pinotlover

The greatest problem and primary cause lies in the fact that Oceania is horrible in corporate communications. Long been the case. Post Covid, and now with Jr, it seems to be getting worse. If their senior team(s) would honestly and quickly communicate changes and situations as soon as they are recognized, I believe the level of complaints would stabilize so to at least equate with other lines.

I believe there isn’t a rule. It depends upon the port and length of tender. In Wellington,NZ we had something like a 40 minute tender on Marina. Other ports, we’ve had 5 minutes tenders. Different circumstances, different rules. Read your Current or check the “ Port of Call” forum here on CC.

On my upcoming April cruise, I believe I have reasonable expectations for food and services based on my past history. I’ll be a very happy customer if Oceania goes to all the ports they advertised and remains in port as published. FWIW, just got notice that Oceania had cancelled one of our few scheduled ship tours. It was the only tour they offered over 4 hours, in that port, and the only one remaining ashore until 4:00 with a currently scheduled 5:00 departure. Why do I have a feeling we’ll be notified, once aboard, of schedule changes? 😤

Not really. Merely a perception based on new age American standards. Do we need to heap praise on someone that merely does their job, or do we save it for those that go above and beyond? Would one heap praise on a Captain that safely got us to port in the midst of a storm, and or like wise on one that did so on a clear calm day? While I may smile and thank my waiter for delivering my meal, others find it necessary to heap praise and salutation on them for the same act. We’re a country with a lot of students making straight A, while they can barely read or write. Some of us still believe in C, D, and F. To each their own.

The only early arrivals I can recall over my last three Oceania Cruises were into the disembarkment port(s). The ship was so glad to be getting rid of most of us fuel conservation wasn’t considered. Full steam ahead! 😂🙄

4:30

There are ports and cruise terminals that will not allow entry until the posted time on ones boarding pass. This is controlled by the port authority, not the ship. Meanwhile, for other locations it doesn’t matter. It all depends upon the port in which one is embarking. Those searching for a one size fits all answer will be lead astray. Your question on this issue should be focused on the actual port in which you are embarking, not a blanket question. Details matter. One should say “ I’m embarking in Papette, or in Athens, do our reserved boarding times matter. You will get hugely different answers depending upon which port you queried.

Here’s a real fact that easily discerned that Oceania well knows. Passengers like me are a small minority of the guests. Take a look at the majority, sometimes only, port tours Oceania offers. Predominantly 2-4 hour tours. Far more passengers are upset if they get back after 2:00 from a tour than if they cut port times. They can still get into port at 10:00, instead of 8:00, do their three hour tour, and be back in the Terrace by 1:15, then a nap. Whether the ship departs at 3:00 or 5:30 matters not to them. Do you never talk to passengers that rarely get off the ship, if ever? They don’t care about skipping ports or cutting port times. We were on the Vista in June in the Med. Thirteen days, 1 sea day. People constantly complaining about lounger hogs. That was on port days, forget about the single sea day. Many either rarely got off the ship, or just briefly if they did. Oceania isn’t completely dumb. They know many; probably a large majority, of their guests could care less about this issue. For we minority that do care, we’ll have to decide our own actions going forward. I expect little variation in operations from Oceania.

A bit of pondering: 1. In a couple months, Oceania will release a new set of cruises, the first big release in a couple of years. These wouldn’t be cruises and times they haven’t been able to sell for two years, but new releases. Grab hold of your shorts when you see the new prices. 2. Whether partially rebuilt or not, those on R ships are on 20+ year old vessels, some of which “were rolled hard and put away wet “ by other lines. I’m guessing at least one of them ( probably Regatta) won’t be on that new cruise release. FDR has already said they aren’t going to keep pouring dollars into those ships. Buyer beware when booking a R ship. Oceania will try to keep it going at a price. 3. A friend just yesterday returned from a NCL cruise ( same company as O). They missed half the ports, and were always given lane excuses. He said never again. I believe this slow steaming, skip ports, reduced port times game is turning customers off. Possible new answer, see #1 above and wait for the new pricing.

For those having not gone to Lisbon, the port runs a shuttle bus from the ship to downtown Lisbon. The drop off spot is a half block from the train station where you can easily and cheaply go to Sintra for the day. You don’t need cabs or expensive bus trips to go there. If Sintra isn’t on your list ( it should be), then you are in the heart of Lisbon with plenty of exploring to do.

Yes! Yes! Plus, that 70-80% have all had the opportunity to get an additional booking long before the Newbies board. This isn’t a difficult concept, except for the few. If one is embarking a ship with a high percentage of newly embarked , then their chances of a first night additional reservation in a Specialty may be high. However, if embarking in a minor port with a low percentage of new embarked, the odds diminish significantly.

