Tried Oceania Marina . . . and was disappointed.

[jawlaw]

3 hours ago, LHT28 said:

I would  disagree

 but it is your choice

So will comment no further

 

 

My wife had some dietary issues (not life and death stuff), and I felt that Oceania tried very hard to accommodate her.  They provided menus in advance, etc., and tried to match them in time for our scheduled specialty restaurants.  However, it’s a big operation, and sometimes the info did not trickle down to our service staff.  When that happened, they did their best to fix it.  

[jawlaw]

Interesting that the internet is a hot button issue.  I supposed generally people don’t go on vacation to work, but the reality is that we live in a society where folks expect to have the ability to make instant contact all the time.  I agree with other posters that, if Oceania is going to offer internet access, then they should offer a level

of service that will not create frustration to their customers.  

[zalusky]

We just got off a Pacific Coastal on the Royal Princess earlier this year and their internet is spectacular.

I streamed multiple NHL playoff games with only a few minor freezes.  I realize at high/low latitudes it may be worse such as Alaska.  Oceania needs to do some investing here.

[LHT28]

51 minutes ago, zalusky said:

We just got off a Pacific Coastal on the Royal Princess earlier this year and their internet is spectacular.

I streamed multiple NHL playoff games with only a few minor freezes.  I realize at high/low latitudes it may be worse such as Alaska.  Oceania needs to do some investing here.

 

Does Princess have free internet?

[zalusky]

2 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Does Princess have free internet?

If you are Platinum level (5+ cruises) they give you 150 minutes free.  I paid $105 for 7 days and 4 devices for the streaming level service to watch Hockey.

[Ken the cruiser]

Just now, LHT28 said:

Does Princess have free internet?

 

If you add the cost for their unlimited MedallionNet internet package (ie. around $8-10 per day depending on cruise length which would be $4-5 pp for a 2 person cabin sharing an account) to the price of the cruise, a comparable Princess cabin is still much cheaper than what you pay for an Oceania cabin

[LHT28]

5 minutes ago, zalusky said:

If you are Platinum level (5+ cruises) they give you 150 minutes free.  I paid $105 for 7 days and 4 devices for the streaming level service to watch Hockey.

so you are are paying extra to stream  your sports

I believe you can do the same on O  for $10 pd 

 

[LHT28]

3 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

If you add the cost for their unlimited MedallionNet internet package (ie. around $8-10 per day depending on cruise length which would be $4-5 pp for a 2 person cabin sharing an account) to the price of the cruise, a comparable Princess cabin is still much cheaper than what you pay for an Oceania cabin

So what you are saying is Oceania is not  for you 

Everyone has to decide what works best for them

 

Princess  does not work for us  no matter how cheap it is

YMMV

[zalusky]

3 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

so you are are paying extra to stream  your sports

I believe you can do the same on O  for $10 pd 

 

 

I am pointing out the quality difference as has been reported earlier in the thread.  You pay extra just for the Oceania experience vs the Princess fare if you had similar itinerary.   I was able to comfortably watch the game multiple times as well as stream some shows.  People above said it was horrible even for regular internet needs.

 

My point is that Oceania needs to get get competitive in this area.  What good is it if you give it away and it doesnt perform well.

Edited September 2, 2019 by zalusky

[ORV]

9 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

If you add the cost for their unlimited MedallionNet internet package (ie. around $8-10 per day depending on cruise length which would be $4-5 pp for a 2 person cabin sharing an account) to the price of the cruise, a comparable Princess cabin is still much cheaper than what you pay for an Oceania cabin

Comparable? Princess to Oceania? Well not the one Princess cruise I went on. I preferred Costa or Carnival. But I'm not going on those again either. 

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

So what you are saying is Oceania is not  for you 

Everyone has to decide what works best for them

 

Princess  does not work for us  no matter how cheap it is

YMMV

To be more precise cruises on the Riviera and Marina are definitely not for us until they fix their poor internet service, regardless of whether or not it's for free. We have no issues sailing on their smaller R class ships if the right itinerary comes along.

[Ken the cruiser]

6 minutes ago, ORV said:

Comparable? Princess to Oceania? Well not the one Princess cruise I went on. I preferred Costa or Carnival. But I'm not going on those again either. 

Didn't say they were comparable, just that the cost of the Princess MedallionNet internet service is not all that much. But to be honest, the food on O really isn't all that much better than the food we recently had on our 12 day UK cruise on the Crown Princess.

Edited September 2, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[LHT28]

18 minutes ago, zalusky said:

 

I am pointing out the quality difference as has been reported earlier in the thread.  You pay extra just for the Oceania experience vs the Princess fare if you had similar itinerary.   I was able to comfortably watch the game multiple times as well as stream some shows.  People above said it was horrible even for regular internet needs.

