If you had a doubt, Yes they are watching

[Flatbush Flyer]

46 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

This is the age of technology. People, and employees, pass down critiques and perhaps useful information to others often with their own biases.

 

We have been meet by butlers, returning from a shorex, with glasses of champagne, then asked if I prefer a double knob creek old fashioned. Never had the butler before so how does he know? There’s a file in the computer. I show up on Embarkment Day and the butler has all the information for me to sign up for a newly offered wine seminar. How does he know I do such things? It’s in my file in the computer. I can give other examples,  such as a wine steward I’d never meet teaching a scheduled wine seminar asking for my help during the seminar in answering difficult questions. It’s in the computer.

 

Oh, if you stiff your butler or room staff and don’t give a tip. Every butler thereafter knows. If you go to customer service and have all tips grats removed, all current and subsequent staff thereafter knows. It’s all in the computer. Information is a wonderful thing !  🥸
 

There’s a commercial asking “ Do you know what’s in your wallet “? For Oceania cruisers, I’d ask , Do you know what’s in your file the various employees access? File? What File? 😂

This is correct.

 

[HiFi43]

A question was asked earlier about the % of cruisers who attend M&G’s. From my experience in running a lot of Oceania M&G’s I see anywhere from 5% to as much as 20% sailing who participate on Cruise Critic and then come to a M&G. The major difference seems to be that some cruises attract a significantly higher percentage of Oceania regulars than others (usually the ones that sell out the fastest seem to have the higher percentage of regulars).  
 

The largest number I ever had for a M&G was 230 on a larger ship and 126 on an R ship. I had 86 (plus about 20 Oceania staff) on the Marina crossing last month which had 900+ passengers so a little less than 10%. I’ve started running M&G’s on the first day (embarkation day) since the pandemic because because I no longer have to worry about a boat drill with the new procedures and I can get Oceania to assign us Horizon Lounge and provide microphones, waitstaff and senior staff to greet us. 
 

There are Oceania corporate staff members assigned to work with groups to special events and the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet group is considered a special group. Oceania will even send invitations to Meet and Greet registrants in their cabins on embarkation day if I send them the registrants names and cabin numbers. When I do this I  collect the cabin numbers privately from people rather than asking them to publish their cabin numbers on Cruise Critic. Reminders significantly increase attendance but it is a lot of work to collect cabin numbers so I don’t do this for every M&G.

 

I have written this so others who want to do a M&G know there is an easy formal process partnering with Oceania that can be followed to we make one happen in a more organized way rather than just suggesting everyone meet at some place at some time and never knowing what is going to happen. 

 

 

 

[pinotlover]

We typically do M&G on cruises, but not the big ones. Those of us that are doing private tours together, or other individual events are invited for smaller events . They are usually well attended and a lot of fun. Great to meet both seasoned and new cruisers.
 

I believe the Captain’s reception and the O club reception are more suitable for the general populace only wanting to participate in designated ship activities.

 

As mentioned above, I often have fellow cruisers contact me directly concerning private tours I am putting together. I have filled numerous tours with so called lurkers that never posts on the RC but contact me individually. after reading the RC. The RC is a great tool for those that understand its users and maximize its potential.

[samiam0403]

This has been a fascinating read for me. While I appreciate the apparent feedback and responses to 'anonymous' postings here, and to on-board surveys, I am a bit surprised by the lack of response from my last cruise survey in February. So if anyone from O is indeed monitoring these boards, I'm shocked at the lack of interest to this experience: I took my husband on his first O cruise in Feb, in a suite on Riviera. He was immediately as enamored with O as I was.

 

Then he got off the ship in a port without me, and was upbraided rather forcefully by security for not wearing his nametag off the ship as required. He laughed it off and assumed security was making a joke. Until they again told him rather emphatically that he was not allowed to leave the ship without a nametag. (Note: my husband is not Caucasian, and security obviously assumed he was a crew member.) I described the encounter in our survey, and suggested they provide additional training to security and remind them that not all minorities are on board as crew. Never heard a peep back. No follow up on board, no follow up when we arrived home. I was mortified for him, and seriously disappointed that we didn't get a 'sorry about that, we'll do more training and it won't happen again' on board. Which is really all I expected. We'll obviously still cruise O as we have 3 more booked, but it just left a bad taste in my mouth that there was no follow up. 