One never knows who will be aboard. We did a 17 day HK-Bangkok cruise on Nautica back in 17 I think. There were more Germans, Austrians, and Swiss combined than Americans or Brits. According to those passengers, Oceania had done a huge sale in their countries , for a few cruises, to attract more 1st time Oceania customers. The prices they quoted were very impressive and I the sale obviously worked ! We in the States never saw any offers like that. All this to say, one never knows what the passenger mix will be.

Crew has a bar in their break area. I’m guessing they’re limited on how much they can drink on any break.

No Oceania tour needed in either Oporto or Lisbon, but we did take an all day one in Portimao (sp) that was very nice. We went out to the very SW corner of Europe and the scenery and other attractions were nice. Not sure if your cruise goes there or not.

Remember the song: Hello Mutter; Hello Father; Entertaining, a searching Party You didn’t need 20 pictures of the searching party to relay you’re doing fine! 😂 Pictures devour capacity.

Part of the issues would be resolved if people would only wait until they get back home to post all those pictures. Speaking of which, what does a picture of any food tell you? Would a picture of an Oceania cookie inform another of their poor taste? “ Yep, that’s a cookie, the ship has cookies!” 🙄 Or, here’s my picture of a lobster tail! We won’t talk about how it took a chainsaw to cut it, but the pictures are pretty. Or, the person trying to upload twenty five pictures of a sunrise, and complaining about upload speed! Trust me, people will be equally entranced ( or not) by your all your sunrises photos if you wait until you’re home to post/upload them. Then just think of all the other enjoyment you can be having not wasting time trying to upload a hundred pictures! 😃. Also consider the how it might free up capacity for those poor working stiffs that might really need it! 😇

Nah! He was pumping iron, working out diligently, in the gym! 🤓

One must add jurisdiction to the mix. Just because Oceania has an office in Miami doesn’t mean lawsuits on foreign flagged vessels while at sea can be brought there. You’re not in Kansas anymore Dorothy! Of course, this closely follows people talking about the ADA while visiting the pyramids in Egypt or other such sites. 🙄

I personally believe the story by the ship’s personnel is hogwash. Exactly what court was this supposed lawsuit, for an incident at sea, brought? Too many of the incidents of valuables being left seem fake. To me, it’s all just another example of Oceania not choosing to enforce its own policies. Outlandish stories about lawsuits don’t change that.

Absolutely not. The ship yards have been struggling since Covid and their issues have been well publicized. People have been notified well in advanced. We’re booked on the September TA. We definitely won’t buy airline tickets for this cruise until at least six months before hand. In fact, it may be smarter, for this cruise, to use O Air thus eliminating that risk. At this point, an Allura September cruise is still 50-50 imo.

Some of us enjoy more flexibility on the first night. Maybe it’s a meet and greet or some other event. Maybe it’s meeting up with old cruising friends in the bar, or watching a beautiful sail away from a great harbor. On the first night aboard ship we don’t want a tied to schedule. We’ll show up to eat when we’re ready to do so. Plenty of time to eat in the Specialties.

Another variable. First, forget about the 2% in top suites, and ancedotal tales of mostly empty ships post Covid. Oceania has varied in its unpublished policies on the number of extra Specialty reservations allowed on any given cruise. There are those cruisers that only want to eat in a Specialty and will line up early at the table to attempt in getting the extra nights. The Reservation Clerk can see how often any person or group has gotten extra reservations. Cruisers have been turned down in the past, not because of space, but solely to give others an extra opportunity. This has varied in the past, along with variations on different ships, but it still comes into play.

I hope people aren’t looking for the one size fits all answer to any of this. When in a PH, we use our butler to get extra Specialty reservations. We don’t stand in the line. We never wait and ask for same day reservations . Typically, we plan a day or more in advance and our Butler is successful. However, on short segment cruises, 7-10 days) we have been told by our Butler to not even ask for additional reservations in Jacques, for example. He’d try to get us another elsewhere, if we choose, but Jacques is impossible. With ir without a butler, on long single segment cruises 20-21 days, getting an extra reservation on Day 16-20 has typically been fairly easy. However, getting it in the same cruise on day 2-10 not so. A lot of variables go into the equation, and one size definitely doesn’t fit all passengers on all cruises.

We often see meat platters masquerading as dinner plates! Take a look at the size of your older China plates which were normal servings. Now we get what was meat platters completely filled. Most of obese America has lost the concept of what a normal serving is. We asked for soup last week, in a very nice restaurant, in lieu of the salad and the soup bowl was the size of large serving bowl for a family. Oceania drastically reducing serving sizes to reasonable levels is a good thing. No one needs a doggie bag on a cruise ship.

I didn’t book until a September sailing for a reason. We’ll see if that one actually goes! 😳