Sdancer

I asked.

Yes! Simply More imposition is not consumer friendly. There used to be O'Life and Cruise Only options. I always took Cruise Only option and booked my own private excursions, like you did. Simply More (SM) replaced O'Life. Now instead of non-refundable OBC in O'Life, SM has non-refundable Shore Excursion Credit. The Cruise Only option is gone. It is funny that Oceania claims that this Shore Excursion Credit is Free when it is actually added to a fare cost. Your reply was the only one about Simply More - others saw only my "markup" comment which is irrelevant to Simply More being unfriendly to consumers. Also, as you mentioned about reduction of time in ports, times in our two ports were also reduced by hours after the final payment. Oceania used to pride itself on their "finest" cuisine at sea, longer times in ports and overnights. It was not the case on our last cruise. After 10 cruises with Oceania we will not book Oceania anymore. Thanks again about Simply More comment.

One more thing: If guests used own money to book Oceania excursions in skipped port, then Oceania issues refunds and does not benefit from a markup on this excursion.

It was $50 for both of us for one port ($25 pp). It was posted to my cc a couple of days ago (took 3 weeks). Oceania now has "simply more" higher fares to include an allowance for Oceania excursions. Let's say that Oceania skipped a port where you booked using an "excursion allowance" for an Oceania excursion. You get a refund but if it is not used for booking an another Oceania excursion, this refund is lost. So, Oceania does not lose any money from skipping a port and might even benefit when guests have to book any other available excursion to not lose a refund. If guests did not book an another Oceania excursion for some reason or another, Oceania keeps the money. BWY, I was told that Oceania has the highest markup in the cruise industry for excursions. When I cruised with Oceania to Alaska, Oceania had monopoly to some of the excursions that we wanted to book. Tour operators in Alaska would not book us directly because their contract with Oceania restricted them to book only with Oceania. Oceania Alaska excursions were good but extremely expensive. If we would be able to book with the same operator, we would pay a fraction of the cost (I do not want to post the numbers, but I know them). The Panama Canal cruise Oceania excursions did not go well. We used our Oceania excursion allowance plus our Silver Level Club award to book Oceania excursions on our Panama Canal cruise. It was disappointing because 4 excursions were terrible, 1 fair and 1 good. We have regretted not forgoing Oceania excursions allowance and booking our own excursions instead, like we did in Panama City.

Keith, Thank you so much for the link to guest services!!! I will contact them.

As a minimum!

Thank you but it was not completely helpful: :(. I went to my cruise page and clicked on the "Ship Overview" , and there were 5 speakers under for this SHIP but not for my sailing though it was under my sailing. How strange and not helpful! I clicked on each name only to find that none of them are on my cruise though my cruise is less than 3 months away. I am sure that all the contracts already had finalized by that time with dance hosts and shows even well before the final payment. I know that it could not be true but "SHIP OVERVIEW" that mine and some (many) other cruises do not have any enrichment lecturers. This format is not logical and not user-friendly. You are correct that not all cruise lines publish all the information but many do, and OC always, always did. OC published all the detailed information per each cruise. Why NC did not continue with this tradition if it aims to be better? This information should be a part of a quality of customer service, not just food, cabins and attentive crew. I am not trying to be over critical, just disappointed. I have fond memories how OC was organized. I hope that NC finds this information as an important part of customer service and brings it back from OC. NC knows all the programming details with less than 3 months before sailing, why not to share? Thanks again!

Keith, Will Crystal start publishing the names of dance hosts, professional dance couples (used to be two) along with shows and enrichment lectures as OC did? If not, how to find out? It would be very helpful and something to look forward to. Thanks!

Vince, thank you for menus. The Tastes menu and hours have changed. The Dinner is too late, from 7-9 pm, which is my ballroom dancing time. The Taste dinner at OC used to start at 6 pm or 5:30 pm. Disappointing :(.

No one claimed that Oceania skipps ports to save money - it an absurd statement and is not based on any post here, really :). BWY, Oceania does not lose money from cancelled excursions in skipped ports - I am not going to go into financial details here. The reason I am posting today to let you Today that I received an email from Oceania that on the "second look" they decided to refund us for skipped Cozumel. How about that? 🙂 Have a nice day!!!

There are also passengers who are not dancers but enjoy having a drink/cocktail while listening to a band and watching others dance. I had people on multiple occasions to tell us how much they enjoyed our dancing.

To answer your question: traveling is our many years long hobby. Cruising is only a part of it. We will take a break from regular cruising for a while; might or might not look at some expedition cruises. We go for destinations and experience. For example, last year we were on a very basic no-rills 16-passenger with 7 crew members local boat in Galapagos and visited 7 islands. Our days started at 4:30 am. The food was a fixed menu and very basic. It was one of the most memorable trips for us. We have a booking for a European river cruise with a top notch company which did not make any cuts and never will. We went on Sirena to see the Panama Canal. The Oceania lost its way by cutting staff and lowering food and service standard. We had Maitre D bussing tables at the Buffet every single day/meal and the person in charge of ALL restaurants (forgot the title) serving at the Buffet; waiters were bussing their own tables in restaurants - we had to wait 15 minutes in Toscan restaurant at the table full of dirty dishes until a waiter finally took it away; there were only a few tiny pieces of lobster in lobster pad in the Red Ginger. This very smart and thorough review sums up very well why we are not returning to Oceania. https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=712092

Thank you so much for this info! I do not know how to close this thread. Does anyone know? Now, that I had time to fully digest my cruising experience last month on Oceania Sirena and understand why exactly I did not like it, there is no way for me to go back to Oceania. My DH feels the same way. I am grateful to have 9 wonderful cruises on classy Oceania before the pandemic but today's Oceania is not classy anymore with all the post-pandemic cuts... Time to move on :). P.S. It was interesting to read the recent Sirena reviews on cruise critic which confirmed my unfavorable opinion about today's Oceania.

