BIG Applause to Oceania!! Guests will now receive hard copy documentation!!

[Thought2go]

6/5/24

Guests to receive “prior to embarkation, the newly relaunched Cruise Vacation Guide will include a personalized welcome letter from Oceania Cruises President, Frank A. Del Rio, a 'Welcome Aboard' booklet with general cruise information and a deck-by-deck guide per vessel, four reusable luggage tags and personalized luggage tag inserts that are customized with the guest's name, sail date, ship and stateroom and color coordinated based on booking category.”

 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oceania-cruises-relaunches-personalized-cruise-vacation-guide-302163927.html

Edited June 9 by Thought2go

[thebsinmiss]

There are several threads on "blue envelope" and its return with Oceania.  We received ours in early May for a June sailing.  Definitely a classy touch.  Not a lot of content but the luggage tags are very nice  

[Vallesan]

2 hours ago, thebsinmiss said:

There are several threads on "blue envelope" and its return with Oceania.  We received ours in early May for a June sailing.  Definitely a classy touch.  Not a lot of content but the luggage tags are very nice  

Yes I think they started again from April. Not as ‘personal’ as the old ones but it’s  still a bit of a ‘thrill’ when the envelope arrives! Far better than the totally impersonal ‘electronic’ documentation.

[lorimay]

I'm not quite sure why the return of this documentation deserves big applause. I have my blue envelope right in front of me for our July sailing. We received it about two weeks ago. It contains the "personalized" letter (has my name at the top and the name of the journey at the bottom) which is a generic letter with no useful information. There are four "do it yourself" paper luggage tags, which might be useful but they changed our stateroom without telling us so the number on the tags is wrong. These go inside the four plastic colorful luggage tag holders. Then there is the completely generic booklet with deck plans for the ship. One thing missing - no copy of the itinerary. I'm still going to have to print that out myself.

 

I would rather they save money on this and the multitude of sales brochures I receive weekly and lower the prices. 

[Vallesan]

44 minutes ago, lorimay said:

I'm not quite sure why the return of this documentation deserves big applause. I have my blue envelope right in front of me for our July sailing. We received it about two weeks ago. It contains the "personalized" letter (has my name at the top and the name of the journey at the bottom) which is a generic letter with no useful information. There are four "do it yourself" paper luggage tags, which might be useful but they changed our stateroom without telling us so the number on the tags is wrong. These go inside the four plastic colorful luggage tag holders. Then there is the completely generic booklet with deck plans for the ship. One thing missing - no copy of the itinerary. I'm still going to have to print that out myself.

 

I would rather they save money on this and the multitude of sales brochures I receive weekly and lower the prices. 

Some of us are prepared to have a little more included in the price just for the small ‘thrill’ of getting the envelope and realising that the cruise is close.

 

I doubt a  £20 or so pounds reduction, for what  that the new documentation costs, would really make me happy. I like that silly little ‘thrill’. 

[WESTEAST]

36 minutes ago, lorimay said:

I'm not quite sure why the return of this documentation deserves big applause. I have my blue envelope right in front of me for our July sailing. We received it about two weeks ago. It contains the "personalized" letter (has my name at the top and the name of the journey at the bottom) which is a generic letter with no useful information. There are four "do it yourself" paper luggage tags, which might be useful but they changed our stateroom without telling us so the number on the tags is wrong. These go inside the four plastic colorful luggage tag holders. Then there is the completely generic booklet with deck plans for the ship. One thing missing - no copy of the itinerary. I'm still going to have to print that out myself.

 

I would rather they save money on this and the multitude of sales brochures I receive weekly and lower the prices. 

Wish we could get away from calling the booklet a 'blue envelope' as it has not been the old blue version for some time.  Our cruise booklet differs from what you have stated which is interesting. We've sailed many times since Covid (most recent in March), and our booklets have had a themed cover to the cruise destination e.g., bagpipes for UK, shrine for Japan, etc. The cruise itinerary was on an inner page with the map. Luggage tags that were included in the booklet (with minimal personalization and no shore excursion document) were plasticized paper with our names and stateroom - there were no colourful tag holders. A downsized booklet but still a nice memento. Noteworthy is that we have received a significant decrease in advertising brochures this year - maybe one every month if that!  

