Insignia live - - Miami Cuba Miami

[scdreamer]

Insignia just came out of dry dock and the ship is beautiful. Our veranda cabin is decorated in muted shades of gray and white, and the storage configuration is quite efficient. The public areas of the ship are also quite lovely.

 

We are four-time Oceania passengers, and have had good experiences in the past. We are definitely not high maintenance people, and can normally let slide a few shortcomings without any concern. 

 

We are on our second full day on board, and there are more than a few glitches. The telephone in our cabin has not been operational, despite three times letting the reception staff know. (In fact, it seems we have had to go down to the reception desk too many times already for just two days on the ship.) No phone means no room service, no way to reach our steward, and probably most important - no way to contact anyone if there should be an emergency in the middle of the night. 

 

We are, however, grateful that we are not one of the other passengers on board who apparently have no A/C in their cabins. Guess the phone not working is not as bad as trying to sleep in the humid hot weather we are experiencing. 

 

We decided to do a load of laundry today, bought the tokens, and the machine soap dispenser is broken, so we were locked into a half hour of washing clothes in the latched machine with no detergent. Reported it to reception, it could not be fixed, and they seem to have no interest in even putting a sign on the machine to let others know. Decided not to start over, so we are now waiting for our wet but not cleaned clothes to go through the dryer, an hour and a half in totally wasted.  I understand that “stuff” happens, but there doesn’t seem to be any response from the ship’s staff, and that’s what is bothersome.  

 

Dining - first night in the GDR was a disaster. Our waitress told us she felt sick and dizzy - just what we want to hear as she is handing our food to us. The new bland seasonings we had heard about were in evidence - I had lobster bisque, and had I not seen the word “lobster” in the description on the menu, I would never have guessed that it was anything more than canned tomato soup. I also ordered the suckling pig, and oh my gosh, I think they included rubber bands. I actually had to spit part of it out into my napkin, a first for me.

 

Second night dinner in GDR was much better - we stuck to the tried and true regular side of the menu. But I hate to have to do that every night. We’ll see. 

 

Service in Horizons for happy hour was non existent. We left after a half hour because no waiters came around to our table, and we saw a line of at least ten people waiting at the bar to order. Enjoyed a glass of our own wine in our cabin ... I appreciate that we can do that, but it would have been nice to sit in the bar. That is Oceania’s loss. 

 

I will I’ll continue this report as our cruise days go by. I hope to have better things to say! 

[LHT28]

wow  I guess they should  have delayed the cruise  until all was in working order

Hope  things improve

I would  not want to be without  A/C

[Paulchili]

Sounds pretty bad - hope things will improve SOON!

[rvmike]

On the the same cruise. Took 7 hrs to get our safe opened after 3 trips to reception and stopping an officer in the hall way. Toilet seat falling off and numerous light bulbs in cabin not working. Staff is friendly but reception has an attitude of not my job. Toscana was great and the Terrace is nice in this warm weather.  The bars of soap make the shower floor feel like an ice rink, afraid to lift a foot to wash so just using wipes. They are really scaring people to buy their excursions. First port in the morning so will report how it goes. Guest lecture today was about Havana not our port! 

[LHT28]

3 minutes ago, rvmike said:

. First port in the morning so will report how it goes. Guest lecture today was about Havana not our port! 

 You are not going to Havana  on a cruise to Cuba ??

 

[rvmike]

Havana is our last port. A talk about the port we are stopping at first would have been nice

[bob brown]

Curious as to which deck or location had the A/C issue?

[scdreamer]

Agree about the lecturer ... he seems to know very little about Cuba other than the old cars in Havana. He spent a lot of time talking about some special hot sauce he found in Costa Rica and brought home. No information at all about the first two ports of call. Very lame.

 

Dinner in the GDR was a “fail” again tonight. Ordered the fish soup and it was so bad I asked for lemon wedges to try to improve it, but in the end had to refuse it. Smelled and tasted like old rotten fish. That is a first for me. Long waits between courses.  Service is hit or miss, staff seems very disorganized and overwhelmed. I feel sorry for them. They are trying their best, but it’s not great. Many apologies from waitstaff. 

 

We went to the Martini bar before dinner; the overhead lights were so bright it felt like an interrogation room at a police station, and the wall sconces were actually pulsing. It was pretty awful. The waitress told us there are electrical issues they can’t seem to resolve. They can’t seem to figure out how to dim the lights to a reasonable level. 

 

The  other thing thing that I thought was my imagination until I talked with other passengers today - the green light that flashes from the cabin wall thermostat directly and beams on to the pillow of the bed. It’s real! How did they miss that when they installed it? We’ve wrapped a black tank-top around it to block the pulsating flash. 

