Woe With O ---Marina 12/1 Changes

[Homerody]

8 hours ago, dszrew said:

IMHO, if O were to grant a full cash refund for this cruise that is drastically changing at the last minute, it would solve the problem. I don't see people blaming O for Covid-related changes, but O is completely capable of allowing full cash refunds but chooses not to. They could restore good will by allowing the OP a full refund for the modified cruise. Not FCC, but full cash refund. 

 

When it comes our turn next summer, if our cruise is drastically changed, I would expect nothing less. I really have no use for a $30,000 FCC. I am watching this case, and if refunds are not allowed, then I'm less inclined to make final payment and risk O leaving me in a similar situation.

A cash refund would be a reasonable accommodation and outcome, me thinks, in this case.  Notwithstanding the fact that O is not obligated to do that. 

 

I think a cash refund is not desirable for O's cash flow and bottom line.  And an FCC insures there is a (grudgingly) returning customer.

 

It is interesting to note many land tour (group and private) all over the world are allowing covid and governmental restrictions cancellations  up to the 72 hour covid testing window.  That is reasonable and consumer friendly.

 

I think the takeaway from what I see on this thread and roll call for 8 Jan sailing is use the changed FP date as a go/no go decision point .  Also,  count on most folks here  to read me chapter and verse on how I screwed up everything when things go pear shaped.

 

But I keep coming back for the nuggets of wisdom and good suggestions that are often interspersed in the "conversation."

 

 

 

  

Edited November 8, 2021 by Homerody

[Homerody]

7 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Yep, you have most of it right :).  As to the blame game, we do understand that O is also a victim of all the COVID stuff.  But where we do blame them is that they they reversed their decision within 24 hours...or did they?  Nobody really knows and we are to get an update tomorrow so perhaps this will all get resolved.  But based on Os advice we (and others) quickly made changes to existing air arrangements and land tours only to be told (within 24 hours) that they (O) may have again changed their mind.  It is interesting that on Friday O not only deleted the entire cruise booking from our account (and we believe the others who are booked) but also took the 12/1 and 12/19 cruises off their web site.  At this moment if you look on the O web site it is as if those two cruises do not even exist!  Just adds to the mystery and anxiety but perhaps O will explain all tomorrow (Nov 8).   If not, customer patience might be running a bit thin given there will only be 3 weeks until the 12/1 cruise.   As to the FCC vs full refund issue we shall have to see how that plays out.  But those that are critical of cruisers wanting a full refund might compare this to a person who purchases and fully pays for a Ford and then is given a Chevy and told to take it or leave it and we will give you a time limited credit for a car next year.  We booked a cruise from Miami to Lima!  Yes, we understand that itineraries change but debarkation ports do not change 1500 miles to another country!  In such as a case it is no longer the same cruise (not even close).   My goodness, imagine booking a cruise that ends in Seattle and being told you will be taken to Los Cabos, Mexico and it is your problem to deal with the airline changes!  That is similar to what we have here with a change from Lima to Santiago.

 

Hank

@Hlitner I agree with what you said, mostly.  The main reason is that I would want a cash refund if the same or similar situation arises on the 8 Jan sailing. (acknowledging that FP is in Dec and that is a min difference, at this point in time).

 

Now....cue the howls citing O contract and that Hank's analogy of the car does not state that contract states  that dealer can switch car at the last second.

 

My contention is that if other companies in the travel sector - big and small, local and international - offer cash refunds up to "last minute" it is well within O's prerogative powers to do the same.  The fact that they choose not to offer a cash refund is what the issue is.

 

I will stipulate that following:  1. It is O's prerogative not to.  2. The fine print is on their side.  And 3.  all of us here are savvy travelers and consumers and know that. 

 

That savviness, however, is generally useful when - as suggested in this thread - we reach out to governmental agencies, consumer advocates and senior company management - as I am sure many of us have done.  We honestly know and realize the the letter of the fine print is not on our side, but there are what we personally feel - as reasonable people - strongly about as extraordinary and/or unique conditions that require some consumer friendly and customer-centric review to insure a mutually satisfactory outcome to savvy customer and company.

 

Some companies do not play ball or play very hard ball.  For me, at that point, lesson learned and I spend my money elsewhere  next time.

 

Hopefully this whole discussion will be a moot point on Monday when O releases their information and offers a clearer picture of what is going on and a plan for the Marina sailings.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Homerody

[ORV]

Some friends on currently on a small group tour to Machu Picchu. It truly is a small group as they are the only people that showed up for it, everyone else cancelled. It is a private tour for them at a small group price. I had a similar situation on a tour once. 

[Hlitner]

Since some folks on following cruisers seem to have an interest in this thread we are posting a noon (Monday) status report regarding the 12/1 cruise which likely also applies to the 12/19 voyage.  We have not heard a word from O (either e-mail or phone) since last Thursday when they advised that folks on these cruises should do nothing until today when we would get some kind of update.  As of now there has been no update.

