No longer an Oceania Cheerleader

[hypercafe]

I feel the bottom line of all these things is in the past "The Customer is Always Right" was the name of the game in the service business. To-Day I get the feeling from my personal experience is "The Customer is Always Wrong". Some people love the cruise line of their choice, if the ship sank they would spin it that it was the fault of the passenger. Take it all with a grain of salt!!

[funny26]

Yes, but didn't you say that after your original Oceania selected flights were cancelled by the weather that you made your own second round of flight arrangements to get to Rio?

In that case, how could the staff in Rio have known when (or IF) you would be arriving?

 

That is a gross and misleading mis-statement. There were at least 2 people/groups and most likely more who desperately tried to get O to respond via phone and e-mail without any success to try and get O to take care of them when their flights were cancelled.

 

They did the only think left they could do is to call the airline and get them to Rio one way or another. Should they have sat and waited for O to get back to them and more than likely missed their cruise????

 

O made the bookings and had the booking number and after getting all of the messages should have simply checked with the airline to see what if anything had transpired and then contacted the ship to advise.

 

The OP and others did not make their own arrangements, they talked to the only people who would talk to them and had the airline chosen by O get them rebooked and to Rio before the ship left.

 

Implying that the people made their own arrangements is false and what they did expecially since it was a Saturday and O seemed to either take no interest/didn't care or were not available.

 

The first thing any passenger should do when flights are cancelled or delayed is to talk directly to the airline as it is clearly stated in most, if not all inclucing O that the cruise line is not responsible if flights are delayed or cancelled.

 

Blaming the OP when it is clear that the ball was dropped by O is not valid and continuing to support O no matter what is wrong as well. O is not blameless in this matter and resent your constant defense at all costs when it is obvious they are far from perfect and they truly screwed up in this matter in more than one way.

[JimandStan]

Oh for goodness sake, do you want to discuss the situation at hand intelligently or are we going to bemoan a lack of liason which hasn't existed (IF IT EVER DID), since the 1940's?

 

I sometimes wish that people who have customer service expectations on a par with yours could be permitted to purchase tickets which figured in all of the extraneous, redundant costs which "doing it precisely your way" would entail.

 

Then, we would see who would be willing to pay the freight, and who suddenly decided to look at things more practically. :cool:

[funny26]

oh for goodness sake, do you want to discuss the situation at hand intelligently or are we going to bemoan a lack of liason which hasn't existed (if it ever did), since the 1940's?

 

I sometimes wish that people who have customer service expectations on a par with yours could be permitted to purchase tickets which figured in all of the extraneous, redundant costs which "doing it precisely your way" would entail.

 

Then, we would see who would be willing to pay the freight, and who suddenly decided to look at things more practically. :cool:

 

huh!!!!!!

[hondorner]

...Our flight to Rio de Janeiro from Dallas/Fort Worth was cancelled on the day we were supposed to leave. Oceania did nothing to help me get new flights - they never answered my emails or calls...

This was a Saturday, correct? There would be a skeleton staff on duty, at best. An "Air Emergency" after hours hotline is printed in your documentation; did you call that number (there is no email address provided for such an air emergency)?

 

...I did get in touch with American Airlines later that evening and they rescheduled us the the next day through Miami...

I believe this is where Jim got the information that you made your own arrangements, which would preclude Oceania knowing when to expect you.

 

...Fortunately the ship was in port in Rio for 2 days so we did not miss the boat. However, we arrived at the port at about 9:30 am but there was no one from Oceania to meet us and we had to wait in the sun for an hour and a half before they let us board the ship...

The personnel at embarkation terminals are not employees of Oceania nor are they members of the ship staff. They are contracted through a shore-side agency such as Intercruises. They are hired for a specific period of time when embarkation is scheduled. There are normally no ship staff in the shore-side facilities. In the documents sent by Oceania, the name of that local representative agency and a local emergency phone number are provided. Did you contact them when you knew you would be late, or at least once you arrived in Rio?

[potterhill]

On our Asian cruise last year we got prior permission to board late, around 12am. Our driver got lost. And we got the tour of the Port of Tianjin. It's miles and miles long!

 

Apparently, they moved the ship-you know that disclaimer in your documents.... Anyway, when we finally stumbled onboard after 2, they were expecting us and we were in our room quick as a wink, and luggage right behind us.

