Convince me.

[clo]

3 hours ago, jonthomas said:

Cancelling, rebooking, etc, all very easily done.

I had to chuckle over this sentence. Our recent cruise that was canceled had SIXTEEN parts of it. Some quite small like the train from Paris to Versailles (not cancelable nor refundable but also not much $$$). I finally made a one page calendar that even included things like pre-flight checkin. When the cruise canceled AND the airline canceled I then had to take it all apart. I chuckle about it now but a far bigger PITA than putting it together. But, yeah, I agree with you.

[clo]

10 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said:

 Live life dangerously its the only time you live at all  ( Walter Bonatti)

Yep. Which I can do just about anywhere in the world, land or sea.

[ORV]

17 hours ago, pinotlover said:

 Oceania, and its lenders, can’t tolerate waiting until some unspecified date as “ when this is over”, and until an unspecified list of conditions are meet for past cruisers to return. All the very valid reasons for you not to cruise = a very valid excuse for Oceania to move on.

 

 I can give you multiple completely different scenarios for a “new” Oceania. Here is just one. They target well to do Gen Xers and Millenniums. Our children, and their friends, are successful doctors and business professionals that can easily afford Oceania, it just doesn’t offer them anything currently.
 

1. Oceania reduces most all cruises to 7-12 days in length expanding most cruises to a wider audience.

 

2. They offer a host of family ( read

children) activities and tours, for both sea days and port days.

 

3.  The entertainment and shows changes from 1950-1960 music to 1980 - present music. 
 

4.  The string quartet, with people confusing it with napping hour, is replaced with a jazz and blues group. The Perry Como piano player, in Martinis,  is just replaced.

 

5. They enhance their current menus to meet the palates of those new targeted cruisers and worry less about facilitating the 101 eating restrictions of their now past targeted cruisers.

 

Just one possible scenario that doesn’t ban anyone. Multiple completely different ones are possible. 

There's a great deal of that which will appeal to many of us Baby Boomers.  Leave the kids off and I'm ok with the rest of it. I do believe that Gen Xers and Millennials are looking for something different than that. 

[CintiPam]

4 hours ago, clo said:

I had to chuckle over this sentence. Our recent cruise that was canceled had SIXTEEN parts of it. Some quite small like the train from Paris to Versailles (not cancelable nor refundable but also not much $$$). I finally made a one page calendar that even included things like pre-flight checkin. When the cruise canceled AND the airline canceled I then had to take it all apart. I chuckle about it now but a far bigger PITA than putting it together. But, yeah, I agree with you.

Wow, you DO plan ahead in great detail, purchasing your train tickets for Paris-Versailles in advance! 

[RJB]

On 4/10/2020 at 11:39 AM, jonthomas said:

We have a cruise booked with Oceania for Dec/Jan 2020 on the Riviera in the Carib.  From all the signs, I know it will not happen.

 

We will not give final dep, in fact will cancel 120 before sail date to avoid admin fee. I learned to do that from someone here and I am grateful. 

 

We have a $500 dep on it. Would probably make sense to cancel it now. Taking a real chance waiting, since if they go bankrupt , we will see none of it.

 

So I have not taken my own advice, to cancel now and hope to get it back, while there may still be some money in the coffers. 

 

There is nothing to gain by waiting.  Seems that I am just hanging on to it for emotional reasons not rational ones. Need someone to convince me to take my own advice and cancel now. 

Cancel now O.K. but if these cruises  Dec/2020/2021  do not go than it is the end of the cruise industry and we can bend over and kiss our  as.. goodby. 

[RJB]

On 4/10/2020 at 11:39 AM, jonthomas said:

We have a cruise booked with Oceania for Dec/Jan 2020 on the Riviera in the Carib.  From all the signs, I know it will not happen.

 

We will not give final dep, in fact will cancel 120 before sail date to avoid admin fee. I learned to do that from someone here and I am grateful. 

 

We have a $500 dep on it. Would probably make sense to cancel it now. Taking a real chance waiting, since if they go bankrupt , we will see none of it.

 

So I have not taken my own advice, to cancel now and hope to get it back, while there may still be some money in the coffers. 

