Max number of passengers on an Oceania vessel

[DOJO466]

Just my observations & opinions

 

Lyn.....I agree. Over the past 5 years sailing Oceania the manners and attitude of the crew has been consistently very good indeed while I have observed disappointing deterioration in the manners of some passengers.:(

On our last Riviera sailing there were quite a few downright rude people. Some would yell at the servers, especially the woman who wanted her toast browner, others cut in front of you in Terrace, and beware trying to get on an elevator. I think it is the "entitlement" thing:(

[LHT28]

On our last Riviera sailing there were quite a few downright rude people. Some would yell at the servers, especially the woman who wanted her toast browner, others cut in front of you in Terrace, and beware trying to get on an elevator. I think it is the "entitlement" thing:(

Yikes if it is getting that bad I may have to re think cruising as a vacation :eek:

[Paulchili]

On our last Riviera sailing there were quite a few downright rude people. Some would yell at the servers, especially the woman who wanted her toast browner, others cut in front of you in Terrace, and beware trying to get on an elevator. I think it is the "entitlement" thing:(

 

Unfortunately, that has been our recent experience as well. I do not know the reason for this - maybe changing demographics over the years?

[potterhill]

We now avoid the "high tea" as it often resembles pigs fighting at the trough. I don't understand people who behave like that.

 

Actually on our March cruise on Nautica said tea was cancelled. I was under the impression that staff were relieved! It certainly entails a huge amount of work on the part of the chefs and little apparent appreciation.

 

Our cruise was almost full I believe and at times it was very busy in the Terrace, but it was not a big issue. Part of the reason for that was that in the beginning it was too cold to dine outside, and towards the end it was too hot! (Beijing-Bangkok). Those extra tables would have made the difference.

 

Mo

 

 

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[TERRIER1]

We started sailing on O back in 2004 & over the years we have noticed that more & more of the passengers are very pushy ...not just in THE TERRACE but other venues

What the problem is I do not know...as posted maybe they think they will run out of food or maybe a sense of entitlement

 

Good manners seem to be a thing of the past in all walks of life

 

Just my observations & opinions

 

 

Lyn

 

Our observation lately as well. We noticed the change when the larger O ships were introduced.

[LHT28]

We now avoid the "high tea" as it often resembles pigs fighting at the trough. I don't understand people who behave like that.

 

Actually on our March cruise on Nautica said tea was cancelled. I was under the impression that staff were relieved!

 

Mo

 

 

Are you saying no Afternoon tea at all or just the special tea they do once on longer cruises??

 

Many people cannot wait for the server to bring the trolley or the trays around & are up picking food from the waiter station....now they just let them go at it

 

Part of the experience is to be served from the trolley

[LHT28]

Our observation lately as well. We noticed the change when the larger O ships were introduced.

I noticed it before the new ships were announced

 

Just plain bad manners IMO

[potterhill]

It's the special one I was referring to. Yes, they often have a spread at the back where the coffee is in the morning and sometimes a special hot item such as crepes, as well as the trolleys.

 

I'm with you. I just sit back and wait to be served. ;-).

 

Mo

 

 

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[Tansy Mews]

We now avoid the "high tea" as it often resembles pigs fighting at the trough. I don't understand people who behave like that.

 

Actually on our March cruise on Nautica said tea was cancelled. I was under the impression that staff were relieved! It certainly entails a huge amount of work on the part of the chefs and little apparent appreciation.

 

Our cruise was almost full I believe and at times it was very busy in the Terrace, but it was not a big issue. Part of the reason for that was that in the beginning it was too cold to dine outside, and towards the end it was too hot! (Beijing-Bangkok). Those extra tables would have made the difference.

 

Mo

 

 

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About tea times - the only times it was impossible was during the special one held once per cruise. We went to look at the decorations but went off to Barista's for coffee instead.

[dundeene]

In 3 sailings on the O class ships I have enjoyed the company of wonderful cruisers, no pushing or shoving on the ship EVER.

Not at tea, entering elevators , Waves, tendering or the Terrace Cafe

Maybe my timing has not matched-up with the "rude " people.

On the O ships there is a central buffet at tea time for those who do not wish to wait for the server to arrive with the trolley.

There are duplicate serving stations for every item except grill/pasta station in the Terrace Cafe.

The only pushing and shoving I encountered was on land in St Petersburg. I even heard a tour guide suggest to her group "use your elbows to get to the front". I was appalled!

 

On land if someone is cutting in line, I reply in the sweetest voice, "Oh my, I am so sorry you seem to be in such a hurry. You must be famished, please take my spot." The "rude" person usually turns red in the face and returns to their proper place in line.

