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28 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

I think that the reality is that the majority of able bodied people have no idea what the reality of have mobility issues means, and hopefully they will never experience this first hand.

 

I really don’t think people are being ‘selfish’ if they book a wheelchair accessible cabin or tour,  I just don’t think they understand that there are really no ‘alternatives’ for those who need ‘accessibility’.

I can tell you that there are TAs who offer this because the cabins are bigger and so are the bathrooms. They want to do a great job for their clients and do not think about the people who need it.

Also for example in Europe you will find a lot of non handicapped parking on a wheelchair parking lt. So much to "not selfish"

37 minutes ago, iowananny said:

Believe me it is those who do not need the accessible cabins are taking them away from those who need them.  We booked a cruise on board and were told the only cabin left for a French balcony was in an accessible cabin.  I told the person who sold us the cruise who booked the cruise that if someone else needed it we would be willing to move.  I didn't want to pay more but if someone had cancelled, I would have no problem changing to another cabin.  We never heard anything and spent our cruise in an accessible cabin. We were really given no choice.  I don't think O wants to go to the trouble to move people around.  We booked a year ahead of time and I'm sure during that time someone in a French balcony probably cancelled.

 

People are booking the accessible tours because that is all that is available and they have SM money that they want to use.

 

The only advice I can give to you is to book very early and then book your excursions right away.  I really don't think people are trying to take something away from you they are just using what is available. 

You can be sure that we book very early and I told them that on our more than 40 cruises we saw very few people who need the accessible cabins. Cruise lines say that onboard they will move people out of the accessible room if it is necessary. But you can believe that we will never book a regular cabin in the hope that there would be a possibility of changing.

2 hours ago, Vallesan said:

Actually there are very few truly ‘accessible’ tours available for those who can’t access a coach and it was great to see they have been introduced even if they are at ‘silly money’ prices.  In my opinion, and this is only my opinion, if you are able bodied then book a private tour and leave the ‘wheelchair’ friendly tours for those who have no other options. 
Sorry!

You are so right. There are also mostly not handicapped people in accessible cabins. For my husband who is paraplegic they are not available. So we have problems to find a cruise for us. If those people also book accessible tours it will be the same.

Nearly 50 cruises with excursions on our own.

My husband is paraplegic and only very few cruiseline excursions are accessible.

So we must go on our own or stay onboard. I always tell the operators that we must be back onboard 2 hours before sailing.

One time we really had a big problem. In Boston the ship‘s shuttle bus didn‘t work.The wheelchair lift blocked,the bus couldn’t go, my husband was stucked in the bus. After two hours the fire brigade safes him. The ship waited for us.

Another thing: They say that there was a person in a wheelchair? NCL refuses to tender people in a wheelchair!

Does anybody know how they handle cruise bookings on one or two segments ( red Sea) and not for the whole world cruise?

On 2/29/2024 at 8:12 PM, stevesol6718 said:

My TA has been pursuing this since January with no result.   They go back and forth without results and are ignored.  One more comment.  On January 10th at 8PM, the concierge  in the lounge called us and offered us a $300 shipboard credit for our problem.  We were leaving the ship at 8AM on the 11th.  Almost impossible to find a way to spend this.  So we asked if we could apply this amount to our next cruise in March.  He called back and said that the company would not.  

I only can confirm your experiences. Never got any excuses. I didn't want credits because I will not come back in the next years. I only wanted the money back for the luggage transportation. I cannot agree that Oceania is not responsible for our suitcases. We gave them in their hands and what they do with is in Oceania's responsibility.

We loved to cruise with them but this Vista cruise confirmed our impression from Marina before. Oceania is not as it was before they came under the roof of NCL.

Also for us it was not possible to move into another cabin on Marina.We need a wheelchair accessible stateroom ( paraplegic) and with balcony they only have two. The other room was occupied by a couple who was not handicapped but old, they told us. So they wouldn't move this other couple into a regular cabin and gave us the other accessible. 

I also do not want to get cruise critic answers about Oceania's perfect cruises and to read that I am writing wrong things about the ship. After 25 cruises with them and more than 30 cruises on other ships I can really evaluate cruise lines and ships.

I know that Memphis Tours offer this. We did not Cairo but Luxor with them.

