Losing confidence in Oceania.

[Snaefell3]

19 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

No, the OP did not want compensation but he did want....

Translation:  "No the OP did not want compensation, but he did want compensation".

[Harry Lake]

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

If you read my postings, you will find that I am FAR from a shill for ANY cruiseline.  I will not automatically defend a cruiseline, no more than I would defend any business automatically.

 

What I do is provide a rational, reasonable approach to business.  The customer is not always right, nor is the business.  But what I try to do is remove the emotion and look at the practical side.

 

Maybe we should comment about posters who automatically assume things about other posters....hmmm?

 

 

Thanks for this. So does that mean that you travel on a number of different cruise lines?

[ak1004]

45 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

No, the OP did not want compensation but he did want to either get a refund or be able to switch cruises to something more like his original cruise. And your situation with a decision made in April that you weren't informed of until six weeks before sailing in December is a PERFECT example of a cruise line failing to do right by it's clientele. If that isn't screwing you, I don't know what is. They knew. They just didn't tell you before final payment so you were the ones being screwed, not them.

 

Well, again, in my case, I don't know the whole picture and don't have the full information. Maybe the decision wasn't final in April? Maybe they tried to negotiate some kind of solution? A lot of pieces of the puzzle are missing. And the fact is that at least one more cruise line (Azamara) did the same, I think Regent did the same not sure.

 

So if people think that O is screwing them, at least O is not alone, all lines do it. 

 

So to me, there are two options:

1. Stop sailing on the line that you think is screwing you (but then you probably should stop cruising at all because they all do the same).

2. Accept the fact that there are things that you don't know and give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

25 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

Translation:  "No the OP did not want compensation, but he did want compensation".

 

Exactly. Getting a refund or be able to switch cruises is a form of compensation I would say?

[deck chair]

13 hours ago, DrKoob said:

Can you explain something to me? Why do people automatically excuse cruise ship companies they like? When the company has obviously done something that has truly changed someone's vacation? It's like you are shills for the cruise line. One of the things I found in my 20 years on Cruise Critic is that on any forum for any cruise line there are people who will defend that cruise line no matter what. The OP is upset that his cruise was substantially changed.

 

And I don't I think this is an apples and oranges situation. It's a three-hour change on a flight that costs $6,000 (FC). And they offered to let me change it to any flight I wanted or to refund me. I am guessing the OP has at least $6K involved and they have substantially changed his vacation. 

Hi.  Because of the single supplement in this case, I am paying about $21,000 for an Oceanview on deck 4.  This is for a 40 day cruise from LA to Sydney.

Deck Chair.

Edited October 31, 2023 by deck chair

[FlyerTalker]

14 minutes ago, Harry Lake said:

Thanks for this. So does that mean that you travel on a number of different cruise lines?

 

In the last decade, I have traveled on ten cruiselines.  And a couple more that are further back in history.  I have a couple of favorites, but none are perfect.  And a couple of those most recent ten won't be getting my money again.

 

 

[Harry Lake]

1 minute ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

In the last decade, I have traveled on ten cruiselines.  And a couple more that are further back in history.  I have a couple of favorites, but none are perfect.  And a couple of those most recent ten won't be getting my money again.

 

 

Now that's what I'm looking for. Context. Experience. Thanks.

[Yesimapirate]

I think people often assume that when a company does something they're unhappy with that its dine intentionally and is a personal attack.   In my experience,  incompetence, laziness and a not being aware of things outside of their little box (aka "not my job") is far more often the reason. 

[PhD-iva]

47 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

In the last decade, I have traveled on ten cruiselines.  And a couple more that are further back in history.  I have a couple of favorites, but none are perfect.  And a couple of those most recent ten won't be getting my money again.

 

 

Would love for you to share who “made the cut,” and who got “cut!”

