Oceania does not refund port taxes for skipped ports

[durberville]

18 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

But this type of advertising could come in handy for some.  I was chatting with a man in the neighborhood several months back and he knows we are cruisers. He told me they are finally going on a cruise because his wife had found this great 2 for 1 deal!!! I was like, uhh……well…maybe….so I just kept quiet and thought good for you Linda!!! 

Reminds me of booking our first cruise back in the day. I thought I was getting a steal because it was advertised as 60 - 70% off or something - and my brother, an experienced cruiser, said “look at the book price - that’s what they are going by - NOBODY pays those prices!” Haha! I was so deflated….but here I am 40 years later with a bit of knowledge under my hat….but agree - those percentage off prices are totally misleading. 

[ORV]

7 hours ago, pmatawan said:

Your complaint might force Oceania to revise this business practice. Too much false advertising by cruise lines and I, for one, applaud you for trying. Tired of seeing ads for 50% off when no one ever paid full price. Tired of false Simply More advertising saying "free shore excursions" and "free drinks". They can say "included, but saying free us just unconscionable. This industry needs to clean up some of its business practices and I would think some lawyers would jump at the chance to challenge this industry.

Concerning the port fees. For those of you that don't know. This was settled in a Florida court 10-15 years ago. Oceania doesn't list them as a separate line item on the invoice so therefore doesn't have to refund them when ports are missed. But good luck to anyone that wants to take them to court again.

[MEFIowa]

The topic does periodically pop up... Here from 2022:

 

Refund for missed ports taxes and fees - Oceania Cruises - Cruise Critic Community

 

[MEFIowa]

And the ALL-IMPORTANT Ticket Contract:

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: THESE ARE THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACT BETWEEN YOU AS OUR GUEST AND OCEANIA CRUI (oceaniacruises.com)

[Sdancer]

On 3/2/2024 at 8:14 AM, ORV said:

Concerning the port fees. For those of you that don't know. This was settled in a Florida court 10-15 years ago. Oceania doesn't list them as a separate line item on the invoice so therefore doesn't have to refund them when ports are missed. But good luck to anyone that wants to take them to court again.

Thank you so much for this info! 

 

I do not know how to close this thread. Does anyone know?

 

Now, that I had time to fully digest my cruising experience last month on Oceania Sirena and understand why exactly I did not like it, there is no way for me to go back to Oceania.

My DH feels the same way. 

 

I am grateful to have 9 wonderful cruises on classy Oceania before the pandemic but today's Oceania is not classy anymore with all the post-pandemic cuts... Time to move on :).

 

P.S. It was interesting to read the recent Sirena reviews on cruise critic which confirmed my unfavorable opinion about today's Oceania.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 4 by Sdancer

[ak1004]

6 hours ago, Sdancer said:

Thank you so much for this info! 

 

I do not know how to close this thread. Does anyone know?

 

Now, that I had time to fully digest my cruising experience last month on Oceania Sirena and understand why exactly I did not like it, there is no way for me to go back to Oceania.

My DH feels the same way. 

 

I am grateful to have 9 wonderful cruises on classy Oceania before the pandemic but today's Oceania is not classy anymore with all the post-pandemic cuts... Time to move on :).

 

P.S. It was interesting to read the recent Sirena reviews on cruise critic which confirmed my unfavorable opinion about today's Oceania.

 

 

I'm curious where are you going to move? Have you read other lines reviews?

[TRLD]

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

 

I'm curious where are you going to move? Have you read other lines reviews?

You mean the ones that talk about cuts on pretty much all of the other lines as well.

 

Everyone stand and move one cruise line to the right.

[ak1004]

1 hour ago, TRLD said:

You mean the ones that talk about cuts on pretty much all of the other lines as well.

 

Everyone stand and move one cruise line to the right.

 

Imagine paying 50%+ more for SS cruise just to find out that they run out of Perrier, Pellegrino and most diet drinks around mid cruise. Not as a one time occurrence, but on a regular basis. Cruise after cruise.  

[ak1004]

btw, none of the luxury lines (SB, SS etc) is refunding the port fees as far as I know.

[JRIH]

43 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

btw, none of the luxury lines (SB, SS etc) is refunding the port fees as far as I know.

Regent does not.

[Mareblu]

I've just responded on another O thread that morphed to this very topic.  In a nutshell, without a long-winded repeat of that post, we've missed a few ports with O over the years, all for what we considered valid reasons, and we were happy the Captain made what we considered wise choices in each instance:  hurricane, strong storm, and the latest is a change to Turkish stops on our forthcoming Vista med cruise.  The reason (reading between O's lines in the email) is unrest in the Middle East.  Okay, Turkey is not that close to the awful conflict there, but there have been mass gatherings in Istanbul and the US and its allies (count us as Australians) are not friends of the month. 