On 9/11/2023 at 10:24 PM, exiledowl said:

We're arriving in Georgetown/Penang in March next year but looking at the map in my guidebook the pier is more or less within walking distance of many of the sights so walk is what we'll do. 

Apparently it's also a great gastronomic centre for hawker food so we'll use our noses as well as our eyes.

Das stimmt. Man kann sehr angenehm zu Fuß ins Zentrum gehen. Die hübschen Tempel sind mittendrin und die Restaurants sind nah beieinander. Sollten Sie allerdings nach Badu Ferringhi oder rund um die Insel wollen, nehmen Sie einfach ein Taxi. Kein Problem in Penang. 

Several times we couldn't find an accessible taxi. Just because there were many ships in port and if you are not the earliest they are hired.

We understood that there are only a few accessible transportations. We walked/ rolled the boardwalk into the center of St. Martin. It is flat and you can shop around or just sitting and enjoy watching the beach life.

The last time we were able to book an excursion with the cruise line for an Island tour. The tour company owned one accessible bus and the ship made the booking for this. It was a nice tour which brought us to the French part of the island. Maybe your cruise offers this too.

On 2/20/2024 at 12:36 PM, pmatawan said:

I'm a season cruiser, but 1st time on Oceania. Let me start by saying after experiencing the food and service onboard Riviera, I would find it difficult to go back to other mainstream lines. Yes, O is pricier, but for me, at this stage of my live, worth it.

I've been onboard Riviera for well over a month now as part of a 72 day grand voyage sailing in Asia.

On occasion, I've had some inquiries that either staff was either unable to answer or provided incorrect information.

My first inquiry was related to when tender tickets would be available  for independent  travelers at a particular port. Destination services gave me a time and I arrived 30 minutes early, but they had already given out tickets for the first 3 tenders for independent cruisers(not ship excursions).

Another example was a port listed as a tender port(Ha Long Bay), which I had heard was now available as a docking location. Again, destination services could not confirm that we would in fact be docking and not tendering. Why am I able to get proper answers from members on this site and not from onboard staff?

Another example is inaccurate shuttle times published in Currents. In Ho Chi Minh City, Currents indicated shuttle service would not be available between 11am-2pm and 5pm-7pm due to meal breaks. Totally incorrect, shuttle service was continuously available. In another port there was no mention in Currents of the port shuttle  to the gate, some guests walked toward the gate and were picked up by the but enroute. The shuttles were not easily identifiable and O staff could not direct us to them.

When I inquired at reception regarding visa services and pricing, I was again given incorrect information. One last item, due to "technical issues" O found it necessary to shorten port times during one cruise segment. They were unwilling to explain what those issues were leading to rumors of an engine issue, which turned out to be the truth. But they fixed the issue after a week, but never readjusted our port times, we just arrived hours early to the last ports on that segment. For those of us with private excursions, it required numerous updates with our tour guides. Mid cruise surveys addressing some of these issues did not receive a response.

In fairness to Oceania, this is the first time this ship has been in this part of the world, but I feel they have some communication issues that should be addressed.

We were on 25 Oceania cruises. The last cruises were so terrible that we will not come back.

Oceana shortens many port times. Some because of "technical problems" some " because of the climate footprint" ( nobody understand). They also have sind four or five years really bad trained excursion employees. They nearly know nothing. They are able to book a tour but if you need something to know they cannot help ( or they do not want ). The same on the different ships. Normally you get back the port taxes if they cancel one. But Oceania refuse to do this.

Be careful booking Oceania.

On 2/25/2024 at 4:07 AM, Jay19 said:

Unfortunately this has also been our experience with O, 4 cruises and ports missed on all of them as well as time cut from the ports on the last one.   

We have the same experiences with Oceania and after 25 cruises with them we will not come back. The port times were mostly cutted. The food is boring. No new menus since years. On Azamara we have been about 8 times. They never cutted the port times. The food was very good. They often did an extra dinner at seadays on deck "under the stars" ( no extra costs). And they have more fun.

11 minutes ago, TRLD said:

In many cases they end up being sold by a company near Atlanta that gets unclaimed luggage from the airlines. Airlines do handle delayed baggage that has been incorrectly routed or missed a connection. But many such bags become unclaimed and sold.

