Oceania- NEVER AGAIN !!!

[StanandJim]

Oceania's closest competitor, Azamara Club Cruises, now includes complimentary, unlimited use of the laundry room(s) onboard, according to Larry Pimental, President & CEO. He did a Q&A on Cruise Critic this past February.

 

Crystal Cruises offers the same free laundry, has many laundry rooms onboard, but then Crystal is a luxury cruise line, not "deluxe" or "premier".

 

As long as we are comparing Luxury, Deluxe and Premier, let me make it clear that Azamara is not in the same league as Oceania, although they do their best to play up that angle.

Crystal is very close, but at a VERY different price point.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I'm an outside observer, and this is very interesting. I'm currently a Regent cruiser and fan, with hopes of trying Oceania in future.

 

Most of the stuff on the OP's list I know about, and some is no different from Regent.

 

Internet--I understand that O is bad in this respect, tough to compare since I've had free internet on Regent for a long time. I don't make much use of it anyways.

 

Specialty restos--same thing on Regent; they try to guarantee one visit per 7-day cruise per cabin, but you can usually get in more often if you wander by and get a cancellation, and sometimes you can make a second reservation--no biggy, the main restaurant is wonderful.

 

Laundry--Regent does not charge and it seems to me petty that O does. But I try to do as little laundry on a cruise as possible, so rarely use it.

 

Shuttles have always seemed to me the worst thing. Regent always does this when it's appropriate, and I can't understand Oceania not providing them. It smacks of cheapness, not "premium", let alone luxury.

 

Regent entertainment is way too glitzy for me, I don't like it, but really don't care. If they have a good lounge pianist I'm usually happy.

[dino2067]

One poster couldn't understand my complaint about the speciality restaurants being half empty while the dining room was jam packed and noisy. Let me explain. My point wasn't that the specialty restaurants were too quiet (hopefully you understood that). My point was that they will not make an effort to accomodate more people who want to eat in them and hold to their restrictions and allowance of "x" times per cabin per cruise. Why do they only take 40 people out of 100 seats for their 6:30 seating ?

 

The reason:

 

There are NOT "fixed" seating times for dining as you may be used to on some other cruise lines and which it sounds, based upon the tone of above, is what you prefer. If Oceania were to fill all those tables at 6:30PM there would be NO reservations until 8:30PM at the earliest...simple as that.

 

Would you prefer to be asked to "vacate you table" if you happened to be lingering past the appointed time of the next seating??

 

Is it possibly because the food in those restaurants (lobster, filet mignon, shrimp cocktails, etc) is more expensive than the pre-prepared plates in the main dining room ?

 

Frankly, to me this doesn't hold much credence since the food from the specialty restaurants can certainly be ordered in-suite by those in PH and higher categories. I've not seen "skimping" as this is alluding to even at the "lowly" Tapas level...assuming that you have dined there.

 

Kathleen

[Paulchili]

Laundry--Regent does not charge and it seems to me petty that O does. But I try to do as little laundry on a cruise as possible, so rarely use it.

 

Shuttles have always seemed to me the worst thing. Regent always does this when it's appropriate, and I can't understand Oceania not providing them. It smacks of cheapness, not "premium", let alone luxury.

 

 

Wendy,

As you know, Regent is "all inclusive" and Oceania is not. The all inclusive label includes a lot of things, among them are the shuttles (and laundry).

As you have discussed on the Regent board, there is a premium one has to pay for the "all inclusive" nature of Regent (and other luxury lines).

I am sure Oceania could provide shuttles but that would raise the prices (as ALL services do). You may be willing to pay that extra to have the shuttles provided, but others may not (as they like to do their "own thing" in ports).

One has the choice of Regent or Oceania, such as they are :)

Paul

[VIRGINIA ARTIE]

We were also on the Voyager 07 cruise, and have cruised Regent every year for many years. On the 2009 cruise , we experienced the best staff we have ever met!:D (also met Mark Conroy). However the rest of the cruise was not "luxury", let alone "premium":eek:

We do not need inclusive alcohol and excursions. The Oceania experience is what we are looking for, and thus have switched lines. No shuttle at port courtesy of the line does not make the ship less "premium or "luxury". The ship that meets your expectations does.

