Marina - Civitavecchia to Monte Carlo - 11/4 to 11/11

[lj77346]

On the Marina now and we just received a letter telling us that the cruise will end in Marseille rather than Monte Carlo because on Monday the port of Monte Carlo is closed because of expected high winds. For passengers currently onboard Oceania is providing buses to the Nice airport or cruise terminal in Monte Carlo.

[Paulchili]

Thanks for posting this.

We have friends on the cruise boarding in MC - not sure if they were notified by O but I sent them this info.

[cswhistler]

Check out the roll call, lots of info there. Have friends who will be boarding and they have already been notified while visiting Barcelona.

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, cswhistler said:

Check out the roll call, lots of info there. Have friends who will be boarding and they have already been notified while visiting Barcelona.

Yes - I have heard from our friend and they were informed by O.

O also changed several of their first few ports.

[Mura]

Query:  are passengers who are now boarding in Marseille rather than Monte Carlo also being provided transport to the ship?  I'm assuming that people who booked their own air will be flying to Nice or Monte Carlo and might have difficulty in arranging transport to Marseille.  I also wonder what is happening to the passengers who are using O's air.  Given the difficulty of arranging different flights at such late notice would be more difficult than just hiring some buses.

 

Clearly O is getting the departing guests to Monte Carlo, so I would assume that it would do so for the reverse problem.

 

Should I assume?  A year and a half ago we flew to Nice for our Monte Carlo departure and wouldn't have been very happy if we had needed to get ourselves to Marseille ... although since we came in three days early we certainly would have had the time to make arrangements.

 

It does sound like O had valid reasons (bad weather) for changing the port, but ....

[janecambridge]

Ship being prepped for weather problems by the looks of things.sun loungers on upper decks being tied down. Spa cushions removed early and no towels out up there.floor lights on floor on all decks.could be in for a gusty evening.

We have cancelled our private transfer from Monte Carlo to Nice airport.

Been a good trip.

Edited November 9, 2019 by janecambridge

[carlsbadguy]

The cruise line is providing buses from the Nice airport to the new departure port but only for people flying into Nice that day. Everyone else has to get themselves to Monte Carlo then backtrack on a bus to Marseille.  I along with many other people are not happy about that.

[ORV]

Are there any trains running between those locations?

[LHT28]

5 hours ago, carlsbadguy said:

The cruise line is providing buses from the Nice airport to the new departure port but only for people flying into Nice that day. Everyone else has to get themselves to Monte Carlo then backtrack on a bus to Marseille.  I along with many other people are not happy about that.

That seems rather silly

[Paulchili]

4 hours ago, LHT28 said:

That seems rather silly

That is an understatement.

[Mura]

I was just checking train schedules.  It's 107 miles from Monte Carlo to Marseille.  The travel times that I saw posted were from 3 hours 36 minutes to 3 hours 46 minutes.  So if you can get your tickets, it's certainly do-able.  The train ride from Nice to Marseille appears to be about an hour shorter.

 

On the one hand I can see why O would limit their transfers to people who are arriving in Nice on that day, but on the other hand I think they should do something for people who are already there.  When we had our Monte Carlo departure last year we arrived a few days in advance.  With sufficient notice we probably would have been able to book a train -- unless suddenly several hundred people are looking for the few empty seats remaining (?) -- but we'd have been much happier if O had accommodated us under the circumstances.  Had we known, we'd have flown to Marseille!  (But in our case, the ship was there when we were ...)

 

 

 

 

[chelseabelsea]

We are in 11/11 sailing. We are in Monaco now, (arrived Friday)  and have been notified to show up at Monte Carlo port for transfer to Marseille.

We had a driver take us from Nice to Monaco, it’s only 30 minutes by car.

Monaco has an offshore gale warning in effect tonight and tomorrow, clearing out late Monday. Harbour is closed to incoming traffic tonight and tomorrow. Oceania made a good call on this.

[ABoatNerd]

On 11/8/2019 at 9:35 PM, Paulchili said:

Yes - I have heard from our friend and they were informed by O.

O also changed several of their first few ports.

 

Thank you. Did your friend advise on what O said were the reasons for changing several of their first ports?

[Paulchili]

43 minutes ago, ABoatNerd said:

 

Thank you. Did your friend advise on what O said were the reasons for changing several of their first ports?

Well, their schedule is off to start with.

On 11/11 they are in Marseille instead of MC so the first few stops have to be changed/adjusted. The first stop after Marseille will be MC.

Others I am not sure why - for example, instead of stopping in Sorento they will now dock in Naples. They are skipping Crete altogether.

They are not thrilled with the changes but it is what it is.

Date                Port-Original              Port-New                    Arrive              Depart

11/11              Monte Carlo               Marseille                                               9 pm
11/12              Florence/Pisa             Monte Carlo               8 am                 6 pm
11/13              Rome                           Florence/Pisa             8 am                 8 pm
11/14              Sorrento/Capri           Rome                           8 am                 8 pm   
11/15              At Sea                          Naples                         7 am                  5 pm
11/16              Crete                           At Sea
11/17              Santorini                     Santorini                      8 am                 6 pm
11/18              Athens                        Athens                          7 am                  8 pm
11/19              At Sea                          At Sea
11/20              Valletta                       Valletta                        8 am                   5 pm
11/21              At Sea                          At Sea
11/22              Palma de Mallorca    Palma de Mallorca     8 am                  6 pm
11/23              Barcelona                   Barcelona                     6 am

 

[janecambridge]

Pleased to hear there is actually a weather warning because we have no evidence of it.Winds lighter here in Monte Carlo than Marseilles. Someone’s father lives her and he said the weather has been fine.Has not seen any warnings.Allsorts of rumours and very angry passengers.

