Regatta - Holiday Cruise

[easton64]

We were on the Regatta Holiday Cruise from Miami. We have cruised Oceania many times and have always enjoyed it.

We had a wonderful time. Food was great, as always.

My one concern was that I think it was short staffed - especially in the main dining room. I think perhaps because they were transferring some to the Marina. It was disappointing to have such a rush in there.

We hope to cruise again soon and will be interested if there is a difference.

Many people were disappointed in the entertainment but I know that is not a priority for Oceania.

[quivet c]

We were on this cruise and I totally agree with you regarding the MDR service, they were understaffed and the Marina is no excuse. I do not fault the ship crew the worked hard. To me this was an issue caused by corporate management namely Frank Del Rio and Bob Binder who from what I have heard are only focused on their new ship Marina. It was clear to me and my fellow travelers that all the staff were not happy about how much staff was shifted to the Marina. I really hope Oceania does not lose focus of its R-class ships as a result of the Marina class, after all it is the great food and service that makes me want to cruise on Oceania. That said I am seriously thinking about cruising about Azamara again next time as the perks and credits are much better than Oceania.

 

Regarding the Entertainment it was bad but, the shows magician Harry Maurer put on were pretty good. Everything else was terrible but lets face it entertainment is not why we cruise with Oceania.

[Cruise Junky]

We had friends on the amazon sailing before yours. They were in the owners suite, first time on Oceania. They said it was so bad they'd never sail Oceania again. I'd be pretty pissed if I'd spent $40,000 on a cabin and had the issues they did.

[LHT28]

We had friends on the amazon sailing before yours. They were in the owners suite, first time on Oceania. They said it was so bad they'd never sail Oceania again. I'd be pretty pissed if I'd spent $40,000 on a cabin and had the issues they did.

 

Care to share what the problems were?

 

I can see one if they paid $40,000 the 2 for 1 rate was less than $16,000 pp

[Cruise Junky]

Care to share what the problems were?

 

I can see one if they paid $40,000 the 2 for 1 rate was less than $16,000 pp

 

I think they paid $17,000 + Canadian at the time, they also had a Cabana and paid for their own First Class Air. Comes close to $40,000.

 

They said the staff (other than their butler) were pretty pathetic..Deer in headlights was I think the term they used. Terribly slow service at dinner, 35 minutes to get a pot of hot water for tea. Their list was pretty long of complaints...some I give credence to and some I take with a grain of salt. They did say the same thing as the OP, lack of staff or new staff because the regulars had been transferred to Marina.

 

They are regular cruisers... over 300 days on HAL, they've done Celebrity, RCI, Princess so they're not rookies. Next up for them is 14 days on Seabourn, will be interesting to see what they think. I was pretty shocked about their comments on Regatta.

[LHT28]

I

They said the staff (other than their butler) were pretty pathetic..Deer in headlights was I think the term they used. Terribly slow service at dinner, 35 minutes to get a pot of hot water for tea. Their list was pretty long of complaints...some I give credence to and some I take with a grain of salt. They did say the same thing as the OP, lack of staff or new staff because the regulars had been transferred to Marina.

 

 

We had some new staff in August & I have to agree they were lost sometimes. The experienced staff were trying to pick up the slack as they tried to show the new recruits what to do

I do not think the crew was taken to the Marina till after Christmas some were going the end of December.

 

Just a thought

I wonder if there is a lack of crew available with all the new ships coming out this year :confused:

Many do not want to leave their families for 8-10 months at a time plus the long hours they have to work

 

Time will tell

[quivet c]

I was told that Marina had to be fully staffed by December 15th. That said the service was not bad on our cruise it just was not up to the Oceania standard we are used to in the MDR. The head waiters had to do the job of the waiters and assistant waiters in many cases, since the waiters and assistant waiters were so busy. Like I said before Marina is no excuse for sub-par service as cruise lines get a premium for holiday cruises and to under staff the MDR on one of the busiest cruises of the year is inexcusable.

[easton64]

I wonder how the following cruise to this one was??? I think a lot of people are not going to be happy cruisers if this continues till they are full staffed again.

Regatta will go into dry dock after this cruise. Just curious what the actual changes will be?

[susiesan]

My cruise Feb. 25 is after the refurb/drydock, so I hope they've planned to restaff Regatta with the full compliment of people. Since I chose to do this itinerary with O and not AZ I will be miffed if O's service is lacking, as the slightly better service is what tipped me back into the O column from AZ.

[CA2CO]

We had the same experience on the Regatta holiday cruise- O service not the same as we experienced in the past. Last year the service on our O holiday cruise on Insignia in South America was a 10. This year maybe an 8? We actually had the worst service at breakfast and lunch in the Terrace Cafe. It was almost impossible to get a refill of coffee or water, sometimes never got a tea or hot chocolate we ordered, never had a drink order taken, or water poured, several days at lunch, and the cabana service was not at all like what we experienced last year. I loved the staff last year, and even left a sizable extra overall tip and plenty of extra individual tips. We still really enjoyed our cruise overall, and found the staff to be incredibly hard working, they just seemed overwhelmed and under staffed at times.