Horrible experience onboard Marina

[golfguyhhi]

No excuse for the oafish response of the hushed party, but the piano player in Martini's is background bar music, not a concert.  Hushed, attentive silence is not required (nor, in my view, is it expected).

[VisionaryJax]

On 6/7/2023 at 1:45 AM, Hambagahle said:

Here is what I think is different following the pandemic based on the tourists I see in my own country, Switzerland - because there was a three year period where people could really not travel there was a "cooped up" feeling AND a lot of spare cash floating around.   Now people who were very happy with Princess or HAL are moving up to Oceania and Azamara.  And some who loved Oceania have moved up to Regent.  So you get, if you like, people coming from another culture.  With different expectations and ways of doing things.  

This sounds reasonable to me: a different culture between cruise lines.

6 hours ago, Psoque said:

However, I refuse to agree that there is some sort of a well-defined cultural segregation of people based on which cruise lines they patronize. 

....

I firmly believe that there will be inconsiderate, rude, ignorant people everywhere we go, and only thing I can do is to either ignore them or deal with them in a manner that is most conducive and least disruptive to our enjoyment.  I’m actually getting very good at ignoring people like that.

I agree that all you can do about rude people is work around them as best you can. But I am still wondering about the culture between cruise lines. And while there may be no difference between cruisers -- people are people -- I feel like the differences between what the cruise lines offer will attract different people.

 

As I said previously, I don't have a ton of cruising experience like many folks on here! But I know when we were younger and cruising as a family, the cruises that had things like rock wall climbing and FlowRider surfing were more crowded, had more lines, and a "shot of the day," and were just noisier and with a more party-hardy atmosphere. The activities were great for the kids, and I don't recall any specific incidences of rudeness/obnoxiousness except in lines when people were shirty about not losing place.

 

It was a totally different vibe on our Oceania/Marina cruise. No rock wall, no FlowRider -- there were some shows, but the most enjoyable entertainment for me was the lecturers who prepped us for the places we would visit ... Some of the best-attended events were lectures with the marine biologist who told us about the sea life of the South Pacific (and more). And I learned a ton from the lecturer who told us about the Pitcairn Islands and Easter Island.

 

I have to think the different offerings of the cruise lines attract different clientele. All this to say ... now that we're old folks, and after experiencing Oceania with fellow old folks ... we wouldn't really want to go back to Carnival or Royal Caribbean?

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

So, here is my theory!  There is no accounting for "jerks" and they do exist everywhere.  There are also folks who cannot "hold their booze" and all the drinking on ships contribute to their bad behavior.  But we cannot help but think that folks on the luxury lines simply have the attitude that everyone on the ship is there....which makes them OK (just because they are there).  Not sure if that makes sense, but it explains what we have encountered.  

 

This DOES make sense! Are you saying that if I witnessed a stumbling drunk on a luxury cruise, I would think: "Well, he paid $XXXX to be here, so he must be a worthwhile person," whereas if I witnessed a stumbling drunk on Carnival I would say, "Must be Wal-Mart week here"? Because that may be it! You know I said I didn't remember any angry incidents on the lower-priced cruises except when people were jockeying for position in lines, but on Oceania one of the guys we met and were enjoying spending time with got completely wasted one afternoon, and although he didn't do anything obnoxious besides falling asleep in his soup and not making sense (now I am afraid he was having an episode! But no, he had been drinking all afternoon), my opinion of him didn't immediately change to "Wal-Mart Week." We continued to have fun together the rest of the time.

3 hours ago, ORV said:

What was this thread about? 

Ha ha ha! I think I partly derailed it by asking if people thought the nature of travelers had changed from before the pandemic, and then we started discussing cruise line culture, and then ... we started calling each other elitists! I love this forum.

[ShopperfiendTO]

On 6/6/2023 at 12:50 PM, VisionaryJax said:

We loved it so much, we decided to book another trip of a lifetime as soon as we could, and we definitely wanted it to be on Marina. Then of course the pandemic ... and all our plans were put on hold ... and so now we're booked on sister ship Riviera for our 25th anniversary next year. What worries me, based on this thread is ... are Oceania cruisers different after the pandemic than they were before? I know people's nerves and behavior got frayed and upset during and after pandemic from so much stress and fear ... we read about folks having breakdowns on airplanes all the time now! So what do you think ...

 

Did we just get lucky on our 2019 cruise to have a lot of jovial and easy-going fellow passengers? There were only 800 aboard a ship that I think can hold 1200, so maybe there just weren't crowds and the need to compete making people act up?

 

Or are travelers essentially different now than they were pre-pandemic with more of a license to be obnoxious and strike back if told to behave?

 

I want to believe we will luck into another polite, friendly, and not chaotic group on our Riviera cruise next year -- but based on the experiences reported here ...  I am wondering!

I think your experience could depend on what cruise you’re going on (location and duration, and possibly time of year).  The South Pacific is generally a more mellow cruise clientele and probably more filled with couples than party groups.

 

For example, if you’re going on a 7-night Caribbean cruise, there is probably a higher chance that you are going to encounter more partying groups and a crowded pool area.

[babydrum]

On 5/29/2023 at 10:25 AM, AMHuntFerry said:

The ticket contract has all sorts of goodies (e.g., did you know that you can be held responsible fiscally if you cause the ship to leave a port late?).

How can a passenger be responsible for a ship leaving port late? Don't they just leave with you or is this in the event of a medical emergency or something?  I've heard from passengers that they have missed ports because of medical evacs.  It never occurred to me that the patient might be responsible for the cost to the ship.  Would trip medical insurance cover this?

[AMHuntFerry]

1 hour ago, babydrum said:

How can a passenger be responsible for a ship leaving port late? Don't they just leave with you or is this in the event of a medical emergency or something?  I've heard from passengers that they have missed ports because of medical evacs.  It never occurred to me that the patient might be responsible for the cost to the ship.  Would trip medical insurance cover this?

I have not a clue...there's just a bunch of CYA legalese in there. Most of it will never apply or be used, but I like to know the risks vs. the rewards.

[Mura]

On 5/28/2023 at 11:37 AM, Woofa said:

So sorry to hear this and I apologize to have to ask but are you sure they were O employees?  Reason I ask I of course it does not sound like O to allow this but more importantly, we often saw O employees throughout the venues (it was clear they were much younger and we even recognized some,) and they did not wear name tags as they were obviously off duty.  Could this have been a group which met on board and just had name tags to let them know

Wore name tags to let them know each other?

Either way letting management know is a great idea.

Good point about name tags not necessarily indicate crew members (or entertainment staff, which I count as crew). When we did the Black Sea cruise in 2012 on Regatta we were a group of 16 who took most independent tours together.  I had made up name tags for all of us.  I was surprised (and gratified) to see that everyone decided to wear them all the time...

 

Mura