How full are recent voyage?

[LHT28]

I"m on the December 8th Cuba cruise which sold out in just a few days and has a massive wait list. The roll call? You could hear a pin drop it is so quiet.

Probably because no one is sure if they can do private tours or not & just doing the O Life tours

 

We were booked on the Dec 1st cruise the roll call was also quiet

[Mura]

People were concerned about the effect of oLife on private tours, and it's understandable why. We have always used private tours for the most part but on our recent cruises where oLife tours were available, we used the amount we were able to -- so we weren't available for private tours where once we might have been. We aren't using oLife on our November cruise because it wasn't worth paying the surcharge for the very few tours we MIGHT use. That's a matter of the itinerary.

 

But when I've posted inquiries for others who might be interested in the few tours I'm looking into, there's very little response. And yes, it's a very small Roll Call.

[srdancer]

We did Rome to Barcelona in May on Marina. Our cruise was not in any brochures for at least 6 months before the sail date. They did try to upsell us to ph before the cruise. They also offered us a refund plus $3000 a few days before the cruise. We were already in Rome!

It was a terrific cruise. Food very good to excellent except main courses in Jaques.

[AZjohn]

A friend just called Oceania about booking the two legs were are doing on Riviera and was told there were no concierge cabins left -- since she's sailing along the price difference between an A and a PH is rather significant! When I went to the website I saw there are PLENTY of concierge rooms available. Now, it could be that she wouldn't have been able to have the same cabin for both legs ...

Mura

Hi Mura,

I just checked online for your two cruises. Looking at just A1 (didn't want to spend more time looking at other A's) there were many of the same cabins open for both cruises.

Not sure why your friend is using O to book (mostly them saying what they did) but I might suggest your friend find a real TA that can easily help them getting a "A" cabin booked.

Cheers,

John

 

PS: disregard if the two cruises you were talking about were not the Med next year

[tv24]

Interesting thread. We will be on an Oceania crossing, first time on O, in December. The last Cunard QM2 crossing that we were on, in June, was sold out. And we were on a Princess crossing in April that was almost full, but that was deeply discounted. Deeply discounted. So these cruise lines struggle to find their markets. Wonder what is happening to Crystal, where the passengers are way older than O and not being replaced by younger folks??

[Floridiana]

We cruise for itineraries and quite often they are all the same old so we branched out to different lines.Our last cruises were on European based ships and one Asian river cruise combined with our own land tours before and after. I would love to book an Oceania cruise again.

[susiesan]

People were concerned about the effect of oLife on private tours, and it's understandable why. We have always used private tours for the most part but on our recent cruises where oLife tours were available, we used the amount we were able to -- so we weren't available for private tours where once we might have been. We aren't using oLife on our November cruise because it wasn't worth paying the surcharge for the very few tours we MIGHT use. That's a matter of the itinerary.

 

But when I've posted inquiries for others who might be interested in the few tours I'm looking into, there's very little response. And yes, it's a very small Roll Call.

 

Mura: my Riviera cruise Oct. 25, right before yours has a fairly big for O roll call. As of now there are 16 cabins involved and we have been planning private shore ex amongst ourselves sine last December. Looks like for this sailing a lot of people booked cruise only like I did and aren't using O Life excursions. Our sailing is not full at this point and I have received 3 upset offers so far, all declined.

[Mura]

Hi Mura,

I just checked online for your two cruises. Looking at just A1 (didn't want to spend more time looking at other A's) there were many of the same cabins open for both cruises.

Not sure why your friend is using O to book (mostly them saying what they did) but I might suggest your friend find a real TA that can easily help them getting a "A" cabin booked.

Cheers,

John

 

PS: disregard if the two cruises you were talking about were not the Med next year

 

I don't know why she is calling O direct either since she has a TA. But I convinced her to call said TA since it is the person I use myself. I did go through and check availability on both legs (this is for May 2018 in the Med) and found only one room that was open for both legs, but changing rooms isn't all that difficult. Perhaps she thought she'd be better off since this is her first cruise since being widowed so she is traveling solo.

 

None of this explains why the O rep convinced her to book a PH since there were no As available. Patently untrue.

[warburg]

Greetings from South Beach. LHT28, you are right. We sail on different lines, depending on circumstance. Since we became permanent residences of South Beach, we often take voyages that either originate or end here. Sometimes other factor attract us. For example, with O, we prefer Marina and Riviera to the Rs. That did not prevent us from sailing the Panama Canal on Insignia in 2015.

 

If very strong preferences for a certain line or ship will get in the way of enjoying other cruises, then stay with the known. Since most lines have loyalty programs, that is not a bad way to go.

 

Mary

[commodore2010]

If you have the time and inclination, listen to the NCLH quarterly conference call.

 

they are mostly full and at good yields on an overall basis. Sure, a cruise here and there may not be full.

[ToxM]

As an update to this I did a quick check on one of those TA booking sites where you can see the load of each category for the cruise we are on at the end of October. I would estimate at least 90 cabins in different grades unsold. We are approximately 7 weeks from cruise date. At least there won't be a line at the buffet, and the reservations for speciality restaurants will be easy to get :D

[ORV]

As an update to this I did a quick check on one of those TA booking sites where you can see the load of each category for the cruise we are on at the end of October. I would estimate at least 90 cabins in different grades unsold. We are approximately 7 weeks from cruise date. At least there won't be a line at the buffet, and the reservations for speciality restaurants will be easy to get :D

 

Odddly enough I'll bet your ship sails close to full.

[jo-b]

We just had an offer to cancel our 29/9/17 Med cruise on Riviera , good offer but unfortunately our travelling companions couldn't change dates. I looked at others same area in October and 3 were Waitlisted so it looks like some sailings are doing well.

[sarn]

Hi, we are on this cruise.There were only guaranteed cabins available in our chosen category when we booked this cruise. As of now we have not been assigned a cabin, so it looks as if the ship is full. Out of interest were you contacted with the offer directly by Oceania or via your travel agent?

[jo-b]

Hi, we are on this cruise.There were only guaranteed cabins available in our chosen category when we booked this cruise. As of now we have not been assigned a cabin, so it looks as if the ship is full. Out of interest were you contacted with the offer directly by Oceania or via your travel agent?

Via our TA.They had an email from O for us and our friends. I guess they were going to European customers first as it would be cheaper for us to rearrange air fare. We were using our own air.

We would have taken it, we are lucky enough to have been to the Med frequently and treat this as a break in a nice hotel so would have changed to another one a eeek or so later.

[sarn]

Hi Jo-b,

Thank you for returning to me. I am sure we will all have a great time!

[edgee]

FDR has built a cruise line, based upon brand loyalty and appealing to a senior wealthy clientele. My last cruise had 82% past O cruisers, the cruise before that was 76% past O cruisers.

 

Problem is that clientele is getting progressively older and he's no attracting new younger cruisers. Many of the first timers on that June cruise voiced a strong dislike and disappointment in many of the bland dishes that were served. Dishes that according to the chef and "had been made more agreeable to a wider spectrum of passengers ". Bland. Many comments about how " this is not the best food on the ocean!" came from those first timers.

 

 

That long ride of counting on past loyal cruisers, many of them now in or near their 80s, may be running out of steam. Making dishes blander to appease those with minimum taste buds is not path to drawing in a new younger generation of cruisers. When people in their 60s start wondering if they are to young for Oceania, something has to change.

 

We just returned from Insignia RT NYC cruise. Demographic makes your point in that we are in our sixties and felt quite young:). However, interestingly, less than 200 of the 620 passengers were past Oceania cruisers.

[njhorseman]

We just returned from Insignia RT NYC cruise. Demographic makes your point in that we are in our sixties and felt quite young:). However, interestingly, less than 200 of the 620 passengers were past Oceania cruisers.

 

Doing closed loop cruises from NY is something new for Oceania, so I suspect that it is the reason it attracted a high percentage of cruisers new to Oceania. There's a huge population within a short drive of NY, so it would appeal to those who like to cruise from there but want to try a cruise line they haven't been on before. On the other hand Oceania's NY itineraries themselves aren't very exotic and may not appeal to past Oceania cruisers who want to cruise to more interesting places.

 

We cruise from NY a couple of times a year and are doing so again this Sunday, not on Oceania. When I looked at their NY itineraries they were all to places I'd been to many times, so I couldn't justify paying Oceania's premium prices for them. We are cruising Oceania on a much longer, more exotic itinerary late this year though. That's how we view Oceania...a cruise line to take to more exotic locations, not a cruise line to do a routine trip to Atlantic Canada or Bermuda.

