Cruise to Mostly Nowhere--Part 2

[hankandteri]

This is Part 2 of a three-part series reflecting on our May 22 cruise from Barcelona to London aboard Riviera. My apologies in advance for the length of this post. Also, despite the highly negative tone of these comments, we made wonderful memories on this trip and very much enjoyed the beautiful ship, crew, and fellow passengers we were with on our journey.

 

It’s been more than a decade since I last took a Carnival Cruise so I can’t speak from recent experience, but in some ways the Carnival and Oceania are much more alike than they are different.

 

Take the Carnival Legend. That ship is a bit bigger than Riviera and carries way more passengers, but anyone who has sailed on Riviera would be able to navigate their way around the Carnival Legend within minutes of boarding.

 

Both ships came out of the exact same Italian shipyard and have many of the same design elements. Both have a buffet, theater, gym, pool deck, spa, specialty restaurants, boutiques, casino, a main dining room, and these are all much more similar than they are different. Carnival and Oceania offer many of the same diversions aboard—trivia, putt-putt tournaments, production shows, bingo, wine tastings, art exhibits, etc. Again, more similar than different. The quality of the shore experience is virtually identical, and I suspect both cruise lines use the exact same third-party vendors for those.

 

In a (very) few ways, Carnival offers a superior product, or at least they did when I last sailed with them. If you ordered carefully, the food in their main dining room was on par with the Riviera’s Grand Dining Room, and the service was generally more efficient with fewer errors. The ambience, service, and food in Legend’s specialty steak house back in the day were all superior to what we experienced in the Polo Grill a couple of weeks ago.

 

We got the upgrade of a lifetime when we sailed on the Legend and had whatever they call their owner’s suite. I would take that cabin over our PH2 suite on Riviera any day. Trust me, you would too.

 

I can book a 10-night Mediterranean cruise aboard the Carnival Legend right this minute for $912 per person. We handed Oceania about $20,000 for our 10-night cruise on the Riviera for the PH2 cabin, hotels, airfare, excursions, and onboard expenses.

 

So why would anyone in their right mind pay several multiples to sail with Oceania vs. Carnival? You already know the answer. It’s because you rightfully expect that the two experiences will be very different. Carnival brands itself at “The Fun Ships” while Oceania promises “Your World, Your Way.” With Oceania you expect more elegance, more refinement, a more personalized experience. You expect honesty and transparency and to be treated with dignity when issues arise. You will expect more of your fellow guests. Most importantly, you expect to be treated as a well-traveled individual, and not just another sheep to be fleeced.

 

When we sailed on a packed Riviera and the hard-working crew started to show the strains, the distinction between “Fun Ship” and “Your World, Your Way” began to blur a bit.

 

Am I saying the two experiences are comparable? No, absolutely not. I am saying that my expectations were not met on this cruise in the same way they were on our prior Mediterranean cruise with Oceania.

 

Enough preamble—let’s get to the part where “Your World, Your Way” came off the rails.

 

Things can go wrong when you travel, and no cruise is ever perfect. Hey, stuff can happen and plans can go sideways in ways that are outside a cruise line’s ability to control. And cruise lines are staffed by human beings who can make poor decisions, as Oceania's humans did on this voyage in truly spectacular fashion. How a company reacts to problems, especially those of its own creation, says everything about what that company values and how it feels about its clientele.

 

The management of Oceania and the senior staff of the Riviera demonstrated on this cruise that they don’t have the best interests of their guests at heart and don't even like them very much.

 

In the dozen or so cruises we’ve taken on a wide variety of lines, we had never missed a port. On this cruise we missed three. That’s quite an accomplishment on a 10-day cruise that already had one sea day built into the itinerary.

 

Two of those three ports (marquee stops in Lisbon and Porto) got skipped because someone made the ill-informed decision to sail past two wide open ports when the weather was ideal and the ship had no mechanical issues. Then we were lied to about that poor decision, which was the unforgivable sin in all of this.

 

The trouble began at the captain’s reception on the only scheduled sea day (there would be others). The captain gave the usual welcoming speech, introduced his senior officers and hustled out of the room. While Horizons was still packed with passengers enjoying their free cocktails and hors d’oeurvres, the captain came on the ship’s PA informing us that there was a port strike in Portugal and we would have to cancel two stops—Lisbon and Porto. Instead, we’d have an unscheduled overnight in Cadiz and then a second sea day. So sorry, he told us; our hands are tied, there’s nothing we can do.

 

We were all disappointed, of course, but, if there’s a port strike, then we’d just have to make the best of it.

 

The only problem was there was no port strike and within a few hours most of the passengers aboard (anyone with enough curiosity to do a one-minute Google search) knew it. We also knew that other ships were sailing in and out of Lisbon and Porto, blithely ignoring the danger they faced.

 

It’s important to understand how Western Europeans handle transportation strikes, which are pretty commonplace—in fact there was a train strike in the UK when we got there on this trip. Europeans schedule their strikes way in advance for particular days and don’t generally deviate from the preannounced strike schedule. Strikes are inconvenient, which is the point of them, but it's all very civilized as any European or experienced traveler to Europe can tell you.

 

There were strikes scheduled in Portugal both before and after our scheduled visit, but not in the window when we were supposed to be there. Those specific dates were the first thing that showed up in my “Portugal dock strike” Google search. You can Google it now. Go ahead and you'll see.

 

As we sailed to nowhere a couple of days later, the captain made another announcement. What follows is a rough paraphrase, but I promise captures the spirit and substance of his message. Clearly, some more aware passengers had expressed displeasure to the staff, although not me since I didn't see the point. The captain said he was aware we all had access to the internet and social media (translation: I know that you know there was no reason to skip those two ports) and that he wanted to set the record straight. He said that they based their decision on unspecified information we couldn't access, and that if he had docked in Portugal and if there had been a strike and we attempted to dock in Portugal, it might have interfered with the rest of the itinerary. He didn’t address us as "you ignorant peasants" at any point—that part was merely implied.

 

Yeah, about that logic: if a meteor had struck the ship, that would have also disrupted the itinerary, but that was as every bit as likely as an unscheduled port strike.

 

Since there was zero transparency around any of this, I’m free to speculate about what actually happened here. I don’t know who made the decision or how far in advance it was made—certainly days ahead of time and perhaps more than a week—but the timing of the announcement made it obvious this decision wasn’t made on the fly and the big reveal was carefully orchestrated. That made the complete lack of transparency and the cynical way it was announced (at a captain's party with no captain present) so unforgivable. I can envision the meeting now: "let's get the rubes all liquored up and happy and then we'll spring it on them."

 

My speculation is that the decision was initiated in Miami in a department called “fleet operations” or some such after getting some bad information from their Portuguese port agent. I also suspect that by the time we sailed from Barcelona, they had already cancelled the shore excursions and other port arrangements and it was too late to unring that bell so they ran with the "our hands are tied" story.

 

There were so many ways Oceania could have recovered from this self-inflicted wound, especially since they obviously knew about the itinerary change well ahead of its announcement. Instead, we were treated to another sad sea day copied and pasted directly from The Currents of two days prior and identical in every way.

 

A little imagination could have provided some salve to the wound. How about a substitute port? Morocco or Gibraltar, anyone? They could have offered galley tours, bridge tours, back stage theater tours, or tours of the crew areas. They could have had “a taste of Portugal” in all of the ship’s restaurants that night. They could have laid on extra cooking classes in the cooking lab. They might have given everyone a free drink to drown their woes. Instead, we got the opportunity to re-experience giant Jenga, putt-putt, another blackjack tournament and all of the other events from just two days before.

 

A lot of that lack of imagination or effort to recover from a problem of their own creation can be laid at the feet of the unengaged cruise director, who reminded us daily that this was his last cruise until the fall and how ready he was to be off the ship and away from the passengers.