 

On Friday afternoon, the details and booking info for both the 12/1 and 12/19 cruises were taken off O's web site.  Friday after we (and others on these cruises) also noticed that our O accounts had been updated to completely remove any booking reference to these cruises.  Now, about 3 days later nothing about either of these cruises has been restored to the web site so it is as if those cruises do not exist nor do the bookings.   So as if this moment we do not even know if there is any cruise, where such a cruise would be going, or what options are available to those who have bookings.   Stay tuned.

 

Hank

[watercruise]

My travel agent just contacted 0ceania and they indicated they hope to have it resolved by end of the day. 

[pinotlover]

It’s now 17:09 ( 5:09 pm) in Miami. When is “ end of day”? 23:59?

[Homerody]

22 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

It’s now 17:09 ( 5:09 pm) in Miami. When is “ end of day”? 23:59?

23:59 PDT.  Gives O time to prepare for the onslaught of calls and buys them a few hours.  East coast is asleep, west coast asleep or dozing off and no calls till 08:00 EDT Tuesday.

 

😃

 

I am sure someone is going to chime in and remind me: Patience young grasshopper.  And my response will be:  MEH!  

[Homerody]

ICYMI on the 8 Jan Marina Roll Coll, @HiFi43 reports some NCLH news and concludes by saying:  

"Hopefully tomorrow will bring more clarity to the early South American Marina cruise season."

 

Hmmm.....

 

However, quite frankly, who runs O and NCLH is of little or no immediate consequence to us folks waiting to see what happens with the 8 Jan sailing, or the poor folks on the 1 Dec and 19 Dec sailings. 

 

Monday has come and gone.

 

I am a patient and reasonable person, to a point.  And I'm sure NCLH is in a tough spot.  And I am sure NCLH senior leadership can run  multiple cruise lines and chew gum at the same time.  But if O states that Monday they will have an update I have a reasonable expectation that some news will come on Monday.  Even if the update is:  "we are still working on it to give you the best possible outcome."

 

But the silence is deafening.  And at the same time enough mañanas will translate to hasta la vista for me as a customer.

[shepherd really]

1 hour ago, Homerody said:

ICYMI on the 8 Jan Marina Roll Coll, @HiFi43 reports some NCLH news and concludes by saying:  

"Hopefully tomorrow will bring more clarity to the early South American Marina cruise season."

 

Hmmm.....

 

However, quite frankly, who runs O and NCLH is of little or no immediate consequence to us folks waiting to see what happens with the 8 Jan sailing, or the poor folks on the 1 Dec and 19 Dec sailings. 

 

Monday has come and gone.

 

I am a patient and reasonable person, to a point.  And I'm sure NCLH is in a tough spot.  And I am sure NCLH senior leadership can run  multiple cruise lines and chew gum at the same time.  But if O states that Monday they will have an update I have a reasonable expectation that some news will come on Monday.  Even if the update is:  "we are still working on it to give you the best possible outcome."

 

But the silence is deafening.  And at the same time enough mañanas will translate to hasta la vista for me as a customer.

O’s PR team seems to have vanished into the Bermuda Triangle along with the two December cruises on Marina.

 

While the change in the Jan 8 cruise itinerary is minor with the cancelling of Montevideo and adding a day in Buenos Aries compared to the total disappearance of the December cruises, I agree with the previous post, the silence from O is deafening at this point.  

Edited November 9, 2021 by shepherd really

[shepherd really]

And now you can’t even select December as a search parameter on O’s website, this changed in the last hour.

 

WTG O for further muddying the waters. 
 

They could have put a notification on the site if they have any desire to have a reputation as a great communicator but they didn’t. 

[Guppy99]

13 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

And now you can’t even select December as a search parameter on O’s website, this changed in the last hour.

 

WTG O for further muddying the waters. 
 

They could have put a notification on the site if they have any desire to have a reputation as a great communicator but they didn’t. 

They're obviously working on it.

[shepherd really]

5 minutes ago, Guppy99 said:

They're obviously working on it.

No, obviously they failed again to communicate what they are doing. If what they were doing was obvious we would know what that “obvious” thing is.  Spin all you like, they are failing to communicate with their customers in a rather dramatic way.  

[Hlitner]

10 minutes ago, Guppy99 said:

They're obviously working on it.

With all due respect we are beyond “working on it.”  What we have is O showing the complete disrespect for its customers.  

[ak1004]

As much as I want to give O the benefit of the doubt, this looks bad. They asked us to wait till Monday, Monday has passed. The minimum they could do is send another email with an update. As simple as "we are still working on the solution, thank you for your patience".

 

Also contacted them on Facebook and Twitter, no response so far.

[cptxcpl]

We intend on cruising from 12/1 - 1/8 no matter what the outcome turns out to be but it would have been nice at the end of workday yesterday that Oceania sent out a note to all those concerned stating at the very least that they were unable to reach a final decision but were diligantly working on a resolution.  