 

No complaints here. ;-). Point being, we let them know we would be late arrivals.

 

Mo

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[roothy123]

Well, I don't want to enter this fray, but in case it helps someone, here's my two cents' worth: Nope, delays aren't fun. I hear a lot of Superbowl visitors were stuck in airports in NY/NJ today because of bad weather. You just never know what's going to happen. That's one reason I always, always make sure to take with me the emergency numbers provided for a cruise. Once on the cruise, I also always take the name and number of the port agent in each port we visit, especially if I'm going off on my own. If something happens and I might be delayed in getting back to the ship, I can get someone to call the agent. It doesn't guarantee I'll get back in time to find the ship waiting for me, but at least it lets the cruise line know I'm trying! The agent info for each port is listed in the daily paper, and you can get an extra copy of the paper at Reception on your way out. It's just a little tiny bit of insurance...

 

So far I've never missed a cruise ship either at embarkation or returning from any day in port, but there was one time on a river cruise when we got to Budapest, had the taxi go down to the river, and couldn't find the ship anywhere. After some driving up and down the river, I remembered I had Viking's emergency number, had the taxi driver call the cruise line, and was told the ship couldn't make it to Budapest due to low water levels. We were given the name of a hotel where we had to go to join our group. Another time, we were in St. Petersburg and a woman had gotten separated from her tour group (not an Oceania excursion, but a private one). She was in the parking lot completely panicking as she had no clue how to contact Oceania. Luckily my husband had the port agent information and was able to get someone to contact them.

 

Now I make sure I take emergency info with me when I travel. I can't always control the future, but at least I can do a few things to minimize the fallout if something bad happens!

[bfox13]

Yes, but didn't you say that after your original Oceania selected flights were cancelled by the weather that you made your own second round of flight arrangements to get to Rio?

In that case, how could the staff in Rio have known when (or IF) you would be arriving?

 

I sent them an email and also left a voice message telling them when we were arriving. There were several other people on that flight that Oceania had rerouted. We were not allowed in the terminal because there was no one from Oceania there. There were several Crystal staff in the terminal and they helped us.

[bfox13]

That is a gross and misleading mis-statement. There were at least 2 people/groups and most likely more who desperately tried to get O to respond via phone and e-mail without any success to try and get O to take care of them when their flights were cancelled.

 

They did the only think left they could do is to call the airline and get them to Rio one way or another. Should they have sat and waited for O to get back to them and more than likely missed their cruise????

 

O made the bookings and had the booking number and after getting all of the messages should have simply checked with the airline to see what if anything had transpired and then contacted the ship to advise.

 

The OP and others did not make their own arrangements, they talked to the only people who would talk to them and had the airline chosen by O get them rebooked and to Rio before the ship left.

 

Implying that the people made their own arrangements is false and what they did expecially since it was a Saturday and O seemed to either take no interest/didn't care or were not available.

 

The first thing any passenger should do when flights are cancelled or delayed is to talk directly to the airline as it is clearly stated in most, if not all inclucing O that the cruise line is not responsible if flights are delayed or cancelled.

 

Blaming the OP when it is clear that the ball was dropped by O is not valid and continuing to support O no matter what is wrong as well. O is not blameless in this matter and resent your constant defense at all costs when it is obvious they are far from perfect and they truly screwed up in this matter in more than one way.

 

Thank you so much! As I said before the cruise was wonderful once we got on board but Oceania's customer service STINKS!

[Travelcat2]

Thank you so much! As I said before the cruise was wonderful once we got on board but Oceania's customer service STINKS!

 

This may have been posted before -- even so, it bears repeating. The "Crystal" or "Oceania" people you see inside of the terminal are not Crystal or Oceania employees. They work for the port and wear uniforms with the cruise lines names on them for identification purposes. It is the same type of thing when you are picked up at the airport....... A sign may be held up for one cruise line in the morning and another cruise line a few hours later. In my opinion, it is important not to blame (or credit) Oceania based on these individuals that do the best job they can but are not employed by the cruise lines.

