Wol

The Nautica WAS hit by a rogue wave at about 0200 just before arrival into Zeebrugge.

I myself was thrown out of bed and only saved from going through the window by the (glass topped!) table.

Three windows on deck 4 - the officers' offices - were smashed, trashing the computers and everything in them and pushing the interior wall in by a foot or more.

The main dining room was flooded - on deck 5 - and the water ran down the stairs into reception.

Some of the Terrace outside furniture went over the side.

The spare dining crockery room on deck 9 was trashed - even the shelves came down. Most of the glassware was broken in the dining rooms.

Two serving stations - waves and the terrace outside - each weighing half a tonne were thrown across the decks: the waves one smashed the icecream counter.

Several deck 5 rails were torn away.

I heard of several people being injured - broken ribs and the like.

The cruise director made an "all hands on deck" about five minutes after the incident, and ran around the deck 5 disconnecting the sockets, which were fizzing.

Many of the crew had only just gone off duty but everyone spent the rest of the night in recovery mode: they did an extraordinary job of getting things back to something resembling normal: the carpet in the MDR had to come up a couple of days later after it was dried out.

The Lloyds insurance assessor was onboard immediately after docking at Zeebrugge. I don't know what the bill would be but we must be talking in the high hundreds of thousands or millions.

Containers of replacement materials arrived at several of the next few ports.

All in all, the logistics of recovery were superbly handled: all credit to the management and crew.

I only post this to clear up any misconceptions, some of which are posted above.

@RallyDave:

>>We don't authorize payment until the actual day or a day or two earlier that the final payment or any payment for that matter is due the cruise line.<<

We usually pay the full amount on booking, because the Ts and Cs state that the price is only guaranteed when the full fare is paid.

Since we are very influenced by exchange rates AU$ v US$ it's a reasonable insurance. In one case last year paying on booking v when the full amount was due "saved" AU$14,700 due to the exchange rate plummeting in the several months' difference. Not insignificant.....

Here in Australia you can whistle for any commission-sharing. Not only that, but they charge up to 3% for using a credit card to pay, although my agent has "waived" that - in other words I should be grateful for not being overcharged!

I forgot - one agent charged $55 pp just for walking through the door, before anything else! Only used them once.....

Here in Australia you can whistle for any commission-sharing. Not only that, but they charge up to 3% for using a credit card to pay, although my agent has "waived" that - in other words I should be grateful for not being overcharged!

...

The consensus seems to be that we'll depart from the I C T and not the Marina: fortunately we can see both from our room so all should become clear by morning!

Does anyone know where Insignia is departing from?

We saw her on AIS coming into Singapore and expected her to moor at the Marina bay terminal - but she's off to the West at Keppel!

We don't have any documentation (last minute booking) and the Miami office is closed.

There are the Azamara and a Celebrity at the Marina terminal - perhaps Insignia is moving over later?

Insignia is off Port Dickson, Malaysia, as of 0700 EDT, so she should ETA Singapore around 1600 (4pm) EDT or 0400 LT 3/21 Singapore.

We're in the Swissotel, overlooking the terminal, so will see her arrive. The only other ship overnight is an Azamara.

@ Mike Moore: Mike: I have just put in my dining reservations for SYD - PPT - MIA and noted one or two things that might be improved.

Depending on which page I went to my allowed reservation numbers were 3, 6 or 8 each. It's not significant because when you get to the reservation page (which is much better than the old site's) it is the right number. (Obviously to do with the three sector cruise.)

A slight niggle is that the size of the calendar means you have to scroll down to see it all, losing the top part of the page as you do: would it be possible to amend the coding so that each month fits into one screen without the need to scroll? It would look much nicer.

Regards Wol

Hello Wol - believe I answered your question via email, but if not please let me know. This is a limitation where bookings cannot be updated online once within a week of sailing.

Yes, Mike - I got your email. Thanks. I have been a bit busy organising the next four cruises!

Incidentally, we have put down a deposit for a cruise in April 2016, and the TA's invoice says that full payment is required by Oceania this August - is this so?

Not really a problem since we usually pay in full anyway so as to avoid any increases as per the small print.

As for shore excursions, you are too late to book them online (too close to the cruise date) - ditto for transfers.

You can book both, the excursions & transfers, as soon as you board.

Enjoy your cruise.

Thank you!

I have just tried using a VPN to "place" me in the US with the same result. But I can book for the cruise starting in a couple of months so your comment is completely correct!

Problem solved (so far as the site is concerned - it does seem perverse that you are blocked from booking online now but will be able to in a week's time onboard!)

I think you and I are in the same situation with the 'no bookings' line. Is your cruise more than six months out?

Our next cruise is in November, and if I remember correctly from our past cruising, Oceania won't release the itineraries for the excursions much before May (six months before cruise).

It starts this week! Though the transfer I want is in several weeks time.

yes I did

 

this is what I did

log in

under Overview click on manage this booking

it shows several tabs Shore excursions, dining, hotels etc

when I click on shore excursions to the right there is a blue tab SHOP FOR SHORE EXCURSIONS

 

Click that it then brought up a box for each day of the cruise with excursions listed for the port I highlighted

 

Are you using the US site or do you have an Australian site??

this may be the problem

 

If you cannot see the excursions you may want to email Mike Moore with your booking number & problem so he can look into it

 

Lyn

Most peculiar - You do what I do, but when I click on "Shore excursions" nothing changes - there's no blue tab to shop!

And I am using the .com, not .com.au.

I have a VPN - I will see if accessing from "within" the USA makes any difference.

