Onboard Riviera

[arkansastraveler]

We are joining the riviera on the TA portion. Whose is the CD these days?

[dundeene]

Unfortunately I fell down a few steps in Argostoli and badly hurt my ankle. There were no MRIs in that or the next few ports and I was unwilling to be treated by unknown doctors. Here is that story. . . .

After leaving in an absolute hurry from the ship, I saw my guide in the distance. I was in a crowd of people and did not see the steps ahead. When I reached them I twisted my ankle and tumbled down. I could not get up. Someone must have notified the ship. I was helped to a seat and in a few minutes Dominique Nichole, the GM was there with a wheelchair. They hurried me to the med-center on-board where an x-ray showed no broken bones. The doctor suggested I travel to the nearest hospital for a MRI. I had injections for pain and swelling and he provided an ankle support, prescription for pain and rental crutches. I told the doctor if they found soft tissue damage that required treatment I would want it done in the states. I decided to wait until Omaha to have the MRI(we actually have 3 close friends who are orthos).

I feel the doctor was knowledgeable and and the bill was about $650. Less than I would have paid for an emergency room visit. (yes we always buy travel insurance)

I was well taken care of by the staff and spent the rest of the day in bed eating room service.

Freddy our steward brought extra pillows and an extra ice bucket. Each day he made up our room he made sure we had everything we needed.

 

Achilles and Rexal, service members on-board we had met earlier in the cruise, were very concerned and attentive. Everyone we encountered were eager to help as I "crutched" around the ship. Fellow passengers were very kind. I always felt silly in the Terrace Cafe when servers carried my plate. This trip it was wonderful!

[dundeene]

The manager of Red Ginger this cruise presented in a way that reminded my of a family owned restaurant. She worked the tables with a friendly smile and pleasing attitude. Tables were often offered the favorite menu item, sea bass, even after they had ordered. We were also asked if we would like a dessert sent to our staterooms.

Our server was Joaquin (sp) and he knew the menu very well. The special item menu was soft shell crab. We enjoyed our favorites and the only slip-up was the fried rice. We never order this item because it is so cliche. We thought Red Ginger may put a special spin on it. Actually they do not. It was not good and had a fish undertone as if it was steamed with seafood.

The rest of the meal was excellent! Vegetables tempura, duck salad, lobster pad thai, and the crab were all great.

If I could give Oceania advice. . . . .I would suggest that the long spiel about Red Ginger being an Asian Fusion restaurant etc etc be given only on the diners first visit. I think it is good information for the 1st time diner, but afterward it feels long and repetitious.

The food at Red Ginger has remained top-notch on our 6 cruises.

[hypercafe]

Happy to hear you had a great trip however sorry to hear about your mishap How are you feeling? Sounds like the ship made things as nice as possible.

[dundeene]

Couple of comment regarding the above 2 specific quotes from the on board post.

 

While you are absolutely correct regarding the showing of port fees separately, those fees are "included" in your fare much like the "free" included air fare and other "free" items. By not showing the port fees separately, O is able to keep those fees that you do pay thus increasing profits when conditions don't allow a port to be reached.

 

Regarding the beef, certainly hope the beef is NOT from Texas. Almost all beef from Texas is grass/range fed and nowhere near as good as grain fed cattle from further North. Having lived in Texas the past 30 years we only buy grain fed beef from the midwest and avoid Texas beef completely.

 

We are from Iowa and live in Nebraska. If Oceania would like us to hook them up with some amazing beef they should give us a call:D

Growing up on farms we certainly know good steak. More feeders in Texas are working with black angus and finishing with grain like we do in Nebraska. The beef on-board is dry aged and the flavor was very good. Did it compare to a steak here in Omaha at The Drover? No. . . . but they are using very good quality meat for a cruiseline. The veal and pork on-board were also of good quality.

 

As to port fees. . . . we docked at 2 places we were intended to anchor at. There was no additional cost to us, just to Oceania. I have heard much about port fees not being returned with the profit motive assigned. It seems more likely as a business model; to not charge extra or return port fees because of administrative costs and actuarial science. It makes sense that the weather is unpredictable. It should even out the costs to Oceania to average the added ports with the lost ports. Just my humble opinion.