May you always enjoy your Regent cruises, and may your expectations always be met.

[BlewWater]

 

 

7. Hygiene- In the upstairs buffet, they have a guy making pizza. Not once, but TWICE we found him preparing pizza without wearing gloves and on one occassion actually sneezed into his hands and wiped it on his sleeve. Sound tempting?

 

I'm not obsessive/compulsive, but consider myself more of a germophobe than the average person. Seeing this would have irked me also! Unfortunately I have seen examples of things like this on almost EVERY cruise I have been on. Absolutely not unique to Oceania (or to the cruise industry, for that matter).

 

However, I see it much more frequently from fellow passengers than from cruise staff. The things some people do in the food line boggles the mind.

 

Being only a one-time Oceania cruiser, I don't know if I'm remembering correctly, but I seem to remember that Oceania food staff dished up our food rather than the usual serve-yourself style. This nice touch minimized the issue of other passengers' unappetizing behaviors.

[caribbeansun]

+1 - indeed and yuck I might add!

 

The things some people do in the food line boggles the mind.

[juli2020]

Give the guy a break! yes, he had a bad experience and is venting. But if you take time to look at some of his comments such as lack of courtesy buses in ports and $2 for a load of clothes in a washer, maybe he has some valid points. It is interesting on the CC boards, regardless of the cruise line involved, the "do no wrong" loyalists will flame anyone who dares to post a negative comment. Lighten-up and be willing to listen. You might learn something.

 

I agree with you. If anyone dares to post anything negative about Oceania....the poster will get attacked. This happened to a couple of posters that had negative comments regarding the Christmas/New Year's cruise on the Regatta last year.

I do agree that the main dining room is way too crowded....the tables are to close to each other.

The internet is extremely slow and expensive compared to other cruise lines.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Wendy,

I am sure Oceania could provide shuttles but that would raise the prices (as ALL services do). You may be willing to pay that extra to have the shuttles provided, but others may not (as they like to do their "own thing" in ports).

One has the choice of Regent or Oceania, such as they are :)

Paul

 

Yes, I understand. So do they then provide shuttles for a small cost? I.e., are there shuttles available at all? If not, why not?

 

 

As for the horrible (lack of) hygiene story, I hope the OP reported this person to some higher-up? I certainly would, after castigating the server himself. This is truly disgusting, but sounds like bad training.

[Paulchili]

Yes, I understand. So do they then provide shuttles for a small cost? I.e., are there shuttles available at all? If not, why not?

 

Yes, they often provide shuttles for a fee (IIRC)

[orchestrapal]

Yes, they often provide shuttles for a fee (IIRC)

 

We actually had several Free shuttles on our b-b's this Spring.:)

[Paulchili]

I agree with you. If anyone dares to post anything negative about Oceania....the poster will get attacked. This happened to a couple of posters that had negative comments regarding the Christmas/New Year's cruise on the Regatta last year.

I do agree that the main dining room is way too crowded....the tables are to close to each other.

The internet is extremely slow and expensive compared to other cruise lines.

 

juli2020,

You are right up to a point - negative reviews are not received well here.

Speaking for myself (and perhaps for some of others) it was not that the OP didn't like some aspects of Oceania that I objected to (many of which are well documented - expensive, slow internet, no shuttles, type of entertainment), but rather it was the tone of the post, which I still qualify as a rant. Much of it was written in anger and not rational. Most of us would accept that the OP didn't care for some aspect of the cruise but to state that this was BY FAR the worst cruise of 60+ cruises (that included such lines as NCL, etc) simply did not ring true and to me made the OP less credible.

We all have commented on various aspects of Oceania that we feel could be improved (some of them he mentioned, others are like the shore excursion team, etc) but despite that few of us would say that Oceania is the worst cruise by far that we ever took.

I would have accepted a rational review, pointing out both the "good and the bad" aspects of the cruise, because there surely had to be both of those present during his cruise. Many of us still might have disagreed with his experiences as our experiences might have been different, but it would have been a critique and not a rant.

