Sthrngary

@DrKoob You are being so kind to everyone on this board with your post. You are also educating and helping new Oceania guests. As you know with your reference to a cancelled port, it seems to be a thing. Knowing it could happen allows guest to set their expectations. That in no way means it is not disappointing as it was to you. It would be to me as well. This is one of those things we as guest are completely out of our control and we wish we knew sooner. As it relates to boarding time. You made me smile when I read your post. I always get online, the moment I can to get the earliest boarding time. For me, it is a goal. I will do the same thing you did. That said, we are in a Vista Suite that allows for the earliest boarding. For me it does not matter which stateroom category I am in. I still check-in early. I still am up at 12:01 AM doing my online check-in. Old habits die hard. Your willingness to share your experience knowing that the amount of questions coming your way will be substantial, is again so kind. You are used to Viking which is a very nice brand. Your comparison will be very interesting especially because you are new to Oceania. My hope is you will have great memories and a wonderful vacation. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@psac In this case I would have to agree with you. However, just like at a restaurant that serves one bad steak, the other 99 times the steak was great. My approach to butlers is NOT perfect. It has improved the quality I personally have gotten from a butler since using it. Sometimes folks say, Gary, I like the letter but don't like the tip upfront. Others say letter good, 1/2 tip. I never argue or debate. All I want is something I can do to enhance my vacation experience. This butler in question was bad and NCL has to know that. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@knitlady037 So now the CruiseCritic.com world knows, a NCL diamond member is so upset, they are considering changing brands. That cut back on other ship are clear to frequent NCL cruisers. As you are a elite NCL guest, I would hope you would send your message to NCL. Social media is to vent and you have done that clearly. Now help the brand you used to love, get better. Your comments are noted and fully understood. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

I hesitated to comment to much on this and other threads about the new NCL Viva and Prima Havens. When the ships first came out, I knew like with all ships, the new ones would look spectacular and the premium would be high. So I sat back and let folks experience the "NEW" Haven. Pictures of the ship, Haven, pools were lovely. Then some post started to happen. Hot Tubs on the Balcony: Folks were upset they reserved a category that showed a hot tub on the balcony. Their suite did not have one. Water Slides on the Balcony: Folks were worried that the water slides would be infringing on the space on their balcony. Some folks were down right made when that was the case. Bad design by NCL. Infinity Pool On the Back of the Ship: No more indoor water options which makes bad weather an issue. Yet the design and look of the pool, hot tub and lounges was spectacular. Staffing: We forget sometimes that to get a position in the Haven, you have to be the best of the best. What happens when you can't get enough staff, when you have loans based on interest rates that keep on rising. The above comment addressed this. What is interesting is the ships, right after cruising just stated again had the same issues. So here is my suggestion and this has already started to happen. As folk who always want to be the first cruise Viva and Prima, it will be harder for NCL to book the Haven on these ships. That is when, which has been seen for the Europe Cruises in Oct-Dec of 2023, the prices go down, way down. If you can get to Europe, you can cruise in the Haven for far less for far longer. That is a big "IF". NCL is always good about making adjustments when they see a reduction in bookings. They also understand staffing, at Haven Prices is very important. One can only hope they are reading, listening and planning. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

Well that would be no fun. Seriously, My personal comments and judgements are only based on experiences I have had. In my case, only pre-cruise events. That is intentional. My comments regarding folks that rarely post and when they do the posts are all negative not balanced is to make a point. Things go wrong on cruises, social media is a convenient place to vent. But if it bothers the person that much, address it at the time and don’t let it affect your entire vacation. Anyone new to the brand on this board is craving hints, feedback, opinions and knowledge. The good, bad and average. It assists in establishing realistic expectations. Just play fair and give a balanced review. If you hate everything or only point out the negatives, all that person wants is others to agree the brand is awful. Easy to find something wrong with any experience, if that is the emphasis, if the brand is so bad, just don’t cruise it again. Bottom line, play fair. Nothing is all good or bad in cruise vacations. Cruise well and enjoy every moment

