Tried Oceania Marina . . . and was disappointed.

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, Andee said:

Yes, both on the Marina.

Internet varied, but it was often fine in the cabin. The only place we consistently had trouble was in the very back of the ship.

Cool. Glad it wasn't an issue for you.

Edited September 1, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[LHT28]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Were you on either the Riviera or Marina or were you on one of their R class ships? We didn't have any issues when we were on the Sirena going around Cuba and the Nautica in northern Europe for a total of 50 days during the May/July time frame.

Marina in Norway 2018 & TA in 2019

Have been on Riviera  in the Caribbean

never dropped out every 2-3 mins 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Marina in Norway 2018 & TA in 2019

Have been on Riviera  in the Caribbean

never dropped out every 2-3 mins 

Glad to hear you didn't have an issue and hope you never do as it can get annoying. BTW you probably wouldn't experience the issue if you weren't doing tasks that required continued internet connectivity for at least 3-5 minutes in length.

Edited September 1, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[edgee]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

I have no dog in that fight

It works fine for my needs  

I am not on a cruise to be on the internet

I would rather they spent money on the food quality

YMMV

I believe it is a false choice, Lyn. Point is that if you are going to offer a service for a fee or on an included basis it needs to work reasonably well. Otherwise it detracts from the quality of overall product. Oceania internet, while usually not terrible, generally is not up to par with service provided on many new cruise ships, so they are selling/including a product which is inferior by 2019 standards. Of course if I have a choice of better internet or losing my lobster sandwich in Waves, I will go with the lobster anytime, but if you are committed to an overall quality product you need work toward a complete package of quality. Same is true of outdated poorly serviced elliptical machines...don't get me started.😒

[cpecen]

I would have to agree with you that Marina did not live up to my expectations.  While my problem had to do with my special diet, I think that it speaks to an underlying problem with how the kitchen is being run. Given that Oceania positions itself as the foodie cruise line, I think that this shortcoming is inexplicable.

 

I was on the Marina on the cruise just before yours and I was extremely disappointed by the lack of care shown by the kitchen staff to the issues of my medically-required special diet. I have celiac disease requiring a gluten-free diet and also have allergies to dairy, egg, and shellfish, which my travel agent noted ahead of time and I discussed the first day with an individual from the main dining room who assured me that my food would be prepared without those items.

 

After a the first few days I discovered from a chance remark that the gluten free bread that I was assured that I could eat had egg in it; I'm still dealing with the consequences of the exposure to that allergen. Nonetheless the wait staff continued to offer me the bread even though I kept telling them that I couldn't have it because of my food allergy to egg which tells me that they had no process in place to correct their mistakes. After I was served a dish with cheese on top I found myself altering my food choices to minimize the risk of receiving food that contained an ingredient that I couldn't have which led me to have an extremely stressful cruise trying to second guess my meals.

 

Once again - a properly run kitchen should not be making these kind of mistakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mura]

Back to the internet ... we also haven't had a problem with constant drop-outs.  I don't know if the fact that we're usually in a suite is a factor or not.  I tend to think it is not.  But I don't stay online for hours -- I stay online to download mail, go offline to prepare answers and back online to send them.  I'm not generally doing more than that online although there are times when I'm researching cabs to pick us up at the end of the cruise or book some local tours last minute.  These searches don't take all that long.

 

I've seen the internet service improve over the years ... but no, it doesn't compare to my cable service at home and I don't expect it to do so.

 

If I were one of those passengers who is "working" while on vacation (and I know there are a fair number of people in that position) I'd probably be as unhappy as they are.  But it's very rare for me to miss a really important email.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

38 minutes ago, cpecen said:

I would have to agree with you that Marina did not live up to my expectations.  While my problem had to do with my special diet, I think that it speaks to an underlying problem with how the kitchen is being run. Given that Oceania positions itself as the foodie cruise line, I think that this shortcoming is inexplicable.

 

I was on the Marina on the cruise just before yours and I was extremely disappointed by the lack of care shown by the kitchen staff to the issues of my medically-required special diet. I have celiac disease requiring a gluten-free diet and also have allergies to dairy, egg, and shellfish, which my travel agent noted ahead of time and I discussed the first day with an individual from the main dining room who assured me that my food would be prepared without those items.

