11/5/05 Regatta itinerary changes

[Andee]

I posed the question to Oceania of why the initerary changes were made, but I don't expect an answer until after the holiday weekend. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

What do you think of the changes? I don't like most of them, but I try to make the best of things, so will think positively.

[Guest Jancruz]

Hi Andee,

 

The itinerary was changed last week..You will recieve the new itinerary in your final docs..(same as the one posted on Oceanias web site)...I was told it was due to time restrictions..I have a call into someone at home and will post when I get a definite answer..

Jan:)

*****

[Andee]

Thanks, Jan, I appreciate whatever information you can provide.

 

I'm not happy abouyt substituting a sea day for Gibraltar, or about having less time in Barcelona, Cadiz, Casablanca, and Malta, but I'll deal with it.

[Guest Jancruz]

I did talk to someone..it had to do with their having to flip flop a couple of the days..I still think it is a wonderful itinerary and you will have a great time!

 

Jan:)

*****

[patw]

I am really disappointed that now we have 4 days at sea when Oceania is usually port intensive. Insignia which is in Barcelona prior to the Atlantic crossing a few days after our departure, is a 10 day cruise from Venice to Barcelona with only one sea day.

 

Telling passengers that they will receive the notice with their final documents will really be a shock to those who do not frequent the boards.

 

Pat

[NancyBancy]

Interesting that all the changes were made AFTER final payment which was just a short time ago. Oceania should be ashamed of pulling that kind of trickery. Time in almost every port has been abbreviated, and arrival times in several of them are so early that nothing will be open. I've been to Malta three times including once for a week and I can assure you nothing is open at 7 a.m., so with a 2 p.m. departure, we've lost more than appears on the surface - eight hours before, seven hours now - but the seven hours are mostly useless hours. Moving sailing time from Barcelona up two hours may cause havoc for some people arriving that day. Sailing from Tripoli at 12 p.m. - is that noon or is that midnight? Does Oceania know a.m. from p.m.? Why not just use the word "noon" or "midnight"? If the changes were made last week, why were they not posted until Saturday? To give those last stragglers time to get their final payments in before they get their big treat? I notice disembarkation is conveniently at the same time! Actually, that's the *only* port with no changes to it!! And Pat is right - what a surprise for people who are not on the internet, to find out in their final documents that their itinerary has been butchered beyond recognition. This is my second, and last, cruise on Oceania. Their failure to fix the credit card problems, the underhanded abbreviating of this itinerary after final payment - this is all adding up to a cruise line that doesn't care about me. I work too hard for my money to throw it away when there are so many other choices. I will be very actively discouraging friends & family from using them as well. :mad:

[tlmlb]

Interesting that all the changes were made AFTER final payment which was just a short time ago. Oceania should be ashamed of pulling that kind of trickery. Time in almost every port has been abbreviated, and arrival times in several of them are so early that nothing will be open.

 

I am sorry your itinerary was changed

 

All cruise lines should do the right thing and allow cancellations without penalty in cases like this where the itnerary is changed before embarkation despite what the onerous language in the contract says. I am not talking about a port substitution because of weather or safety. It is time that cruiselines take more of the risk rather than the guest.

 

The best thing about Oceania was their itineraries. Based upon some new threads, it sounds like you can't rely on them stayng equivalent??

[NancyBancy]

Tlmlb, I don't think you can rely on Oceania for anything except being a royal mess. Trying to book excursions on their website, picking a credit card that won't incur a surcharge, expecting them to have the courtesy to notify you or your TA about major changes to your itinerary *before* you plunk down your money & before you find out by chance - all cruise lines have their faults, but it seems that Oceania is *stellar* at coming up with new & different ways to alienate people. If you check this cruise at the moment, the itinerary has changed, but the excursion information has not, so you can book excursions for dates & times when the ship isn't even in that port. I run my own business and I can't *imagine* that I could stay afloat (no pun intended because I am really, really angry) if I ran it the way this company runs theirs.

 

I'm sorry that the "hotel & pricing" thread got deleted. Guess the topic got too hot for some. It contained a lot of useful and very true information. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Jane110]

Does anyone know if Oceania will allow people to cancel their cruise if they wish because of the itinerary changes? I'm not on this cruise, but I am curious. We had some small changes on our 2 Oceania cruises. They were annoying - one port in France, where we have friends and our chance to see them was lost - but not enough for us to want to cancel.

 

I realize that in any cruise document, it says that passengers can't cancel because of itinerary changes, but changes are usually do to weather or political unrest or health dangers. This particular cruise seems to have unravelled at the seams, itineray wise. I would hope that Oceania would allow passengers to cancel without penalty since the changes were made within days of the final payment date.

 

Anyone know?

