New to Oceania... Please Advise

[sailbynite]

All this talk of very slow but excessively expensive internet on Oceania has me a bit worried. While I do not choose a cruise based on ability to communicate with the world at large, I do appreciate being able to do so.

 

This will be my first Oceania cruise. I have been a faithful Regent (nee, Radisson) cruiser for many years now. I have enjoyed the "free" internet and telephone service offered me through their Seven Seas Society. Even before being complimentary, it seemed to be reasonably priced.

 

I am starting to worry about other "surprises" I may encounter. The lack of self-service laundry facilities (or enough working properly) does not bother me; I prefer to "send-it-out" and not use my holiday time on such. I rarely drink alcohol, so Oceania's non-inclusive policy is really of no consequence either. I do feel $100 for a bottle of liquor is quite steep, so I imagine hosting a cocktail party in one's cabin to be very expensive (versus no additional cost on Regent, at least).

 

I hope this board can enlighten me to other differences I may encounter on the Regatta versus Regent's Voyager. I have booked a concierge level cabin and asked to be placed on the waitlist for a Penthouse. When I have been on Voyager, the Penthouse A/B was the cabin of choice for me. I have been in smaller cabins when they had The Diamond and The Song of Flower.

 

I appreciate all comments and help. Thanks to all.

[LHT28]

All this talk of very slow but excessively expensive internet on Oceania has me a bit worried. While I do not choose a cruise based on ability to communicate with the world at large, I do appreciate being able to do so.

I have not had a problem with the internet on O but it is not like home where we have high speed cable

This will be my first Oceania cruise. I have been a faithful Regent (nee, Radisson) cruiser for many years now. I have enjoyed the "free" internet and telephone service offered me through their Seven Seas Society. Even before being complimentary, it seemed to be reasonably priced.

I have not seen FREE internet on Oceania even for those with many cruises

I do feel $100 for a bottle of liquor is quite steep, so I imagine hosting a cocktail party in one's cabin to be very expensive (versus no additional cost on Regent, at least).

Hosting a party in an A CAT cabin will be very cosy if you get a PH then that will be a different story

You can bring your own for in cabin use if you do not want to do that then I guess the other option is to pay the fees

I appreciate all comments and help. Thanks to all.

 

Excursion are not FREE on O nor is the laundry services just something to consider if this is important to you

But the prices for Oceania are not like Regent either

 

Hope you will give Oceania a try ...it is NOT Regent but the crew do work very hard to please

 

Lyn

[capecodder2]

We have been on 9 O cruises and I have not had a problem with the Internet at all. If you are in some remote part of the world, service may not be available for however many hours, but that is not O's fault. It is not operated by O (perhaps none on any ship is run by the cruise company). I usually buy a time package and admit I only check or write an email every few days, it isn't something I have to spend hours at.

 

Personally, I wouldn't want to host a cocktail party in an A/B cabin - too small if it was more than 4 people total. Penthouse would be easier or, depending on number of people, you might consider doing it in a public space like a corner of Horizons for comfort. Just my thoughts.

[Mura]

Even in a Penthouse, a cocktail party for 8-10 can be crowded.

 

I think you are trying to compare apples to oranges anyway by looking at Oceania versus Regent. Your higher fees on Regent include those "freebies" that it sounds like you don't really use ... such as alcohol.

 

I haven't been on Regent (although it's high on my list) but I CAN say that we really love Oceania.

 

I tend to use the internet a lot -- not as much as at home, certainly. But it IS useable. The main problem is the slow satellite service, but Oceania isn't alone in that. I always buy a package which brings the cost down to about $.75/minute rather than $.99 and I turn off most of my email message boards for the duration of a trip so I only see the "important" stuff.

 

Depending on where you are cruising, the service may be down ... but again, it's not just Oceania that can have those problems. When we did a north atlantic crossing from Southampton to NYC on the QE2 there was no internet PERIOD for the whole trip. Not even when we were half an hour out of NYC. I suppose they forgot to turn it back on ...

 

Mura

[ClaudiaF]

I prefer O to Regent for a zillion reasons..which won't get into now.. but can tell you that all the things you love about Regent you will love more on Oceania. The $100 bottle of "booze" well bring your own on and don't buy it on ship.okay problem solved.. the party in your cabin.. penthouse is large enough maybe to hold 8.. now I have been known to throw parties for 1/2 the ship but I always get Owners suites..last cruise I was a bit concerned about all the weight in aft..lol:D:D:D

[susiesan]

For everyone who is so worried about slow internet on cruise ships, if you don't already have a netbook, buy one (under $300) and take it ashore in a place there is a Starbucks or McDonalds. Both have free wifi. We did this last October on a Viking River cruise through Provence. Worked out perfectly. You can buy a netbook for less than the cost of some of these internet minute packages you are talking about. they weigh less than 2 pounds and can be put in a large purse or tote bag. And if you have travel delays while at an airport you can just put in on your lap and look things up at the airport where there is always free wifi.

