Tell FDR what you'd like

[Debbers]

Wow--I had not expected this on Oceania. Reading Icandtravel's posting was a shock. Oceania, please can the canned music! It's too classy a line for that.

[arizonaartie]

More lectures on days at sea.

artie

[smj]

I agree more lectures. I want to learn about to ports we are visiting.

Steve

[shipcruise]

I agree..more lectures, possibly the history of the area, points of interest, that sort of thing.

[shmabbies]

Ditto for the lectures, even National Geographic, History Channel, Discovery Channel, or Travel Channel tapes pertinent to the area would be good. :D

[wsailher]

Keep the Music by the Pool.

 

Movies in the Auditorium during the day.........wish there was a movie theater .

 

Movies on Deck at night

 

Jazz Outdoors at night

 

More events outdoors at Night

 

Dancing under the Stars

 

Port of Call Lectures the evening before: /maps, local info including transportation into cities when on your own

 

Improve Tours

 

Complimentary shuttles into towns from Marina.

[lcand1923]

The original purpose of this thread, I thought, was to tell Frank Del Rio what we would like for At-Sea Day activities. The last few posts have led me to believe it is now more of a "Wish List" for making Oceania better. Since that is the case, here goes:

 

1. Do a better job of acurately describing the Activities Level of the ship-sponsore Shore Excursions. For us cruising is a "being pampered" experience. We like having our Travel Agent and then the Cruise Line take care of everything. Oceania provided us with very good Shore Excursions on our Western Med cruise. They did not, however, accurately reflect the Activity Level necessary. For a suggestion as to how to better do this, look at the descriptions of the Shore Excursions provided on the Celebrity Web Site.

 

2. Since the cruisers that we saw on our trip included many who had had knee replacements, and since those who have had knee replacements MAY have some mobility issues, try to include at least one Shore Excursion per port that would be truly an EASY excursion.

 

3. Have someone at headquarters monitor the email box. I have probably sent seven emails to Headquarters. I have gotten two responses.

 

4. Put Chocolate Lasagna back on the menu in Toscana.

 

Thank you, everyone, for backing me up on canning the canned music.

[calexand]

With all the different types of media out their to research destinations. It boggles my mind to think that people would actually wait until they boarded the ship to find out "Port Information".

 

Yes, it would be nice to know if the ship offered shuttle service but I would really like to know that prior to boarding not the day prior...It would really simplify the planning process.

 

Information/talks about possible future destinations that the ship sails would be a much better idea.

 

We are not into Bingo and Art Shows, give us a good Wine Tasting and a place to sit and unwind after the busy port days and we are happy...

[cruiserbunny]

Will be travelling on Regatta for the first time in September and would love to see the following available:

 

On sea days:

 

Wine tastings and cookery demonstrations

Dance classes - we love line dancing, which is big in the UK!

Language classes

 

On port days:

 

shuttle buses to town centre where necessary

Port of call map and information (like those made available on Crystal)

[Jane110]

The recent Istanbul - Athens Insignia cruise did have two, and each was superb. The first was hosted by the president of the American Somellier Association - needless to say, it was professional, informative, and not-at-all like the mass market line tastings, where they try to hawk very mediocre wines. The second was hosted by a charming Insignia somellier, and it featured wine and food pairings -- again, EXTREMELY informative, with terrific wines.

 

Mike

 

Good to know and I hope the trend continues. My frist Oceania cruise didn't have a wine tasting and the second Oceania cruise had one. So I hope what you experienced is a growing trend.

[kathlee627]

What about a line dancing class?

 

 

It is really fun and good exercise.

 

 

Kathy from New Jersey (booked to go 5/11/06 on the Insignia)

[ClaudiaF]

oh yes the chocolate lasagna!

[Molliem]

Because we really enjoyed our first cruise with Oceania we were eager to explore their other cruise opportunities. So, on our sea day we set out to do just that. We approached the front desk, and the concierge - unfortunately there appears to be no onboard information available re future cruises.

 

How about brochures/booklets being made available onboard. And perhaps a crew member who could answer queries, or at least direct queries via internet to Oceania's office.

 

Martini tasting sounds great!

 

Enjoyed greatly demonstration by chef and sous chef - entertaining and informative.

[cruiserbunny]

What about a line dancing class?

 

 

It is really fun and good exercise.

 

 

Kathy from New Jersey (booked to go 5/11/06 on the Insignia)

 

Sounds good to me...!

[Skydiver]

How does Oceania handle their wine tasting events? Do guests pay for this?

[arizonaartie]

DEFINITLEY, shuttle buses to town at EACH AND EVERY port.

[onthemove617]

Will be travelling on Regatta for the first time in September and would love to see the following available:

 

On sea days:

 

Wine tastings and cookery demonstrations

Dance classes - we love line dancing, which is big in the UK!

Language classes

 

On port days:

 

shuttle buses to town centre where necessary

Port of call map and information (like those made available on Crystal)

 

We are sailing Oceania for the first time (5/7/06). It amazes me that a cruise line that purports to be upscale cannot offer shuttle buses and port of call map/info. We have sailed on the Constellation/Celebrity and Harmony/Crystal. Both offer these "amenities" though Celebrity is considerably less expensive. Hopefully they will be added soon.