Early start to get coach.Ours was 8am leave.Waited 45 minutes on tarmac for 7 passengers who did not turn up.Passengers on our coach were also very angry.2.5 hours after the wait for transfers.We have lost £75 from our private transfer booking being cancelled,but not a lot we can do about it,Some passengers claim they have been told their money will be returned.Seems a lot of extra work for Oceania.

Edited November 11, 2019 by janecambridge

[Paulchili]

Our friends, who were in Nice, were able to get on O’s bus at Nice airport and did not have to go to MC to catch the bus - good for them (and kudos to O for making that happen).

[LHT28]

Maybe the port authority closed the port

in any case the ship was cancelled there

https://www.ports-monaco.com/en/cruises.html

 

 

[janecambridge]

Thank you Lynn.

One thing that was extraordinary,was the lady checking us onto the coach,had no communication with ship.I went back into luggage area and could not find one person who could contact the ship to remind the 7 unaccounted for  passengers to collect their luggage and hurry to coach.We had very elderly and infirm on coach and a small child.One gentleman did ask at one point if we could stop at the toilets and was told no.

Nearly 3.5 hours on coach. 😢

[LHT28]

7 hours ago, janecambridge said:

Thank you Lynn.

One thing that was extraordinary,was the lady checking us onto the coach,had no communication with ship.I went back into luggage area and could not find one person who could contact the ship to remind the 7 unaccounted for  passengers to collect their luggage and hurry to coach.We had very elderly and infirm on coach and a small child.One gentleman did ask at one point if we could stop at the toilets and was told no.

Nearly 3.5 hours on coach. 😢

Surprised they did not have a cell phone or some kind of contact info 

Usually not Oceania personnel that check you in

Hope those 7 made the ship

Yes that is a long trip by bus  ..it is too bad they could not get in Nice

Hope the rest of the cruise will be uneventful

[lj77346]

We were on the 5 a.m. bus to the airport in Nice. There were 18 passengers on the bus and we pulled away from the port at around 5:15 a. m. As there was no traffic at that time in the morning, the bus arrived at the airport in Nice at around 7:30 a.m.

 

Considering that Oceania had to move about 1200 passengers (only about 50 from the Nov. 4 - 11 cruise were sailing back-to-back) from the ship to the airport in Nice or to Monte Carlo and then get about 1200 passengers to the ship, I felt that Oceania's destination services staff did as well as could be expected in handling the logistics of moving so many passengers given only 2 days notice that the port of Monte Carlo would be closed.  Considering the number of buses that Oceania had to arrange on short notice, the port closure was a reasonably large expense for them. 

[janecambridge]

2 hours ago, lj77346 said:

We were on the 5 a.m. bus to the airport in Nice. There were 18 passengers on the bus and we pulled away from the port at around 5:15 a. m. As there was no traffic at that time in the morning, the bus arrived at the airport in Nice at around 7:30 a.m.

 

Considering that Oceania had to move about 1200 passengers (only about 50 from the Nov. 4 - 11 cruise were sailing back-to-back) from the ship to the airport in Nice or to Monte Carlo and then get about 1200 passengers to the ship, I felt that Oceania's destination services staff did as well as could be expected in handling the logistics of moving so many passengers given only 2 days notice that the port of Monte Carlo would be closed.  Considering the number of buses that Oceania had to arrange on short notice, the port closure was a reasonably large expense for them. 

True.The problem was the worry of various missing flights whilst we waited so long for ‘lost’ passengers,I personally was happy to wait for so long, baring in mind there could have been a disabled person to board.Lack of information led to the tip of anger.

 

[Gnoelj]

On 11/10/2019 at 3:42 AM, Mura said:

I was just checking train schedules.  It's 107 miles from Monte Carlo to Marseille.  The travel times that I saw posted were from 3 hours 36 minutes to 3 hours 46 minutes.  So if you can get your tickets, it's certainly do-able.  The train ride from Nice to Marseille appears to be about an hour shorter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just wondering if you might realise that there are two ports for Marseille - La Joiliette which is close to the city , and the Marseille-Provence Cruise Terminal (MPCT) , which quite a distance away (about 5-7 kilometeres) from Marseille St Charles Station . The latter is where the Marina  is docked. (according to  https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/marseille-port-68 ) . 

 

Looking at the date of the schedules, I realise my message is too late for anyone wishing to find their way to the Oceania Marina for the cruise from Marseille (at the MPCT) . In any case, I  hope  there were not many people who opted to take the train to Marseille  as they might have found that the cost of the taxi from Marseille St. Charles  railway station to the MPCT was quite expensive. It would have been better to either take the coach provided at Nice airport, or in Monte Carlo.

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by Gnoelj

[Mura]

Thanks for that info.  I was only doing a quick check out of curiosity since we weren't on the particular cruise that ended up ending/starting at Marseille rather than Monte Carlo.  I doubt we'll ever need this ourselves, but will save your comment just in case.

 

I also was thinking of people who supposedly were not able to take the provided coach.

 

 

[JMM99]

The port was definitely closed on Monday - apparently the 'floating' dock has limitations so the port authority is probably ultra cautious. We were lucky - we were embarking from Monte Carlo and had a well organised transfer. Went to the port about 10.15 am and were away in about 20 mins. Sorry for those who were not so lucky.