Vista cruise cancelled!

[beechwood]

I've just received the news that my Athens to Trieste cruise on Vista, departing 5 July 2023, has been cancelled as it's been chartered. This is only a week after being advised that the final stop had been changed from Venice to Trieste.  As a long standing customer, I am not impressed.

[aaaaa]

Sorry to learn that.  I had assumed that summer 2013 Vista cruises would be almost sold out and that charters would be impractical.  But at least you have a lot of notice.  What options were offered to you?

[pinotlover]

Someone must be paying a huge premium to get Oceania to cancel all those reservations for a charter! 😳😳

 

When you need money, money matters the most.

[WESTEAST]

How unfortunate.  Did Oceania provide any options or compensation to guests booked?  

[Noxequifans]

Perhaps there is another reason ...... repairs?

[njhorseman]

3 minutes ago, Noxequifans said:

Perhaps there is another reason ...... repairs?

Scheduled repairs 13 months from now to a ship that hasn't yet been placed in service?

[LNielsen]

22 minutes ago, Noxequifans said:

Perhaps there is another reason ...... repairs?

Speaking with an officer on Regatta a couple of weeks ago, he indicated that it had been chartered.  He didn’t mention a date, however.  

[LNielsen]

31 minutes ago, LNielsen said:

Speaking with an officer on Regatta a couple of weeks ago, he indicated that it had been chartered.  He didn’t mention a date, however.  

I could be confused as to whom it was I was speaking with.  It may have been the Oceania  Club Ambassador while booking a cruise onboard.  We spent quite a bit of  time with the Officer, which made me assume it was he that mentioned it.   The Ambassador makes more sense to me though as we were discussing Vista itineraries.   

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by LNielsen

[RJB]

3 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Someone must be paying a huge premium to get Oceania to cancel all those reservations for a charter! 😳😳

 

When you need money, money matters the most.

So much for being loyal to their customers. 

[LNielsen]

13 minutes ago, RJB said:

So much for being loyal to their customers. 

In order to have cruise line that has any customers at all one needs to bring in revenue.   With the industry as a whole being hobbled by Covid and other world events,  a ship full of paying passengers vs. a ship that is only half full (or less as they have been sailing of late) makes economic sense. No cruise line can sustain low bookings forever.  
 

I agree it is disappointing to find that your cruise has been cancelled for any reason. To me, it would  be much more disappointing to find that my cruise line of choice has gone out of business.   

Edited May 28, 2022 by LNielsen

[LHT28]

There are some lines that pre covid  had chartered their ship a month or so before  a scheduled cruise

If that were the case I could see people being annoyed  but  over  a year out  ...yes disappointing but you have time to find another cruise   🤔

[Redtravel]

Vacations get canceled.  Charters happen.  It’s annoying especially on short notice when you have made other plans connected to the cruise. It’s happened to me.  However, your cruise was over a year away.  Make other plans.  

[beechwood]

From your reply, it seems that you are unaware of the general availability of Mediterranean cruises in July/ August 2003 with Oceania.  In total, there are only three Mediterranean cruises on the larger Oceania ships (not interested in the smaller ones having already been on Insignia) all of which are on Vista.  One is fully booked and the other two have no availability at penthouse level (which is what we had booked), bearing in mind that this is a brand new ship for 2023 and demand will be high.  I booked the cruise on the day it went on sale, choosing a particular cabin we'd had before and particular date as the cruise was to mark a special anniversary.  So no, it is not possible to just make other similar plans.....

[LHT28]

8 minutes ago, beechwood said:

From your reply, it seems that you are unaware of the general availability of Mediterranean cruises in July/ August 2003 with Oceania.  In total, there are only three Mediterranean cruises on the larger Oceania ships (not interested in the smaller ones having already been on Insignia) all of which are on Vista.  One is fully booked and the other two have no availability at penthouse level (which is what we had booked), bearing in mind that this is a brand new ship for 2023 and demand will be high.  I booked the cruise on the day it went on sale, choosing a particular cabin we'd had before and particular date as the cruise was to mark a special anniversary.  So no, it is not possible to just make other similar plans.....

I am seeing availability in other Cat  on July 15th  Vista cruise

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/greek-isles-cruises/trieste-to-rome-VIS230715/?sr=%2Fcruise-finder%23time_frame%3D2023-7%26ship%3DVIS%26sort%3Dfeatured%3Adesc%26page%3D1%26pageSize%3D10

 Did Oceania offer alternative sailings??