 

After a the first few days I discovered from a chance remark that the gluten free bread that I was assured that I could eat had egg in it; I'm still dealing with the consequences of the exposure to that allergen. Nonetheless the wait staff continued to offer me the bread even though I kept telling them that I couldn't have it because of my food allergy to egg which tells me that they had no process in place to correct their mistakes. After I was served a dish with cheese on top I found myself altering my food choices to minimize the risk of receiving food that contained an ingredient that I couldn't have which led me to have an extremely stressful cruise trying to second guess my meals.

 

Once again - a properly run kitchen should not be making these kind of mistakes.

I see this was your first CC post. Welcome! Sorry you had an issue with being served in the GDR.

 

A couple of suggestions. My DW has issues with cheese and her friend has to eat a gluten-free diet. When they mentioned this to our GDR servers, they gave each of them a menu after dinner for the following evening which they used to select the meals they could eat, each time noting their allergies on the menu as well before turning it into the maitre' d up at the Terrace Cafe by 9 pm. That really helped speed up the serving time if any of the meals needed special preparation.

 

Also, we made sure we sat in the same GDR area with the same servers every night just to make sure they didn't have to retrain new servers every evening. That also was a big help to keep the stress levels down. It was easy to get the same area as we would get there when the GDR first openned up.

[jawlaw]

1 hour ago, edgee said:

...don't get me started.😒

 

So interesting.  The food is not what it used to be.  The internet doesn’t meet industry standards.  The gym equipment is outdated.  The entertainment is rubbish. Etc, etc., etc.  But Oceania clearly has a loyal following.  There are some people on these boards who spend literally months at a time on Oceania ships.  This tells me that Oceania is clearly doing something right.  They have created an intangible that makes the experience - and, perhaps more significantly,  the memory of the experience - such that folks want to have that experience over and over again.  I think it’s brilliant.  In fact, that’s what I wanted and, based on the hype, that’s what I expected when I signed up.  I wanted Oceania to become my go to cruise line.  Hard to say why I didn’t “get it”; the fact that I didn’t is probably the biggest reason I’m disappointed.  Cheers to all of you who love it; I will keep looking for my Oceania.  

[cpecen]

I should mention that I preordered every meal. I made certain that I explicitly stated all of my food constraints to the waiter at the beginning of each meal and we verified that my preorder was consistent with my food constraints.

 

The most concerning thing to me was when the kitchen staff prepared a dish that obviously contained dairy. This tells me that there is something seriously wrong with the way in which the kitchen is being run as I saw the preprinted order that was sent to the kitchen and it explicitly said dairy free. This shouldn't have happened in a well-run kitchen with the proper controls.

 

 

 

 

 

[deus]

We have taken 5 Oceania cruises and enjoyed them all.  The most important things to us is the itinerary, staff and the people we have met on board.  I enjoy good food which sometimes I feel even when not cruising is best served at my house.  Hehe!  The food in the grand dining room I feel is pretty good - definitely not 3 star.  The specialty restaurants I would say are better.  I am really annoyed that in the main dining room they now serve sirloin steak and not striploin.  Who wants to eat that.   The buffet has a very good selection every day.  I think the ice cream in the buffet could be ice cream and not ice milk.  When we were on our B2B cruises in January,  Chile to Papeete and a 10 day Papeete to Papeete - there was definitely a different vibe on board.  The band on board up in Horizons was fabulous, I think they were from Brazil.  We don't normally dance but we did on that cruise.  We never go to the shows at night so that is not at all important to us.  All the specialty restaurants were full on the 10 day cruises so if you wanted any extra dining reservations you could only get 9pm dining.  All in all Oceania is a good choice for us.  We feel we are well cared for when cruising with Oceania.  We typically cruise in an oceanview or balcony and have never felt that we were treated any differently than anyone else.  Just thought I would add my two cents.

[LHT28]

3 hours ago, edgee said:

I believe it is a false choice, Lyn. Point is that if you are going to offer a service for a fee or on an included basis it needs to work reasonably well. Otherwise it detracts from the quality of overall product. Oceania internet, while usually not terrible,

Some of the problem stems from people going on a cruise  & expect to work like they are back in the office  sending large attachment to their colleagues or students

More than once I have  seen people here complain they need to be intouch with their student as they are teaching online  or need to send documents  to their office

Not sure if that was  the intention of free wifi service

And let's for forget Face Time with the Grandkids  & hundreds of photos 

JMO

 

I will take the Lobster sandwich at Waves also

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, cpecen said:

I should mention that I preordered every meal. I made certain that I explicitly stated all of my food constraints to the waiter at the beginning of each meal and we verified that my preorder was consistent with my food constraints.

