Live Regatta Panama - 2 Ports Cancelled

[ABoatNerd]

Hello Oceania folks.

Currently on the Regatta panama canal cruise left San Fran Oct 6.

Oceania cancelled 2 port stops, shortened a 3rd and swapped out Cabo for San Diego. Apparently due to tropical storm sergeo a week a go that passed over the Baja.

We sailed past the Baja with no evidence of the storm,

The  ship has not been sailing at maximum speed at any time.  Not satisfied that time could have not been made up to have recovered 1 port.

Suffice it to say that the free "goodwill" 1 hr freeze booze offered by Oceania does not offset the significant reduction in the itinerary.

Also, on the voyage before this one, Juneau was missed.  

Many guests are displeased and asking questions.

When Ray the CD spoke about it in the Regatta lounge 2x there were many Boos from the guests.

Have heard guests on their phones cancelling future Oceania trips and seen numerous people in the computer room booking Viking cruises on line.

We are not pleased at all at the itinerary changes.

Otherwise - service is excellent but the Terrace cafe is not of past quality and many guests are grumbling about the new menus in the GDR.  The specialties seem constant.

Safe sailing.

[wripro]

I have said this many times.You take your chances on Oceania with missing ports and shortened times in port. It happens way too frequently for it to be anything other than a corporate decision to save money. jmo.

And does anyone ever get part of their port fees refunded for all these missed ports?

[ABoatNerd]

Wripro:

Thank you very much for your reminder on the port fees.

I am heading downstairs to put in a request for port fee reimbursement.

I will pass this on to all the guests I meet on the ship.

Thanks alot

ABoatNerd

[LHT28]

Oceania  do not reimburse port fees 

 

[sammiedawg]

Oceania does not itemize port fees, so there will be no refund.  We’ve missed ports on several cruise lines, always blamed on the weather.  

if I were on board I would sniff around for any mention of propulsion problems.  I have no idea if this is the case.  It will be concerning if you are missing ports because of Oceania mechanical problems.  But if they blame it on the weather- don’t hold your breath on getting satisfactory responses.

[LHT28]

look up storm Sergio  & Rosa  sometimes  the Hurricanes  take a different path than projected  days out

[JK300]

On the previous voyage, we missed Juneau and after sailing away from Hubbard Glacier this ship lost all power for almost 2 hours. An indication maybe that the Regatta is still struggling with  'technical issues'.

Besides those 'issues', service from the crew and the food served were as usual top.

John

 

Edited October 17, 2018 by JK300

[wripro]

20 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Oceania  do not reimburse port fees 

 

I know that. This was the point of my comment. I guess it wasn't obvious that my tongue was in my cheek.

 

So multiply the many many ports that Oceania cancels or shortens throughout a year without refunded port fees and their bottom line improves greatly.

[JimandStan]

35 minutes ago, wripro said:

I know that. This was the point of my comment. I guess it wasn't obvious that my tongue was in my cheek.

 

So multiply the many many ports that Oceania cancels or shortens throughout a year without refunded port fees and their bottom line improves greatly.

Good point, except that you will never find ANY cruise line which refunds port fees for shortened stops.  

 

[LHT28]

Henry

my point was   that there was not point in going to reception the fees will not be forthcoming

If there are storms  like hurricanes/Cyclones the ports will probably be missed in those areas

we do not cruise  in hurricane season iareas that can be affected

YMMV

[SU-Florida]

Currently aboard Riviera missing yet another port. We are now batting 100% on missed ports on every Oceania cruise.  

Tried to start a new thread on this earlier, but poor O Internet dropped a couple times. 

More on this tomorrow....

[ABoatNerd]

On Regatta near Costa Rica.

Thanks to all who posted.

As we know, this ship has a history of technical issues and interestingly she has been going only 16 knots less than her capacity.

We were all standing on the promenade in our life jackets in the hot sun when the Captain announced that 2 ports were cancelled and another port late arrival which effectively eliminated the excursions at this port as well. For the B2B folks, it is 4 ports eliminated as they also lost Juneau. Yep many of us were told they would not reimburse port fees - I have had Celebrity in the past reimburse port fees.

Very unhappy ship and most people do not believe Oceania's explanation. The karma on this ship is subdued, the worst in my cruise lifetime. A week and a half in and people are still discussing the lost opportunities.

The on board staff remain outstanding as usual. 