[rhohea]

Like I said we did have a good cruise with some exceptions

 

First night may have been just an off night for the staff, it was taken care of once brought to their attention

We were seated 3 of us & given the menus & water glasses were filled

The table next to us which was seated within minutes of us seem to have their order taken & thie 1st course arrive

We still sat with menus in hand, no bread basket to go with the water

So DH went in search of the maitre'd

All fixed but this should not have happened

 

Toscana ...we had 6:30 seating we were at a table for 7, five of us were on time

The card states they will hold the reservation for 15mins ..fine

By 7:15 we are still waiting for the 2 no shows, finally one of the ladies asked to be served now rather than wait for people that are too rude to cancel their time slot

Food was fine ...veal Limone was not much lemon flavour

 

Red Ginger -seated at a table for the 3 of us, orders were taken

They came & asked for our tea order, we said we would like it with our dessert

no problem

DH wanted to try the chicken Satay it came while the restaurant manager was chatting with us

He tasted one piece & asked if it was a warm or cold dish

she said it should be warm..it was not

They offered to take it & heat it up but he did not want to chance it coming back worse than before

I noticed the next piece when DH slide it off the skewer was still raw inside

NOT GOOD

Next the summer roll, he tasted it said it was very strong taste, I tasted it YUCK

It was like fermenting vegetables or something tasted like cleaning fluid

took most of the night to get rid of the taste

after a long wait the entree arrived

We decide to share the Green curry dish with some rice, this was nothing like the same dish I had on Marina

The rice was good

We ordered dessert ..we ate the dessert, waited for tea we order at the begining of the meal

Gave up & left

 

Jacques- I ordered the salmon ..it was so overcooked it was like shoe leather trying to eat it

DH ordered the dover sole, it was over powered with lemon & smelled fishy

he said it also tasted fishy

Dessert was good

 

There were other issues but those are the worst ones

 

So glad other people had good service & food

This was not our first rodeo with Oceania but it may well be our last

We felt that some of the staff were just not up to the task or were rude to the passengers

 

We did hear from other some new to Oceania that they also had issues with certain staff members

 

 

Lyn

 

I have returned home today from my 12th Oceania cruise (5th & 6th on Riviera). I have cruised with Lyn & her DH on several cruises over the past 6 years including the Jan 13, 2014 cruise on which Lyn has stated her concerns on this thread. As I usually do, I did the B2B completing the Jan 23, 2024 also. As stated, I only arrived home today after my 30hr long & painful journey from Miami to Brisbane with injuries received on Riviera so will today just add to some of Lyn's comments.

 

We were seated 3 of us & given the menus & water glasses were filled

The table next to us which was seated within minutes of us seem to have their order taken & thie 1st course arrive

We still sat with menus in hand, no bread basket to go with the water

So DH went in search of the maitre'd

All fixed but this should not have happened

I was the 3rd person who Lyn refers to. I agree with all of Lyn's points but also wish to add that the table on our other side which had been seated after us had also had their order taken before we finally made contact with the maitre'd.

 

Toscana ...we had 6:30 seating we were at a table for 7, five of us were on time

The card states they will hold the reservation for 15mins ..fine

By 7:15 we are still waiting for the 2 no shows, finally one of the ladies asked to be served now rather than wait for people that are too rude to cancel their time slot

Food was fine ...veal Limone was not much lemon flavour

Again I agree with Lyn's points. Toscana's has always been my 3rd favourite choice of the specialty restaurants but came up top over these 2 cruises.

 

I had also noticed that there were very few familiar faces amongst crew members which disappointed me. But in Toscana's I found a few more smiling faces from the past and their experience came through with good service (except the delay at the beginning).

 

Red Ginger -seated at a table for the 3 of us, orders were taken

They came & asked for our tea order, we said we would like it with our dessert

no problem

DH wanted to try the chicken Satay it came while the restaurant manager was chatting with us

He tasted one piece & asked if it was a warm or cold dish

she said it should be warm..it was not

They offered to take it & heat it up but he did not want to chance it coming back worse than before

I noticed the next piece when DH slide it off the skewer was still raw inside

NOT GOOD

Next the summer roll, he tasted it said it was very strong taste, I tasted it YUCK

It was like fermenting vegetables or something tasted like cleaning fluid

took most of the night to get rid of the taste

after a long wait the entree arrived

We decide to share the Green curry dish with some rice, this was nothing like the same dish I had on Marina

The rice was good

We ordered dessert ..we ate the dessert, waited for tea we order at the begining of the meal

Gave up & left

 

Well this was my greatest disappointment from my all time favourite.

Again I can confirmed Lyn's comments + add a few of my own.