It was NOT an airline it was OCEANIA

8 hours ago, Hlitner said:

One hallmark of cheerleaders is they keep cheering for their team, no matter how they play.  We have never had a problem disembarking at NYC ports (done it many times on mulitple cruise lines).  And I guess the fault of the rust and A/C is also the fault of the OP (and certainly not O).  No A/C in the tropics.  If there were no other cabins we would have requested to be disembarked at the next port and flown home at O's expense.  

 

Hank

 Do you think that they would pay for flights from South America to Europe if they are not willing to pay 450 USD for the luggage transportation ?

4 hours ago, basor said:

I wish the best with your next cruise line and hope they provide you with an amazing experience,  Please let us know who you choose to cruise with in the future

For our next cruises we are booked on Explora Journey and later on Azamara Onward

It is not only the lost of the suitcase but the way Oceania will not keep care for their longtime guests. They do not appreciate guests with 25 cruises.

And the other side is that the quality of Oceania went down.

We know also other cruiselines

( we cruised nearly 50 times) and so there is no reason for us to come back .

I only wanted to tell that you cannot count on Oceania if something goes wrong.

2 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Because the German newspaper just translated and printed what they read elsewhere. I'm convinced they have not done any own "research" beyond that. So anything "false" get republished over and over and over... And gullible people think that because it's "everywhere" it "must be true".
 

But you believe everything what a cruise line says 🙂

Last winter we were on Marina for nearly two months Amazon River and Antartica. We had a balcony stateroom and were very disappointed. Specially the air condition didn't work the whole time. First on the Amazon and in Brazil we had 28 degrees Celsius in the night and in the southern part of the Journey in Antartica and Patagonia we were freezing. They were not able to repair and solve the problem. The ship itself was not in a good shape. Rust and broken things on deck. Lamplights in GDR didn't work properly. And we had many time shortenings in ports. We thought that we will not come again on an Oceania ship but after so many cruises with them we gave them a chance and didn't cancel our TA on the new Vista in September.

Our Conçierge Balcony was very nice. Everything was fine. The ship itself was not my taste. I do not like the colours. Mostly dark blue, grey, black and some white. It makes a cold feeling for me. We missed some ports because of the hurricane which came up to New England.

We disembarked in New York and we had no plans to stay in New Your and were booked on a flight the same day.

We are flying in business class so my husband and I had three suitcases together. When we put our luggage in front of the door we saw the room attendants picking up the suitcases. We talked with them and saw that they took all with.

When we came into the NY Manhattan Terminal it was a huge confusion because there was a disembarkation from a big NCL ship in the same place. We were looking after our suitcases but could only find two of them. We were asking people ( we thought from Oceania) to assist us. They refused. I would like to find our missing suitcase in the NCL area but was not allowed to. After a while the Oceania area was nearly empty and we needed to reach our flight the person from Oceania said that the suitcase is not found and so we need to leave the terminal. I took a picture from this person and I filled a paper for missing luggage.

When we arrived home friends of us who stood on the next cruise gave us the information that our suitcase was found now and they could bring it for us to Germany. Oceania didn't accept this. After many telephone calls and Mails I found one person in England who was willing to assist us. Neither anybody onboard nor guest relation and Oceania Club in US was willing to help us. The lady from England got the following information: The suitcase  was found  in NY Terminal. The port agent would not send it to us. The person in the terminal was not from Oceania. They had nobody in the terminal area. They let the suitcase in NY and during the following cruise Vista should come cack to NY and then they will take it to Miami. From Miami they promised to send it home to us. 

They did it and then we had to pay 450 USD for the suitcase transportation. After we payed this the suitcase arrived here more than one month after the end of our cruise.

I asked for the refund of this money because it was not our fault. Only our lawyer could bring it to an end now. The money is still not here. 

I ask myself what kind of company Oceania is nowadays. They loose a luggage, they do not arrange that the luggage comes to the customer soon.

And they let the customer pay for their fault.

We never got an excuse, never a friendly sorry!

They do not appreciate their longtime guests.

So after 25 Cruises with Oceania we will not come back. It is a nice cruise line if you do not have any problems.

19 hours ago, julig22 said:

 

Note my comment re: jumping the gun with my original post of the article link.

