Why Folks Consider New Brands when Cruising?

[Sthrngary]

From time to time, I am reminded on Social Media that my opinion is NOT based on actual experience on the Oceania Brand.  Yet, when I write a post, I always keep that in mind.  I can talk about my pre-cruise experience because that is reality to me.  I can talk about what I read from a standpoint of learning more about the brand and potential experience.  The real reason I engage with this Oceania Blog is the same reason I did previously on other brand blogs.  I have a goal to enhance my cruise vacation experience for my family and the guest that join us. Yet always have "Realistic Expectations". 

 

Just like rating a restaurant or entre item, it is all relative to what you have experienced in the past.  Enhancing your next cruise experience is the same situation.  What works for me, may not work for you.  Yet we both want the same outcome of enhancement. When I was looking at other brands, I had a list of things I liked and did not like about past cruising experience.  Not one of them was crazy important by itself however they did make a positive and negative effect overall.  Then I started looking a brands.  Fun exercise and not as easy as one might think.  Cruise marketing departments make everything sound perfect.  The folks that actually go on the cruise, bring in the reality.  

 

Here “some yet not all”  area’s I wanted to improve: 

 

1. Soft Drinks in the Stateroom:  For whatever reason, I thought cruise brands should simply provide sodas and waters in your stateroom.  So many of the mainstream brands had these items as a “For Sale” item.  Never made sense to me. It gave me the feeling I was being nickel and dimed whenever possible. I look to reduce that feeling if I can.
2. Specialty Coffee:  I love good coffee and on a vacation love specialty coffee.  Some brands, even in their premium VIP sections charge for Specialty Coffee.  Why not just charge more fare and include it.  You are on vacation, a really nice barista should be part of the experience.
3. Drink Programs:  So many mainstream brands have a rule.  If one person of legal age in the stateroom has an adult drinking package, all have too.  With the addition of “SimplyMore”, everyone has the standard “Wine/Beer” at Lunch and Dinner.  However, if you want to upgrade to the Prestige Unlimited Wine, Beer, and Spirits plan, one of the two people in the cabin can do it alone.  You are not forced to have everyone upgrade. The downside is you have to present your stateroom card when ordering a drink. I can live with this. I know it might be petty but I also like if I have a drink package, I can have a drink delivered to my stateroom under the rules of the package I have.  Other brands charge you for the drink even if you have a package.
4. Specialty Restaurants Included in the Fare: My past experience was having specialty restaurants was an extra cost.  Some brands would give you two specialty restaurants with their promotion. Others would not.  I never quite understood that.  Yet even when Oceania claims the specialty restaurants are included in the fare, space availability after the initial reservations (One reservation for each specialty restaurant on the ship) limits the guest.  Unless they are in a Penthouse or higher category when your butler can serve you in-suite from those same specialty restaurants.  To some, that brings the “Class” aspect of cruising back which so many really find distasteful. Still, I enjoy knowing the specialty restaurants are part of the fare.
5. Spa Amenities:  Things like sauna’s, steam rooms and heated tile lounge chairs usually are only available if you have an expensive spa treatment or pay extra for special daily access.  Having these items are important to me and glad it comes with the fare.  To some, this provides no value.  Again, all relative.
6. Personalized Treatment for Everyone:  Remember, my experience is when in the VIP sections of a Mainstream Cruise Brand, the personalized service is far superior then when you leave the area. I craved a brand where once you left your stateroom, everyone was treated the same way.  The expectation was not for folks to fall over backwards for me, just no complaints that things were different outside of the stateroom selected.

