Missed Ports - Regatta, Insignia - Oceania Explain Please

[ABoatNerd]

In October, 8 ports were missed between a Regatta panama sailing and an Insignia new england sailing.

 

In this post, I am asking Oceania to respond to posters concerns regarding why there was little to no explanation on why ports were missed and no evidence of any attempt to reinstate alternative ports, amongst many other concerns about each voyage.

 

Please read each post and you will see the details of each voyage, consistencies in the posters analysis and common concerns.

 

Over and above these 2 sailings, on this CC Oceania site, there have been previous posts about Oceania's apparent high volume of cancelled ports. 

 

Regatta 

 

There are 8 posters who posted about this 1 sailing, which is a higher than normal response.  I was on this cruise. This cruise had 2 cancelled ports, 1 port reduced to 2 hours before darkness and 1 port swap. This ship has a history of mechanical issues which have been previously posted on CC. The sailing before the panama cruise, the ship missed Juneau and was dead in the water with a power failure.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=287

 

The specific thread on the Regatta voyage is here.

 

 

 

Insignia

 

There are 6 posters who posted reviews. A voyage had 5 cancelled ports. 

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=820

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

A common theme within the reviews are poster comments about Oceania management indifference and lack of respect for guest concerns about cancelled ports. On the Regatta Oceania management undertook an organized campaign to intimidate and threaten guests from speaking about their concerns, myself included.

 

Today's consumers have considerable information in which to evaluate the performance of any service provider.

 

For example, on the Regatta cruise, I and others used NOAA for weather and AIS to track the ship speed and distance to next port etc. Calculations were done and we found there was no reason alternative ports could not have been provided along the popular pacific coast.  Oceania was still holding guests money in the port fees which they did not return to guests, as many cruise lines do.

 

So to the posters who provided a review, well done!.  

 

Oceania, we are awaiting your explanation.

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, ABoatNerd said:

In October, 8 ports were missed between a Regatta panama sailing and an Insignia new england sailing.

 

In this post, I am asking Oceania to respond to posters concerns regarding why there was little to no explanation on why ports were missed and no evidence of any attempt to reinstate alternative ports, amongst many other concerns about each voyage.

 

Please read each post and you will see the details of each voyage, consistencies in the posters analysis and common concerns.

 

Over and above these 2 sailings, on this CC Oceania site, there have been previous posts about Oceania's apparent high volume of cancelled ports. 

 

Regatta 

 

There are 8 posters who posted about this 1 sailing, which is a higher than normal response.  I was on this cruise. This cruise had 2 cancelled ports, 1 port reduced to 2 hours before darkness and 1 port swap. This ship has a history of mechanical issues which have been previously posted on CC. The sailing before the panama cruise, the ship missed Juneau and was dead in the water with a power failure.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=287

 

The specific thread on the Regatta voyage is here.

 

 

 

Insignia

 

There are 6 posters who posted reviews. A voyage had 5 cancelled ports. 

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=820

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

A common theme within the reviews are poster comments about Oceania management indifference and lack of respect for guest concerns about cancelled ports. On the Regatta Oceania management undertook an organized campaign to intimidate and threaten guests from speaking about their concerns, myself included.

 

Today's consumers have considerable information in which to evaluate the performance of any service provider.

 

For example, on the Regatta cruise, I and others used NOAA for weather and AIS to track the ship speed and distance to next port etc. Calculations were done and we found there was no reason alternative ports could not have been provided along the popular pacific coast.  Oceania was still holding guests money in the port fees which they did not return to guests, as many cruise lines do.

 

So to the posters who provided a review, well done!.  

 

Oceania, we are awaiting your explanation.

 

While you may be reasonable in asking for a more detailed explanation, what makes you think that Oceania administration will either follow or respond to CC posts? 

Yes, Mike Moore (the IT head) has responded to website glitch problems. But, the only other direct responses I can remember are those to specific emails to company leadership (email addresses available from Christopher Elliott's travel website inquiries).

That said, I trust that you realize that, while alternative ports may be within reach, there may be no "room at the inn" without significant advanced notice.