JMO

[LuAnn]

Gee, and I alwys thought it was "frankly scallop, I could give a clam":D

 

You are TOO Much!!!! Love it!!! LuAnn

[Emdee]

I am one of those passengers who has had a less than desirable cruise on O.

I am an experienced cruiser with over thirty cruises on both the mainstream and luxury segment so why then was my first posting about my less than tolerable O experience also considered a rant. The O cheerleaders are particularly territorial.....jmo

 

I disagree with the OP regarding the speciality restaurants. The staff were wonderful and food excellent. Although we were in a lowly balcony cabin and not a suite they regularly gave us a call if they had a vacancy and in the 15 days we dined a number of times in both restaurants.

 

I agree with the OP about the inflexibility in the dining room. I have received a much higher level of service and a great deal more warmth on RCCL. I also found the food in the MDR boring. Staff warmth comes from the ship's culture and we love that about Regent and RCCL. Maybe it was just a bad cruise that we were on but this is our opinion for what it is worth. The OP should have requested to be seated with the same staff.

 

I had hoped to take to O with their smaller ships and wonderful itineraries but after the experience beat a hasty retreat to the familiar products - Regent, RCCL and Celebrity. I will be trying out Azamara this fall and maybe Seabourn in the near future.

 

I havent been back on O since my last experience in 2008. Maybe a wonderful itinerary will entice me back someday and I shall find that my experience was isolated. I love the look of the Marina and they are doing a great job with the fancy new brochures.

[KCRC]

We just booked our first O cruise (3/11/2011 Beijing to Hong Kong). We sailed Regent 2x in past and had a wonderful experience both times. We used CC forums to research Regent back then and O now. Just came across this OP and was taken back a bit....until I read the overwhelming number of responses supporting O. Perhaps OP started with one negative experience on O. Unfortunately other small issues then seem to be magnified and people tend to look for the "worst" in the balance of the trip. I don't know what happened but I am following the large positive consensus and expect a great time on O. We know the differences between Regent & O so will not be in for any surprises.

Re shore excursions for O and Asia in particular, can anyone offer honest opinions about quality and content. It seems to be one area where O receives low marks from CC and Conde Nast.

[hondorner]

I appreciate OP’s post and frankly it has me a bit worried.

These are the posts that make me most sad when I read a message like the one from the original poster.

 

I has nothing to do with the OP's right to complain. It has much to do with the relative seriousness of those complaint, and everything to do with the inaccuracies scattered through that post.

 

Those have been well documented throughout this thread, in a generally civil manner (I saw no "attacks"), so they don't need to be repeated.

 

What saddens me is that one such complaint would cause so much concern in the face of the overwhelming reports that have the opposite. Why choose to"worry" about one overwrought account?

[burm]

I find it interseting that many seem to be put off by a "first time poster". Were each of you not a "first time poster" at one time ?

 

 

I don't think the problem is really with "first time posters" but posters who come out of nowhere only for the purpose of talking trash, then disappear.

 

Most newcomers to Cruise Critic are actually extremely positive. Some are experienced cruisers who are delighted to find a place where they can share their addiction with like minded individuals and others are recent converts to cruising who are thrilled to discover this very valuable resource tool.

 

It is true that Oceania does not have the most sophisticated entertainment on the seas but I think they do a pretty decent job. I especially like the fact that you can walk into the lounge at the very last minute and still find a couple of excellent seats. Also, on these smaller ships you usually get to know the performers and that makes their performances all the more enjoyable.

[eddmel]

We just booked our first O cruise (3/11/2011 Beijing to Hong Kong). We sailed Regent 2x in past and had a wonderful experience both times. We used CC forums to research Regent back then and O now. Just came across this OP and was taken back a bit....until I read the overwhelming number of responses supporting O. Perhaps OP started with one negative experience on O. Unfortunately other small issues then seem to be magnified and people tend to look for the "worst" in the balance of the trip. I don't know what happened but I am following the large positive consensus and expect a great time on O. We know the differences between Regent & O so will not be in for any surprises.

Re shore excursions for O and Asia in particular, can anyone offer honest opinions about quality and content. It seems to be one area where O receives low marks from CC and Conde Nast.

We took this trip in 2008 and were very satisfied with the quality of O shore excursions.