Before I started this thread, I have contacted fdacs.gov, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, to confirm that the port taxes for skipped ports expected to be refunded. The agency advised me to submit a complaint and sent me a link to file a complaint. Cozumel was not substituted for another port - Oceania made it another sea day. I will leave this thread for now :).

Please see my post #7, thanks!

Oceania did not pay Cozumel but pocketed the money. We will not support dishonest businesses like Oceania. I enjoyed Oceania before the pandemic but after the pandemic Oceania was not the same at the management level. The only thing that Oceania got right is food. I do not have to take a cruise to have great restaurants 🙂 -. I am in LA! Oceania tours were low grade and were included in fare as a non-refundable OBC. If I would know the tours would be that uninteresting in advance, I would book our own private tours via ToursByLocals as we did in Panama City. Our Oceania cruise was a disappointment except a few hours going through the Panama Canal. We have learned this cruise not to book with Oceania which was a valuable lesson.

I have port charges as a one separate charge for all ports in my invoice, but is not the point. The point is that Oceania knows how much they DID NOT pay Cozumel for missing this port. It is alarming that Oceania just keeps the money - it tell you a lot about the company.

Oceania Sirena skipped the port of Cozumel and refused to refund port taxes to the passengers. It means that Oceania financially benefits by skipping ports since Oceania keeps port taxes for skipped ports paid by passengers for themselves. It is very wrong! Princess and Carnival automatically refund port taxes for skipped ports to their passengers. Oceania Ticket Contract pdf has 29 port tax mentions but nothing about keeping (not refunding) skipped ports taxes. It might be a small number per passenger but multiplying by the number of passengers and number of Cruises it is a substantial amount. P.S. I just got back from our 10th cruise on Oceania Sirena with no intention of coming back to Oceania for a few significant reasons.

The Pulse Night club would be very good for this dancing. As I remember correctly, there was a DJ who was good with music requests.

Hi Keith, Thank you for your posts. I have booked a short summer cruise on Serenity in 2024 as a test. It would be my 4th cruise on Crystal: first on NC and three on OC. Would you please give an inside on why NC decided on 4 dance hosts who are ballroom dancers but only a two-member band? I dance ballroom for many years and have yet to come across 2-member dance band :). How does it work? I search for a video but did not find any. Thank you!

There were no cabins available in the category I wanted. I went on a waitlist than was moved to a GTY a couple of days later. The GTY cabin number in my booking was listed as "SUITE NUMBER 514" which is not a real cabin number. Crystal agent who booked me did not know what 514 number for a cabin meant. I suspect that it is a code number for GTY cabin.

I have met a couple last Fall who just came back from their Cunard crossing. They were very experienced ballroom dancers. Based on their feedback I have cancelled my 2024 round trip crossing from NY. They also mentioned about two dozen unsupervised children running around QM2 ballroom floor during the dance.

Have your "giggles", please! I am comparing NC website to OC website, not Regents' :). FYI, Crystal competitor is Oceania now, after they became "all inclusive" in October. Everyone has different expectations. Mine are to have the same experience as on OC - great service and ballroom dancing. Oceania is great for ports, top-notch service and cuisine. Unfortunately for me, Oceania does not have ballroom dancing :(. My friend who used to be an ambassador host for 8 years, including on Crystal, is going to be a regular passenger on Crystal in a couple of months. I am looking forward to his feedback. So, I am out of this thread and will not reply until I have his feedback to share ;).

It is not petty complaint to me since I enjoy ballroom dancing and dance lessons on board. I checked FAQ and it looks like this program is not back yet. since it is not posted. Posting names would be the assurance that the program exists. So far it is not according to FAQ on Crystal website. "WHAT TYPE OF ENTERTAINMENT CAN I EXPECT ON MY CRUISE? Several of the entertainment activities that were previously offered will return including dance lessons (e.g., ballroom dancing), production shows and more. As Crystal continues to build out our new entertainment programming, we will share updates via crystalcruises.com." From my past experience on Crystal not every dance host is a good dancer and a few could not dance at all :). I met many dance hosts and know their names. I also have favorite dance instructors. Since my DH does not dance, I rely on ambassador hosts (dance hosts) to dance with. I liked the crew on OC and am glad that many are returning. Still, until the dance hosts program are back and the info is sorted out, we will continue to book on Oceania.

What a mess! I could not find any information about the shows and port excursions either. Gary Bembridge warned about companies not in business of cruising buying cruise lines/ships. Well ... I will have to wait until then to decide to book or not :). I was fortunate to enjoy three Old Crystal cruises in a year, before the pandemic cancelled my other bookings. It looks like the New Crystal is still not aware what made the Old Crystal a success.