Ride-The-Waves

Great thread.  First O cruise next month booked well over year and a half ago.  Experienced cruiser - first transatlantic in 1949 with family and we have visited all 7 continents.  Thread confirms all the perspectives we have gisted since booking.  Oceania appears to obfuscate a lot of the costs and pricing by making it difficult to understand and choose.  Interesting business model for a business.  Confuse the prospective buyer to the point of making them believe they are getting the best for their money while never really knowing.  

Whether we travel with Oceania again will be determined on the upcoming cruise.  I do not like being made a fool and it appears this is the primary business model.  I don't understand why Oceania makes it so difficult.  This is not putting their "best foot" forward.  FYI - we took the basic no perks fare for a PH cabin and found good pricing for flights.  Probably all with less work and angst than if we had swallowed the whole O magilla.  Excursions have been booked with private venders.  I feel a bit distanced from O in that the company could have made more $$$ by just being straight forward with their approach to our cruise.

Marina and other cruise ships moor pier side in Istanbul.

"Dress code"is a legacy from the days of ocean liners across the Pond.   In "First Class" only a xylophone player walked the First Class passageways calling all to diner.  Dark suit and "ball gowns" were required.  That was the 1950s when men wore hats outside and women never wore pants in public.  Much different today.  "Dress code" should be more a "cleanliness" code with most forms of dressing permitted.  We always dress "country club" which implies collared shirt, trousers, and pants/top for women.  Easy.  Dressing for a 1950s transatlantic in 2nd or 3rd class did not require "dressing up" and was much more casual.

If your are using SPECTRUM mobile, I agree that you are confused.  Highest prices for the worst service.

Nine months on USS Kitty Hawk, San Diego to San Diego.  Most of the time spent in the South China Sea.  Married three days after return.  😀

On 10/25/2022 at 4:59 PM, BruceMuzz said:

Pandemics are a great time to cruise.

No crowds at all.

And no ships...

There is one upscale cruise line which permits passenger to carry on wine and liquor for use in cabin.  This is good!

17 hours ago, mom says said:

It looks like stealing via abuse of the drinks package has supplanted the old rum runners. It seems like OP has no ethical qualms about theft, since he's only asking about what happens when he gets caught. Perhaps he would think twice once he knows he could (at best) have the drink package cancelled without refund or (at worst) be kicked off the ship at the next port and be banned from future cruises. Just pay for her drinks.

"Theft?"  Of what?  

Verbose, but appropriate.

Problem is there is a lot of good helpful tech in the techosphere which is ba\oth helpful to the provider and the providee.  There is also a lot of really bad tech pushed out that is cumbersome and unhelpful to the user, and possible provides only a monetary benefit to the provider (including taking your private data for profit).  The Princess tech is a good example of the latter - little to no benefit to the guest cruiser and extremely cumbersome to use.  Tech improvements will be with us as they have been for centuries - no issue.  Maybe we need a "tech traffic police" which rejects bad tech.  Additionally, requiring a $1000 smartphone and $50-100/month subscription to a provider is not "user friendly."  SPECTRUM is the worst and most expensive of these culprits.  Raising fees at their will, changing access at their will, and providing slow connections just is totally unhelpful.

More importantly, the World Cup starts 20 November.  Hopefully that will be available on board.

1 hour ago, c-boy said:

you can always make use of the do not use/sell my information forms provided. 

One should not have to ask for a corporation/company to not sell or profit off your information; they should have to ask you if they can use/profit off you in a provided form.  

The real issue is that the Medallion App is terrible technology.  Nobody is against technological improvements.  Happens all the time.  Good stuff as long as it improves and simplifies everyday life without security compromises.  Problem is that Princess's version is just terrible technology and does NOT work as "advertised."    And, Princess knows this.

7 hours ago, dog said:

You mentioned Enchanted in Alaska, right? 
I board Enchanted in Brooklyn this Saturday- maybe you are confused.

 

I was on Discovery Princess for an Alaska cruise in May this year.  The food we had was excellent, plentiful.  Service was excellent. 
 

Guess it really varies, doesn’t it?

Correct.  The were embarked Majestic

There appears to be one consistent theme across all these post, and that the failure of Princess to manage and care for passengers and the deterioration of Princess operations since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.  

Earlier this year we sailed on Sky across the Pond and experienced this deterioration.  By the end of the cruise COVID was rampant throughout (although we did not catch it and neither did our friends also sailing in a suite).  We missed several ports, to include the reason we took the cruise, a visit to Morocco.  Princess was well aware they would not be allowed to moor in Casablanca before the cruise started, yet never informed us passengers.  Food on board was marginal, especially in the specialty restaurants.  