 

The most concerning thing to me was when the kitchen staff prepared a dish that obviously contained dairy. This tells me that there is something seriously wrong with the way in which the kitchen is being run as I saw the preprinted order that was sent to the kitchen and it explicitly said dairy free. This shouldn't have happened in a well-run kitchen with the proper controls.

 

You are correct  that should not happen

Did you ask to to speak to the head Chef  at any time ?

Or the GM ?

Usually  food allergies are taken very seriously

[clo]

1 hour ago, jawlaw said:

 

So interesting.  The food is not what it used to be.  The internet doesn’t meet industry standards.  The gym equipment is outdated.  The entertainment is rubbish. Etc, etc., etc.  But Oceania clearly has a loyal following.  There are some people on these boards who spend literally months at a time on Oceania ships.  This tells me that Oceania is clearly doing something right.  They have created an intangible that makes the experience - and, perhaps more significantly,  the memory of the experience - such that folks want to have that experience over and over again.  I think it’s brilliant.  In fact, that’s what I wanted and, based on the hype, that’s what I expected when I signed up.  I wanted Oceania to become my go to cruise line.  Hard to say why I didn’t “get it”; the fact that I didn’t is probably the biggest reason I’m disappointed.  Cheers to all of you who love it; I will keep looking for my Oceania.  

We're not really 'cruisers' and found Oceania due to a itinerary that we wondered if existed (Rio to Buenos Aires).  So our first O cruise will be in December.  I really appreciate posts like this because it's helping me scale down my expectations...which were likely WAY too high.  So thanks, all.

[clo]

1 hour ago, cpecen said:

The most concerning thing to me was when the kitchen staff prepared a dish that obviously contained dairy.

How did you handle this please?

[cpecen]

3 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

You are correct  that should not happen

Did you ask to to speak to the head Chef  at any time ?

Or the GM ?

Usually  food allergies are taken very seriously

At one dinner I was asked if I would mind a little gluten in my meal as the kitchen apparently felt that they could not make it otherwise. That quickly led to an escalation where I explained my priorities of my constraints starting with life-threatening allergies (including a reassurance that I had an EpiPen in my purse) followed by an ordered list of priorities in terms of the consequences of a reaction to me based on how long it would take to recover. I was taken seriously at that meal and they insured that was properly prepared after I reassured them that I valued my health more than the taste of my dinner.

 

I did not bother to talk to the head chef because I knew that in a properly run kitchen the head chef would have immediately appeared at my table to insure that he understood my constraints. That he didn't suggested that there were significant problems in that area and that I couldn't trust the kitchen.

 

[clo]

1 hour ago, deus said:

 I enjoy good food which sometimes I feel even when not cruising is best served at my house.  Hehe!  

Ditto 🙂 Cooking is my favorite thing to do at home.  Our previous cruises on (what do they call them?) mainstream lines I described the food as "LCD" - lowest common denominator - feeding the masses.  Sounds like O is better than that.

[cpecen]

2 minutes ago, clo said:

How did you handle this please?

I politely pointed out to my waiter that the dish was covered in cheese and that was a dairy product and as I had indicated at the beginning of my meal I needed it to be dairy free. He took the plate away and returned with a new plate containing the dish without the cheese.

 

[LHT28]

2 minutes ago, cpecen said:

I did not bother to talk to the head chef because I knew that in a properly run kitchen the head chef would have immediately appeared at my table to insure that he understood my constraints. That he didn't suggested that there were significant problems in that area and that I couldn't trust the kitchen.

 

If the Head Chef does not know there is  a problem with his staff  then he cannot fix the problem

JMO

[clo]

21 minutes ago, cpecen said:

did not bother to talk to the head chef

I would have gone the management route.

