My thoughts; Crystal versus Oceania

[Hawaiidan]

1 hour ago, Paulchili said:

Not to worry Dan.

We’ve cruised on Princess before and we know what to expect.

Having the appropriate expectations for any trip or cruise is the best way not to be disappointed.

As God is my judge, so did I.    I cruised many years ago on them and THOUGHT  I knew what to expect. Well silly me....things in 10 years had changed so much...  I learned a lesson.

[Hawaiidan]

16 hours ago, clo said:

Why? We drive a Toyota RAV4 and a friend drives the equivalent Lexus. They're almost identical in looks but one cost $30k and one $60k.

24 gauge steel..... only MBZ and BMW make their cars from that thickness steel and frame. 

 You can total a lexus, a body shop guy told me with your fist...    One weighs hundreds of pounds less than the  other   You pay for safety.....any  car under 2800 lbs is  not good according the CHP research   ..ILL  pay the difference,  its life insurance more than style.

[Hawaiidan]

17 hours ago, Paulchili said:

..don’t be so sure.

These days a Honda may have more technology and be more reliable than a Mercedes for a lot less (maybe less luxury). 😀😀

They have more tecno  but people in the Mercedes will be getting their paint touched up following an accident while the Honda passengers are being eulogized.   Your blue tooth isnt going to save your life.

[clo]

18 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

any  car under 2800 lbs is  not good according the CHP research

Well, since our Toyota comes in at 3500#+- I feel safer already 🙂

[rloke]

18 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

24 gauge steel..... only MBZ and BMW make their cars from that thickness steel and frame. 

 You can total a lexus, a body shop guy told me with your fist...    One weighs hundreds of pounds less than the  other   You pay for safety.....any  car under 2800 lbs is  not good according the CHP research   ..ILL  pay the difference,  its life insurance more than style.

 

12 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

They have more tecno  but people in the Mercedes will be getting their paint touched up following an accident while the Honda passengers are being eulogized.   Your blue tooth isnt going to save your life.

 

Sorry for further dragging this off-topic...but car safety had advanced quite a bit in recent years. High strength steel and crumple zone designs for example...doesn't have to weigh a tonne to be safe but I guess it doesn't hurt (except for gas mileage 😋)...

[AtA]

16 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

They have more tecno  but people in the Mercedes will be getting their paint touched up following an accident while the Honda passengers are being eulogized.   Your blue tooth isnt going to save your life.

Not true because lots of other things go into car safety. I'll stick with reviews from the Insurance Institute Highway for Safety.

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/top-safety-picks/2019/midsize-luxury-suvs#award-winners

[KatieBelle]

Hello AtA

Would you kindly share your suite number on Sirena?

Thanks, Katie

[1985rz1]

3 minutes ago, KatieBelle said:

Hello AtA

Would you kindly share your suite number on Sirena?

Thanks, Katie

AtA said it was 8046.

Edited January 15, 2020 by 1985rz1

[KatieBelle]

Sorry I missed that.  Thanks

[Hawaiidan]

1 hour ago, AtA said:

Not true because lots of other things go into car safety. I'll stick with reviews from the Insurance Institute Highway for Safety.

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/top-safety-picks/2019/midsize-luxury-suvs#award-winners

Your life...I will go with the CHP and what I personally have seen......2800 is the 50/50 survival   every pound +  is life insurance   CHP was specific to fatal accidents over a decade.   

[Mura]

4 hours ago, clo said:

Galapagos is still on our bucket list. We felt the same about the ship above and one of her sister ships that we cruised to Antarctica. And we felt our fellow passengers were there for the overwhelming experience not 'just' cruise junkies.

Clo, I think we have the ultimate small cabin story ... actually, more than one!

 

In 1975 we lucked out with a last minute cruise on Bergen Lines, the predecessor of Hurtigruten, I believe.  The mailboat (not a ship) only had 6 first class cabins with an ensuite bathroom and we got one of them.  But we had bunk beds.  It was as tiny as your Hurtigruten photo indicates.  But we were comfortable and we didn't have to wander down the hall to the bathroom!  We loved that cruise.

 

In 1989 we did the Galapagos with Inca Floats.  We were on a 12 passenger cabin cruiser for that one.  We'd been booked on a sailboat that had 3 rooms with queen beds but it SANK shortly before our planned departure, and they were able to move us and another couple over to the cabin cruiser.  There were 9 passengers on that one.  (Current Galapagos vessels, even with Inca Floats, are much larger!)