[Waltershipman]

On 10/30/2023 at 7:47 AM, pinotlover said:

We overall enjoy the food in Oceania, but it’s the itinerary that drives us. We had an overnight on Nautica in Iceland. A group of us did a great private land tour and we over night ashore. We had really great food and an enjoyable time. We’ve done the same on other cruises. Some people come back to the ship most every day to eat lunch aboard. That’s great. We didn’t travel to Turkey, Cypress, Santorini, Italy, etc to eat ship food or drink ship wine. Nor did we travel to South America this past Spring to eat ship’s food. Often times we are still so full from great local fresh cuisine from lunch, dinner is relatively minimal. The food on Az was fine, what we ate of it. Not superb , but we were mostly eating ashore , so neither O nor A compared to what we were having. Our problem with Az is I don’t think we’ll ever do an R ship again regardless of the name on the stack.

Explora journeys food extraordinary excellent and i am just a cruise lover and worth it and rivals 5 star restaurants 

[FlyerTalker]

14 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

Would love for you to share who “made the cut,” and who got “cut!”

 

Went back and checked.  Turned out to be more than a dozen in the last decade.

 

Suffice to say that Celebrity, Holland America, Princess and Paul Gauguin won't be getting any more of my business. I no longer participate in those forums.  And a couple more are on the bubble.

 

 

[Harry Lake]

12 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

Explora journeys food extraordinary excellent and i am just a cruise lover and worth it and rivals 5 star restaurants 

I looked at their site and it looks very nice. Thanks.

[Waltershipman]

Just now, Harry Lake said:

I looked at their site and it looks very nice. Thanks.

Having sailed on many lines going back to 1980 Explora journeys is exceptional.  I am nit a so called influencer nor TA and will be onboard Vista in January.  E J food was as good as my favorite excellent restaurants stateside. Definitely worth a look

 

Enjoy

[Harry Lake]

4 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

Suffice to say that Celebrity, Holland America, Princess and Paul Gauguin won't be getting any more of my business. I no longer participate in those forums.  And a couple more are on the bubble.

 

Could you give an example or two? 

[Waltershipman]

3 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Went back and checked.  Turned out to be more than a dozen in the last decade.

 

Suffice to say that Celebrity, Holland America, Princess and Paul Gauguin won't be getting any more of my business. I no longer participate in those forums.  And a couple more are on the bubble.

 

 

Princess Holland America are off my  list as well. Cruised on Celebrity Solstice in January on a short trip.  Stayed in the Retreat room and it was excellent.  Recent pricing at Celebrity make me look at other options fir now

Thanks

[PhD-iva]

9 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Went back and checked.  Turned out to be more than a dozen in the last decade.

 

Suffice to say that Celebrity, Holland America, Princess and Paul Gauguin won't be getting any more of my business. I no longer participate in those forums.  And a couple more are on the bubble.

 

 

Thx! I have been dissatisfied enough with Celebrity that I will not be going back there. But now, in my search to perhaps replace Oceania with a different cruise line or two, I might look again at Holland America and Princess. Also looking at land tours.
Solo pricing is an issue for me, and I need good value. OTOH, I’m quite lazy, and not enthusiastic to put in the work required to do the research on (new to me) Seabourn, SilverSea, MSC YC, etc. It’s a lot of work! 

[EJL2023]

30 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

Explora journeys food extraordinary excellent and i am just a cruise lover and worth it and rivals 5 star restaurants 

Their  ship looks beautiful.  Hopefully when they add more ships it will be more of an option.  They currently have so many short cruises with sometime several sea days too.  I’m definitely pulled to their overall product but will most likely hold off until seeing more options of cruises in 10-14 day range.  

[FlyerTalker]

5 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

Their  ship looks beautiful.

 

Ship is attractive, though with some maddening deficiencies.  Dining is superb.  Management, both shipboard and landside, is infuriating.  Biggest question is if the ship and dining are enough to offset the negatives at the EJ price point (which is ever increasing).   I am asking myself if top-shelf dining itself is worth tens of thousands, when I can get that dining quality on land for a fraction.

