osandomir

The “product” is pretty much the same or so. It’s the price hike that people are concerned with. The excursion credit and ability to use it is just a part of the equation. I’m sure most people would make their decision based on the total cost of the cruise and on how much the experience would meet their goals.

It’s not about what we like or don’t like. Of cause, you are entitled to your own opinion and I just expressed mine. No, I don’t have facts because I’m not in Oceania management. I think so based on my understanding of the price difference to have a dinner in the land based nice French restaurant compare to the establishment serving Modern California flavoured bistro style food here where we live. It cost more to serve Baked Sea Bass Fillet than Fish and Chips on the Ember menu.

My understanding is that replacing Jacques with Embers has nothing to do with people’s preferences or changing the demographics. It’s all about saving a lot of money on food cost and preparation, and service when compared one to another. We’ll be on Riviera next but will miss Jacques when we cruise on Vista in 2025.

… and maybe the compensation is due to the passengers for the inconvenience?

We’ve cruised 15 times on all of the O ships and never seen signs about dress code at the entrance to any of the restaurants. The reminder in the Currents is usually enough for most people. It’s one of the pleasures to cruise on O that we don’t normally see the signs like that.

We’re trying to travel “light” now days with minimum luggage when it’s possible. But I would rather not describe it in details expecting that others suppose to do the same. I think OP didn’t want an advice about the amount of luggage, but just posted that their expectations about Oceania included luggage delivery were not met.

That’s what we normally observe too on Oceania. But that being said, a lot has changed over the last decade in cruising and everywhere else as well. So I think it’s time to accept that if people are dressed nicely it doesn’t matter that much what they wear. Let it be nice jeans, sandals or anything we’d observe while we go out on land or at sea.

Normally airport transfer works for the flights booked by Oceania. I would think that their transfer will take you to whatever airport they booked your air tickets from.

Got email this morning with NO single supplement sale.

I’ve seen this on the AmaWaterways advertising.

This contract was written by the lawyers - a lot of small prints, so I’d think they would be able to safeguard themselves if situation gets a bit complicated. Hopefully, Oceania will let you know about their plans with enough time for you to change your flights. We also love to use points to book our flights as the points are refundable in case we need to make changes any time before the flight date. But I see your point that the flights can be more expensive, not every time though, if you book them closer to the departure time.

Realistically, it would be very complicated if at all possible to provide the transportation for everyone who booked air on their own schedule over several days prior to embarking. Even Oceania transfers work with their air and on the ship departure date only. In your case I wouldn’t expect free transportation to the new port if the embarkation port gets changed. But I think you won’t be able to change your flights until any changes are announced anyway.

Is there any confirmation on March/April winter 2025/26 new release? Our next cruise is in late April and we’re looking forward for these cruises being available to book onboard. We like to cruise to the new faraway places so we’ll gladly book on any of the R, O or A (big?) ship.

I believe if people are satisfied with Celebrity/HAL/Princess cruising experience there’s no need for them to look for call it premium or luxury features on the upscale cruise lines. They will always compare them to what they are used to and perfectly fine with and won’t see too much value for them. It’s understandable that they won’t be willing to pay more for that experience.

Based on our experience sailing on O ships many times we definitely didn’t notice that no self serving buffet stopped transmission of the viruses. I don’t know if there’s any evidence to how this favorably compares to the other lines. But that being said, we much prefer O buffet where one is served by the staff to the self serving version on the other lines.

…and I think it might be two specific reasons for that. First, any cruise in Mediterranean in November would be significantly cheaper than the similar cruise during the prime season. Second, possibly you booked this cruise when it was on one of the Oceania’s sales that also would be an indicator that the cruise wasn’t the most popular. Therefore, the price was lower than normal. So it’s not a fair comparison to the average mass market cruise price wise. Fortunately, there are many other cruise lines to choose from if you wouldn’t want to pay regular Oceania prices. I completely understand that there were some positives but also a lot of misses on your cruise. It’s interesting that another poster who was on your cruise enjoyed it and didn’t have any problems, but you didn’t like your experience that much. Not everything is always perfect for everyone on any cruise and obviously this Oceania cruise didn’t meet your expectations. As you mentioned, you would have a choice to try Oceania another time or look elsewhere.

If you like crowds, a lot of noise and breakfasts cafeteria style then I can understand why you don’t give Oceania advantages over mass market big ships cruising. Otherwise, we wouldn’t put Oceania in the same league as the cruise lines that you mentioned. Onboard experience on Oceania is completely different and much more to our liking after the years we’ve cruised with them. But it’s good to have all options to satisfy all different tastes.

We never booked a cruise so close to departure. But while I don’t know the answer to your question, personally I wouldn’t think that it will work that way. Still it’ll be interesting to learn about the outcome if you inquire about it on board.

As international air prices have settled a little bit for now, there’s a chance you can do better doing your own air compared to Oceania air prices. It was already mentioned before that going to Southampton from the central London isn’t that complicated or expensive. London is so worth several days of exploring.

It would be nice if Oceania offered all these but they didn’t. That’s a reality no matter how long we discuss it here. It’s up to you to decide if you want to cruise with them again.

Don’t cancel yet. We were able to get the onboard booking discount applied to the previously booked cruises given the cabin category that we had booked was still available at the time we were on board the ship.

I’m glad you are satisfied with the outcome. It looks like we all wasted too much time on this thread.

Since you started this thread, would you mind to share how Oceania addressed your complaint? It could be helpful for others with their expectations.

I doesn’t look like the OP needs any help here to resolve the problem that caused them to email Oceania with their complaint. The question was how long they would wait for Oceania to respond. With limited details they provided I’d think it might be more time than they expected if Oceania decided that the case isn’t their priority. I guess no one on this board will be able to give them a better estimate.

If it’s your first O cruise you will have a lot more to enjoy on the ship. Have a wonderful cruise.