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edgee

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Everything posted by edgee

  1. I believe by another passenger with O's cooperation. The Vista GM and other key staff attended and interacted quite a bit with passengers.
  2. Not sure where you got that information/experienced the "stopping." We had a terrific M and G on Vista just a couple of months ago.
  3. I am not a "glass is half empty" kind of guy, but I really do not see Oceania coming out of the starting gate well in their effort to meet NCLH expense cutting mandates. I see cuts which many be "necessary" and they are what they are, but some seem to be implemented in an almost mean spirited and sometimes inept way. Examples are cuts in availability of food items at Waves (new menu, so far only on Vista and now Marina that I know of), availability of some grilled meats/lobster in Terrace, changes not in the customer's favor in the terms of future cruise bookings, financial penalties for North Americans cancelling cruise reservations even if years out from booking date, promising complete renovation of Marina and then not following through, policy which requires loss of SM excursion credits if tours are cancelled and there is no chance to rebook....With apologies to the great Jerry Stiller,,,sounds like I am airing my Festivus grievances,,,😀... With all that being said, we still like Oceania and are looking forward to our 25 nights on Marina beginning in July...during which we will cross the ten cruise threshold and enjoy the silver benefits. Then we will decide whether we will continue to cruise with O and to what extent. Also, I think we are maybe down too much on Oceania due to spending 30 days on Vista in the last six months. We had real problems with the noise transference between cabins issue on Vista, did not like the new Ember specialty restaurant and thought the architect who designed the theatre and the limitations on the aft elevators should be run out of the industry for malpractice. We tried a comparatively low per diem Transatlantic cruise on Regent Splendor in April and have found it very much to our liking...did not see examples of the cost cutting... so have two more cruises booked with them. Keep reminding myself how these are first world "problems" and many of us are damn fortunate to have these kinds of choices and agree whole heartedly with Sthrngary about cruising well and enjoying every moment.
  4. California's new honest pricing law effective in a few weeks will require all cruise lines to include port charges and taxes in advertised pricing. I understand that major cruise lines will begin conforming with that law nationwide. Not sure if that will affect refunds for missed ports by other cruise lines, as they still can be broken out on the invoice. Time will tell.
  5. I have found them very proactive in responding to mid cruise survey. Issue is that their process for allowing post cruise survey input is not at all user friendly given limited time window and less than convenient process for customers to fill it out. Gives impression that they are not that interested in feedback. Also adds to image of, at least corporate wise, being poor communicators with their customers.
  6. Piece of paper tops every other documentation with Oceania. Their consumer focused technology is years behind other cruise lines..indeed most customer oriented businesses.
  7. Thank you for telling your story. Hope it is widely read. The lack of even basic decency and customer service attitude on the part of O toward especially its customers who utilize O air is remarkably horrible. Some wonderful folks on the ships but their shoreline operation has so much room for improvement.
  8. Problem is in many situations by the time you get the O flight info, if you want to turn it down and book on your own, you may be looking at no reasonably priced seats being available.
  9. Met a couple on cruise which embarked Miami in January. Said they were starting their first O cruise on a bad note... rather angry due to their treatment by Oceania air dept. They live in Washington DC area so they figured it was fine for Oceania to pick their flights on morning of embarkation since there are numerous NS flights to Miami from both DC airports. On the day they received their itinerary they found that Oceania had routed then on United connecting through Newark, one of the most delay prone airports on the morning of the cruise. Oceania refused to correct the situation. They bought their own nonstop tickets and lost the money they had paid in their cruise fare for air..Oceania would not refund. I believe lesson here is that it is best to book your own flights, but if you do find it advantageous to use Oceania air, pay the fee to deviate and pick your own flights.
  10. I always believe in an honest answer. Just say they are generally available up to capacity limits.
  11. Agree it is a pretty minimal problem. However when I am told something cannot be done by someone in the service business and then the company surprises me by doing it, I am happy my request was honored, but less respectful of the company for its incompetent inaccurate messaging.
  12. Regent should say they "cannot supply" when they often can and do? Cannot supply is a complete falsehood. Can supply up to some capacity limits is an accurate, positive customer focused answer.
  13. Perfect example of the inexcusable poor communication on the part of this company. We had zero problems getting one on Splendor. One would think shoreside employees have never been on a ship.
  14. Many of us find Oceania's (same as Regent's) method of collecting guest input through the end of cruise survey quite frustrating. Surveys can only be done on line while still on the ship..no way to do it after disembarkation. On recent cruises, the end of cruise survey was not even mentioned in writing or in announcements. I actually had to ask how to pull it up on line. Today I received an email from Oceania in advance of my upcoming cruise asking me to click on a link to complete a brief survey regarding the reservation process. When I clicked on the link I immediately got a 404 error indicating an invalid link. Can't make this up. Has this happened to anyone else?