[esther e]

We are going on a Celebrity cruise in Sept., and were able to print out our express check in forms. Much like in an airport. And also register our credit card. Celebrity says this added convenience will speed embarkation along. On Oceania, we did the documentation online, but this express check in would be nice, also.

Esther

[drwong]

For at-sea days:

 

1. Lecturers relevant to the ports/cultures we'll be visiting. Oceania has had some interesting on-board lecturers, but they were only tangentially related to the itinerary. I became an impromptu host of pre-arrival and sailaway discussions on the Tapas Terrace, pointing out items and areas of interest as we sailed into and out of a port. Oceania could provide an official one - perhaps in the Horizons Lounge.

 

2. Culinary classes - HAL has found them to be extremely popular - so popular, as a matter of fact, that they're installing demonstration kitchens in their new ships.

 

3. Galley Tours - I'm always interested in seeing where and how our meals are prepared. Perhaps this could be wrapped into #2, above.

 

4. Movie nights - sometimes it's better watching some movies on the big screen in the lounge than on the little television in our cabin. A popcorn popper wouldn't be too expensive, although you'd have to secure and find room to stow it.

 

5. Dance classes - most of the entertainment staff already knows most basic steps, so Oceania wouldn't have to hire addtional staff. Incidentally, the biggest unexpected television hit of the summer was ABC's "Dancing with the Stars." Either the interest in ballroom dancing is growing among Americans, or it's been a really boring summer.

 

6. Digital Photography classes - these and computing classes in the lab were always crowded, and could be provided by the existing personnel there, so no addtional staff would need to be hired. The class might be moved to the lounge if a sign-up sheet indicated its popularity exceeded the lab's capacity, especially on at-sea days. Note that some folks still use 35 mm cameras and might have felt excluded from a class with "digital" in the title.

 

I'll save comments on operational improvements for another discussion topic.

 

Richard

[2dogcarol]

My last Princess cruise had ballroom dancing and line dancing lessons every sea day. All the classes were so crowded you could hardly get onto the dance floor. Also, shuttle buses in every port.

[Andee]

"I became an impromptu host of pre-arrival and sailaway discussions on the Tapas Terrace, pointing out items and areas of interest as we sailed into and out of a port." Love that idea!

 

We found that the representatives from each port that were on board in the morning were very helpful, and we didn't have the experience of long waits to talk to him/her. I love to resaech a trip, and often have a pretty good idea of what I want to do, but I might have a last minute question, and appreciate a good local map.

 

The lecturers I'd like to hear would talk not so much about what sights to see, but more about the history and current politics of the place.

[ClaudiaF]

For at-sea days: wrote in part

 

 

2. Culinary classes - HAL has found them to be extremely popular - so popular, as a matter of fact, that they're installing demonstration kitchens in their new ships.

 

3. Galley Tours - I'm always interested in seeing where and how our meals are prepared. Perhaps this could be wrapped into #2, above.

 

Richard

There were demonstrations on our cruise and they were wonderful.So

perhaps they don't do them on all cruises which would answer why

some of us get some great things that others miss? The cooking demonstration was done in the show lounge..not in the kitchen though..That might have been even more interesting. There was a galley tour on one of the cruises we were on and not on the last one.

[phlewt]

For at-sea days:

3. Galley Tours - I'm always interested in seeing where and how our meals are prepared. Perhaps this could be wrapped into #2, above.

 

I have read that galley (and bridge) tours were discontinued after the 9/11 events. If so, I don't think there is any liklihood that they could be resumed.

 

 

6. Digital Photography classes - these and computing classes in the lab were always crowded, and could be provided by the existing personnel there, so no addtional staff would need to be hired. The class might be moved to the lounge if a sign-up sheet indicated its popularity exceeded the lab's capacity, especially on at-sea days. Note that some folks still use 35 mm cameras and might have felt excluded from a class with "digital" in the title.

 

I took one of the Photoshop classes while on Insignia. They are quite popular and fill up quickly, but everyone had a chance to sign up for them -- I didn't sign up until the third or fourth day on board. One reason for the popularity seemed to be that digital cameras were new to many people, and the Photoshop classes helped people learn to manipulate the photos right after they are downloaded from their digital camera. If you still use a film camera, you could scan your images (after they are developed) and the classes could still be useful for you (at least after you returned home).

 

The classes require you to have a computer in front of you, so I don't see how they could be moved to the lounge.

[NYDee]

I haven't sailed on Oceania yet. I am booked on the Beijing to Hong Kong 3/16/06. We enjoy musical venues, a little jazz, a little light classical in the evenings and during the sea days. So we are hoping there will be some on this cruise.

[drwong]

Ditto for the lectures, even National Geographic, History Channel, Discovery Channel, or Travel Channel tapes pertinent to the area would be good. :D

 

Oceania could play relevant segments from Rick Steves' European travelogues instead of running the endless loop of Destination Sales' Powerpoint presentations. You can buy the 8-DVD set featuring all 43 episodes for $69.95 on his website. Rudy Maxa's 36-episode "Smart Travels in Europe" is also available for sale via his epinomous website.