Bruin Steve Posted May 16, 2011 #1 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Well...Oceania has my blood pressure boiling today... I was checking out my reservation on the website and went into the Shore Excursion area... I noticed my excursion in Casablanca, "The Architectural Heritage of Casablanca", which I booked and paid for months ago, was missing... I thought it must be some sort of computer error, so I called the 800 number and they informed me that it had been CANCELED... Apparently, this happened almost a month ago...yet I was never notified! To make matters worse, the excursion that would have been our second choice--the "Oceania Choice - Highlights of Casablanca" was now sold out...and there would be four people ahead of us on the "Wait List"... The only available excursion in Casablanca, at present is the big bus Highlights of Casablanca tour... Even finding all of this out took some doing... When I called the 800 number, I first got a guy named "Gabe" who couldn't even get into my reservation, then put me on hold for 10 minutes and disappeared... Then I got John who, basically, told me all of this and said "tough luck" and signed me up for the big bus tour...This guy was NOT a very pleasant PR face for Oceania...' So I called back again and got a "Nicole" who told me she would personally look into if there was any way for them to arrange for one additional small group tour... Apparently, they have 30 places total in this tour plus the wait list... The actual quality of the shorexes IS beyond O's control...They contract for these with local providers in every port--as do all of the other cruise lines...In fact, most of them contract with the SAME local providers in each port... The quality of a shorex can vary port to port based on the provider... Over the years, we have had some exceptional shorexes...I remember distinctly two back-to-back ports while on Celebrity Millennium in 2003...We had a shorex to San Gimignano and Volterra from Livorno that had less than 20 people...the highlight was a winery tour where they served us an incredible lunch in the wine cellar in San Gim...The next port, we had 11 people on our Rome shorex--with two guides--easily the equivalent of any private tour...On the O Nautica, we did an outstanding shorex --lunch at a local farm/winery--in Dubrovnik... Of course, we also had some of the worst tours ever on shore excursions--including the guide in Gdansk who seemingly purposely lost half our group...and the guide in Monte Carlo who didn't show up at the appointed place after "free time" because it was "too hot"... But, private tours can also be hit and miss...We had a guide on a private tour in Berlin who lost the driver--and didn't carry a cell phone or phone numbers to be able to find him! What Oceania is more responsible for is the coordination and scheduling of their shorexes... Now, this is an issue with the smaller ships--it's the customer base size... You are limited by the number of passengers...and the fact that only a percentage of them will take Shorexes in any port. Let's say, reasonably, only half of the passengers, on the average, will take shorexes in an average port. When you have 2,800 passengers, like a Celebrity S-Class ship, this means you are loading 1,400 people onto shorexes in "Port X"...You might offer 10 different choices and, on the average, have 140 people sign up for each one. Some may be very popular choices and have 300 or 400 while others have only 30 or 40 sign up...No problem, chances are all of your shorexes go off as planned... But, if like the R-ships on O, you have only 680 passengers, you likely have only 340 on shorexes...It's hard to offer 10 choices...Even if you offer only 5 choices, you may have one or two that don't justify a bus and a guide and a driver... So, on O, you generally get fewer choices...and a greater risk of cancelation... It makes booking a shorex with O a far riskier bit of speculation... Especially for us...We've been to a lot of places...so, we typically look for some more out of the ordinary shorexes... The typical "standard tour" shorexes are the ones that seem to be guaranteed...the ones that always get the largrer numbers... In a way, we like the chances of our shorex being "undersubscribed"--at least on OTHER cruise lines...Celebrity, for example, seems able and willing to adjust. Where we only had 11 sign up for our shorex in Rome, rather than cancel it, they adapted--putting us on a smaller minibus but going ahead as scheduled. It may have even changed the economics of the tour as a business proposition...but either Celebrity ate the loss...or the local tour company did since they relied on enough bookings from Celebrity that they wanted to keep them happy...Either way, it worked out for us--we get a great, almost "private" tour... But, Oceania seems very quick to just cancel any undersubscribed shorex...and, more disturbing is that they seem likely to do it at any time--often with the worst timing--and with zero communication... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted May 16, 2011 #2 Share Posted May 16, 2011 A couple of thoughts. First, why not have your TA take care of all this for you instead of suffering through the drama yourself? Second, your experience is exactly why I would NEVER prebook and prepay an excursion. Most of them can be had onboard. If there is anything you especially want to see or do I still think a private tour is best. That way you're guaranteed it will take place. Sorry you're having to go through all this but shore excursions have never been one of O's strengths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruin Steve Posted May 16, 2011 Author #3 Share Posted May 16, 2011 A couple of thoughts. First, why not have your TA take care of all this for you instead of suffering through the drama yourself? Second, your experience is exactly why I would NEVER prebook and prepay an excursion. Most of them can be had onboard. If there is anything you especially want to see or do I still think a private tour is best. That way you're guaranteed it will take place. Sorry you're having to go through all this but shore excursions have never been one of O's strengths. This one, for certain reasons, was not booked through my TA...So, I am on my own here... As to the private tour vs. excursion thing, we initially researched private tours here... Unfortunately, due to the relatively short time in port, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, the tour window is, practically, only about five or five and a half hours...the private guides we were able to find price their services based on a "full day" and so each ended up running around twice the cost per person of a shore excursion...One also has to add in the uncertainty swirling around the current political climate in the Arab world--and there is a certain security in booking through the ship here, whether real or merely perceptual... As to waiting until one is onboard, I have found there is little benefit to that...In this case, were there only the two choices--"Highlights" and "Oceania Choice - Highlights", waiting does no good as the better choice sold out...There is no disincentive to booking early as you can always cancel or change later--if something is available...And "tying up" a mere couple of hundred dollars for a few months is immaterial to me--my funds are not that tight and the interest lost is miniscule...If I have to cancel, I get my money refunded... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Line Dancer Posted May 16, 2011 #4 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I will echo my displeasure with my one and only experience in calling O direct. It was over this past weekend and my TA was not at work. I feared my cruise documents had been misplaced, as others on our cruise had received them some 10 days earlier. After putting forth a very simple question as to status of my cruise documents, the abrupt response was ...."they have been sent to your travel agent"...then a sudden 'click' of the phone without any acknowledgement on my part. Wow...what a disappointing PR encounter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted May 16, 2011 #5 Share Posted May 16, 2011 From the few comments here plus many others at various times elsewhere, it sounds like O still isn't doing proper training of their customer service reps. I guess they aren't aware they are in a service industry. As to booking on board, it's certainly worth a try. I can't believe they really sell out tours before people get on board. Most of the passengers I've met on board have (for the most part) NOT been computer literate. If you lock out everyone who doesn't know about computers or the webpage, you tend to create a lot of unhappy customers. As they have with Bruin Steve. I was going to suggest a couple of guides we've used in Casablanca, but it sounds like Steve has discovered a private tour isn't in the cards this time. Have you visited the orthodox temple? It's a lovely place but it tends to be locked. I don't know if individuals could gain entry, although from my memory it isn't far from the port. On our first visit to Casablanca we did take the standard tour (this was with Renaissance but I think they still offer the same tour). We noticed that it wasn't a long walk to get up into the market area which does have a number of sights to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted May 16, 2011 #6 Share Posted May 16, 2011 This one, for certain reasons, was not booked through my TA...So, I am on my own here... Steve, I think I know why you did not go through a TA this time ;). Sorry about your bad experience - as you know shorex is not O's strength - I could tell you a story or two myself, but that's not relevant here. Did they refund the money to your credit card - as promptly as they charged it when you booked it? If they had, that might have been your first clue; if they haven't - shame on them. If they had informed you about the cancelation in a timely manner, you might have been able to book the alternate tour you wanted. There aren't that many sight in Casablanca - most of Moroccan treasures are outside of Casablanca. I think you are right about going with the ship and I think in the end you'll be fine but the experience is a bitter one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted May 16, 2011 #7 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I agree with Paulchili about the merits of Casablanca. We've been there three times which is perhaps two times too many. On one of those trips we went to Rabat, which didn't please me that much either. Too bad we couldn't get to Marrakesh from the port! (I rather preferred Tangiers but we haven't been there so many times.) The Casablanca Mosque is not to be missed (but you need a tour inside and timing can be tricky). The synagogue I mentioned is worth a visit, as is the market place and the local town hall nearby. But it's pretty much a big, dirty city. (There is a good shopping place if you're looking for good prices, some leather goods, lots of touristic purchases. We made a special trip back there on our last visit so we could replace a leather bag ...) I'd stay on