  15. Regent has a very very large list of always available items in their main dining room, called Compass Rose. I believe it is much higher quality and better service than Grand Dining Room on Oceania. Lack of an informal dining option in the evenings is a downside to Regent, although in their yet to come newbuilds they are rectifying that.
  16. Yes, but the cheapening/lessening of the menu will soon spread around the fleet.
  17. Some on Vista were upset that waygu burger meat replaced real beef filet.
  18. Same items as on this "experimental" menu rolled out on Vista.
  19. There are negatives and there are dealbreakers that may only apply to the reviewer/complainer. Examples of dealbreakers for us across many cruise lines include smoking casinos and lack of a dedicated walking track eliminates Seabourn for us. Dining room opening not until 7 or later eliminates Silversea. Tiny bathroom in cabins below PH eliminates Oceania's R ships. "Thin wall" noise issue will eliminate Vista for us. Then there are negatives which are more preference related but would not keep us from sailing on a particular ship/cruise line but could affect our choice if another ship or cruise line has similar timing and itinerary. Examples: no informal evening dining option on Regent, Oceania's very frequent announcements, high cost of Oceania ship tours. That being said, there is a lot to love about Oceania..food, lack of crowds, beauty of ships, the magic of string quartet playing as you walk to GDR in the evening, Baristas, nice libraries...there are so many.
  20. I think you can enjoy cruising on both cruise lines. For us each have their pros and cons and the variety/adds to the enjoyment.Last winter on Super Bowl Sunday we disembarked Vista in Miami and went directly to Port Everglades for a 7 nighter in a Sky Suite on Celebrity Ascent. Enjoyed both cruises. In July we are looking forward to 25 night cruise on Oceania Marina and in October we are doing 12 night Transatlantic on Celebrity Apex. Wishing you great cruising on Oceania or wherever you choose to spend your cruising vacations!
  21. Creperie will be not be near the Terrace. It will be around the corner from Baristas on Deck 14 where gorgeous large library is on Vista. Moving library to forward area near computer classroom and Horizons means it will be much smaller than Vista's. So for folks who love the library all the press release puffery about its location on Allura is probably putting lipstick on a comparative pig 🐖 💄 .
  22. I really like Oceania and am looking forward to a long cruise on Marina this summer. In concept, I do not disagree with your philosophy/acceptance with good grace of SM. Concept is generally okay with me. Problem is that O has almost a reverse Midas Touch with the way they roll things out. IMHO the way they have implemented it has an unnecessarily complex and punitive touch. Not having any way to reimburse guests when SM funded excursions are cancelled at the last port irritates many. Initial roll out was poorly done in that staff did not understand the complexities and the rules. Folks feel that a finite amount of funds is taken away from them under the circumstances when shore excursions late in the cruise are cancelled. Similar things can be said about new penalties for cancelling cruises, even far out from cruise date. Future cruise booking rules and deadlines have become more complex and less flexible. I wish they could get their act together so that the bean counters who are doing their job at NCLH holdings are better in sync with folks that interface with the guests.
  23. Problem with Sky Suite cabins on S class ships is that they are all ether under the noisy Oceanview Cafe or for slightly higher charge you can book Sunset Sky Suites at the rear of the ship. There you are subject to soot on the balcony and some vibration issues. Just open up and look at the S class cabin spreadsheet at the top of this forum and you will see many happy satisfied guests and some not so satisfied. Because the noise and soot/vibration issues are a deal breaker for us, our choice of suites on S class ships like Equinox starts at the Celebrity Suite level which for a 9 day Med cruise we are considering has about a $2100 per person higher charge than lower suites which we consider problematic.
  24. You were very lucky. On two recent Vista cruises, two different cabins on two different decks ( 9 and 10) we could only sleep when neighbors' TV was off. On one of the cruises neighbor showed me that his TV volume was as low as 7% and still I kept hearing his UK sports channel...could even distinguish the words. I slept when he turned off his TV..about 11:15 p.m. and ..woke up when he decided to continue to fufill his TV addiction...usually about 7:15 a.m. Spoke to reception desk and GM about it. Was told there was no point in changing cabins because the problem is pervasive throughout the ship. I even said I would pay an upgrade cost to a PH...perhaps that would be quieter due to possible differences in construction/design/location of TV. Was told that that complaints tend to come from all levels of cabins. Seems that only escape is luck of having pretty quiet neighbors who do not watch much TV.
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