neepawa Posted October 7, 2013 #26 Share Posted October 7, 2013 We have recent experience where Oceania went above and beyond to provide excellent service over two minor problems. Before the cruise, we had booked shore excursions on-line to take advantage of the 25% reduction when booking at least 5 excursions. The Cartagena tour was sold out on-line but we were able to book on board at the full price of $113. When we received our final statement, the tours were charged at $97.75, not a 25% reduction, but action taken by Oceania without any action on my part. The second point was with the regard to a cooking class. My spouse took the class on the morning of our only sea day. Unfortunately this was the morning that Jacques Pepin was presenting a cooking demonstration in the Riviera Lounge. My spouse took the class and was refunded the full price of the class plus the cooking class staff had Jacques sign her chef’s hat. Oceania can and will provide outstanding service. Yes, we like Oceania. Cheers, Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted October 7, 2013 #27 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Personally, I don't think it's a matter of monetary compensation. An apology, an explanation, some regret for the mistake would surely have gone a long way to soothe the situation. No one like to be put under that kind of initial stress only to be treated with indifference. We have no way of knowing what was said when they finally were allowed to board the ship .. I cannot imagine there were no apologies made at the time A bottle of Champagne & an OBC may not be what they wanted but I think that was a way of trying to make up for for inconvenience caused Noted by the OP that they felt a discount for future cruise might be in order ...is expecting financial compensation ;) When we have had a problem apologies were made at the time & often in the following days of the cruise .. We were not there but hard to imagine the staff would let it slide without any JMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERRIER1 Posted October 7, 2013 #28 Share Posted October 7, 2013 We have no way of knowing what was said when they finally were allowed to board the ship ..I cannot imagine there were no apologies made at the time A bottle of Champagne & an OBC may not be what they wanted but I think that was a way of trying to make up for for inconvenience caused Noted by the OP that they felt a discount for future cruise might be in order ...is expecting financial compensation ;) When we have had a problem apologies were made at the time & often in the following days of the cruise .. We were not there but hard to imagine the staff would let it slide without any JMO I would have been thrilled with just an explanation of why my cabin was changed without any notification. We never received an apology let alone a OBC or bottle of bubbly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted October 7, 2013 #29 Share Posted October 7, 2013 I would have been thrilled with just an explanation of why my cabin was changed without any notification. We never received an apology let alone a OBC or bottle of bubbly. Yes in your case that would have been nice Was it an upgrade or same Cabin Cat? We were moved but my TA informed me in advance when this happened Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERRIER1 Posted October 7, 2013 #30 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Yes in your case that would have been niceWas it an upgrade or same Cabin Cat? We were moved but my TA informed me in advance when this happened No upgrade. We had a lot of alumni associations on board and I think they wanted to keep them all together and our cabin was smack in the middle of the Aggies so they moved us with not notification or approval. I downloaded the paperwork right before we left and our reserved cabin was still in the system. What got my goat is that Oceania was totally indifferent in providing us a reason and was rather rude about the whole thing. They didn't want to take the time to find out why. Needless to say that are key didn't work and our luggage went elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimandStan Posted October 7, 2013 #31 Share Posted October 7, 2013 Needless to say that are key didn't work and our luggage went elsewhere. This sounds like you believe that your room was changed AFTER you checked in and were issued keys to the original cabin. Something is rotten in Denmark- :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERRIER1 Posted October 7, 2013 #32 Share Posted October 7, 2013 This sounds like you believe that your room was changed AFTER you checked in and were issued keys to the original cabin.Something is rotten in Denmark- :confused: Couldn't tell you what the real story was since O wouldn't tell us why our cabin was changed. I just wanted to get into my room and shower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERRIER1 Posted October 8, 2013 #33 Share Posted October 8, 2013 This sounds like you believe that your room was changed AFTER you checked in and were issued keys to the original cabin.Something is rotten in Denmark- :confused: Actually the whole situation was weird. We were issued our card key and when we went to our reserved cabin the key would not work. We went down to the desk and they re-swiped the cards (or whatever they do to make errant cards work) and we went back to the cabin and it still didn't work. We went back to the desk and they re-swiped them again and sent an Oceania guy with us. Probably thought we were idiots. The Oceania fellow couldn't get the cards to work and asked to see our documents and tried the cards again. Didn't work. So we all went back to the desk and the O guy showed them our documents. It was then that we were told that our cabin had been switched. We had reserved the cabin over a year before and made all the specialty restaurant reservations under the reserved cabin with no problem. When we asked why our cabin was switched they got snippy and said they didn't know and said it was done by the home office and there was nothing they could do. When I asked if they could find out why they said they were too busy. So like good O cruisers we went to our new cabin. Two hours later we called and asked where our luggage was. Turns out it was sitting outside the original reserved cabin. The only thing we asked for was an explanation without the attitude which was never given. I think if that occurred today I would insist on my original cabin and let O work it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimandStan Posted October 8, 2013 #34 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I think if that occurred today I would insist on my original cabin and let O work it out. I believe that you are 1000% in the right, but my overwhelming memory of reports that came back from that Aggie Cruise were complaints from people who had been left in the middle of that......shall we call them overenthusiastic?.....group of cruisers. Perhaps being moved was a blessing in disguise. :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted October 8, 2013 #35 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I think if