Edited April 20, 2022 by samiam0403

[ORV]

1 hour ago, HiFi43 said:

A question was asked earlier about the % of cruisers who attend M&G’s. From my experience in running a lot of Oceania M&G’s I see anywhere from 5% to as much as 20% sailing who participate on Cruise Critic and then come to a M&G. The major difference seems to be that some cruises attract a significantly higher percentage of Oceania regulars than others (usually the ones that sell out the fastest seem to have the higher percentage of regulars).  
 

The largest number I ever had for a M&G was 230 on a larger ship and 126 on an R ship. I had 86 (plus about 20 Oceania staff) on the Marina crossing last month which had 900+ passengers so a little less than 10%. I’ve started running M&G’s on the first day (embarkation day) since the pandemic because because I no longer have to worry about a boat drill with the new procedures and I can get Oceania to assign us Horizon Lounge and provide microphones, waitstaff and senior staff to greet us. 
 

There are Oceania corporate staff members assigned to work with groups to special events and the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet group is considered a special group. Oceania will even send invitations to Meet and Greet registrants in their cabins on embarkation day if I send them the registrants names and cabin numbers. When I do this I  collect the cabin numbers privately from people rather than asking them to publish their cabin numbers on Cruise Critic. Reminders significantly increase attendance but it is a lot of work to collect cabin numbers so I don’t do this for every M&G.

 

I have written this so others who want to do a M&G know there is an easy formal process partnering with Oceania that can be followed to we make one happen in a more organized way rather than just suggesting everyone meet at some place at some time and never knowing what is going to happen. 

 

 

 

So if you're getting around 10% then it's probably ok to figure that there is at least another 20 to 30 % that are lurking here on CC that don't participate in the formal Roll Calls. I have a cruise coming up that I have been posting on the Roll Call, but I don't plan on going to the M &G. For me this is not uncommon. Unless I need to meet someone for a tour I consider most M & G a waste of time. Most of the time the organizer schedules it at a inconvenient time. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

5 hours ago, makai 7 said:

.....This post was not about what I did or did not like about my cruise, it was to inform other users of these boards that yes, Oceania looks at comments on this board........

 

Frankly, after a long career in Quality in industry, I am not interested in providing quality assurance consulting services for free when I am paying large sums of money...... 

Except that there really is no O “big brother” formally following posts on a simple chat room.

Also: LOL on the “quality assurance consulting services” being likened to filling out a customer survey.

[LHT28]

13 minutes ago, ORV said:

. Most of the time the organizer schedules it at a inconvenient time. 

Sometimes it is not the organizers schedule

 I had one M & G  where it did not happen until near the end of the cruise  by then it was a waste of time 

 

I find the larger M & G too much  as you do not really get to meet & mingle with others 

I probably will not organize any M & G on future cruises 

[LHT28]

33 minutes ago, samiam0403 said:

Then he got off the ship in a port without me, and was upbraided rather forcefully by security for not wearing his nametag off the ship as required. He laughed it off and assumed security was making a joke. Until they again told him rather emphatically that he was not allowed to leave the ship without a nametag. (Note: my husband is not Caucasian, and security obviously assumed he was a crew member.) I

I would have asked to speak to the GM ASAP 

That is not acceptable

[Jancruz]

9 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I would have asked to speak to the GM ASAP 

That is not acceptable

I definitely would have talked to GM or at least made sure security knew he was not crew..

what cruise were you on??

Jancruz1

[kjbacon]

5 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Except that there really is no O “big brother” formally following posts on a simple chat room.

Also: LOL on the “quality assurance consulting services” being likened to filling out a customer survey.

Except that you are completely incorrect.

 

We also received a short notice “invitation” to meet with an officer and unlike the OP, we changed our plans so that we could go.

 

We were ushered into a private room where we were met with 3 top ranking officers (we were floored at who was there) and it was indeed all about our cruise critic postings. According to the officers, there absolutely is an “O” big brother who reads the boards and puts the follows up in motion.

[ToxM]

Anyone who thinks that O doesn’t read and act upon these boards is mistaken. This forum is a curated always available focus group of “top fans” who are a mine of information on what is going on on their ships, how things are going and what is expected of them. 

 

The mid cruise questionnaire is useful for management onboard to take steps to fix things, the online survey goes to the head office (bypassing the ship who can curate comments if they wish) and the forum is the tasting spoon during the cooking process. 

 

Just because they don’t reply (and why would they, this is a natural conversation not spoiled by corporate intervention) does not mean they aren’t paying attention. 

 

Cruise critic is an excellent source of information for a company who have a roaming and hard to get to set of outlying places of business. 

 

Any cruise lines who don’t pay attention to online chatter ANYWHERE is putting themselves at a terrible disadvantage in terms of knowing what is going on with their product. 

[ToxM]

13 minutes ago, kjbacon said:

Except that you are completely incorrect.

 

We also received a short notice “invitation” to meet with an officer and unlike the OP, we changed our plans so that we could go.

 

We were ushered into a private room where we were met with 3 top ranking officers (we were floored at who was there) and it was indeed all about our cruise critic postings. According to the officers, there absolutely is an “O” big brother who reads the boards and puts the follows up in motion.

 

Was it a fruitful meeting? 

[samiam0403]

8 hours ago, Jancruz said:

I definitely would have talked to GM or at least made sure security knew he was not crew..

what cruise were you on??

Jancruz1

The 19 Feb sailing of Riviera. Security did realize their error once he handed them his key card and apologized. It was one hiccup in an otherwise wonderful cruise, so we let it go after mentioning it in our surveys on board. But again, we were just surprised no one followed up.

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, kjbacon said:

Except that you are completely incorrect.

 

We also received a short notice “invitation” to meet with an officer and unlike the OP, we changed our plans so that we could go.

 

We were ushered into a private room where we were met with 3 top ranking officers (we were floored at who was there) and it was indeed all about our cruise critic postings. According to the officers, there absolutely is an “O” big brother who reads the boards and puts the follows up in motion.

And those officers were ....? (Position is fine - names not needed).
While you may have been told that CC forums for Oceania are “officially” monitored (BTW, that would take quite some time each day to cover all the general posts plus each roll call section for each ship.), I expect that you were hearing a stretch of the truth which, again, is that a witness to the dining venue displeasure or a crew member who casually follows CC reported it to a shipboard manager.

 

What some folks in this thread are forgetting (or perhaps don’t know) is that O last year formed a passenger advisory panel via the O Club membership (comprised of a cross section of passengers from veterans to tyros) and some/all of these folks are occasionally queried about a variety of topics/issue (some of them are most likely on this thread👀). And occasional ad hoc meetings onboard with a small sampling of passengers (random or specific) is nothing new.

 

In addition, as has been often posted here on CC, some “O regulars” are in regular/occasional contact with various managers (both on ships and/or in Miami) including FDR. In fact, I had some minor involvement with the user side experience of the O web overhaul several years ago and, along with several other regulars, had some significant impact on stopping a briefly proposed loosening of “e-cig” smoking restrictions.

So, yes: there certainly are occasional communications involving some CC participants (directly or indirectly) and O management, as well as the casual CC observation by interested O staff and crew. But there “ain’t no” organized Oceania “big brother” operation wasting the company’s human et al. resources on combing CC threads at a time when they are already stretched to the max thanks to Covid.

Edited April 20, 2022 by Flatbush Flyer

[ToxM]

3 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

And those officers were ....? (Position is fine - names not needed).
While you may have been told that CC forums for Oceania are “officially” monitored (BTW, that would take quite some time each day to cover all the general posts plus each roll call section for each ship.), I expect that you were hearing a stretch of the truth which, again, is that a witness to the dining venue displeasure or a crew member who casually follows CC reported it to a shipboard manager.

 

What some folks in this thread are forgetting (or perhaps don’t know) is that O last year formed a passenger advisory panel via the O Club membership (comprised of a cross section of passengers from veterans to tyros) and some/all of these folks are occasionally queried about a variety of topics/issue (some of them are most likely on this thread👀).

In addition, as has been often posted here on CC, some “O regulars” are in regular/occasional contact with various managers (both on ships and/or in Miami) including FDR. In fact, I had some minor involvement with the user side experience of the O web overhaul several years ago and, along with several other regulars, had some significant impact on stopping a briefly proposed loosening of “e-cig” smoking restrictions.

So, yes: there certainly are occasional communications involving some CC participants (directly or indirectly) and O management, as well as the casual CC observation by interested O staff and crew. But there “ain’t no” organized Oceania “big brother” operation wasting the company’s human et al. resources on combing CC threads at a time when they are already stretched to the max thanks to Covid.