[dorisis]

More and more passengers are going to the afternoon tea. On our first o cruise in 2005 there were very few up there. last year on Marina it was always packed and hard to find a seat. That did tend to slow down the service.

[JimandStan]

In 3 sailings on the O class ships I have enjoyed the company of wonderful cruisers, no pushing or shoving on the ship EVER.

Not at tea, entering elevators , Waves, tendering or the Terrace Cafe

Maybe my timing has not matched-up with the "rude " people.

On the O ships there is a central buffet at tea time for those who do not wish to wait for the server to arrive with the trolley.

There are duplicate serving stations for every item except grill/pasta station in the Terrace Cafe.

The only pushing and shoving I encountered was on land in St Petersburg. I even heard a tour guide suggest to her group "use your elbows to get to the front". I was appalled!

 

On land if someone is cutting in line, I reply in the sweetest voice, "Oh my, I am so sorry you seem to be in such a hurry. You must be famished, please take my spot." The "rude" person usually turns red in the face and returns to their proper place in line.

 

+1, Beautifully said, and I admire your attitude although I confess to being far too bumptious to ever replicate it.

[LHT28]

I am not as nice as Dundeene...:rolleyes:

 

i just give "the look" & say

"oh dear you must have missed your last meal"

[no fuss travel]

I am not as nice either. I say, oh you must have gotten out of the wrong side of the bed today. My spouse, says now that we are retired we no longer need to be in a hurry, so take time to enjoy each minute of the day. I am learning slowly to slow down and enjoy each minute of the day. Yesterday we spent 30 minutes watching a raccoon have a feast in the neighbours cherry tree. We got some excellent pictures of the cherry thief.:D

[hypercafe]

I have not seen any behavior on a cruise ship of any line that is any different from what I see in daily life. Some lines have a target group different than others so before you book do some research. Sometimes the posts on CC remind me of the movie Titanic where Jack is invited to dine with the swells.

[kidz_rn]

We are sailing in 10 days aboard Regatta - Alaska Wilderness. Apparently, there is a long waiting list for this particular departure and we have been BOMBARDED for months (and now almost daily!) with emails -- and now a phone call -- offering significant incentives if we would agree to give up our reservation and switch to another cruise. Not only is it getting tiresome & annoying, but, having read this thread about overcrowding & rudeness, I'm a bit uneasy and unsure of what to expect.

 

As an 11-time cruiser on other mass market lines, I also have to say my July 12 Regatta CC roll call is the least active I have ever seen. Oh well.

[fairbourne]

We are sailing in 10 days aboard Regatta - Alaska Wilderness. Apparently, there is a long waiting list for this particular departure and we have been BOMBARDED for months (and now almost daily!) with emails -- and now a phone call -- offering significant incentives if we would agree to give up our reservation and switch to another cruise. Not only is it getting tiresome & annoying, but, having read this thread about overcrowding & rudeness, I'm a bit uneasy and unsure of what to expect.

 

As an 11-time cruiser on other mass market lines, I also have to say my July 12 Regatta CC roll call is the least active I have ever seen. Oh well.

 

May I put all of this into perspective for you please? :)

 

The reference to guest numbers was only one conversation we had out of hundreds whilst we were on Regatta. It really is as simple as that.

 

The rudeness as another poster has said is no different really than you find any day of the week in your local supermarket, or elsewhere, just that you can't sometimes escape on a ship! And we were a bit surprised as to the age of these people - you would think by the time they got there, they would know better! :eek: and they were in a minority, but sadly they do tend to stick out!

 

But what you can do is what we did and have a fabulous time - we truly met some great, well-travelled, interesting, mannerable people both guests and crew and honestly if you have any issues at all on board with food, service in fact anything, speak to someone and you will find it will be handled and dealt with to ensure you have a great cruise.

 

We do not regret our decision to sail with Oceania and we certainly would not have missed Alaska for anything!

 

So go, and have a wonderful time and come back and tell us! :D

 

BTW, our roll call was the same, we had a very small number - some we had great fun with during the cruise, others we never saw again! ;):)

[LHT28]

We are sailing in 10 days aboard Regatta - Alaska Wilderness. Apparently, there is a long waiting list for this particular departure and we have been BOMBARDED for months (and now almost daily!) with emails -- and now a phone call -- offering significant incentives if we would agree to give up our reservation and switch to another cruise. Not only is it getting tiresome & annoying, but, having read this thread about overcrowding & rudeness, I'm a bit uneasy and unsure of what to expect.

 

As an 11-time cruiser on other mass market lines, I also have to say my July 12 Regatta CC roll call is the least active I have ever seen. Oh well.