board the ship unless you have never been there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peapod2 Posted May 17, 2011 #8 Share Posted May 17, 2011 This thread has me concerned and confirms growing fears I've been experiencing about Oceania and its shore excursions department. I was extremely disappointed to learn that, for our upcoming first cruise with Oceania on Marina in a couple of months, several of their most basic, generic-type city tours had already been reduced to "waitlist" more than two months prior to sailing date, rather than remaining available. These are NOT the kind of tours for which it should be difficult for O. to simply, and immediately, arrange to add on more tour buses as needed to accommodate the requests of their passengers, and yet O. has apparently not yet made the effort to do so. (We've called back to check and so far the excursions are still waitlisted.) The agent on the phone said they would probably add capacity at some future date and that at that time they would contact us, but I find that (noncommittal and purely hypothetical) "reassurance" less than satisfactory and hardly something to feel comfortable relying upon. We've previously sailed luxury lines and mass market lines, smaller ships and larger ships, and have never before experienced anything close to this level of frustrating unhelpfulness with regard to shore excursion planning. I am trying to keep an open mind and hoping O. will actually come through in the end, but I'm feeling increasingly nonoptimistic about what we may have gotten ourselves into with this quite-expensive trip on a new (to us) cruise line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted May 17, 2011 #9 Share Posted May 17, 2011 The worst part is on the cruises where they offer these nice OBCs and then you can't use them for excursions because they have to be prepaid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted May 17, 2011 #10 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Good news - I believe Oceania (and Marina in particular) is not likely to disappoint you in an overall cruising experience - unless something will change between now and when you sail (very unlikely). Bad news - shore excursions (and entertainment) are Oceania's Achilles' tendon. Most people arrange their own excursions for this reason. I am surprised about your post as overpriced shore excursions (together with bar bills) is where Oceania makes most of its profits (AFAIK). Thus it seems strange that they would not be willing to accommodate more people this far in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dolphinmar Posted May 18, 2011 #11 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Hi Wripro, If I understand your comment correctly, if one has already booked two excursions prior to boarding, can a OBC for an excursion not be applied to one's total bill? I had assumed - yeah, I know the old adage about assuming - that O would see that we had paid for two excursions and would then give us the credit. If not, guess I'll have to cancel an excursion onboard and then quickly rebook it....which seems like a lot more work for O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoHoHo Posted May 18, 2011 #12 Share Posted May 18, 2011 The worst part is on the cruises where they offer these nice OBCs and then you can't use them for excursions because they have to be prepaid. Excursions do not have to be paid (booked) before embarkation but there is a risk that if not booked in advance they will be sold out or cancelled due to (apparent or real) lack of interest if one wants to take a chance and use the On Board Credit to pay for them. It sounds like you have had a problem using up generous OBCs. I never imagined myself in such a situation but on Marina's MV in the last couple of days I finally had confirmed that part of the OBC I had left was 'use it or lose it'. While intially not happy that I could not take the cash (too long and boring story why I had more than I had spent at that point) I used it for a 'Stress Relief' massage that afternoon and it worked!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoHoHo Posted May 18, 2011 #13 Share Posted May 18, 2011 As for Excursion Department, or in my case, the related on board 'Destination Services', in my small experience with them I have found them not very good. I certainly agree that a simple email that your booking was canceled was in order. Either they do not care or are poorly organized. Had they let you know in a timely manner you would have been in a better position to make alternate arrangements. Good service is all about good communications and good information. In fact, remove the word 'good'. Lack of communications or incorrect information make any 'service' useless. I was given absolutely outright incorrect information despite checking with them for clarification on a couple of occasions because embarkation timing in Athens was critical for us. The Concierge advised me to confirm with Destination Services. We thought of them several times while standing on the ramp waiting to disembark at 6:00. And anxiously waiting some more ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruin Steve Posted May 18, 2011 Author #14 Share Posted May 18, 2011 First, Let me report that all of this has caused me to revisit the idea of a private small group here... When we first looked into that, another member of our Roll Call contacted guides here and all quoted prices far above the cost of the shore excursions...making that "Oceania Choice" excursion at $129 pp with only 10-16 per group seem like a good option... I