Stella Maris

I've cruised 10 times with Oceania, and have two more cruises booked.  Clearly, I've had positive experiences, but there have been occasional bumps.  And what stands out is how well staff and management responded when those bumps were brought to their attention.  We find that when dining service is off more than one night, or the food isn't hot enough, all we need to do is speak quietly to the headwaiter, and someone always listens and corrects the situation.  We've noted things on the midcruise survey, and quickly received calls from staff to discuss fixes.  There's a dedication to customer service and quality that I still see, even as I see them economizing, and that's enough for me.

Handled about as poorly as possible.  They were providing FCCs to the people who (figuratively) jumped ship ahead of the change.  According to our TA, Oceania told her they ended the FCC's "yesterday."  Even if you want to transfer to a more expensive cruise a few months from now, and give Oceania more money, the answer is no.

We're on the Barcelona to Dubai cruise in November, and of course our Israel ports are cancelled.  For years, we were afraid to book a cruise with these ports, knowing something might happen, and with this booking we went in eyes open.  We knew Oceania would have to find alternative ports, in competition with other cruise lines looking for open berths on short notice.  It wouldn't make economic sense for Oceania to allow full cancellations under these circumstances.  We've had port changes at the last minute before due to a hurricane in Mexico, certainly disappointing, but the best that could be done.  As someone said, a lot of the pleasure is in the cruise itself, and I'm looking forward to this one. 

Excursions on the O website are an adventure.  Got a very good reduction on our November cruise through the Summer Sale, as well as a $1200 excursion credit.  At the same time, the pricing has gone up, through elimination of the cheapest category.  What's difficult is getting a clear idea of what you're paying (e.g., a total that said $3292 before credits, then said $3556 directly below it).  I spent an hour on the phone with O the other night, very nice man who finally showed me his spreadsheet, and helped me back into the figure.  At the same time, when he offered to book the tours for me, his final $ figure was $60 higher than mine (and he didn't know why), so I ended up doing it myself.  I don't know if they're trying to keep this mysterious, but it's going to generate a lot of questions.

Echoing a few comments here.  We're going on our 10th O cruise in November.  We also experienced some startup issues on a Barcelona to Lisbon cruise last April. But we were on that California cruise mentioned above, and saw things like food, service, etc. returning to normal.  And on Oceania, normal is pretty nice.  Looking forward to being back again this year, feels like home at this point.

On 4/15/2022 at 1:00 AM, mauibabes said:

Terri,

Absolutely the Maitre d needs to be told. No one around to tell, that is Not Acceptable.  Hail any waiter or server and ask them to get the Maitre d or even the Chef.  They are committed to your enjoyment and you should never have to say their meal was like one of the other lines we will not mention.  The Finest Cuisine at Sea must be delivered at all times.  It is not fluff on a marketing piece, it has to be real. 
 

Mauibabes

And that's the biggest difference I saw on the latest cruise, Nautica April 10-23.  The quality of the food, even the serving temperature, wasn't right a lot of the time.  Service was very good, especially the wine service,  but the food was disappointing.  I'm trying to chalk it up to the troubles of staffing and starting up again, but this is not the Oceania of our previous seven cruises.

Glad to hear your news, Terri.  I made it through the cruise, tested positive last Friday.  We're at a very nice hotel in Lisbon, area set aside for positive cases.  My husband has also tested positive, so we'll be here a few days longer.

I wore a mask, followed the rules, but...I'm convinced it was some of the excursion meals, where people took off masks, sometimes didn't put them back on when off the bus.  I avoided all the other traps, like unmasked sunbathers on the pool deck.  It's somewhat of a mystery, and for once, I'm hesitant to cruise again soon.  Too many unknowns.

Good to see these updates.  And the crew is highly professional.  They did expect to be staffing a Lima to Buenos Aires cruise now, but they are adapting to having us all around all day, and really keeping things positive.  Yes, they probably are overworked. And I think we all keep that in mind.  

12 hours ago, pingpong1 said:

Well to me (and maybe I'm missing something), that would be the "greatest cruise ever"!  Wish I was on board!  Great meals, good weather (hopefully), and fully stocked bars - only tragedy would be running out of Single-Malt!  I guess I could "make do" with high-end Bourbon, instead.  The important thing is that no one has any symptoms of Coronavirus....and the "bonus" will be their passage through the Panama Canal!  How great is that!

It is actually pretty nice, with a crew knocking themselves out to keep us fed and amused.  We all look forward to reaching port, but they couldn't make this any smoother.  Passengers who need meds seem to have had then shipped to Panama, where I think the ship will restock.  Miami is probable,  and that's probably where the bubble will burst.

2 hours ago, Clutj said:

Now off Ecuador.  May have to go all the way to Miami.  Not even any symptoms of COVID on board...

 

We are on the same cruise.  "Stranded " is melodramatic, given that the ports denying us were in South America, and we are headed north.  There has been an abundance of caution about stating plans, probably until Oceania can address transportation for Asian and European travelers.  Inconvenient,  of course, but Mr Eggleston is overdoing it 

I'm also looking at AMA Taste of Bordeaux, trying to get advice on this vs. Tauck Taste of France. Interested in anyone's comparisons between the two lines, both of which seem to be well respected.

Looking at French wine country cruises for 2017. Tauck's itinerary is posted, pricing isn't yet. Tauck and AMA seem to be closest to what we're looking for. Does anyone have any advice as to how to choose?

Looking at a cruise next year on Nautica. We enjoyed Marina, realize this one is smaller, but that's not a problem. Wondering if anyone has had the B2 veranda cabins, which are either at the front or the back of the ship? How has the sailing been in these?