ORV

1 hour ago, basor said:

I am unclear why you are still on the this forum since you made it abundantly clear how unhappy you were with O and would not sail again and only post your highly negative post ... we know how you feel and this post does not add anything productive ...

It's pretty obvoius. This is why this poster's constant anti-Oceania diatribe should be ignored. 

As I mentioned before, it's exactly this constant repetition that makes those new to Oceania think the problem, or situation is larger than it is. 

39 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

I didn't read it properly.  I thought they were beyond final payment on both sailings.

 

I would assume that one could spend extra after final payment, buying excursions, drink packages and such to trigger the offer, if it made sense.  In my case, I don't think it does.  One of the few times we'll be sailing without a drink package, but Oceania seems to have a generous policy in terms of what you can bring aboard.

I did put the required spend once toward OBC, which was refundable, so anything we didn’t use we got back in cash at the end of the cruise. 

18 minutes ago, nuevowavo said:

"But apart from that, yes, it's across marketing, it's across the things on the vessel that the customers really don't value.

So are you assuming that they will cut the mailings as it's marketing? I wouldn't bet on that. There are a lot of things under the marketing umbrella. As much as many people don't care for the mailings they are proven to work. 

I've actually started to notice more TV ads for Oceania than in the past. 

I'm more concerned about what they might perceive as things we don't value on the vessel. I'd like to see that list. 

15 minutes ago, iowananny said:

I just wish they would have one day turn around on laundry.  I don't mind doing my own laundry but on the smaller ships it can be very difficult to get a machine.  I would gladly pay 15 to 20 dollars to get a bag of laundry done if I could get it back the next day.  When my mom was alive we cruised on Carnival with her and they always offered a laundry bag that you could put up to 20 items in and it was returned the next day for the price of $15.  The prices for next day service on O are just too high for the individual items.  They want me to pay more to wash my underwear than I paid for it in the first place.  I do wash things in the sink and that helps but it is one of the reasons I don't like the smaller ships.  We like to pack fairly light and do laundry at least once.  On our last cruise on Sirena we never were able to snag a washer and I wasn't going to spend my trip heading to the laundry room waiting for  washer.  

We eat dinner early so I found on Regatta that after dinner, around 8 was an excellent time to have the run of the laundry on Regatta. 

46 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

Just to be clear, you paid £1000 more than your final payment price?  Did you spend that, or later, request a refund for the balance?

How did you get that? I don't see that at all. 

39 minutes ago, JDPCruisers said:

We are considering Oceania for the first time (Vista for ~3 or 4 weeks) but from reading many of these posts it seems like those have cruised her repeatedly are disappointed on the current product and direction it seems to be headed in. We would be coming from Celebrity (Retreat suites) and looking for a less hectic experience (meaning less people) and a higher crew to passenger ratio for the service and amenities but maybe that is not necessarily the case on Oceania anymore? We are early and late 60's, would we be considered part of the "younger crowd" with limited choices on getting a cocktail or listening to some music later into the evening? So, am interested in thoughts on the recent/current overall experience those have been having and what we should likely expect. Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

Did you notice any of the positive comments, or just focus on the negative? I'd keep away from the review section here, but I know what to expect from the product, so really don't need to read about it. I can see why someone new would though. 

Truly, I've read comments from others on the same cruise as I'm on, and I'd swear we were on completely different ships. But, I don't go looking for every little thing I can find wrong, I go on vacation to have a good time. 

I've never been in the Retreat on Celebrity, I don't see the value, but I've been on plenty of cruises with them in other rooms. I like Celebrity, but it's a completely different product. I would recommend giving Oceania a try and seeing how it suits you. Hundreds of people a week going on them can't be all wrong. 

3 minutes ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

You can order take out?  To eat in your room, on a lounger at the pool, to take on a long excursion, or whatever/wherever?  Or do you just take your meal to the Terrace, out back, to join your Terrace-loving travel partner?

You're not allowed to take it off the ship in most ports, so that one is out. Found that a little interesting concept also for a cruise ship. I guess you just take it wherever you want. 

40 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

See post #2 above.  Perhaps you can find the video that someone staying in a PH on the current voyage had posted. I was able to find it yesterday but for the life of me can’t locate it since I watched it yesterday. But….per the video the PH had been completely refurbished including the updated bathroom with the large shower and corner storage unit similar to the Vista verandah staterooms. It looked really nice. 

I just looked at it. We can't put a link to FB, but it's there. 

13 hours ago, basor said:

I think with the success of Aquamar and the evening pizza in Waves on Visa, they decided to redo those public areas instead of the extensive refurbish of the other cabins...,choice of where to spend time and $$$$...those refurbishments were not part of the original plan.  Riviera does not have those.....

Actually Riviera does have the evening pizza at Waves Grill. 

6 hours ago, Vallesan said:

Hi. What is a kneeling step? I’ve never seen or heard of this before.

It's where the bus has air shocks that allow it to lower the front closer to the ground while you are getting on and off. I'm sure you've seen them. Unless I'm mistaken. 

12 hours ago, judi666 said:

The specialty restaurants have the same menu throughout the cruise.  

Actually, with very minimal changes the menus haven't changed much in 20 years. That's by design. I can't imagine even on an R ship, that I would run out of choices I like if I ate there 2 or 3 times in a 20 day cruise. 

I was on the cruise after yours and ate in Polo twice, enjoyed both times. But we all like different things. 

It sounds like for various reasons Oceania wasn't a fit for you. I've noticed when this or that goes wrong, or doesn't suit me, it can color my whole experience. 

7 minutes ago, iowananny said:

Are we able to book without SM?

No, 

The bathrooms are new in the PH levels, at least some of them. I saw a video on FB earlier today. looks nice. 

For the GDR my observations say that it depends on which meal it is. Many times at lunch (when they have it, usually sea day) I've noticed they will sit most of the diners in the same basic area. Since there are so few compared to other meals it keeps the wait staff from running all over the room. 

21 minutes ago, clo said:

That absolutely happens in land restaurants.

The former or the latter?

Not that I'll be using them but I've seen a good offer for HAL and Cunard on my card the last couple of days. 

2 hours ago, pinotlover said:

the cheerleaders will quickly bring up, the demographics of the R ship passengers are typically much older than on the other ships. So much so that some refuse to cruise R ships on that account. A friend we’ve sailed with in the past was talking about his extended holiday cruise. He said “I’ve never seen so many wheelchairs, scooters, and walkers on one ship in my life.

Sounds like Passage on The Lady Anne. I watched this last night, two great lines "We are the only people here younger than 75" and "It's like a floating nursing home." This was from 1963. 

I've never had a complaint where they seat us. After the first or second day they generally know we want a two top, we never request a specific spot, but generally are seated by a window. Actually depending on the hostess they usually know our name and room number by day 3 or so. I'm amazed how they do that. 

5 hours ago, Redtravel said:

It is more likely a way to distribute guests so that people don’t fill up one section of the GDR.  

It would seem to me they can do that without knowing your room number. 

48 minutes ago, clo said:

We live on the Left Coast so could sign in at 9:01PM PDT. Don't try to sign in ahead. I just booked 45 days out and there were loads of times available, early to late. But, yeah, no sea days.

Did you book alone or sharing?

1 minute ago, retep55555 said:

We are first timers on Oceania and really looking forward to the experience.  Does Oceania come under the Carnival umbrella?  If so we are shareholders so can someone advise the process for having the appropriate OBC added to our account please.  Thank you

That was just probably a mistype. Oceania is under NCL, or before someone corrects me, NCLH.  umbrella.

2 hours ago, Woofa said:

Just a follow after many good responses and a little more research.  

Apologies if all that I am about to say is not 100% accurate, these things are too complex to do just some research but I believe from what I have read the following is basically true.

I think part of the issue is O's decision to offer the excursion credit as opposed to just a free excursion in each port, which while as I have stated is IMO a good thing, it can be confusing.  This makes some people believe that they are in fact paying for that credit.  In fact, you are paying a higher price for the cruise and getting a credit which lets you (possibly) make choices on which excursion to choose.  Having read multiple topics for other lines now including Viking, Regent, Silver sea and Seabourne, which all seem to have an included excursion per port, none of these will reimburse you (from what I have read) for any cancellation of that "included" excursion.  And to be clear, only O gives you even the possibility of choosing your included excursion Amongst any of the excursion options even if you have to pay more to make up the difference. All, including O will reimburse you for actual, out of pocket excursions you choose to pay for.

Plenty of people on the topics for those cruise lines also unhappy that they do not get anything back.  Of course if you do not have a glass of wine with dinner, you don't get that money back either.

 

Now, in regards to the missing time/cancelled ports issue, it is really difficult to discuss as no one has, as of yet been able to find industry data to support their claims that O is worse.  From what I have read, they probably are.  However, every line on CC indicates issues.

What I would say is that from what I have read, leaving ports early to support their green initiative is a real thing.  Whether it really works, I have no idea.  whether you agree it is a good thing is just one of those things where you vote with your wallet.

There was also a recent post from someone saying that O management is extremely conservative to make sure no real issues ever arise.

I would venture a guess that like the smaller ships of the luxury lines, O offers more smaller, hard to get to ports which have more tender ports and this combined with a conservative decision making captain could lead to more missed ports.

Regardless, you now know port time can be lowered or ports missed so make your cruising decisions accordingly.  I would never blame anyone for choosing another line which better fits their needs.

One caveat I do not necessarily agree that the majority of O cruisers cruise mainly for the ports.  I would also argue that on a Caribbean cruise like the one we have taken ( and are about to take again), an hour less here and there makes little or no difference.  

While I have no doubt certain cruises like Mediterranean or similar are different, I would guess the majority of cruisers on our cruise were back on the ship for lunch (if they even left in the first place)

 

What's this? A post that makes sense and is not self centered? We can't have that. This is the bashing thread. 

1 hour ago, MarkWiltonM said:

I notice on Marina's deck plans as of today that some of the cabin schematics have changed (e.g., former B3 cabins with extended verandas are now A2 Concierge class, etc.), but the Deck 12 plan is still showing La Reserve and no Aquamar Kitchen. Does anyone know if Oceania followed through with this?

There are at least two people on board that are posting, but nothing about any public areas or changes. You might ask on their thread. 

10 hours ago, roothy123 said:

I've been told that you can get the money you paid back. 

But not the SM part. The other post seemed to imply you get the SM & what you paid. Maybe it was just wording. 

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

On my recent cruise I didn’t notice any increase in staffing of the wine stewards. What I do believe is, as they get to know the individual drinkers, they increase the size of the pour so to not have to come around as often. Those 4-5 Oz pours became 6-7 Oz ones.

Actually I have noticed an increase in the wine servers. As you well know most of them are not Sommeliers, Before SM it seemed impossible to get a second serving, now, in my experience since SM started, there are more servers that are empowered to pour wine. Not sure about other drinks. I've been on Marina and Regatta for 35 days since it started. We've had the SM package on both. 

My wife just showed me a picture from a current review that someone posted on FB that is on Regatta right now and it's the wine menu from Terrace. It's showing the Montaudon currently being served.