pinotlover

15 hours ago, minabruuke said:

In regards to my post, one would be looking at as close to an apples to apples comparison as you can possibly get given the destination.  Nearly all of the tours in French Polynesia are small; the driving tours are primarily 4x4 vehicles (that hold 4-6 people) or ATV's and most of the water based tours are watercraft that hold a maximum of 6-12 passengers.  There are no big bus tours.  It is common in many parts of the world for the cruise lines to have contracts that disallow the excursion operator to book their cruise ship passengers but that is not as common in French Polynesia.  The cruise lines don't have a lot of choice in who they can use on those tiny islands and that gives the tour operators room to negotiate so in many cases you can book independently the exact same tour, with the exact same operator the cruise uses.  They just typically have a separate boat (same size and number of passengers), for those booked via the cruise line verses those booked independently.  That's what makes Oceania's pricing for this specific region so ridiculous; passengers actually can book the very same tour independently and it actually quite easy to figure out who Oceania is using for their tours.  

 

The $499 tour through Oceania that I mentioned is for a 2.5 hour jet ski tour (price is per jetski, which you can have two people on); it is the exact same itinerary, timing and specs as booking independently.  It appears to even be the exact same operator based on TripAdvisor reviews that mention doing the tour through the cruise lines.  The operator states that their tour will have a maximum of 4 total jet skis but when we did this tour through this same operator the last time we were there, there were only 2 jet skis in our group.  Oceania is not offering this as a private tour so it would be a pretty safe bet to assume that you'd have nearly identical experience booking through the cruise line vs. independently. 

 

For the tour that Oceania is charging $139 and the operator $52.45; the name/title of the tour on Oceania's site is the exact, unique name/title of the tour that is used by the only operator of that tour.  You would literally be booking the very same thing either way.

In Bora Bora, we did the private jet ski tour @$150 each. Part of our contingency that day were four (4) passengers from the ship paying Oceania $450 each to do the exact same tour and eat the exact same food. This scenario has happened several times with us, being in the same van with those on OE ship tour, doing exactly as we at a multiple of our costs. Remember, you’re only promised a group of 16 or less, not who those other participants may be. 😂.

Destination Services and the ship tours are a profit center for the ship, not a cost center. No one is forced or obligated to take the ship tours. One can do as many of us do and primarily take private ones. Is the price of a hot dog and beer at the foot ball stadium in any way related to the cost of materials? Your only choice there is to neither eat nor drink, or pay the price . Oceania allows one to choose, but for those that choose the ship tour, it can be a very expensive hot dog! 🙄 But, it’s your choice.

It has been my experience that most of those wearing the lanyards are in a defined group such as a GoNext group or a F&WT group. The lanyard is there to identify you, allow entrance into group only events, and eliminate the need to make name tags for every event. 
 

It’s a rarity for an independent traveler to wear a lanyard.

We all view Simply More differently. To us, it was merely a price increase. That’s all, just a price increase.

I don’t understand all the anxiety people are expressing. Every day aboard ship we have three meals ( at a minimum) paid for along with the Afternoon Tea. I pay for all those meals as part of my cruise fare. When in port, we always eat the local fare ashore. We don’t rush back to the ship to eat that included meal. It’s what we choose to do. Those SM tour credits are the same for us. If We find a ship tour we really want, we’ll use the included tour credit. If we don’t, they’ll be just like those included meals we miss.It’s all just part of the fare, just like the evening shows.

I wonder, do people feel compelled to eat three meals a day, with all the offered courses, because it’s part of the fare? If not, why all the hand wrangling over SM tour credits? 🤔

8 minutes ago, thebsinmiss said:

From recent experience on our upcoming Riviera Cruise (June 17)  We are in a standard balcony room (not concierge).

 

Had friends on the same cruise who are concierge book when their reservation window came open (sooner than ours) We were included/invited as "guests" under their reservations and they made them at 12:01 AM eastern standard time.  Managed to book everything with no problems

 

I did not go on until 8 am EST the day our window opened (as opposed to 12:01 AM) to make our last booking as we wanted a table for 2 at Jacques. At 8 am nothing was available for just 2.  I looked at doing a "shared table" and was unable to even book that.  I am not to worried as I will try to get something at Jacques while on the ship (walk by entrance when open and ask). 

