Marina Brochure

[BGSS]

First, a comment:. I received my copy of the brochure today along with a letter informing me of the "exclusive members-only reservation period", two days after the close of the special time period for priority reservations. IMHO Oceania screwed up the first major marketing effort of their new ship by not getting the brochure out in a timely manner.

 

Second, a question: Since the Marina is not put into service until Jan. 2011, I assume that it is still under construction. If this is true, then where did the pictures in the brochure come from. Are they real or fake? Yes, I am aware of the disclaimer on the inside of the front cover and on some of the stateroom/suite pictures. How do you get "real" pictures if "Oceania Cruises will be making enhancements and revisions during ship construction"? No doubt this was put in by the lawyers.

[Druke I]

Yes, the brochures were late. I received mine yesterday, also.

 

The photos in the brochure are computer generated. The ship is still under construction, and interiors are not yet installed, hence the disclaimer.

[tak2]

I actually think this brochure is a step forward.

If I am not mistaken,other major cruise lines based in USA did not have such highly detailed renderings of their new ships at similar stages. For example, I don't recall seeing brochures showing renderings of Oasis of the Seas, Solstice, or Eurodam a year before maiden voyage.

 

Oceania's effort should be applauded.

Enough information was available online for the purpose of deciding which and where to book, the brochure is just a bonus. For people who are not prepared to search for information, there are always travel agents available to help.

[StanandJim]

How do you get "real" pictures if "Oceania Cruises will be making enhancements and revisions during ship construction"?

 

Bgss-

 

The pictures of the public rooms and the pool area are mostly renderings:

 

Rendering is the process of generating an image from a model or blueprint, by means of computer programs.

 

As far as the staterooms are concerned, back at the time when things were still in the head scratching phase, full scale mock ups were built, so we are seeing photographs of those.

 

The photographs which take place on deck, were not taken onboard Marina but are representative of what we will see. Therefore, they are deliberately vague

[sitraveler]

Did you see the post to contact FDR ?

[BGSS]

Thanks for the information. It is most helpful. The use of the term enhancements seems to me to infer that what is shown exists. Therefore the pictures are what exists before the enhancements take place. I assume what they are really saying is that you will get this stateroom, dining room or whatever, better than what is pictured, not worse, but it will be pretty close to what you see here.

 

Is the use of renderings in advertising of this sort in any way border on the unethical--is shady, Or is it the norm of the ad industry today?

[StanandJim]

Thanks SItraveler, we have been in contact with Oceania.....there are some mighty interesting goings on over there, vis a vis Marina :D

 

BGSS-

Renderings have been used for new ship advertising forever.

 

And they are still being used very extensively, up until today. Just look how vividly Cunard used them for their new Queen Elizabeth:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cruisenewsdaily.com/nf90323n.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cruisenewsdaily.com/nf90323.html&usg=__y5bvv0lX6D10rAei3MBzbLSAdn8=&h=481&w=800&sz=440&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=FuQvBNeDJkXJJM:&tbnh=86&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dqueen%2Belizabeth%2Bwinter%2Bgarden%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4ADBF_enUS275US275%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1

As long as they still plan to build the ship to those specifications that were used to build the rendering, I cannot see that it is unethical.

Besides, some of them were quite obviously drawn:

[Mura]

Just to put in my two cents, yes, our brochure came at the end of the "past passenger" booking period.

 

And we got another one two days later.

 

Fortunately for us we are not interested in Caribbean itineraries! I am eagerly awaiting the European itineraries and then we will POUNCE.

 

(Our TA had already sent us an email version of the brochure so we weren't overly bothered ...)

[jgiblin]

Just to put in my two cents, yes, our brochure came at the end of the "past passenger" booking period.

 

And we got another one two days later.

 

Fortunately for us we are not interested in Caribbean itineraries! I am eagerly awaiting the European itineraries and then we will POUNCE.

 

(Our TA had already sent us an email version of the brochure so we weren't overly bothered ...)

 

Same here... I have gotten two copies of the brochure mailed to my house several days after the expiration date of the "special, previous cruisers, inaugural offer". Fortunately, I had already booked the SFO-MIA itinerary with my TA.

 

But back to the original thread... I have been following a similar photo rendering thread on an Adobe Photoshop newsgroup. The Photoshop newsgroup was discussing that many/most Hollywood-types employ a team of Photoshop experts to ensure that ALL of their photographs are tweaked before being released to the public. The result is that the Hollywood-types present an image of perfection that they may not physically have. The result is an false illusion. In contrast, photo rendering of ship blue-prints is an image that, in time, is fully expected to exist.

 

Photoshop is a powerful program.

[jgiblin]

Just to put in my two cents, yes, our brochure came at the end of the "past passenger" booking period.

 

And we got another one two days later.

 

Fortunately for us we are not interested in Caribbean itineraries! I am eagerly awaiting the European itineraries and then we will POUNCE.

 

(Our TA had already sent us an email version of the brochure so we weren't overly bothered ...)

Of the European itineraries? Please share!

[volleyballmom87]

I hate to ruffle your feathers any further, but I received my brochure well before the past passenger sale and I am not a past passenger (yet). I am not even interested in the Marina... I am eagerly awaiting the Euro 2011 schedule and praying that the past passengers don't snap up all of the inside cabins before I can book. I really wish I could afford the balcony cabin for Greece but we are moving up a level from the mass market big ships. We will get there... we are still young.

[JBVols]

I got a brochure from my TA but nothing from O. I spite of O we are booked on the SF to Miami.