redmanflorida Posted January 9, 2012 #26 Share Posted January 9, 2012 KPS---You are absolutely Correct -Oceania must learn to Delegate! I Love Oceania but lets be Honest they are slow to respond to constructive criticism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted January 9, 2012 #27 Share Posted January 9, 2012 -- would only step up and say something when he/she sees a kid acting inappropriately. Unfortunately, that did not happen. You would not see them approach a passenger directly they will do it discreetly. As posted above some passengers just do not pay any attention to other people maybe even the staff would get ignored or the rude comments Zero tolerance policy for bad behaviour like the smoking policy may work Let's face it this is an uncommon occurrence on Oceania JMO Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksps cruise fan Posted January 9, 2012 #28 Share Posted January 9, 2012 You would not see them approach a passenger directly they will do it discreetly.As posted above some passengers just do not pay any attention to other people maybe even the staff would get ignored or the rude comments Zero tolerance policy for bad behaviour like the smoking policy may work Let's face it this is an uncommon occurrence on Oceania JMO Lyn I made my comment based on a limited sample. One at-sea day, I had to deal with a couple of different departments on Deck Five. When I arrived, a small group of kids ages 10 though 14 were running around the main reception area screaming. I'd estimate that I was in the area for a total of twenty minutes and, then, had to return a very short time later. The running and screaming was still going on. At no time was I aware of any warning. Even if I had my back turned while taking care of my chores, the sound of running feet passing behind me never paused if, for example, the kids had received a discreet warning.Certainly, I would have heard a loud warning in that small space! If the staff at the restaurant reservation desk, the cruise destination counter, the concierge desk, and the guest services counter weren't motivated to do anything, the offices of the higher-ups, typically are located in this area. Bigger guns were only a short walk away. Nothing happened other than the fact that the employee at Guest Services once rolled his eyes when the screaming got even louder. In this era of internet boards, I never understand why businesses don't step up quickly and productively to solve problems. With sites like Travel Advisor and Cruise Critic, customer dissatisfaction gets communicated to a large audience. We've all learned to filter some complaints, but the complaints about kids' behavior have been universal. As I've written before, I'm going to be reading posts from the two cruises most likely to be impacted by kids off for their February President's Holiday break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERRIER1 Posted January 9, 2012 #29 Share Posted January 9, 2012 You would not see them approach a passenger directly they will do it discreetly.As posted above some passengers just do not pay any attention to other people maybe even the staff would get ignored or the rude comments Zero tolerance policy for bad behaviour like the smoking policy may work Let's face it this is an uncommon occurrence on Oceania JMO Lyn Kids on Oceania was an uncommon occurrence in the past given the smaller ships. The larger ships seem to be attracting cruisers who have not sailed on Oceania before and apparently they have kids. The occurrence of children during the school holidays on the larger ships may be part of the Oceania demographic now. I would like to assume that they (the parents) knew before they booked that Oceania does not cater to kids and has nothing for them to do so they could occupy themselves. I assume Oceania knows how many kids will be on board before they sail. If so, it is up to Oceania to enforce some simple rules. I do believe if there were adults screaming in the halls something would have been said by Oceania personnel so I can't fathom why nothing was said to these kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted January 9, 2012 #30 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Oceania knew well in advance how many children were going to be aboard for the holidays, plenty of time to hire someone for this particular cruise to watch over them and provide entertainment to keep them amused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no fuss travel Posted January 9, 2012 #31 Share Posted January 9, 2012 With some kids of today it does not matter what cruise line you are on, you will encounter spoiled misbehaving kids. We just came off a HAL holiday cruise and there was around 20 kids who were plain horrible and their parents did nothing to stop them. Then there was another 40 kids who were very well behaved and their parents kept a close check on them. You can't really blame the kids, it is their parents who need the lecture. I watched the misbehaving kids parents totally ignore them as they sat around the pool chatting to other parents and enjoying their beverages. Could not have cared less that their kids were doing cannonballs into the pool and could very easily have hurt someone. I will remember though not to book anymore holiday cruises as I am now at the stage where I don't want to deal with screaming spoiled brats. Even my two young adult children who were with us passed comments about how badly behaved these kids were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorich Posted January 10, 2012 #32 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Could you tell an unknowing Brit which those two cruises will be ? - please say it's not 4th Feb departure from Miami !