 

If we don't get anything we definitely won't starve with the options of the grand dining room, Terrace Cafe (buffet) and Waves (dinner pizza !).  All of these are no reservation dining options. Don't forget Room Service is also available 

 

I would try and book it myself if you can stay up (or set an alarm), that is if it is that important to you.

You have one guaranteed sitting in each of the Specialty restaurants. If you don’t choose a reservation before boarding go to the dining reservation desk and they will get you one. If you ask nicely maybe even a two top.

34 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

anyone have any info?

we wont be on a ship till sept to find out anything more...

 

looking for sailings to Bermuda, this port has been cancelled too many times, but still want an itin with it....

There was a recent thread on this. As of yet Oceania hasn’t made any statements or commitments.

Several WAGs have been advanced ranging from Sep/Oct to next March/April. All WAGs, so take them as such. 

On 5/31/2024 at 8:20 AM, Vallesan said:

So the cases are out. Time to pack up. Weather here in Sorrento is dull and overcast so good weather for packing!

 

So before I forget, my overall thoughts about this cruise:

 

Has the food been perfect? No.

Has the food been mainly good? Yes. A few meals I wouldn’t order again.

Did I go hungry? NO!

 

Speciality restaurants. We have had 5 additional evenings in the speciality restaurants. A few tips: ask early in the morning of the day you want a booking. Be flexible with restaurant, time and sharing. One evening we had a shared 8pm table but arrived at 7.40 only to find we could eat there and then on our own. Never give up, there are always possibilities!

 

Staff universally have smiled, been helpful and generally did as much as possible to make our trip enjoyable.

 

Tours … not our thing.

 

Other passengers. Have spent several evenings eating at shared tables and they have all been interesting and have added to our enjoyment. In general our fellow passengers are the ‘usual’ mix so all has been fine.

 

Survey: the new survey is accessed via a scan. Very easy to fill in and quite comprehensive with spaces to add comments at the end of each section.

 

SimplyMore: doesn’t seem any different to the OLife program to me. It certainly doesn’t put me off cruising with Oceania again. As I’ve said several times we don’t take the tours but we do drink wine, which by the way has never been an issue with glasses in all venues filled promptly. So for us, we look at the bottom line, not what was in the past compared to what is now or in the future. If we consider the ‘bottom line’ fits our budget and the itinerary suits then we go for it!

 

Overall we’ve had a really good 14 days aboard the Marina and we would sail on her again for the itinerary but prefer the fully upgraded Riviera ( just my opinion).

 

 

An important part of this to remember. They had five (5)

additional Specialties meals, plus the four (4) guaranteed, making nine in total on a 12 or 13 day cruise. They got all those additional reservations without the aid of a butler. If one will be flexible with timing and sharing, they will often find the opportunity for extra Specialty meals to be plentiful, except on maybe the seven day cruises. It is primarily only those that choose to be inflexible that typically have difficulty. 

Advantages for tour guide: They can speak in a normal voice to any size group giving instructions or information.

Disadvantage for tour guides: People take comfort in being able to hear the guide’s voice and wander off, dilly dally here or there, etc., and soon get separated by a considerable distance from the group. They think they’re close because they can hear the guid’s voice. People get lost! I have found they are great if I’m doing a vineyard tour or somewhere I can keep eye contact with everyone. I hate them on busy city streets where people easily get strung out.

Advantages for tourists : They can easily listen to all commentary of the guides.

Disadvantage for tourists: Much like some posters here on CC, some guides attempt to give a new definition to verbose and verbosity. Take an eight hour tour, they’ll talk every minute of that eight hours. It might be about their neighbor’s second cousin’s granddaughter, but they talk on and on. The only way to stop the noise is to unplug. Then you lose possible information or instructions you need. Their sole tip at the end is me , or others, not having strangled them after hour 3 or 4. 🤬

Fwiw, the sponsor company of the tours set the rules. I’ve taken groups out with a ten minute rule. The group will wait ten minutes after the assigned time for any stragglers and leave. Other sponsors will require the guide to wait and search for at least an hour. It isn’t up to the guide. I have no idea what Oceania requires.

Viking does not run its own tours in most ports. They use third parties like everyone else.

The passengers have their Vox system, with charger in their cabins and are supposed to bring them with them on each tour. Viking provided the main headset , and instructions as needed, to the guides for us on the tours. After the tours, the guides return the equipment to the Viking rep. 
 

The system has advantages and disadvantages for both parties.

