Reduced port stays

[jazznruby]

2 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Maybe I'm not a "real" traveler, 🙄 but when I cruise I am cruising for specific itinerary/destinations. Sometimes one day in a place is all it takes to satisfy my primary interests. For example, I'm keenly interested in Classical -- mostly Roman -- history. I can see in a day one major site or several smaller sites in enough detail to satisfy me.

Understood. If you cruise or travel by whatever means, only to indulge a special interest i.e.. 'Classical - mostly Roman - history', then you're right...quite often a day is all one needs. When I say "real" traveler 🙄😊, I'm thinking of something closer to a total travel experience; soaking up some local color, talking to people, moving a little bit off the beaten path, slower pace, just relaxing, and really seeing and feeling a place. Can't do that in a day.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Classiccruiser777 said:

And less time in port means more time the ship’s stores, casino, spa and bars can be selling to a captive audience.

You  are not required to participate in any of those 🤔

 I do not recall anytime I was forced to drink or go to the shops

 

[ak1004]

39 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

You  are not required to participate in any of those 🤔

 I do not recall anytime I was forced to drink or go to the shops

 

Exactly! And people who want to buy from the shops will find the time to do it even if the shops were open just one hour.

[ak1004]

2 hours ago, shepherd really said:

You're an optimist, I bet they'll go up, some just over $200, so they don't qualify for their "not free" excursion option.  

4 months ago we booked a private tour in Lisbon for $170 CAD. Now the same tour is $210. 
 

it’s called inflation.

[Classiccruiser777]

33 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

Exactly! And people who want to buy from the shops will find the time to do it even if the shops were open just one hour.

Oceania pitched this as environmental stewardship which is disingenuous, that’s the point. The reduction of port time is to save fuel and have a captive audience for onboard sales. Your argument is specious.

 

[osandomir]

4 minutes ago, Classiccruiser777 said:

Oceania pitched this as environmental stewardship which is disingenuous, that’s the point. The reduction of port time is to save fuel and have a captive audience for onboard sales. Your argument is specious.

 

Even it is so, they are finding the way to run their business in the way it’s make a financial sense for them. The other way is to raise the cruise fair even more. I guess not many will like that either.

We also received the letter with the port time reduction for our Mediterranean cruise in April. I believe it’s four hours over 22 days. We don’t like it either but we’ll leave with it as long as it’s allowed us to afford our future cruises. Also, I appreciate they are doing that in advance now and not when we’re already on the ship. No guarantee though…

[Psoque]

10 minutes ago, osandomir said:

Even it is so, they are finding the way to run their business in the way it’s make a financial sense for them. The other way is to raise the cruise fair even more. I guess not many will like that either.

We also received the letter with the port time reduction for our Mediterranean cruise in April. I believe it’s four hours over 22 days. We don’t like it either but we’ll leave with it as long as it’s allowed us to afford our future cruises. Also, I appreciate they are doing that in advance now and not when we’re already on the ship. No guarantee though…

There's also no guarantee that Oceania will reduce the time in port even more on the same itineraries after the final payment.  Also I'm assuming that Oceania is watching how their customers will react to this "strategy."  If we don't complain enough, I would assuming that Oceania will do more of this to their itineraries.

[Wasasalad]

8 hours ago, sofietucker said:

I came here to say just that. We choose our cruises based on itinerary, because we want to visit those places.

Same here! I chose this cruise because of the long port days! Looks like I will cancel and go to another line for 1/5 the price!

To me the ship is a taxi! I’m on to see ports!

[Wasasalad]

4 hours ago, Cruzin Terri said:

One of the reasons I moved from HAL to Oceania was because HAL kept shortening the times in port and O had longer times in port..  Having said that. Oceania is disappointing me by doing the exact same thing.

Thankfully i still feel that the other reasons for booking Oceania—food, service and smaller ships, bringing my own wine on board without paying a corkage fee up front—make me want to continue to sail with them.  

However, make no mistake.  I do not cruise to spend all day on the ship.  I cruise for the itinerary and shortened port times do not sit well with me.