[RD64]

Thirteen months out - this is just a blip not even an inconvenience when it is not yet even possible to book air flights.

 

look at recent situations where people have had their cruise cancelled the day before.

[brittany12]

There's a much bigger point that seems to be missed. Oceania made such big deal many months back when they launched Vista and opened the booking for Vista cruises. That special video.  People turned themselves inside out to get a booking. All the 2023 cruises were sold out in a matter of hours.

To build up such enthusiasm and expectation about a new ship and then to dash all passenger loyalty on the rocks for this charter cruise is just plain wrong. And how they told you, too.

[pinotlover]

Perhaps it shouldn’t matter, BUT??

 

It would be interesting to know who chartered the entire ship. That’s a bunch of ,000s. 
 

The last one I personally remember was in Feb 19, on the Marina cruise directly after ours in the FP. Similar cancellation and charter. Passengers turned out be to all Travel Agents and Industry reps, writers, bloggers, Oceania Influencers, etc. 

 

Purpose was pure marketing. Wine, Dine, and serve then have them go home to push the Product. 
 

A lot of availability on many of those now released 2024 cruises. Give a bit another year for Covid to pass, and stories of Covid Jail, and a huge marketing event, on the new ship, may be in order.

 

That’s a lot of $,000,000!

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, brittany12 said:

 All the 2023 cruises were sold out in a matter of hours.

To build up such enthusiasm and expectation about a new ship and then to dash all passenger loyalty on the rocks for this charter cruise is just plain wrong. And how they told you, too.

yeah no other cruise line does that 🙄

 

Funny now there is availability on many  Vista cruises for 2023  maybe not the ones you are looking for  but I bet by the end of the year they will be booked up

If people think that giving people a year notice is bad then sail with another line

JMO

 

[RJB]

4 hours ago, brittany12 said:

There's a much bigger point that seems to be missed. Oceania made such big deal many months back when they launched Vista and opened the booking for Vista cruises. That special video.  People turned themselves inside out to get a booking. All the 2023 cruises were sold out in a matter of hours.

To build up such enthusiasm and expectation about a new ship and then to dash all passenger loyalty on the rocks for this charter cruise is just plain wrong. And how they told you, too.

Exactly.. As I said before no loyalty to their customers.  People should rethink who they travel with.

[Jancruz]

On 5/28/2022 at 11:32 AM, LNielsen said:

In order to have cruise line that has any customers at all one needs to bring in revenue.   With the industry as a whole being hobbled by Covid and other world events,  a ship full of paying passengers vs. a ship that is only half full (or less as they have been sailing of late) makes economic sense. No cruise line can sustain low bookings forever.  
 

I agree it is disappointing to find that your cruise has been cancelled for any reason. To me, it would  be much more disappointing to find that my cruise line of choice has gone out of business.   

Plus 1

Jancruz1

[brittany12]

Lets also not forget that the 2023 Vista cruises were priced at 25-30% more than the normal Oceania  summer cruise on M and R. The reduced prices for the '24 season prove that to be true. The market was so hot to get space on the brand new ship in its initial season that people bit hard. Sold out in hours. So they stoke the market to make it red-hot and then turn around 6 months later and screw the people who moved heaven and earth to secure this booking. Its' so easy to say this is no big deal and cruise-lines will always throw passengers overboard when a charter raises its ugly hand, but this should really sting all of us. Not just those who booked and got screwed.

[brittany12]

Completely agree about the unnecessary flip comments. WE are supposed to all be in this together. This after all the Vista hype By Oceania and stress on the booking passengers to land a spot is particularly egregious

[beechwood]

Thank you to those who offered supportive comments. To RD64 who mentions those who have had their cruise cancelled the day before, I assume that “recent situations” refers to unavoidable circumstances such as COVID or technical problems and not an optional decision by Oceania to favour a certain group of passengers who had not booked over another group who had. It was not as if the cruise was not selling……

[PaulMCO]

At least the cruiseline did not go bankrupt on you..   That is good news and you will get your deposit back. 

 

Do you have a TA and is O offering any compensation??

[pinotlover]

I still ask: Who chartered the ship?