If you booked through a tA tell them you are not interested in "move off offers"

If you booked direct then call Oceania & tell them the same & to take you off the call list for the offers

 

Enjoy the cruise

[kidz_rn]

At first, we were amused by all the offers, but then they became tiresome. Thanks LHT for the good advice!

[curtdesilets]

The post here has gone off on a slight tangent concerning the rudeness of our fellow passengers.

 

I would imagine it is not cruise line dependent per se, but rather dependent on the area travelled and the demographics of the people cruising on a particular cruise.

 

We were on an Alaska cruise in late May on Celebrity last year, leaving out of Vancouver. There were very few children as school was still in session. The vast majority of the passengers were Canadian, and a large contingent of them were retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police and their families having a reunion cruise. That being said, I can recall not one rude encounter for the entire cruise. Our fellow passengers could not have been lovelier.

 

Contrast that with a party cruise to Mexico. Well, you get my point.

[JimandStan]

We were on an Alaska cruise in late May on Celebrity last year, leaving out of Vancouver. There were very few children as school was still in session. The vast majority of the passengers were Canadian, and a large contingent of them were retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police and their families having a reunion cruise. That being said, I can recall not one rude encounter for the entire cruise. Our fellow passengers could not have been lovelier.

 

That's as may be, but remember that Carnival had to practically swallow Canadian Pacific whole in order to make it profitable...

So, there must be more to this cruising business than just travelling with "lovely" people.

[Oceans&Rivers]

We are sailing in 10 days aboard Regatta - Alaska Wilderness. Apparently, there is a long waiting list for this particular departure and we have been BOMBARDED for months (and now almost daily!) with emails -- and now a phone call -- offering significant incentives if we would agree to give up our reservation and switch to another cruise. Not only is it getting tiresome & annoying, but, having read this thread about overcrowding & rudeness, I'm a bit uneasy and unsure of what to expect.

 

As an 11-time cruiser on other mass market lines, I also have to say my July 12 Regatta CC roll call is the least active I have ever seen. Oh well.

 

This cruise is sold on some sites as "ALASKAN FRONTIERS & GLACIERS". It's the same cruise as your "Alaska Wilderness", but an organization which books numerous alumni groups has apparently booked many passengers on this voyage, and when that happens, very few of those people sign on to Cruise Critic to participate in roll calls.

 

There will be passengers from University of Iowa, University of Alabama, University of Oklahoma, University of Notre Dame, Emory University, University of Central Missouri, Butler University, Drexel University, and more.

 

Better brush up for trivia, as the ship will have a lot of educated people onboard!

[no fuss travel]

Better brush up for trivia, as the ship will have a lot of educated people onboard!

 

Being well educated does not always help you with Trivia. You need to be a movie fan, TV fan, sports fan and so on to be super successful at Trivia. We found if you got on a team of international passengers, you would do better, as they would know certain questions that others would not.

[Mura]

This cruise is sold on some sites as "ALASKAN FRONTIERS & GLACIERS". It's the same cruise as your "Alaska Wilderness", but an organization which books numerous alumni groups has apparently booked many passengers on this voyage, and when that happens, very few of those people sign on to Cruise Critic to participate in roll calls.

 

There will be passengers from University of Iowa, University of Alabama, University of Oklahoma, University of Notre Dame, Emory University, University of Central Missouri, Butler University, Drexel University, and more.

 

Better brush up for trivia, as the ship will have a lot of educated people onboard!

 

 

Yipes. If I were on that cruise (I'm not) and learned that there would be a bunch of alumni groups, I'd have taken that buy-out offer in a heartbeat!

 

I personally have never been on a cruise monopolized by such groups (and I'm not objecting to the people involved, just the group factor). But I've heard reports where such groups tended to take over the ship.

 

It would be nice if there were an easy way to find out if a cruise has a lot of affinity groups signed up before signing up yourself.

 

Mura

[Oceans&Rivers]

 

Being well educated does not always help you with Trivia. You need to be a movie fan, TV fan, sports fan and so on to be super successful at Trivia. We found if you got on a team of international passengers, you would do better, as they would know certain questions that others would not.

 

I totally agree with you that an international group does better, usually, than a group of people all from the same country. But the best teams I have been in include well-educated people of different backgrounds from several countries. Geographical knowledge is especially useful.

 

On the other hand, if one knows the answer to a question and the team "scorekeeper" thinks someone else's answer is accurate, especially if the answer comes from that person's spouse, you can lose anyway. ;)

 

One example of that: who do you think is more likely to know the medical terminology of a particular body part, an R.N. or someone who suffers from an ailment associated with that body part?