Further, you cite no more than a couple of handfuls max of "pissed off" CC posters from a population of almost 700 passengers. Do you realize that is basically a "rounding error."

Did you think to get a travel insurance policy that reimburses you for missed ports? Did you ask your TA to quote you a fare that disaggregated cabin costs and port fees/taxes. Have you requested reimbursement from Oceania and/or filed an insurance claim?

I'm not so much defending Oceania as I am pointing out there can be a variety of issues catalyzing a port elimination as well as how to be reimbursed.

Of course, you could always choose a different cruise line in the future (and then complain when they do the same thing). 

By virtue of your deposit/final payment, you agreed to the T&Cs. "Life happens"- choose longer cruises. 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Flatbush Flyer

[LHT28]

[RJB]

4 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Quite a sad looking post.  Why bother.

[wripro]

Bottom line is passenger beware....Oceania cancels and shortens port times frequently. It's a pattern much more common than other cruise lines. So if a specific port is important to you find a different cruise line that sails there.

[ChappChapp]

I was on the Insignia sailing October 23 NYC to Montreal. We had the following ports cancelled. Bar Harbor, Halifax,Sydney and Sagueney. Bar Harbor we got all the way to the port area and it was a beautiful day however the seas were rough and it was a tender port. The previous tender port was Newport and with the rough seas it was very difficult getting the passengers from the tenders into the ship, read dangerous. I was disappointed but understood. Announcements were made by both the captain and then again by the cruise director as to why. Halifax was cancelled because the port was closed due to the weather. It opened at 9:30 pm to allow us to refuel. Again announcements were made by both the captain and the cruise director multiple times during the day that the port was closed. Sydney same thing. In all we had 3 very rough sea days with trays , plates,  glassware crashing to the floor in the restaurants and the decks closed to passengers. I heard people complaining that the captain did not personally come down from the bridge to explain himself to them. I would rather he spend his time safely guiding the ship rather than talking to some entitled pax who isn't paying attention to either the conditions or the announcements.Was I disappointed ? yes. Did I understand ? yes. Sagueney was cancelled very early on because of early winter weather and an additional day was inserted in Quebec City. Let the comments fly.

[ORV]

1 hour ago, ChappChapp said:

I was on the Insignia sailing October 23 NYC to Montreal. We had the following ports cancelled. Bar Harbor, Halifax,Sydney and Sagueney. Bar Harbor we got all the way to the port area and it was a beautiful day however the seas were rough and it was a tender port. The previous tender port was Newport and with the rough seas it was very difficult getting the passengers from the tenders into the ship, read dangerous. I was disappointed but understood. Announcements were made by both the captain and then again by the cruise director as to why. Halifax was cancelled because the port was closed due to the weather. It opened at 9:30 pm to allow us to refuel. Again announcements were made by both the captain and the cruise director multiple times during the day that the port was closed. Sydney same thing. In all we had 3 very rough sea days with trays , plates,  glassware crashing to the floor in the restaurants and the decks closed to passengers. I heard people complaining that the captain did not personally come down from the bridge to explain himself to them. I would rather he spend his time safely guiding the ship rather than talking to some entitled pax who isn't paying attention to either the conditions or the announcements.Was I disappointed ? yes. Did I understand ? yes. Sagueney was cancelled very early on because of early winter weather and an additional day was inserted in Quebec City. Let the comments fly.

 

Obviously you get it, some people don't and never will. They can't hear any reason due to the noise of their own thoughts. 

[ABoatNerd]

Oh CappChapp. Unfortunate your weather was so significant it impeded your voyage.

 

Our voyages are not comparable.

 

On our Regatta trip the weather was good, no wind, no waves above 6 feet. Mostly sun and some clouds. A bit of rain here and there to be expected and one thunderstorm. The so called weather event near the baja evaporated and died and passed as a low pressure system.

 

Have a good next sailing.

 

 

 

 

[Doubt It]

Received the Oceania "pay off" certificate today. 

 

Our travel agent advised me about Cruise Critic because she had more than my family on this disappointing voyage and she wanted me to see this post and the many negative reviews which have been a discussion point in her agency. 

 

I did research and note that the Regatta has a poor performance record including a report from crew center noted below. I have sent this to my travel agent.

