Shuttles from Docks to Town Centers for Marina Only!!

[caroak]

I called Oceania to inquire about shuttles being available at certain ports with regard to their new policy. Well, my excitement was short lived because I was informed that they will only be offering them for the Marina. I asked why and she said because the Marina offers more amenities and the cruises are more expensive than the other ships. This is not something I was pleased to hear!:mad:

[Mura]

I would not call that a good business decision. No siree bob.

[StanandJim]

Who was it that predicted that the "We Want Free Shuttles" contingent would never be satisfied with whatever the shuttle policy turned out to be? :rolleyes:

[TERRIER1]

The Oceania web site under Media Center does not state that the free shuttles are specific to Marina. Perhaps the agent is unaware of the policy.

[Jancruz]

After I read the op I emailed Bob Binder president of Oceania below is his answer...

 

 

"Completely wrong.

They are available on cruises on all ships in our fleet."

Bob

 

So lets get rid of that rumour!!

Jancruz1

[Druke I]

If correct, that is a rather large corporate mistake, in my opinion.

[Druke I]

We were typing at the same time.

 

Thanks for the contact and clarification.

[Jancruz]

My pleassure..Oceania execs are too smart to let something like that happen, if the OP

wouls let me knoiw the nme of the person they spoke to it would be much appreciated.

Jancruz1

[Mura]

Well, whew! I couldn't understand Oceania making such a basic error!

[wripro]

Glad to hear that shuttles will be available for all ships.

[caroak]

So glad to hear I was misinformed. I didn't get the woman's name and I must say she was rather curt. She said she was just telling me what they've been told regarding shuttles. I also asked if shuttles would be available on the Marina in Marseille just to get an idea of what they might be offering and all she told me was she wasn't sure if the Marina goes to Marseille but that the ships dock right in Marseille and the town center is only 1-1/2 miles and we could walk or take a taxi. I'm thinking sure if you feel like taking a long walk before a day of touring or if you're lucky enough to find a taxi wiling to accept a fare to town and then deal with it again on the way back.

[Bruin Steve]

It will still be interesting to see how this all works out on a port by port basis...Without specifics (which would be unwieldly to detail ahead of time), it still leaves unknowns for those "planners among us"...

 

I am thinking in these terms:

"To the Town Center" may not mean what some people may be expecting in all cases...

For example, when we were on Celebrity Eclipse this past summer and the ship docked in Zeebrugge, the shuttle did NOT take people into the center of Bruges, as some might have expected, but to the Brandenburg Train Station--from where one might catch a train to the center of Bruges...Bruges is actually about a half an hour away...and a 50 euro cab ride...

 

So, it might be a bit much to expect any cruise line to offer free shuttles to the center of Bruges...

 

On our upcoming Marina cruise, the itinerary notes stops such as Bordeaux, Seville and Florence...Of course, the ship is actually docking in Le Verdon, Cadiz and Livorno...I hope people temper their expectations so they expect shuttles, if any, to take them to the city centers of Le Verdon, Cadiz and Livorno, NOT Bordeaux, Seville and Florence!

 

I can imagine it now when some people find out that Oceania is not shuttling them all the way to Bordeaux and back, the outraged threads we will find on this board...

 

As for me, in many ports, I still will not rely on "Free shuttles"...I'll prefer to have tour guides pick me up and deliver me back to the pier...

 

There are a few ports where I may wander on my own (Barcelona, for example) where I will consider the shuttle as a means of saving me a small taxi fare...not a big deal, but, obvioulsy, appreciated...

[cbb]

All I want is to have a shuttle take me to the nearest mass transportation. As Steve said Bruges is quite some distance from port and I would have loved to have used the bus system (love buses, trams, and trains). People relying on taxis there waited over an hour for the vehicles to come to them.

Many of the French, Portuguese and Spanish ports are so far from what you want to see that having a shuttle to take you to mass transportation can be ideal. 9/10 we happened to be on the Reunion Trip so we had shuttles in every port...fab!

[LHT28]

As I have already stated many times the RES agents at O need MORE training

 

They have been wrong on many occasions :eek:

 

Maybe they should read the press releases

Oceania Cruises has announced the second phase of innovative fleet-wide enhancements.

[caroak]

UPDATE: I call Oceania again and spoke to Daniel who had been very helpful with an issue we had while our TA was on vacation. He said he had to check something and then came back and read me the press release regarding shuttles. He said he didn't understand why the other agent told me the shuttles will only be for Marina passengers and wanted to know her name. Too bad I had neglected to ask. It seems obvious that the agents are not being kept up to date with new policies and it makes you wonder why management would not be more diligent in this regard.

