No Cruise Tags for Hotel - Ship Transfer

[harryw]

We recently used an Oceania bus transfer for pre-cruise transfer from the Rubens hotel in London to Southampton. We did not have Oceania luggage tags because we had a last minute cabin upgrade. (I assume that neither did passengers with guaranty cabins or who booked after the luggage tag smiling cutoff).

 

I was surprised that there was no procedure to ensure that all passengers would be given personalized tags at the hotel or the pier. We were just told to leave the luggage outside our rooms by 8 am. There were 2 buses to take us to the pier, and were told that our luggage might not necessarily be on the same bus as us.

 

As no one could pick out their luggage at the pier, staff there said Oceania would rely on some passengers' own tags to match the luggage to the proper cabin.

 

While our luggage was not lost, this procedure can increase the chance that luggage is misplaced. It also minimizes the likelihood that porters at the pier will receive tips.

 

Harry and Carol

[LHT28]

We recently used an Oceania bus transfer for pre-cruise transfer from the Rubens hotel in London to Southampton. We did not have Oceania luggage tags because we had a last minute cabin upgrade.

 

Harry and Carol

You did not have any tags ???

 

If you had tags with the cruise booklet you can just write the new cabin number on the original tags

[harryw]

We shredded the original tags, thinking that new ones would be issued at the pier. We thought that we'd be in the same bus with our luggage, reclaim them at the pier, fund a porter at the pier to give us new tags, then leave the luggage with the porter, then tip him.

 

The broader question is whether our experience was an aberration, or standard procedure.

 

Harry and Carol

[lewes]

We shredded the original tags, thinking that new ones would be issued at the pier. We thought that we'd be in the same bus with our luggage, reclaim them at the pier, fund a porter at the pier to give us new tags, then leave the luggage with the porter, then tip him.

 

The broader question is whether our experience was an aberration, or standard procedure.

 

Harry and Carol

 

Harry and Carol

I am booked on the Oceania Marina for October 9 from Barcelona. All those we are travelling with have received their cruise directory and documents including tags. Ours seem lost in the mail. They were mailed from the printer on 8/14.

My travel agent told me they will not issue a new set until 8/28. They told her it will be mailed from the printer in Kentucky to her sometime next week. However they told her it could take three weeks to get from the printer to her who in turn has to send it to us. I know the US mail is slow but that kind of answer is ridiculos. We will probably be home from the cruise the way thing are progressing before we get the documents we need.

This is our first cruise with Oceania and so far I am not impressed with their customer service.

John

[CintiPam]

We shredded the original tags, thinking that new ones would be issued at the pier. We thought that we'd be in the same bus with our luggage, reclaim them at the pier, fund a porter at the pier to give us new tags, then leave the luggage with the porter, then tip him.

 

The broader question is whether our experience was an aberration, or standard procedure.

 

Harry and Carol

 

On our first Oceania cruise (because we did not know people booked their cruises so far in advance) we booked a Guaranty cabin, so we received luggage tags with no cabin number. We were assigned our cabin only the week before the cruise; we simply wrote the cabin numbers on the tags.

 

Five years later, we booked our January Riviera cruise just this summer (who knew husband would decide on two vacations rather than his usual one per year!), and again have a Guaranty cabin, and plan to do the same if the cabin is assigned last minute. (We do have an assigned lovely cabin for our May 2014 Riviera cruise which we booked the first day it was available for booking!:))

 

I do not consider writing on my tags a hardship which affects my cruise experience or perception of my chosen cruise line.

[LHT28]

Harry and Carol

I am booked on the Oceania Marina for October 9 from Barcelona. All those we are travelling with have received their cruise directory and documents including tags. Ours seem lost in the mail. They were mailed from the printer on 8/14.

My travel agent told me they will not issue a new set until 8/28. They told her it will be mailed from the printer in Kentucky to her sometime next week. However they told her it could take three weeks to get from the printer to her who in turn has to send it to us. I know the US mail is slow but that kind of answer is ridiculos. We will probably be home from the cruise the way thing are progressing before we get the documents we need.