 

My point in all this was these six plus items and a few more are important to enhancing MY experience.  Therefore, I looked for brands that provided them.  Then I drilled down on the brand to find the one brand I wanted to consider. My choice for my cruise in November 2023 was Oceania.  After that cruise, I will evaluate the total experience and consider Oceania or open my future options to other brands.  The one aspect of being new to a brand is you have no past experience of that brand to consider.  That is why we new folks to the brand, ask questions and read the brand blogs.  The more we research the better sense we gain of what could be expected.  It is instantly clear, it will NOT be perfect, things will go wrong, it will NOT be the be all/end all “Best of the Best” experience.  However, that is not how I started this post.  My emphasis is enhancement based on my past personal experience, not anyone else’s.  That is why when I read from the faithful that the dining used to be better in the past, I would not know.  All I hope is it is better than my past on other brands.  If it is and some of the other items are improvements, I book the brand again.  The proof is in the pudding or as some have said so well, the “Oceania Cookies”.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

[makai 7]

You summed up very well why our preferred cruise lines are now Oceania, and in the past Regent.

 The one issue that you may experience is regarding the personalized experience.  While we usually see that an effort is made by the crew to treat all guests well, they do have a fondness for past that they recognize.  If you choose to cruise a second time and run into staff that you interacted with on a previous cruise, it is amazing that they remember you 😊

 

The only way to avoid any “class” aspect to a cruise is to choose a line where all cabins are the same (sea dream, wind spirit, etc).  However previous guests returning will still be treated slightly differently, with some amenities or gifts…

[LHT28]

do  a spread sheet that includes  all your wants/needs  then sail with that line

 

 We have sodas in the fridge included on Oceania   have yet to drink any 

it is a rip off

We do not drink much  but  now wine/beer & Champagne is included with Oceania  at lunch & dinner

What a rip off

 

We rarely book shore excursions with the ship but now  we will have to pay  to be forced to use  shorex or just lose the $$

What a rip off

 For us it will be no more Oceania cruises

YMMV

[Sthrngary]

33 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

do  a spread sheet that includes  all your wants/needs  then sail with that line

 

 We have sodas in the fridge included on Oceania   have yet to drink any 

it is a rip off

We do not drink much  but  now wine/beer & Champagne is included with Oceania  at lunch & dinner

What a rip off

 

We rarely book shore excursions with the ship but now  we will have to pay  to be forced to use  shorex or just lose the $$

What a rip off

 For us it will be no more Oceania cruises

YMMV

Your needs, your wants, your money. Let us know where you land.

[Gracie115]

We too did a lot of reading about Oceania before we booked our first cruise on the line which will be this December.  We have been unhappy with changes in prior lines along with large price increases which led us to Oceania.  If you're going to spend the dollar then try and make sure you get what you want.  It seems Oceania will fulfill that, but we won't know until we are onboard.  

 

And we can't wait!!!!!🙂

[Sthrngary]

8 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

We too did a lot of reading about Oceania before we booked our first cruise on the line which will be this December.  We have been unhappy with changes in prior lines along with large price increases which led us to Oceania.  If you're going to spend the dollar then try and make sure you get what you want.  It seems Oceania will fulfill that, but we won't know until we are onboard.  

 

And we can't wait!!!!!🙂

@Gracie115 The shift in cruising which I have unofficially observed is folks being unhappy with their past brands.  You just said it and I feel somewhat the same way.  As you read this Oceania Blog, you will read past Oceania client wanting to move on.  

 

When the industry closed down, needed loans to open back up, had to find ways to improve profits to pay those new loans, we all knew things would change.  With luxury clients, when you find your brand, for the most part you stay loyal.  Then you see changes that made it your brand that now are gone or less so.  Depending on what it is, you consider moving to another brand.  

 

Your move will be an adventure.  It might be GREAT and you might miss where you were previously.  This kind of movement creates people like you and I.  We have no framework of the Oceania Brand other then what we read, learn and uncover.  We compare it to what we used to consider was our standard. My standard was the NCL Haven, the Celebrity Retreat and or the MSC Yacht Club.  

 

Who knows, we might go on our respective cruises in November and December and realize our previous brand was still better.  We might book another Oceania Cruise or consider another brand other then those.  All that really matters is we have an enhanced experience and enjoy our vacation.  Sometimes it is simply time to try something new.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[FeliciaLee]

We always loved the feel of HAL. Smallish ships, very personalized warm service. Lots of activities.

 

But of course everything changes and HAL isn't quite the same. It is still an excellent experience for the price point and versus the direct competition, it just isn't for us anymore.

 

Oceania has that same feel and since there are so many things included in the fare, the cost is not that different from HAL.

[nparmelee]

Our first cruise was largish family Alaska trip on Princess. We liked the idea, not necessarily the execution. Found X next.... Also enjoyed, but it felt impersonal. Then we found O and love the small ships, still friends with fellow pax from our first 2 O cruises. For us, it's about the itinerary. If I can find an itinerary on a ship I am willing to deal with the size of and with a line I am willing to deal with the quality of and then a price I am willing to pay, no brand loyalty as the first criteria.

 

[sunlover12]

We have found the Oceania brand to be a good fit.  We like the semi-inclusive format.  I know there are some amenities that I'm not going to get my money's worth on and that's okay.  We don't drink the sodas in the refrigerator. The only thing in the cabin that we'll drink is the Vero water and the bottle of wine that's included with Oceania Club. I've been on 7 Oceania cruises and I could count on one hand the number of times I've been to afternoon tea. I'll go to Baristas once in awhile, certainly not every day. We go to many of the nightly shows but not all. All of the above are included in the fare but I know I'm not taking advantage of it all.  It's okay.

 I understand that some people don't like Simply More pricing including beer and wine with meals and a credit for excursions. It appears to be becoming more common and it could be harder and harder to find a smaller, upscale cruise line that doesn't include these things now. I think Oceania's pricing is fair and the product is good.

YMMV

[ak1004]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

do  a spread sheet that includes  all your wants/needs  then sail with that line

 

 We have sodas in the fridge included on Oceania   have yet to drink any 

it is a rip off

We do not drink much  but  now wine/beer & Champagne is included with Oceania  at lunch & dinner

What a rip off

 

We rarely book shore excursions with the ship but now  we will have to pay  to be forced to use  shorex or just lose the $$

What a rip off

 For us it will be no more Oceania cruises

YMMV

They have lunch included on Oceania but we usually spend most of the day in the port and eat lunch outside. What a rip off.

 

They have lobster and crab legs included every day at dinner but my wife doesn’t eat seafood. What a rip off.

 

They have daily trivia included but we don’t do trivia. What a rip off.

 

they have room service free of charge but we never use it. What a rip off.

[Gracie115]

40 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

@Gracie115 The shift in cruising which I have unofficially observed is folks being unhappy with their past brands.  You just said it and I feel somewhat the same way.  As you read this Oceania Blog, you will read past Oceania client wanting to move on.  

 

When the industry closed down, needed loans to open back up, had to find ways to improve profits to pay those new loans, we all knew things would change.  With luxury clients, when you find your brand, for the most part you stay loyal.  Then you see changes that made it your brand that now are gone or less so.  Depending on what it is, you consider moving to another brand.  

 

Your move will be an adventure.  It might be GREAT and you might miss where you were previously.  This kind of movement creates people like you and I.  We have no framework of the Oceania Brand other then what we read, learn and uncover.  We compare it to what we used to consider was our standard. My standard was the NCL Haven, the Celebrity Retreat and or the MSC Yacht Club.  

 

Who knows, we might go on our respective cruises in November and December and realize our previous brand was still better.  We might book another Oceania Cruise or consider another brand other then those.  All that really matters is we have an enhanced experience and enjoy our vacation.  Sometimes it is simply time to try something new.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

 

And the same to you.  Hoping when we walk off the Vista after our December cruise that we will have found a new home.

 

Celebrity Retreat was our main choice for the last 2 1/2 decades, but as you say, things change and we just wanted more for our $$.  Hopeful that Oceania will fill in the gaps we've missed/lost.  

[ak1004]

@Sthrngaryyou summarized it very well as usual. I really disliked the idea of paying $5 each time I have a simple bottle of water or order a cappuccino.

 

But in addition, we also disliked constant lines, crowds, crowded pools, loud music and more. Our friends who were loyal Celebrity customers for over 20 years, sailed with us on O and booked 3 more. They said it’s a different league.

[shepherd really]

3 hours ago, LHT28 said:

do  a spread sheet that includes  all your wants/needs  then sail with that line

 

 We have sodas in the fridge included on Oceania   have yet to drink any 

it is a rip off

We do not drink much  but  now wine/beer & Champagne is included with Oceania  at lunch & dinner

What a rip off

 

We rarely book shore excursions with the ship but now  we will have to pay  to be forced to use  shorex or just lose the $$

What a rip off

 For us it will be no more Oceania cruises

YMMV

It sounds like you should find another brand that doesn't rip you off.  

[Pandazoo]

@LHT28 are you being sarcastic or is it how you really feel?

[Flatbush Flyer]

5 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

From time to time, I am reminded on Social Media that my opinion is NOT based on actual experience on the Oceania Brand.  Yet, when I write a post, I always keep that in mind.  I can talk about my pre-cruise experience because that is reality to me.  I can talk about what I read from a standpoint of learning more about the brand and potential experience.  The real reason I engage with this Oceania Blog is the same reason I did previously on other brand blogs.  I have a goal to enhance my cruise vacation experience for my family and the guest that join us. Yet always have "Realistic Expectations". 

 

Just like rating a restaurant or entre item, it is all relative to what you have experienced in the past.  Enhancing your next cruise experience is the same situation.  What works for me, may not work for you.  Yet we both want the same outcome of enhancement. When I was looking at other brands, I had a list of things I liked and did not like about past cruising experience.  Not one of them was crazy important by itself however they did make a positive and negative effect overall.  Then I started looking a brands.  Fun exercise and not as easy as one might think.  Cruise marketing departments make everything sound perfect.  The folks that actually go on the cruise, bring in the reality.  

 

Here “some yet not all”  area’s I wanted to improve: 

 

1. Soft Drinks in the Stateroom:  For whatever reason, I thought cruise brands should simply provide sodas and waters in your stateroom.  So many of the mainstream brands had these items as a “For Sale” item.  Never made sense to me. It gave me the feeling I was being nickel and dimed whenever possible. I look to reduce that feeling if I can.
2. Specialty Coffee:  I love good coffee and on a vacation love specialty coffee.  Some brands, even in their premium VIP sections charge for Specialty Coffee.  Why not just charge more fare and include it.  You are on vacation, a really nice barista should be part of the experience.
3. Drink Programs:  So many mainstream brands have a rule.  If one person of legal age in the stateroom has an adult drinking package, all have too.  With the addition of “SimplyMore”, everyone has the standard “Wine/Beer” at Lunch and Dinner.  However, if you want to upgrade to the Prestige Unlimited Wine, Beer, and Spirits plan, one of the two people in the cabin can do it alone.  You are not forced to have everyone upgrade. The downside is you have to present your stateroom card when ordering a drink. I can live with this. I know it might be petty but I also like if I have a drink package, I can have a drink delivered to my stateroom under the rules of the package I have.  Other brands charge you for the drink even if you have a package.
4. Specialty Restaurants Included in the Fare: My past experience was having specialty restaurants was an extra cost.  Some brands would give you two specialty restaurants with their promotion. Others would not.  I never quite understood that.  Yet even when Oceania claims the specialty restaurants are included in the fare, space availability after the initial reservations (One reservation for each specialty restaurant on the ship) limits the guest.  Unless they are in a Penthouse or higher category when your butler can serve you in-suite from those same specialty restaurants.  To some, that brings the “Class” aspect of cruising back which so many really find distasteful. Still, I enjoy knowing the specialty restaurants are part of the fare.
5. Spa Amenities:  Things like sauna’s, steam rooms and heated tile lounge chairs usually are only available if you have an expensive spa treatment or pay extra for special daily access.  Having these items are important to me and glad it comes with the fare.  To some, this provides no value.  Again, all relative.
6. Personalized Treatment for Everyone:  Remember, my experience is when in the VIP sections of a Mainstream Cruise Brand, the personalized service is far superior then when you leave the area. I craved a brand where once you left your stateroom, everyone was treated the same way.  The expectation was not for folks to fall over backwards for me, just no complaints that things were different outside of the stateroom selected.

