Disappointed in " O"

[kit23]

We were on the Regatta.

[LaCroisiereS'amuse]

Really? What ship were you on?

 

When I have time I'll look at that youtube video

 

I wouldn't bother looking up that video....it's lightweight journalism with little in the way of hard facts - the reporter doesn't even mention the Oceania name. :rolleyes:

[LHT28]

 

When we complained to Oceania we had no response. They do not want to hear from you or address negative issues. When we finally did get them to respond they kicked my daughter in law and myself off of a future cruise within 9 sailing days.

 

Why were you kick off the cruise?

[orchestrapal]

I wouldn't bother looking up that video....it's lightweight journalism with little in the way of hard facts - the reporter doesn't even mention the Oceania name. :rolleyes:

 

The only hard fact was that kit23 was made whole; a full refund from Oceania and her use of the airline tickets .

Can't even imagine what was said to O that called for someone (other than an cabin smoker) to have been thrown off a cruise.

No way could it only have been the 3 hour dinner, not seeing the tea box in the MDR or the fan blade near- accident. :confused:

[kit23]

First I am not a smoker. I did not make a nuisance of myself on the cruise and only complained to them when the fan blade flew off and hit the chair next to mine.

On the cruise that my daughter in law and I were kicked of, I was quite active on the boards. I never mentioned anything negative and had many activities planned with other cruise critic members. I was looking forward to this cruise and felt it would have been a better experience.

My husband did most of the vocal complaining and he was not going on the cruise. Oceania did not want to hear anything negative and was not very responsive. They did not offer to refund my air fare. I scrambled to make another trip for my daughter in law and myself within that 9 day period as I did not want to lose my air fare.

I used a person reccommended on cruise critic to help set up tours in China and coordinate flights. She was wonderful on short notice.

I have traveled on other cruise lines and used several tour companies. I have never had any problems. Perhaps you should check to see that Oceania is getting much more negative feedback that it used to. Perhaps other people feel that Oceania should pay more attention to people when they are unhappy. After all a satisfied customer is their best advertising.

[LHT28]

First I am not a smoker. I did not make a nuisance of myself on the cruise and only complained to them when the fan blade flew off and hit the chair next to mine.

On the cruise that my daughter in law and I were kicked of, I was quite active on the boards. I never mentioned anything negative and had many activities planned with other cruise critic members. I was looking forward to this cruise and felt it would have been a better experience.

My husband did most of the vocal complaining and he was not going on the cruise. Oceania did not want to hear anything negative and was not very responsive. They did not offer to refund my air fare. I scrambled to make another trip for my daughter in law and myself within that 9 day period as I did not want to lose my air fare.

So Why were you kicked off the cruise?

I still do not understand

 

 

I have only heard of a few people being kicked off or banned from Oceania

[kit23]

They sent me an e mail with an attachment. It said they did not feel I was the right person to be on Oceania cruises.

[JimandStan]

Somebody is dodging the question :rolleyes:

 

I'll bet that reason is a DILLY

[YoHoHo]

I got the impression it was a more matter of O recognizing that the passenger and the cruise line was not a good fit and that it was likely that they would not be able to provide a cruising experience satisfactory to them. It would not necessarily have to be one big thing but rather a number of lesser things that could not get resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

 

It might've been a good thing for the passenger too. Rather than them not enjoying their vacation to make other arrangements.

[LHT28]

I got the impression it was a more matter of O recognizing that the passenger and the cruise line was not a good fit and that it was likely that they would not be able to provide a cruising experience satisfactory to them.

I guess that is plausible if extensive complaining was involved

 

I wonder how many people go on a specific cruise line that is not the "right fit" ;):D

 

I see the fan incident happened in 2010 ..sometimes things just happen

 

Not a deliberate attempt to decapitate the passenger ...:rolleyes:

 

Oh well

Lyn

[wripro]

I cannot imagine that O would kick anyone off for "not being a good fit." It's a business and the money of people who "don't fit" is as good as that of those who do. Can you imagine a Mercedes dealership refusing to sell to someone who drives up in a Chevrolet?

[sitraveler]

I'll bet it's the poster where FDR told him to stay off a couple of months ago. Lyn, you know the thread.

[pacheco18]

I cannot imagine that O would kick anyone off for "not being a good fit." It's a business and the money of people who "don't fit" is as good as that of those who do. Can you imagine a Mercedes dealership refusing to sell to someone who drives up in a Chevrolet?

 

I think "not being a good fit" was a polite way of telling them that the grief you are giving us is not worth it.

 

I am part owner of a knitting store that is very service oriented. Every once in a while you get a customer that is so demanding, takes up so much of your time, and complains incessantly -- that you can never make them happy. I would not hesitate to tell that customer that the shop is "not a good fit" for their knitting needs and suggest they frequent one of the other shops in town. It does not happen often, but businesses make those kinds of decisions all the time.

 

I don't think we have our arms around the whole story here, but I imagine O did not think the energy they were expending on the passenger made sense.

[Trudyrand]

After several cruises with hubby, I am taking a solo cruise (he doesn't want to go) on O. (Baltic 7/22/12). We have cruised mostly on Regent and have always been pleased and are booked on the Canadian/NewEngland cruise this fall. Can I expect the same kind of service on O as on Regent given same owners or is it a different class of cruise?

[ksps cruise fan]

I think "not being a good fit" was a polite way of telling them that the grief you are giving us is not worth it.

 

Ditto to this interpretation. I'm self employed. In fewer than five times in the course of my career have I had to take a similar approach. No amount of money could make up for the grief these individuals created and would continue to create.