I had also ordered the Summer Rolls but they never arrived instead I received the Deep Fried rolls. I never mentioned the error as I was happy to be in my favourite restaurant at sea. The rolls I received were very nice. Next I had ordered the Terriakyi Beef (which I had enjoyed several times over past cruises). When the T Beef arrived it appeared to me to be cooked more than my requested Rare to Medium and did not have any sauce over the beef. When I mentioned the missing sauce the waiter picked up the plate left the table and returned to the table with my Beef with a very thin gravy like sauce over the top. Normally the sauce is a nice thick rich sauce.

 

We ordered dessert ..we ate the dessert, waited for tea we order at the begining of the meal

Gave up & left

I had ordered a desert that was not on the menu but was available at several of the other venues on the ship and in the past have had not problem requesting the same desert at Red Ginger. When Lyn & DH's desserts arrived but mine did not I asked about mine and the waiters reply was "Oh, I thought you were joking".

Also when we arrived and had been seated the Wine Waiter came over to ask if we wish to order some wine with our meal and we all said "No" to wine, we were never ask if we wish to have any other drinks with our meals.

After my mid cruise comments card on which I had written my first ever negative comment regarding food or service, I was approached in Terraces one morning by the Red Ginger Maitre'D and asked to expand on my negative comments regarding her staff & the food & service. After which she asked me to please come back to RG for dinner during the 2nd cruise. I did go back and received excellent service from start to finish and all courses were excellent. With 4 waiters "fluffing" around me how could the service not be good. All had been advised that I was dining that evening.

Jacques- I ordered the salmon ..it was so overcooked it was like shoe leather trying to eat it

DH ordered the dover sole, it was over powered with lemon & smelled fishy

he said it also tasted fishy

Dessert was good

I enjoyed my meal at Jacques but can confirm the above mentioned Dover Sole was "on the nose".

 

WAVES: The breakfast & lunches I had at Waves were all good and service was also good. The only problem I had was on 2 occasions I gave my order to an Indian Cook who then had to call another Cook over who asked me to repeat my order as the original Cook could not understand my English. To me it should be a basic prerequisite that crew understand basic English and also be able to speak English + smile. Smiles were lacking by many of the female crew in Terraces during both my cruises.

 

As I stated above I only returned home today and have other issues/problems that commence during the B2B that I will cover later.

Rhonda

PS: I was very disappointed that Roy P was not our CD even though he had been listed as both cruises CD.

Edited February 4, 2014 by rhohea

[uschisiggi]

+1

You said it and I'm sure many will agree.

 

another +++1 from us.

We have been on this cruise and the following one ( our 6th and 7th with Oceania) and did not have any problems. Our next three cruises on board MARINA are booked...:):):)

 

uschisiggi

[Mura]

Rhonda,

 

Thanks for your comments. Just one thing to say about your problem with the cook who didn't understand your English. Might part of the problem have been your Australian accent?

 

I agree that all crew on Oceania should understand English. But we ourselves have encountered occasional problems in Europe with our "American" accents. I remember when we were in Yugoslavia in 1977 that many service people spoke English very well, but they had learned British English and often were puzzled by the American accent. On a few occasions I did better by speaking to them in German!

 

Mura

[Noxequifans]

Rhohea: "WAVES: The breakfast & lunches I had at Waves were all good and service was also good. The only problem I had was on 2 occasions I gave my order to an Indian Cook who then had to call another Cook over who asked me to repeat my order as the original Cook could not understand my English. To me it should be a basic prerequisite that crew understand basic English and also be able to speak English + smile."

 

In defense of the "Indian Cook" .... English as spoken in former British colonies has developed in unique ways in usage, accent, meaning, etc. It is very conceivable that when one resident of a former colony is speaking to another different former colony resident a communication issue could arise.

 

My take on this Waves situation was that the O employee recognized the difficulty and took immediate steps to insure the cruiser got the correct order. That is really the important thing ... Ins't it.

 

Having lived in rural Japan, I was very aware my language usage was sometimes cause for misunderstanding when I visited Tokyo. I was glad I was aware of it.

Edited February 4, 2014 by Noxequifans

[azevedan]

Relative to insurance not covering missed shore excursions.

