant friends! Ideal for people travelling alone or not in a group. Our group arranged to meet for coffee in Horizons the first day at sea and it was nice to have faces and names come together. The cruise line did not arrange this for us (unlike a previous Celebrity cruise experience we'd had in Feb.) We made the arrangements before we got off the message board and onto airplanes.

23-the cabins aren't huge by any stretch of the imagination but they are efficiently designed and adequate for storage (we were on a 12 day cruise). We don't do laundry, we sent a few things out to be laundered...I didn't want to pay all this money to go on vacation to do laundry--but there were people on very extended trips, esp. the Aussies, and I can see why they'd need to do laundry. Others were better packers than I am and didn't mind re-wearing outfits, I didn't either, but they did tell us that the laundry room was PACKED with people on the sea days and that getting a washer/dryer was hard to manage unless you were early to arrive or late to come to use the services. I'll take the price of sending things to the laundry over this way of spending my time--personal preference is all. To those who washed clothes, I say good for you--and let me know if you don't have enough for a full load next time! <wink>

 

Well that covers what comes to mind right now. If I think of more or find my notes with other ideas, I'll add to this list.

Happy Sailing! This was our first Oceania trip and we'd go again in a heartbeat--and may just be ready to book our next one soon. (NO we're not retired!)

[ClaudiaF]

wrote in part...................

 

"The salon has a 7 head shower that is worth going to the 9th deck for: actually, one for each gender. They are in the changing rooms in the spa, but if you are shy about just walking past the spa receptionist, there is an access door to the hallway from the gym --

"

 

You certainly shouldn't feel shy about walking past spa receptionist if you want to use the spa facilities.. ..you are entitled to use the spa in the changing rooms off the gym and the great fog showers..without getting spa services. You can also ask for a key for a locker if you feel you need one. Besides spa services ( massages etc.) the thing they charge for is the "salt water" thalassotherapy spa outside of the spa area.

[Toranut97]

They can BUMP you from your cruise three days before you leave. Doesn't matter how long ago you booked, or when you paid. They did it to me today -- three days before leaving for Istanbul. If you are a firt-timer with them, you are more likely to be bumped. They overbook! Doesn't that make you happier??

 

I hope you --- unlike my husband and I -- actually get to take your trip.

[cruisin'cats]

by the way, sorry for repeating the point about the age differences; at least I didn't write EXACTLY the same thing twice but you got the point.

 

Anyway, I thought of something else worthwhile to add--

look at your itinerary--see how it shows that you have what appears to be TWO days in port at the start of the cruise and TWO days in port at the end of the cruise??? Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?

WELL, and you knew there'd be a WELL coming...

If you don't plan a pre-cruise overnight before the day that you board ship, you may not even have two days in the port when you get on--some flights might get you to the ship late on that first day or you may spend that day waiting for luggage that went on a separate vacation from you and might not be arriving until the next day. Not fun! We were glad that we'd scheduled the one overnight pre-cruise, done through Oceania, at the Swissotel Bosphorus. The hotel was lovely, the bed was comfortable and the breakfast buffet was the best we've ever had in a hotel (not counting Mother's Day Brunch at the Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia, of course). We got to the room about 2 PM on our arrival day and dropped our bags in our room and headed out for a ferrry cruise on the Bosphorus, making the first day on the ground one that held good memories. (We ate at the Hamdi restaurant across the the ferry landing for dinner, also a good suggestion.) We boarded ship the next day after having done some touring on our own before going from the hotel to the port. AND, because we were well rested, we got on the ship, got our dinner reservations booked and went right out and went exploring some more on our own for the rest of the day. That night we went with Nejat on a privately arranged folkloric dinner excursion to Orient House, which was a lot of fun.

 

Part TWO--see that lovely last day with an overnight in port again? In our case we were in Athens for the last two days. Or was it really two days or were we just imagining it might be two days? We had visions of going to night clubs, of seeing the Acropolis all lit up at night, of staying awake and out as much of the night as we could just to keep living the dream vacation.

 

WELL, and you knew that I'd say WELL again, didn't you?....

You don't have all night to party hearty in that last port. As a matter of fact, we had to be onboard ship to pick up our passports (which were held by the cruise ship staff the whole time). Passport distribution was between 5 and 6 PM. (There went the plans for staying on shore!) Then we had to stand in line to turn in our "O points" for fabulous parting gifts. ("O" points are won at games of intense competition such as shuffleboard and trivia...in our case we won our points playing Name that Tune and were able to come home with "free" gifts such as a Nautica shot glass and a Nautica photo magnet--which I really wanted a lot more than the shot glass but, hey, free is free...it's worth more! ) AND THEN...the luggage had to be out in the hall, not by midnight but by 10 PM...packed, sealed, labeled and ready to go. Why so early? Well, it seems that disembarkation began at 2:30 AM (yes, AM as in "it's ALREADY MORNING?") for those with early flights and the rest of the PAX have to have vacated their staterooms by EIGHT A.M. so you're up early and out having breakfast no matter how late your flight is, you lucky dog. We had a noon flight and we were off loaded by 8:45 AM. The really lucky dogs were the ones who booked a night or two at the end of the cruise so that they could indeed see more of Athens than those of us held back with obligations on ship the night before we were leaving.

 

We'll never look at that double day in the last port and think-wow,think of all the time we'll have there! unless we're booking a hotel for a night or two at the end of the trip.

[cruisin'cats]

You were paid up and bumped? How did they get away with this? Is there no protection for your trip and their commitment to you? I've never heard of this but there is a lot I've never heard of at this point in life.

 

Sorry for your troubles and disappointment. I'd make such a stink that they'd smell it in Frank Del Rio's bedroom!!!

[Toranut97]

...see the "Dear Mr. DelRio" thread. Two parties (at least) and several cabins were bumped. Thanks.

[shedevil]

Cruisin' Cats - What a great list. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and tips on cruising with Oceania.

[china addict]

Dear Cruisin'cats - - - thanks for your very comprehensive review of your Nautica experience. It should be required reading for all first-time O cruisers. I learned so much from you. We plan to arrive early and have 3 nights in a hotel before boarding, to explore and get over jet lag. Athens will be hot and smoggy when we disembark in late August, so the sooner we're out of there the better. I'm dismayed about the folks who just got bumped by Oceania. Kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm looking forward to an official response from FDR. Regards, and thanks again.

[LindaB1]

I just got back from the Nautica May 17th cruise also. We stayed 2 extra nights in Athens and had a great taxi driver (Jimmy) to take us around. I can give you his e-mail address if you are interested.