 

We are happy to cruise for the destination, the experience, the ambience, and the excitement of exploring other cultures.  We have fortunately travelled extensively in Turkey, so are happy to sail to wherever (more Greek Islands in this case).  I know many fellow passengers on our roll call are not happy, but life goes on. I

 

'm not a cheerleader for Oceania.  We've sailed with Seabourn (probably our favourite), Silversea, Cunard and NCL.  But we do return often to O, which, despite not being perfect, offers a relaxing and enjoyable product.  The furthest thing from our minds would be demanding a refund of port charges.  I'm not even interested in how much they are in value.

[osandomir]

I suspect that even if they’re returned no amount of taxes and port charges would affect customer dissatisfaction with the excessive port cancellations and poor communication on the Oceania part. That amount is really insignificant in comparison with the messing up of the travel experience.

Edited March 5 by osandomir

[Vallesan]

30 minutes ago, Mareblu said:

I've just responded on another O thread that morphed to this very topic.  In a nutshell, without a long-winded repeat of that post, we've missed a few ports with O over the years, all for what we considered valid reasons, and we were happy the Captain made what we considered wise choices in each instance:  hurricane, strong storm, and the latest is a change to Turkish stops on our forthcoming Vista med cruise.  The reason (reading between O's lines in the email) is unrest in the Middle East.  Okay, Turkey is not that close to the awful conflict there, but there have been mass gatherings in Istanbul and the US and its allies.

 

I’m not a cheerleader for Oceania.  We've sailed with Seabourn (probably our favourite), Silversea, Cunard and NCL.  But we do return often to O, which, despite not being perfect, offers a relaxing and enjoyable product.  The furthest thing from our minds would be demanding a refund of port charges.  I'm not even interested in how much they are in value.

I agree with you on both counts.

 

We have sailed on 10 Oceania cruises and I can count on one hand the number of missed ports. Our last three Oceania cruises, which amounted to 44 nights in total, two cruises missed no ports and one, 22nts in the Med August 2022, missed two due to weather. Who would have known the Med had serious storms in August but it did, it was a freak! 
 

Port charges … in the grand scheme of things … a drop in the ocean! They wouldn’t enter my head either.

[Vallesan]

7 minutes ago, osandomir said:

I suspect that even if they’re returned no amount of taxes and port charges would affect customer dissatisfaction with the excessive port cancellations and poor communication on the Oceania part. That amount is really insignificant in comparison with the messing up of the travel experience.

Unfortunately we don’t have the experiences here of ‘satisfied’ customers, of whom I’m one.

 

As I’ve said above we’ve had very few port changes or cancellations in all of our 10 Oceania cruises, in Europe, the Caribbean and Asia. Surely that can’t just be down to ‘luck’. 
 

I think the ‘majority’ of satisfied customers just never post here. If the dissatisfaction was as great as is suggested Oceania would be out of business!

[osandomir]

2 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

Unfortunately we don’t have the experiences here of ‘satisfied’ customers, of whom I’m one.

 

As I’ve said above we’ve had very few port changes or cancellations in all of our 10 Oceania cruises, in Europe, the Caribbean and Asia. Surely that can’t just be down to ‘luck’. 
 

I think the ‘majority’ of satisfied customers just never post here. If the dissatisfaction was as great as is suggested Oceania would be out of business!

My post wasn’t about the general dissatisfaction with the line. No one would be satisfied with for whatever reason missed port. But for most of the people, us included, that’s not enough to abandon Oceania and miss otherwise very good experience onboard. I just said that refund of taxes and port charges wouldn’t affect the dissatisfaction with the skipped port, not that it would influence the decision to sail with them one way or another, at least not for us.

[Vallesan]

5 minutes ago, osandomir said:

My post wasn’t about the general dissatisfaction with the line. No one would be satisfied with for whatever reason missed port. But for most of the people, us included, that’s not enough to abandon Oceania and miss otherwise very good experience onboard. I just said that refund of taxes and port charges wouldn’t affect the dissatisfaction with the skipped port, not that it would influence the decision to sail with them one way or another, at least not for us.

Sorry if I misinterpreted your post.

When we travel, no matter by which means, ‘stuff’ happens. I guess missed ports are just one thing, like late or cancelled flights, pre-ordered transport not turning up, luggage getting lost. All are just part and parcel of ‘travelling’ these days. Obviously there’s no need to be ‘satisfied’ with any of the above but  ‘acceptance’ is the probably the best way to  enjoy ‘the joy of travelling’!

[IDL]

We were on the Vista last year and missed a port due to bad weather.  Though there was no credit issued for missing the port we did receive a credit for missing the Oceana booked excursion at that port. 