 

In post 49, kit23 refers to problems on the December 2011 holiday cruise. Assuming she really is referring to the cruise that sailed December 22, 2011, she and I were on the same cruise. That puts me in an interesting position to independently comment on at least one of her complaints: lack of holiday entertainment.

 

Below, I've reposted what I wrote (post 5) when the "Anyone back from the Xmas/New Year Marina Cruise" was active. The detail in my original post ought to put to rest the accusation that there was a lack of holiday-specific entertainment.

 

Now the charge that there were only three performers for an 11-day cruise is technically correct, but misses the point. The most minimal research about Oceania would tell any cruiser what to expect. Top tier entertainment is not part of the Oceania experience. The husband and wife team of singing impersonators, a contortionist, and a solo pianist playing music from around the world were all skillful and pleasant to listen to, but none of these performers is going to be offered a booking at the Kennedy Center.

 

Now, I wonder if kit23's husband was the man I wrote about in post #9, the man who complained to the captain and the hotel manager that no one picked up his shoes for overnight polishing, although he was not in a butler suite.

 

 

 

Festivities:

 

o There are decorations throughout the ship.

o There was a gingerbread village in a corner of the GDR bar. The gingerbread houses themselves weren't particularly spectacular, but as we approached Christmas and thereafter, the pastry chefs put plates of dried fruit and cookies among the village structures for nibblers to enjoy.

o Santa arrived on Deck 15 at 9:00 a.m. on Christmas day, paraded through the ship and then distributed toys in the central area of Deck 5 for about an hour.

o Guests were invited to join with the dancers, who must have acceptable singing voices too, to form a holiday chorus. This group paraded through the ship singing on Christmas afternoon.

o "Now That's What I Call Christmas" was the name of the show Christmas night. The show consisted of Christmas music performed largely by the excellent ship's singers but the guest chorus did one song. The show was bewilderingly rounded out by a typical production-style group of songs that had no relationship to Christmas with the performers wearing costumes that had no relationship to the holiday either.

o Special menus offered Christmas Eve, Christmas night and New Year's Eve. We overheard one of the restaurant managers say that the special holiday meals would be offered at all the restaurants, although the regular menus were also available.

o Parties in Horizons, around the pool deck, and in Martinis at mid-night for New Year's Eve."

[LHT28]

I'll bet it's the poster where FDR told him to stay off a couple of months ago. Lyn, you know the thread.

Marsha or Lou

I think it was another person going on Riveria

This person was on the Nautica roll call for an Asia cruise in March cruise (I think)

 

Hope you are both well

lyn

[LHT28]

After several cruises with hubby, I am taking a solo cruise (he doesn't want to go) on O. (Baltic 7/22/12). We have cruised mostly on Regent and have always been pleased and are booked on the Canadian/NewEngland cruise this fall. Can I expect the same kind of service on O as on Regent given same owners or is it a different class of cruise?

I have never been on Regent but there are several threads on both forums Regent VS Oceania ..might be worth having a search for them

Service sounds very similar

[LHT28]

In post 49, kit23 refers to problems on the December 2011 holiday cruise.

She has a review for Dec 2010 same complaints so must have typed the wrong date

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=76818

[ORV]

Marsha or Lou

I think it was another person going on Riveria

This person was on the Nautica roll call for an Asia cruise in March cruise (I think)

 

Hope you are both well

lyn

 

I believe this is the cruise they were kicked off of.

 

We were on the Regatta.

 

This is the ship they stated they were on.

[wripro]

Pacheco18,

 

That was my point. Not being a good fit could not possible have been the reason.

[LHT28]

I believe this is the cruise they were kicked off of.

 

 

 

This is the ship they stated they were on.

I think they were on the Regatta 2010 then she was scheduled to be on the Nautica in Mar 2011 with DIL ...I think was the cruise they were bumped from

 

In any case it must have been a good one to get bumped off a cruise ;)

[TERRIER1]

I don't understand why they would book another cruise on Oceania if they were so dissatisfied with the experience on their first cruise.

[rubysue]

I recall the thread where the poster was kicked off because it was such a shocker. The individual was making disparaging comments about O on the thread about shipyard delays for Riviera, going so far as to imply that ship would not be safe (this was in the same timeframe as the Costa Concordia incident). The individual had an interesting screen and has posted recently on the Silver Sea thread.

 

He was told that he was not welcome on O and that his reservation would be canceled. I have not seen him post on the O site since the event. The exchange was partially removed from the thread.

 

O is well within their rights to refuse service to anyone. Constructive criticism is probably welcomed; unsubstantiated complaints and threats or idle nastiness is not.

[pacheco18]

Pacheco18,

 

That was my point. Not being a good fit could not possible have been the reason.

 

DUH!. I didn't get it!

[kit23]

I was on the Regatta and was scheduled to take the Nautica Asia cruise. The Nautica cruise was booked first. I booked the Regatta cruise because I like to go away over the holidays and had heard wonderful things about Oceania.

I was not a nuisance on the ship. I only complained about the fan incident. We were not on the ship with the entertainers mentioned earlier. We had a magician, singer and somone else. If I remember correctly the Cruise Director was David. Both he and his girl friend were pleasant . My husband never mentioned anything about shoes.

I was active on the boards for the Asia cruise. You can check my posts. I never mentioned anything negative about Oceania. I also think there was more to kicking me off than just not being a good fit. I am sure that I will never find out the real reason. I fault Oceanias upper management for being unresponsive and negative. My TA knew about the complaints and did not think they were unreasonable. He had copies of the letters I had written. He was absolutely shocked when I got the e mail kicking me off the ship.

I have traveled extensively before that incident and continue to do so. I will continue my travels, just not with Oceania. I will also continue to tell people of my experience with them. Remember as I mentioned before, a satisfied customer is the best advertising you can get.