This is our first cruise with Oceania and so far I am not impressed with their customer service.

John

 

My TA has them mailed directly to us ..yours could probably make that request

[harryw]

This has been a learning experience, and I will always save "obsolete" luggage tags.

 

But when booking a guaranty cabin that is not assigned until the last minute (which happened to me in the past), those tags would be useless. The Oceania rep who was at the hotel all weekend could have had blank tags or called Oceania to determine unknown cabin assignments.

 

On the plus side, Oceania had the best disembarkation process I ever experienced. They call small groups for the bus to the airport, and do name checks off a list and page missing passengers to ensure no one misses the bus. It was a stress free pleasure.

 

Harry

[CintiPam]

This has been a learning experience, and I will always save "obsolete" luggage tags.

 

But when booking a guaranty cabin that is not assigned until the last minute (which happened to me in the past), those tags would be useless. The Oceania rep who was at the hotel all weekend could have had blank tags or called Oceania to determine unknown cabin assignments.

 

On the plus side, Oceania had the best disembarkation process I ever experienced. They call small groups for the bus to the airport, and do name checks off a list and page missing passengers to ensure no one misses the bus. It was a stress free pleasure.

 

Harry

 

Glad to read that you had a positive experience at the other end of it all.

 

We are taking our second cruise on Azamara in three weeks, and on that particular line, you receive absolutely nothing in the mail from them before your cruise, and print out your "boarding pass" on-line after completing on-line materials. To get real live luggage tags, you specifically must request them to be mailed to you. However, with just three weeks to go, that request button on my cruise has not yet been added! (I called Azamara earlier this week to ask for them, and was told I had to wait until such time it was added.)

[harryw]

I used to sail Celebrity frequently (until defecting to Oceania) whose online cruise management probably mirrors Azamara. I remember the request luggage tags button - it was buried in their website and I had problems finding it. Their website wasn't too user friendly. Maybe it's better now.

 

Harry

[Jancruz]

You can always ask for luggage tags at the point of embarkation which I usually do..

Jancruz1

[JimandStan]

Any time that we have ever stayed pre-cruise through Oceania, there was a courtesy desk established in the lobby of our hotel.

 

I'm not saying that it was manned 24x7, but the Oceania Team was definitely there at the crack of dawn on Sailing Day

 

They handled bus service to the ship, organized the luggage and certainly dispensed extra (or missing) luggage tags.

[harryw]

I did tell the Oceania rep at the Courtesy Desk that we had no luggage tags. She said not to worry - it will be taken care of at the pier in Southampton,. But there was no opportunity at the pier to put tags on the luggage. Staff there said that in cases like mine,

they will look at personal tags to match luggage to the right cabin.

 

All I am saying is that this is a flawed system. While our luggage wasn't lost, it needlessly increases chances of error. And porters can't get tips.

 

Harry

[wave time]

On the Riviera Sacred Sanctuaries cruise from Athens to Istanbul on August 6 this year, there were 86 passengers staying at the Grand Bretagne Hotel in Athens. Luggage had to be out of the room by 8:30 AM and the bags went directly to the ship in a large truck and were not seen again by the passengers until you got to your cabin on the ship. The passengers were transported to the ship in a bus at around Noon. None of the 86 passengers ever saw a porter or identified their bags at the pier or tipped a porter. This was the procedure for passengers opting for a pre-cruise hotel package. I do not know how Oceania handles the bags when passengers go directly from the airport to the ship.

[RetiredFL]

We have never tipped the people who collect the bags that are dropped off.

They certainly don't seem to be looking for tips as they grab you bags, put them on their cart and are off in an instant.

I don't think they are "porters" in the true sense of the word.

[TKS]

Whether they are porters or not, they are busy, that's for sure. But I've never seen them so busy they didn't appreciate a tip and say, "thanks, have a good day." So tips may not be required, but they are certainly appreciated.