[umtali]

If the speed of the internet is a pre-requisite of a cruise, then don't do it!!

[winegirl]

We go on cruises/vacations to get away from the Internet, the boss, the office and the 24 hour "on call" status that most employees endure today. If I see my spouse look at his Blackberry for work related reasons while on our cruise, it will meet a scurvy end in Davey Jones locker.

[Paulchili]

We go on cruises/vacations to get away from the Internet, the boss, the office and the 24 hour "on call" status that most employees endure today.

 

I am very happy for you and that is your choice.

However, many people must keep in touch with either their families or their business, not by choice but by necessity.

They have the right to expect reasonable accommodation of their needs - i.e. "working" internet connections.

This is not to mention those people who actually choose to use the internet of their free will (even without your approval) - they too have the right to expect reasonable connections.

Some people go on vacations to eat, some to drink, some to sightsee, some to rest by the pool and others to spend free time on the internet.

They are all correct choices for them - to each his/her own; no one single choice is better than the next :).

[pacheco18]

My Blackberry works at sea 24/7 and costs next to nothing. T Mobile offers UNLIMITED international data (email and internet) for $19 a month and it is prorated for the time you need it. Activate it only for the dates you travel. I am connected flawlessly 24/7 on ship and on land without pay those ridiculous on board internet access fees. Sweet.

[Mura]

It seems that we all have different needs and desires in this as in many other things.

 

When my husband was working (granted, we weren't cruising then) he was delighted to be out of reach of the office. But he didn't own the company either.

 

On the other hand, we both have very elderly relatives not in the greatest health, and so we want to be able to get news if it's important. And I won't go so far as to say that just because someone wants a "business" contact that it is NOT important.

 

Still, the only times that we have not been reachable on a cruise were when we were in areas unreachable by satellite. That usually has been on a transatlantic where coverage just isn't always universal, but I believe that when we did the Buenos Aires-Santiago cruise in 2001 (NOT on Oceania) there were times when internet wasn't available.

 

But I don't recall the system ever being totally down other than that we were out of the area. This affected TV reception as well.

 

My cable at home goes down every now and then. It's very frustrating at the time but I don't say I'm cancelling my account whenever that happens.

[LAexNY]

I am very happy for you and that is your choice.

However, many people must keep in touch with either their families or their business, not by choice but by necessity.

They have the right to expect reasonable accommodation of their needs - i.e. "working" internet connections.

This is not to mention those people who actually choose to use the internet of their free will (even without your approval) - they too have the right to expect reasonable connections.

:).

 

Where do you think this "right" comes from? The Constitution? God-given?

[roothy123]

I don't honestly know what "slow" is when it comes to the internet. However, I don't consider Oceania's internet connection to be slow, at least not in the areas where we've cruised (Med, Caribbean, Panama Canal). No, it's not QUITE as fast as what I'm used to at home (DC area with Verizon Fios), but it's not like it takes ten minutes to print a boarding pass or anything like that! Considering that you're on a ship, I didn't find it slow at all - but perhaps someone currently on board can give us an idea of how long things take - for example, to log on and access a Google screen, to go to cruise critic and respond to this thread, or whatever!

 

I found the computer manager (Christine on our Jan. cruise) to be very upfront about how long things take, how much it might cost, etc., which I thought was great. I don't remember any instances when the internet was "off-line," so I wouldn't worry about that.

 

I am planning to buy a netbook this summer, so I guess my days of sitting in the computer lab (or in the library, using the computers there) are over!

 

As to non-functioning things in the laundry room, in January everything was "on line." Then again, I only visited once or twice (to iron), so who knows what was going on in there??!

[Paulchili]

Where do you think this "right" comes from? The Constitution? God-given?

 

This "right" comes from paying the exorbitant price for the internet :)

It's not unreasonable to expect good service/product when paying good money, is it?

[Paulchili]

I don't honestly know what "slow" is when it comes to the internet. However, I don't consider Oceania's internet connection to be slow, at least not in the areas where we've cruised (Med, Caribbean, Panama Canal). No, it's not QUITE as fast as what I'm used to at home (DC area with Verizon Fios), but it's not like it takes ten minutes to print a boarding pass or anything like that! Considering that you're on a ship, I didn't find it slow at all

 

Of course it would not be fair to compare the internet speed to that one gets at home. However, it is fair to compare it to the speed one gets on other cruise lines. Due to our status on Princess we get a lot of free time on the internet and use it often. Thus I am in a good position to compare it to the speed on Oceania and there is simply no comparison.

Bottom line - I love Oceania for many things, but internet is not one of them. I know that it can be better and by discussing these issues I hope that things will improve.

JMO.