pinotlover

So isn’t that the question? Should Oceania just print the NZ policy in Currents ( many passengers never or rarely read Currents), make one announcement every day, or the constant reminders? Do constant reminders/announcements affect behavior of the Oblivious? Or, why waste your time on them?

Some CDs are more yaky than others. Do the announcements work? Having a large percentage of passengers ignore all announcements doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t helpful. A simple example. Standing in line to deboard for a tour or catch a tender. How many times should the staff have to announce: “ Please have your room key out, in your hand, to expedite de boarding.” They can say it every thirty seconds and someone will still wait until they get to the stand and start digging in their purse, or start walking against the line because they just discovered at the stand they left it in their cabin. So should the announcement be made once, ten times hoping people will pay attention, or fewer? How many times should a CD have to announce daily in New Zealand not to take any fruits or food items ashore. The Oceania passengers that ignore all announcements will do as they please, the rest of use heard it on Day 1 and understood. Should the CD make that announcement 5 times every day? We had a fellow passenger arrested at the port in Wellington. The dogs were on him immediately. He was carrying fruit ashore! Those continuing announcements went ignored as so many do. I don’t know the answer. I just go with the flow.

Absolutely no “ one size fits all” answer. Some days it’s comfortable in a short sleeve shirt, other days I’m extremely happy that I brought my sports jacket. I always wear my sports jacket to dinner. It’s easy to slip off if the venue is comfortable or warm . My DW always carries a sweater. It’s truly a Forest Gump box of chocolates thing. You’ll never know until you get there. Conditions last night have no bearing on tonight.

We were in Lisbon, on the Sirena, last October starting the second leg of a B2B. A zero count was not required. Some passengers remained on the ship. Oceania ran shore tours. The port ran regular shuttle buses from the ship to downtown for we DIYers. For those that stayed on the ship for the “ special “ lunch in the GDR, it was reported that the menu was identical to the evening menu the night before. So one got an evening meal served at lunch. Some questioned whether it wasn’t just the excess prepared food re warmed. We had a lovely lunch ashore. I believe one had to RSVP for the lunch , on the forms sent around, so they would have a headcount for that special lunch.

1. The issue on the ship is the sole result of rude passengers that ignore their assigned color code for disembarking. Ignore most all instructions given to them by staff and ship officers, and ignore most all logical safety precautions. This starts before they get on the ship, and doesn’t end until they are gone. Any steps Oceania attempted to take would be ignored by the majority of its passengers. As far as the Lounge goes, would you want to be in the center of a row, with all your luggage, with most of the seats taken around you and the pathway jammed with luggage? That would be humorous! FCO is a nightmare. It can be very frustrating even when one arrives by taxi. The drop off and pick up areas are far too small for the amount of traffic. The drop off area may not be near one’s check in counter. Hopefully you get dropped off at the correct terminal! If you read this Forum regularly, you’ll hear a continuous theme. DO NOT schedule that outbound flight until after 12:00. Give yourself plenty of time. Be able to take a deep breath and go with the flow. As in paragraph 1 above, the ignore button by Oceania passengers is huge. Can I make my 10:00 flight, how about a 9:30? 🙄. IMO, if you book one of those flights, you deserve what ever stress comes with it.

😂. I wish people would make up their minds. We have one thread going where people are complaining about NOT wanting to pay for extras. Only pay for what you want! They don’t want all inclusive. Here we have people complaining about things that aren’t included! 🙄 😂

Since the OP has: 1. Disappeared; 2. Started a thread with NO facts; 3. None of us have any clue as to what’s happening! Time to yawn and move on. I personally feel embarrassed that I responded to someone that offered zero information about what actually transpired. 😔

Did you ask to be upgraded when you booked? It doesn’t happen automatically. Did you DIY or use a TA?

I concur with a similar experience on the Nautica. Only thing left unsaid was on a full ship, attendance after 11:00 was maybe 50 people and dwindling. By midnight, maybe 35-40. Those of us left did have a good time.

Two different insurance policies. One individual, another for the cruise line. Corporate policies are typically year to year, and no longer. That new corporate policy may well persuade the cruise line to cancel ports/countries.

Thanks; I remember we didn’t go at the same time as Oceania on that cruise. I was thinking before, guess it was actually after. 🍷

At one time, back in PCH days, both Oceania and Regent utilized the same computer systems. They didn’t want their systems cratered with multiple people hitting the system at the same time. Think speeds during cruises at high volume times. Solution: Space everything out. Regent customers pay more to go first. I doubt much has changed in Miami and the IT systems .

I believe a valuation of $320-$400 on the credit is fairly inline. Enjoy your cruise and consider the total package provided by Oceania along with the total costs. SM is a price increase. IMO, people are getting too hung up on the mechanism of the increase. Just view it as the new cost of cruising O, and decide how that cost of service meets your wants and needs. At this point wasting time on this mechanics of the increase is just wasting time.

As susiean replied above, the cruise lines will only go as far as the insurance companies leash allows.

I put the two areas in different paragraphs. No comparison intended. I will only reply to my friend’s current ( in the past week) experience: their tour operator cancelled all tours to Israel scheduled for next year (2024) and is returning deposits for such.