 

http://elliott.org/can-this-trip-be-saved-2/what-to-do-when-cruise-insurance-isnt-a-shore-thing/

[LHT28]

Welcome back Rhonda

[HeatherInFlorida]

Well …. all this amazes me. Maybe having cruised on HAL and Celebrity in recent years and watched as service and food took a steady downhill trend, I may have boarded Riviera in January 2013 with very low expectations. I was in awe our entire 10 days. Without question, we received the best service and most amazing food that we have ever experienced since we began cruising in 1982.

 

But that wouldn't explain why, when we cruised on Riviera again in December 2013, we were just as impressed. Did nothing ever go slightly wrong? I'm sure it did, but I confess I do not notice whether a table next to me gets served before I do. All I know is I was always happy and that was despite the fact the I got a cold about 5 days into the cruise and wasn't feeling at the top of my game.

 

So I don't know. Maybe I don't expect that much, but I do know the difference between fine dining and the tasteless food I'd begun to have on HAL and Celebrity. And I know when I'm being treated really well as opposed to hardly being noticed. I know every cruise is different, but we were on Riviera twice within 12 months and both were absolutely amazing.

 

As for people who say Oceania doesn't live up to the "hype", I simply can't understand that. For us it absolutely did. We pay a whole lot more for that level of service and enjoyment, but for me it was worth it to feel completely and totally pampered every minute from the moment we parked our car at the terminal until we got back into it on our arrival home.

 

We look forward to our next cruise on Regatta toward the end of the year.

[LHT28]

I confess I do not notice whether a table next to me gets served before I do.

 

I wonder how long it would take you to notice when you are the one still sitting there after 30 minutes with your menu still in hand :rolleyes:

 

Lyn

[Mura]

Lyn,

 

I really do sympathize. It hasn't happened to us on O (although on our November cruise there was one night when they could have been faster to take our order in the GDR, but it just wasn't as bad for us as you have reported it was for you). But it did happen one night on Renaissance, and we sure weren't happy ... especially since we were seated right by the waiter's station. He kept walking by us, just never acknowledged our existence. I'm guessing that is what happened to you that night.

 

When people like Lyn and Rhonda -- big fans of Oceania -- report problems, we should all take note.

 

I've seen some reports of similar problems (although not nearly as bad) on our recent Marina cruise. We didn't encounter any of those problems, but that doesn't mean I think they didn't happen.

 

Oceania has grown a lot in the past couple of years and perhaps they need to look more closely at staffing considerations.

 

We aren't going to cancel our May 2014 cruise, but our eyes will be open!

 

Mura

[HeatherInFlorida]

To be clear, I never suggested this didn't happen. I said my expectations are probably lower. Remember, I'm comparing to HAL and Celebrity ... Not to prior cruises on Oceania. Until January 2013 we had never cruised on Oceania. So I'm coming from a very different perspective.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[dundeene]

We have been on 3 Oceania sailings with amazing food and excellent service in all venues.

 

There was a slip in the Terrace Cafe on our last cruise. We noticed all of the waiters around us working very hard and taking great care of diners. No waiter approached our table. I saw the dining manager in the ivory coat and approached him. I told him it had been a few minutes and it didn't appear any server was assigned to our table.

 

He approached two of the waiters and it seemed one of them was confused as to where his area ended and the other server's began.

He came to our table and explained that he usually only works in the specialty restaurants and was subbing for a friend who left the ship for a family event. After that evening, every time we dined in the Terrace we were fawned over. The manager later called my cabin and apologized again.

 

I am sailing on Oceania, 16 days in May and again in July for 12 days. I am confident that I will enjoy great food and wonderful service. I do not expect that it will be a "perfect cruise" (although our 1st three were pretty amazing!)

Edited February 7, 2014 by dundeene

[LHT28]

We have had very good service on our 8 Oceania cruises

A few minor slips here & there ..after all no cruise line is perfect

 

Hope everyone has fantastic service on their next cruise

 

Number 9 was a let down

 

 

Enjoy

 

Lyn

[hondorner]

... I saw the dining manager in the ivory coat and approached him. I told him it had been a few minutes and it didn't appear any server was assigned to our table....

Bingo -- I was just thinking to myself that there is no way I would sit and wait 30 minutes with a menu in my hand. I'm normally very tolerant, and rarely get upset, but I would gently inform someone "up the chain" that something was wrong.

[pacheco18]

Of course

Who sits for a half hour and waits?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Noxequifans]

Of course

Who sits for a half hour and waits?

 

 

Ditto

Edited February 7, 2014 by Noxequifans