I think that cost cutting may come in many forms not always disagreeing. Waste on a ship is costly. Reducing portion sizes is cost cutting, but we don’t need the huge portions we were often served.

One of my chef owner clients was discussing menu with his underlying chefs. He talked about the huge increase in fish prices being brought on by the decimation of fish stocks by overfishing and the inability of fish farms to keep up with growing demand. He plainly said the availability and variety of fish served will go down. The prices are higher than customers are willing to pay. My guess is that will likewise occur on cruise ships. People won’t go hungry, they’ll see plenty of options, but the availability of many fish options will probably decrease in the near future in order to cut/reduce costs. 
 

Miami buys everything aboard ship. The availability of any product in some foreign port doesn’t play into Miami’s need for products in bulk amounts at an acceptable cost. Just look at all the fresh fish markets around the world with fish readily available while you eat frozen fish. All that fish you see of a certain variety may not feed 30 people on a 1200 passenger ship.

5 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

And often getting updated shore excursions PDFs as well. (I find them much easier to work with).

Just for general knowledge sake, since you start booking ship tours a year in advance, how often, or how many times during the course of that year, do you request a new tour pdf for each cruise?

The “ whisper “ systems used on my lines are efficient and preferred by most over trying to hear the voice of a talking guide.

They have their advantages and disadvantages for both the guides and the tour participants so they get varying use.

I have found ouTA fully competent in this area. All I have to do is send her an email, anything 24

hours a day, of what we want and it’s done. If one prefers to spend time on the phone, or is otherwise bored with nothing else to do, then calling Oceania is the thing for you. Myself, I have golf to play and a yard to mow, all that including cleaning up storm damage from last weekend. Whatever rocks your boat. Some people are far more into DIY than others.

The only question I see is who are the picky eaters:

1. the NoNos;

2. People wanting flavors, herbs, and spices?

🤔

1 hour ago, MarkWiltonM said:

Did they by any chance cover the deck outside Terrace Cafe as it is on Vista?

They didn’t on Riveria and hopefully not on Marina. We don’t stay aboard for lunches normally, and on the rare nights we can sit on the outside Terrace at night, we enjoy watching the stars. Last thing we want is a cover hiding the sky! 
 

Obviously not a popular position. 

25 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

Further update!! Now looks like a few short if 600! Think I’ll take that as the final figure!

So 50ish %. Not uncommon at all. We had a large GoNext group on my last cruise that were all mostly newbies. I think we ran About 50% repeaters.

People have to understand, they don’t always get to choose in these matters. As FF has frequently posted in the past, Oceania has often taken booked b2b and converted them to an Extended Voyage which typically resulted in fewer cruise credits. For several years there was an array of combinations of segments making b2b even difficult to find. That has now changed when it’s in Oceania’s best interest. The decision on whether a cruise is an Extended Voyage, a Grand Voyage, two Extended Voyages b2b, or multiple b2b lies solely with Oceania. One can have their TA attempt to affect that decision, but in the end, O decides.

40 minutes ago, iowananny said:

Our next cruise in July will be our first the SM program.  We've booked excursions and we have no real problems with it.  If all our excursions are cancelled we might come back with a different view.  

 

We were on a cruise in January without SM but we had chosen the drink package for our perk.  Our problem was getting a glass of wine, especially in the TC.  They call them sommeliers but they are really just waiters who bring you a glass of wine off the list.  Maybe in the specialty restaurants they can help you find a special bottle of wine for a special occasion but in the TC all they do is serve you a wine or beer.  More people are going to want their wine and beer because they've paid for it so why not.  We had to wait forever for our first glass and some nights it just wasn't worth waiting to get a second glass.

 

It sure didn't ruin our cruise and maybe they were just under-staffed, but we sure didn't get good service from the so-called sommeliers. I would have liked it if the waiter could have just refilled our wine glass, the bottle was just a few feet away but I'm guessing that is against the rules.  We always had plenty of water and getting a cup of coffee was not a problem.

😂. You probably never read my rants back pre Covid “ The Terrace is for Teatotallers!”

Your experience has been long felt and discussed. Additionally, as you state, it may get worse with SM. I say may because so many O cruisers don’t drink for various reasons. Having free wine or beer won’t change that. Personally, we avoid the TC at dinner. We enjoy being served opposed to serving ourselves. We enjoy the leisurely paced meals in the GDR while typically sharing a table with fellow travelers, and importantly to this thread, except for the rare evening, overall service including beverage service is far better in the GDR.