[EJL2023]

Rather a newbie here to cruising. But just looked and we have had 26 different ports scheduled on our Oceania cruises, ranging from the Baltics, Mediterranean and Caribbean.  We have had 1 port cancelled and that was just this past January in Costa Maya, MX.  It was obviously due to weather. They actually tried to dock and were probably within 50 feet of the end of the dock but the water was just too rough and the harbormaster came flying by on a boat and you could see it was being indicated as a no go.  Oh, and it was sunny outside!!! So one cancelled port for obvious reason. Also, not sure Oceania would have went to such an effort to dock if it is in their financial interest to cancel ports as so often indicated as a fact on here. And no, we didn’t receive a port refund and never entered our mind. Received refunds for our cancelled excursion on our account within an hour……you know, that lost revenue Oceania incurred by missing the port.  

[Sdancer]

On 3/4/2024 at 5:44 AM, ak1004 said:

 

I'm curious where are you going to move? Have you read other lines reviews?

To answer your question: traveling is our many years long hobby. Cruising is only a part of it.

We will take a break from regular cruising for a while; might or might not look at some expedition cruises. 

We go for destinations and experience.

For example, last year we were on a very basic no-rills  16-passenger with 7 crew members local boat in Galapagos and visited 7 islands. Our days started at 4:30 am. The food was a fixed menu and very basic. It was one of the most memorable trips for us.

 

We have a booking for a European river cruise with a top notch company which did not make any cuts and never will.

 

We went on Sirena to see the Panama Canal. 

The Oceania lost its way by cutting staff and lowering food and service standard.

We had Maitre D bussing tables at the Buffet every single day/meal and the person in charge of ALL restaurants (forgot the title) serving at the Buffet; 

waiters were bussing their own tables in restaurants - we had to wait 15 minutes in Toscan restaurant at the table full of dirty dishes until a waiter finally took it away;

there were only a few tiny pieces of lobster in lobster pad in the Red Ginger. 

 

This very smart and thorough review sums up very well why we are not returning to Oceania.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=712092

[ak1004]

1 hour ago, Sdancer said:

To answer your question: traveling is our many years long hobby. Cruising is only a part of it.

We will take a break from regular cruising for a while; might or might not look at some expedition cruises. 

We go for destinations and experience.

For example, last year we were on a very basic no-rills  16-passenger with 7 crew members local boat in Galapagos and visited 7 islands. Our days started at 4:30 am. The food was a fixed menu and very basic. It was one of the most memorable trips for us.

 

We have a booking for a European river cruise with a top notch company which did not make any cuts and never will.

 

We went on Sirena to see the Panama Canal. 

The Oceania lost its way by cutting staff and lowering food and service standard.

We had Maitre D bussing tables at the Buffet every single day/meal and the person in charge of ALL restaurants (forgot the title) serving at the Buffet; 

waiters were bussing their own tables in restaurants - we had to wait 15 minutes in Toscan restaurant at the table full of dirty dishes until a waiter finally took it away;

there were only a few tiny pieces of lobster in lobster pad in the Red Ginger. 

 

This very smart and thorough review sums up very well why we are not returning to Oceania.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=712092

 

Thank you.

 

I read the review. Our experience with food on Riviera and Regatta was very different. But then again, it's matter of expectations. Is a couple hundred bucks for a 50 minute massage exorbitant? Of course it is, but those are the prices on all cruise lines. This is why we don't do massages on cruise ships. Some of the other points are equally ridiculous. But obviously everyone is entitled to their opinion.

[ORV]

Their statement  "I’m long on suspicions and short on facts. " pretty much sums up the whole review for me. 

 

Did you write that or just parrot a lot of what they said?

[dcrambler]

On 3/2/2024 at 10:14 AM, ORV said:

Concerning the port fees. For those of you that don't know. This was settled in a Florida court 10-15 years ago. Oceania doesn't list them as a separate line item on the invoice so therefore doesn't have to refund them when ports are missed. But good luck to anyone that wants to take them to court again.

Business decision to not separate the charges to increase revenue.  The way around having to refund when a port is missed.  As long as one knows up front this is the case all is good.  Seems most if not all mid to luxury lines follow this practice.  All about expectations.

[basor]

1 hour ago, dcrambler said:

Business decision to not separate the charges to increase revenue.  The way around having to refund when a port is missed.  As long as one knows up front this is the case all is good.  Seems most if not all mid to luxury lines follow this practice.  All about expectations.

Also they don't add any port taxes when they add/substitute a port....

[Snaefell3]

10 minutes ago, basor said:

Also they don't add any port taxes when they add/substitute a port....

Nor when the price of lobster or fuel oil rises.

 

Other lines are required to refund port fees because they keep them as separate line items so the "fare" they advertise can be lower.  O does not.

 

(Yeah, we aren't mentioning O's "2 for 1" nonsense 😉 )

[1985rz1]

13 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

(Yeah, we aren't mentioning O's "2 for 1" nonsense 😉 )

Wait...it's not nonsense...during O's Happy Hours..🍸🍸