 

I will never know if the decision to skip two stops was made by the captain (again, zero transparency). I doubt it, but I am certain that the captain didn't see himself as an advocate for or ally of his guests.  Other than making brief appearances at a few obligatory events or smoking with his homies in the lounge next to Horizons late at night, we never saw the guy. We didn’t see or interact much with the other ship’s officers either. I’ve never seen a more aloof senior crew than I did on this cruise. I know that the captain and other officers aren’t there to be my buddy, but their general invisibility and lack of interaction with guests was noticeable and a little weird.

 

Every staff member had locked lips about the Portuguese Debacle (the title of my next novel). Clearly Portugal was officially terra non grata--"The Nation Which Must Not Be Named" Literally the only time that nation was ever mentioned by a staff member in my presence was late in the cruise when the answer to one of the trivia questions was “Portugal” and cruise director exclaimed “oh God, why that one?”

 

Fast forward a few days to our last stop in the Channel Islands. Guernsey is a tender port, and the sea was rocking that day. I took one look out our cabin window that morning and knew we were about to miss our third port in return for yet another unimaginative day at sea. More giant Jenga. Yay!

 

The captain, knowing that this third missed port really was out of his hands, went into full kabuki theater mode. He worked the PA like a champ that morning making multiple announcements (again loose paraphrase but dead on in terms of substance). “Hey everyone, can see that Holland America ship sailing off over there? They gave up on Guernsey immediately, but I’m determined to give it the old college try just for you.” A little later: “Hey y’all, if you look out the port side you can see us opening the big door to run a test of tendering operations. Look how hard I’m working to get you ashore.” Finally: “Well, it’s another sea day but I’m going to treat you to a scenic tour of the Channel Islands on our way to Southhampton while you play giant Jenga. Won’t that be fun?”

 

The passengers took the news that we'd miss St. Peter Port stoically, but one of the wait staff told me there were audible groans heard throughout the crew quarters when the bad news was announced that morning.

 

Missing Guernsey wasn’t exactly the end of the world. It’s no one’s idea of a dream destination. And you can’t blame Oceania for the unusually high seas that day. Still disappointing after the first two misses.

 

I wasn't taking a poll or anything, but I lost track of the number of people aboard who volunteered unasked that they weren't planning to said with Oceania again any time soon. "I paid a lot of money to see Europe, not just a ship," one person said to me.

 

Our mid cruise review form asked us to share our experiences so staff could immediately address any issues or deficiencies, and I shared a much briefer and gentler version of these thoughts on my form. I also filled out a somewhat less gentle end-of-cruise review online before we disembarked Riviera. While I made no demands for compensation or anything else, I would have thought if anyone read my mid cruise comments, I would have had a call or a visit from someone in the ship's hotel department or some chocolate covered strawberries would get sent to our cabin. Nope, not a peep from anyone. After I submitted my final cruise review online, I would have thought that someone in Miami would have immediately shot me a quick email or called my number. What did I get? Crickets. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

 

They truly do not care about a sheep that has already been fleeced.

 

My much briefer part 3 tomorrow will focus on my own complete failure to properly utilize a resource given to me by Oceania and seek your guidance on what I should have done.

[ak1004]

@hankandteri thank you for sharing your impressions.

 

When I read those conspiracy theories about cancelled ports, my first question is: why would they cancel ports and lie about the reasoning? They surely get a lot of angry guests, what is their benefit of doing this? Not to mention lost revenues from all the excursions (my estimate would be at least $100k). They have everything to lose and nothing to gain, so why would they do it??

 

Call me naïve, but in my opinion, no line would cancel ports unless they really have too. Their explanation was that they were concerned to be stuck in Lisbon and lose the rest of the ports. I'm sure they had more information than us and didn't make the announcement lightly.   

 

Going to Morocco or Gibraltar instead? Easier said than done. Many popular ports are booked 2 years in advance. And even if Morocco was available, I'm not sure it was possible in terms of distance.

 

As a side note, comparing Carnival and Oceania is like comparing Mercedes and Fiat. Both will bring you from A to B, but this is where the similarity ends. Also, you mentioned the price on Carnival for inside cabin and compared it to Oceania PH.. not exactly apples to apples to say the least. But yes, obviously O will always be more expensive even for the similar category. 