 

I also asked about Marseille in particular and he said he would call me as soon as that information is available.

[Mura]

Lyn has an excellent point about better training for the agents. You can lose a lot of business if the information being given is incorrect.

 

I have to wonder why this person was so adamant in making the statement she did. Yes, Marina is bigger and the top cabins at least are a lot larger than the top cabins on the "R" ships, and so they cost more. (I'm not sure if the lower level cabins are all that much more expensive?)

 

But be that as it may, all ships should be treated equally.

 

Heretofore, we've been on cruises that provided free shuttles and ones that provided shuttles for a fee ... also cruises that provided nothing in terms of shuttles. Usually we manage on our own and do just fine. If there's a free shuttle, we'll take it. If there's a for-fee shuttle we probably won't take it because in our experience the fee-shuttles were very limited in time.

 

When we were in Dublin (June 2006) you could pay for a half day or a whole day shuttle, and the fees weren't insignificant. Not outrageous but more than we wanted to pay -- especially when it turned out that the hours were a lot less than a half or whole day. So we took a taxi which we shared with another passenger and cost a lot less than the shuttle would have. And we spent as much time as possible in the city. Even the full day shuttle was more like 4-5 hours.

[LHT28]

Lyn has an excellent point about better training for the agents. You can lose a lot of business if the information being given is incorrect.

 

 

Res Agents in most cruise lines & tour companies have a high turn over rate

Some may not pay attention to the details and are not willing to ask for fear of looking bad

What ever the reason they are the front line employees & can make or break a deal when dealing with passengers

TA's usually know to ask more than one person ;)

 

I always mark down the time, date & person I spoke with when dealing with Res agents...force of habit:)

 

Lyn

[Oceans&Rivers]

Res Agents in most cruise lines & tour companies have a high turn over rate

Some may not pay attention to the details and are not willing to ask for fear of looking bad

What ever the reason they are the front line employees & can make or break a deal when dealing with passengers

TA's usually know to ask more than one person ;)

 

I always mark down the time, date & person I spoke with when dealing with Res agents...force of habit:)

 

Lyn

 

I don't agree that TA's hold the key to the passenger having a better experience. It depends on the TA.

 

I have had better luck with some of the more mature Oceania reservation agents knowing what they are talking about and being helpful than a TA (a senior TA at a big agency listed as being in Oceania's Connoisseur Club), and wish that Oceania would include gratuities rather than "passing them through" to the TA's to dole them out because dealing with the TA was just a pain, plus the TA made serious errors, didn't stay in touch at critical times, etc. In order to get those gratuities paid, I have to use a TA when booked on Oceania.

 

Oceania's reservation agents are easier to reach, are open longer hours, etc.

In my case, they are the ones who made the sale, too.

 

If Oceania included gratuities in their prices, then I would find Oceania more competitive, and I would have the choice whether to use a TA or not. The way it is, if we don't turn the booking over to a TA (remember, the TA had no influence in making the sale), then we don't get the gratuities paid, so I feel like I have no choice but to do so.

[caroak]

Oceans&Rivers, are you saying that TA's get the gratuities to pass on to passengers for each and every O cruise? I was told by my TA that gratuities are only paid by O on certain cruises but so far they were not offering them for our May cruise. We are very happy with our TA and would only book a cruise through her. She's on top of everything and has gotten us some great deals and perks at hotels and also on our first Crystal cruise two years ago.

[LHT28]

Having dealt with res agents (in my previous life) I can tell you if you talk to several agents in one day you WILL get different answers from each contact.

That is just how it works in some cases with tour operators & cruise companies

 

That is why it is important to document dates & times with names of who you speak with.

 

Not all Res agents are bad or not caring ....there are some really good res agents I usually would ask for them when I had bookings.

 

As in walks of life there are people that are good at their jobs & pay attention to detail others just go through the motions and collect their pay cheques.

 

Back to the current rant :cool:

Lyn

[hondorner]

... I asked why and she said because the Marina offers more amenities and the cruises are more expensive than the other ships...

I got this far in the original post and immediately dismissed the agent as misinformed and the information as incorrect. Why? Because, while Marina is larger and does offer a few more amenities such as more public areas, it is NOT generally more expensive than the Regatta class ships. That was one of the early discussions about Marina, and one of the first things we noticed last year when the itineraries became available -- even though the cabins are larger, the fares are not appreciably more expensive. Remember to compare similar itineraries and reduce the fares to a per diem basis.

 

Personally, I have never called anyone at Oceania for information, but that's because my travel agent, the same as Mura's and many others on this board, is so darn good and can get me accurate information on any subject I've thrown at him -- and what he can't get, the owner of the agency can. They may not offer as many perks or cost savings as some, but access anytime, perfect service and nearly perfect information is more important to me.