Edited November 8, 2015 by dundeene

[tommiroke]

As to port fees. . . . we docked at 2 places we were intended to anchor at. There was no additional cost to us, just to Oceania. I have heard much about port fees not being returned with the profit motive assigned. It seems more likely as a business model; to not charge extra or return port fees because of administrative costs and actuarial science. It makes sense that the weather is unpredictable. It should even out the costs to Oceania to average the added ports with the lost ports. Just my humble opinion.

 

First of all so very sorry about your ankle and hope the MRI was negative and you are getting on well. As to the Port fees, very rarely do most ships add ports compared to the missing of ports. So many misses and issues that several years ago cruise lines based in Florida were taken to court over the issue of not refunding specifically listed port fees for missed ports that all cruise lines based in Florida signed an agreement that port fees and other taxes that customers actually pay and are identified as such can only be paid to the specific Government agencies and if not paid to those agencies, have to be returned to the customers paying these amounts. At the time, PCH which owned Oceania and Regent was a signatory to that agreement.

 

So, both Oceania and Regent now include those fees in their fare and don't specifically charge for them thus they keep the money they otherwise would have paid the Government Agencies and add to their bottom line.

 

Thus I agree with you that it is a business model meant to increase profits at the expense of the customer and designed to avoid agreement that was signed.

 

Have cruised on other lines and the missed Port Fees while not a lot of money to us but, in the aggregate become significant are easily refunded thru the passengers onboard account. No administrative costs or actuarial science required as the Purser is already on board and paid whether or not he or she enters a credit to all passengers and no actuarial science as the fees for all Ports are known by the cruise line and they would have already known what had to be paid to each of them before embarkation.

 

Hope you ankle is healing and you are back on your own two feet soon.

[dundeene]

You seem to have researched this from your past cruises, and come to a reasonable conclusion from your past experience and knowledge of the laws.

 

I only have my experience from my six Oceania cruises. We did not miss ports where fees were included in my fare. A few had weather issues where we were unable to tender in. We therefore had to port in safe harbors. For instance moving from tendering to Amalfi to porting in Naples and unable to tender to Taormina, porting in Messina on the cruise I just returned from.

We have only cruised in Europe.

 

Each time we were not charged additional fees. Can you imagine the uproar the purser would deal with if suddenly 1500+ passengers had two unplanned port fees added to their accounts:eek:

 

This is when my mention of actuarial science came in. I was suggesting that a business who desires revenue consistent with planning may balance the cost of additional port fees with the nonrefund of missed port fees. As I said I am only guessing based on the business models of risk used by insurance companies which I am very familiar with.

I have no knowledge of the ratio of missed vs. added ports by Oceania or any other cruise-line.

We have a different prospectives because you have missed more ports than have been added. I have the opposite experience.

 

My MRI is scheduled for tomorrow morning and I am happy to take it easy with my foot elevated after 20 hrs on planes and in airports yesterday. Thank you for your concern and well wishes!

[Jay23]

So sorry to hear about your accident. I must say when your reports stopped, I feared that something unpleasant had happened. Pleasing to know that Oceania looked after you so well.

 

Hope you are back to full mobility very soon. J

[Leejnd4]

I was wondering if something had come up, since you were so religiously posting! Sorry to hear you were injured, but I'm quite impressed with the helpful care and service you received from Oceania. I'm sure that made the mishap less traumatic.

 

Welcome home, and I hope your ankle heals quickly!

[vaitape]

Dominque is a fantastic person! Professional yet kind and caring. We know him from the old Paul Gauguin days when she sailed as a Regent ship. Dominque's been on several of our O cruises, most recently on the Valpo-PPT-PPT cruise 2 years ago. It's always a pleasure to see his smiling face! So glad Dominque was there to help you.

 

We're relieved to hear you're home now. Best wishes on your MRI tomorrow. Hopefully nothing is broken or torn!

ps/we'll be in Omaha for a week at the end of June.....and will check out the Drover!