You can still book excursions online

go to

booked cruises> manage my booking> shore excursions>shop for excursions> click on the port then add any excursions to the cart follow the instructions for check out

 

Transfers I am not sure if they were there before as we just take a taxi

Sounds logical - but have you actually tried it on the new site? There's no option to actually book - only a line which says we have no bookings!

Was it not possible on the old site to arrange excursions, transfers and the like?

It certainly doesn't appear so now; perhaps I remember wrongly:confused:

Sorry, port schedule times are most frequently in local.

 

The "convoy" system is really just kind of a grouping really. There may or may not be a warship escort. The Captain will adjust his speed coming from Suez to arrive at point "A" offshore the city of Adan in Yemen at 1300 UTC for an 18 knot convoy. There are other convoys that transit at other speeds throughout the day, that leave point "A" at various times, so that they will all converge at the most hazardous point (about midway along the Arabian coast at night, and can then be better covered by the naval forces. The groups will then continue at their individual speeds to the end of the transit zone. Maintaining group speed is not required, but registering with MSCHOA (Maritime Security Center Horn of Africa) is required to "paint" your target on their radars. It is just that ships who do not maintain group speed and time run more risk of attack.

Interesting. As a certain CD would say "You learn something new every single day"!

UTC is the new name for Greenwich Mean Time, currently 6 hours ahead of EDT.

 

Last I heard she was due 0800 on the 12th, which is around midnight 11/12th Eastern. She probably won't show up on consumer vessel trackers until about 2-3 hours before that. AIS coverage is spotty in the area, and the "upgrade" satellite AIS service only updates once in 24 hours.

Yes, I know what UTC is - I didn't know whether the Salalah time on the site was local or UTC.

Also, as I said, it is the information that the port is putting out, not the tracking function which, as you say, is not available at present.

I was wondering if the captain had to wait for a convoy - he does have form in this area!

The Salalah port as reported by MarineTrafic.com says the Insignia is estimated to arrive just after midnight UTC (?) on the 16th - several days after what seemed to be the plan.

If true, this would surely put the scheduled Singapore boarding in jeopardy?

Has anyone any up to date news on her progress?

The Intercon Papeete is a reasonable place to stay for a couple of days pre- or post- cruise, but the rooms are fairly basic (think Caribbean)

The food is expensive and not particularly memorable (like most Tahiti hotels, apparently) but Carrefour is only twenty minutes walk away with wonderful fresh food for self catering.

If you are in the main blocks make sure to ask for a room on the West wings - the East wings are near the stage and the "music" is deafening!

Also, the hotel is basically a transit place with guests checking in and out constantly - you can expect to sit in the foyer for hours waiting for a room to be available unless you book for the previous night as well. There was (January) a lot of renovation going on - the overwater rooms, I think, were part of this - and even the fans in the foyer were not connected so it was pretty sticky.

Captain Jurica Brajcic

 

GM Victor Conceicao

 

Cruise Director Andy Heath

 

Chef Mark Walter

 

No mention of the social hostess.

 

Of course things can and do change. Last year we were supposed to have Dottie as our cruise director and had Andy Heath. In 2012 we sailed on Regatta under Capt Brajcic. He's the captain who outran the pirates off the coast of Somalia.

Thanks Sella: we thought Captain Flokus was down for this sector but were obviously mistaken. I guess Andy Heath's wife will be the social hostess. We will be arriving Singapore on the 19th rarin' to go!

Someone must have received their itinerary/personalised docs by now - can they post who are the Captain, CD, social hostess etc ex Singapore?

I suspect that is the issue, but obviously want to be sure, as we take privacy and security very seriously. Please do let me know the outcome, or if you provide your booking number, we can have a look and see if the reservation is under the same two guests for both segments. My guess is that it is not, and that is the cause of the problem.

Mike: you will by now have received my email explaining how it was resolved, if not how it became an issue in the first place.

For everyone else - I jumped to the conclusion, because of all the posts about problems on the new site, that the switch was the fault of the Oceania computer system. As far as I can tell, it was an error here in Australia whereby someone just pulled up the list of (My Name) and hit OK on the wrong one without checking. Whether it was Oceania Sydney or the agency I cannot determine: anyway, apologies are in order to Mike!

Wol - if you could please email me your booking numbers (the one with the correct data and incorrect data) to mmoore@prestigecruiseholdings.com we will look into it ASAP.

Mike:

I have found where my doppelganger lives and gone round to see him. He has done several Oceania cruises in the past.

I suspect that either the agent or Oceania Australia is the culprit here, in which case you have my apologies! When Mrs Wol booked the back to backs apparently the agent kept trying to attend to other matters, and I surmise she entered my name and just punched OK on one on the list.

It's six am here but at nine we are going to sort this out at our end - obviously although I can change passport numbers etc online

I can't change the name or Oceania club number!

>>Now that mysterious Vancouver address, I hope it is not #### My Street, Vancouver, BC<<

How does 4878 grab you?

>>Curious, if the other you was seven years younger would your wife have still complained ��<<

She says no, especially if my doppelganger was very wealthy :D, handsome :mad:, and better tempered :confused:.

Google being my friend, I have managed to track down the "other" man - would you believe they live here in Australia (Bowral) just a few minutes away. They are understandably horrified at the security breach _ I have their DOBs, passport numbers, address, next of kin, email address, phone number etc etc. Their Canadian address is that of a friend in Vancouver, so I also have that, although they sold three years ago.

The only thing now is to find out if it was indeed the Oceania site that has messed up, or whether the agent who booked our cruise just hit the OK button on the first common name she saw - in which case I will apologise to Mike Moore :cool: