Holland America vs Oceania Part III

[jazzsea]

So how were the tours, services at the front desk, the show lounges and the Entertainment?

 

I'll start with entertainment. Shani, the assistant cruise director, was wonderful. Too bad her beautiful voice was wasted in a show lounge with such a lousy sound system. Jerry, the piano player in Martini's lounge was great, too. You could listen to Jerry while sitting in this cute lounge after dinner. Warning: Martini's cost $9.00 + 18% gratuity added to your bill. $10.62 There was a string quartet that played outside the ship's shops and they were very, very good. Rumor has it that they are leaving the ship tomorrow in Copenhagen.

 

Entertainment for most people was having dinner. Service was slow and leisurely. No rush at all. Several times we asked for our food to arrive sooner and we were accommodated, but not graciously. (I am so spoiled by the polite and friendly waiters with Holland America.) For the most part, though, the service was good; even great sometimes.

 

Each restaurant has a waiting area with a cocktail bar. This area was the natural meeting area before dinner. It worked well accept on sea days when all of the lounges were full.

 

Dealing with the Shore Excursion desk was a nightmare. (They call it "Destination Services.) No information was available on the ports of call in advance of our arrival. If you did not take a cruise line tour you were pretty much out of luck. Fortunately, I had done tons of research and had figured out what to do. What I didn't count on was the ship being docked so far away from civilization. In several cases, we were docked in cargo terminal areas. These areas are called "hard hat" areas for a reason.

 

Imagine a cold, windy, rainy day docked at Leith, Scotland. Weather be darned, we were going to get to Edinburgh. We walked about six blocks until we spotted a local bus, paid our £2 for a round trip ticket and went to Edinburgh. While there we toured on our own, ducked in and out of tea shops and pubs to get dry and basically enjoyed ourselves. Fun day, but others were not so fortunate.

 

I spent an hour sitting just close enough to the Destination Services desk to hear every word. I can't believe how the passengers that complained about their tours were treated. The DS staff was rude and very unkind to some of these passengers. Most of the complaints centered around tours offered that listed certain, specific stops that were later bypassed on the actual tour. In another case the guide on the motorcoach spoke little English. One man raised his voice. He did not shout but you could hear the anger in his voice. The DS manager threatened him. "Be quiet or we will put you off of the ship." I had another listening session later in the cruise, hoping that the first session that I heard had been a mistake. Sorry. Those people were just as rude and mean to the passengers as they had been the first time.

 

 

We actually took a cruise line tour when we were in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands. It was a fine tour and we enjoyed it very much. After Kirkwall, we had a lovely day at sea. Most of us had fogotten how nice sunshine could be. When we docked in the harbor in Dublin I couldn't figure out where we were. I hoped for a map or at least directions to the number 58 bus. No one on the dock had a clue. (Both Dublin and Edinburgh also have hop-on/hop-off sightseeing buses.) We waited and waited around the embarkation area of the ship for a taxi. No taxis. So we walked through the hard hat area looking where we walked and above our heads. Six or seven blocks later we found an exit from the cargo port, turned left and started looking for taxis or the number 58 bus. A taxi came by and took us to Trinity College at the foot of Grafton Street. As good a place as any to start a walking tour.

 

Our taxi driver told us that cabs were not allowed where the ship was docked because they had not been invited in to this security restricted area by Oceania Cruises. They could take us back to the ship, which was a relief.

 

Passengers had lots of complaints about the lack of transportation in Dublin and I listened again, but only for a few minutes. This time I was actually standing in line to find out what plans the ship had to get us into Waterford the next day.

 

The cruise line opted for a 16 passenger bus to take passengers to and from Waterford City. We stood in line for half an hour and finally stepped out of line when we saw a taxi. Six of us jumped in the taxi and went to the Waterford Visitor's Center. The walking tour of Waterford started from this lovely shop with brochures and souveniers. The walking tour was €5 per person and was terrific. Ask for Jack if you decide to do this tour.

 

The next time you walk around the shore excursions office of a Holland America Line ship, count your blessings. When you have a map of the next port of call on your bed the night before, count your blessings. Same goes for the fella selling bottled water or handing out towels.

 

It still doesn't hurt to research your ports of call, but at least on HAL you will receive help if and when you need it.