 

I am a member of the advisory panel, but I still disagree that CC is not monitored, this would and should be an essential function of the social media/marketing team. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

12 minutes ago, ToxM said:

 

I am a member of the advisory panel, but I still disagree that CC is not monitored, this would and should be an essential function of the social media/marketing team. 

I think that you’ll find O’s Social Media “team” is a bit more concerned with its own Oceania Cruises (official) FaceBook  page’s 400,000+ followers than it is with this “chat room.”

[PhD-iva]

37 minutes ago, samiam0403 said:

 Security did realize their error once he handed them his key card and apologized. 

I’m surprised you didn’t include this in your opening post. As you stated, the error was acknowledged and an apology was immediately forthcoming. 

[ToxM]

47 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

I think that you’ll find O’s Social Media “team” is a bit more concerned with its own Oceania Cruises (official) FaceBook  page’s 400,000+ followers than it is with this “chat room.”

 

With respect I think you underestimate the import of this forum (it’s not a chat room). 

 

As a community manager for over 20 years and now working in risk/intelligence in social media, if Oceania are paying more attention to their facebook landscape than to here, they are severely overlooking their risk spread. 

Edited April 20, 2022 by ToxM
Clarification and context.

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, ToxM said:

 

With respect I think you underestimate the import of this forum (it’s not a chat room). 

 

As a community manager for over 20 years and now working in risk/intelligence in social media, if Oceania are paying more attention to their facebook landscape than to here, they are severely overlooking their risk spread. 

Not denying that CC performs a significant role in promoting conversations, providing basic information and even informing/influencing decisions (by cruisers and, occasionally, by cruise lines). And I’d like to think that some of us are valued contributors who also have learning moments in our participation. 

At the same time, any CC user faces a jungle of misinformation, “Groundhog Day” repetition,  misassumption, fake news, sophomoric surveys and, quite sadly, often poorly written articles aimed solely at first time cruisers (e.g., “10 things to do/not to do....”). The occasional, newsworthy industry updates are “too far and in between.”

 

That said, the true strength of CC’s fabric IS its “chat room” functionality.

[ToxM]

47 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Not denying that CC performs a significant role in promoting conversations, providing basic information and even informing/influencing decisions (by cruisers and, occasionally, by cruise lines). And I’d like to think that some of us are valued contributors who also have learning moments in our participation. 

At the same time, any CC user faces a jungle of misinformation, “Groundhog Day” repetition,  misassumption, fake news, sophomoric surveys and, quite sadly, often poorly written articles aimed solely at first time cruisers (e.g., “10 things to do/not to do....”). The occasional, newsworthy industry updates are “too far and in between.”

 

That said, the true strength of CC’s fabric IS its “chat room” functionality.

Does anyone read the news and other articles on CC? I certainly don’t - they are as you say aimed at the newer cruiser and also for me at least, rather insular in as much as they are aimed almost exclusively at US cruiser - useless for me 🙂

 

Their shop and even competitions are not even of any use by cruisers outside of the US 😉

 

The gold for the brands are in the words the consumers write. I also imagine that we are rather lucky to have the likes of Jancruz who also tip the nod to those whose ear she can whisper to that probably circumvents even their social media team. 

 

Brands today that can have such a goldmine in their industry such as CC are very lucky. Whilst there is noise within each forum, there is also extremely useful information posted in a manner that is far above and beyond the type of posting that occurs on a FB post. Users comfortable posting amongst a peer group will give much more information than those who hit and run on a facebook post of a brand. 

[kjbacon]

3 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

And those officers were ....? (Position is fine - names not needed).
While you may have been told that CC forums for Oceania are “officially” monitored (BTW, that would take quite some time each day to cover all the general posts plus each roll call section for each ship.), I expect that you were hearing a stretch of the truth which, again, is that a witness to the dining venue displeasure or a crew member who casually follows CC reported it to a shipboard manager.

 

What some folks in this thread are forgetting (or perhaps don’t know) is that O last year formed a passenger advisory panel via the O Club membership (comprised of a cross section of passengers from veterans to tyros) and some/all of these folks are occasionally queried about a variety of topics/issue (some of them are most likely on this thread👀). And occasional ad hoc meetings onboard with a small sampling of passengers (random or specific) is nothing new.

 

In addition, as has been often posted here on CC, some “O regulars” are in regular/occasional contact with various managers (both on ships and/or in Miami) including FDR. In fact, I had some minor involvement with the user side experience of the O web overhaul several years ago and, along with several other regulars, had some significant impact on stopping a briefly proposed loosening of “e-cig” smoking restrictions.

So, yes: there certainly are occasional communications involving some CC participants (directly or indirectly) and O management, as well as the casual CC observation by interested O staff and crew. But there “ain’t no” organized Oceania “big brother” operation wasting the company’s human et al. resources on combing CC threads at a time when they are already stretched to the max thanks to Covid.

It is fascinating that you have convinced yourself to the point of arguing that your imagination is more accurate than 2 eyewitnesses and a member of the very advisory panel that you cite.

Edited April 20, 2022 by kjbacon

[Flatbush Flyer]

16 minutes ago, kjbacon said:

It is fascinating that you have convinced yourself to the point of arguing that your imagination is more accurate than 2 eyewitnesses and a member of the very advisory panel that you cite.

Step back and re-examine this thread so far.

The OP never went to “the meeting.” Ergo, just his/her guesses.

Beyond mention of it addressing CC posts (while participants [including yourself] apparently have no knowledge of their actual source of that info nor are identifying what officers were involved [other than being “surprise at who...”]), no one here has described what actually occurred at the meeting, what problem[s] were identified, what resolution (if any) was reached, whether it was a meeting solely about the discontented table OR was it one of their occasional passenger small  “focus groups” in which the CC comments came up.

Bottom line: Not enough info to label this an “accurate report.” And all I’ve done is to offer a plausible explanation for how onboard officers might be made aware of anything related to a CC post (that doesn’t rely on a “big brother” operation) based on a fairly informed passenger side knowledge of O operations and good common sense.

 

As for being “on the panel,” as aforementioned, it appears to have been done randomly. Hell- even I am on “the panel.” 😳

[clairol]

17 hours ago, samiam0403 said:

I described the encounter in our survey, and suggested they provide additional training to security and remind them that not all minorities are on board as crew. Never heard a peep back. No follow up on board, no follow up when we arrived home. I was mortified for him, and seriously disappointed that we didn't get a 'sorry about that, we'll do more training and it won't happen again' on board. 

I am so sorry that this happened to your husband - it should never have. While I am glad that there was an immediate apology, it is very disappointing that there was not any response to your survey comments. That was a missed opportunity to admit to something not handled appropriately and commit to doing better moving forward.  Unfortunately, an undercooked steak is easier to acknowledge and address than some of the most important issues. I hope that your experiences on your future cruises demonstrate that, although they may not have responded directly, they did listen, embraced your suggestions and acted accordingly.

[Jancruz]

I can flat out tell you, no one from Miami checks this board..they are much too busy and with Vista coming out they are slammed..

 

Jancruz1

Edited April 20, 2022 by Jancruz

[makai 7]

4 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Step back and re-examine this thread so far.

The OP never went to “the meeting.” Ergo, just his/her guesses.

Beyond mention of it addressing CC posts (while participants [including yourself] apparently have no knowledge of their actual source of that info nor are identifying what officers were involved [other than being “surprise at who...”]), no one here has described what actually occurred at the meeting, what problem[s] were identified, what resolution (if any) was reached, whether it was a meeting solely about the discontented table OR was it one of their occasional passenger small  “focus groups” in which the CC comments came up.

Bottom line: Not enough info to label this an “accurate report.” And all I’ve done is to offer a plausible explanation for how onboard officers might be made aware of anything related to a CC post (that doesn’t rely on a “big brother” operation) based on a fairly informed passenger side knowledge of O operations and good common sense.

 

As for being “on the panel,” as aforementioned, it appears to have been done randomly. Hell- even I am on “the panel.” 😳

As the OP I never made any statement about the meeting.  I did not GUESS anything!  I was told directly by guest services that the comments were read on cruise critic and reported to the ship.  GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT.

This was not a post about any issues on board that I wanted resolved.  It was to inform other readers that Home Office reads comments on this Board.  Please do not add false statements about my post.  I made a negative statement about service at Toscana here on CC.  Home office had me contacted on while board about a meal in Polo Grill.  They did not get it right.  End of story.

 

I was going to post my observations about the changes I observed comparing November 2019 on Riviera to March 2022, but after being attacked by cheerleaders, I remember why I don’t often share my experiences on these boards.  No post will be made.

 

 I will shut up now and not say any more that might ruffle your feathers.  Obviously if people don’t agree with your point of view they are wrong about everything, including their own experiences.