Still Onboard Marina

[vlthom]

The other thread that I started sort of evolved into other topics so I am starting anew.  We’re in Oslo now, for the second segment of our trip:  Oslo to London (Southampton).  Our arrival into Oslo was on time; however, disembarkation was delayed to some degree.  Since we’re continuing on, we’re only aware of the issue from the apologetic announcements that we are hearing, mainly talking about the “thoroughness” of the authorities and the need for patience.  As for us, we moved to a different cabin this morning.  Our cabin attendant was very helpful in moving the hanging items from our closet, and with assistance, our bags were moved over as well.  That part was easy, aside from not knowing when it would happen beforehand.  We are now in the new cabin; however, we have not been issued new keycards yet, so we are somewhat trapped.  Guest services says that their system is having problems so they are not able to issue the new cards, nor reset our account.  So, we are hanging out in our cabin unable to leave for now.  This isn’t exactly how I envisioned our day in Oslo; however, there are street blockages and no shuttles or tours today because of the Pride parade in town.  I am wondering how this will impact those trying to get to the port today.

[gtragitt]

Where is the Marina docked?

[vlthom]

27 minutes ago, gtragitt said:

Where is the Marina docked?

We are in Oslo @ Cruise Terminal Filipstad Quay

[LHT28]

so can you leave the ship?

I would just  get  security to give you a  pass  so you can reboard until your new card is ready

No way would i be sitting in the cabin

[ORV]

A few years ago we were in your situation on the key card and just asked the room attendant to let us in, they knew who we were and that we were continuing on. You'd think somhow over the years they'd figure out a system that works for those on multiple legs. 

[Cruzin Terri]

We are also still on the Marina and will be on until July 23.  We did not have to change cabins thankfully.  We echo @vlthom’s statements’ about the apologies regarding the disembarkation problems and the authorities being so “thorough.”  From our balcony we could see the line waiting to enter the tent going about 3/4 the length of the ship.

 

Destination services has still not gotten their act together.  All tours were cancelled as was the shuttle into the city center due to the Pride Parade.  The excuse was that the roads would be blocked.  Guess what?  They were not.  The HOHO bus did its thing.  The taxis came and went with no problems.

Our problem was with the Oslo Hospitality representative.  Our goal was to go to the Nobel Peace Center.  I looked on the internet where it said that the building was temporarily closed for renovations and would reopen later in the year.  My husband went down to get a map and spoke the representative about that.  She insisted it was walking distance (which it was) and that it was absolutely open.  Well guess what again?  The building is closed, in scaffolding and not due to open anytime soon.  We walked all the way over there for nothing. Destination services knew nothing about the building being closed despite the fact that it is listed on a number of their tours (which they cancelled).  I am appalled at the “I don’t care” attitude of these people.  They don’t even want to hear updated information.

 

On another note, we have lost one of our room stewards and will lose our butler on the next cruise.

 

So that is what is happening on the Marina.  It seems like it is a full ship.

 

More to come as it happens.

Terri

[LHT28]

21 minutes ago, Cruzin Terri said:

On another note, we have lost one of our room stewards and will lose our butler on the next cruise.

 

So that is what is happening on the Marina.  It seems like it is a full ship.

 

More to come as it happens.

Terri

How did you lose him? 😉

 Maybe their contract was up  & they get to go home for  a couple of months

The staff do not stay on according to the length of the cruise   their contracts are staggered  so all the new staff do not arrive on the same day

 

DS  has  never  been good  in 20 yrs  so why expect them to be now??

[Cruzin Terri]

45 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

How did you lose him? 😉

 Maybe their contract was up  & they get to go home for  a couple of months

The staff do not stay on according to the length of the cruise   their contracts are staggered  so all the new staff do not arrive on the same day

 

DS  has  never  been good  in 20 yrs  so why expect them to be now??

Was moved to another deck. Will get a new butler at the end of this segment as he is going home. I am aware that they do not all stay for the length of the cruise,  It is not my first rodeo.

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by Cruzin Terri

[pinotlover]

A little fact on butlers I learned several years ago. Butlers work on a seniority basis. That means the senior butler gets to pick the duty assignment of his choice, and the system then continues on down the line. This also applies when a new senior butler comes aboard mid segment . He gets his choice of area assignments, and things then shift.

[mountain grandma]

Would someone who is on the ship now please try to get an answer to a question I have regarding the new simply MORE pricing system.  I have been unsuccessful so far here at home and I thought maybe an Oceania Club Ambassador could help.  We have cruises that we booked several months ago while on board and, of course, received the discount for doing so plus OBC that we could use on that cruise or the newly booked cruise.  If we change to the simply MORE program, can we also transfer the on board discount and OBC to the new price of the new program or do we lose them?