@techteach Thank you for such a kind post, much appreciated. We are on the Riviera suite 12001. The video on YouTube is actually that very suite so I loved seeing it. The first think I noticed was no lighted make up mirror. My wife always brings her own and her Dyson Hair dryer which blows the circuits a couple of time each cruise. I am so blessed. I am a Delta Airlines Life Time Platinum 5 mil miler. I get two 70lbs bags and my wife gets the same. My extra back is for all the items you outlined and the shopping we will do in Europe. Thank you for reminding me to have extra room. On this I want to be very careful how I say this. For what ever reason, prior to upgrading my PH to a Visa, over 150 days prior to the cruise, I got a call from the Concierge for the Riviera. No clue why I got the call and just thought every did. That was not the case. I was asked if I had any food requirements or special needs. I had none. But I asked if they could book my specialty restaurants and they said YES. So I booked the initial four using my guest booking number also and locked them in. When I upgraded to the vista suite, I went back online and the other four potential reservations were available to book. So for a 10 night cruise, I have 8 nights in specialty restaurants already reserved for the day and time I wanted. I got super lucky. That is GREAT to know. I did not know that. I have had stateroom in the front of the ship before. If the ship is at sea cruising to the next port, that area is sometimes impossible to enjoy. What you just did for me which is a great value is managed my expectations and I really appreciate it. Thank you again for taking the time to give me first hand information. Much appreciated. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

I don’t believe in the concept of hijacking the thread. Topics, take on a mind of their own. I assure you that when I am on board, I am in a vista suite as well, if some of those things happen to me, I will report it clearly and concisely just like you did. I hope you have reported it directly and personally the leader ship on the ship. Also, You will make sure that you share it directly with the corporate office at the end of your cruise Cruise as well, and enjoy every moment.

@1985rz1 Plus 1, agreed. I always believe their is accountability on both sides. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

Both, and allow me to explain. If I am upset enough to write a post on Room Service not providing a fork with my meal, is the product flawed. In that instance, the product was flawed but not across the board, just for that instance. The expectation of only focusing on the fork or dirty spoon for ice cream, as a reflection on an entire cruise is also unfair expectations. Then we have folks responding to these complaints by saying, "I have been on this brand 30 times and that never happened to me." Is the brand inconsistant, flawed or did someone simply want to make a stink online. I have no idea which is half the problem. When we read Op-Eds focused on minor disappointments, with no balanced view of what was also right, it creates the impression, missing one fork/spoon kills the vacation. I am way over simplifying this situation but this is the trend on social media. Add to this, when challenged if you complained about the mishap, the poster often times does not respond back. With every business, things go wrong, things are missed. The brand has to acknowledged they messed up, do it in a timely manner, and resolve the issue to the guest satisfaction. If they do, they are a great brand. If they DON'T, it is a complete flaw of the brand and its mission statement. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@dwr777 The Haven-Lite Strategy. Good call. The Vibe on an NCL ship is the bomb. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@pinotlover It seems that complaining about one aspect of a cruise or another is the order of business. Not being happy about something is every consumers right. You have an expectation, it was not filled. I totally get it. However, when one claims to be an educated consumer, purchases a Guarantee Stateroom followed by not getting the stateroom they want, Chooses to use the Cruise Lines Air followed by not being happy with the arrangement, Purchases cruise line transfers followed by being upset waiting at the airport for the bus to fill up, has butler which they ask for nothing then complain the butler did nothing for them. Each one of these decisions are self inflicted. Either you know the pro/cons of the decisions you make or you don't. I just find it funny sometimes, reading and attempting to be empathetic to guest upset at their results. Guest that rate a cruise on not getting a fork with their room service order, claiming several dirty spoons when ordering ice cream, not getting Amenities Kits or tote bags. These third world problems/items are disappointing for sure however making it the focus on online complaints with no reference to what went as planned seems selective. When MOST of those decisions were theirs to make and they new the rules to the game upfront. The complaints on Social Media is because they can't complain to the brand because they brand was clear on their policy prior to choosing them. Sorry for the rant, to much coffee this morning. "Consumer beware or at least read the fine print." Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@LHT28 My earlier example was to show the approach other brands use on GTY is much different then Oceania. It was initially confusing to me and then I got clear. I want to support what you are saying on one very important point. There is no financial benefit to do a GTY with Oceania. If one does do a GTY, they should have a very good reason to do so. Many have been discussed their reasons. However, ALL that choose this approach need to know they gave their rights away to choosing the stateroom, location, deck. What you are assigned is at the sole discretion of Oceania. You will most likely get the category you are GTY in like PH3 Guarantee. If it is your strategy to do this GTY to gain a complementary upgrade, careful what you wish for. You might get it and regret it. So when any of us, myself included do a GTY, that means in my book, NO complaining. You knew the rules to the game and you selected to go down this path. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@ltp579 The Haven is a wonderful place however to manage a guest expectations, there are some things to know. One is about the drink program. As you may or may not know, there is the drink program that comes with the "Free At Sea". It is call the Premium Drink Program. If you want some more benefits, you can upgrade to the Premium PLUS Drink Program. Regardless of the program you have, all drinks brought to your suite from room service or butlers "Are Not Included". Now if you go to a bar, or lounge is it included in your drink program, just not deliver to your suite. I hope that answers your question. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@RD64 Thank you but you are giving me way to much credit. Everything I said, the order in which I said it. All of it was learned on this board. Part of the reason I try new brands like Oceania is to educate myself on what they do differently. This has been a real EDUCATION. More then I expected. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

