live from Regatta - almost

[sacway]

It's not the newest, most refurbished ship, nor the most exotic and glamorous cruise at 12 nights round trip from Miami to the Caribbean. But it is our long-awaited first cruise on O, as it is for a few other CCers who we'll be meeting up with at sailaway.

 

Weather is warmish, overcast & very breezy. Here's Regatta moored at Terminal J, photographed from the 5th floor pool deck at the Intercontinental (our fabulous pricelined pre-cruise hotel)

 

Here's wishing all your holiday dreams of cruising come true, soon.

 

sacway

[dabear]

please send us a review upon your return. We will be taking the same itinerary 2/13/07 and it also will be our 1st O cruise. Bon voyage!

[LHT28]

Make sure you clean up before you leave..;)

We arrive for Jan 12th cruise.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[sacway]

We are over at Terminal J now cooling our heels. Early boarding delayed. Another pax at check-in asked after FDR who may be here. Would that I were better at faces! O is offering a shuttle to Bayside for the bored or hungry but nowhere here to drop carry ons so we are people watching instead. Apparently there is a luncheon on board (company holiday party?) but none for us pax who are watching the party goers and more or less patiently waiting our turn. No chance of starvation on a cruise and I have to admit to a pavlovian response seeing the cheery luncheon attendees.

I will put together a review after the cruise for CC, thanks for being interested.

[SeaCCruiser]

Sacway writes > "Apparently there is a luncheon on board (company holiday party?) but none for us pax who are watching the party goers and more or less patiently waiting our turn." (That's sort of sad . . . )

 

But thank you for the photo, and I hope you have splendid weather, and the most wonderful holiday cruise.

[sacway]

we are at lifeboat drill and possibly my last post for 2 days till we anchor in Spanish Town. Reservations for dinner Polo and Toscana were backed up, took 45 minutes in line.

Okay, gonna pay attention now.

[LHT28]

we are at lifeboat drill and possibly my last post for 2 days till we anchor in Spanish Town. .

 

Did you have free internet at the port ?

[Baltic Express]

It's not the newest, most refurbished ship,

 

I am interested to know if the covered area to the rear of the pool on the port side has been updated with the nice lounge type furniture yet. We were on Nautica this past summer and that looked to be the nicest area to sit out of the sun but still enjoy the outdoors etc..

 

Have they added the cabana's yet to the upper deck at the bow?? We are on the 12 day Miami to Miami as well in March. We also did this same cruise in November 2004 and really enjoyed it as well.

 

Thanks for any updates you or any other recent cruiser on Regatta can provide.

[llarsen]

We will be on Regatta Jan 2, first time on Oceania and can't wait! Question about incoming emails. Docs included an email address that we could be contacted at, and listed a price of $2.00 per email. Do you know if you have to buy an internet card or pay for computer time to recieve the email, or is $2.00 the only charge? I would like my son to email me daily on my moms condition. She had some recent medical problems, and he can go into more detail in the email. I will be calling home daily but will not be able to talk long due to the high cost of the phone calls.

If you could ask if $2.00 is the only charge, I would really appreciate it!

Thanks,

Linda

[Kane]

Unless the policy has changed, you do not need to have an Internet account. The caveat is that you will need to use the e-mail address assigned to you for the cruise and not your regular account.

 

When we were on the Regatta, they (paper) posted a list of e-mails received outside the door of the computer room. On the Insignia, the list appeared on an LCD display in the same location ... Regatta may have been updated with this new technology by now.

[fsalzer]

Regatta may have been updated with this new technology by now.

It has been.

 

Fred

[llarsen]

Kane-Thanks

fsalzer-Do you know if the new technology has changed how you receive the email?

Thanks

[Oregonskier]

Keep us posted on the cruise and weather as I am taking the Jan 2nd cruise. When I called Oceania Cruises yesterday afternoon they were closed till today. Having too much fun at luncheon? I think I will call before I head to ship to make sure they are boarding. I hope the weather is better in the Caribbean than here in South Florida. If you go snorkeling in any ports I would love to hear about it. I see you are going to St Barts as are we. Did you take a tour or hire a Taxi? Would love to hear about it. Also Antigua, Tortola ,Samana D.R., and Grand Turk

[LHT28]

We will be on Regatta Jan 2, first time on Oceania and can't wait! Question about incoming emails. Docs included an email address that we could be contacted at, and listed a price of $2.00 per email.

Linda

I think you would need to buy the internet access to get the emails.

You could always set up a Yahoo or hotmail email account then you just pay for the interent time then no extra charge for the emails.

 

Check at the ports of call many have internet cafes for very good prices for usage.

[fsalzer]

fsalzer-Do you know if the new technology has changed how you receive the email?

Thanks

Not to my knowledge. I believe it's just that the noticing has been automated. Perhaps someone that actually uses Oceania's email would post.

 

The network condition (good-usually, excellent-rarely, down-rarely) is also shown on that same display.

 

Fred

[Ask4Jay]

We took the Regatta last March Miami - Barcelona. Paid $2 per email received (and sent, I believe). Being on the frugal side, I sent my emails to my grand daughter, asking her to forward them to the rest of the family.

Just go to the computer room during business hours and talk to the nice attendant there to get you set up. After that you can go any time the room is open and a computer is available. You can also download your pix and store them on 'your' private (password protected) drive for a specified time beyond your cruise. At the end of the cruise they will burn a DVD for you at a nominal charge.

On our crossing they also had a good course for Photoshop Elements IV, which I took advantage of and enjoyed very much.

 

Only 326 days until the return trip.

[Miata6]

Docs included an email address that we could be contacted at, and listed a price of $2.00 per email. Do you know if you have to buy an internet card or pay for computer time to recieve the email, or is $2.00 the only charge? I would like my son to email me daily on my moms condition. She had some recent medical problems, and he can go into more detail in the email. I will be calling home daily but will not be able to talk long due to the high cost of the phone calls.

If you could ask if $2.00 is the only charge, I would really appreciate it!

Thanks,

Linda

 

$2 per message sent or received. It took me a while to figure out that that was a LOT better than .95 per minute on my own EMail account (Doh!). :o And the DVD they will make you of your digital pix was $15, also not bad, IMHO.

[hondorner]

You can go to any computer on board (computer room or library) and sign in to check emails with no charge. You use your assigned email name as the log-in and giove yourself a password the first time you log in. Click on email access, and you will be taken to a screen which includes a Microsoft Outlook icon. Double-click on that, and you can check your emails, or send one, using Outlook, which is familiar to most people. If you have no traffic, log off and there is no charge. If you receive or send an email, a $2 charge per each will appear on your invoice. There is a size limitation, but it's about 20 pages, enough for almost anything. You can exceed the size limitation easily if you email pictures.

[LHT28]

You can go to any computer on board (computer room or library) and sign in to check emails with no charge. You use your assigned email name as the log-in and giove yourself a password the first time you log in.

 

Thanks Don for the clarification.

[Aussie Gal]

Don,

 

That is so much better than some of the cruise lines. We were on HAL's Veendam for 34 days recently and I spent nearly $300US on the internet so this will be a saving for us.

 

Jennie

[marienbad]

Is there a wi-fi network available in the staterooms? If so, is it password protected? We have a Sirius radio that can get channels using a wi-fi network, and I might take it if I could connect through wi-fi.

[fsalzer]

We have a Sirius radio that can get channels using a wi-fi network, and I might take it if I could connect through wi-fi.

 

It certainly would be expensive radio. :eek:

 

Fred

[marienbad]

The first question is whether it is possible.

The next question is what the cost might be. If I don't send any e-mails on their network, why could I not recive the satellite radio signal at no or little cost.

[hondorner]

There is Wifi, but it does not work throughout the ship. The signal is strong near the computers, which extends to the card room near the computer room. I also saw people working with their laptops in the public lounge on Deck 5 near the boutiques, but I don't know if they were connected or just working offline on something. I've heard reports that some staterooms get a signal periodically, but it's not reliable. I was located on Deck 7 near the rear elevators and when we were in port, I could pick up a Wifi signal from "HCS Public", which is the name of the Wifi on Regatta. It would apparently bounce off nearby buildings and reflect back into our cabin. However, the only time it was strong enough for me to try to log on was when another cruise ship was docked beside us on the Port side, and served as a better reflector for the signal.

 

That's a long-winded way to say, "No, you probably won't get a Wifi signal in your cabin."

 

Internet connection in the cabin is via a cord into the phone system, just like the old dial-up days, and at about the same speed. I'm not sure it would be fast enough for a streaming radio boradcast even if you could figure out a way to connect. The ship's TV system has several channels that are devoted to different types of music -- certainly not as extensive as Sirius, but better than my local radio selections.

 

As far as the expense of connecting is concerned, one shouldn't compare the cost of the ship's Email system with the cost of an internet connection. You can send or receive Emails at $2 each, but you cannot connect to your own Email server or to the web in that manner. Think of it more as composing a message and letting the ship send it. If you want to connect to the internet for surfing, or even for a Sirius broadcast, the basic rate is nearly $60 per hour ($.95 per minute), or $48 per hour if you buy a 100-minute package ($.80 per minute). If you to internet Sirius around 1 hour per day on a 12 day cruise, the cost would be around $600. The internet connection does not care what kind of data is being transmitted, the cost is the same per connection minute.

[LHT28]

If I don't send any e-mails on their network, why could I not recive the satellite radio signal at no or little cost.

 

Do you pay a for satellite service at your home location??

If so you might be able to receive it on the ship but maybe not in the cabin.

Maybe on a balcony though.