Are Oceania schedules different every year?

[Calypso54]

We where looking at a October 2022 cruise from Lisbon to Miami that looks awesome. Since we are pretty much planned out until May of 2023, we thought this would work for October of 2023. Looking today it appears this cruise is not repeated in 2023. The ones that are coming back then are not that interesting.  Which leads to the question. How does Oceania do their schedule? Do they repeat some cruises every year and others on a 2-3 year cycle? Is every year different?

[Flatbush Flyer]

18 minutes ago, Calypso54 said:

We where looking at a October 2022 cruise from Lisbon to Miami that looks awesome. Since we are pretty much planned out until May of 2023, we thought this would work for October of 2023. Looking today it appears this cruise is not repeated in 2023. The ones that are coming back then are not that interesting.  Which leads to the question. How does Oceania do their schedule? Do they repeat some cruises every year and others on a 2-3 year cycle? Is every year different?

There are only so many boring Caribbean itineraries and cookie-cutter Med or Alaska cruises. Same goes for the Panama Canal and the transoceanic trips. All of these itineraries will be repeated, at least, yearly. So not much to change there.

But, one of the great things about O is its truly comprehensive collection of ports across the “seven seas.” And O does strive to add new ports each year.

 

There are some “classic” longer O cruises offered in some form every year. They include the Amazon River, Rounding Cape Horn, British Isles/Ireland, Indian Ocean transit circumnavigation of Australia, et al.. Most of these cruises book full quickly once announced. The only future “classic” that seems to have eluded O’s planning has been a circumnavigation of Sicily and the islands within the Tyrrhenian Sea. A 2-3 week cruise (perhaps RT Civitavecchia for added Rome land trip) would book full in hours once announced! 

[pinotlover]

4 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

There are only so many boring Caribbean itineraries and cookie-cutter Med or Alaska cruises. Same goes for the Panama Canal and the transoceanic trips. All of these itineraries will be repeated, at least, yearly. So not much to change there.

But, one of the great things about O is its truly comprehensive collection of ports across the “seven seas.” And O does strive to add new ports each year.

 

There are some “classic” longer O cruises offered in some form every year. They include the Amazon River, Rounding Cape Horn, British Isles/Ireland, Indian Ocean transit circumnavigation of Australia, et al.. Most of these cruises book full quickly once announced. The only future “classic” that seems to have eluded O’s planning has been a circumnavigation of Sicily and the islands within the Tyrrhenian Sea. A 2-3 week cruise (perhaps RT Civitavecchia for added Rome land trip) would book full in hours once announced! 

+1.  Add to this list a circumnavigation of Japan. It would sell out in pre-bookings! However, like the Sicilian cruise above, which I’d likewise immediately book, Oceania appears to have zero interest.

[sunlover12]

57 minutes ago, Calypso54 said:

We where looking at a October 2022 cruise from Lisbon to Miami that looks awesome. Since we are pretty much planned out until May of 2023, we thought this would work for October of 2023. Looking today it appears this cruise is not repeated in 2023. The ones that are coming back then are not that interesting.  Which leads to the question. How does Oceania do their schedule? Do they repeat some cruises every year and others on a 2-3 year cycle? Is every year different?

We are waitlisted on a section of that Sirena cruise, Lisbon to Barcelona.  It's been waitlisted in every cabin category for at least 7 or 8 months.  It's obviously a popular itinerary and I've been wondering the same thing.  How does Oceania determine their schedule each year?  It's a mystery to me.

 

I know that particular itinerary was on Sirena's schedule for October 2020 because we had a confirmed booking.  Unfortunately we were too late for the 2022 cruise. Our TA has been keeping us informed where we are on the waitlist. Hopefully we'll get on.

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 minute ago, sunlover12 said:

We are waitlisted on a section of that Sirena cruise, Lisbon to Barcelona.  It's been waitlisted in every cabin category for at least 7 or 8 months.  It's obviously a popular itinerary and I've been wondering the same thing.  How does Oceania determine their schedule each year?  It's a mystery to me.

 

I know that particular itinerary was on Sirena's schedule for October 2020 because we had a confirmed booking.  Unfortunately we were too late for the 2022 cruise. Our TA has been keeping us informed where we are on the waitlist. Hopefully we'll get on.

No real mystery - but explaining/understanding the factors/process involved could fill a book.

[Jancruz]

28 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

No real mystery - but explaining/understanding the factors/process involved could fill a book.

Plus 1

Jancruz1

[GeezerCouple]

We had to cancel a Med cruise a few years ago on very short notice (thank goodness we had our usual insurance, at least).

 

That cruise had The.Best.Itinerary for us!

