Oceania Marina & Service

[Clutj]

2 hours ago, DENIE said:

 I think I heard that regardless of the product, many more people will write bad reviews whereas the people who were happy will not write a review.  

 

Absolutely!  

[doctork]

2 hours ago, DENIE said:

New to Oceania here (first sailing is 6/2022), but have been on Celebrity most recently (3 cruises), and MSC (out of Florida).  I love to read the reviews, but have decided to "balance" what I read there versus actual board forums.  Many reviews seem to be written by people who can't wait to get off the ship and write about a bad experience.  I think I heard that regardless of the product, many more people will write bad reviews whereas the people who were happy will not write a review.  

 

My DW and I always board with the anticipation of a great cruise, and that expectation has always been met.  Our opinion is that any day on a cruise ship is better than just about any place else.  🙂

In marketing class I was taught that in any industry, an unhappy customer will tell 10 people about their bad experience while happy customers will tell four others.  My marketing instructor would agree with you 🙂

[DENIE]

7 minutes ago, doctork said:

In marketing class I was taught that in any industry, an unhappy customer will tell 10 people about their bad experience while happy customers will tell four others.  My marketing instructor would agree with you 🙂

Yup....that sounds familiar! 🙂

 

[mauibabes]

Hi all,

We have spoken to Denie numerous times in the past and as an experienced cruiser and awaiting their first Oceania cruise, I think their approach to cruising and Oceania is, right on! Some people seem to focus on the negative and others the positive. We prefer the positive. Since about 60% of any Oceania cruise is made up of past guests, you have to believe Oceania is doing everything possible to make their guests have a fantastic experience. 
 

Attitude is everything and I am in control of my attitude so let’s go sailing on Oceania and let them dazzle you.  If you have questions about anything “Oceania”, this Board will get you an answer.  Lots of very knowledgeable cruisers who have been on every cruise line out there. Bottom line, we all have come to know and love Oceania and become members of the Oceania family.  Newbie to 20-40-60+ Oceania cruises, we are here to help answer your questions. 
Mauibabes, aka Gerry and Bonnie

 

 

 

 

 

Bonnie, aka 

[RetiredandTravel]

The thread has certainly been very helpful for us, plenty of great feedback to help us with our decision.  Little surprised at some of the smoke thrown and somewhat disconcerted over the more recent low expectations.

 

We've only done a couple of cruises and planning our next.  Comparing Oceania with Seabourn & Silversea in South America at this point.  Interesting process.

 

Thanks all.

[LHT28]

5 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

Comparing Oceania with Seabourn & Silversea in South America at this point.  Interesting process.

 

Thanks all.

You are comparing  luxury lines with a Premium line

 i am sure there is more included in the Luxury lines  but it all depends on your wants  & needs which will be best  for  YOU

 

Enjoy what ever cruise you choose

 

[RetiredandTravel]

Sure.  When you read the reviews there are many people who prefer Oceania over the luxury lines.  Oceania has many compelling features other than just being more economical.    Having a higher price doesn't always mean you get a better product.  We're leaning towards the luxury lines at this point but still researching.  People here have been very helpful in that process.  I don't like caviar anyway 🙂

 

 

[bigmjh]

5 hours ago, DENIE said:

"... many more people will write bad reviews whereas the people who were happy will not write a review. ....  Our opinion is that any day on a cruise ship is better than just about any place else.  🙂

Also, there are people that have never been on a particular cruiseline or ship and merely post "experiences" to stir the pot a little. Need to take everything with a grain of salt. And, I TOTALLY agree with the last part of your post!  👍

[Queen of DaNile]

2 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

Sure.  When you read the reviews there are many people who prefer Oceania over the luxury lines.  Oceania has many compelling features other than just being more economical.    Having a higher price doesn't always mean you get a better product.  We're leaning towards the luxury lines at this point but still researching.  People here have been very helpful in that process.  I don't like caviar anyway 🙂

 

 

The Seabourn product is very nice. The size of the ships, excellent food and service and yes, lots of caviar👌.

[DENIE]

8 hours ago, bigmjh said:

Also, there are people that have never been on a particular cruiseline or ship and merely post "experiences" to stir the pot a little. Need to take everything with a grain of salt. And, I TOTALLY agree with the last part of your post!  👍

Agree!  Sometimes I read a review, and I am like....whaaaaaaatttt????

 

[RetiredandTravel]

19 hours ago, Queen of DaNile said:

The Seabourn product is very nice. The size of the ships, excellent food and service and yes, lots of caviar👌.

 

 

My wife likes caviar so that pretty much renders my dislike meaningless.  😍

 

I'd be interested in your comparison of Seabourn & Oceania on substantive issues like Food/Wine, Service, Excursions and Room Quality.