[Vallesan]

7 minutes ago, WESTEAST said:

Wish we could get away from calling the booklet a 'blue envelope' as it has not been the old blue version for some time.  Our cruise booklet differs from what you have stated which is interesting. We've sailed many times since Covid (most recent in March), and our booklets have had a themed cover to the cruise destination e.g., bagpipes for UK, shrine for Japan, etc. The cruise itinerary was on an inner page with the map. Luggage tags that were included in the booklet (with minimal personalization and no shore excursion document) were plasticized paper with our names and stateroom - there were no colourful tag holders. A downsized booklet but still a nice memento. Noteworthy is that we have received a significant decrease in advertising brochures this year - maybe one every month if that!  

In the UK we only had ‘electronic’ information until April of this year. Obviously it was different in Canada.

[Psoque]

I personally would never miss getting these.  I really see no real value in more mailings from Oceania, whether it is “personalize” or not.  I would rather have Oceania save money on this as well as their brochures (we get them almost three times a week, despite our multiple formal request for them to stop them) instead of cutting the actual services onboard.

[Harters]

1 hour ago, lorimay said:

I'm not quite sure why the return of this documentation deserves big applause.

Me neither. We had the paper copy for our 2017 cruise but everything was electronic for the 2023 one and the one earlier this year. I havent missed it at all - everything I needed was online. But it is what it is - and it's no doubt correct for O to treat its customers outside North America the same as those inside.

[ORV]

Maybe it's the timing of when I've cruised, but I've always had some type of mailed documents. From what I've read some in other countries haven't. 

 

FWIW, my January cruise on Marina had the Themed cover, while our April cruise on Regatta had the Blue envelope and the inserts described in the Press release. 

 

BUT, those of us that have cruised Oceania for the past 15 years or more know that the mailer has always been a part of what they send to you, along with the Final documents by email, which really have the important information in them. 

 

Perhaps there was a short time when they didn't send anything out, but obviously I didn't cruise in that time period. Just as a data point my last Oceania cruise pre covid was in Dec of 2019 and my next one after the restart was Sept of 2022, then again March 23 and Jun of 23. I got a pre cruise booklet on all of those. 

 

My point is I'm not sure exactly what this is all about. The only thing I can figure is the return of the Blue envelope and the NEW style luggage tags, which I posted about with pictures in March of this year. 

[clo]

6 hours ago, lorimay said:

I'm not quite sure why the return of this documentation deserves big applause.

Nor I. And things like that cost a ton of money. And it gave no new info whatsoever.

[ronrick1943]

It's no big deal, but I think if the luggage tags are personalize with suite/cabin number--that makes it easier and legible to get your luggage to your suite.  And ready to go at the port - you don't need to scribble it out and try to put it on at the entrance.😁

[edgee]

On 6/9/2024 at 12:33 PM, Psoque said:

I personally would never miss getting these.  I really see no real value in more mailings from Oceania, whether it is “personalize” or not.  I would rather have Oceania save money on this as well as their brochures (we get them almost three times a week, despite our multiple formal request for them to stop them) instead of cutting the actual services onboard.

I just received my blue folder/kit or whatever you call it for July cruise. The damn things don't even have a copy of the itinerary...just luggage tags and a brief pre printed listing of the date and number of days of our cruise as part of a welcome letter.. That's it in terms of personalization to go along with the pretty brochure about the ship and pre printed info about policies/services available on the cruise.

[ORV]

On 6/9/2024 at 12:10 PM, ORV said:

along with the Final documents by email, which really have the important information in them. 

 

1 hour ago, edgee said:

I just received my blue folder/kit or whatever you call it for July cruise. The damn things don't even have a copy of the itinerary...just luggage tags and a brief pre printed listing of the date and number of days of our cruise as part of a welcome letter.. That's it in terms of personalization to go along with the pretty brochure about the ship and pre printed info about policies/services available on the cruise.

Let me reemphasize the statement I made in post #10. The Final Documents and your Boarding Pass are the important things you need. The other stuff is just fluff, although some of it might be beneficial to new cruisers to Oceania. 