 

My point in all this was these six plus items and a few more are important to enhancing MY experience.  Therefore, I looked for brands that provided them.  Then I drilled down on the brand to find the one brand I wanted to consider. My choice for my cruise in November 2023 was Oceania.  After that cruise, I will evaluate the total experience and consider Oceania or open my future options to other brands.  The one aspect of being new to a brand is you have no past experience of that brand to consider.  That is why we new folks to the brand, ask questions and read the brand blogs.  The more we research the better sense we gain of what could be expected.  It is instantly clear, it will NOT be perfect, things will go wrong, it will NOT be the be all/end all “Best of the Best” experience.  However, that is not how I started this post.  My emphasis is enhancement based on my past personal experience, not anyone else’s.  That is why when I read from the faithful that the dining used to be better in the past, I would not know.  All I hope is it is better than my past on other brands.  If it is and some of the other items are improvements, I book the brand again.  The proof is in the pudding or as some have said so well, the “Oceania Cookies”.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

Nice that you tried to provide a framework for your post. And you made some good points.

However, I disagree with several of your statements. 
One logistical error was the “one pre-cruise reservation per specialty restaurant.” Not only does it depend on your cabin level, it also depends on the cruise length.

The other major disagreement I have regards your statement “it is all relative to what you have experienced in the past.”

I originally chose O, in part because of professional reviews by industry experts in both the maritime and hospitality arenas.

There are “reviewers” whose findings I trust enough to have them weigh somewhat on my own opinions. Thus, my decisions about a cruise meeting my expectations is often tempered by what knowledgeable experts have to say perhaps even more so than “Uncle Bob” or someone else here on CC.
 

And, of course, my own past experience will inform my comments.   

 

So, where I differ from you appears to be a broadening of the criteria upon which I make decisions about any particular O experience. Am that doesn’t mean that your opinion is irrelevant. Rather it recognizes that you appear to have only a single criteria for comparison to past experience.

That said, I sure hope your palate for sophisticated food an service is broad based and well informed.

[ToxM]

I am very interested in LHT’s review of their cruise. 

 

O isn’t perfect, but for us at least it is a much better fit than anything else we have tried. Regent is our next cruise, I am interested to compare - already the evening food offering is looking a little sparse from my research. We shall see. 

 

Also, and whilst a small point, an important one. It is a forum, not a blog. Some on here would do well to have their own blog. 

[PhD-iva]

2 minutes ago, ToxM said:

I am very interested in LHT’s review of their cruise. 

 

O isn’t perfect, but for us at least it is a much better fit than anything else we have tried. Regent is our next cruise, I am interested to compare - already the evening food offering is looking a little sparse from my research. We shall see. 

 

Also, and whilst a small point, an important one. It is a forum, not a blog. Some on here would do well to have their own blog. 

ToxM, Oceania is my favorite cruiseline; I have been on 3 O cruises and have 3 more booked. Last November I went on my first Regent cruise on Mariner. WOW! Over the top FABULOUS! So, better than O, but also more expensive (you get what you pay for).

You’ll love Regent! I still prefer O’s pricing model…….but my next cruise is on Regent’s Voyager….

[ToxM]

2 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

ToxM, Oceania is my favorite cruiseline; I have been on 3 O cruises and have 3 more booked. Last November I went on my first Regent cruise on Mariner. WOW! Over the top FABULOUS! So, better than O, but also more expensive (you get what you pay for).

You’ll love Regent! I still prefer O’s pricing model…….but my next cruise is on Regent’s Voyager….

We are on Voyager - I am very much looking forward to it - possibly as a one and done, but I am a little sad at the lack of buffet in the evening! I have high hopes though, and it’s a lovely itin that I have never seen the like of from O sadly. 

 

I’ll do a good side by side review 🙂

 

 

[PhD-iva]

10 minutes ago, ToxM said:

 and it’s a lovely itin that I have never seen the like of from O sadly. 

ToxM, do share!

[Vineyard View]

We started years ago with main stream lines. ‘Large’ ships then weren’t large in today’s standards, but the food, the service, the experience caused us to move on. We liked HAL when they had truly small ships. We then moved to Viking. First Rivers, then Oceans. We haven’t moved away because we didn’t enjoy our time on board. We enjoyed our sailings with them. I started  looking because we were tired of paying so far in advance (yes, I know you can get 6 months out if you have one booked), but also because the regions we have been interested in are basically the same itineraries they have offered for several years. Combine that with huge price increases on a per person per day to the point of luxury cruises, and what is important to us, it does not pencil out.  So we didn’t stray because we did not enjoy the onboard experience. 
Our  Seabourn trip this year, all costs included, penciled out to less per day than VO (for what is important to us) and was a considerably higher level of on board experience than VO. On multiple levels. 
With respect to Oceania, the itinerary attracted us,  as well as total cost per day. Again, for what is important to us. Also, the reputation and our TA, who knows us well, suggesting we would like. 
I am not sure if we will be one line cheerleaders of any brand yet, but that truly is not my goal now days. If we can find 2-3 brands we truly enjoy that meet a total cost per day range, with the right itinerary, along with our boxes needing to be checked, then we are open to trying a few. 
Long story short, this is how we ended up booking Oceania and we hope to add it to that 2-3 brand option moving forward. 

[ToxM]

8 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

ToxM, do share!

Capetown to Rio - with the elusive St Helena, which has been top of my bucket list forever. 

[Elbig]

We really like O and Regent. They are very similar experiences except almost everything is prepaid on Regent which makes it an amazingly easygoing experience. It’s hard to articulate the differences but it is somehow very nice to never show your card for drinks, the Butler stocks your stateroom with whatever you want, liquor, mixer, etc. It feels very luxurious and pampered. OTH you pay dearly for all that. Use the itinerary to chose which one to cruise. 

[FeliciaLee]

11 hours ago, ToxM said:

I am a little sad at the lack of buffet in the evening!

Things might have changed, because we were on Voyager in Nov/Dec of 2018, but iirc back then they did have a small buffet in the evening. Sort of like you get your own salad, soup, desserts if you want, but the main course is served?

 

Surely people who sail Regent often will know for sure, though.

[FeliciaLee]

10 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Our  Seabourn trip this year, all costs included, penciled out to less per day than VO (for what is important to us) and was a considerably higher level of on board experience than VO. On multiple levels. 
With respect to Oceania, the itinerary attracted us,  as well as total cost per day. Again, for what is important to us.

We were on Seabourn last December and the activities weren't so great. 11 nights, but they only had trivia five days. Sometimes the sports didn't go at all.

 

As far as the ship, the food, the buffet and the overall experience, we had a wonderful time on Seabourn. But if you are one of those people who enjoy activities and saving up points for the end of the cruise, Oceania is awesome. Just like the old days of HAL.

[edgee]

14 minutes ago, FeliciaLee said:

Things might have changed, because we were on Voyager in Nov/Dec of 2018, but iirc back then they did have a small buffet in the evening. Sort of like you get your own salad, soup, desserts if you want, but the main course is served?

 

Surely people who sail Regent often will know for sure, though.

What you are remembering is not really a buffet. Unfortunately LaVeranda, Regent's buffet area, (equivalent to Oceania's Terrace) becomes an Italian no reservation specialty restaurant in the evening. Yes, the salad, soup and deserts are self serve, but the main course options are limited to rather heavy (IMHO) Italian options ordered from the wait staff.