 

A start in Barcelona.  A stop so DH could finally get to Carcassonne.  Several stops along the French Riviera at ports of specific interest to us.  Monte Carlo (might have been an overnight! don't quite remember), Cinque Terre (where we had chartered a sailboat to do a sail-by as I don't do well on hills, etc.; at least others on our Roll Call still were able to enjoy that 🙂 )....

 

And on one of the O ships, our favorites.

 

There hasn't been anything like it since. ☹️

 

Maybe someday... assuming we ever cruise again, sigh.

 

GC

 

 

[Vineyard View]

There is an itinerary next spring, I think called Islands of the Mediterranean, or something similar (sorry, not on website). We already booked next year and had hoped to book this in 2023. Looking at the news schedule I a, not finding similar. 
 

I agree with Flatbush Flyer. It’s hard to find itineraries in the Mediterranean that aren’t cookie cutter. After having been there done that multiple times, it was Oceania and another line I turned to hoping to find some unique offerings. 
 

Once a schedule is published this far in advance, does Oceania add to offerings? I noticed a lot of Bilbao embark/debark. Is this relatively new? 

[LHT28]

23 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Once a schedule is published this far in advance, does Oceania add to offerings? I noticed a lot of Bilbao embark/debark. Is this relatively new? 

Usually they do not change the itineraries once published  unless something like  a volcano . pandemic   etc  occur

Itineraries  may happen every year . every 2 yrs or even 3 yrs

 I remember a Norway cruise they had  that went to Russia ..it did not go again for a couple of years

 regulars want something different  so O does try to find unique ports ..some  are hit or miss  so may not be visited  again for  a few years

 JMO

[Vineyard View]

6 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Usually they do not change the itineraries once published  unless something like  a volcano . pandemic   etc  occur

Itineraries  may happen every year . every 2 yrs or even 3 yrs

 I remember a Norway cruise they had  that went to Russia ..it did not go again for a couple of years

 regulars want something different  so O does try to find unique ports ..some  are hit or miss  so may not be visited  again for  a few years

 JMO

Thank you for your response. Maybe this wasn’t such a successful itinerary. The new Vista itineraries seem fairly traditional as well, but we do look forward to trying Oceania soon! 

[LHT28]

17 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Thank you for your response. Maybe this wasn’t such a successful itinerary. The new Vista itineraries seem fairly traditional as well, but we do look forward to trying Oceania soon! 

Many places in the World  may not have the infrastructure  to support cruise ships/pax so you will see the same ports offered by many lines

 some smaller yacht type ships  may offer  more of the smaller ports in out of the way places compared to larger  ships

 

Enjoy what ever cruise you choose

 

[ICT lineman]

for ‘Calypso54’ and ‘Sunlover12’

 

We booked the full 38-day passage from Portsmouth to Miami on Sirena in December 2020 using 125% Future Cruise Credit from a September 2020 canceled cruise.

 

The 38-day cruise is actually a combination of 4 separate (7 / 7 / 10 / 14 day) segments where the 10-day Lisbon to Barcelona waitlisted quickly.

 

The 38-day cruise has been waitlisted for many months … but in the last several days the the website shows A1 availability … while the 10-day segment is still all waitlisted.

 

It may be worth a call to Oceania to find out if the Lisbon to Miami segment or Lisbon to Barcelona is open.

 

The 14-day Barcelona to Miami has nearly all categories open but honestly, with only 3 ports, it could be rather dull unless you enjoy 9 sea days ‘and turning the clock back’ on a east-west TA.

Edited October 7, 2021 by ICT lineman

[Vineyard View]

On 10/6/2021 at 8:04 PM, LHT28 said:

Many places in the World  may not have the infrastructure  to support cruise ships/pax so you will see the same ports offered by many lines

 some smaller yacht type ships  may offer  more of the smaller ports in out of the way places compared to larger  ships

 

Enjoy what ever cruise you choose

 

Thank you. I do appreciate what you are saying. We have enjoyed so many beautiful Mediterranean ports, but noticed that Oceania seems pretty astute at throwing in some of the lesser travelled stops on some of their itineraries,  so we do look forward to the experience very much. 

[ORV]

22 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Thank you. I do appreciate what you are saying. We have enjoyed so many beautiful Mediterranean ports, but noticed that Oceania seems pretty astute at throwing in some of the lesser travelled stops on some of their itineraries,  so we do look forward to the experience very much. 

Much of it has to do with provisioning the ships. Those smaller ports just don't have the infrastructure to handle that. Ever notice all those forklifts loading pallets on the ships on port days? While the ships are set up in their galleys and storage areas for quite some time some items like fruit and produce need to be frequently replenished.