[Thought2go]

On 6/9/2024 at 4:22 AM, Thought2go said:

and personalized luggage tag inserts that are customized with the guest's name, sail date, ship and stateroom and color coordinated based on booking category.

While a lot of the package may be “fluff”- especially to the 44% of return Oceania guests Oceania books-

i would imagine the color coordinated luggage tags will be helpful to staff in getting one’s luggage to their cabins quicker and hopefully results in quicker embarkation.

While I haven’t seen these tags yet- it is also entirely possible there is, or will be, embedded codes on them so AI could sort pre boarding. Similar to what airports use. All the new ship additions and extended cruises to Oceania will increase luggage intake going forward.

Edited June 10 by Thought2go

[Thought2go]

1 hour ago, edgee said:

That's it in terms of personalization to go along with the pretty brochure about the ship and pre printed info about policies/services available on the cruise.

From another thread -on pool chair hogs- and Oceania rules, this was included in a recent boarding packet.

It maybe will stop those who feel entitled to inconvenience other cruisers onboard.

 

Edited June 10 by Thought2go

[ORV]

30 minutes ago, Thought2go said:

While I haven’t seen these tags yet- it is also entirely possible there is, or will be, embedded codes on them so AI could sort pre boarding

Now you're amusing me. Don't know what lines you've been on before, but you're giving their IT dept WAY too much credit. Next thing you know you'll be wanting them to have an app. LOL

 

FYI, they've always had preprinted luggage tags, they just changed the style. They were always color coordinated, with the same information as they have now. 

[Redtravel]

Why?  Before the pandemic, we got glossy individual brochures .  Since resuming sailing, we seldom got any docs.  Last year, we had one cruise that we never got luggage tags. It was ok. Got to the dock and had tags attached. It was ok. It saves paper.  I had thought that Oceania was being green by eliminating those docs. They aren’t necessary.  

[MomC]

On 6/9/2024 at 9:25 AM, lorimay said:

I'm not quite sure why the return of this documentation deserves big applause. I have my blue envelope right in front of me for our July sailing. We received it about two weeks ago. It contains the "personalized" letter (has my name at the top and the name of the journey at the bottom) which is a generic letter with no useful information. There are four "do it yourself" paper luggage tags, which might be useful but they changed our stateroom without telling us so the number on the tags is wrong. These go inside the four plastic colorful luggage tag holders. Then there is the completely generic booklet with deck plans for the ship. One thing missing - no copy of the itinerary. I'm still going to have to print that out myself.

 

I would rather they save money on this and the multitude of sales brochures I receive weekly and lower the prices. 

 

[MomC]

Some people complain no matter what.  Since other cruise lines, even premium ones, have gone away from it, to me it is a bid deal and I applaud them!  So it costs $10 per booking to send them out, to those of us who see the glass as half full, and have cruised for 40 years and were used to getting them, I was thrilled and immediately called my friends to see if they got theirs.  I didn’t get anything from Regent for my cruise in March and I probably won’t get anything for my upcoming Crystal cruises.  It is gestures like this that say we appreciate you and look forward to your getting aboard. 

[ORV]

So if anyone want to see what they're all about. 

 

 

[clo]

On 6/10/2024 at 12:11 PM, ORV said:

FYI, they've always had preprinted luggage tags, they just changed the style. They were always color coordinated, with the same information as they have now. 

They are quite attractive.

[mnocket]

Once again, Cruise Critic demonstrates that different people are different😁 I've never understood rubber ducks or bringing little stuffed animals to the dinner table either, but some people really enjoy it. If it makes them happy, I'm happy for them. 

[Cliff-FLL]

16 hours ago, mnocket said:

Once again, Cruise Critic demonstrates that different people are different😁 I've never understood rubber ducks or bringing little stuffed animals to the dinner table either,

...and this is why we always choose "No" for sharing a table. 😶

[1985rz1]

23 hours ago, mnocket said:

Once again, Cruise Critic demonstrates that different people are different😁 I've never understood rubber ducks or bringing little stuffed animals to the dinner table either, but some people really enjoy it. If it makes them happy, I'm happy for them. 

Does a stuffed turkey count as a little stuffed animal...I don't mean an annoying table mate who overeats.