 

Thanks in advance for finding out the answer for me.  
Billie

[basor]

18 minutes ago, mountain grandma said:

Would someone who is on the ship now please try to get an answer to a question I have regarding the new simply MORE pricing system.  I have been unsuccessful so far here at home and I thought maybe an Oceania Club Ambassador could help.  We have cruises that we booked several months ago while on board and, of course, received the discount for doing so plus OBC that we could use on that cruise or the newly booked cruise.  If we change to the simply MORE program, can we also transfer the on board discount and OBC to the new price of the new program or do we lose them?

 

Thanks in advance for finding out the answer for me.  
Billie

Onboard bookings have best price guarantee so you will keep your Onboard booking discount and OBC if you switch to SM.....but if you also booked under a promotion (4 cabin upgrade, Extraordinary Savings, etc.) you would lose the amenities that came with those promotions when switching to SM.

[mountain grandma]

Thanks basor.  I know about the best price guarantee but wasn’t sure this would be included in that guarantee or would it be treated like one of the other promotions that you mentioned.  
 

Billie

[vlthom]

I think that I now understand some of the recent comments that I’d seen regarding the condition of Marina.  During our last segment onboard, I had been wondering why there were complaints as our cabin was in fine condition….sure…not brand new but everything functioning fine.  We moved to a different cabin for this segment yesterday and it’s not the same situation.  The first hint was the safe not working.  That was remedied right away as I was not going to deal with a flopping safe door for the duration.  It seems to be fixed now, though I am not fully trusting.  We also noticed something with the bathroom door.  One has to slam it in order to get the door to close.  This means that there’s no longer the likelihood of not waking DH if I get up to use the bathroom during the night unless we leave the door flopping.  But worst is the closet door where the latches are broken and the doors not only rattle but the light flickers on and off, which it did all night long last night.  DH plans on removing the light bulb today.  It appears that someone has attempted a repair on these doors numerous times and likely failed.  As it is not a walk-in closet, we see no need for the inside of the closet to light up.  Poor design.  I am hoping that this is the end of this list.

[Sebbiesgrammy]

3 hours ago, vlthom said:

I think that I now understand some of the recent comments that I’d seen regarding the condition of Marina.  During our last segment onboard, I had been wondering why there were complaints as our cabin was in fine condition….sure…not brand new but everything functioning fine.  We moved to a different cabin for this segment yesterday and it’s not the same situation.  The first hint was the safe not working.  That was remedied right away as I was not going to deal with a flopping safe door for the duration.  It seems to be fixed now, though I am not fully trusting.  We also noticed something with the bathroom door.  One has to slam it in order to get the door to close.  This means that there’s no longer the likelihood of not waking DH if I get up to use the bathroom during the night unless we leave the door flopping.  But worst is the closet door where the latches are broken and the doors not only rattle but the light flickers on and off, which it did all night long last night.  DH plans on removing the light bulb today.  It appears that someone has attempted a repair on these doors numerous times and likely failed.  As it is not a walk-in closet, we see no need for the inside of the closet to light up.  Poor design.  I am hoping that this is the end of this list.

Do you mind sharing the cabin number?  Have a 51 day coming up in February, just before Marina goes on time out for the Next upgrade. Thanks for your report.

[vlthom]

As it turns out, our first port of call, Skagen, has been cancelled and we now have a sea day.  The captain warned last evening of high winds, though we never noticed much in the way of movement on the ship last night, nor this morning.  But we are not particularly disappointed about missing Skagen as we were there during the last segment and found it rather uninteresting.  It would have been nice to get off the ship to stretch our legs, though.  In the meantime, it seems as if the natives are restless.

[SellaVee]

14 minutes ago, vlthom said:

As it turns out, our first port of call, Skagen, has been cancelled and we now have a sea day.  The captain warned last evening of high winds, though we never noticed much in the way of movement on the ship last night, nor this morning.  But we are not particularly disappointed about missing Skagen as we were there during the last segment and found it rather uninteresting.  It would have been nice to get off the ship to stretch our legs, though.  In the meantime, it seems as if the natives are restless.

Skagen was on our Baltic cruise a few years ago, and it was cancelled then too.  I wonder how often it's cancelled.

[SellaVee]

16 hours ago, LHT28 said:

DS  has  never  been good  in 20 yrs  so why expect them to be now??

Oh, I don't know, maybe they could learn from experience?  I don't see why we should have to lower our expectations - unless they change their name to Shore Excursion Sales.

[Cruzin Terri]

2 hours ago, vlthom said:

As it turns out, our first port of call, Skagen, has been cancelled and we now have a sea day.  The captain warned last evening of high winds, though we never noticed much in the way of movement on the ship last night, nor this morning.  But we are not particularly disappointed about missing Skagen as we were there during the last segment and found it rather uninteresting.  It would have been nice to get off the ship to stretch our legs, though.  In the meantime, it seems as if the natives are restless.

We were on the last segment as well.  We enjoyed our stop in Skagen.  We did the city tour with Sandworm and went to Grenin where the two seas meet.  I was actually looking forward to going back and wandering the town today.  Different strokes for different folks.  

Tomorrow is slated to be windy as well and it is a tender port.  Wouldn’t be surprised if that is cancelled as well.

Terri

[vlthom]

1 hour ago, Cruzin Terri said:

We were on the last segment as well.  We enjoyed our stop in Skagen.  We did the city tour with Sandworm and went to Grenin where the two seas meet.  I was actually looking forward to going back and wandering the town today.  Different strokes for different folks.  

Tomorrow is slated to be windy as well and it is a tender port.  Wouldn’t be surprised if that is cancelled as well.

Terri

The captain indicated that it’s a protected port so hopefully, we’ll be able to go ashore.  Fingers crossed.

[Cruzin Terri]

33 minutes ago, vlthom said:

The captain indicated that it’s a protected port so hopefully, we’ll be able to go ashore.  Fingers crossed.

Thanks for that information.  I didn’t hear the full announcement at noontime so I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to go ashore tomorrow.  That gives me hope.

Terri

[mauibabes]

@vlthom

The bathroom door could always be an issue so we always carried a Bungy cord with us and connect the bathroom door to the cabin door handle so it did not rattle and was alway open for those early a.m. trips. No Banging or door to slam in the rough seas.  See if your steward or maintenance or perhaps another guest might have one to share. 
For the closet door, close it tightly and stuff a towel between the door and the wall. That has worked for us in the past.
We had a damaged keypad on our safe and after a “Look See” by maintenance and no solution because they had no parts available, we ultimately had the Supervisor at our door and a maintenance man walking down the hall carrying a new safe. All good! 👍🙏

Good luck.

Mauibabes

[LHT28]

5 hours ago, SellaVee said:

Oh, I don't know, maybe they could learn from experience?  I don't see why we should have to lower our expectations - unless they change their name to Shore Excursion Sales.

It it  for ship's tours   so they should  call it as such

It's  title has nothing to do with the Destination or service  for that matter

 

 JMO

People should  research the ports before leaving home  not wait until they arrive  to find out what  is there to do/see

[shepherd really]

1 hour ago, mauibabes said:

@vlthom

The bathroom door could always be an issue so we always carried a Bungy cord with us and connect the bathroom door to the cabin door handle so it did not rattle and was alway open for those early a.m. trips. No Banging or door to slam in the rough seas.  See if your steward or maintenance or perhaps another guest might have one to share. 
For the closet door, close it tightly and stuff a towel between the door and the wall. That has worked for us in the past.
We had a damaged keypad on our safe and after a “Look See” by maintenance and no solution because they had no parts available, we ultimately had the Supervisor at our door and a maintenance man walking down the hall carrying a new safe. All good! 👍🙏

Good luck.

Mauibabes

Seriously? When I pay for a cabin, I'll be damned if I bring a bungee cord to deal with the inability of a maintenance crew to fix a freaking door.  That's Simply More than ridiculous. 

[ORV]

17 hours ago, vlthom said:

I think that I now understand some of the recent comments that I’d seen regarding the condition of Marina.  During our last segment onboard, I had been wondering why there were complaints as our cabin was in fine condition….sure…not brand new but everything functioning fine.  We moved to a different cabin for this segment yesterday and it’s not the same situation.  The first hint was the safe not working.  That was remedied right away as I was not going to deal with a flopping safe door for the duration.  It seems to be fixed now, though I am not fully trusting.  We also noticed something with the bathroom door.  One has to slam it in order to get the door to close.  This means that there’s no longer the likelihood of not waking DH if I get up to use the bathroom during the night unless we leave the door flopping.  But worst is the closet door where the latches are broken and the doors not only rattle but the light flickers on and off, which it did all night long last night.  DH plans on removing the light bulb today.  It appears that someone has attempted a repair on these doors numerous times and likely failed.  As it is not a walk-in closet, we see no need for the inside of the closet to light up.  Poor design.  I am hoping that this is the end of this list.

I don't remember how they are on the Marina or Riviera, but I had that issue come up with the light on the Regatta, I unplugged it. No problems for the rest of the cruise. 

[jonthomas]

So anyone find any shoestring fries on the Marina?