[Flatbush Flyer]

4 minutes ago, cptxcpl said:

We intend on cruising from 12/1 - 1/8 no matter what the outcome turns out to be but it would have been nice at the end of workday yesterday that Oceania sent out a note to all those concerned stating at the very least that they were unable to reach a final decision but were diligantly working on a resolution.  

I know some O regulars here on CC will need to be sitting down when I say this but, I agree that an O communication this AM should’ve happened.

As I have often said, “O will only communicate when there’s something to communicate.” For all the obvious reasons, it is a most efficacious process.

However, according to those folks who reported O’s indication that “word would be coming yesterday (Monday),” O’s not doing that deserves, at least, a follow-up note as to “why?” 

In any case, I still trust that O will “do the right thing” when it comes to the disposition of this itinerary. Of course, whatever is the final decision, some folks with be satisfied and others will not.

Hopefully, we’ll hear here ASAP after someone receives the decision.

[Jancruz]

On 11/6/2021 at 1:11 PM, Homerody said:

 

 

 

Info on itin will be out shortly

Jancruz1

Edited November 9, 2021 by Jancruz
spelling

[shepherd really]

7 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

Info on itin will be out shortly

Jancruz1

Yeah, O’s social media person just replied to me on Facebook 

 

Author

Oceania Cruises

 

We are now deploying updates to advisors and guests notifying them that we are moving forward with the elimination of ports in Ecuador and Peru, with the turn on 12/19 taking place in Chile. The authorities in Peru were trying to clear a pathway to open for cruise tourism but ultimately, the government authorities could not come to an agreement and we cannot wait any longer. So we are moving forward with the changes required to end/begin in Chile on 12/19.

[ak1004]

My TA just received a copy of the reservation.

 

[cptxcpl]

The itinerary is back on the Oceania website. No Peru/Ecuador. Looks like O owes me quite a bit of money. $4798 for the trip to Machu Picchu and for excursions in Ecuador. I don't want to hear about "Cruise Credit" in any form. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

43 minutes ago, cptxcpl said:

The itinerary is back on the Oceania website. No Peru/Ecuador. Looks like O owes me quite a bit of money. $4798 for the trip to Machu Picchu and for excursions in Ecuador. I don't want to hear about "Cruise Credit" in any form. 

Any “extras” for which you paid $$$ (e.g., tours et al.) that are cancelled by O should be refunded to you in short order.

 

FWIW: We already have a port change (announced less than one week ago) on our January Riviera cruise and the updated invoice I received this AM shows the credit that will be posted to my CC. 

BTW: glad to see that folks on this cruise now have a definitive answer.

[Lorna Doone]

The revised itinerary is awful.  Now only doing a technical stop in Panama. Really you are going to be at sea for 8 days in a row.  We were trying not to cancel but now no point of going.  We were on an Oceania cruise Jan before the virus with the stops at the beginning of the cruise.  They really should give us our money back and a credit toward another cruise if we cancel.

 

[pinotlover]

What does the revised itinerary look like for the 12/19 cruise? Is it posted on the website yet?

 

Starting in San Antonio and I believe the Antarctic waters will have to be eliminated.

[shepherd really]

2 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

What does the revised itinerary look like for the 12/19 cruise? Is it posted on the website yet?

 

Starting in San Antonio and I believe the Antarctic waters will have to be eliminated.

It’s posted

 

Itinerary  = Anchor Port

DAY	PORT	ARRIVE	DEPART
Dec 19 Sun	Santiago de Chile (San Antonio), Chile	Embark 1 PM
Dec 20 Mon	Santiago de Chile (San Antonio), Chile		6 PM
Dec 21 Tue	Cruising the Pacific Ocean
Dec 22 Wed	Puerto Montt, Chile	8 AM	5 PM
Dec 23 Thu	Puerto Chacabuco, Chile	10 AM	8 PM
Dec 24 Fri	Laguna San Rafael, Chile	7 AM	5 PM
Dec 25 Sat	Cruising the Chilean Fjords
Dec 26 Sun	Cruising the Chilean Fjords
Dec 27 Mon	Puerto Chacabuco, Chile	10 AM	8 PM
Dec 28 Tue	Cruising Around Cape Horn
Dec 29 Wed	Ushuaia, Argentina	8 AM
Dec 30 Thu	Ushuaia, Argentina		5 PM
Dec 31 Fri	Cruising the Pacific Ocean
Jan 1 Sat	Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
Jan 2 Sun	Puerto Madryn, Argentina	9 AM	6 PM
Jan 3 Mon	Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
Jan 4 Tue	Punta Del Este, Uruguay	9 AM	6 PM
Jan 5 Wed	Montevideo, Uruguay	8 AM
Jan 6 Thu	Montevideo, Uruguay		7 PM
Jan 7 Fri	Montevideo, Uruguay	8 AM	7 PM
Jan 8 Sat	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Disembark 8 AM

[susiesan]

3 full days in Montevideo? That sucks. It would be better to be in Buenos Aries for 2 days before disembarking.