[azam71209]

We were on Sirena Rome to Venice, just got off. Full ship. Attitude of the staff, food quality outstanding. Ship excursions so-so.

 

Mary

[ORV]

Doing closed loop cruises from NY is something new for Oceania, so I suspect that it is the reason it attracted a high percentage of cruisers new to Oceania. There's a huge population within a short drive of NY, so it would appeal to those who like to cruise from there but want to try a cruise line they haven't been on before. On the other hand Oceania's NY itineraries themselves aren't very exotic and may not appeal to past Oceania cruisers who want to cruise to more interesting places.

 

We cruise from NY a couple of times a year and are doing so again this Sunday, not on Oceania. When I looked at their NY itineraries they were all to places I'd been to many times, so I couldn't justify paying Oceania's premium prices for them. We are cruising Oceania on a much longer, more exotic itinerary late this year though. That's how we view Oceania...a cruise line to take to more exotic locations, not a cruise line to do a routine trip to Atlantic Canada or Bermuda.

 

Our Baltic cruise we just got off of on Nautica had around 200 past Oceania cruisers. I talked to quite a few people that were taking this as their first cruise. I thought it an odd itinerary to select for a first cruise, especially when you are from the US.

 

Maybe the take away is that Oceania "is" getting new cruisers to try them, contrary to some's beliefs. Most of the first timers I talked to really liked Nautica.

 

Edit, I wouldn't read too much into how many people are on a Roll Call. I'm on a Celebrity cruise in June of 18 to Alaska, 3000 passenger ship and there are only TWO people on the Roll Call, me and the person that started it.

 

Above not directed toward NJhorseman, but those talking about Roll Calls.

Edited September 14, 2017 by ORV

[Paulchili]

Doing closed loop cruises from NY is something new for Oceania, so I suspect that it is the reason it attracted a high percentage of cruisers new to Oceania.

 

I am not sure that I agree with that logic.

If anything, it would be the Oceania regulars that would be anxious to try a new itinerary to get away from the same old/same old routine.

[Paulchili]

Our Baltic cruise we just got off of on Nautica had around 200 past Oceania cruisers. I talked to quite a few people that were taking this as their first cruise.

 

 

This is a steady trend that I have observed on many of our recent cruises. The percentages vary from cruise to cruise but there is definitely a substantial number "newbies" on most Oceania cruises. As you had mentioned, it is quite unusual for someone to be less than Platinum and be the cruiser with most days.

BTW - congrats on that and a free cruise can't be too far away :D

Enjoy!

[njhorseman]

I am not sure that I agree with that logic.

If anything, it would be the Oceania regulars that would be anxious to try a new itinerary to get away from the same old/same old routine.

 

But the itineraries from NY are weak, and go to ports that many experienced Oceania cruisers would likely have been to before, if not numerous times before. I think that among the keys to Oceania attracting repeat cruisers is the attractiveness and uniqueness of their itineraries. The Oceania itineraries from NY are the functional equivalent of an Eastern Caribbean cruise from Miami.

[edgee]

But the itineraries from NY are weak, and go to ports that many experienced Oceania cruisers would likely have been to before, if not numerous times before. I think that among the keys to Oceania attracting repeat cruisers is the attractiveness and uniqueness of their itineraries. The Oceania itineraries from NY are the functional equivalent of an Eastern Caribbean cruise from Miami.

The New England combined with Bermuda itinerary on a non repositioning cruise is a fairly unique combination of ports that we found interesting...not a common itinerary by any means.

[njhorseman]

The New England combined with Bermuda itinerary on a non repositioning cruise is a fairly unique combination of ports that we found interesting...not a common itinerary by any means.

 

From my perspective, we've cruised to Canada many times and cruised to Bermuda even more frequently. One year we even did a b2b of a Canada cruise followed by a Bermuda cruise on different ships from the same cruise line from NY. Putting the two together to make one cruise still doesn't get me to any place I haven't seen over and over again.

 

Everyone has their own reasons for picking a particular cruise line. I'm cruising on Oceania to be able to go to places I can't easily visit on most other lines.