 

 

[LHT28]

That is  the trouble  with LED  lights & dimmers   if they are down too low  they pulse ..we have that problem  at home

It is  nice they are trying to conserve energy but in some situations  it just does not work

 

the lecturers  are not like they used to be ..

[rvmike]

The new decor is nothing more than 1/2 inch panels laid on top of the original walls. They are. Fabric so no more magnets and they seem to make the room smaller. Had a great excursion with Shago yours today.

[no fuss travel]

Pictures of the cabins please. Thanks

[Riverroad]

We are beyond upset to hear the news about Insignia. We are due to embark on Jan. 11on the first leg of the ATW cruise. We persuaded friends, who are not cruisers, to join us based on our experience on our previous O cruises. We assured them they would love it. I don’t know what to think now. And what about the people who will be on this ship for the full ATW? No a/c for 6 months? Do we know if O is doing anything to remedy the problems?

[LHT28]

Just now, Riverroad said:

We are beyond upset to hear the news about Insignia. We are due to embark on Jan. 11on the first leg of the ATW cruise. We persuaded friends, who are not cruisers, to join us based on our experience on our previous O cruises. We assured them they would love it. I don’t know what to think now. And what about the people who will be on this ship for the full ATW? No a/c for 6 months? Do we know if O is doing anything to remedy the problems?

seriously

 

Of course they will be working on the problems

[RJB]

16 minutes ago, Riverroad said:

We are beyond upset to hear the news about Insignia. We are due to embark on Jan. 11on the first leg of the ATW cruise. We persuaded friends, who are not cruisers, to join us based on our experience on our previous O cruises. We assured them they would love it. I don’t know what to think now. And what about the people who will be on this ship for the full ATW? No a/c for 6 months? Do we know if O is doing anything to remedy the problems?

I am sure the problems will be fixed very quickly but the bad publicty will linger a long time. 

[bob brown]

This is why it is not such a good idea to sail on a cruise directly after a drydocking renovation....it may take a few weeks to (hopefully) resolve all or most of the "issue's"....

That said, perhaps the cruise line should have allowed a few more days to complete, test, and fix these issue's, instead of rushing back into revenue service.....

[bob brown]

As far as the dry docking is concerned...

Pretty sure the subject was first mentioned right on these boards about a year ago, and confirmed a few months later...

More than enough time for most people to change their plans before penalty period began...just saying....

 

 

[ORV]

There's a reason they have a few cruises between the refurb and the ATW. 

[linda_22003]

We've been wondering whether to try Oceania.  This thread is making me reconsider.  Thanks.... I think!

[stanzy42]

17 hours ago, rvmike said:

The new decor is nothing more than 1/2 inch panels laid on top of the original walls. They are. Fabric so no more magnets and they seem to make the room smaller. Had a great excursion with Shago yours today.

Is the ceiling still metal? If so, the magnets should still work on the ceiling. How about the bathroom and the door- are those walls still metal?  

 

Edited December 11, 2018 by stanzy42

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, linda_22003 said:

We've been wondering whether to try Oceania.  This thread is making me reconsider.  Thanks.... I think!

Why?

All ships  coming  from drydock  have  some teething problems

 

[LHT28]

10 minutes ago, stanzy42 said:

Is the ceiling still metal? If so, the magnets should still work on the ceiling. How about the bathroom - are those walls still metal? 

They did not remove  the modules  so the cabin will still be metal  

the doors  will will be metal

Hopefully others onboard  will post

[TERRIER1]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

Why?

All ships  coming  from drydock  have  some teething problems

 

This is true but it usually doesn't effect the quality of the foord.

[rvmike]

The bathroom door and interior are not metal. The main cabin door is. Will post pics when we get home

[Pitcairn17]

2 hours ago, TERRIER1 said:

This is true but it usually doesn't effect the quality of the foord.

 

My question too -- especially inasmuch as food is O's marquee feature. We're on 2 legs of the RTW, LA to Sydney leaving the cruise port 1/30. We had been looking forward to the refreshed Insignia, but .... I can understand some electrical issues post-drydock, but was there a massive turnover on the hotel side? 

[no fuss travel]

29 minutes ago, Pitcairn17 said:

 

My question too -- especially inasmuch as food is O's marquee feature. We're on 2 legs of the RTW, LA to Sydney leaving the cruise port 1/30. We had been looking forward to the refreshed Insignia, but .... I can understand some electrical issues post-drydock, but was there a massive turnover on the hotel side? 

We noticed when we were on back to back cruises that if there was a huge turnover of staff, the service slipped a little at times until they were used to working with new personnel.  I am sure by the time we start our ATW or segments of ATW, most of the bugs will be worked out.