I have experienced far too many instances of poor or no adult beverage service in the TC. I once sat for over a half hour refusing to go through the buffet until I placed my wine order. The waiters kept coming around asking if there was a problem and I’d tell them “ yes, no wine steward “. The restaurant mgr came by and asked what the problem was. He’d assured me he’d take care of it. Ten minutes later he’s back, still no wine steward. He finally got me a glass himself. About two minutes later a wine steward appeared for the only time. Plenty of good food elsewhere on the ship. 

2 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

There are some independent O Connoisseurs Club TAs (LONG affiliated with O) who are not consortium members but enjoy pass through OCAPP benefits. And there are, at least, several “Elite” Connoisseurs Club TAs that have their own and their consortium’s OCAPP funds (each covering one segment of an Extended Journey). We’ve seen that on a very few occasions.

While I agree there are a very tiny number of boutique Travel Agency, some which might primarily concentrate on Oceania and Regent, that universe is small. As continually demonstrated on this Forum, many of we cruisers are not solely wed to Oceania. While my TA is a high volume Oceania seller, my of those cruisers likewise sail Azamara and Celebrity. Being a boutique, and not a member of  a Consortium, may mean the Agency avoids Consortium fees, but it also means they miss out on the various Consortium deals for many lines that aren’t available to the otherwise small volume Agencies. 
 

If one is a dedicated Oceania only cruiser, then the boutique will work very well. If not, a member of a prominent Consortium will work better. That is , of course, except for those that change Agents like they change their underwear. 

2 hours ago, Vallesan said:

 On our current cruise on Marina there are 500+ 1st time Oceania cruisers so obviously lots of cruisers happy to step in when others opt out!

Nothing unusual about those numbers. I’ve been on O cruises where the percentage has ranged from about 50% to a high of 82% repeaters. Your number is within that normal range.

Several factors seem to affect these numbers including season, location of cruise, and very importantly if Oceania ran country or regional specific sales on certain cruises. I was on a cruise back in 18 with a significant number of Germans and Austrians. Found out that Oceania, wanting to attract new blood from that market, had ran very specific sales within that market. The campaign worked and I got to practice my German regularly on that cruise in that combined the two countries equaled the number of Americans aboard.

Oceania doesn’t have glass doors separating the stairwell/elevator area and the hallway corridor. It does have metal partitions that separate the two that are most always open. The only time I’ve ever seen them closed was on my last cruise during Boardamania. The staff had closed and locked off the partitions to keep guest out of the cabin areas until those rooms were called.First time I had seen that done, but not normally there for Boardamania.

As far as your exact cabin location, I’d suggest you view the deck plan for your ship which is easily obtainable. It is rare when people complain about noise from the elevator areas. Happens occasionally, but rare.

45 minutes ago, ORV said:

But I do like the hot dog ok, it's just the chili is not very good. My wife could teach them a thing or two about making chili. But that shouldn't be necessary. 

But I bet it’s not NoNo chili, so forget about it! 😇

10 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

I would suggest when you get something like this from ny Company you don't open it and call your TA or "O" if booking direct.  Be safe first.

Why? Just hit delete and move on.

If from O, and they happen to get their back side together, you’ll probably get another request. Otherwise, you wasted no one’s time including your own.

2 hours ago, ORV said:

No more Chili dog, oh well, it wasn't that good anyway. 

Be careful, you’ll be branded for your negativity!! 😂

Spot on on analysis however! 😇

9 minutes ago, Kay S said:

I would gladly carry my plate in exchange for being able to walk again.  (I'm not old, but I am paralyzed.)  

You will find that many of us wait until 7:15 or later to go the Terrace or the GDR to give those with mobility issues plenty of time to accommodate their needs .

2 hours ago, Queenvee said:

Thanks for your insights. I don't get seasick and always book interior cabins so am not worried about that.  LOL re: shower - I'm sure I'll be fine with them.  Glad to hear the confirmation about deck chairs on the promenade deck since I can while away hours watching the water, clouds, dozing and reading.  

Be advised that the promenade deck is more narrow than you may be accustomed to, and will thus be closed much quicker than on other ships in comparable seas. It can be great on pleasant sea days, but quickly shut down on any signs of inclement weather.