Our friends just returned from Enchanted in Alaska and reported that conditions had gone for bad to worse, especially the food.  Cleanliness was marginal and many caught COVID-19 during the cruise.  "Entertainment" was terrible.

Princess appears to have changed from a customer friendly cruise line to one focused solely on recovering monies "lost" during the pandemic.  Not good.  And, yes, we have sworn off ever cruising with Princess again.

Many mentioned the "contract" with Princess.  Likely if anyone actually read ie pre-cruise they would choose to not board.  Funny thing about contracts - they go both ways.  Princess has a responsibility to care for passengers which some fail to point out.  Princess is in business solely to make money and not be your friend.  The bottom line is the paramount objective.  Mistreating passengers on a case basis doesn't really cost them anything.

Be aware, be very aware, cruising with Princess.

Our next cruise is with Oceania and expect better treatment.

On 10/21/2022 at 2:08 PM, Ombud said:

Doesn't Paxlovid require script?? Can you imagine the medical malpractice lawsuit if the steward or another non medical person gave someone paxlovid and there was an adverse reaction? (Practicing medicine w/o livense)

The ship's medical center carrie Paxloid and should have been prescribed by ship's doctor.  Acute failure not to do so.

The Medallion App is a total joke.  Last three Princess cruises is has not worked except for opening the cabin door, and that was problematic.  Period.  

The App check-in "requirement" is simply another was Princess is placing more onus on the passenger than on the crew.

23 hours ago, oskidunker said:

We are just-off the Sirena 18 day cruise with a week in uk before. We never needed cash except on a ferry boat if we wanted a coke.

 

that being said,  I use  cash a lot in the SF Bay area to avoid the ever present includedvtips you have to remove when using a credit card. 

Well Done, especially at fast food and similar establishments.  I detest the customer gouging many of these establishments foster on patrons these days.

16 hours ago, maxy1234 said:

I have just received an email from O stating passengers boarding Marina on 1st Nov in Athens must have a negative test no older than 48 hours. Go figure 

 

This appears to be a Greek government requirement which all ships embarking passenger in Greece must follow.  We are embarking Marina in Civitavecchia and the email stipulates 

·         Fully Vaccinated travelers embarking from ports within the European Union and Turkey who meetthe European Union definition of Fully Vaccinated aged 12 and older will not need to test to embark. Boosters are required to qualify as Fully Vaccinated.

·         Un-vaccinated travelers and those not meeting the European Union definition of Fully Vaccinated will need to present a negative, medically administered covid-19 test. Antigen and PCR testresults may not be more than 72 hours old at the time of boarding.

·         Travelers aged 11 and under are not subject to cruise line vaccination requirements or testingprotocols.

·         An official Covid-19 recovery certificate may suffice in lieu of a booster.

Hopefully everyone embarking Marina for the TA is fully vaccinated.

The xylophone player who walked the first class cabin passageways playing, calling everyone to diner.

Not only Europe.  We dined in a restaurant last week in the Tampa area that takes only cash.

16 hours ago, sunlover12 said:

I have a Lisbon tour booked directly with a reputable local operator. Their policy is a minimum 50% deposit by credit card upon booking with the remainder payable in cash on the day of the tour. Their policy states a full refund if your flight or cruise is cancelled or delayed.  Although it would be nice for the customer to pay the full amount on the day of the tour, that would be a risk the operator would be taking as he may not have your credit card information for a no-show.  I understand why they don't want to do that.  It also means we don't have to risk carrying a fairly large amount of cash.

JMO

Many European tour operators tale credit cards.  Recent experience with a golf cart tour of Rome - we stopped near the end of the tour to meet with the tour owner and he used a portable cc reader.  Cash is mostly not required anymore in many European cities.

21 hours ago, pete_coach said:

Gosh, that is sad to hear. I am a huge Viator user and supporter. We have used them many many times all over the world.

They are not perfect and we have had a few issues with tours booked through Viator and have never had any issues getting refunds.

You can request to speak with managers and they are usually in the US. Viator is a Tripadvisor company.

Careful.  You can get banned on CC talking about Viator since they are part of the CC/Trip Advisor/Viator consortium.  I have also lost money booking with Viator and only use them as a last resort.

Good to know.  Thanks, all.

11 hours ago, Robjame said:

You can buy bottles from their Bon Voyage Collection. While most are very overpriced I have found the odd selection that was a really good buy, often because of the size of the bottle advertised. Did well on some single malts.

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/documents/bonvoyagegifts/26643/Bon-Voyage-Gifts.pdf

 

Thanks.  Helpful, but expensive.  Looks like an opportunity to shlep a couple of bottles on board during the first port stop.

24 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

No they do not sell bottles  of spirits AFAIK

 But you can take some onboard for in cabin Consumption

Thanks