Whats with the Oceania roll calls?

[oskidunker]

Sailing oct 1. Only a few posts.  Checked other roll calls and not much better. Princess roll calls are always full of posts, tour information and other useful things.  Maybe there are not too many people going. 

[msn123]

Maybe more folks are using the Oceania excursions. With the O Life option the pricing isn't as high as it once was.  We still join the roll calls when we are sailing, but it is not like the old days (especially pre-covid) when lots of folks were looking for others to join private tours.

[nursinadream]

@oskidunker, I have wondered too about the roll calls.  A few signed up on my 2 cruises for this year but very few posts.  We've got Vikings and Baltics coming up and looking for some to connect with.

Deb

[Ladys Mom]

We are on the Dec. 18th Miami to Rio cruise on Marina.  Given the cost of private shore excursions, I booked all of our excursions through Oceania using their unlimited pricing.  It is much less expensive.

[nursinadream]

Thanks for your input @Ladys Mom.  I have not experience with excursion planning at all.

Deb

[Flatbush Flyer]

5 hours ago, Ladys Mom said:

We are on the Dec. 18th Miami to Rio cruise on Marina.  Given the cost of private shore excursions, I booked all of our excursions through Oceania using their unlimited pricing.  It is much less expensive.

In all but a few rare cases (based on tour preferences), what is “much less expensive” is taking the O Life excursions option and adding enough paid ones to meet the total tours minimum for YWYW 25% off. In my experience, the Unlimited Passport base charge plus the premium charged for most OS/OE tours always works out to be more expensive than YWYW.
 

Do the bottom line comparison math.

[mexicobob]

I have had zero response to my roll call for a Riviera cruise next April, Rome to Trieste. 

I do not think it has much to do with shore excursions. There are just fewer people interested in Cruise Critic in general and in Oceania in particular. Other options seem to be more interesting to the younger crowd. 

[DENIE]

I started the roll call for our 6/15/2022 Riviera cruise last November (?), and as of this date there are only a handful of people on it, and maybe 30 or so total replies (some of those are me saying "hi" to those who have joined).  I thought that was strange too... A couple just a few days ago joined and asked about sharing tours.  We've had ours booked for about 3 months now.

Edited June 8, 2022 by DENIE
Added content

[Ladys Mom]

10 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

In all but a few rare cases (based on tour preferences), what is “much less expensive” is taking the O Life excursions option and adding enough paid ones to meet the total tours minimum for YWYW 25% off. In my experience, the Unlimited Passport base charge plus the premium charged for most OS/OE tours always works out to be more expensive than YWYW.
 

Do the bottom line comparison math.

Thanks for that information.  I will recalculate.

[ORV]

A few points about Roll Calls. First, there’s a pretty big difference in the amount of people on a Princess cruise compared to an Oceania one, with the exception of when they had an R ship. Numbers alone will dictate that Oceania will have less participation. Second, look at the demographics of O passengers compared to what you’re used to. Although not a hard fast rule many of Oceania’s guests will tend to be less of the social media type, more of just the facts please type people. Although many people do use the RC to connect for tours, that’s not really the main purpose. I think it’s more about the socializing and the anticipation of the cruise. 
 

Another thing I’ve noticed on the main stream Roll Calls is that you get a lot of useless posts that makes them look busier. I’m not really interested in the weather every couple of days in Peoria, or what someone’s cat did. You also get the posters that welcome every new arrival, as well as the keeper of the list that updates it every few days. There is a lot less of that on Oceania roll calls. 
 

But, the bottom line is that pretty much all the Roll Calls for all the lines are less busy than 5 years ago. It’s a common topic of discussion on CC. You can attribute some of that to FB, but not totally. You can attribute some to the shutdown, but RCs were waning prior to that.

 

The bottom line is there just seems to be less interest than there used to be. 

[willoL]

It may also be the luck of the draw as to your sailing's demographics and personality. The Roll Call for my upcoming (August '22) HAL cruise is the most active one I've ever been a part of... by far! We're over 80 pages and have exceeded the capacity for Nieuw Statendam's largest venue so our Meet & Greet is closed to new participants. I think many of us on that RC are just excited to resume a fun "normal" summer vacation activity, so it's been quite chatty.

Then again, I see forums as a social outlet, not just a place to swap excursion ideas and shares, so I'm certainly helping to get that volume of posts up. 📣

 

OTOH the Oceania Roll Call I started for my 2024 cruise is just one other passenger and myself so far, but that trip is 26 months away. 😄

[pinotlover]

For the first time, I am likewise having trouble filling shore tours. One of my larger question surrounds just how many are going to actually be on the ship. I have Oceania cruises booked over the next year that have gone from fully waitlisted, to availability in most all categories, then back to partially waitlist, then fuller availability again! Availability for our October cruise is opening up and we’re well past final payment!

 

People seem to be booking and cancelling with abandonment. My theory on the OP is that many aren’t willing to fully commit to any thing, and booking and cancelling Oceania tours are easiest for them.

[Twiga]

5 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

People seem to be booking and cancelling with abandonment. My theory on the OP is that many aren’t willing to fully commit to any thing, and booking and cancelling Oceania tours are easiest for them.