 

The Oceania South America cruises (Buenos Aires to Santiago) in 2023 are much more reasonable (apples to apples, x airfare etc) than Silversea and Seabourn.  In fairness to Seabourn their cruise is really more like an expedition cruise which are much more expensive.   I also like the Oceania itineraries in South America. 

 

On the other hand the Oceania Australia cruises I looked at aren't cheaper at all and the Regatta rooms are only 216 sq ft vs Marina (SA cruises) are 288.

 

Thanks

Edited July 25, 2021 by RetiredandTravel

[GeorgesGal]

On 7/20/2021 at 12:04 PM, RetiredandTravel said:

 

I may have been served better without mentioning my recent Regent experience.  My first Regent cruise the service was outstanding and the second it was poor.  Many frequent Regent cruisers on my last cruise speculated that Regent quality had deteriorated since being acquired by Norwegian.  Considering Oceania and Regent are both owned by Norwegian I wanted to make sure there isn't a systematic issue.  Especially considering the PROFESSIONAL review I attached which mentioned Marina service as a con (so much for single item on a single cruise).

 

Wow some real militaristic fans of Oceania over here.  My interest is finding out peoples impressions of Marina service, so please save the lectures and move on.

 

If people think I'm being a troll I'd suggest people read the reviews of the Mariner from 2019.

 

If people would like me to write a detailed review of why we felt the service was poor I will.  We treat all people with respect and are far from demanding.

 

One Mariner experience was our toilet overflowed to no fault of our own, the entire floor (and especially our room) had water and sewage gushing out.  It took two frantic calls and 20 minutes before the repairman was sent to turn off the water.  The water and sewage had started to consume our bed, the entry and bathroom had 4-6 inches of water and sewage by the time the water was turned off.  Following is part of my review discussing the incident, I was far to nice.

 

"Cabin: The newly refurbished cabin was beautiful and the housekeeping was phenomenal. Housekeeping not only did their job well they also were very interested that we were happy & enjoying ourselves. Unfortunately our toilet overflowed which wasn't pleasant, water all over. I will say housekeeping did everything in their power to fix the problem and the head of housekeeping apologized. No one else from Regent on board seemed to care. When I asked reception if they could contact us when it was resolved they acted like I was bothering them. I would have at least expected an apology letter and a bottle of wine (all inclusive) or something. crickets!!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

OMG!  How horrible, what a terrible experience that must have been!

 

As to the question of service on Marina, each time I've been on her service was exceptional. Never once had a complaint on Marina nor the other four ships of O's we have sailed on.  The only one we missed was Sirena which was cancelled about ten days before our sailing in Apr. 2020.  We haven't been on board any ship since that time, but are looking forward to sailing Riviera in Jan. 2022 and are hoping nothing has slipped.

 

One thing I don't understand from reading Carolyn Spencer Jones' review (I think she is the editor of CC) was the fact that in the pro/con header to the review she stated that service is not of the level of a 'luxury'' cruise line.  She knows O doesn't claim 'luxury' status since not everything is included, but rather they are a niche line between mainstream and luxury.  BUT like I said, I've never had a service issue on board any of her ships.

 

Donna

Edited July 27, 2021 by GeorgesGal

[ak1004]

To add to the previous comments, we did one Oceania cruise so far on the Riviera. I found the service to be excellent. In fact, I didn't see anything that would make Oceania any less luxury than Crystal. This is based on one cruise with each line. I would imagine that Marina should be a very similar experience (hopefully we will find out in December, fingers crossed).

Edited July 29, 2021 by ak1004

[ORV]

On 7/27/2021 at 3:29 PM, GeorgesGal said:

OMG!  How horrible, what a terrible experience that must have been!

 

As to the question of service on Marina, each time I've been on her service was exceptional. Never once had a complaint on Marina nor the other four ships of O's we have sailed on.  The only one we missed was Sirena which was cancelled about ten days before our sailing in Apr. 2020.  We haven't been on board any ship since that time, but are looking forward to sailing Riviera in Jan. 2022 and are hoping nothing has slipped.

 

One thing I don't understand from reading Carolyn Spencer Jones' review (I think she is the editor of CC) was the fact that in the pro/con header to the review she stated that service is not of the level of a 'luxury'' cruise line.  She knows O doesn't claim 'luxury' status since not everything is included, but rather they are a niche line between mainstream and luxury.  BUT like I said, I've never had a service issue on board any of her ships.

 

Donna

Actually O does claim luxury status. It's the people that tend to classify cruise lines that don't. I suggest checking out their webpages or read a few circulars. Try this page. 

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/ships/

[ak1004]

7 minutes ago, ORV said:

Actually O does claim luxury status. It's the people that tend to classify cruise lines that don't. I suggest checking out their webpages or read a few circulars. Try this page. 

