Back from Nautica...with a review...

[countryguyinny]

Same old? Maybe to you. This will be my one and only ever cruise. For one thing I cannot afford another one. Plus I will not be able to travel overseas again due to medical problems which are even putting me at the outside edge of being able to go now.

 

I hope it will be one of the most special times of my life. For those who cruise and cruise and cruise, maybe my concern seems out of place. However, I do not think it is polite or appropriate to categorize someone's comments in this manner when you don't know their situation. Chuck

[Bruin Steve]

However, the bottom line, she said, is that there is room on board for everyone. I would not, she assured, be bumped from the cruise.

Chuck,

I think she may be rationalizing just a little bit here...

Chances are that, no, you will not be bumped, even if all you have is that vague Oceania guarantee...

 

Cruise lines know, from experience, what percentage of cancellations they will eventually have...give or take a few cabins...

Oceania does not want to risk sailing with empty cabins...No cruise line does...

 

What many cruise lines do is to "dump" cabins last minute on unadvertised specials to select groups of people--either E-mail lists of folks who live near the embarkation city...or through certain TAs...Often you'll hear of someone getting a too-good-to-be-true last minute special...and that's often how it happens...

 

What Oceania does to minimize their risk appears to be to "overbook" a certain number of cabins--calling it a "guarantee"...

Let's say they know, from experience, that on a typical cruise, out of 342 cabins, 30+/- reservations will dematerialize for one reason or another between final payment and the sail date...And, that this number holds up fairly constantly over the years...Well, they have no qualms in overbooking, say, 20 of those cabins, figuring it's pretty safe the room will open up...and, meanwhile, minimize the number of cabins they'll have to scramble to sell last minute...

 

So, they're not selling them with the idea they won't have room...They're pretty certain they'll have room 90+% of the time...

 

Of course, there's no guarantee...Sometimes the laws of averages just don't work out...What if they overbook by 20 cabins and, just by blind luck, only 15 bookings back out?

 

Well, what they NEED to do at that point, is to search for people willing to accept a deal to move to another date or another ship...and offer them some incentive to do so...If you absolutely won't move for a little onboard credit or an upgraded cabin or a discounted cruise, well, out of 342 cabins, someone else surely will...

 

EXCEPT that a couple of months ago, Oceania screwed up...

There was a controversy on THIS board when on one particular cruise, a mere 3 or 4 days before the sail date, Oceania suddenly notified some passengers that they were being BUMPED...and without any recourse whatsoever...It caused quite a sensation here...with certain posters insinuating that the posts were a hoax--that certainly Oceania would not do this to anyone...

 

Well, turns out it wasn't a hoax...

Frank Del Rio came onto the board and seemed genuinely embarrassed...and promissed to remedy the situation and make amends to the passengers affected...

 

Hopefully, Oceania learned from that incident and it WON'T happen again...

[brian_uk]

Same old? Maybe to you. This will be my one and only ever cruise. For one thing I cannot afford another one. Plus I will not be able to travel overseas again due to medical problems which are even putting me at the outside edge of being able to go now.

 

I hope it will be one of the most special times of my life. For those who cruise and cruise and cruise, maybe my concern seems out of place. However, I do not think it is polite or appropriate to categorize someone's comments in this manner when you don't know their situation. Chuck

 

While not meaning to cause offence....not much anyway....what is the cost difference in booking a Guarantee rather than a specific cabin. If you are unwell then surely a few erxtra dollars to give you peace of mind is worth paying.

 

I wish you well

 

Brian

[ClaudiaF]

really thanks for a comprehensive review. We are saiiling on the 10th Oct Venice to Istanbul. Any recommendations on private tour providers?

 

Tell us the ports you want drivers for and we will surely be able to help you:rolleyes: