Don't assume O CSR's know what they are talking about

[susiesan]

I will be on the Caribbean Pearls itinerary on Regatta sailing Feb. 25. The cruise has 8 ports. I emailed Oceania customer service to inquire as to how many were tender ports. I was told only one, Dominican Republic, Cayo Levantado. This didn't sound right so I did some research. I checked in travel books and asked on TripAdvisor about a few of the islands that I thought were also tender ports. I was right and O was wrong. St. Barts is a tender port and Virgin Gorda is a tender port. So 3 out of 8 we will be tendering, not 1.

 

The Oceania CSR's are giving wrong information to passengers. Someone needs to tell them the correct ports that involve tenders. This could affect the type of excursions some pax may choose to do or not, especially if they have trouble getting in and out of tenders.

[StanandJim]

I would not be so quick to condemn Oceanias' customer service people.

 

They can only be as good as the information that is given to them and that information is specific, as you will see from this printout from our final documents.

The position of the ship in each harbor is clearly defined.

Unfortunately, one of the pitfalls of travelling by ship is that the harbormasters have ultimate control over the berthing arrangements in any given port.

 

For that reason, one cannot micromanage ones activities in some ports until the ship has actually landed there.

 

This is a fact of life. It is not specific to Oceania, but is true across the board.

[mringenoldus]

I agree that this is a prevelant issue across cruiselines. There clearly needs to be improvement in CSR training across the board.

 

However, the question regarding tendering is a relatively simple one and they should certainly be able to get it correct. They have been running the Caribbean Pearls itinerary for a while, so the details should be readily available.

 

susiesan - I was on this itinerary last year and you now have the correct tendering information. The tendering was very easy so I wouldn"t let it deter you.

[LHT28]

The Oceania CSR's are giving wrong information to passengers.

 

I have been saying that for years

[susiesan]

StanandJim: I have the same final documents for my cruise except they are incorrect. O has printed that the ship will be docked at 7 of the 8 ports and it will not be. It's not a question of berth management. These are ports where ships never dock, ports that O has visited before and should know that ships don't dock at. You may want to do your own homework for the places you will visit on your cruise to verify whether you will dock or tender. However, I did a similar Panam Canal itinerary 2 years ago on AZ and we did dock at all these ports. But YMMV.

 

mringenoldus: tendering won't deter me in the least. It's just a PITA, makes it harder to pop back to the ship for lunch, then go back out in the afternoon. Tendering chews up a lot of time.

[pvan]

We were on a Caribbean Pearls last year and in our final cruise docs they showed us docking at Virgin Gorda...I thought that sounded odd and after a quick online search I found that just couldn't be right and it wasn't. IMO, always best to do your own research...

[LHT28]

It appears Regatta can dock or anchor in Virgin Gorda

For Jan they have Road Town listed (anchorage), cruise pier & Spanish Town (dock)

Feb schedule is not on the port site yet

http://www.bviports.org/

[susiesan]

I had emailed back to Grace @O about disseminating wrong information, and I just got this reply from her:

 

"Thank you for pointing out the error we have in our port itinerary ( dock/tender ) information for the REG110225 sailing. The information was listed incorrectly on our system which was carried over into the Cruise Documentation. The error has now been rectified and the correct information will be reflected on your Cruise Vacation Summary.

 

We do apologize for the incorrect information provided and for any inconvenience it has caused."

 

Someone at HQ must be reading CC. I now have correct information but what about the other 650 people on this Regatta sailing? Will they be notified about the tendering?

[susiesan]

It appears Regatta can dock or anchor in Virgin Gorda

For Jan they have Road Town listed (anchorage), cruise pier & Spanish Town (dock)

Feb schedule is not on the port site yet

http://www.bviports.org/

 

Road Town is on Tortola, and there is a cruise ship pier there. Someone who lives on Virgin Gorda and is an expert on TripAdvisor wrote that only the small ships like Star Clipper and Windstar actually can dock at Virgin Gorda. O ships anchor and send tenders to the same pier used by the ferries.

[LHT28]

However, I did a similar Panam Canal itinerary 2 years ago on AZ and we did dock at all these ports. But YMMV.

 

 

Did you dock at VG on that cruise?

 

Sorry yes Road town is on Tortola

[susiesan]

Did you dock at VG on that cruise?

 

Sorry yes Road town is on Tortola

 

The Panama Canal cruise I took on AZ did not go to VG. It went to most of the same places StanandJim's PC canal is going to and a few more.

 

I docked at Tortola on a NCL cruise in 2003 and took the ferry to VG. The Regatta cruise goes to both Tortola and VG, which is a plus.

[wripro]

This problem is not unique to O. Many cruise lines have home office staff who are not as informed as they should be. That's another reason to use a good TA and direct your questions to him/her.

[Bowie MeMe]

Don't assume that the O reps that talk to TA are much better. I asked my TA to verify that certain medicines could be carried into Dubai and they told the TA there would not be any problem though information on these boards and from State Department (Australian and US) indicate that there could be a problem. Not at all sure who I should believe. To add insult to insuffiecincy:D "Surely mature travelers with prescription drugs would not have a problem". I hope they are as good at giving out get out of jail cards if they are wrong.

[caribbeansun]

We were on Caribbean Pearls last year and we tendered in the following ports:

 

- Virgin Gorda

- St. Barts

- Samana

 

Also, we docked well out of town in Dominica

 

Sadly, getting correct information from any number of companies (not just cruise lines) can be a challenge. If you do any reading over on Flyertalk the standard answer is "if you don't like the answer you get, call back and talk to someone else". I'm not excusing it, I'm just saying it's becoming a common issue across the board.

[wripro]

A good TA will usually get accurate information and does not rely on the same sources as the client.

[Bowie MeMe]

That is why I asked my TA to take my specific list of medications and have O see if I could disembark with them in Dubai. It really was brushed off. It really could be serious if my "personal pharmacy" landed me in jail with any of 3 RX that could be considered Type A in Dubai. I also asked about what problem having an Israili passport stamp the week before entering Dubai might cause. The O rep. said "she couldn't imagine there would be a problem". Thankfully here on CC folks from last year's cruise could tell us how the problem is handled (seperate loose sheet of paper).

 

I expect that all cruise lines/tour companies should have working knowledge of these aspects of planning for a cruise. Brushing it off is not the response that gives me confidence. Not suggesting further avenues of research does not impress me either.

 

CSR's could do a lot worse than read these boards/threads for answers. I am not in a panic or over reacting, I just want to know what problems I may have to deal with if I choose a certain itenerairy. The CSR should help me get the correct answer. In a perfect world ....

[Bowie MeMe]

A good TA will usually get accurate information and does not rely on the same sources as the client.

 

A good TA goes to her cruise line CSR and also asks her office mates if they knew of any problem. My TA did these things promptly -- I am just unsure from knowledge hinted at in State Department and govt. offices --if they are actually accurate enough to not get into trouble. :confused:

[rahrah50]

BowieMeMe,

 

If you google "taking presription drugs into Dubai" there are lists of the medicines that may be a problem. It appears codeine, psychiatric drugs for depression etc, cold meds with either codeine or dextromethorfan are the biggest ones. Also estrogens???

 

I had no idea - thanks for bringing it up.. No plans to go to Dubai soon but you never know...

[StanandJim]

A good TA goes to her cruise line CSR and also asks her office mates if they knew of any problem. My TA did these things promptly -- I am just unsure from knowledge hinted at in State Department and govt. offices --if they are actually accurate enough to not get into trouble. :confused:

 

This is the Oceania policy regarding prescription drugs:

 

If you must travel with medications in large quantities, you may be required to show documentation when passing through USA or foreign customs. It is advisable to carry a letter on a physicians' letterhead stating (1) the full name of the drug(s), dosage per day, and quantity necessary for the period away from home; (2) the condition for which it is prescribed, and (3) that the medicine is required for your well being. We recommend that all medications be stored in their original container with the pharmacists' label attached and carried in your hand baggage.

 

Beyond this, the authorities of the specific port of call should be consulted.

[rubysue]

Pardon me for disagreeing on the p

[rubysue]

Oops - accidentally posted before I was done. That's what I get for one-fingered typing on an iPad.

 

We were on the March 9 Caribbean Pearls itinerary last year (our first Oceania cruise) and we tendered in the following ports:

 

Grand Turk (Carnival had priority at the dock & winds prevented another ship from docking)

Cayo Levantado, D.R.

Dominica

St. Bart's

Virgin

 

The crew doing the tendering operations was absolutely fantastic, by the way!

 

So 5 out of the 8 islands required tenders. Seas were quite rough in the Dominican Republic & Dominica. In the D.R., we had to tender from Cayo Levantado to the ship, although we had been on an excursion vessel to Samana; all passengers on the tender had to disembark one at a time at the ship.

 

There were many ships tendering at Dominica & Regatta was routed to an outside landing at the pier with heaving seas while Ocean Village, one of the Windstar ships & another ship I can't recall tendered into a more placid interior harbor.