[ssawjo]

I sympathize with you for the missed ports.  Lisbon is nice but I found Porto to be much more interesting.  If these ports are missed by a strike of some sort, then I always felt that all port charges for the missed ports should be refunded to the passenger, probably by OBC.  Why Oceania and some others (Regent, for example), don't do this is not fair.  Princess refunds missed port charges, or they used to.  Just easy money in the bank for the cruise lines.  

[lj77346]

No response to comments on the mid-cruise comment cards seems to be business as usual for Oceania.  I've sailed on a number of cruise lines over the years and virtually all of the other cruise lines respond  to comments submitted even if it's only a note that says thank you for taking the time to comment - at least I knew that someone saw what I submitted.  To my way of thinking, it's just courteous to respond to a comment from a customer with either a note or a phone call.

 

Although I enjoy cruising with Oceania, I agree with "hankandteri" that to Oceania's management, we are only another brick in the wall.  It seems like no one on the ship has any authority to handle problems and the stock reply is something like "we have to get Miami's approval to correct the situation."  Even if it's a seemingly simple problem like getting the correct Oceania Club perks on the onboard account, I feel like I'm a character in the movie Dangerous Liaisons as the person at guest services or the concierge desk will nod and smile and tell me "it's beyond my control."  To me it feels like Oceania's corporate philosophy is complex solutions to simple problems.

[hankandteri]

35 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

@hankandteri thank you for sharing your impressions.

 

Call me naïve, but in my opinion, no line would cancel ports unless they really have too. Their explanation was that they were concerned to be stuck in Lisbon and lose the rest of the ports. I'm sure they had more information than us and didn't make the announcement lightly.   

I'm sure they thought they needed to skip those two ports when they made that call, but the utter lack of transparency surrounding the timing of the decision or how the decision was made tells me it was made early and they couldn't reset the arrangements once they realized it was the wrong decision. It's not a conspiracy theory to say that there was no strike. Again, there was no strike happening on the days we were supposed to be there. There just wasn't. There was never a strike scheduled for those days and none took place. That is simply a fact. Also no conspiracy theory to point out other lines were sailing in and out of those ports on those days. I believe Silversea began a cruise from Lisbon on the day we were supposed to be there. They made a poor decision and handled it even more poorly.

[hankandteri]

46 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

As a side note, comparing Carnival and Oceania is like comparing Mercedes and Fiat. Both will bring you from A to B, but this is where the similarity ends. Also, you mentioned the price on Carnival for inside cabin and compared it to Oceania PH.. not exactly apples to apples to say the least. But yes, obviously O will always be more expensive even for the similar category. 

Yes, they are two very different experiences overall, and I know I wasn't making a fair apples-to-apples pricing comparison on the two 10-day Med cruises. But I stand by my larger point that Oceania was treating its passengers on this cruise like Carnival would theirs in the same situation, and they were charging us a premium for it.

 

Oh, I also agree with you that sailing off to Morocco (or any other port, most likely) probably wasn't feasible for any number of reasons. I was really just saying that a bit more imagination in alternate programming was called for on an extra sea day that was known to the staff well in advance.

[ak1004]

2 minutes ago, hankandteri said:

I'm sure they thought they needed to skip those two ports when they made that call, but the utter lack of transparency surrounding the timing of the decision or how the decision was made tells me it was made early and they couldn't reset the arrangements once they realized it was the wrong decision. It's not a conspiracy theory to say that there was no strike. Again, there was no strike happening on the days we were supposed to be there. There just wasn't. There was never a strike scheduled for those days and none took place. That is simply a fact. Also no conspiracy theory to point out other lines were sailing in and out of those ports on those days. I believe Silversea began a cruise from Lisbon on the day we were supposed to be there. They made a poor decision and handled it even more poorly.

 

Yes, there was no strike on those days. It's a fact. No disagreement here. But we don't have all the information that Oceania had. We cannot speculate about things we don't know. They had to assess the risk of docking in Lisbon. Maybe it was the wrong decision in hindsight, but the right decision based on the facts they had in real time. We don't know when the decision was made, it's all just speculation.