[Oceans&Rivers]

Oceans&Rivers, are you saying that TA's get the gratuities to pass on to passengers for each and every O cruise? I was told by my TA that gratuities are only paid by O on certain cruises but so far they were not offering them for our May cruise. We are very happy with our TA and would only book a cruise through her. She's on top of everything and has gotten us some great deals and perks at hotels and also on our first Crystal cruise two years ago.

 

I don't know the answer to your question about whether prepaid gratuities are a perk on each and every Oceania each cruise (as they seem to be on each and every Crystal cruise, as an example) except to say that you should at least get some significant OBC (onboard credit) from your TA in an amount approximately similar to (not necessarily identical to) the value of prepaid gratuities, even if you are told that there are no prepaid gratuities for a particular sailing. ;)

 

What I would prefer is for Oceania to provide prepaid gratuities directly to passengers who do feel comfortable booking directly (can be on the phone, not just via the Internet, so no special Internet savvy is needed) and keep their booking "in house" at Oceania.

 

Travel agents can add whatever they wish on top of that, but I strongly prefer being in control of my own booking and hate having to turn it over to an agent unless I want to do so (and in some cases I do want to do that.)

 

We live on the West Coast of the U.S. and if I am going to use a travel agent, for example for a group they have put together, then most likely I want to use a TA in my own time zone, but only if someone knowledgable in their office can deal directly with Oceania during all hours that Oceania is open.

 

I notice that some people seem to mention final upcoming payment dates that are earlier than the "real" final payment dates that are set by Oceania, and that seems to be dependent upon which TA they use. I don't want to use a TA that requires final payment before the cruise line requires it.

[LHT28]

I notice that some people seem to mention final upcoming payment dates that are earlier than the "real" final payment dates that are set by Oceania, and that seems to be dependent upon which TA they use. I don't want to use a TA that requires final payment before the cruise line requires it.

How far in advance are they asked to pay the final payment?

[CintiPam]

All I want is to have a shuttle take me to the nearest mass transportation.

 

Yes!:)

[Bruin Steve]

You know, some of the comments in this thread got me to thinking about "free shuttles" on a philosophical level...

Particularly, the notion expressed at one point that free shuttles might be only for the Marina and tied into the higher prices...

 

Here's the thought: Nothing is ever really free...

Everything a cruise line (or any other business for that matter) gives away "free" is really included in the accounting for the overall price...

 

Cruise lines that offer, for example, free drinks, are really just taking their beverage expense, dividing it evenly, and blending it into the cruise fare...What happens is that "drinkers" are way ahead and non-drinkers are, basically, subsidizing the drinkers...

 

"Free Shuttles" are pretty much the same...the cruise line doesn't get them for free...they have to contract for them and pay the cost in each port where they are provided...Some cruise lines offer shuttles, but charge a fee for their use...But, if they are being provided for "free", then everyone is paying the cost...

 

However, when you think about it, on every ship, there are really three groups of people in each port...

 

First, the cruise line SELLS shore excursions...They would probably prefer that you purchase these from them...The shore excursions pick you up directly from the ship...there is no need for these people for a shuttle, free or otherwise...

 

Second, there is the group who hire private guides...these guides, generally, pick up their customers from the pier as well...Again, for this group, that "free shuttle" is superfluous...

 

The third group is the "do-it-yourselfers"...the ones who purchase no shore excursions, hire no private guides...Absent a "free shuttle", these folks would merely typically either take public transportation, walk or pay for a taxi...In most ports I've visited, it's fairly easy to do but requires some research, some planning...the "free shuttle" concept really doesn't mean the cruise line is helping everyone--and out of the goodness of their hearts...It really means they are charging groups one and two to subsidize group three...

 

It's actually probably more fair to charge a fee for the shuttle...after all, the cost of the bus is part of the cost of the shore excursion for those going with that option...why should those people subsidize transportation for others and then pay fully for their own transportation on top of that?

 

I'm sort of looking at my upcoming Marina cruise...I already have private tours set up in 5 of the 13 ports and am working on one or two others...in a few of the others, I may take shore excursions...I am really only planning on "doing my own thing" in Bilbao, Pont Aven, Barcelona and Honfleur...and was prepared to either just walk or take a taxi in those places...

 

So, I, for one, am really not all that excited about the prospects of "Free Shuttles"...I'd be better off if they used that portion of the cruise fare to send me a free bottle of wine...

 

Yes, now I've said it...and I am ready to take flak from all of those who truly believe that free shuttles are an important and necessary part of the cruise...

 

Folks, I hate to put a damper on the celebration, but, think about it...aren't there really two sides to this issue?