flydc Posted October 21, 2013 #1 Share Posted October 21, 2013 So this is my first Oceania cruise after 2 Azamaras... Not impressed. Today there was almost an all out riot onboard when it took over 2 hours to disembark in Sorrento. They had four tenders and did their best to explain that they just aren't set up for everyone to get off in a timely manner. We anchored at noon today and it seemed everyone wanted to get off quickly. No surprise. Although it was a surprise to the crew. Several people who booked private tours, etc were just out of luck as they were 2 hours late. They shouldn't advertise arriving at noon if you can't get there until 2pm .... just sayin'. They should have you sign up for a time, first come first served, or however - but have it more organized. Would have preferred to spend our sunny day by the pool instead of in the Marina lounge waiting endlessly for our color to be called for our tender ticket. They should advertise 12 noon for those booking Oceania excursions and 2pm for everyone else. Our next 2 ports (Amalfi and Corfu) are tendered ports - so we'll see how it goes. Not too hopeful ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERRIER1 Posted October 21, 2013 #2 Share Posted October 21, 2013 So this is my first Oceania cruise after 2 Azamaras... Not impressed. Today there was almost an all out riot onboard when it took over 2 hours to disembark in Sorrento. They had four tenders and did their best to explain that they just aren't set up for everyone to get off in a timely manner. We anchored at noon today and it seemed everyone wanted to get off quickly. No surprise. Although it was a surprise to the crew. Several people who booked private tours, etc were just out of luck as they were 2 hours late. They shouldn't advertise arriving at noon if you can't get there until 2pm .... just sayin'. They should have you sign up for a time, first come first served, or however - but have it more organized. Would have preferred to spend our sunny day by the pool instead of in the Marina lounge waiting endlessly for our color to be called for our tender ticket. They should advertise 12 noon for those booking Oceania excursions and 2pm for everyone else. Our next 2 ports (Amalfi and Corfu) are tendered ports - so we'll see how it goes. Not too hopeful ... Did O give a reason for the delay? What time did you have to be back on the ship? Sorry to hear about the disoranization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Noxequifans Posted October 21, 2013 #3 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Each tender can hold approximately 150. If my math is correct, all the passengers on the ship should have been delivered on shore in about one hour ... unless the anchored location was fairly far out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted October 21, 2013 #4 Share Posted October 21, 2013 Each tender can hold approximately 150. If my math is correct, all the passengers on the ship should have been delivered on shore in about one hour ... unless the anchored location was fairly far out. In an emergency they use the full capacity otherwise I believe to count is 100 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turnip eater Posted October 22, 2013 #5 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Be thankful that you arrived at the designated port....last week Marina and Riviera were both docked in Naples for two days, instead of Amalfi and Sorrento;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flydc Posted October 22, 2013 Author #6 Share Posted October 22, 2013 We anchored right on time. Four tenders in the water right on time. It was just complete mismanagement and poor planning by the O staff to get people off in a timely manner. They sent the O booked tours first (understandable) but heard that they didn't fill up those tenders with others. "Independent" guests were told to get a colored ticket in the lounge and then wait for their color to be called. There was no posting of order of colors, etc so nobody knew when they would go. They also made you turn in your ticket if you left the lounge (even knowing that some colors wouldn't be called for almost 2 hours). The only explanation was that they were "doing their best" and understood everyone was mad and that they wished they could do more. I feel bad for the 'destinations' staff who hand out the tickets, etc. This is clearly the responsibility of the Hotel Director, Cruise Director, etc - who of course were nowhere to be found. Anchor up at 11:59pm - so as long as you didn't mind missing dinner aboard, there was plenty of time in town. We did both Capri and Sorrento - with a nice dinner on our own in Sorrento. No wait or hassle to get back on the tender at 8:45pm. This wasn't our first time here - so we weren't as disappointed as others who were seeing this area for the first time. Also heard from many who booked private tour guides of their disappointment as the tour ended at the original time even though they started 2 hours late. (Not the guide's fault - clearly O's fault!) This morning in Amalfi seems a bit better - but we haven't even tried for a tender ticket yet. We anchored at 8am. Tours all off by 9am. It's now 9:30am - so I'm hopeful by 10am we can just walk on a tender. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted October 22, 2013 #7 Share Posted October 22, 2013 FYI Sending out the O tours first is NOT "understandable." The cruise line should not penalize folks who choose to tour independently. This occurred on one cruise I was on -- where the Destinations director tried to do this -- I complained loudly -- never happened again. It is NOT O's poiicy. If you are meeting a private guide and have to be off the ship to meet him or her at a certain time you DO NOT have to wait for all the O tours to get tendered off. Speak to someone about it. I have done this many times. They try to let all their tour folks off first BUT IT IS NOT THE OFFICIAL O POLICY. Curious - who is the CD on your cruise. IMO the CD is responsible for the chaos and poor communication. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JVNYC Posted October 22, 2013 #8 Share Posted October 22, 2013 David Shermet is currently the CD on Marina. We are not fans. We had him for our last 2 cruises: Marina in Sept and Riviera in May. We find David quite phony. His TV segments are almost robotic. I don't see a genuineness in this CD. I'm not surpirsed that he was not around for this situation. I saw David in the gym more than I saw him around the ship. I'm really hoping we can have a taste of a new CD on our Riviera cruise in July, 2014. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted October 22, 2013 #9 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Very surprised this would happen on his watch. Whether you like him or not, he is SUPER organized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floridiana Posted October 22, 2013 #10 Share Posted October 22, 2013 I have had 'disaster events' like this on the Riviera, the MS Veendam and on the Grand Princess. In all three cases, I had booked ship's excursions. It seems that the 'destination' and 'getting off' staff is not up to the task of proper organization and timely communication whenever an unusual clitch of some sort occurs, be it local authorities late (Belize), sudden fog (St. Vincent), no shuttle busses in a commerical part of the port (Barbados), not enough tenders for whatever reason (Panama). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypercafe Posted October 22, 2013 #11 Share Posted October 22, 2013 People with Oceania Tours do not have to get off first but because they got them from Oceania, Oceania has to make sure they get off in time to make the tour or refund the money. IMHO the tour starts in the lounge waiting for the tender, if you book your owne the tour starts on the pier. You really pay a lot extra for the Oceania tour so you should get something for it. You can always take the ship tour if you are worried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted October 22, 2013 #12 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Lesson learned. Come to the lounge (much) earlier to collect your ticket (not at 12) and your color will be the first color to be called. They usually DO mix O excursions with independents - if numbers allow it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbb Posted October 22, 2013 #13 Share Posted October 22, 2013 We have sailed with O many times (although not in the last year, but that's not through any fault of theirs!) and we have NEVER had to wait to board a tender until all tours are taken care of. We are often the first ones in the lounge, declare ourselves independent, and are the first to be tendered sharing it with the first tour group. I arrive at least 1/2 hour before tickets are handed out for first tour, Mr Wonderful is about 15 minutes later and stands in the back of the lounge. I receive our tickets assuring them that my party is here and we are usually first on the tender! Has this all changed in one year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted October 22, 2013 #14 Share Posted October 22, 2013 We have sailed with O many times (although not in the last year, but that's not through any fault of theirs!) and we have NEVER had to wait to board a tender until all tours are taken care of. We are often the first ones in the lounge, declare ourselves independent, and are the first to be tendered sharing it with the first tour group. I arrive at least 1/2 hour before tickets are handed out for first tour, Mr Wonderful is about 15 minutes later and stands in the back of the lounge. I receive our tickets assuring them that my party is here and we are usually first on the tender! Has this all changed in one year? In fact, it's not all that unusual to send a tender with independents first sometimes - depending on the tour schedules. Early bird gets the worm :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbb Posted October 22, 2013 #15 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Hey Paul, Amen to your comments. Our early bird ticket is always "the first color to be called." Hope your future travels are safe and glorious! c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted October 22, 2013 #16 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Thank you c. We wish the same for you :) Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travelcat2 Posted October 23, 2013 #17 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Just wondering what is wrong with "first come - first served". Passengers know when their tours are scheduled for...... why wait in the theater for bus tickets? On some other cruise lines, you take the tender and meet up with the tour guide(s) on shore. They check you off of their list and you get on the bus (or boat or whatever). When the bus/boat is full, they leave. This allows independent travelers as well as those with Oceania tours to board the tender in the order they arrived in the line. The current system complicates things (IMHO). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no fuss travel Posted October 23, 2013 #18 Share Posted October 23, 2013 It is not the CD who runs the tender disembarkation. It is the Destination Staff. We had a real mess last February at a tender port in New Zealand. After that mess, it never happened again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted October 23, 2013 #19 Share Posted October 23, 2013 The CD is ultimately in charge If Destination staff is screwing up, the CD can step in and fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypercafe Posted October 23, 2013 #20 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Just wondering what is wrong with "first come - first served". Passengers know when their tours are scheduled for...... why wait in the theater for bus tickets? On some other cruise lines, you take the tender and meet up with the tour guide(s) on shore. They check you off of their list and you get on the bus (or boat or whatever). When the bus/boat is full, they leave. This allows independent travelers as well as those with Oceania tours to board the tender in the order they arrived in the line. The current system complicates things (IMHO). The way it works is if you have a Oceania Tour in a tender port you get a tour ticket with a time to meet in the lounge. In the lounge you change the ticket for a numbered tender ticket. When the number is called you all leave for the tour. If you are independent you get a colored tender ticket upon arriving in the lounge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERRIER1 Posted October 23, 2013 #21 Share Posted October 23, 2013 We had a real fiasco two cruises ago. Total mismanagement and it was a mob scene trying to disembark. We were able to get off the ship and meet up with our independent tour but others missed the tour since they were sent back to their cabins and told to wait to be called for disembarkation. O never called the independents only their tours. To add salt to the wound, O allowed their tours to come back later then the scheduled sail time to make up the time lost but the independents had to race back to the ship to be on time. O must have gotten major complaints (correctly so) since the next day all the independents were allowed off first. Don't get me wrong, there are times when the situation is out of control of Oceania but there are also times when the situation is caused by O. On our cruise to French Polynesia this past April (which was basically all tendering) O kept open about 10% of each tender for independent. They actually announced this. You have to go up and get a ticket but tell them you had to get off to meet your guide. I believe this strategy was a result of some incidents from the prior cruise where they had issues with tours vs independents. We actually made sure everyone in our party was in the lounge and then one person went up and picked up all the tender tickets. We find the tenders on the Marina and Riviera less efficient than on the R ships. Perhaps it is due to their design complicated by the number of people on the O ships vs the R ships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted October 23, 2013 #22 Share Posted October 23, 2013 The official policy is definitely NOT to preclude independents from getting off until all O shore excursion participants get off the ship. BUT a rogue Destinations manager once tried to do that -- you just have to speak up when you feel you are being treated unfairly. Apparently several cruises have seen problems -- this is a great issue for comment cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypercafe Posted October 23, 2013 #23 Share Posted October 23, 2013 If I wanted to get off quick for my own tour I would go to the destinations desk the night before, explain the issue and see what they say. I have always found them to be helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted October 23, 2013 #24 Share Posted October 23, 2013 We had a real fiasco two cruises ago. Total mismanagement and it was a mob scene trying to disembark. We were able to get off the ship and meet up with our independent tour but others missed the tour since they were sent back to their cabins and told to wait to be called for disembarkation. O never called the independents only their tours. Odd that they would send people to the cabins to wait I never hear the announcements in the cabin unless they are emergency ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERRIER1 Posted October 23, 2013 #25 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Odd that they would send people to the cabins to waitI never hear the announcements in the cabin unless they are emergency ones The situation was so out of control. I felt like I was at a European football playoff game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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