Hi all,

My wife and I are very interested in trying Oceania. We would like to do a South American cruise in 2008. Does anyone have any information about when these cruises will be available for booking?

Thanks.

Based on last years experience, those schedules should be released for September 1 bookings.

Thanks, dooley.

Dave: We loved SA - did it on Regent 6 months ago - Oceania looks very nice maybe we'll try it soon - so great to have the B&K experts here..email SusanW at B&K with any questions - she seems to know her "O stuff!!! We have only used B&K but I have a friend, coming on Alaska cruise, and he prides himself on being an internet "shopper" for great cruise deals - he used B&K - do I sing their praises? Yes, they have jumped through hoops for us! Joanna

I took their SA cruise last year and it was wonderful. Although I am partial to Oceania anyways. :D We took Buenos Aires to Rio on Insignia.

Dave, "O's" Nov.'07- March '08 schedule opened yesterday for new bookings, earlier than originally scheduled. Go for it!!

Thanks, Dooley & Joanna for your information and advice. I contacted Susan Walsh of B&K. Susan is checking into something but I tentatively booked 7119 for the 1/26/08 South America cruise.

We just received an "O" cruise brochure for upcoming voyages. There is one that is really tempting. Round trip from Miami to Manaus. Its 26 day which would be wonderful and the price seems reasonable but I'm still trying to decide if all the "extra" charges plus tipping etc. are going to drive us crazy.

We really hate the nickle and dime routine. Anyone have advice on this? When we left the mainstream cruiselines it was because of this type of thing.

Margo, we also rcvd the O brochure. Have copied Susan Waslsh's (B&K T/A) Insignia review from last June below: She does comment on how to manage the drinks expense (dialy drink special). We love their itinerairies too..just too long for working folks--have to wait until retirement in 18 months. Have been trying to get friends (who don't do all inclusive lines) to try O, with Susan's help--sometimes she can even throw in prepaid gratuities..good luck.. Wes


I have just returned from a 14-day cruise on the Oceania Insignia. While I knew all three Oceania ships are identical, it was interesting to see firsthand that there really is no physical difference between the ships. Each ship holds 684 passengers. Upon entering the ship I was immediately impressed by the beautiful common areas and elegance similar to an Old World European hotel with a baroque ambiance. The standard cabins are smaller than Regent and Silversea but very nicely designed with plenty of closet and drawer space. There are great “Tranquility” beds, down pillows, and duvets with Egyptian cotton sheets. Plush terry robes are provided along with slippers. They were changed out after the first week. A lighted alarm clock is provided. All staterooms have safes.

There are 9 first run and 3 classic movies per day on the stateroom TV as well as 13 music stations, tour talks, CNN, Fox News, National Geographic Specials and documentaries. There are DVD and CD players in the concierge level and above suites with DVD’s available at reception.

Two negatives are:
1) Smaller bathrooms than Regent with shower only until penthouse suites and above which have tub and shower. For those staterooms that are not concierge level and above there is a 900-watt hair dryer attached to the bathroom wall. I would suggest bringing a hand held dryer that you can take to the dressing table in the room where there are two standard plugs in front of a large mirror. A more powerful 1800 watt hand held dryer is provided concierge level and above.
2) Staterooms are smaller than Regent and Silversea until you reach penthouse level.

Amenities such as shampoo, conditioner, bath gel, and lotion are provided of course. There is a great larger shower head that is adjustable in height.

There are wonderful common areas with comfortable seating that are never crowded. There is a very large and elegant library with great big chairs and sofas and two computers.

There is a computer room with 18 computers. They are slow and pricey.
.95 per minute unless you take a package of 100 minutes for $80.00, 200 minutes for $140, or 500 minutes for $300. They also provide classes such as introduction to Windows/Email or Digital Image Download/Organize that are free of charge. They also provide classes for Adobe Photoshop or private lessons which incur a fee. You can send and receive emails from Oceania@sea for $2.00 each for 100KB. If you bring your laptop internet access is available in each stateroom as well as there is wireless access in several places, but not in your stateroom. Charges for internet minutes are the same.

There are 4 restaurants, which are casual dining throughout the cruise. There was a great string quartet from Poland that played in the foyer outside the grand dining room every night before dinner. There are no formal or informal nights, although many people dressed up for the captain’s welcome aboard party. In my opinion, the food was consistently much better than most cruises I have been on. Next time I will bring clothing with elastic waistbands for my ever increasing waist size as the cruise progressed.
1) Grand dining room is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Very elegant. Open seating. Good variety in menu. The head chef was formerly with Silversea and was fabulous. The pastry chef was from France and also could serve some exceptional desserts and pastries, which are my downfall. They do not accept special orders. You can order as many items off the menu as your wish, but you cannot order items that do not appear on the menu. My husband wanted berries for dessert one evening and since they weren’t on the menu he was told they were not available. It was not that they were out of berries as the next morning the berries were abundant on the breakfast buffet. They simply will not accept any special orders except for dietary reasons such as for someone with lactose intolerance, diabetic needs, or peanut allergies. This should be indicated on the guest information form prior to sailing.
2) Terrace Café for breakfast and lunch, which is a buffet with two omelet stations at breakfast that make eggs to order and also has a pizzeria at lunch. There is lots of shellfish and fresh fish as well as carved meat or poultry at lunch and dinner. I loved that at breakfast all 14 days they had fresh strawberries, blueberries, and red raspberries (as many as you could eat and they never ran out). At night it becomes Tapas on the Terrace which is also a buffet. If you are on a tight schedule it works very well and has great views from both the all round windows and back terrace. It was much better than average for a buffet. Several nights they had all the escargot I could possibly eat.
3) Polo Grill is a great steak and seafood restaurant with 32 oz. Prime rib, porterhouse, filet, rack of lamb, oysters, escargot, and lobster. I have never experienced such good cuts of meat. Reservations are required but there is no additional cost.
4) Toscana, which is a traditional Italian restaurant, has very quality food and a very large menu. The courses include a hot appetizer, a cold appetizer, pasta or risotti, soup, salad and to top that off an entrée. The final act is marvelous and tempting desserts. Both the Polo and Toscana had whole Maine lobsters as well as Polo had Florida lobster tail. Reservations are required but there is no additional cost. Both Polo and Toscana have great views from all the windows. We were able to eat 4 times at each restaurant, which we loved.

Room service is available 24 hours and they have a standard menu with starters, soups, sandwiches, salads, fruit, cheese, deserts, and main entrees including burgs and spaghetti. However, there is no pizza. It is possible to order food from the menu for the Grand dining room during dinner hours and have it delivered to your suite.

There are a number of bars including a Martini bar with a wonderful pianist and a single malt scotch bar. There is a pretty standard casino with slots, tables, and roulette. There is not a craps table.

The fitness center is well equipped with a variety of machines and weights. There are some classes that are complimentary and there are some classes that they charge for as well as personal training sessions. Bring your own headphones for the tv or radio as they charge $5 if you forgot yours.

There is a laundry, which helps with clothing on the longer cruises. It is $1.50 to wash and $1.50 to dry with tokens charged to your onboard account. Detergent is provided as well as irons and ironing boards.

Cappuccino, Expresso, Coffee, Tea, and dispensed juices are complimentary at all times. All bottled water, sodas, and alcoholic beverages are charged to your onboard account. There are a number of drink specials per day that are $4.25. On our cruise the first three specials were the same each day – Mimosa, Bloody Mary, and Screwdriver. The last 2 changed daily to include a margarita, Manhattan, Rusty Nail, etc. They do not object to you bringing bottled water, sodas, or alcohol on board and consuming it in your stateroom. There were a number of people that purchased wine in port and had it served in the dining room, and it is a $20 corkage fee. If you purchase one of their bottles of wine and do not finish it, they mark it with your room number and keep it for you.

There are 8 private cabanas on the forward section of deck 10. These can be rented by the day, week, or entire cruise. On our cruise, all 8 were booked prior to embarkation and were not available for rental during the entire cruise. Each had a name such as Bora Bora, Saint Barts, Santorini, etc. They are a white tent with two wooden Balinese lounges and a table. There is a very nice section on deck 9 near the pool that has a much larger tented area with 6 lounges, seating for 9 in very comfortable sofas all totally shaded that are complimentary and available to everyone. There were plenty of wooden chaise lounges with thick cushions available on the pool deck including ones that accommodated two individuals.

Most of the staff were European or from the Philippines. I was amazed at how many married couples worked on the ship with their spouses. Most seemed genuinely happy and very service oriented.

There are art auctions and somewhat typical entertainment for ships with 684 passengers. They had comedians, Broadway production shows, and a clarinetist. There was also a husband and wife team that were guest lecturers. One day they had a wine tasting.

They have a very large card room with all types of board games and puzzles. There are also chess and checker tables at several locations throughout the ship.

Gratuities were added to the onboard account. It is $11.50 per person per day or $15.00 per person per day for the Penthouse level and above. Gratuities are distributed between all the staff including room service. Gratuities are automatically added to all bar bills. You do not tip in person, unless you care to.

They had daily activities such as the Daily Quiz, Shuffleboard, ping pong, golf putting, and trivia contests where one could earn points that could be redeemed for gifts on the last evening.

Overall my husband and I were very impressed with the food, staff, and ambiance of the ship.

The rest of the itineraries for 2008 should be available late March but we are not sure when the brochures will be available. However, most of the itineraries are selling out relatively quickly. There are only a handful of cruises available for 2007 and some of the early ones in 2008 are already soldout.

I just got their brochure for 2007-2008 which include the SA cruises. They put out a beautiful brochure, very enticing!My favorite is the cruise they call "White Continent and Patagonia", a 20 days voyage, BA to Valparaíso. Unfortunately, I have to wait 5 years until I am able to cruise in the non summer months, but I hope in the not too distant future to try one of their Europe cruises.

We booked a B2B Valparaiso to BA - BA to Rio in Feb of 08 about a month ago. Were surprised to find out that we were wait listed for our first choice of suite. Susan miraculously cleared one leg quickly and did get us prepaid gratuities on one leg. We are still waitlisted on second leg.

very nice review
Jan

I enjoyed reading that too. Now I know more of what to expect onboard Nautica in June. <img border="0" alt="[bounce]" title="" src="graemlins/ubbbounce2.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[bounce]" title="" src="graemlins/ubbbounce2.gif" />

That is very nice, glad to read this. I'm doing a barrage of questions on CC about Oceania, and when the 2008 scheds come out for both lines, I'm planning on doing a serious comparison with the hope of booking Europe on one or the other, so I'm happy to read such an objective comparison.

Wendy.. the 2008 itinies are out and have been.
The newest itineraries that they are doing for 2008 ( January and Feb.) which include New Zealand and Australia which I booked months ago may even be sold out ..

Thanks Claudia, the only ones I see extend to April 2008--we're interested in Europe, probably May or June, so I'm still rapt with anticipation. So I guess I just posted to the wrong thread, sorry! <img border="0" alt="[bang]" title="" src="graemlins/banghead.gif" /> Sure wish I was going to SA!

Europe brochures should be out March 15..
Jan