that occurred today I would insist on my original cabin and let O work it out. Sounds like a good plan. It would have worked even better if you could actually get into your cabin and let them "evict" you from it. Alas, you couldn't get in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jancruz Posted October 8, 2013 #36 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Sounds like a good plan. It would have worked even better if you could actually get into your cabin and let them "evict" you from it.Alas, you couldn't get in I am surprised the cabin was locked..usually when you first board all the cabins are open..also there is always a room steward on each deck with keys.. Jancruz1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaitape Posted October 8, 2013 #37 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Yes, you were "saved" from being in the middle of the group but it's not acceptable that you were moved from your booked cabin without your consent. Doesn't matter that the "group" were "over enthusiastic", you should have been notified that your requested/designated cabin was in the middle of a group booking and given the ability to choose another cabin with some consideration from O....and more than a darn bottle of sparkling wine. Why was their over enthusiasm condoned in the first place? We had an Aggie Alum group on our Asia cruise 2 years ago.........deafening! Love happy people but they were over the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERRIER1 Posted October 8, 2013 #38 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Yes, you were "saved" from being in the middle of the group but it's not acceptable that you were moved from your booked cabin without your consent. Doesn't matter that the "group" were "over enthusiastic", you should have been notified that your requested/designated cabin was in the middle of a group booking and given the ability to choose another cabin with some consideration from O....and more than a darn bottle of sparkling wine. Why was their over enthusiasm condoned in the first place? We had an Aggie Alum group on our Asia cruise 2 years ago.........deafening! Love happy people but they were over the top. I actually thought the Aggies were pretty nice and welcoming. I think the previous poster just meant they were having a really good time not actually causing a ruckus. My beef was with Oceania not giving us the option of moving not with the alumni group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisewmn Posted October 8, 2013 #39 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I was on the cruise with the OP and had the great pleasure of getting to know this delightful couple. These are not "glass half full" people. They are a fun, easy-going couple. They are experienced travelers who had a truly unwelcoming beginning of their cruise. Upon check-in, they were told they did not have a reservation and were dismissed. Even with documentation, the shoreside team wanted to deny them boarding. They had to argue for over an hour to get someone to correct the situation. All of their pre-cruise dining reservations were also erased from the system. Those were not reinstated and they struggled to get new reservations - even in a PH. While I'm not sure what kind of compensation is deserved for this kind of experience, I think a heartfelt apology at the beginning would have been appreciated. The champagne was only sent after they complained that they didn't even get an apology. They felt blown off. I can understand how that kind of welcome would taint the rest of your experience. Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERRIER1 Posted October 8, 2013 #40 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I am surprised the cabin was locked..usually when you first board all the cabins are open..also there is always a room steward on each deck with keys..Jancruz1 I never had an open cabin. Had to use my card key everytime to get in upon boarding. At least that was how it is on the lower levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERRIER1 Posted October 8, 2013 #41 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I was on the cruise with the OP and had the great pleasure of getting to know this delightful couple. These are not "glass half full" people. They are a fun, easy-going couple. They are experienced travelers who had a truly unwelcoming beginning of their cruise. Upon check-in, they were told they did not have a reservation and were dismissed. Even with documentation, the shoreside team wanted to deny them boarding. They had to argue for over an hour to get someone to correct the situation. All of their pre-cruise dining reservations were also erased from the system. Those were not reinstated and they struggled to get new reservations - even in a PH. While I'm not sure what kind of compensation is deserved for this kind of experience, I think a heartfelt apology at the beginning would have been appreciated. The champagne was only sent after they complained that they didn't even get an apology. They felt blown off. I can understand how that kind of welcome would taint the rest of your experience. Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app All of our reservations got wiped out also. After the fiasco I checked to see if we still had the reservations and they were gone. The front desk told us to go to the restaurant reservations desk and see what was available. At this point I said no way jose. This is your problem. If you think we were going to wait in line and find 4 new reservations after we boarded they were crazy. I handed them the original reservations and told them it was Oceania's responsibility to take care of it. This was after wasting a lot of back and forth time trying to get into our cabin and waiting for our luggage. Again, no apology or explanation. It's the attitude that was offputting with absolutely no offer of assistance to rectify the situation. We love Oceania but these things do happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treasure4two Posted October 8, 2013 #42 Share Posted October 8, 2013 No upgrade. We had a lot of alumni associations on board and I think they wanted to keep them all together and our cabin was smack in the middle of the Aggies so they moved us with not notification or approval. I downloaded the paperwork right before we left and our reserved cabin was still in the system. What got my goat is that Oceania was totally indifferent in providing us a reason and was rather rude about the whole thing. They didn't want to take the time to find out why. Needless to say that are key didn't work and our luggage went elsewhere. ** I would have taken it as nice if they moved us out of the middle of a group of people traveling and partying together-avoiding alot of hallway parties-but, they should have explained it to you in detail. Also, I went to TCU, so I definitely would have been glad to not be in the middle of a bunch of Aggies! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usualone Posted October 9, 2013 Author #43 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Thanks for the compliments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.