 

There is nothing to gain by waiting.  Seems that I am just hanging on to it for emotional reasons not rational ones. Need someone to convince me to take my own advice and cancel now. 

Cancel now O.K. but if these cruises  Dec/2020/2021  do not go than it is the end of the cruise industry and we can bend over and kiss our  as.. goodby. 

[jonthomas]

And I agree with you. 

[clo]

1 hour ago, CintiPam said:

Wow, you DO plan ahead in great detail, purchasing your train tickets for Paris-Versailles in advance! 

LOL. Only cause we had the first time slot to get into Versailles so decided to go ahead and do the train also

[Paulchili]

1 minute ago, clo said:

we had the first time slot to get into Versailles

Were you able to get your money back from them (we have tickets there as well for late May but need to cancel).

[clo]

1 minute ago, Paulchili said:

Were you able to get your money back from them (we have tickets there as well for late May but need to cancel).

Nope. But I'm holding on to the tickets in case we can use them for a future trip.  Thanks for the reminder. I was so pooped after pulling the whole dang thing apart....

[LHT28]

12 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Were you able to get your money back from them (we have tickets there as well for late May but need to cancel).

I would think if  they are still closed   you should be refunded ??

They have a link online to contact them

http://en.chateauversailles.fr/contact-us

 

[Paulchili]

3 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I would think if  they are still closed   you should be refunded ??

They have a link online to contact them

http://en.chateauversailles.fr/contact-us

 

Thanks Lyn - will look into that

[clo]

4 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I would think if  they are still closed   you should be refunded ??

They have a link online to contact them

http://en.chateauversailles.fr/contact-us

 

Thanks for that. I'll followup also. 

[Mura]

On 4/10/2020 at 8:44 PM, Paulchili said:

You are correct in saying that this scenario would appeal to a whole different crowd and therefore probably not to me. I like the Oceania pretty much as it is.

1 Don't want to fly to Europe or Asia/Australia for 7-12 days (don't mind a few days pre/post cruise but not much into land travel any more)

2 Not interested in cruising with children

4 I prefer the string quartet to jazz/blues - personal preference

5 Love the food as it is

Some of these suggestions might result in higher prices - they are high enough for me as is.

If they feel the need to change to something you suggest, there are other lines that might appeal to me more than the "new" Oceania.

+1 for me

 

As for #1:  When I was in my 30s (eons ago) I banned flying to Europe for a 7 day trip, I certainly wouldn't fly to Asia or Australia for such a short trip.  Yes, you can add land trips pre- and post-cruise but that does add up.  I prefer 14-24 day cruises.  We still spend a few days in the pre- and post-cruise ports.

 

#2 Ditto

 

#3 Had to search back for this one... I prefer the 50s-60s music to the 80s, that's for sure.  Actually -- showing my age -- I would much prefer popular music of the 30s and 40s.  I won't hold my breath, however!

 

#4, I like jazz ...but prefer a string quartet.  I just don't care for many of their arrangements.  For ME they should be playing real chamber music (as in classical string quartets) but quite frankly from what we've seen of several quartets -- they aren't up to it.  I grew up with a father who was  professional violist and played in some of the top string quartets in the country, so clearly I have a bias!  I'd be happier with better "arrangements" than I've heard.  But even so, I prefer the string quartet to jazz.  They can have that up in Horizons.

 

#5 I like the food as we've had it as well.  I've seen complaints about cold food, unseasoned food, overly seasoned food, etc.  We did not encounter that, but then again our last cruise was nearly 2 years ago.  So things may well have changed.  BUT I did see many of those same complaints while we were still actively sailing and that was not our experience.  For the record, we like SPICY FOOD.

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by Mura
Addition

[Rob the Cruiser]

#1 and #2 would drive us away. 

Edited April 12, 2020 by Rob the Cruiser

[pinotlover]

41 minutes ago, Rob the Cruiser said:

#1 and #2 would drive us away. 

Rob;

 

Wasn’t my point. We have an entire thread of people personally canceling cruises and advocating others to do likewise. Even for cruises into 2021. 
 