 

My point is that Oceania needs to get get competitive in this area.  What good is it if you give it away and it doesnt perform well.

When you were on Oceania  how was the  service ?

Did you pay for the  upgraded internet  & was it any better  or not?

 

 

[zalusky]

13 minutes ago, ORV said:

Comparable? Princess to Oceania? Well not the one Princess cruise I went on. I preferred Costa or Carnival. But I'm not going on those again either. 

 

Princess is just one example that I give from recent experience but other lines have Medallion class service as well.

I am just suggesting Oceania needs to improve.

 

Just now, LHT28 said:

When you were on Oceania  how war the  service ?

 

Similar to what was mentioned above.  Slow and sometimes there was no service.

 

[LHT28]

3 minutes ago, zalusky said:

Similar to what was mentioned above.  Slow and sometimes there was no service.

 

 right

 Guess I have been lucky    sometimes the  speed is not what I get  at home & some locations lik Norway in the Fjords  there was no service  but for the most part  it has been fine

 but  I am not streaming sports or uploading documents for work

 

 

[Go-Bucks!]

23 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

The bigger issue is the lack of sufficient router capacity, especially in the cabin areas on the O class ships, when all those "powered up" idle devices continually try to connect every 3-5 minutes to a nearby router to perform internal automated functions (e.g., check email, perform app status checks such as Facebook, etc.)

 

This issue really became magnified when O made the decision in May 2018 to give every stateroom an unlimited internet account. Now everyone leaves their devices powered on waiting for their turn to log onto their stateroom account.

 

You will most likely see this issue when you try to perform a bandwidth-intensive task (e.g., sending an email with a large attachment, uploading large files, etc) and the Internet bandwidth speed is very slow. Note: when it comes to router ports, the oldest connection gets disconnected first. Now picture 15-20 devices in your cabin area all trying to establish a connection to the area router. When all ports are full, the oldest connection gets disconnected on the next new bind request.

 

Now picture your connection as the one that is the oldest. Unfortunately, your bandwidth-intensive task didn't have time to finish because of the slow internet speed, so it got chopped and you now have to do it over again. Now imagine this is happening every 2-3 minutes. It can become quite annoying.

 

This isn't just an issue on the O-class ships, this very thing happened continuously on Insignia (R-class) for the entire 7 months that I was onboard!!!  More than frustrating since I was trying to stay in touch with friends/family at home as well as keep up with other tasks related to life at home (bills, ordering online, etc).  It would drop the connection every few minutes, making it nearly impossible to get anything done. 

 

I did have fewer issues in public places, such as the library, Horizons and the Terrace Cafe, than I did in my cabin. But that's pretty inconvenient!

Edited September 2, 2019 by Go-Bucks!

[ORV]

I'm like Lyn, I don't cruise for the internet. What Oceania has suits me and my wife just fine. FWIW, she is one of those people that does teach online university courses, but not in real time. What she uses with her students is not a lot different than a message board like this. 

 

She has had a few challenges with it over the years but tends to wake early and get on it before everyone else. She has always been able to accomplish what she needs with it to get the job done. 

 

I understand some folks need more, but to me watching sports is not a priority. Those that need it for a job I can understand. 

 

Without a loyalty program attached to it tell me again which cruise lines offer free internet? 

[jawlaw]

9 minutes ago, Go-Bucks! said:

. . . as well as keep up with other tasks related to life at home (bills, ordering online, etc). 

 

Serious question to someone who cruised for seven months from a jealous admirer:  will Amazon deliver to the ship? 

[zalusky]

14 minutes ago, ORV said:

 

Without a loyalty program attached to it tell me again which cruise lines offer free internet? 

 

Thats a bogus argument as you are paying for it in your base fare  That logic could also be used for booze packages on luxury lines as compared to Oceania.   Also if the quality is not there  then you have no value for the free service.

 

And more specifically to answer your question read: https://cruisefever.net/cruise-lines-with-the-best-wifi-on-their-cruise-ships/

 

And you will see 5 listed lines with free internet.  Oceania must have decided to not respond to the survey as they are not listed.

Edited September 2, 2019 by zalusky

[ORV]

2 minutes ago, zalusky said:

 

Thats a bogus argument as you are paying for it in your base fare  That logic could also be used for booze packages on luxury lines as compared to Oceania.   Also if the quality is not there  then you have no value for the free service.

It was the same internet for years that wasn't included with the base fare. You'd have been really upset if you had to pay for it and it didn't work any better than it does. 

 

I'm not saying you're wrong, and I'm not saying it's good. I am saying it's not a priority for Oceania as it is for the mainstream lines. Most of their clientele are retired and aren't interested in being connected 24/7. Would it be nice to have the same high speed on board that I do at home? Absolutely, but I'm not going to base whether or not I book Oceania on their internet service. 

 

I'm not alone in my thinking on this when it comes to their customers. Many of them are still operating with flip phones. Come to think of it I miss my old Motorola Star Tac. 

[Ken the cruiser]

9 minutes ago, ORV said:

Without a loyalty program attached to it tell me again which cruise lines offer free internet? 

We get free internet for 2 when we sail in a Celebrity sky suite and free internet for 2 people in a cabin (2 devices each) in any Crystal cabin. On both those lines we have no problem getting a good uninterrupted service even on the balcony. On HAL (which is usually pretty flaky service during daytime hours) and Princess (with their MedallionNet which usually offers quality service even on the balcony), you pay between $4-5 pp for one unlimited internet account. Those are the ones I'm most familiar with.

[zalusky]

3 minutes ago, ORV said:

It was the same internet for years that wasn't included with the base fare. You'd have been really upset if you had to pay for it and it didn't work any better than it does. 

 

I'm not saying you're wrong, and I'm not saying it's good. I am saying it's not a priority for Oceania as it is for the mainstream lines. Most of their clientele are retired and aren't interested in being connected 24/7. Would it be nice to have the same high speed on board that I do at home? Absolutely, but I'm not going to base whether or not I book Oceania on their internet service. 

 

I'm not alone in my thinking on this when it comes to their customers. Many of them are still operating with flip phones. Come to think of it I miss my old Motorola Star Tac. 

 

As was mentioned these days you need it to pay bills and plan your shore excursions.  I have a retired friend who just did an around the world on Viking Do you think he could manage his life for 6 months without internet?

Edited September 2, 2019 by zalusky

[ORV]

3 minutes ago, zalusky said:

 

As was mentioned these days you need it to pay bills and plan your shore excursions.  I have a retired friend who just did an around the world on Viking Do you think he could manage his life for 6 months without internet?

Well there is internet, it's just not very good. I believe Go Bucks made it work. Believe it or not people went on extended vacations long before we had the internet, of course we didn't operate the way we do today. 

 

In answer to your question, yes, I do think people can and do manage their life for 6 months with internet. Many folks have an accountant or someone that takes care of things for them. 

 

I'm not trying to be argumentative, nor am I defending Oceania, I'm only pointing out an alternative point of view. I think too many of us tend to take the technology we have today for granted. 

[zalusky]

1 minute ago, ORV said:

Well there is internet, it's just not very good. I believe Go Bucks made it work. Believe it or not people went on extended vacations long before we had the internet, of course we didn't operate the way we do today. 

 

In answer to your question, yes, I do think people can and do manage their life for 6 months with internet. Many folks have an accountant or someone that takes care of things for them. 

 

I'm not trying to be argumentative, nor am I defending Oceania, I'm only pointing out an alternative point of view. I think too many of us tend to take the technology we have today for granted. 

 

And thats why I say Oceania is not competitive and they need to work on it if they want the next of crop cruisers - yes those techy young to be customers.

 

Things have changed dramatically in the last 10 years and mobile internet is now pretty much a requirement espeically for traveling.  Uber/Yelp/Maps/Ticketing/...    Pretty much all the sporting events and concerts I have gone to put the tickets on our phones.   I have digital backups of all my important papers like passports/insurance cards/credit cards in an encrypted cloud accessible on my phone.   Times have changed.  Not everybody has a personal concierge managing their life.

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, ORV said:

It was the same internet for years that wasn't included with the base fare. You'd have been really upset if you had to pay for it and it didn't work any better than it does. 

 

I'm not saying you're wrong, and I'm not saying it's good. I am saying it's not a priority for Oceania as it is for the mainstream lines. Most of their clientele are retired and aren't interested in being connected 24/7. Would it be nice to have the same high speed on board that I do at home? Absolutely, but I'm not going to base whether or not I book Oceania on their internet service. 

 

I'm not alone in my thinking on this when it comes to their customers. Many of them are still operating with flip phones. Come to think of it I miss my old Motorola Star Tac. 

ORV, I hear what you're saying. But when your DW is the sole communications manager for her 100+ person master gardener group and they quite regularly ask her to email information to all of the members while we're on the cruise 100+ days a year and she can't because of the issues I described above, do you think she ever wants to go on another O cruise until they effectively upgrade their internet service?

 

We enjoy Oceania, but I must say we also have a lot of fun and a heck of a lot more things to do on sea days on Princess and Celebrity cruises, besides getting a much nicer cabin, usually a suite, for the same price as an A balcony cabin on any O ship going on similar itineraries. So if O wants our $$$, then they need to upgrade their internet service comparable to what Crystal, Princess and Celebrity are currently offering. If they would rather not because they believe their current customer base really doesn't care about quality internet service, that's cool. It's their (I mean Norwegian's) cruise line and they can do what they want.