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorich Posted January 10, 2012 #33 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Phew ! I have just checked on Google & find it is 20th Feb this year so hopefully not too many kids on 4th Feb departure. I remember a few years back we went to Mexico at the end of February with our 2 boys who were 17 & 19 at the time & they were delighted to find it full of American students on Spring Break. We had a great time but I must admit that having done years of kid/teenager friendly holidays we are now enjoying holidays aimed at adults & have booked our 1st Oceania cruise partly because there are no childrens' facilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksps cruise fan Posted January 10, 2012 #34 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Could you tell an unknowing Brit which those two cruises will be ? - please say it's not 4th Feb departure from Miami !! I'm guessing that the February 16 "Islands in the Sun" cruise will be impacted the most. I doubt any school system would begin its mid-winter break as late February 26, but, if so, that would impact the "Mayan Mystique" cruise. I doubt the far-flung cruises in South America and in Asia will be impacted. There's no easy way to find out which school system will be scheduling the midwinter break when. We're talking about schools in New York and in the New England states. Each school district sets its own calendar and there are 487 school districts in Massachusetts alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darlene300 Posted January 10, 2012 #35 Share Posted January 10, 2012 :)My husband and myself were on the Tropical Holiday Marina cruise. I wasn't going to write anything, but, after reading all of the opinions expressed, I feel that I have to add my opinion to what is being said. First of all, my husband is 70 and I am 63. We were travelling by ourselves - no children or family were travelling with us. This is the second cruise we have taken with Oceania (the first was three years ago and was on the Nautica and was a Meditteranean cruise). There were no children on that cruise. All the adults we met were really nice and we never met anyone that had an attitude. We had a wonderful time/experience. Regarding our (and I emphasize our) experience on the Marina: At no time were we ever inconvenienced by any of the children on board. There were children in the cabin next to us (we had a veranda suite) and they were never noisy or rude. We did not spend much time at or near the pool, but, never saw any children who were loud or rude or behaving badly when we were there. The children that went to the speciality restaurants were very well behaved (one couple had their two young sons dressed in suits and both boys were extremely well behaved during the entire time they were there). You may not like what I am going to say next, but, I will now tell you who we thought were noisy, rude and just plain miserable people to be around - MANY OF THE ADULTS!!!! Yes, there were some things that could have been better aboard the ship (For example, the service in Waves and the Terrace Cafe was almost non existent when it was busy), but, there were many adults who wouldn't stop complaining about how they were treated so much better when they traveled on Regent and/or Crystal (If they feel that way, then they should just continue cruising with those cruise lines) and the things they complained about were very trivial (people not carrying their plates for them in the Terrace Cafe, shoes not being cleaned every evening, no one to push them in their wheelchairs, etc.). There were several people (one woman in particular) who were literally screaming at the crew and demanding for crew members to push them around the ship and off the ship when we docked. There were quite a few people who could barely walk, were using walkers or wheelchairs. It was nice to see these people travelling, but, when you have these types of 'situations' you need to be aware that you can't be catered to all the time (unless you have someone travelling with you). It is interesting to note that all of the people who complained so much about the service on Oceania versus Regent and Crystal told us later on during the cruise that they had booked one, two and some more than two cruises on Oceania while they were on board!!!! At any rate, we found the Marina to be a beautiful ship. The rooms were great and the beds were very comfortable. We did think the shower was too small and would have preferred to have no tub and a bigger shower. 90% of the time the food was very good to outstanding (La Reserve was the 'highlight' of the trip). The specialty restuarants were terrific except for Jacques which we thought was 'fair' but that is just our opinion. The service throughout the ship was very good to excellent about 90% of the time. Although the entertainment still needs to be improved, we found it better on the Marina than on our trip on the Nautica. Would we travel with Oceania again - YOU BET WE WOULD!!! In fact, we've booked with Marina in September and with Riviera in March 2013!!! We have decided, though, not to book during the holidays in December - just didn't like a lot of the people and their attitude and would prefer not to be around them. However, we had a WONDERFUL trip (why let anyone or anything spoil our fun - just get over what few problems that are encountered and enjoy the trip). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovetocruise16 Posted January 11, 2012 #36 Share Posted January 11, 2012 We agree with you wholeheartedly. Although we didn't frequent the pool area, every time we did pass through it, at varying times of the day, the kids were not a problem. The adult passengers that we encountered were extremely well-travelled and extremely opinionated. This was our fourth Oceania cruise, and our second on Marina. Yes, there were service "glitches," such as the staff of Waves and some in Terraces, as well as a 3-hour supper in the Grand Dining Room. But we put it down as a holiday cruise atmosphere, and realized that the ship was operating at full capacity. The adults, though, were very picky in their criticisms, as noted by Darlene300. We never had any problem with the kids; however, after one upsetting evening at Red Ginger, when an older man threatened two fellow passengers with bodily harm, we can't imagine anything the kids could have done that topped that. Still, we managed to enjoy the cruise and have two more booked on Oceania. They must be doing something right! PS Darlene300 we are also on a Sept. cruise. Hope we meet you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksps cruise fan Posted January 11, 2012 #37 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Kids on Oceania was an uncommon occurrence in the past given the smaller ships. The larger ships seem to be attracting cruisers who have not sailed on Oceania before and apparently they have kids. The occurrence of children during the school holidays on the larger ships may be part of the Oceania demographic now. I would like to assume that they (the parents) knew before they booked that Oceania does not cater to kids and has nothing for them to do so they could occupy themselves. I assume Oceania knows how many kids will be on board before they sail. If so, it is up to Oceania to enforce some simple rules. Actually, I heard from the Cruise Director that parents complained about the lack of entertainment for kids. He was amazed that anyone would book Oceania with kids. Did their travel agent know nothing? Did families use on-line booking services which I suspect offer minimal advice about the benefits and drawbacks of each line. Did the families do no research about the ship? Did families assume that in spite of all evidence to the contrary, Oceania would become kid-friendly on a holiday cruise? Someone at Oceania ought to do a good marketing survey. With the arrival of Marina and soon Riviera, I think Oceania's demographic will change during school breaks. That means Oceania needs to figure out its emerging identity. Will Oceania offer activities for kids on select cruises? by actively controlling unruly behavior even as they stick to their no-kids-activity policy? by letting passengers suffer the consequences of unruly behavior -- kids or adults -- even if that behavior is the minority? I see a link between the kid issue on Marina and the stranding issue on Regatta. In neither situation, did anyone say, "Okay, we've got an unexpected problem. How are we going to deal with this?" That says something very depressing about the training or values of tje crew of both ships. Is a standard product valued over initiative? Is initiative trained out of the employees? Every person who has posted about Regatta's stranding, has come up with at least one simple, sensible thing that could have been done to ease the situation. If some/many/all of these suggestions had been implemented that day, the posts on this board would have a very different tone. My husband's and my Marina cruise was not ruined. We came back rested and happy we were on the cruise. My biggest concern is best stated by the saying "Fool me once. Shame on you. Food me twice. Shame on me." We're really like to take another holiday cruise, but we're not going to next year. I'd need to see the posts about Oceania's February cruises and, especially, holiday 2012 to prove Oceania has the will to deal with this kid-problem. I'm certainly not going to refuse to cruise Oceania at non-vacation times. For me, Oceania remains the best mixture of luxury/price, size, itinerary, and casual elegance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darlene300 Posted January 11, 2012 #38 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Lovetocruise16: We'll be (if all goes well) on the 9/12 cruise from Dover to Barcelona (Continental Connisseur) cruise. Is that the one you'll be on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovetocruise16 Posted January 12, 2012 #39 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Sorry, Darlene200, but we are on the Sept. 27-Oct. 12 Marina from Barcelona to Istanbul. Would have been nice to meet you in person. We are also on the Jan. 5 Nautica cruise...Capetown to Singapore. Any chance you'll be on that one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Caroldoll Posted January 12, 2012 #40 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Christmas 2012. I simply do not want to have that many kids around. Changed to Crystal and even though they have a children's program, I have not heard anything like on this board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darlene300 Posted January 13, 2012 #41 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Lovetocruise16: We're booked on a cruise in March of 2013. Hope we can 'connect' on a cruise sometime in the future!:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted January 13, 2012 #42 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Caroldoll, Smart move! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