Suffice it to say that rebooking with Oceania is in doubt.

[wripro]

On 10/17/2018 at 10:37 AM, JimandStan said:

Good point, except that you will never find ANY cruise line which refunds port fees for shortened stops.  

 

Not true. I have even had port fees refunded to me by Seabourn prior to a cruise when they discover it is less than charged.

[JK300]

Yes, Seabourn do refund port fees. On our 3 cruises with Seabourn sofar we got the fees adjusted in our favour twice and that without missing any ports.

John

[JimandStan]

To be clear, my position is that no Cruise Line refunds Port fees when the port visit is reduced in time.

For example if the visit is reduced from 10 hours to 8 hours.  

 

[Mura]

I've seen many complaints recently about missed ports.  I just have to say (no cheerleading here, it's only our experience) that when we have missed ports there haven't been many -- maybe one on a cruise -- and they were always due to weather.  We saw no reason to disbelieve the reasons given for the missed port.

 

We did miss a port last November on Marina in Greece, but it was a small tender port and Greece was having flooding in various parts of the country.  There were some deaths reported.

 

I understand and sympathize with people who are unhappy at missed ports!  On our first Oceania cruise back in 2004 we were counting on a visit to San Blas but weather was bad and we couldn't tender.  That was the place I'd MOST wanted to see, so yes, we were disappointed.

 

But I have to say I'm not with people who claim that Oceania is CHOOSING to miss ports to improve the bottom line.  That just hasn't been our experience. Even when Bermuda had a hurricane arrive the day before we did in October 2016, we docked there.  (This wasn't a huge hurricane but there was some damage on land. Just not enough to prevent our visit.)

 

Mura

[sammiedawg]

I am always sorry to hear about travel misses.

We’ve missed major ports on several cruise lines due to weather, impending weather, sea conditions, too much ice.   Once we missed for a sick passenger who needed to get to medical care. 

We haven’t had time in port shortened. 

Oceania and other lines will err on the side of caution.  As they should. 

We haven’t had the best of luck with land trips either.  I could write a book on land and sea disappointments. 

We have had major misses on Oceania three times.  I can honestly say on the first two, major efforts were made to take us to alternate ports (and a couple alternate ports had to be canceled for legit reasons).   Ask Ray Carr about the cruise to Nuuk.  

On our third O cruise with a big miss (two days Easter Island)  passengers expected alternative ports would be found.  But  there was radio silence on any attempts to schedule alternatives.   They slowed  the sailing speed way down and we had lots of sea days.  Passenger mood was subdued and very disappointed.. I heard some quiet chatter from roll call friends about finding another cruise line but, like us, they continue to sail Oceania.  Some first timers said they were one and done on Oceania.  

I don’t sweat not getting a refund for port fees.  Mass market lines itemize this fee and I’ve received  refunds.  One refund was nine dollars which would not buy a glass of wine on Oceania. 

 

 

 

 

 

[JimandStan]

Quote

On our third O cruise with a big miss (two days Easter Island)  passengers expected alternative ports would be found.

 

You do realize that an alternative would have involved at least a 1300 mile detour?

 

Google Results for "Closest port to Easter Island":

The nearest inhabited land is Pitcairn Island, at approximately 2075 km (1290 ml to the west. The nearest town is Rikitea (on Mangareva Island, Gambier Islands, French Polynesia, population around 500) located approx 2606 km (1620 ml) to the west.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, JimandStan said:

 

You do realize that an alternative would have involved at least a 1300 mile detour?

 

details details  😉

[sammiedawg]

2 hours ago, JimandStan said:

 

You do realize that an alternative would have involved at least a 1300 mile detour?

 

Google Results for "Closest port to Easter Island":

The nearest inhabited land is Pitcairn Island, at approximately 2075 km (1290 ml to the west. The nearest town is Rikitea (on Mangareva Island, Gambier Islands, French Polynesia, population around 500) located approx 2606 km (1620 ml) to the west.

 

I’m well aware of the geography,  I was on the cruise.  We had nine straight sea days before and after missing Easter Island on the way to Lima.  Oceania has established ports in other areas of Peru plus Chile. We expected a couple South American ports would be added.  Crew members were expecting a couple ports would be added.  Instead, the ship slowed way down.  They took us into the port the afternoon prior to scheduled disembarkation because a sick crew member needed medical care. 