 

I was very disappointed that we missed those two ports, but I cannot blame Oceania (or any other cruise line if it was another cruise line). We missed ports with many lines, including Silversea, Crystal, Azamara and others. It's easy to criticize, but without knowing all the facts, it's just speculation.

 

And I'm asking you once again: what would be their interest to do it?

 

As for people's reaction - yes, many were disappointed, but the futures cruises office was still the busiest place the whole cruise. Most people still appreciated the Oceania experience and realized that some things are just beyond the cruise line control.

[hankandteri]

5 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

Yes, there was no strike on those days. It's a fact. No disagreement here. But we don't have all the information that Oceania had. We cannot speculate about things we don't know. They had to assess the risk of docking in Lisbon. Maybe it was the wrong decision in hindsight, but the right decision based on the facts they had in real time. We don't know when the decision was made, it's all just speculation.

 

I was very disappointed that we missed those two ports, but I cannot blame Oceania (or any other cruise line if it was another cruise line). We missed ports with many lines, including Silversea, Crystal, Azamara and others. It's easy to criticize, but without knowing all the facts, it's just speculation.

 

And I'm asking you once again: what would be their interest to do it?

 

As for people's reaction - yes, many were disappointed, but the futures cruises office was still the busiest place the whole cruise. Most people still appreciated the Oceania experience and realized that some things are just beyond the cruise line control.

If management had provided facts or a more complete explanation, I could have accepted or at least understood the decision. But none were offered. The silence spoke volumes.

 

Skipping ports is not in the cruise line's best interests. Everyone knows that. They just made a horrible risk management calculation and then tried to hide the pea. That's what happened here.

[no1talks]

36 minutes ago, lj77346 said:

"I feel like I'm a character in the movie Dangerous Liaisons as the person at guest services or the concierge desk will nod and smile and tell me, 'It's beyond my control.'"

You get the gold star today for that film reference.

 

(Truth be told, I liked the film Valmont just a bit more, because of my crush on Annette Bening.)

[YourWorldWithBill]

17 minutes ago, hankandteri said:

If management had provided facts or a more complete explanation, I could have accepted or at least understood the decision. But none were offered. The silence spoke volumes.

I appreciate your detailed description of the events, and I think this last post tends to encapsulate what was indicated throughout: management's perspective. By management, I refer to your guess that the decisions might have come from a higher authority than the ship's. 

 

But @ak1004's comments are also pretty relevant, and maybe the silence was just a simple human mistake (we'll never know). I also might empathize a bit with the captain and others on board faced with conveying the information to the passengers (even if it was the captain's decision). Communication styles (openness) differ pretty drastically. Maybe the bottom line is a lesson for them that "a more complete explanation" would have worked wonders. 

[vlthom]

1 hour ago, hankandteri said:

I'm sure they thought they needed to skip those two ports when they made that call, but the utter lack of transparency surrounding the timing of the decision or how the decision was made tells me it was made early and they couldn't reset the arrangements once they realized it was the wrong decision. It's not a conspiracy theory to say that there was no strike. Again, there was no strike happening on the days we were supposed to be there. There just wasn't. There was never a strike scheduled for those days and none took place. That is simply a fact. Also no conspiracy theory to point out other lines were sailing in and out of those ports on those days. I believe Silversea began a cruise from Lisbon on the day we were supposed to be there. They made a poor decision and handled it even more poorly.

 

Is it possible that due to the strike on the previous day, there were too many ships already in those ports and thus getting in/out might be problematic?  I just don't see why O would purposely skip those ports without good reason, even if the captain may have been able to articulate their reasoning in a manner that was satisfying.

[Sthrngary]

Well, I have to comment, "next time please don't hold back".  I enjoy reading lots of cruise threads on different brands on CruiseCritic.com.  Some make me smile, other make me laugh and some make me sad. Yet regardless of how I feel, I attempt to try to understand why the person wrote to thread. This is one of those threads.

 

The obvious is the disappointment outlined in great detail.  Not limited to missing port but to the core of the brand itself.  This is emphasized with the comparison of Carnival vs. Oceania. That one was to me a real shocker.  I have no idea how I would feel if I spent $20,000 for a 10 day cruise and was so disappointed.  

 

Yet still, I am not sure what the end-game is for this stream.  Was it done to Vent; Was it done to send a message to the brand; Was it done as a public service announcement, maybe it was done to stop folks from considering the brand in the future.  Possible all of the above. How can knowing what was presented help or improve our future Oceania Riviera experience?  

 

I will log the information for future reference. I and we all should take anything we learn on Social Media with a grain of salt.  I am again sad this guest did not come close to meeting there expectations.  To much money to spend for that to have happened. I hope that this outline and all its parts are sent to every executive in Oceania so they can process it.  No brand in this price point can survive with this type of reputation even if it is a minority of guest.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[hankandteri]

29 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

I appreciate your detailed description of the events, and I think this last post tends to encapsulate what was indicated throughout: management's perspective. By management, I refer to your guess that the decisions might have come from a higher authority than the ship's. 

 

But @ak1004's comments are also pretty relevant, and maybe the silence was just a simple human mistake (we'll never know). I also might empathize a bit with the captain and others on board faced with conveying the information to the passengers (even if it was the captain's decision). Communication styles (openness) differ pretty drastically. Maybe the bottom line is a lesson for them that "a more complete explanation" would have worked wonders. 

I couldn't agree more. I also wondered if the captain was faced with executing an order he didn't agree with (he seemed like a very bright person with solid critical thinking skills), and his communication (or lack thereof) and his keeping his distance from the passengers was due to the cognitive dissonance of meeting obligations to  guests vs. loyalty to his employer. 

[ak1004]

1 hour ago, hankandteri said:

Yes, they are two very different experiences overall, and I know I wasn't making a fair apples-to-apples pricing comparison on the two 10-day Med cruises. But I stand by my larger point that Oceania was treating its passengers on this cruise like Carnival would theirs in the same situation, and they were charging us a premium for it.

 

Oh, I also agree with you that sailing off to Morocco (or any other port, most likely) probably wasn't feasible for any number of reasons. I was really just saying that a bit more imagination in alternate programming was called for on an extra sea day that was known to the staff well in advance.

 

You also compared an inside cabin fare for one guest on Carnival with a total for two guests for PH on Oceania including "hotels, airfare, excursions, and onboard expenses".. lol.. 

 

I don't know how Carnival would treat its passengers in this situation.. I do know that after sailing on Carnival two times (first and last), I wouldn't go back even if they paid me.

 

Oceania regulars know that daily activities was never among the strongest aspects of Oceania experience. Even on a first sea day (which was scheduled) the activities were very limited, so expecting them to put something on such short notice for an unexpected sea day is a bit unrealistic.

 

People who want more activities should probably sail on Carnival (although I'm not sure many O guests would appreciate the type of activities they have on Carnival).

 

After 4 cruises on Oceania, I just learned to accept its weaknesses as a tradeoff for their strengths. 

[Hanoj]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

 

 

And I'm asking you once again: what would be their interest to do it?

 

 

 

Non sequitur.

 

The manner of the announcement and follow up begs serious questions. With cruise lines seeking to recover from the impacts of the shutdowns, it seems plausible decisions formerly made by a ship’s staff might now be made by management on shore. If so, this is likely a slippery slope for success. It would affect staff who may have lost autonomy (a possible factor for how the captain made the announcement) and guests, especially those who are well travelled. Notwithstanding observations about the busyness of the ship’s future cruises office, thankfully there is increasing options available to travelers due to competition as several lines are expanding their fleets, almost as if said shutdowns never happened.

 

 

[smartlady25]

Hi,

scheduled to sail on July 13th on Marina.  It will be our 16th or 17th cruise on O.  As I read this link I can reflect on my previous cruises and am struck by the fact that on past cruises along the Atlantic iOcean we have also missed these ports.  We have never gotten to Oporto.  Maybe they should just stop including it as a port since they don’t seem to be equipped to handle the docking situation.  I can tell you that based on my experiences and the ones you have had, we will not take any of their cruises that go along the coast.  I even went and looked at our itinerary for our next cruises to see if it could happen to us.  We are safe only crossing from Southampton to the Baltic and the second we will be only in the Mediterranean Sea.  I think I mentioned in a previous comment that I anticipate one missed port.  It is more the norm than the exception from our experiences.  I am careful to pick port intensive sailings for that reason so if we miss one it’s not a big deal for us.  I agree fully that I believe we should be compensated for port fees and have also written it in the mid and final comments.  I too have never gotten a response.  I know that O is planning on changing up things starting in January 2024.  Hope it is in the passengers favor.  I agree I could go on dozens more cruises if we didn’t sail Oceania.  However, I keep seeing how close I am to the free cruise I feel locked in at this point.  Maybe after that 20th I’ll try Celebrity again.  We did love their Aqua class.

[hankandteri]

5 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

 I am not sure what the end-game is for this stream.  Was it done to Vent; Was it done to send a message to the brand; Was it done as a public service announcement, maybe it was done to stop folks from considering the brand in the future.  Possible all of the above. How can knowing what was presented help or improve our future Oceania Riviera experience?  

Hi, at Sthrngary. We're nearly neighbors. I'm a resident of the wilderness of Winston County.

 

You ask a great question.

 

I don't really have an end game or perhaps I've already reached it. My main motivation was to shout my frustration into the void since the cruise line seemed disinterested in hearing my thoughts. I'm convinced they made a bad decision that negatively impacted my very expensive vacation, although I could have lived with that if there was a halfway good reason for it. What set me off was the dissembling and lack of transparency that followed.

 

There was likely some element of lashing out in frustration, but mostly, I just wanted someone, anyone at Oceania to treat me like an adult and be a little bit open and honest about what actually happened. When that didn't take place, I took this route. I do admit that I wouldn't mind if someone over there heard me on this channel and offered a belated explanation. If they do, I will happily follow up on this forum.

 

I knew there would be people who would question my motives (not saying you were one of those--you were being rightfully curious) or go on the attack after I made my post. I'm fine with that. I promise my assessment is my own honest thoughts based on my experience with more than a dozen cruises and travel to 40 or so countries over several decades. My thoughts were also informed by my experience in senior management with a large corporation. I have insight into how bad decisions get made and how to recover from them when they do.

 

I've never written a review of anything remotely like this and am not likely to do so again.

[hankandteri]

5 minutes ago, smartlady25 said:

 Maybe after that 20th I’ll try Celebrity again.  We did love their Aqua class.

We're thinking about a Celebrity cruise this fall. Our last with them was a two-week Baltic cruise many moons ago when the Constellation was brand new. I think it would be nice to try one of their newer ships.

[ak1004]

13 minutes ago, hankandteri said:

Hi, at Sthrngary. We're nearly neighbors. I'm a resident of the wilderness of Winston County.

 

You ask a great question.

 

I don't really have an end game or perhaps I've already reached it. My main motivation was to shout my frustration into the void since the cruise line seemed disinterested in hearing my thoughts. I'm convinced they made a bad decision that negatively impacted my very expensive vacation, although I could have lived with that if there was a halfway good reason for it. What set me off was the dissembling and lack of transparency that followed.

 

There was likely some element of lashing out in frustration, but mostly, I just wanted someone, anyone at Oceania to treat me like an adult and be a little bit open and honest about what actually happened. When that didn't take place, I took this route. I do admit that I wouldn't mind if someone over there heard me on this channel and offered a belated explanation. If they do, I will happily follow up on this forum.

 

I knew there would be people who would question my motives (not saying you were one of those--you were being rightfully curious) or go on the attack after I made my post. I'm fine with that. I promise my assessment is my own honest thoughts based on my experience with more than a dozen cruises and travel to 40 or so countries over several decades. My thoughts were also informed by my experience in senior management with a large corporation. I have insight into how bad decisions get made and how to recover from them when they do.