Pinotlover is absolutely correct!  Many people have a cruise booked, but think that they might not actually sail due to various reasons, such as covid, testing rules constantly changing, flights cancelled, cruise itineraries changed, and the world situation in general (e.g. Ukraine).  People don't want to invest their time and energy in a roll call and excursion planning if they think they may be cancelling their cruise.

[Flatbush Flyer]

52 minutes ago, Ladys Mom said:

Thanks for that information.  I will recalculate.

Always worth the comparison. You can also call O and the rep can give you the comparison  figures as well.

[oskidunker]

1 hour ago, Twiga said:

Pinotlover is absolutely correct!  Many people have a cruise booked, but think that they might not actually sail due to various reasons, such as covid, testing rules constantly changing, flights cancelled, cruise itineraries changed, and the world situation in general (e.g. Ukraine).  People don't want to invest their time and energy in a roll call and excursion planning if they think they may be cancelling their cruise.

The final payment date has long passed. If they cancel now, they could be subjectbto penalties

[Mura]

Okay, in the days before Oceania instituted "free" tours we always had plenty of people -- maybe I should say ENOUGH people -- who were interested in private tours. We haven't traveled at all since Covid hit  Even after the free tour system came into being we didn't have a problem setting up private tours for 6-8 people BUT I have no idea what it will be like when I try to set up tours in 2023 for our TA (Southampton to NYC).  Maybe we won't get any takers, maybe we will.

 

I will have to wait and see. But I do agree that roll calls have a lot less traffic than they used to have.

 

There might be more interest for longer cruises ... just asking. I have no idea if that would be the case.

 

Mura 

[roger b]

On 6/8/2022 at 4:47 PM, oskidunker said:

The final payment date has long passed. If they cancel now, they could be subjectbto penalties

I am on this cruise and it the slowest  participation  i have seen , but lookking at availability  it is open in most categories  , O have tried  everything  to  sell this cruise with two special offers in the last 3 months .

Personally i am very happy  as since i booked originally  O have given me back $ 900 and i now have the  ultimate promotion  so happy days  !!

[TERRIER1]

I noticed a drop off on the roll calls after Oceania instituted the "free" tours and OLife. Before then it was easy to get participation in shared private tours.

[PhD-iva]

I’ve noticed a drop off here on O’s main thread. Last year when we didn’t know when cruising would restart from month to month, and later in the year when cruising had restarted, this main O thread was hopping. These days I barely can find half an hour worth of reading, and don’t post as often. 
it could also be that there are a lot of repetitive threads asking about Olife, etc. and that gets boring……

[GICNJC]

3 hours ago, roger b said:

I am on this cruise and it the slowest  participation  i have seen , but lookking at availability  it is open in most categories  , O have tried  everything  to  sell this cruise with two special offers in the last 3 months .

Personally i am very happy  as since i booked originally  O have given me back $ 900 and i now have the  ultimate promotion  so happy days  !!

I wonder if it is the Baltic Cruise leaving July 21st, if it is we look forward to meeting you. 

We are on that one and it appears most have abandoned the ship due to the Russian war.  There are only 3 categories sold out, the two inside and the Owners suite.  I would be surprised if there were over 500 passengers on board for this trip.  Four days into dining reservations, you can still get anything you want.

[sunlover12]

I'm on an October cruise on Sirena and there is almost nothing on the roll call. Oceania's website shows it to be almost sold out. Only 2 cabin categories are available. It's an itinerary that O does not do often. Final payment is due next month so it will be interesting to see how many cabins open up after that. 

I think many people are taking a "wait and see" approach so they are hesitant to book private excursions.

[oskidunker]

53 minutes ago, sunlover12 said:

I'm on an October cruise on Sirena and there is almost nothing on the roll call. Oceania's website shows it to be almost sold out. Only 2 cabin categories are available. It's an itinerary that O does not do often. Final payment is due next month so it will be interesting to see how many cabins open up after that. 

I think many people are taking a "wait and see" approach so they are hesitant to book private excursions.

I am on Sirena Oct 1. Payed the final payment a few weeks ago you must be leaving closer to the end of the month. 

[sunlover12]

17 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

I am on Sirena Oct 1. Payed the final payment a few weeks ago you must be leaving closer to the end of the month. 

Final payment due date depends on the length of the cruise. For cruises less than 15 days, final payment is due 90 days before embarkation.  So for me,  final payment is due the 3rd week of July. Interested to see how many cabins open up after that. 

[pinotlover]

I have two additional thoughts/questions.

 

1. Since the ships have been running at reduced passenger levels, are most of those few aboard cruisers not travelers? Is the ship their destination and any port visits secondary?

 

2.  All of the shore tours I put together are 6-8 hours in length. Not typically strenuous, but all day events so to see and do as much as possible in the ports I may never visit again. I have received emails from fellow passengers asking me to consider only doing 2-3 hour tours in that is all they are interested in. Did two years of not sailing only mean the average demographics likewise increased by 2 years? 
 

[ORV]

18 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

1. Since the ships have been running at reduced passenger levels, are most of those few aboard cruisers not travelers

You seem fixated on this concept. You really can be both, it’s not always an either or.