[yorkiemomjn]

 

We have only taken one Oceania cruise also, but we fell in love with almost everything about it. If anyone has read any of my posts, they know that.:o I have been very enthusiastic with my praise. You remembered correctly, the staff does serve the food in Tapas. :)

[yorkiemomjn]

juli2020,

You are right up to a point - negative reviews are not received well here.

Speaking for myself (and perhaps for some of others) it was not that the OP didn't like some aspects of Oceania that I objected to (many of which are well documented - expensive, slow internet, no shuttles, type of entertainment), but rather it was the tone of the post, which I still qualify as a rant. Much of it was written in anger and not rational. Most of us would accept that the OP didn't care for some aspect of the cruise but to state that this was BY FAR the worst cruise of 60+ cruises (that included such lines as NCL, etc) simply did not ring true and to me made the OP less credible.

We all have commented on various aspects of Oceania that we feel could be improved (some of them he mentioned, others are like the shore excursion team, etc) but despite that few of us would say that Oceania is the worst cruise by far that we ever took.

I would have accepted a rational review, pointing out both the "good and the bad" aspects of the cruise, because there surely had to be both of those present during his cruise. Many of us still might have disagreed with his experiences as our experiences might have been different, but it would have been a critique and not a rant.

JMO

 

I apologize for telling the OP that he just needed to go back to Crystal. That was rude of me, but Paul, you are exactly right, the part about O being BY FAR the worse cruise of 60+ cruises was what got me going............ There is no possible way that statement could be true!!

 

[cruisingallthe time]

First - let me say that I have not "written one post and then disappeared" as some may have suggested. I am back to make a few comments on the many posts that have been written, most of which I have found quite interesting.

 

1. I did NOT, in any post, say that the food and service were poor in the specialty restaurants as one or two of you wrote. To the contrary. I posted saying that the food and service are excellent in those two restaurants. My complaint was that paying the price of a penthouse (close to $1000 a day for two people) we did not appreciate being restricted to how often we could eat there instead of the main dining room. If you read their brochure, it clearly states that a PH catagory will have a MINIMUM - repeat- MINIMUM, or 4 times in those restaurants . Instead, it turned out to be a MAXIMUM. And, yes, if you want to run upstairs every single morning at 7:30 a.m. and wait by the little stand to see if you can beg for an extra night if someone cancels, that is clearly a possibility. However, and to answer another poster- Yes- I would be thrilled to pay $20 a night to be able to eat in whichever restaurant I would like to eat in. I get few vacations a year and when I do, I just don't want to have restrictions like this. On one hand several posters discuss how insignificant the laundry charges are (which they are and that was never my point to begin with. My point being how petty this was to charge passengers $2 to use a dryer. After all- is this such a huge revenue producer for the cruise line that they can't simply provide this amenity to their passengers ??), but on the other hand these same posters are thrilled that they don't have to pay $20 to eat in a far superior restaurant atmosphere and food quality than the MDR. I honestly can't figure out that logic.

 

2. The MAIN point I would like to stress, if I may, is one that I rasied earlier. Rather than beating up on a poster because YOU may not use or care about a certain service or lack thereof, wouldn't it make more sense to ask yourself " Would offering these services that the poster complained about make O a better cruise line for more passengers to appreciate ?". For example- some people wrote that they "don't care about the internet because we don't use it anyway" - but how about the passengers that have ill family members back home, or businesspeople that have to stay in touch with their offices- these people DO need to use the internet quite a bit ? , or "we don't care about the sauna in the spa", or "we don't want to wait in line for a shuttle into town because we go ourselves", etc etc. Well-- what about the passengers that DO care . What about the elderly people who feel safer and more comfortable knowing that they can be brought into the town center, have an enjoyable few hours strolling in town and knowing exactly where they will be picked up, instead of telling them to find taxis back and make sure to be on time. Whether it's the outrageous internet charges of roughly $1 a minute, or the lack of shuttle services, or the poor level of entertainment, etc-- A cruise line that can be a really great cruise line is one that can provide all of these things to their passengers and not just pass out Fodor's map photocopies each night.