 

I've never written a review of anything remotely like this and am not likely to do so again.

 

For what it's worth, I do appreciate your comments, don't question your motives and share your frustration. The main difference is that I believe that they didn't have a choice based on the information they had in real time (not hindsight). While I also would appreciate more transparency and better communication, I know it's not always possible.

 

I agree that O management has a long way to go in terms of communication, but I accept it as a tradeoff for an excellent staff on board and excellent overall experience.

Edited June 8, 2023 by ak1004

[Hanoj]

@hankandteri, it seems the quality and style of senior managements, in many industries, is increasingly paternalistic. Perhaps there have become more sheep, unaware of being fleeced. Many things have become Orwellian. I had hoped the cruise industry would be more resilient against this. 

[ak1004]

4 minutes ago, hankandteri said:

We're thinking about a Celebrity cruise this fall. Our last with them was a two-week Baltic cruise many moons ago when the Constellation was brand new. I think it would be nice to try one of their newer ships.

 

Just FYI: we sailed with friends who are Elite plus on Celebrity. They sailed exclusively with Celebrity for 30 years. They were very impressed with Oceania and told us that there is no comparison. Their last cruise was on Edge.

[bradpole]

3 hours ago, hankandteri said:

we were treated to another sad sea day copied and pasted directly from The Currents of two days prior and identical in every way.

I'm not trying to minimize your experiences in any way, however that is pretty much BAU for all the Oceania cruises.  Oceania is not known for their onboard entertainment, at all.  We've had cruises with lots of sea days, and cruises with minimal sea days.  The Currents is pretty much the same each day.  Without even looking at the currents on a sea day, or a port day, for us we know at 9 we'll have baggo, at 10 put put, at 11 ping pong, at 2pm shuffle board, at 3pm mini golf, and finally at 4 afternoon tea.  (the order of those events may differ but once the pattern for that cruise is established...that's. the. pattern.)

 

 

3 hours ago, hankandteri said:

They could have offered galley tours, bridge tours, back stage theater tours, or tours of the crew areas.

They could have, but they didn't because they don't offer those on any cruise that I'm aware of.  

 

We enjoy Oceania, and they are currently our cruise line of choice, and enjoy the onboard "entertainment" as it currently exists, to use your words, "copied and pasted directly from the currents two day prior"

 

May your future travels be more enjoyable!

[Snaefell3]

A thought, presented for one and all to stomp on.

 

The Brits (eco-folk, excepted) tend to be oh, so civilized and scheduled  about their strikes and protests.  The French will strike, cancel, and/or re-strike on what seems a moment's whim.  Which are the Portuguese more like?

 

I don't speak of 20/20 hindsight -- it's more like .30'30

[ak1004]

1 minute ago, Snaefell3 said:

A thought, presented for one and all to stomp on.

 

The Brits (eco-folk, excepted) tend to be oh, so civilized and scheduled  about their strikes and protests.  The French will strike, cancel, and/or re-strike on what seems a moment's whim.  Which are the Portuguese more like?

 

I don't speak of 20/20 hindsight -- it's more like .30'30

 

I actually had a pretty long conversation with the concierge about this. I presented her with the days of our ports visits which were in between the announced strikes. Her response was that they had information that the strikes might be announced on "a moment's whim" and not in accordance with the announced dates . Then she asked "how would you respond if we were stuck in Lisbon for the rest of the cruise"?

 

Was she lying? I have no idea and I don't want to speculate. 

[YourWorldWithBill]

Just now, ak1004 said:

 

Then she asked "how would you respond if we were stuck in Lisbon for the rest of the cruise"?

Although I've tried to keep a neutral perspective in this conversation (not having been there, but thinking about an upcoming cruise on Riviera), that remark from the concierge immediately struck me as creating a similar feeling as that described by @hankandteri in the first comments. It's putting the focus back on you, rather than taking any responsibility. Again, I empathize with the concierge, just hoping for better communication.