litigator Posted January 13, 2012 #43 Share Posted January 13, 2012 I read with great interest all the comments about the children and there behavior. Personally, I believe most behaved very well. The ship has no facilities for children and it is surprising parents with children would choose this ship. I was told by my travel agent that this cruise was advertised as adults only and other passengers heard the same. The children did not spoil my cruise or have much of an impact. A comment I have about the ship, other than the showers which have already been discussed is the pool itself. Why is the entire pool over 6 feet with absolutely no shallow end? Unless you are 7 feet tall you simply cannot stand in the pool unless you hold on to the side. It seems a poor choice in design, particularly when the ship has sea days or is in a hot climate. The ship is beautiful and the food was very good to excellent except for the main dining room which was just okay. Service was good. The biggest complaint I have is the lack of things to do on sea days. No music at the pool except one day for an hour. Lectures were not worth attending and given sporadically and at poor times. However, as the staff said, they are not a luxury line, but a premium line. You simply can't compare it to the Crystal or Regent. However, you get a great deal for your money. Danny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Caroldoll Posted January 14, 2012 #44 Share Posted January 14, 2012 fact we just were on Seabourn and there is hardly anything to do on sea days either. I love the looks of Marina and last year we were on the Regatta in South America. I will probably try Oceania again on either of their new ships as we didn't like the shower over the tub situation...but when kids are in school. So far we have had good luck over the holidays but have gone long distances, i.e. South America and Asia. I do feel that kids are more prevalent in the Caribbean. I have raised so many kids myself, I just don't want to subject myself to close proximity of them on holidays. It is hard, I know. This is funny though--Crystal came out to less than Oceania. I didn't do it for price, but I did have a chance to compare. Interesting. We booked the Penthouse Suite with Verandah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted January 15, 2012 #45 Share Posted January 15, 2012 And obviously you are in a regular cabin on Crystal or it wouldn't have come out to less. Oceania's value is in the lesser cabins where you can get a great experience if you don't mind smaller quarters. The minute you move up to a PH or above the prices become equal to the luxury lines without all the inclusions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Caroldoll Posted January 17, 2012 #46 Share Posted January 17, 2012 I was surprised that it was lower than Oceania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBFlorida Posted February 4, 2012 #47 Share Posted February 4, 2012 I am one of the Marina's guests aboard this holiday cruise and was disgusted by the behavior of the children and teenagers on this sailing. But now, I am disappointed to learn that Kunal Kumlani, the President of Oceania, was also on this trip. How he let these kids run up and down hallways late at night, wear gym clothes to dinner, and act recklessly poolside is quite unbelievable. He should have directed his staff to speak to the parents of the unruly. When questioned, the staff replied there was nothing they could do. Really? Oceania is lucky that this obnoxious behavior did not result in a drowning, a fall, or some other accident. This disregard by top management has seriously changed my feelings about Oceania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksps cruise fan Posted February 4, 2012 #48 Share Posted February 4, 2012 But now, I am disappointed to learn that Kunal Kumlani, the President of Oceania, was also on this trip. How he let these kids run up and down hallways late at night, wear gym clothes to dinner, and act recklessly poolside is quite unbelievable. He should have directed his staff to speak to the parents of the unruly. The president of Oceania was also on the holiday cruise!?! Could you share how you came to learn this information? Please do not misinterpret my question. I'm not challenging you; I just want to be absolutely rock solid sure of my facts before I write the letter I've been meaning to write ever since we got home. Kumlani's presence -- or absence -- certainly will affect the way I make some of my points. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redmanflorida Posted February 4, 2012 #49 Share Posted February 4, 2012 He sent a E-Mail about his presence on the Holiday Cruise and his experince at visiting Martiniqes Rain Forest! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted February 4, 2012 #50 Share Posted February 4, 2012 I am one of the Marina's guests aboard this holiday cruise and was disgusted by the behavior of the children and teenagers on this sailing. But now, I am disappointed to learn that Kunal Kumlani, the President of Oceania, was also on this trip. I too wondered about why he did not instruct the staff onboard about handling the situation with the children that was reported by people on the cruise:eek: I think that is not a good sign of management Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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