 

USA Today did originally did post it as Cholera... original article title was "Norwegian Dawn quarantined off Mauritius coast with cholera cases" - which they modified an hour or so later.

 

In Germany the newspaper also say it is Cholera. Much more terrible than Norovirus.

It also depends how long your cruise will be. We only book acc. cabins because my husband is paraplegic and confined in a wheelchair. Our problem was on all cruise lines that the space for clothes is very limited. The room space is huge but ...So if you are three in one room and 2 weeks in a colder region the space is more than limited. Keep this in our mind.

Hello,

I found the picture at cruisedeckplans. Is there anybody who was staying there? It seems that there is a lot of space but I couldn't see if there is a sofa and/or a nice chair to sit and read? It looked very empty.

13 hours ago, Snaefell3 said:

Checking the Port of Bordeaux's website, I'm surprised that in addition to it's river-cruise sized berths, it has a "Maritime" port with berths big enough for Riviera. 

 

Why then, dock downriver at Le Verdon?  Bordeaux/Maritime only has 2 berths, and if Riviera is ship #3?  Alternatively, river depth might be an issue: shallow vs Riviera's 24' draft, or flooding vs her 165' air-draft -- that sort of thing puts river cruisers on busses all the time.  😞  Sympathies on your 60 mile bus ride to "real Bordeaux".

 

 

Normally you can do excursions from Le Verdon to Bordeaux through the beautiful vineyards and villages in the wine region Medoc. You can also stay onboard from Le Vernon to Bordeaux which is like a beautiful river cruise.

On 1/23/2023 at 3:26 PM, pinotlover said:

We cruise based primarily upon itinerary. These port times cuts, along with missed ports will definitely go into the analysis of which offered itineraries are actually the best. 
 

Having said the above, I feel we are in a very small minority of actual Oceania cruisers. We see a large percentage of Oceania cruisers that either rarely get off the ships, or only do so for 2-3 hours, 4 max. The ship being in port 1-3 hours less has zero impact on their planned activities. They are the ones crying if their tour gets back after the Terrace closes for lunch.

 

I’m merely guessing Oceania knows where most of its guests are. They can save more money from reduced port times, with a majority of guests not caring. The rest of us have to figure it out.

We do not come back to Oceania after 26 cruises with them

On 10/15/2023 at 3:43 PM, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

 

 I certainly don’t think this is a problem unique to Oceania.  I have read this week that Celebrity has offered FCC’s, so I certainly don’t think it is fair to call me selfish if I have a problem with my cruise line provider!  That is my right as a buyer!  Sheesh, are we not allowed to even say a peep over our issues on this forum that is called Cruise Critic?!

 

To me, and apparently ONLY to me, there is a difference in O, or any cruise line, having time to make substitute ports, which, believe it or not I understand, and them reaching out to passengers with an FCC offer that allows passengers so severely affected by their changes that gives an option other than shut up and sail, regardless.  I fully recognize that they are scrambling and that is not my point.

 

well, thanks to all who responded.  My intent was to put this out where O may see it, since they probably don’t read the roll calls, where there is ample unhappiness and dissatisfaction, along with some who are happy campers because they have never been to the Greek ports.  In addition to contacting the top folks, which I have done, this board can be used to voice opinions that are sometimes noted by the cruise line, so we will see if there is any effort at all from O.  From your adamant responses, I expect that will not be the case.  If they do respond, I will let you know.

 

Joanie

Joanie, you are so right. If you have any critic about Oceania many people find themselves criticized.

6 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

It could be that  some ports  they just do not have  a lot  of accessible  vehicles with tour  contractors

Some smaller towns may not even have  more  that a few rental cars  let alone accessible  buses

 

 

Well good to know! My husband is only 43 years paraplegic. So for sure we cannot know the problems all over the world (52 Cruises all in all) with accessible buses. I think you didn’t understand the problem that Oceania offers excursion credit but not for us and they are not willing to think about.

34 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Some tours  do mention the bus  will have  a ramp or lift  or are adapted  for  wheelchairs   but the spaces are limited

not every tour will be  wheelchair friendly

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/shore-excursions

 

During our 18 days cruise on Vista was only ONE accessible. On Marina 55 days last December and January was NO accessible excursion.

So for what shall we use the credit with simply more