Nov 17th trip on Insignia..also just back

[Crazy Shirley]

:) We were on the Concierge Level 7. Loved the ship, the service, the beds etc. We would consider sailing with them again (we were repeaters from the old Rennaisance days) and appreciated the informality and the non smoking policy.

 

:mad: We were disappointed that we could not get into Lybia and instead spent 2 days in Alexandria. leaving only about 2 hours in Malta instead of a full day. Oceania refunded all of the money for the package tours we signed up for, and actually paid for our two hour quickie tour of Malta the evening that we got there. Would love to see them be a little more generous with their booze and soda charges and build it into their prices to begin with.

 

The food in the main dining room certainly lived up to its 5 star rating...and we quickly learned that the best deal for us at the noon feeding was the poolside grill where we could eat a little lighter...even though we were tempted by the always excellent choices in the dining room. The Polo and Toscana restaurants were good changes and we liked them both.

 

WARNINGS for any future new bookings...DO NOT LET OCEANIA MAKE YOUR AIR ARRANGEMENTS! and DO NOT LET THE AMERICAN EXPRESS CRUISE AMERICA AGENCY BOOK YOUR CRUISE!!! Instead of flying direct from Denver to Frankfurt, for an 8 hour flight, we wound up with a three stop, 18 hour day getting to Athens. and 24 hours of flying to get home at 3AM today!! We could have done SOOOO much better on our own, and learned the hard way that the next trip we should book DIRECTLY with Oceania, and not through a TA...especially, CruiseAmerica!

 

We first booked responding to a mailer We were told by the TA that we would get our flight arrangements 60 days in advance, and would very likely have the direct flight...but if not we could ask for a "variance" and pay for the difference. HA! Long before the hurricane problems we received absolutely no help from the TA, and could not get them to return calls or emails. We and did not get the tickets until 35 days before our departure and discovered that our TA was no longer with the company. CruiseAmerica would not return our calls or emails, and after we complained to Oceania and were promised that the CruiseAmerica manager would call us, we still heard nada. American Express should be ashamed of themselves. Absolutely NO service.:mad:

 

Finally, we decided to stay at the beautiful Magestic Hotel in Barcelona at the end of our cruise. Loved the hotel and the location was perfect. Would certainly advise NOT taking the package that our worthless TA sold us, but book directly with the hotel...saving about 50% Easy to get taxis to get to and from the hotels and save a bunch of money.

[LHT28]

Would love to see them be a little more generous with their booze and soda charges and build it into their prices to begin with.

 

 

I am glad you enjoyed your cruise with Oceania but I do have to comment on your above statement.

Since we do not drink liquor or soda very much I would have to object to them including extra charges in the fare. I would not like to supplement others drinks...I would rather keep my money for other things.

There are other cruiselines that do offer such drinks inclusive but they are also more money.

[Crazy Shirley]

I am glad you enjoyed your cruise with Oceania but I do have to comment on your above statement.

Since we do not drink liquor or soda very much I would have to object to them including extra charges in the fare. I would not like to supplement others drinks...I would rather keep my money for other things.

There are other cruiselines that do offer such drinks inclusive but they are also more money.

 

Good point.

[digby]

Sounds like you got a poor TA, but there are many wonderful out there. I have always used a local one, and she has worked wonders for us.

[HappyMe_]

First time Oceania cruiser here. My TA called today with our flights originating from Toronto to Barcelona and Rome to Toronto. We have a deviation. That said, the flights are absolutely the best! After reading many reports here, I was very prepared to have to negotiate, but was very pleasantly surprised.

[Darrell6t]

We got back home from the Insignia cruise and a stay in Barcelona with only a few troubles, all Air France problems. We booked directly with American Express and felt they did a good job.

 

I was not as impressed by the food on Insignia. All in all, our cruise on the HAL Prinsendam had as good or better food. Sometimes the Insignia food was great. Other times, like Thanksgiving, it was only OK. And we had much better roasted chicken in Barcelona than the Jacques Pépin signature version. The service was really excellent though. And except for the tiny bathroom, the cabin was fine. I do like the ship, except for the way it handles in less than ideal weather.

[LHT28]

First time Oceania cruiser here. My TA called today with our flights originating from Toronto to Barcelona and Rome to Toronto. We have a deviation. That said, the flights are absolutely the best! After reading many reports here, I was very prepared to have to negotiate, but was very pleasantly surprised.

 

If you pay the deviation fee you can choose the flights you want no need to negotiate!

[Bustaty]

Wrong thread.