 

http://crew-center.com/oceania-regatta-technical-problems-canceled-ports-and-code-red

 

The comments made by others is spot on and I agree with all of them.

 

Mostly though it was the dismissive attitude of Oceania that was most disappointing. 

 

Before booking another cruise with any company, I will undertake a more extensive investigation of the cruise company and the particular ship. Cruise Critic will be one source, glad to know about it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

On 11/13/2018 at 8:33 PM, Flatbush Flyer said:

 

Did you think to get a travel insurance policy that reimburses you for missed ports? Did you ask your TA to quote you a fare that disaggregated cabin costs and port fees/taxes. Have you requested reimbursement from Oceania and/or filed an insurance claim?

We buy travel insurance for all of our cruises and have never heard of this option. On the cruise we are on now, we missed Malta because of high winds, Rhodes because of a projected storm and 2 Canary Island ports because of projected 50’ waves hitting the island the 2 days we were scheduled to be there.

 

What can we claim as a loss if all of our Oceania excursion fees were refunded automatically?

[DrHemlock]

Like Ken above, I've never heard of travel insurance that provides reimbursement for missed ports.  I'm guessing a lot of posters on this board would be interested to know a bit more about where to find such coverage.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2018 by DrHemlock

[Flatbush Flyer]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We buy travel insurance for all of our cruises and have never heard of this option. On the cruise we are on now, we missed Malta because of high winds, Rhodes because of a projected storm and 2 Canary Island ports because of projected 50’ waves hitting the island the 2 days we were scheduled to be there.

 

What can we claim as a loss if all of our Oceania excursion fees were refunded automatically?

I wrote an answer to this earlier but it has disappeared.

Look at some cruise-specific polices (e.g., Nationwide) that covers things like port fees for missed ports that are not refunded by the cruise line.

[Paulchili]

On 11/18/2018 at 6:06 AM, Doubt It said:

Received the Oceania "pay off" certificate today. 

Could you please tell us more about this “pay off” certificate?

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, DrHemlock said:

Like Ken above, I've never heard of travel insurance that provides reimbursement for missed ports.  I'm guessing a lot of posters on this board would be interested to know a bit more about where to find such coverage.

 

 

I have seen people mention this  refund  maybe on the insurance forum

anyway I think  they got $100 per missed port  ...nothing to do with port fees

Maybe check on the Insurance forum here

[Doubt It]

The Oceania cover letter said they were sorry they did not meet expectations.  Future cruise certificate of $400 PP.

Has to be for a cruise booked within the next year.

 

Have a happy and safe next cruise.

[RJB]

On 11/18/2018 at 9:06 AM, Doubt It said:

Received the Oceania "pay off" certificate today. 

 

Our travel agent advised me about Cruise Critic because she had more than my family on this disappointing voyage and she wanted me to see this post and the many negative reviews which have been a discussion point in her agency. 

 

I did research and note that the Regatta has a poor performance record including a report from crew center noted below. I have sent this to my travel agent.

 

http://crew-center.com/oceania-regatta-technical-problems-canceled-ports-and-code-red

 

The comments made by others is spot on and I agree with all of them.

 

Mostly though it was the dismissive attitude of Oceania that was most disappointing. 

 

Before booking another cruise with any company, I will undertake a more extensive investigation of the cruise company and the particular ship. Cruise Critic will be one source, glad to know about it. 

 

Quite sad to see Oceania like this.. We were on Sirena a month ago and found that ship lacking in food selection and service.  Also the ship looked old and tired in spots.  Needs a major overhaul.   Hope they are able to fix this stuff as Oceania is our number one  cruise line and we hate to see it this way. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shawnino]

We got tricked out of a couple ports on current Riviera TA.

will post at length next week.

[ABoatNerd]

Doubt It, RJB, Shawnino, thanks for your comments.

 

Oceania may be able to put a fresh physical face on their aging R ships, but their bigger challenge is their dismissive corporate attitude towards guests.