 

3. Entertainment- One night they had their Senior Prom Night. I wish I knew how to post an image on this site because I do have one that you may be interested to see. There were a grand total of 2 couples on the dance floor for most of the night . Music was boring as was the atmosphere. If you tell me how to post an image I will be glad to do so.

 

One final word. On the last night of the cruise they had their farewell show with the cruise staff. The cruise director, David, asked a few questions to get people applauding and then his final question was "Are we going to see you all back here real soon ?". Whether or not any of you want to believe this or not, the fact is that less then 1/4 of the room clapped to this question. Interpret this as you may.

 

Again- There is really no point beating up on a poster who is simply outlining their cruise experience that you may disagree with because all that accomplishes is to discourage people from posting and having a fair and honest dialogue with other posters about their experiences- both positive AND negative. If all that happens is that they get criticized for their comments, or for the "tone" of their comments, or for the "way they wrote their comments" just because someone disagrees with the comments, it will simply discourage others from joining in. Hopefuly we can all agree on at least this point :).

 

Happy cruising and God Bless this wonderful country of ours.

[cruisingallthe time]

Ok- perhaps that was a simplified exaggeration -- the same type that many people use when they say things such as "that was the worst meal I ever had", or " this was the worst hotel I've ever seen", or " this has got to be the worst football team ever". Have none of you ever made statements like that before ? We can't always take things like that so literally. But I will say that it definitely ranks amongst the most disappointing and frustrating cruise experiences we've had.

[Imagineer]

...sorry, crusingallthe time, but I have to jump in here and point something out. Several posters have already informed you that its seems obvious that you didn't fully do your homework before signing up for an Oceania cruise. Its easily apparent if you do a bit of research beforehand that Oceania does NOT have show style entertainment, or much in the way of a casino, or that many stores, it is after all a small ship catering to 650 people as opposed to the average that used to be 1600 but is rapidly increasing each time a new mega ship is launched. I'm not aware of any of the smaller ships that have large casino's or vegas style shows. We were on the Regatta two years ago and there was never any moment where anyone was herded like cattle, so I don't know where you came up with that one. And I don't know what you define as a fixed menu, we certainly managed to obtain quite a variety each night we were in the main dining room - and you can request where you wish to be seated and whom you'd prefer to have as your server. I'm also not aware of many lines that offer free shuttle service - as someone already pointed out, try that with 3000+ passengers...

...its rather clear that Oceania is certainly not your "cup of tea", so move on or go back to whichever line you've preferred before and enjoy your next cruise. My wife and I had the absolutely best cruise we've ever been on while aboard the same ship you've managed to tarnish quite nicely. It would be rather interesting to hear what some of the other ships were that you're comparing Oceania's ship with...

 

cheers,

 

the Imagineer

[Paulchili]

cruisingallthe time,

You are right about beating a dead horse - so this is my last lash.

If you were ever to try Oceania again (does not sound very likely) and had a PH suite, you could have your butler do ALL the work for you, including making reservations in the specialty restaurant (so that you would not have to run every day upstairs at 7:30).

That is one of the many functions of your butler and you are indeed paying for that. If you had done your research, you would have known that - at least you know it now.

I understand that Oceania is not to everyone's liking (I certainly love it), so you should choose a line that you know well and where you will be happy; consider this a learning experience. After all, cruises do cost a lot of money and one should spend the time enjoying one self rather than being frustrated.

I know that I was really unhappy on Cunard, yet I also know that many people love it. That was my learning experience.

Happy sailings :)!

[brian_uk]

I really tried to keep out of this but sorry PaulChill I think your comments are unnacceptable. To even suggest that IF the OP had booked a better cabin would have resulted in better treatment. Nobody should test anyone elses pocket and that is really not the hub of the complaints.

 

I have had a Butler on all my Cruises and have found them often to be unhelpful......no need for any comments......just stating my view. I have found that the best way is to speak to the Maitre d' and the problem is solved as best as he can do.

 

We are back on O in a few weeks after a 3 year absence and will see for ourselves and form our own views and report back as usual.

 

I have always found that on any review site, if you discount the very best and very worst reviews you will get a fair overall picture. It is interesting that ALL the longest threads are when a new Poster dares to criticise any Line.

 

Brian