Last decade, when Turkey started acting badly, it took 3 or 4 years before cruise ships started going back into Istanbul again. I’m guessing it will be at least that long, or longer, before cruising to Israel resumes even if the violence there ends fairly soon. Friends, booked with a church group going there next summer, have already found their tour cancelled. Liability is too great, especially in sue happy America. We may not see a cruise line returning to Russia for a decade. The mutual animosity there will take a long time to heal. Even if needing the tourism, I don’t believe travelers will find the welcome mats out for them. I’m On a personal note, we were fortunate enough to do a wonderful 14 day cruise/tour of China in 2016 with Uniworld, then another visit to Hong Kong to embark the Nautica in 2018. A different era indeed. Even the changes in HK, between 16 and 18, were highly noticeable. With current affairs, I have zero intention of ever returning to any part of China again. I even refrain, as much as possible, from buying anything “ Made in China “. I’d hate to be in one of those ports, or even their waters, when that powder keg goes off.

People need to get over it. SM is a price increase. That’s all it is. Oceania attempts to take part of the sting out by giving everyone the basic drinks package which costs them very little. They take part of the sting out by giving everyone credit on taking hugely overpriced, and often boring, shore excursions. If neither rock your boat then it’s just a needed price increase. That’s it: a price increase. Time will tell how successfully the price increase sticks. They already do almost a continuous slew of differing Sales to fill the ships. Wait, watch, and catch a sale can be a strategy. In the end, there’s going to be a price increase. Customers just have to pay it or move on. I’ll add to this a bit of uncertainty on my part. Perhaps those of us that don’t want to get off the ship and/or go on ship excursions ( I’m definitely in the latter), are no longer the targeted customers. Besides needing a price increase, maybe Oceania has indeed done extensive marketing surveys and that upcoming generation ( under 70) primarily wants a more all inclusive experience. Perhaps those new customers will gladly use the credits and jump on even more ship shorexs. KaChing!! If knitting, darning, and gossiping is your current favorite cruise pastime, you’re now going to pay more to do it on Oceania. That’s it:SM is just a price increase.

Midnight, that’s 00:00 , Eastern Time in the US. One cannot log in until after midnight, so wait until 00:01 or 12:01 am depend upon how you tell time.

1. Even in a suite, I often shower and shave in the Spa facilities on an R ship. 2. Bermuda is a wonderful place to visit, with great restaurants, and easily reached by air from the States. I can’t imagine passing up their great hotels ( with triple the space of cruise ships) and terrific restaurants with local flair and fresh food for ship’s food.

The ships are identical except the Sirena has different Specialty Restaurants. Nautica was the last , of the three, to be refurbished, so might be a bit shinier, but Oceania maintains all their ships well. Except as above, absolutely no difference but itinerary.

Nope, not allowed. On our Sirena cruise last Fall, the lead wine steward at a tasting asked “ What kind of tasting would we ( the group) like to see?” I recommended that since we were headed to Madeira, then the Canary Islands, she pick up a few representative wines from the area and we have that tasting. We were quickly told that was impossible. Shipboard personnel aren’t allowed to buy wine for any reason. Only Miami can buy wines for the ship. Our choice for a Tasting was from wines already offered by the ship.

Never seen it done! Let me add. These are all very low priced wines overall. Most all of them are varietally correct. So if you know what are Syrah or a Merlot tastes like, that’s what you’re getting. Even the blends such as the CdR is typical of that blend. There are no silly CA cocktail fruit bomb wines on the wine by the glass menu. They are more food oriented. For Chardonnay, they typically have two selections: one more classic; and more more buttery and oaky than the other. They will allow you to sample both to see which you prefer. However, I have never seen a flight tasting offered of all the whites for instance.

I don’t believe Oceania is concerned. I believe they are weeding out the low net customers to make room for the higher net revenue customers. Older customers can get on the revenue train, or not. I’m sure they have done the math on replacing high perk/low revenue customers with newer low perk customers also.

Ditto!!! Oceania is buying wine in multiple shipping container quantities that they have shipped to their multiple world wide resupply locations. It takes months or years to rotate through some of the wines. Anything left over from one cruise season is just warehoused until the next. Nothing on the current “ by the glass “ wine list will change for quite some time. As ORV pointed out, absolutely nothing changed on 10/1 as far as the wine list was concerned.

With the dire financial straits that NCLH is in, it should be expected that Oceania would be grasping at cost reductions. Shaving port time is a cost reduction. Corporate and Communications can’t be used in the same sentence with Oceania. Not one of the things they do well. On our Vista cruise in June, we don’t believe the Captain decided on Embarkment Day to shave port time on three upcoming ports. There was zero reason why the passengers couldn’t have been informed of those changes well in advance so we could make alternate arrangements with our private tours prior to boarding. We’re disappointed in the cuts, we’re angered by the unprofessional way they chose to notify their customers. Case in fact, they didn’t actually notify us of the cuts. One had to take the schedule given upon boarding and compare it with the previous itinerary to identify the cuts. Ship staff never brought the changes to any ones attention.