 

On the panama canal cruise were many, many retired American and Canadian navy guests from the British Columbia and California west coast. I learned a lot watching them undertaking calculations on Regatta's position, speed capability, tropical storm Sergo parameters, currents, wave predictions, then making phone calls to friends still working in the navy - all of these folks concluding that the cancellation of our 3 ports was unnecessary.

 

The late arrival at Puntareanas due to the Oceania tide lie, drove them nuts.

 

In today's world of social media, on line information and guest technical expertise, Oceania should learn you can not lie to guests and get away with it.

 

Add in the increasing reports of food decline together with the increasing awareness of Oceania's missed port legacy - this is a negative to the former image of Oceania that you refer to Shawnino.

 

 

[LHT28]

39 minutes ago, Shawnino said:

We got tricked out of a couple ports on current Riviera TA.

will post at length next week.

do tell

How were you tricked?

[wripro]

3 hours ago, LHT28 said:

do tell

How were you tricked?

Maybe cheated is a better word.

[LHT28]

7 minutes ago, wripro said:

Maybe cheated is a better word.

so what happened  Henry ??

[wripro]

1 minute ago, LHT28 said:

so what happened  Henry ??

What happened when? Not sure what you mean.

[Flatbush Flyer]

4 hours ago, ABoatNerd said:

Doubt It, RJB, Shawnino, thanks for your comments.

 

Oceania may be able to put a fresh physical face on their aging R ships, but their bigger challenge is their dismissive corporate attitude towards guests.

 

On the panama canal cruise were many, many retired American and Canadian navy guests from the British Columbia and California west coast. I learned a lot watching them undertaking calculations on Regatta's position, speed capability, tropical storm Sergo parameters, currents, wave predictions, then making phone calls to friends still working in the navy - all of these folks concluding that the cancellation of our 3 ports was unnecessary.

 

The late arrival at Puntareanas due to the Oceania tide lie, drove them nuts.

 

In today's world of social media, on line information and guest technical expertise, Oceania should learn you can not lie to guests and get away with it.

 

Add in the increasing reports of food decline together with the increasing awareness of Oceania's missed port legacy - this is a negative to the former image of Oceania that you refer to Shawnino.

 

 

Sounds like you won't be cruising with Oceania anymore.

[LHT28]

 

4 hours ago, ABoatNerd said:

On the panama canal cruise were many, many retired American and Canadian navy guests from the British Columbia and California west coast. I learned a lot watching them undertaking calculations on Regatta's position, speed capability, tropical storm Sergo parameters, currents, wave predictions, then making phone calls to friends still working in the navy - all of these folks concluding that the cancellation of our 3 ports was unnecessary.

 

 

 

sounds like a a lot of wasted time & energy  plus adding angst  to your fellow PAX  instead just  enjoying the ship

ship happens

JMO

[Flatbush Flyer]

Sounds like ABoatNerd won't be cruising with Oceania anymore.

 

In any case, and trying to be fair-minded, as I look more carefully at some of the negative comments and things like the "crew-center" link in an earlier post, a few observations come to mind.

 

Firstly, just because someone served in a "navy" (even a great one like the US) doesn't mean they know squat about the navigational, engineering or commercial and liability challenges of a cruise ship. At a minimum, remember that the needs and tolerances of a shipful of geezers on a floating hotel require far more considerations than a crew on a war ship. As a sailor, I learned long ago that what weather I find rocking me to sleep can be a "white knuckle" nightmare for the uninitiated.

 

And there's little Oceania (or any other cruise line) can do about political upheaval (Nicaragua) or military (naval) exercises other than steer clear of them.

 

As for the suggestion by another disgruntled poster that Sirena needs a "major overhaul": I've been on the ship since the beginning of this month and I can attest that such a statement by a previous poster is quite an exaggeration.  After all, Oceania did spend $40 million on its conversion of the Ocean Princess to become Sirena in Spring 2016. Plus, it will have additional upgrades in the not-too-distant future.

 

Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion and folks unhappy with their O experience, may want to jump ship. With desirable (and, sometimes, all) cabins on newly announced Oceania itineraries selling out quickly, it's not like they're hurting for clientele. That said, however, I have to add that I have found Oceania management to be extremely receptive to realistic concerns we've brought to their attention from time to time.