 

Have you been on a Holland America Ship that takes your passport from you? Did you notice that Holland America gave you a receipt for the passport and told you that you would need the receipt to pick up your passport? On Oceania, they take your passport but don't give you a receipt. According to the US STATE DEPARTMENT, taking the passport and not giving a receipt is against the law.

 

FYI: I always suggest to my clients that they photo copy the front page of their passport. Put one copy in their wallet and leave one copy with a family member or neighbor. Don't have a passport? Get one.

 

Laundry prices were very reasonable both for wash, iron and fold and dry cleaning.

 

Internet pricing was double what Holland America Line charges per minute. Roughly $1.00 a minute.

 

Drinks were expensive as were some of the wines. The $20.00 corkage fee really angered lots of people. It was recently raised from $12 in the spring.

Smoking is prohibited in cabins, balconies and throughout the ship. The two designated smoking sections were full most of the time.

 

Paying a 17.5% VAT charge on all items purchased in the duty free shops got to me. Even more so when I stopped at customs at London Gatwick and found that the address given by the ship on their form for VAT refund was incorrect. I wrote on an earlier post about the day I talked to the front desk about VAT. I was told that since we never left the British Isles we would have to pay the tax. I asked about our two stops in Ireland (Dublin and Waterford) and was told that Ireland is part of the UK. I was dumbfounded. Oh well. I plan to get the VAT back, somehow.

 

Final notes: This ship would probably be excellent for small groups that travel together and that are computer savy enough to arrange their own shore excursions. The Oceania Board on Cruise Critic and on Yahoo is very good. Lots of good advice available.

 

Not for me. And probably not for the Holland America passenger that likes verandah cabins. If you want to try something really deluxe and want a verandah, try Radisson Mariner or Radisson Voyager. Both of these ships are lovely and Radisson, like Holland America Line, delivers what it advertises.

 

questions? jazzsea@aol.com

[gizmo]

Thankss for your review. I enjoyed reading it. I often wonderd what this line was like and how it would compare to Hal.

[sail7seas]

Thank you for a wonderful, comprehensive review. It is so informative and well organized it was easy to determine those things I liked the sound of and those that didn't please me about Oceana.

 

 

I do NOT think we shall be booking that cruiseline anytime in the near future.

Too many things that I put on my negative list.

 

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to share with us.

[jasl]

Am booked on Oceania for next February, but your report makes me wonder whether to cancel. THANK YOU for your detailed description, which is not that negative, but seems to make the HAL experience so much better.

[jazzsea]

Is your cruise with Oceania a South America cruise? If so, you may want to stay with it. I have a friend (from the Yahoo Board) that will be escorting people on these SA cruises. You may want to talk to her about Oceania before you cancel. She just loves Oceania.

[Roadwork]

Thank You very much. This was interesting to read. We have thought about Oceania a couple of times but were waiting to see how this cruise line did.

[Jacqueline]

Sounds like they still have a way to go if they want to have loyal repeat customers !

[phlewt]

My wife and I have been on three Holland America cruises. We enjoyed all of them very much. However, we have booked Oceania for a December 17 South America itinerary.

 

Holland America offers a similar itinerary on the Amsterdam (1380 passengers) departing on Jan 5, 2005. This itinerary is 20 days long and goes from Valparaiso to Rio. The Oceania cruise we booked is on the Insignia (684 passengers) and goes from Valparaiso to Buenos Aires in 17 days. We booked a 322 square foot "penthouse suite" on the Insignia. It would appear that a 284 square foot "verandah suite" on the Amsterdam is similar. Oceania is offering free air and 2-for-1 fares on their cruise, which comes out to approximately $5500 per person (including port charges, air taxes, transfers, etc.). I'm not sure what is included in the price listed on Holland America's web page for their cruise, but the price shown is approximately $9800 per person.

 

When we get back, we will be ready to offer a second opinion regarding the Holland America vs. Oceania debate.

[jazzsea]

I think you will have a wonderful time on Insignia. It is hard to beat their pricing when it includes free air. The only suggestions that I would make would be for you to research your ports of call very well before you leave and have a good idea of the sightseeing possibilities.

 

My biggest complaint against Oceania was their "Destination Services" department aboard.

 

I really loved the ship. Pack as though you might have to use your suitcases as drawers. We had two bags under each side of the bed. Those bags made up for the lack of drawer space. We were also in a Penthouse. We used the couch for items that we used every day. I hope you have Carlos as your butler. He was magnificent.