blackfoot

A lot of news on the Financial pages- Regent and Oceania may be packaged to generate cash for the Corporate operations. Del Rio's name comes up on the net for a deal. This could be false and someone just guessing on the moves on the board!

Cancel and hope you get your deposit!

Keeping notes on the Cruise Lines customer service/care during the last month.

Oceania just made my future do NOT Cruise list. I added Viking to my future cruise list!

Gilboman- fact check! There are many fables being "reported"!

Sad, this is a media event- it's the latest version of the FLU! This flu season( 2019/2020) 19,000 have died( approx 120/day) in the USA- and this Flu season is considered to mild- These are the facts and not sourced by CNN!

Thinking about it- sailing in late July but 1st deposit will be shortly coming due. If HAL doesn't allow another push out on the deposit, I will cancel.

I happen to think the virus is a media event- it's the flu! But, I do not want to spend big $$ on a boat ride and a logistic nightmare to get home if Europe shuts down/closes Ports etc. I lived in several countries in Europe for years and they will shut it down to isolate themselves if they believe they will be harmed-Cruise ships may not become a welcome sight this Summer!

Read- about 6.

I have 5 cruises booked in 2020 and into 2021. Yesterday I cancelled two cruises for 2021 that required large deposits- I prefer to hold my $ . I am concerned but not panicked for the smaller Luxury (5.5-6 star) lines and didn't want my cash exposed to their debt issues. If this all shakes out for the industry going forward I will book the same cruises.

As they say, only the strong survive- I just don't know who are the strong cruise lines.

Crickets from Oceania!

Oceania needs to join ranks w/ Regent, Windstar and Viking or risk future booking losses- food isn't everything but customer care is!!

51 minutes ago, pingpong1 said:

Hello Everyone - I realize that this is the Oceania board and NOT the Regent board.  However, they are "sister cruise lines" and both answer to the same "higher corporate power".  Regent just issued the following cancellation policy for all cruises beginning between April 3 and Nov 1 of 2020.  I wonder if we might expect Oceania to announce the same "customer-friendly" policy, shortly? Best Regards.

 

"Effective immediately, Regent Seven Seas Cruises is providing you greater confidence with Regent Reassurance. For all voyages beginning April 3, 2020, through November 1, 2020, you can now cancel up to 30 days prior to sailing and receive a 100% Future Cruise Credit, which can be applied to a new booking within one year on any 2020 or 2021 Regent voyage.

Regent Reassurance begins today and applies to all existing bookings plus new bookings made by April 30, 2020, on all voyages from April 3, 2020, through November 1, 2020."

2 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Just saw one of the Princess ships  in California  has a couple of cases

& a woman travelled to Egypt  then  went to  the local seniors centre   near us  & now  testing for the virus

Who knows  how many people  may have been in contact  with her or places  she went

 

China will be safe to go to but the rest of the world will not

 

 

Really- expert opinion from the North!

Correct , but maybe with someone else who performs better than Oceania !

It's not about the flu,virus or whatever it is, it's not the big issue! It's about whether a Oceania cruiser wants to spend $20K for a boat ride because there are few or no ports available. And, how do you get home when you might port a thousand miles from your original departure. Now you have to buy a ticket at the market rate- $5K/ or more if one is available. It's the poor Cruise experience and the logistics nightmare to get home if countries close their borders. I know after living in several places in Europe that they are hypersensitive to issues like these and they WILL close borders etc to isolate.

I have 2 cruises booked on Oceania each more than 20 days. I am still within the cancel period on both but I am watching closely at what Viking and others are offering their clients while they are still clients. I will seriously consider booking elsewhere if Oceania doesn't measure up to their competitors- I expect that they should be most like Regent,Viking, and Crystal in terms of customer service!

Thank you for the comments. Hygiene on Oceania is not a concern nor affordability- value and overall quality are.

Reading today,I am getting concerned about Marina and Oceania because of the recent number of disappointed customers posting( have not read other ship reports). I have sailed on 5 prior Oceania cruises and have 2 more booked on Marina but am starting to rethink my decision.Is Oceania slipping ?- not good for their brand to have reviews posted like that.From the descriptions, it sounds like Oceania is a Princess experience for 2X the price- I never viewed Oceania as a Mass market cruise line!

Appreciate opinions and perspectives. Thank you.

Waiting for ship and need to stay for 2 nights- any suggestions? Thank you

Need a high quality stay in South Hampton( 50th Aniversity) for 2 nights for Oceania departure- want to avoid the London the extreme high price tourist city thing since I lived there for many years. Would appreciate your suggestions! Thank you

Does anyone know when Windsurf will be going into the yards for a long overdo refit?

Thanks Jeff,I was afraid of that!I have a trip booked on Oceania in Sept. to the Baltic and I am seriously thinking about cancelling because of the crowds. I do not want to visit ports jammed w/ tourists from too many Cruise ships and now tour buses pouring into the Port cities.I started noticing on  the last 2 Oceania cruises we took of the Port overcrowding.

It's hard to justify spending over $20K to be in places w/ hoards of tourists- I am not buying the idea submitted on this board to stay on board and enjoy the ship and not go into the Port but Walking in large groups behind a flag bearer for hours isn't appealing to me as well!

It seems like every port is overrun w/ cruisers- way too many ships in port( Alaska, N Europe, of course the Med and now S. America ).  I am starting to re think cruising in the future because of the over crowding in port. Just wondering if others are seeing the same thing?

From the input , I changed my flt to get in the morning of, so I am allowing 8 hours for late arrival and the traffic to go 5 miles between the airport and the ship!

You should know I am flying from Phoenix the night before and then down on a flight( 85% on time w/ a <3% cancellation performance in Jan/Feb)) that only shuttles between Charlotte and St Maarten- should not have any East coast weather issues.

Relax, stay Happy!

Where does Windsurf dock and depart in St Maarten? Thanks!

Arriving in St Maarten from Miami @ 4PM to board Wind Surf for a 7PM departure. Do you think I will have enough time to clear the airport and make the departure? Thanks for your input?

I will be arriving @ about 4PM from Miami and will be taking a cab to get on Windstar( Wind Surf) that departs at 7PM. How much time do you think I will need to clear the airport and get a cab to the Ship dock to board.

I am hoping 3 hours should be enough even w/ some delays. Thanks for your input!