Jayne E

Has anyone been receiving emails from O when these various Sales go into effect?

I haven’t. I did receive a brochure in the mail yesterday with all the cruises offering free Land Tours. 
The pre cruise Land Tour for Tokyo-Tokyo has been sold out for several days, so brochure is late in arriving. I didn’t want it as I’d have to give up the $1,750 past cruiser discount I received, however it is a good deal for someone booking now. 
Have to check O website regularly now….
 

29 minutes ago, susiesan said:

I'm with you, Jane. After my Sept. 2 Sirena cruise that had 4 ports where the time was changed I won't be booking anymore on oceania until they get their act together. I booked with Azamara for a Sept. 2024 Croatia intensive cruise for this reason. Azamara spends hours longer in each port than Oceania does. 

Here's another "bait & switch" from O.

Looking at NY-NY to Bermuda for a quick easy cruise and visit to family in NY.

At first glance it appears to be 2 sea days and 4 days in Bermuda.  All good.

Looking closer, one day you arrive at 2 PM.  Not good.

Another day says "Bermuda" and looking closer ship departs at 7:00 AM!!!  Yes....A.M.  THAT IS A SEA DAY AND SHOULD BE LISTED AS SUCH.

So from 4 days in Bermuda, it's actually 2-1/2 and 3 sea days.

Another ploy to add to the shortened port times and cancelled ports.

What's next?

15 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Where  did you see no dress code  for Ember??

I am guessing it will be the sames dress code as the other specialties  but since the ship has not sailed yet  who really knows

 

 Formal atmosphere??  are you sure  you are talking about Oceania ??

When I said “more formal atmosphere” it was in comparison to what many wear for dinner in Terrace Cafe.  No collar T shirts, shorts, sneakers, rubber sole sandals…..and so they should as that venue is meant to be very casual.

I’ll take back “formal” as you misinterpreted me or you were attempting to be humorous or just contrary.  Let’s say Country Club Casual. A dress, dressy blouse/sweater and slacks for women and slacks and dress shirts for men, no sneakers and flip-flops.

Regarding Ember, a description from Oceania months ago, said you could stop to dine upon return from touring .  I would think there’s no dress code if what we wear touring is ok for early dinner.  UNLESS, they meant early tours and it’s lunch? I interpreted it as returning from full day tour. 
 

3 hours ago, barnstormer said:

We also have bragged about the HIGH quality dining, and now are saddened to read Jacques has been replaced by, what reads like a Logans Road House. Even my 18yr old grandson appreciates the difference in average food and fine dining.

We have avoided Vista and try to book Riviera.  Ship has been beautifully redone and still has Jacques, a beautiful room and food to match.  Embers on Vista appears to be a casual dining experience with no dress code and a nothing special menu. Those who enjoy dining casual will probably welcome this restaurant and those who prefer a more formal atmosphere will not. Our 20th O cruise is next month and we have never had dinner in Terrace Cafe.

Here’s a sample menu from Embers:

If Jacque was a favorite, you might be disappointed.  Some will like the change. 
 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/sites/default/files/2023-04/aquamar-ember-dinner-sample.pdf

11 hours ago, DoulaAnn said:

Even the times of the show are subject to different opinions.  Some people love the fact that the shows have been moved up to 9:15 and others are frustrated because they feel that they have to rush through their dinners if all they've been able to get in specialty restaurants are 7:30 or later.

Marina in December shows moved to 9:15 mid cruise  February on Riviera all were back to 9:30.  As food/dining is a highlight of Oceania, one shouldn’t have to rush their dinner with a 7:30 reservation, which is not late.

 

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Well, since Alaska Airlines (and there is no "Alaska Air") doesn't fly to Toronto, I think this is a moot question. 

 

And there is no "Japan Air" - perhaps you meant to type "Japan Air Lines" or JAL.  In any case, JAL also does not fly to Toronto.

 

Just what IS your itinerary?

 

And do you have a single ticket number - and that's not the six character locator?

 

 

Wow, a lesson in correcting “Alaska Air” to Airlines and Japan Air to Air Lines. 
How have I survived travel all these years without typing the full name?  However, you obviously knew what airlines I meant, despite shortening Airline to Air. 
There are some spelling mistakes in prior posts…maybe you can correct them also. 🤐

Thank you LHT28 and MEFlowa for your responses. Very appreciated!

Question:

If flying Alaska Air to Toronto and on to Tokyo with Japan Air, (same ticket) do we have to retrieve luggage and go through immigration in Toronto?

I saw a previous post saying not necessary but that person was flying AC on both flights….DC-Toronto-Tokyo

Thanks!

6 hours ago, steven40 said:

So Oceania is offering no compensation for St. Malo being removed from the itinerary??? This was one of the attractions for making the booking in the first place!! Have just undertaken a Ponant cruise in Tasmania and they removed a key port. They offered a A$2,000 compensation. Why is Oceania not offering something similar???  

Oceania does offer compensation. We had an entire cruise cancelled and another cruise eliminated 4 Croatia and Venice ports and replaced with Turkey. Each time O offered $250 SBC for the “inconvenience”.  We cancelled both!

18 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

To me, the question becomes: should Oceania be developing its shows around those that actually attend and show interest in doing so; or around the demographics of the ship, whether those demographics show up or not?

 

We attend the shows and would live to hear CCR and the Eagles., but I’m not 80 something . 

You are so on point!!   

We usually catch last 15 minutes of show. Seem to get there in time for Singing in the Rain, Les Miz and Phantom....performed every cruise.  Many of the older cruisers that do attend were sleeping.  I guess that's why some have posted they would like the shows held around 5:30 PM before dinner.

The 50's are over....CCR and the Eagles would be great, as would tribute shows of stars of 70's and 80's. 

1 hour ago, zalusky said:

Rap and Hip Hop are the two genres that would make me leave the room.

Not all rap and hip hop is "hard core", which you're probably thinking of.  Some songs are lively and have no offensive language.  Need to keep an open mind.  

We did leave the room during the Peggy Lee show.

Just because we’re in the 70’s doesn’t mean that we don’t like a lot of music that our children and grandchildren listen to. We’re not trapped in a time warp. 

Peggy Lee is even before my time….how about some hip hop mixed in?

20 minutes ago, alaskaca said:

With that being said, along with the shortening of port times and other negative issues that are constantly being discussed on CC, I believe the cruise lines are in trouble, with huge debt as well as new ships being built, they are doing everything they can to survive.

The OLife Ultimate is a less expensive O sale option as compared to the 2-3 category upgrades previously offered by O. Getting a PH3 for cost of A1 far better than 3 OLife amenities.

Agree cruise lines are still suffering the shutdown, however, they need to give passengers what they booked. We need to make an informed decision when we travel. 

15 minutes ago, cruiseforward9 said:

The email said "To accommodate operational needs, please note the call to Gdansk, Poland, has been replaced with Ronne, Denmark."

Ok.  However, how about transparency. Why haven’t I ever heard “accommodate operational needs” in the last 16 years cruising only O?  Why so many cancelled ports across all O ships last several months. It’s not an occasional change.

4 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Jayne;

 

If you’re on the April 1st Tokyo-Tokyo sailing, I’ll probably start posting private tours soon. No need to suffer through Oceania’s shorex, especially at their prices.

 

If Oceania continues the significant port cuts, we’re bailing out. Already canceling the OZ circumnavigation, and will bail from Japan also if the cuts mount. We’ll see what they do on our Vista cruise in June.

Yes, we’re on same Tokyo cruise.  Definitely interested in private excursions

We have 21 days on Riviera in May and Vista in November.  We’ll also bail Tokyo if cuts continue.  Last month on Riviera, Puerta Plata was cancelled due to “anticipated” windy weather. The wind never materialized, however staff told us that the 3 prior cruises also missed that port. 

1 hour ago, NYAS said:

Ironically, our first O cruise was the Baltics on Marina in 2013, chosen because, unlike other ships’ itineraries, it had two overnights in St. Petersburg, allowing us to go to Moscow on the middle day in port. It was a great cruise and a lively CC roll call, where I arranged small group tours for several ports, including the Moscow visit. We took no O excursions.  
 

Now, our upcoming Lisbon-Amsterdam cruise on Marina has had most port stays shortened, and from recent posts on this board I am wondering if we will even make all ports (one is a tender). Because of the uncertainties for ports, we’ve booked O excursions. The concern about port stays, as well as reported shortcomings related to food quality and supplies, certainly have me adjusting expectations.

I arranged groups of 6-8 several times. In Viet Nam the guide stayed with us 5 days and we left the ship and I booked hotel for overnight in Hanoi. I arranged a guide for Cairo and we left ship in Alexandria and overnighted in Cairo hotel. Also private guide for 3 days in St. Petersburg as you did.
We just booked O to Tokyo next year and this is the first time we took OLife. We think O’s tours are short and underwhelming but these port changes leave us no alternative. 

Does anyone remember when every Oceania mailing and internet advertisements stated “OCEANIA HAS EARLY PORT ARRIVALS AND LATE DEPARTURES”

I have old itinerary cover pages. 7 AM - 7 PM was the norm in most ports. Ship was docked when you woke up and you were dining when it departed. 
Is it possible that all these sudden changes are making more people book ship excursions?  
Recently I haven’t seen much Roll Call activity. Used to be when someone posted a tour, if you didn’t move quickly, it was booked. Now it’s difficult to get a group together. JMO

12 minutes ago, Buckwheel said:

Reduced port hours announced in “Sail & Sustainability” program:

Nagasaki and Shinzo, both arriving to port one hour later. 

 

Unannounced early departures so far;

Kyoto - 1 hour 

Hiroshima - 90 minutes

 

We still have 4 ports to go.

Thanks for update. Seems like quite a lot of reduced time so far. Hope you’re getting to see what you had planned and times haven’t been too problematic. 

I’m going to see what happens with remainder of O’s Japan ports this year.

10 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

As merely a hypothetical, how long do posters believe Oceania will be able to legally sell cruises with stated port times and schedules and then be allowed to alter port times at will after full payment and cancellation penalty?

Is anyone aware of name and address of an authority that governs cruise lines?

Might be time to make complaints???

5 hours ago, Buckwheel said:

I am currently on Nautica. Prior to our cruise we received a “Sail & Sustain” email reducing time at two of our nine ports. Since we’ve been on the cruise three additional port times have been reduced with only one announcement made ahead of time.

 

And by ahead of time, I literally mean the morning we were supposed to dock at an earlier time, they announced we would be arriving an hour later due to the port contacting them and advising them the port was too congested. It’s plausible this port reduction was unavoidable. 

 

We found out about one of the reduced port stays from an independent tour operator who contacted us to rearrange our tour schedule after seeing that Nautica was leaving an hour earlier than planned. 

 

We found out about the second reduced port stay by reading our port schedule in Currents. 

 

As I mentioned earlier, we are still on this cruise and so far, 5 of our 9 ports have had reductions of time spent in port. 

 

This is our first Oceania cruise and most likely our last. 

So sorry, about reduced port times and failure to timely advise passengers.

Seems like O is on a mission to do this on all their cruises.

Could you advise your reduced hours?  We're booked on Riviera 12 day Japan next year. Not looking good. The hours needed to fly there and back may be more than the hours in port. 🙂

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

I'm curious what would be your alternative?

If you read the number of posts stating that they won't be cruising O unless changes are made, they will find alternatives.  We have our 20th free cruise shortly and if we see these problems continuing to arise on all the O ships, it will be our last. We don't care for sea days, but extra sea days seem to be what O is adding to many cruises  (numerous excuses). Can just as well pay far less for a crossing if you're going to spend a lot of time at sea.  That  includes arriving later and leaving earlier.....that's more "sea time".

9 hours ago, LHT28 said:

I think the new Pizza oven is only on Riviera at the moment   maybe Vista  when it sails

Someone will correct me if wrong

 

Correct. However, it is only open in the evening. I had surely thought it would be open during lunch. Seemed more fitting for pizza at lunch. With all the wonderful gourmet food items for dinner, can’t imagine having pizza. 

O’s Customer Service doesn’t respond. 
Sorry Sophie, but communication on these boards at least let’s you know “it’s not you” and these situations have become pervasive. 
My TA let her person at O know that many of her clients are very upset about recent changes, cancellations and port time changes. She had over 16 cancellations for the June 2024 17 day Riviera that had Croatia ports and Venice changed to a sea day, Izmir & Istanbul. She received no explanation.  TA’s doing a lot of booking & cancelling for which they receive nothing for their time. 

22 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Thank you Jayne, you grasp what many of the Cheerleaders can’t. We would have been disappointed in missing the Falklands in any case, the the true discontent comes from the Great Lie! The ship had cancelled Port Stanley several days in advance of our scheduled arrival. We Passengers were getting emails and texts from our tour operators telling us our tours were cancelled because the ship wasn’t coming. People would go to DS with the information and DS would look them in the eye and LIE saying we were still going to the Falklands. Even after it became apparent to all due to distance and cruising speed we weren’t going, no one on Oceania’s staff would admit to it. Finally, a day out, the Captain made the announcement. Why didn’t he/they make the announcement when the port was notified?

 

Same with Chacabucco above. OK, the decision was made to cancel the port at around 02:00, make the announcement instead of having everyone trudge and sit in the Lounge! 
 

Why is communicating so hard for Oceania. Missing the ports isn’t nearly as bad as being constantly lied to about the facts. Not grasped by the Cheerleaders.

Can the cheerleaders explain away spending time making numerous visits and waiting on line at DS? Attempting to connect to internet for information not being provided by O? Two hours sitting in Lounge at 7 AM for no reason? 

We have cruised only O since 2007….I am a cheerleader too!  However, the various situations arising lately are not “isolated” and are extremely disappointing. 
I’m not a complainer…..just want a cruise that’s a semblance of what I booked. 

25 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

I'd love to see the communication between Miami and the Captain.  I bet that would illuminate the situation.  

Arising at 6 AM for excursions that O knew were not to be makes no sense.

There’s a sudden change….people should be notified asap. Worried about waking up a few people early for an announcement??? Most O cruisers are up very, very earlier….those who make it to 8 AM are the minority.  I do, but would have no issue with being awakened for fellow passengers being advised of the cancelled port. 
What about calling cabins directly? Placing cancellation notices under cabin door?

Decision making not good.