I started to do Guarantee's decades ago. But every cruise brand is different. For some, the Guarantee WAS a big saving. Years ago, when I used to cruise HAL, I would find a deal on what I think was called an "SS" suite. I could have those letters off. It was one of their bigger suites with a huge balcony. My wife and I loved them especially if we were traveling with family. When the suite cleared, usually a week or so before the cruise left, we were always happy because most of the time, we got a nice suite better then the price we paid. That was then and now is NOW. Oceania approaches a Guarantee much differently. Our friends ( we had the same suite but upgraded with a paid client upgrade) have a PH3 Guarantee. How we got there was the promotion was a four category upgrade at the time. So a PH3 Guarantee was the lowest cost Penthouse maximizing the fare with the Four Category Upgrade. If the PH3 Category would have been available, I would have chosen a specific suite. The key is the PH3 Guarantee and a specific PH3 suite cost the same. No price benefit. Now your question was, could you have simply stayed in the "Inside Cabin" and not taken the "Ocean View" upgrade. No idea. Logic tells me Oceania likes to put the Guarantees where they have space and be done with it. Having Guarantees for Oceania is like over booking a flight. The guest has no control other then the class of service the Guarantee is in. In my case PH3 for my friends. If you go back on this thread, many very wise frequent Oceania Cruises explained what has happened in the past. A very interesting read. To paraphrase using my situation for my friends of a PH3 Guarantee. If all the PH categories are completely sold out, Oceania provides offers for folks to give up their PH suite so they can fill in their guarantees. That is why so many past Oceania guest have suggested, if you want an Paid Client Upgrade, tell your Travel Agent to tell Oceania. That is what I did on my reservation. The harder it is for Oceania to fill their guarantees, the longer it takes to find out what your cabin number will be. Again, for my simple mind, it is like there is one seat leave in coach, you can have it but that is your only choice. I am over simplifying it I am sure. The bottom line, when you do a Guarantee, you get what you get and you need to know that is what you get. You will get what your Guarantee was based on or in a VERY RARE occasion, you might be offered something else like a category upgrade but DON'T COUNT ON IT. The complementary upgrade Fairy is on vacation most of the time. So want flexibility and choices, DON'T DO A Guarantee. That is what I have learned on this board from the Oceania Faithful. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@McGarrett5oh This is why I keep saying butlers are hit or miss. You did everything you could do to control the situation. I hate you get a less then great butler. For $500.00 he should have been over the top. Next time, I will cruise with you and be your butler, just kidding but not about the $500.00. My answer to your question, "NO". You paid more then enough and maybe to much. Reading is the letter would have told the butler you needs, times and asks. Again, I hope the rest of the trip has been pleasing. Cruise well and enjoy every moment. .

@shepherd really My wife is afraid to drive the M Class. She claims she will watch. I am simply not buy it. If it is not your car, floor it. Cruise well and stay in the speed limit MAYBE!

Way to go CruiseCritic.com board. But until I taste them, daily, for 10 days straight, I reserve the right to challenge this comment. I trust NO ONE with my cookies. PERIOD. Cruise well and at least we have Cookies.

@jonthomas I believe if I remember correctly, your guarantee was because that is what was left for the cruise you wanted. You got what some would consider an upgrade with a ocean view. I fully understand you will not do a guarantee again. However, if any of us had a choose, it would be an assigned stateroom unless it was not available. Cost the same because Oceania does not discount to do a guarantee. I am quite sure you will have a grand time. You previous post clearly show you love cruising. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@dock Thank you. 42 days away and counting. Our only challenge now is to keep the weight we lost off and maybe even lose an extra pound or two. However, Murphy's Law is against us. My wife and I are going to a Three Day Driving Event at the S.C. BMW Driving School on Sunday. They have a restaurant dine-a-round, buffet breakfast/lunch. CHEAT. My friends 70th birthday party is right after. CHEAT and dare I say it, Halloween candy. CHEAT, CHEAT, CHEAT. Wish us luck. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

Thank you to everyone on the kind feedback on this post. I always attempt to be balanced and fair with my posts. Give the good, acknowledge the not so good from a personal perspective. Blogs like this one tend to point out the bad parts of cruising, a brand, a ship or some aspect of the industry. Human nature when a guest is upset/frustrated with some aspect of their very expensive vacation. I remember communicating with a NCL supervisor to gain permission to upgrade my wife and my Drink package without doing the same for my two adult children. It was confirmed, it showed online, when I got on the NCL Joy in the Haven, we went to lunch at the "American Diner". My kids ordered a drink. When I got back to my Suite, I check and sure enough, they were charged. I went to the Haven Desk and was told they did not have the standard drink program. I took out the email, documentation and handed it to them. I was "UPSET". I did my due diligence, saved my documentation and still the cruise line could not get it right. It was about to really negatively effect my entire cruise, THEN!!!! My wife said, "Gary, they will handle the issue if you just give them some time. Be upset if they don't handle it. Right now, you are on a vacation that took 3 years to sail. Don't mess it up on day one." 15 minutes later, it was all fixed. I have a wise wife. Being straight up with opinions and comments is so very important. Some guest feel, sharing only bad stuff or only good stuff is the way to go. This approach is helpful to a point by giving future guest a heads up on what to avoid or diffuse. To be truly helpful, the same comments have to have happened on other streams unsolicited, with lots of people to make it a true concern. One person with a complaint does not make a cruise brand. One person with glowing reviews does not make a cruise brand. Lots of guests showing a trend towards a cruise topic whether positive or negatives is much more credible. Just my two cents, and I am sticking with it. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@LSuzQ I grew up on Long Island, NY. As a child, I remember a neighbors around the corner had a "RED" Stingray. It was the bomb. I asked my mother for one of those little metal stingray cars that used be be sold by a UK company. This little toy car was my favorite toy until my mom got me the Aston Martin DB from James Bond. So "Stingray" sounds good to me. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

@WildWanderers Thank you for your kind words. I believe that every cruise brand had their pros/cons. They attempt to complicate things to make it look better then it might seem. It is clear, Oceania is no different. Much of the issues for all cruise brands is the leadership do not empower the team member to make guest friendly decisions. Instead, the guest feel in many ways disappointed. They might get the issue resolved but it took way to much time, aggravation and effort to do so. My M.O. is to learn how many folks like you, who are brand loyal, get disappointed on some aspects of the brand. Then I attempt to avoid it like the plague. That is why I don't do excursions with cruise brands. Why I did the full fare Prestige Drink Package pre-cruise is instead of upgrading on the ship. Why I did my own air fare and my own hotel bookings. Because of that, I controlled what I could control and it reduced my stress and disappointment level. In my own and very personal experience, every time I did something thinking if I did this quantify, I would get a % off, I got disappointed. So I stop. I am not good when I am angry, not good at all. I am NOT saying I am right. What I am saying is I know what has detracted from my past cruise experience and I do my best to avoid it in the future. To highlight my point, if I were on the NCL Encore, in the Haven VIP suites, I could NOT order a drink to my suite without paying for it in full even though I had the upgraded Premium PLUS Drink Package. I hated that but I knew the rules so I never had to see that fee on my stateroom accounting. One of the first things I asked over a year ago on this blog was, "If I had the Prestige Drink Package, could I order drink to my suite at no charge?" That answer was YES. For me based my my past experience, that was a value. Not to everyone, but to me. On my upcoming Oceania Cruise, something WILL go wrong. I have no clue what that will be and it most likely won't be in my control. Maybe it will be: A port or more will be cancelled The Oceania cookies will be tasteless or bad They won't have a Bulgari Gift Set In My suite The Oceania Beach Bag will not be provided The meat at the polo grill will be over cooked, under cooked so god forbid, to small or large I will not be able to get more sandwiches' from the rolling cart, during the afternoon tea The lobster will be to chewy, over cooked of stringy No one will be refilling our drinks in a timely manner Room service will not provide a folk to me My spoons for ice cream will be dirty My Hot Tub on my Balcony will not work The exercise equipment in the wasted exercise room in my suite will be broken The list of third world problems will go on and on. It will happen and I will be disappointed just like everyone else. With all the planning, research hours, days, weeks and months of planning I have done; something will go wrong, it always does. All I hope with all my heart is less will go wrong then has gone wrong for me in the past. That would be an enhancement to my cruise vacation experience. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.