 

 

[EJL2023]

1 minute ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Ship is attractive, though with some maddening deficiencies.  Dining is superb.  Management, both shipboard and landside, is infuriating.  Biggest question is if the ship and dining are enough to offset the negatives at the EJ price point (which is ever increasing).   I am asking myself if top-shelf dining itself is worth tens of thousands, when I can get that dining quality on land for a fraction.

 

 

Yeah, know what you mean. I have also seen many negatives about their customer service, which I guess comes from MSC. 

[S4POPO]

48 minutes ago, Harry Lake said:

I looked at their site and it looks very nice. Thanks.

Is that a proper comp for Oceania?  Aren't they 4x more expensive?

 

I always thought Viking was the closest comparison.

[Waltershipman]

21 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Ship is attractive, though with some maddening deficiencies.  Dining is superb.  Management, both shipboard and landside, is infuriating.  Biggest question is if the ship and dining are enough to offset the negatives at the EJ price point (which is ever increasing).   I am asking myself if top-shelf dining itself is worth tens of thousands, when I can get that dining quality on land for a fraction.

 

 

Accurate observations and agreed  on board food and experience magnificent communications from Geneva and on ship not so good

[FlyerTalker]

7 minutes ago, S4POPO said:

Is that a proper comp for Oceania?  Aren't they 4x more expensive?

 

I always thought Viking was the closest comparison.

 

IMO, the closest to Oceania is Azamara.

 

Viking is a completely different animal, with a much different approach to cruising.  And if you thought Oceania management is difficult, Viking is the expression of, and implementation of, ONE man.  It is rigid and cookie-cutter across the fleet.  For those that like it, Viking is the ultimate.  For others, well...

 

 

Edited October 31, 2023 by FlyerTalker
Spelling corrections

[Harry Lake]

8 minutes ago, S4POPO said:

Is that a proper comp for Oceania?  Aren't they 4x more expensive?

 

I always thought Viking was the closest comparison.

Oh, I just looked at the Explora site, one I wasn't familiar with.

I'll also add on here that I really don't want the large ships. Marina is about it on the larger size. We've also done Hurtigruten on ships with 400 and 100 pax. Loved those.

[ak1004]

13 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

IMO, the closest to Oceania is Azamara.

 

Viking is a completely different animal, with a much different approach to cruising.  And if you thought Oceania management is difficult, Viking is the expression of, and implementation of, ONE man.  It is rigid and cookie-cutter across the fleet.  For those that like it, Viking is the ultimate.  For others, well...

 

 

 

I agree. But Azamara has older ships and tiny cabins and showers, one of the reasons we prefer O newer ships.

 

Explora is way to expensive, cannot justify their prices. Same for Crystal and Regent. SS and SB has some occasional good priced sailings, 10-15% higher than O.

 

For people like us who tried 12 different lines and won't go back to large ships, but also won't pay more than $400-450 USD per night, the options are limited. Have yet to try Windstar.

[susiesan]

11 hours ago, Harters said:

Definitely different. The decision about cruising will be about how much it represents value for money for us. I will be very happy if we conclude to carry on cruising but will be fine if we decide to spend our money elsewhere. 

 

We've done a couple of escorted tours, both in South Africa. Enjoyed both, so that might be future idea. We're also both in our 70s, with health issues starting to build up, so I think we're in a period of adjustment like you. Over the decades, we've often enjoyed road trips in the States but my night driving vision isnt what it was so I think they are most probably now behind us. 

Look into safaris. They are like a cruise on land, your meals, excursions, and transportation are included.

Pick a country in Africa you are interested in and go on a safari there. I've done 4 and will do my 5th in January, each in a different country.

[EJL2023]

13 minutes ago, susiesan said:

Look into safaris. They are like a cruise on land, your meals, excursions, and transportation are included.

Pick a country in Africa you are interested in and go on a safari there. I've done 4 and will do my 5th in January, each in a different country.

I’ve been looking at these….is there like a good age where maybe a safari is not a good idea?? Just not sure of physical demand and all.   Asking for a friend!!! 😉