Please Oceania, explain why you did this to us

[Cornishpastyman1]

I just did a very unscientific look at departure times of major cruise lines from Naples. All of them left between 6 and 7 pm. That was also true of the two cruises I've taken that stopped in Naples.

 

Must be the witching hour. ;)

 

 

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My last word on this - I knew that changing the departure time from Naples was highly unlikely, for all the possible entirely valid operational reasons given in earlier posts. My only point was why someone decided we had to leave at at 6 when we were originally scheduled to be bobbing around anchored off the Amalfi coast - no dock workers, dock space, dock charges or pilots to consider. 10 pm would still have left 32 hours to get to Civi with eons of shopping time the next day, and many of us could have seen quite a bit more onshore. Earlier in the cruise we had been tendered back to ship for departures at 11,10 and 10 pm, and I was disappointed it was not so on this occasion, that's all, although in the event we were diverted to Naples and it didn't matter. But had the weather been kind a lot of us would have been very frustrated.

 

As I knew about this when I booked it clearly didn't stop me from doing what was overall a fantastic cruise, and I look forward to sailing with O again, but I hope that future schedules allow the maximum time at each port when a ship is anchored and time to the next port is not really a factor.

[Jancruz]

Below is the e-mail address of someone in OC Customer Relations. She answered a question I had very promptly. Why not go to the company instead of seeking answers from people who may not know anything about your question?

 

Dianne Blazquez <DBlazquez@oceaniacruises.com>

 

Carlo, customer relations will have no idea what happened..

Jancruz1

[Floridiana]

If you need explantions of what goes into changes schedules and ports from the captain's point of view, read Captain Albert's blog. His last post on a stormy return from Alaska to Vancouver is an eye opener for us unsuspecting landlubbers. http://www.hollandamericablog.com/albert/

 

But I agree with all those who say that proper and timely communication is a major factor in passengers' happiness.

[LuAnn]

If you need explantions of what goes into changes schedules and ports from the captain's point of view, read Captain Albert's blog. His last post on a stormy return from Alaska to Vancouver is an eye opener for us unsuspecting landlubbers. http://www.hollandamericablog.com/albert/

 

But I agree with all those who say that proper and timely communication is a major factor in passengers' happiness.

 

thank you for posting Captain Albert's blog. That really DOES give you an inside look!!! LuAnn

[TKS]

My last word on this - I knew that changing the departure time from Naples was highly unlikely, for all the possible entirely valid operational reasons given in earlier posts. My only point was why someone decided we had to leave at at 6 when we were originally scheduled to be bobbing around anchored off the Amalfi coast - no dock workers, dock space, dock charges or pilots to consider. 10 pm would still have left 32 hours to get to Civi with eons of shopping time the next day, and many of us could have seen quite a bit more onshore. Earlier in the cruise we had been tendered back to ship for departures at 11,10 and 10 pm, and I was disappointed it was not so on this occasion, that's all, although in the event we were diverted to Naples and it didn't matter. But had the weather been kind a lot of us would have been very frustrated.

 

As I knew about this when I booked it clearly didn't stop me from doing what was overall a fantastic cruise, and I look forward to sailing with O again, but I hope that future schedules allow the maximum time at each port when a ship is anchored and time to the next port is not really a factor.

 

Sorry, I guess I don't get your point. Do I understand you were in port the time O promised before you sailed, but were disappointed they did not change it to give you longer in port?

[no fuss travel]

If you need explantions of what goes into changes schedules and ports from the captain's point of view, read Captain Albert's blog. His last post on a stormy return from Alaska to Vancouver is an eye opener for us unsuspecting landlubbers. http://www.hollandamericablog.com/albert/

 

But I agree with all those who say that proper and timely communication is a major factor in passengers' happiness.

 

That was one incredible storm that we had. They were lucky that they made it to Vancouver without problems other than burning more than their fair share of fuel. We had power outages all over the place, BC Ferries were cancelled, and everyone basically stayed inside as that was the safest place to be. We lost a couple of large trees in the wind storm. It was interesting reading his blog.