have now revisited the search, found additional providers and found one who offered a very competitive price...for a group of six... So, we will, no doubt, go with them...I am still working out the details but have at least one other couple "signed on" and don't think I'll have any trouble finding another to opt out of a shorex... Second, let me say that though Oceania Shore Excursions definitely have some particular issues, problems with cruise line shore excursions departments are not only an Oceania issue... One problem I find with most lines is that when you call the 800 number with specific shorex issues or questions, your call is always handled by someone whose main focus is to book or sell cruises...they tend to know or be able to find out answers of a general nature or answers around reservations and such...but often know little about the shore excursions...and there is never anyone available who has a handle on shorexes... A lot of it is because this is one area of the business that all cruise lines farm out to a myriad of local providers...and those tours do not remain constant season to season...they get a brief blurb from each one about the contents of the tour...and this is what they reprint in brochures and on the website...And the agent you speak with on the phone doesn't have any more information than you do reading it yourself... So, what happens when the website is wrong? We encountered this on another line--on Celebrity--this past summer...We wanted to book a tour in Tallinn to "Rakvere and Tallinn"...Having been to Tallinn before, we thought a visit to Rakvere might add something extra...but we still wanted at least a short visit to Tallinn since we really love the town... Well, in two different places on the Celebrity website, it described the tour entirely differently...In one location, it described a visit to Rakvere--to the distillery for Vodka tasting and to the Rakvere Castle and lunch followed by a short tour and free time in Tallinn...But, in the section where you actually book the trip and pay for it, it described a visit to Rakvere and then a return directly back to the ship!!!.... I called and emailed several times on and off and nobody at Celebrity seemed able to explain it...some suggested we just ask when we get there...A little late, huh? (Turned out that we took our chances--ready to complain if it skipped Tallinn--and it all worked out well)... But, that communication issue is there with Celebrity (and other cruise lines) as well... I don't think anyone is really good at the shore excursion thing... The cruise lines do it because they have to...So many people rely on the cruise line to arrange for options in port...You cannot just dump 700, 2,000 or 4,000 people into the streets of some port to fend for themselves...Most people don't know the places they are visiting and few do the advance research they should...Many book cruise to make everything easy...to have all of the logistics worked out for them... But, since the cruise lines are merely contracting for these services themselves, they don't spend nearly as much time on the details...They only serve as a "middle man"...You find the local tour company that has the requisite number of buses and guides and you say "What can you offer us?"...Then you put it up on your website and start booking tours...until it becomes apparent not enough people signed up for something to justify the bus and guide...or until someone discovers latein the game that you are only in port for 7 hours and the tour requires 8 (Yes, we've had that happen)...or someone discovers that the centerpiece of the tour is closed that day... Of course, at that point, it IS the cruise line's job to jump into action--at a minimum, it should be a computerized email to each purchaser and to travel agents... But, the other things a cruise line should do (since they earn a premium, basically for coordination and sales) is to set up their contracts a little differently...Have something in the deal that offers a contingency rather than a cancellation--there should be some flexibility in tour size so that, if a particular tour won't fill up a bus, they can convert it to smaller vehicle...or if an attraction on the route is closed, there can be a substitute (assuming the tour isn't entirely about the particular attraction)--something similar that would interest the same people...and then, an email sent to those who signed up, offereing them to keep, change or cancel... Again, the problem is with all cruise lines...We were on a Princess cruise in the Mexican Riviera and on a "City Tour and Tequila Tasting" excursion...They had another excursion advertised--something about Mexican Cooking--that didn't get enough takers...So, without any advance notice, they just put the few people who had bought that tour onto OUR tour...a real thrill to the underaged kids and the one couple who, for whatever reason (religious or AA perhaps) DID NOT DRINK ALCOHOL...Yeah, again, that one was Princess... So, no, none of this is unique to Oceania... I think all of the cruise lines can do a better job here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted May 18, 2011 #15 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Steve, A caveat about Casablanca. The highlight is the mosque, without any doubt. The times for public visits are very specific and limited. Please make it clear to your guide that you want to be sure to visit the mosque (if indeed you wish to) and he will (should) know when you can. Enjoy your cruise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted May 18, 2011 #16 