My point was simply that by definition, these people have already walked or been driven away. Oceania will then be forced, as a matter of survival,  to seek out cruisers that will sail. With only maybe one or two exceptions, the median age of passengers on my past cruises has been 75-80. If those folks aren’t cruising, should Oceania reasonably be expected to keep everything the same in case they decide to return in 2022, or do what’s necessary to attract those that are and will cruise?

 

Don’t misunderstand me. I believe it is highly logical for many of O’s current cruisers to hunker down. I’ve even questioned whether it was wise for some to have been sailing when they did. For some of those it will never be really safe to cruise again. Oceania will evolve to survive. When I first sailed O, they were still doing Benny Goodman and Glen Miller! The next generation jump may come faster than you expect!

[jonthomas]

Only family friendly would drive me away. Although we have seen many more kids on board recently than we had five years ago. So only Viking now remains adult only. 

[Paulchili]

16 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

So only Viking now remains adult only. 

..and Saga

[clo]

18 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

Only family friendly would drive me away. Although we have seen many more kids on board recently than we had five years ago. So only Viking now remains adult only. 

Does adult only mean that kids aren't allowed or that there are no activities for them?

[Paulchili]

4 minutes ago, clo said:

Does adult only mean that kids aren't allowed or that there are no activities for them?

Saga is for 50+ years old people, Oceania allows children but has no or little activities for them.

I believe Viking is for over 18?

Edited April 12, 2020 by Paulchili

[LHT28]

33 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

Only family friendly would drive me away. Although we have seen many more kids on board recently than we had five years ago. So only Viking now remains adult only. 

not really must be   over 18     most in their 20's are not really  looking for the peace & quiet of Oceania 😉

P & O  had adult only ships  ..not sure if they still do now

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

. When I first sailed O, they were still doing Benny Goodman and Glen Miller!

 I must have missed  that year

Our 1st cruise  we had a good jazz band 

the  ship  band was very good  played all types of music  in the  theatre

 

[pinotlover]

44 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

 I must have missed  that year

Our 1st cruise  we had a good jazz band 

the  ship  band was very good  played all types of music  in the  theatre

 

Wasn’t that long ago they stopped. In the Nautica Lounge, every night they’d have the Big Band music of the 40s and 50s. Some up doing ballroom dancing. I think they started around 8:00ish and ran up to just prior to the evening show.

[jonthomas]

I see it has been answered. Viking does not allow anyone under 18. We did see many young couples in their 30s.

[deadzone1003]

Well, I have a cruise in December aboard the Riviera.  I'm not planning to cancel because I will pay for it with mostly FCC that I received from Oceania for my diverted cruise.  I do not believe the cruise will take place but I'm sure Oceania will roll my cruise with FCC to the following year.  I do not plan to book airfare until maybe 30 days before departure.  If I book a hotel, I would only choose a hotel with free cancellation.  

 

Now, I'm a firm believer that the cruise industry will not be able to get back to normal until a vaccine is found.  Problem is the record of for development of a vaccine from conception to testing to approval to actual use is around 4 years for the Ebola virus.  As some of you who remember me from other threads, I was quite optimistic about the time frame if they could modified an existing vaccine to use on the Wuhan virus.  Well, my logic was o.k. but the problem is there was no existing vaccine to modify.  Apparently, there is no vaccine for any coronavirus.   I haven't found one on the internet.  Please leave a link if you do. There is no vaccine for SARS, MERS, or the common cold.  So, now I'm not so optimistic about finding a vaccine.  Does it mean that they will never find one?  No, but it may take alot longer than we expected.

 

Is cruising dead?  I don't know.  Right now, I hoping that mankind develops herd immunity and develop protocols to treat this disease to minimize deaths.  Good thing is alot more people have (or had) this disease.  We may be developing a herd immunity without even knowing about it.  There is speculation that 1/3 of NYC have or may have had this disease because most cases are mild or asymptomatic.   We won't know until anti-bodies testing is more readily available.  Right now, I would be betting on everyone developing herd immunity before getting the vaccine.  If that is the case, maybe cruising can begin its start to getting back to normal in the following summer.