[cpecen]

8 hours ago, LHT28 said:

If the Head Chef does not know there is  a problem with his staff  then he cannot fix the problem

JMO

By the time that I realized what was happening it was clear that it wasn't an isolated issue that could be easily corrected by escalating to the head chef but a systemic problem: hence my earlier statement that there are issues within the kitchen. For my own health and safety I intentionally chose an approach of risk mitigation. Please believe me when I tell you that this was a decision that was not taken lightly or without a good understanding of operational and management issues; after returning from my trip I have attempted to work through my travel agent to reflect my experiences back to Oceania.

 

At this point my perception is that Oceania is a process-based operation that does not deal well with situations that fall outside of the norm and that their processes are constructed in such a way that there is very little latitude for individuals to correct the process once a problem is discovered. I believe that is why some people enjoy Oceania very much, as long as their expectations fit within the processes that Oceania uses. For those of us who fall outside of the norm we have a much different experience as reflected by some of the comments on this thread.

[Fredalyn]

1 hour ago, cpecen said:

By the time that I realized what was happening it was clear that it wasn't an isolated issue that could be easily corrected by escalating to the head chef but a systemic problem: hence my earlier statement that there are issues within the kitchen. For my own health and safety I intentionally chose an approach of risk mitigation. Please believe me when I tell you that this was a decision that was not taken lightly or without a good understanding of operational and management issues; after returning from my trip I have attempted to work through my travel agent to reflect my experiences back to Oceania.

 

At this point my perception is that Oceania is a process-based operation that does not deal well with situations that fall outside of the norm and that their processes are constructed in such a way that there is very little latitude for individuals to correct the process once a problem is discovered. I believe that is why some people enjoy Oceania very much, as long as their expectations fit within the processes that Oceania uses. For those of us who fall outside of the norm we have a much different experience as reflected by some of the comments on this thread.

I am very sorry you had this experience. After being officially diagnosed and gluten free for 17 years, eating anywhere else but home is stressful. However, on the Insignia, this has not been my experience. Admittedly, I am not a dairy free celiac. I do have the "canary form" DH and am very sensitive. In fact I had to reiterate dairy was fine for me and I could have such choices as ice cream. I found those serving me and the chefs to be hyper vigilant and patient with my continued questions about everything I ate. I hope your experience is an anomaly. Please do follow this up with corporate. There should be consistency across the line.

Feel better soon. 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, cpecen said:

By the time that I realized what was happening it was clear that it wasn't an isolated issue that could be easily corrected by escalating to the head chef but a systemic problem: hence my earlier statement that there are issues within the kitchen.

I would  disagree

 but it is your choice

So will comment no further

 

[pinotlover]

On the Nautica, we had the normal poor internet service. Sometimes it might take three days for emails to download.

 

OTH, we were far up in the Northern Atlantic, on the north side of Iceland, we were even told there would be issues. We’re some people’s expectations of service to high? 

 

Another service issue. Every day in the Currents there was a “ reminder “ to please refrain from using the WiFi in the dining venues! As I explained in an earlier thread, it was 37-39 F outside, the Terrace balcony was closed and it was to cold to eat at Waves for breakfast. On port days, the Terrace was a mob scene with people looking for tables to sit at. Meanwhile, we had the inconsiderate jerks that wanted to bogart a table, drink coffee, and surf the Internet! From staff comments, WiFi reception was being purposefully cranked down in those dining areas to counter the jerks that chose to ignore the non usage requests. I have zero problem with that move on O’s part.

[LHT28]

we have had notices on all the cruises of late to not use  your cell phone in the dining areas

It would seem common sense  not  to be on your phone at the table but I guess  not

People just automatically have their phone glued to there hand  so use it where & whenever they please

 

Why people have to shout into their phone is also  a big  deal with me

 

[jawlaw]

13 hours ago, clo said:

I would have gone the management route.

 

Yeah, I think sometimes management does not know what’s happening on the front lines.  There was a general attitude among the staff that if a passenger had a problem, it wasn’t their problem, and the rank-and-file were not empowered to fix it.  Our group had housekeeping, dining and excursion issues, and our concerns were universally met with blank stares and shrugs.  In my view, this falls on management, and comes from the top down.  I mentioned this in a mid-cruise survey, and received a call from the head Concierge,  expressing agreement, and her surprise (and displeasure) that the staff had been unresponsive.  At least it was noted and acknowledged.