Delayed disembarkation- how not to treat your guests

[Paulchili]

+1

Well said LuAnn. Have nothing more to add :)

Pau

[Benita]

Back to the original thread. This is part of the message from my travel agent which was received as a notification from Oceania today. Figured they would work out something to make it relatively easy for independent travelers. Seems like they are planning appropriately for those getting off and getting on.

 

All guests, including those on pre-cruise packages or those arriving into Papeete prior to 6 pm, may check-in for their cruise at Papeete City Hall from 10 am until 6 pm on the day of embarkation. Guests will be able to check-in their luggage as well, which will then be transported to the ship and delivered to their stateroom later that evening. Hand luggage may also be stored at Papeete City Hall but must be collected by 6 pm. Refreshments will be available in the waiting area at the City Hall.

Guests are welcome to enjoy their day in Papeete. Please remember that embarkation begins at 6 pm. Papeete City Hall is located a short walking distance (2 short blocks) from the ship. We will also have shuttle service available.

 

Beechwood - the squeaky wheel gets the oil and when you are right, you are right. Glad to see that Oceania stepped up to the plate and did the right thing.

[Paulchili]

We hoped that they would get it right eventually and they did.

Nice going Oceania.

[TERRIER1]

We hoped that they would get it right eventually and they did.

Nice going Oceania.

 

Hoping they do the same for the April 7th cruise.

[spindrift]

Haven't heard a word back from O, so we will just plan to meet on 2/9, 5:30 leaving Bora Bora, Horizons, where ever. We will find each other and at least get a chance to meet. If you are interested, go to the role call and let us have your name. (Since we are not "hogs," we are open to meeting where we can and meet each other.) I will be somewhere with your badges.

[Oceans&Rivers]

We are just cruising from LA, no more flying for us. The airlines have screwed us around long enough with obscene fares and lousy service!!!

 

Wouldn't it be great if Oceania offered more California departures?

[qldtraveller]

Hi everyone.

Yes, coming in a bit late but it annoys me when I see people from Northern Hemisphere worry about issues of safety and do not understand.

We travel independently(we never use cruise line embarkation or disembarkation programs)

We are not in the slums or ghettos.

 

The Pacific islands are dependent on tourism so they do not kill the golden egg.

 

First off many cruise lines have to do this in this region. Even Paul Gauguin. Reason : most flights leave Papeete, Australia, NZ and South America at mid-night.

We had same issue with boarding. Arrive 6:30am from somewhere and had all day.

 

Suntan lotion, walk to city centre, lunch, swimming pool and then cab to dock.

 

Disembarking is even worse. off boat at noon or 3pm. Need a day rate to stay until 8:00pm.

Accept that this part of the world operates differently, flight and cruise schedules do not match. This country does not have aeroplane freeways with palnes every hour on the hour.

Just enjoy the place.

 

By the way Papeete is quite a pleasant and safe place to work around. There is more than the market to see. Look up tourism on the Internet for Papeete. We stayed at the Sheraton and walked from there downtown, to the banks, shops etc. and back again. No issues at all.

 

This is a civilised town.

 

Also not sure that the issue of leaving laptop or Ipad or camera equipment at hotel is such a big issue. we left most of our stuff at the hotel.

 

Take as it comes and enjoy.

[qldtraveller]

Not only embarking as well as disembarking passengers--we booked this trip when it was first announced. When the air came out, we asked for special on the side two seating, (in our late 70's and 80's) and we ended up in the middle. We have 14 cruises with O (I know, not as many as others), but we were at the bottom of the "seat assignment" list as we just learned that O did the assignments.

 

I can assue you, if we could have cancelled this trip we would have, but we certainly have control over our future cruises with them, and I am making other plans with other lines. Have booked the Baltic, but we are changing that, and we just booked HAL & Crystal on 2 others. Thank heavens we learned our lesson early.

 

I am VERY, VERY disappointed in their handling of all the arrangements. Guess they assume that we will just lay back and take their abuse, you might say (or lack of caring).

 

I also was trying to work with them for over 50 CC members to have a meeting place but basically being told that we can't have a special area for our meeting. Another message of lack of loyalty interest.

 

 

Hi

Time you used the airline configaration plans.

Suspect that the airline is someone like Air Tahiti wth Airbuses. The format in Economy is 3-4-3(standard on long haul intnl. flights). Also Air Tahiti better qaulity than US based airlines. So if you have an Aisle and 1 inside in centre you s/be ok. In business class it is 2-3-2.

Secondly, as Oceania is booking the flights they get a block of seats for the deals.

This applies to any tour operator who indicates they require a certain no/ of seats for a particular date. Your TA s/be aware of this and be able to assist in identifying the seating plan for the aircraft and airline you are flying with.

[Paulchili]

Hi everyone.

Yes, coming in a bit late but it annoys me when I see people from Northern Hemisphere worry about issues of safety and do not understand.

We travel independently(we never use cruise line embarkation or disembarkation programs)

We are not in the slums or ghettos.

 

The Pacific islands are dependent on tourism so they do not kill the golden egg.

 

First off many cruise lines have to do this in this region. Even Paul Gauguin. Reason : most flights leave Papeete, Australia, NZ and South America at mid-night.

We had same issue with boarding. Arrive 6:30am from somewhere and had all day.

 

Suntan lotion, walk to city centre, lunch, swimming pool and then cab to dock.

 

Disembarking is even worse. off boat at noon or 3pm. Need a day rate to stay until 8:00pm.

Accept that this part of the world operates differently, flight and cruise schedules do not match. This country does not have aeroplane freeways with palnes every hour on the hour.

Just enjoy the place.

 

By the way Papeete is quite a pleasant and safe place to work around. There is more than the market to see. Look up tourism on the Internet for Papeete. We stayed at the Sheraton and walked from there downtown, to the banks, shops etc. and back again. No issues at all.

 

This is a civilised town.

 

Also not sure that the issue of leaving laptop or Ipad or camera equipment at hotel is such a big issue. we left most of our stuff at the hotel.

 

Take as it comes and enjoy.

 

I think you are missing the point here.

Why should the disembarking passengers be allowed the comforts of the ship (A/C, food, comfortable seating and safety for their luggage) till 3 PM (when standard disembarkation is 9 AM) while embarking passengers have to "fend for themselves" till 6PM (when standard emabrkation should by 11 AM or 1 PM)? Both groups of passengers should be treated equally.

This has happilly been resolved by Oceania (see upthread).

BTW - Thankfully seating in TN business is 2/2/2 not 2/3/2.

[beechwood]

Qldtraveler- as the opening poster on this thread, I can assure you that although coming from the far northern hemisphere I am perfectly acquainted with issues of safety and fully realise that the southern hemisphere is not full of slums and ghettoes. I have travelled extensively in the Southern hemisphere on an independent basis, including Australasia and many countries in South America. What you don't do anywhere in the world is to leave expensive equipment with a hotel. If you do this, it is not insured in the event of loss and also the first thing you are often asked when requesting to leave luggage is a check to ensure there are no valuable items. It's common sense.