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/ships/

 

Well, Celebrity also define themselves as "modern luxury"..

 

I think the agreement in the industry is that Crystal, Regent, Seaborn and Silversea are defined as luxury because they are all inclusive, while Oceania is not. To me personally, this is not what makes a line luxury. We don't drink, so on lines like Crystal we would pay more and subsidize the drinkers. But except for the inclusions, I think many people (including myself) would consider Oceania as luxury as Crystal.

[RetiredandTravel]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

To add to the previous comments, we did one Oceania cruise so far on the Riviera. I found the service to be excellent. In fact, I didn't see anything that would make Oceania any less luxury than Crystal. This is based on one cruise with each line. I would imagine that Marina should be a very similar experience (hopefully we will find out in December, fingers crossed).

 

I've seen many reviews/comments where people think Oceania is on par or better than  the "ultra luxury" lines.   In many of the important categories (food/service etc) Oceania seems very competitive.  The "luxury" lines might have more "glitz" in the restaurants, common areas etc but Oceania is still very nicely appointed.   There are some regions that the cost difference makes Oceania extremely compelling.

 

As ridiculous as it sounds the Vero water might be a deal breaker for me.  I drink a good deal of water and from what I can tell there is no bottled water available.

 

 

 

 

[LHT28]

39 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

Well, Celebrity also define themselves as "modern luxury"..

 

I think the agreement in the industry is that Crystal, Regent, Seaborn and Silversea are defined as luxury because they are all inclusive, while Oceania is not.

Crystal is not all inclusive  you do pay for excursions  & specialty restaurants after you use you allotment

Plus  some wines & drink/beers  are extra charge

 

[LHT28]

7 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

As ridiculous as it sounds the Vero water might be a deal breaker for me.  I drink a good deal of water and from what I can tell there is no bottled water available.

 

I believe they supply you with a reusuable water bottle   or you could bring your own

 The goal is  the reduce  waste  like one time use water bottles ..better for the planet

 YMMV

[RetiredandTravel]

Seabourn you pay for excursions & air.  Silversea recently changed to include excursions there is an  upcharge for the French restaurant.

[RetiredandTravel]

2 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I believe they supply you with a reusuable water bottle   or you could bring your own

 The goal is  the reduce  waste  like one time use water bottles ..better for the planet

 YMMV

 

 

Its a lot cheaper for them also.  Do they have tap beer?

[LHT28]

29 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

But except for the inclusions, I think many people (including myself) would consider Oceania as luxury as Crystal.

We find Oceania  a better fit for us  & "Luxury" or not  it seemed  better than Crystal  for us

Others have their own idea of what works for them

JMO

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

 

Its a lot cheaper for them also.  Do they have tap beer?

I do believe they have 2 brands at the pool bar

I do not drink beer 

Try Crystal I think they have all kinds of Craft beers  (for a fee)

[ak1004]

18 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Crystal is not all inclusive  you do pay for excursions  & specialty restaurants after you use you allotment

 

 

Correct. But excursions are included only on Regent I believe. If you count what's included on the ship, except for few small exceptions the 4 lines that I mentioned are all inclusive. But then again, for someone who doesn't drink, this could actually be a minus when it comes to price.

[KS&JW]

41 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

 

As ridiculous as it sounds the Vero water might be a deal breaker for me.  I drink a good deal of water and from what I can tell there is no bottled water available.

 

 

 

 

I also drink a good deal of water and the Vero water is as good or better than the bottled water previously supplied.  My last cruise, January 2020 there was still bottled water available so you could take one ashore.  Two brands were offered at different times.  One was undrinkable, IMO.  While the Vero was always good and since my SO likes sparkling water and you can get the Vero version of that, Vero for the win. 

[RetiredandTravel]

 

52 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I do believe they have 2 brands at the pool bar

I do not drink beer 

Try Crystal I think they have all kinds of Craft beers  (for a fee)

 

https://www.thepreismans.com/marina19_menus.htm#Bar

 

 

Looks like they have 21 beers/ciders etc, I bet in bottles.  Not environmentally friendly at all.  Its possible they have the Vero primarily to save money. 

 

 

25 minutes ago, KS&JW said:

I also drink a good deal of water and the Vero water is as good or better than the bottled water previously supplied.  My last cruise, January 2020 there was still bottled water available so you could take one ashore.  Two brands were offered at different times.  One was undrinkable, IMO.  While the Vero was always good and since my SO likes sparkling water and you can get the Vero version of that, Vero for the win. 

 

 

I was in the Caribbean in a place that had filtered water and got very sick.  That makes me a little gun shy, I'll have to read more on the Vero.   thank you