mwj

After reading the various thoughts posed here, I will offer my own as to how 'Simply More' will take shape.

Alcohol is a significant revenue stream, as the price/cost ratio is high.

Oceania loses significant revenue when guests bring their own alcohol onboard.

Excursions are also a significant revenue stream for the same reason.

'Simply More' will entail a reduction in the number of included excursions.

'Simply More' will include a glass of wine or beer during lunch and dinner.

'Simply More' will include a token amount of OBC.

25 minutes ago, Colorado Klutch said:

 

It's not always that people aren't willing to open their purse strings, but rather they are simply not able to do so. That's the primary reason Carnival Cruise Line has been so successful. Those cruises are at a price point which many people can afford. The higher the cost, the fewer the number of people who can afford it. 

I think it would be great if HAL offered specific, adult-only cruises. That would be a win-win. Families with children could still enjoy HAL cruises and adults who would rather not cruise with children could also enjoy HAL cruises. HAL could adjust the numbers to fit demand. Cruises with children would have more staff in the kids club to handle demand. Cruises without children could send those HAL staff to plus up the cruises with children. Club HAL could simply go dark on adults-only cruises. If a specific ship was identified for adults-only cruises, Club HAL could be repurposed. 

In essence HAL already does this indirectly ...

Note: Kids Club is not offered on cruises of 25-days or longer, including all Legendary and Grand Voyages. We will offer a selection of children’s activities throughout these longer voyages for any children who may be onboard.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/onboard-activities/cruise-activities/kids-club.html

At the end of March, Carnival Corp. in its Q1 earnings report said it had $32.6 billion in long-term debt, up from $9.6 billion at the end of 2019.

Given what has happened with golf (PGA, LIV, DP merge under Saudi), I think that all the groups (Carnival UK, HAL, Aida, Costa) except Carnival and Princess are fair game for purchase by the Saudi's.

It sounds similar to HAL's HIA ...

We will opt for the base without the extras.

HIA never made sense to us as non-alcoholics.

The only time we tried it was when it included gratuities during early booking (first ninety days).

There are limited ‘quiet’ places on the ship compared to R class (Zaandam). The pinnacle class is our least favorite of Hal ships for a number of reasons.

NA is one of our favorite Hal ships. Big enough to have everything without being too big.

They now wait two days after sailing before sending the survey 

12 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

And I have to mention the bathroom/shower size (because a woman on our last cruise was complaining and I couldn't believe she didn't know)...they are tiny in non-suite cabins (A-G). I don't care but some people do. Go on Youtube and search "Oceania" "Regatta" "tour" (and other ship names) and limit it to the last year or so in order to get current videos (post-rehab).

Thank you ... The bathrooms are definitely smaller ... At 6'2", I will fit, and washing the hair (what hair?) may prove problematic.

Can anyone give actual dimensions of the shower?

Are there any particular cabins to avoid?

4 hours ago, TonicTraveler said:

The ocean view rooms are the same size as the B veranda rooms.  If outdoor space is not important to you, then these rooms are quite comfortable.  The C rooms have more natural light than the D rooms as the C rooms have a large window and the D room have portholes.

It’s hard for us to justify the 15k (30%) price increase from c/d to a/b.

First, is the a general topic for R Class cabin selection? (I didn't find one)

Second, if the answer to the first is no, can you offer recommendations?

We are considering the Oct. 24 79-day LA-Sydney cruise in an inside/outside stateroom.

Thank you kindly,

P.S. We are new to Oceania, having mostly cruised HAL and Princess.

The latest I have heard from an informed source for ‘25 is WC C on Zuiderdam and Grand Pole to Pole on Volendam.

The laundry package is an essential for us on longer cruises (>7 days). It easily cuts in half what we need to bring for clothes.

On 2/1/2023 at 7:45 PM, fb0075 said:

AWFUL AWFUL reviews last several months---

The food on HAL is never as good or as bad as reviewers say ...

Personally, we were only disappointed one evening.

In general, I found the steaks lacking, and I don't eat steak on a regular basis.

On the other hand, my partner eats steak even less, and they had an excellent filet.

I found that asking the waiter for recommendations generally helpful, as I was seldom steered wrong.

Your HAL PCC has access to information about each individual cabin as to exact size etc.

18 minutes ago, MISTER 67 said:

The Equinox was sailing at about 80% of capacity and at the time that was our 7th cruise with Celebrity. I have no idea why we received the upgrade and we were willing to pay a reasonable amount, we just were in the right place at the right time and we were dealing with a really nice person. Things like that you never forget and even though we are 4 Star Mariners with HAL and Elite with Princess going forward Celebrity is now our cruise line of choice, in fact we are booked on the Reflection in a few weeks.

Customer service at its finest… and always remembered

Just as we have a WC in ‘24 and the Grand AU in ‘24, I think HAL will do the same in ‘25. WC A or C  on Zuiderdam, and Grand pole to pole on Zaandam.

On 1/29/2023 at 4:22 PM, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Zaandam

What leads you to guess Zaandam?

what do you guess Hal does with Zuiderdam?

On 6/25/2022 at 1:44 PM, happyglobetrotter said:

Even if called vista suites on Zaandam, the regular veranda are not suites per se and do not produce double credits. We have done many world cruises on Amsterdam, same as Zaandam, in a veranda *vista suite* as they call them but this type of cabins on the R series DO NOT double and they are not included in the double points. On Zaandam, double points start with Neptune suites. 

If we are reading your statement correctly, that Vista Suite does not qualify for double points, our experience on a recent Zaandam cruise is contrary. We definitely received double points for our 16 day Zaandam Vista Suite booking. No, we did not have HIA, as it was a mariner 'private fare' booking. We received 37 points for our 16 day cruise.

8 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

What appears to be "unfilled" could simply be unassigned, but sold on Guarantee bookings.

 

Many threads here saying recently GTY bookings are filled around 8-10 days prior to sailing.

Our recent gty was assigned 11 days prior to sailing.

there is always someone willing to pay for an upgrade. Our last two upgrade offers were outrageously high, more than double what we might have considered.

https://jansnookart.artspan.com/home

17 hours ago, kochleffel said:

 

I neither smoke nor gamble, but I know that there is a very strong association between gambling and smoking. It even affects church bingo.

Bingo!

9 hours ago, Navybikermom said:

That is indeed good news. We’ve had very sporadic connections on the Zaandam Panama Canal cruise. Very frustrating. 

Yes, we experienced sporadic internet connections on Zaandam as well. Guest services acknowledged the issues. Hope they improve with next dry dock.

1 hour ago, bdd123 said:

 

He won't.

My previous emails to Mr. Antorcha have always been answered by someone in guest services, often with lengthy delays.

Just now, KroozNut said:

Which pizza are you referring to, and on which ships? To us, there is a huge difference in taste and quality between the pizza typically served in the Lido buffet on most ships (so-so), and the pizza offered at the NY Pizza (Signature Class) and NY Pizza/Deli (Pinnacle Class) venues which we find to be very good to excellent.

We were very disappointed in the quality of NY Pizza on the NA.