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Paulchili is absolutely right about making sure your guide knows you want to see the inside of the mosque. On our first visit to Casablanca we took the ship's tour which was supposed to go there, but because the king was in town no infidels were permitted even NEAR the building. We had to stop on the highway to get a photo of the view of the mosque. The next time we were there we did have the tour which was most fascinating. On our last trip we had a (private) guided tour which was supposed to include a tour of the mosque but because of the time we were there we were only able to view the outside of the building. (At least they let us approach it!) We didn't mind for ourselves since we'd been there only a couple of years earlier (although we wouldn't have mind seeing it again) but several of our group were extremely disappointed. The person who booked the tour may not have been aware that he needed to be more specific about wanting to go INSIDE, but we were there in the early afternoon on a day when foreigners could only enter in the MORNING. So beware! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted May 18, 2011 #17 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Dolphinmar, AS I understand it once you book and prepay an excursion prior to sailing you will not be credited back that amount onboard. Someone correct me if I am wrong please. That is one of the reasons I never have and never will book an Oceania excursion. I am going on the Regatta to Alaska next week and every single excursion I booked there is private. As for Casablanca, imo, and this is just my opinion the Mosque is the only thing worth seeing there. The rest of the city is charmless. And be sure to skip Rick's cafe, a Disney reproduction of the movie's setting. The real Rick's Cafe was on a stage at Warner Brothers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted May 18, 2011 #18 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Casablanca is not my favorite city to visit, far from it, but I wouldn't be quite as critical as you. We enjoyed the orthodox synagogue and the local town hall very much. But for the most part, except for the mosque and these two places (which don't require long visits) it's just a big, dirty city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted May 18, 2011 #19 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Casablanca is not my favorite city to visit, far from it, but I wouldn't be quite as critical as you. We enjoyed the orthodox synagogue and the local town hall very much. But for the most part, except for the mosque and these two places (which don't require long visits) it's just a big, dirty city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted May 18, 2011 #20 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Which is why many ships stay there until 10 or 11PM so you can go to Marrakech. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted May 18, 2011 #21 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Which is why many ships stay there until 10 or 11PM so you can go to Marrakech. Or at least Fez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted May 18, 2011 #22 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Dolphinmar, AS I understand it once you book and prepay an excursion prior to sailing you will not be credited back that amount onboard. Someone correct me if I am wrong please. That is one of the reasons I never have and never will book an Oceania excursion. I am going on the Regatta to Alaska next week and every single excursion I booked there is private. I think if you cancel before the cancellation timeframe for the excursion (48hr I think) you get an credit to your shipboard account If you cancel before the cruise starts you get a refund to your CC The exception are the pre & post land excursions they have different rules Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruin Steve Posted May 18, 2011 Author #23 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Which is why many ships stay there until 10 or 11PM so you can go to Marrakech. Or at least Fez. Ahhhh...But our cruise only stays until 4:00 pm (arriving at 9 am)...even though the next day is "at sea" and they aren't scheduled into Barcelona until the morning after that...at 7 am... I sort of wish they'd stay a little later...but, alas... So, we are going to schedule an abbreviated six hour tour--9 to 3...and, obviously, staying in Casablanca... Having never been there before, we will somehow make the most of it... We will enjoy the company of our tour mates...and the opportunity to experience a different culture and history... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CintiPam Posted May 19, 2011 #24 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Steve, I am happy to read that it all has been worked out with a private tour. We never have booked an O shore excursion, always preferring a smaller group to waiting around for the slowest of 30 others. After reading about this recent experience, I do not plan to change my policy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spindrift Posted May 19, 2011 #25 Share Posted May 19, 2011 I most always book excursions prior to sailing as I just want to get onboard with everything already planned. Once onboard, and I chose to cancel or change, the prepaid tour is ALWAYS given to me as a credit. I have found them to be quite accommodating. If you are concerned about that, Regent & Silver Seas include excursions. Crystal is getting ready to do the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.