Quite a few of us paid airline change fees to fly  out the evening we arrived.  We love the Marina but after nine days.... 

i don’t write reviews but I said a few things on my end of cruise passenger survey.  I imagine that sailing received poor marks, not just for lack of ports.  Passengers were unhappy in light of radio silence on the itinerary.  

Edited October 19, 2018 by sammiedawg

[KS&JW]

1 hour ago, sammiedawg said:

 

I’m well aware of the geography,  I was on the cruise.  We had nine straight sea days before and after missing Easter Island on the way to Lima.  Oceania has established ports in other areas of Peru plus Chile. We expected a couple South American ports would be added.  Crew members were expecting a couple ports would be added.  Instead, the ship slowed way down.  They took us into the port the afternoon prior to scheduled disembarkation because a sick crew member needed medical care. 

Quite a few of us paid airline change fees to fly  out the evening we arrived.  We love the Marina but after nine days.... 

i don’t write reviews but I said a few things on my end of cruise passenger survey.  I imagine that sailing received poor marks, not just for lack of ports.  Passengers were unhappy in light of radio silence on the itinerary.  

 On our Tahiti to Peru cruise, we also were not able to get off at Easter Island. ) I will have to figure out how to get there some other way, as by cruise ship does not seem to be a very good way.)  However, at no time did I think or anyone else mention to me that we would stop at some other port.  As stated earlier, where would you go?  We had a medical emergency on board around the same time so we took off for Peru at a good clip and got there more than a day early.  Most took the free Oceania shuttle into town to enjoy a an unexpected day in Lima.  

[Shawnino]

4 hours ago, KS&JW said:

...  As stated earlier, where would you go?  We had a medical emergency on board around the same time so we took off for Peru at a good clip and got there more than a day early. ...

 

You've sort of answered your own question if you think it over. 

 

If you can go at a good clip and get there more than a day early, you could land at another town on the coast a day early.

The angle/how close you passed Easter Island is unknown to me, but, if headed to Lima, Arica looks like a natural enough place to stop. (Not sure if Iquique has cruise ship facilities; I've been to Arica on a ship.) I bet you could get the ill passenger to Arica/Iquique quicker than to Lima as well.

Edited October 19, 2018 by Shawnino
typo

[ABoatNerd]

Regatta nearing the Panama Canal.

 

Thanks to all.

 

Guests are still agitating for Oceania to fess up to the loss of 3 ports.  

 

What we know is that this ship has not sailed above 16 knots since leaving San Fran - when we were told of the loss of multiple ports due to a dying tropical storm. A couple of days later we were told we would be hours late getting to Puntarenas due to tides.

 

At no time has the ship been at her running speed of 18 knots.  There was no sign of the dying tropical storm as we passed the Baja. No apparent effort to speed up and add a port from the many ports to choose from in this area.

 

We we got to Puntarenas at 3 pm yesterday - 1 hr before the lowest tide at 4:35. No tide issue in evidence. More suspicion by passengers. All the eco tours had been cancelled. 2 tours for shopping and watching horses were available - everyone got back after 1 hr or more driving in the dark and rain. Many further upset guests. 

 

Bottom line - many believe this ship has propulsion issues since last Nov 7 in Hawaii.  It showed up again in the Alaska segment before this panama cruise by the elimination of Juneau.  So I and other guests believe Oceania knew in advance they could not make the ports on the itinerary due to the ships limited speed.  Hence the record speed in announcing the itinerary reduction before we left dock in San Fran.  Nice to have the dying tropical storm as an excuse but that evaporated with no sign of the storm and no evidence of us hugging the storm to keep to the schedule. 

 

There are too many signs and actions by Oceania, and combined with the ships history - gives credibility to the current passenger analysis.

 

Guests are very disappointed.  I for one have serious reservations doing business with Oceania again.

 

 

[LHT28]

you could  easily look up storm Sergio  that passed over Baja

do you really think any cruise line is going to sail into  a storm's path

I love the conspiracy theories

 

[JK300]

7 hours ago, ABoatNerd said:

Bottom line - many believe this ship has propulsion issues since last Nov 7 in Hawaii.  It showed up again in the Alaska segment before this panama cruise by the elimination of Juneau.

I mentioned this before, on the sailing before this one, after leaving Hubbard Glacier the Regatta lost all power for almost 2 hours, nothing worked only emergency lighting. It was clear that the ship had (and still has) engine problems.

John