I fully agree. Thank you

I rate luxury on a vacation as ANY enhancement to what I felt or received on previous experiences. So far, pre-cruise, Oceania is doing pretty well. My wife asked me to do the grocery shopping a common accordance post retirement and when I came home, I had a large envelope waiting from Oceania Cruises. In it was the "Oceania Cruise Vacation Guide." Most unexpected based on my past experiences even in the VIP sections of Mainstream cruise brands. I had heard something about this document but it was not clear if they were still being sent out. In it is a Cover Letter that is somewhat generic, luggage tags, and a large booklet customized with my wife and my name. All of this was a nice touch if only to build excitement for my upcoming vacation. I have gotten luggage tags in the past from cruise brands but usually about 15 days before my cruise. My approach is to print my own luggage tags, put them into heavy duty luggage tag plastic holders and put these fancy tags on the luggage at the port side. I have had these kinds of luggage tag ripped off during transport and almost lost my luggage due to that on more then one occasion. All that said, nice touch if not a bit generic, on Oceania's part with the packet of information. On to other impressions. Specialty Restaurant Online Reservations: This was a much easier process then I expected. When I made my reservations, I included my friend booking number so they were in the same table, day, time and Restaurant. My wife and I upgraded ourselves to a "Vista Suite" so we have an additional pre-cruise reservation for each of the specialty restaurants. I am hoping to add our friends joining us to our additional reservations once on the ship. The point is, the online experience was simple and seamless on this topic. Booking Cooking Classes: This is a new activity for my wife and me on a cruise ship. I knew from past experiences, the spa always sold out on sea days. I figured the cooking class on the Sea Day would sell out as well. I was right. Two days after I booked it for the only sea day, it was waitlisted. The online booking process was again, seamless and easy. I would book another class if I knew which of the ports was going to be cancelled in advance. Sorry, I am being a little sarcastic. Pre-Cruise Communication: I booked with a cruise travel agent, therefore NOT directly with Oceania. Yet, to my surprise and delight, I received a phone call from a Riviera Ship Pre-Cruise Concierge. The general questions were on food allergies or requirements so the ship could be stocked if we had special needs before our cruise. This call was a surprise especially when it happened so far in advance of the cruise. I have come to find out, this is NOT normal and I have no idea why it was done for me. Not complaining, just impressed. I would got a letter from other brands 30 days out with a phone number or email address. Never a call. Issue Resolution: I had an issue which does not have to be rehashed now. When my travel agent could not resolve the issue, I wrote a letter and was contacted no later than 48 hours after the correspondence was received. My issue was resolved to my satisfaction within a day from it being acknowledged. Mistakes happen. When they do, it is how the mistake is handled. If done, quickly to the guest satisfaction, the guest rates the brand better then if an issue never happened. If it is drawn out, the guest increasable loses faith in the brands value proposition. Pre-Cruise/Post Cruise Hotel and Airfare: I had Oceania initially do my Pre-Cruise Hotel and airfare. Within a month, I booked both directly with the Hotel and Airline respectively. Taking it off my booking was quick and easy. I read to many things online that gave me the feeling I was better off doing it myself. The hotels especially were much more affordable when I booked them on my own. Drink Package Selection: Please remember, I booked this cruise over a year ago. At the time, there was no "SimplyMore" program. The program then was choose one of three perks. I choose the onboard Credit Offered at the time for $600.00. Learning about the ins/outs of the Oceania Beverage Packages was NOT the easiest thing I did. With the help of the members here on CruiseCritic.com on the Oceania Board, I learned. My decision was to purchase the Prestige Drink Package for both my wife and myself. I applied the $600.00 of On-Board-Credit and paid upfront another $600.00 to fully pay for the package. For me and my previous experiences, this was not an outrageous amount. When I upgraded my drink package with NCL to the Premium Plus Drink Package, just the upgrade would by $300 for a seven day cruise. So, $600.00 per guest for a 10 day cruise was in my opinion fair. Free would have been better but as we have all found out, free does not exist, your fare goes up. Mobile App: There seems not to be one. That is a bit disappointing however even when I had one in the past, it was never very stable so not a deal breaker. Still, this needs to be on the Oceania Things-To-Do-List. Just please do it right wo don't do it at all. Gaining Detailed Information On ALL Amenities: This was not the easiest thing in my planning. I like to know what all the rules are to the game. Brand marketing department deal in broad stokes that seem more important then they really are. I hate that and wanted the real scope. This took the longest time to gather and sometime the information was very inconsistant. I wish cruise brands would learn we the guest want to know the rules to the game and so make them easy to find out. Also, marketing department need to learn to "Under promise and over deliver" in order to create guest delight. It is my intension to take all I learned, verify it while on the cruise, and post it after I return. My way of saying thank you to every one on this great CruiseCritic.com board. Those are some impressions and observations based on my decades of cruising over 30 + cruises on many brands. No company is perfect, I was not expecting an Ultra-Luxury Experience because I did not book a n Ultra-Luxury brand. What I did receive so far has exceeded my expectations. On to the the cruise which is the real test. Cruise well and enjoy every moment.