 

Since we were so late in booking of course we had the smallest room!  For us this was the record.  It made the Bergen Lines room an owner's suite.

 

We had bunk beds that were staggered.  Only one of us could stand in the available space to dress. There was a tiny cabinet for storage of our "things".  The bathroom was equally tiny ... Like your experience, there was no "curb" for the shower and so water wandered around and about ...

 

Even so, that was one of our greatest trips ever!  We really enjoyed touring the Galapagos Islands with such a small group.  I asked our guide (who'd guided on some of the larger ships before -- although at that time I think the largest ship doing the Islands was only 32 passengers) -- and she said that they'd send one Zodiac in one direction, and the next in another.

 

My mother did a similar trip when she was in her early 70s.  She was very slender and in good physical shape but she did say that she'd wished she'd one it when she was younger.

 

Mura

[clo]

36 minutes ago, Mura said:

Only one of us could stand in the available space to dress.

We could both stand...but not 'step.' But you win with the ultimate small cabin story. Thanks for sharing, M.

 

 

[Mura]

To be fair, you really cannot compare accommodations on a cabin cruiser to a ship -- even if it's a small ship!

 

But it was an experience!

[1985rz1]

Pleas stay on topic, folks.  That's what people are looking for.

[AtA]

Back to topic. There was one other issue that happened in the spa which I did report and I'm sure they will take care of it because as I said, the staff was excellent.

 

I lost a nail wrap with gel while snorkeling and they were able to fit me in as the last person of the day to have both pinkie nails redone so I wouldn't be walking around with one nail without polish. I sat down with the nail technician and instead of getting new tools, she wiped the cuticle pusher and the cuticle clippers with a wet wipe. For men, please understand the tools should be sterilized in an autoclave and not just wiped off. Thankfully I just needed the polish replaced so didn't need those two tools but I absolutely wouldn't have allowed her to use those tools on me after using them on the previous client.

 

How did I know she used them on the previous client? I was sitting there while she finished up.

[PaulMCO]

Here is another reason why we tend to stay away from Oceania  -- this is not an isolated case.  No reason that this would have not been known in advance...  This will be our LAST O cruise.  And of course all of this after final payment of the WC segment..

 

Dear Valued Guests and Travel Advisors,     We would like to advise you of an update to your cruise itinerary aboard Insignia.     Due to restrictions from the Ministry of Transport in China limiting sailing between China and South Korean ports, please note the calls to Jeju and Busan have been replaced with calls to Dalian and Moji.     The revised portion of the itinerary is shown below for your reference, which includes updated Arrival and Departure times:     DATE DAY PORT ARRIVAL DEPARTURE ORIGINAL PORT 2-Jun-20   TUE DALIAN, CHINA   9:00 AM   7:00 PM   CRUISING THE YELLOW SEA 3-Jun-20   WED CRUISING THE YELLOW SEA       JEJU, SOUTH KOREA 4-Jun-20   THU MOJI, JAPAN   10:45 AM   11:30 PM   BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA 5-Jun-20 FRI NAGASAKI, JAPAN 11:00 AM   7:00 PM         Due to the itinerary changes, please note the following tours have been cancelled:     CODE DESCRIPTION BSN-001 CULTURAL PERFORMANCE & BUSAN CITY BSN-004 TEA CULTURE AND CITY HIGHLIGHTS BSN-005 HIGHLIGHTS OF GYEONGJU & BUSAN BSN-006 HAEDONG YONGGUNGSA TEMPLE & CITY TOUR BSN-007 BEOMEOSA TEMPLE & MARKETS CJU-001 JEJU CITY HIGHLIGHTS CJU-002 HALLIM PARK & O'SULLOC TEA MUSEUM CJU-003 TEA CULTURE & MARKET CJU-004 WOMEN DIVERS & SPIRITED GARDEN CJU-005 SANGUMBURI CRATER & MANJANGGUL LAVA CAVE CJU-006 SUNRISE PEAK & SEONGEUP FOLK VILLAGE     Guests that have purchased any of the above shore excursions will automatically be refunded, where applicable.

Edited January 16, 2020 by PaulMCO

[Shawnino]

Ouch for PaulMCO. That sucks.

[DeeniEncinitas]

PaulMCO,

I am so sorry to hear this! HAL for us did the same thing back in late 2018! After final payment 2 months prior to sail! After 13 years with them that was the final straw! Now we switched over to O for our next 2 upcoming cruises!  Hope our future will be good.

We have a dear friend on HAL who will be on WC segment with Crystal and loves them.

We might try them also.

PS HAL’s excuse to us was operational purposes in 3 ports that were cancelled!!

Please enjoy your cruise! 
Denise😊

[ak1004]

It happened to us on Oceania. It happened to us on Azamara and on Celebrity.

 

If each time a port is cancelled we say we won't sail on that line never again, very quickly we will run out of lines.. Cruise lines cannot control weather and they cannot control politics.

[Shawnino]

49 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

It happened to us on Oceania. It happened to us on Azamara and on Celebrity.

 

If each time a port is cancelled we say we won't sail on that line never again, very quickly we will run out of lines.. Cruise lines cannot control weather and they cannot control politics.

 

An easy platitude.

 

In this case, though, I don't understand why Busan was lost. It's basically the Southeastern point of Korea. Hit a Japanese port, over to Busan, back to Japan.

[clo]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

Cruise lines cannot control weather and they cannot control politics.

Thank you for saying that. What do people think the cruise line should do in situations like this? Violate another countries laws? This is the kind of entitlement that shows it ugly face and is a real turn-off to me.

[Paulchili]

4 hours ago, PaulMCO said:

Here is another reason why we tend to stay away from Oceania  -- this is not an isolated case.  No reason that this would have not been known in advance...  This will be our LAST O cruise.  And of course all of this after final payment of the WC segment..

Paul,

Your reasons need to be valid only to you and you should do what you feel is right for you.

Enjoy whatever line you choose.

[cruisemom42]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

It happened to us on Oceania. It happened to us on Azamara and on Celebrity.

 

If each time a port is cancelled we say we won't sail on that line never again, very quickly we will run out of lines.. Cruise lines cannot control weather and they cannot control politics.

 

58 minutes ago, clo said:

Thank you for saying that. What do people think the cruise line should do in situations like this? Violate another countries laws? This is the kind of entitlement that shows it ugly face and is a real turn-off to me.

 

Now hang on a second. I got the sense that the OP's frustration was that the ship didn't let them know anything until the last minute.

 

As a long time and very experienced cruiser, I understand things change, and that weather, national emergencies, security issues, strikes, etc. can all play havoc with ports.

 

What I take exception to is when cruise lines are lazy about 1) checking out whether their published itinerary actually is "runnable" from the perspective of visas, regulations, etc. and 2) when they have information well in advance about changes in port schedules and do not provide that information to cruisers until they are aboard ship.

 

Some cruisers actually do care about destination, and while I accept that lines have the right to change destinations, I also feel that passengers have the right to know about those changes in a timely manner -- for example to change private tour arrangements or to do research before the cruise to decide what you want to do in a given port.

 

Cruise lines do not like to communicate such info because it upsets some passengers and causes "chatter" on boards like these.  I  know certain cruise lines withhold info because I've experienced several times.  

 

It sounds to me like someone dropped the ball in ensuring that the cruise could actually run as planned, e.g., did not check local regulations or authorities.  That is very different from having to change course mid-cruise due to a dock workers' strike in Athens, for example.

[clo]

2 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

I got the sense that the OP's frustration was that the ship didn't let them know anything until the last minute.

I hear ya but I didn't read anything that indicated that this was old info that should have been shared sooner. But maybe it was.

[1985rz1]

37 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Paul,

Your reasons need to be valid only to you and you should do what you feel is right for you.

Enjoy whatever line you choose.

PaulC

 

I agree with you, but PaulM shouldn't put the burden blame for the cruise changes entirely on Oceania.  China is a country notorious for arbitrary changes and closures when it come to travel.  We've done two small group eco trips (land based) and in both case last minute changes in our itinerary were required.  Two were done while we were on tour, causing our operator to find new lodgings and change segments of the itinerary in real time.  Another time a golden monkey reserve which was to be one of the major highlights was closed to the public only somewhat before our departure causing the operator to find a new accessible reserve, change the itinerary, and find new lodgings in the remote Mishan mountains, not an easy or quick job.

 

In the case of cruises, finding new ports at the last minute and figuring out how to work them into a complex itinerary is not easy and it takes time to make them.  As for timely notification, it is not very useful to tell passengers of the port changes until the details are worked out.  Could Oceania have notified passengers sooner?  I don't know, but it's not in the company's interest to blindside its customers, and it is quite likely that Oceania was blindsided by a political action taken by the Chinese government, local, regional, or national.

 

And to be sure, similar changes and notification issues happened to us on a booked Regent sailing, so these things happen across the board.

Edited January 16, 2020 by 1985rz1