[Pismo]

This is an appeal for someone in the know (could that be you Jan?) to advise the name & number of someone at Oceania with responsibility for Regatta's itinerary change.

We're as disappointed as anyone to find that Gibraltar is no longer a port of call on the voyage of 11/5. For us, the more so since we've planned to meet up there with friends we haven't seen in over 15 years.

The fact that the stop in nearby Cadiz has been reduced by half an hour compounds the whole thing - leaving little time to do much.

According to the Michelin website, Cadiz and the Gibraltar area are some 2 hours apart by road. While I don't know the reason for the change, perhaps the planners could have added some of the planned Gibraltar port time (9 hours), onto the time in Cadiz. Then a trip to the Gibraltar area would still have been possible, and those who had booked tours might still be able to take them.

It would seem to me that something of that nature would be worth looking at. After all the ship will still have saved time (if that was the objective) by eliminating one port of call.

I have already tried to put the question to them - but without getting to the right person, no progress seems likely.

[Guest Jancruz]

I have been trying all morning to reach someone to tell me whats going on..I am still waiting..

 

Phone number is 1-800-531-5658 and you can ask for the Manager of passenger Services.

Jan

*****

Here is the letter that went out last week..

Sorry, the itinerary wouldnt print on here....

August 31, 2005

Dear Guest,

 

From time to time, it is necessary for Oceania Cruises to make revisions to our previously published itineraries. As we have revised the itinerary for your November 5th voyage, we wanted to communicate these changes to you as soon as possible. We have detailed the new itinerary and the original below. Please note that ports of call and arrival and departure times are subject to further change.

 

 

 

A full range of shore excursions will be available in each port of call and guests may pre-purchase individual excursions and shore excursion packages at www.OceaniaCruises.com.

 

For those guests who have pre-purchased the Explorer or Discovery shore excursion packages

 

or individual excursions in Gibraltar, Oceania Cruises will be issuing refunds for the cancelled tours in Gibraltar.

 

 

We thank you for your understanding and we look forward to welcoming you aboard Regatta

in the very near future. Should you have any questions on your upcoming vacation or need additional information, please contact your travel agent or Oceania Cruises at 800-531-5658.

 

 

Sincerely Yours,

 

Oceania Cruises

 

 

 

*************

 

Director, Passenger Services

 

Oceania Cruises

 

Your World, Your Way

[NancyBancy]

Did Lisa Auguste, Director of Passenger Services at Oceania, not want her name spelled out on your post anymore? Only one day and she's tired of hearing from us? :D

[tlmlb]

Well Jan, which is it? From you posts it seems like either you did talk to someone or you are waiting to hear from some one. Just a little confusing to us here. Since you edited your posts it seems like you probably did consult with someone.

 

I was originally very excited about this line. Last year I took a 14 day voyage and ran into the itinerary change issue also. They reduced port times in Cadiz /Seville by 3-4 hours. What was curious was that we arrived at the next port (Lisbon) early by a similar margin. I doubt it was tide levels since we were docked in a harbor and a similar size ship (Marco Polo) was also there. Perhaps it was because Lisbon was our disembarkation point and they wanted to get a jump on the turnover. It was never explained to us.

 

After the cruise I took inventory and, although the food was terrific and size of the ship perfect, I found that I was disappointed in the value I received. Little things like intangible service issues, $20 corkage fee on the last night (after ordering wine most every night) and a couple of pre-dinner cocktails for me and my wife costing close to $50 really indicated that there are better values out there.

 

As time passed we all tend to forget the bad things and concentrate on the good and I found myself looking through the beautiful brochure and itineraries thinking I would give Oceania another chance. However, with the issues brought up on this board along with their pricing practices I know now there are better values out there.

 

From their top management to customer service and booking agents, integrity and long term visionary business practices seem to be lacking with this line. Perhaps it is from having to serve the masters of private investment rather than building and taking care of loyal clientele. I fear that this will be their downfall. I sure hope the present management get a clue or perhaps the line will be sold to someone who will know how to run it well.

 

Maybe Oceania's slogan has changed to "Our World, Our Way!"

[Andee]

It has been amazing to me, in the past, that Frank Del Rio has responded to questions and concerns on this board. Not many CEOs would do that!

 

So I'm a little disappoinbted that he hasn't addressed this issue.

[NancyBancy]

Tlmlb, I had a great post ready and it disappeared as they so often do with this board behaving the way it has! I'll try again tomorrow - but in the meantime, nice job!

[ClaudiaF]

Did Lisa Auguste, Director of Passenger Services at Oceania, not want her name spelled out on your post anymore? Only one day and she's tired of hearing from us? :D

 

FYI.. just read this post Nancy and the name editing was done by cruise critic board automatically.. it does that when you mention a name or link to a website- for some reason they don't let it post..