Terri

I’m mostly a Holland America fan! I decided to try Oceania because of the longer port times! I’m loosing an hour at every port! That’s seven hours! 
I do like the smaller ship but considering the price and the shortened port time I’m saying goodbye!

[Travrat]

50 minutes ago, osandomir said:

Even it is so, they are finding the way to run their business in the way it’s make a financial sense for them. The other way is to raise the cruise fair even more. I guess not many will like that either.

We also received the letter with the port time reduction for our Mediterranean cruise in April. I believe it’s four hours over 22 days. We don’t like it either but we’ll leave with it as long as it’s allowed us to afford our future cruises. Also, I appreciate they are doing that in advance now and not when we’re already on the ship. No guarantee though…

They can’t raise the cruise fare for those who have already booked so they are screwing us this way. I won’t book HAL for nickel and diming guests but Oceania has found a way to do the same by hiding behind a claim that they are helping the environment. Not buying their nonsense and not happy that I am losing time in the ports. 

[kitty9]

We’ve had our port times shortened on our upcoming B2B Caribbean cruise.  While I don’t see these new times having a big impact in the Caribbean, it sure stinks for other itineraries, unless you have private tours that you have to change/shorten.
 

When we were booking on board, I asked the Club hostess why O no longer goes to some of the more popular ports in the Caribbean like St Martin, Aruba, St Thomas.  She told me that O cruisers don’t like crowded ports, so they stopped going to them.  But I asked her, if that’s the case, why does O still go to places like Venice or St. Petersburg or Livorno or Barcelona?  Those ports/cities are are always way overcrowded with the behemoth ships and their 6000 passengers.  She had no retort.  So, what would be their real reason for going to less known ports?

 

BTW, as just a general thing, O ships no longer sell anything like cough drops, Cepacol (sore throats) or any other medical items.  They also stopped selling things as simple as Lifesavers or breath mints because those can cover Covid, according to the sales staff in the shops.

Edited January 24, 2023 by kitty9

[oskidunker]

Its nonsense and they know it. 

[Wasasalad]

1 hour ago, Travrat said:

They can’t raise the cruise fare for those who have already booked so they are screwing us this way. I won’t book HAL for nickel and diming guests but Oceania has found a way to do the same by hiding behind a claim that they are helping the environment. Not buying their nonsense and not happy that I am losing time in the ports. 

They can’t raise our cruise fair but prior to final payment we can cancel! I’m retired so I’m looking for another cruiseline! I can go anytime! 
With these port times changes I’m loosing seven hours in seven  port days! That’s an entire port day!

I travel for the itinerary!

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, Classiccruiser777 said:

 The reduction of port time is to save fuel and have a captive audience for onboard sales. Your argument is specious.

 

How does that work?

 You are your own person & can buy onboard  or not

 

 

[njhorseman]

13 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

Elon Mask became the richest person in the world at the expense of Tesla buyers

Actually he became the richest person in the world at the expense of American taxpayers through billions in subsidies. Tesla came close to filing for bankruptcy in2019. 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/14/investing/elon-musk-wealth-taxpayer-support/index.html

 

Tesla ranked 9th in 2022 US car sales. Leading manufacturer GM sold about 4 times more cars in the US than Tesla.  https://www.statista.com/statistics/204354/us-light-vehicle-sales-in-september-2011-by-company/ .

 

BTW, Musk is no longer the world's richest person.

 

I've voted with my wallet...I will never voluntarily give him a penny of my money by buying one of his automobiles.

 

30 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

CEO compensation is irrelevant.

It's very relevant when the company's stockholders are taking a bath, your company is laying off a significant number of employees, you fire a subsidiary's president and replace him with your son,  you're raising prices while cutting the quality of the product, all while being given the fattest compensation package in the industry despite heading what is by far the smallest of the major players in the business. 

 

NCLH, and Oceania in particular, are holding a substantial amount of my money. That will change shortly unless NCLH's 2022 10-K, which is going to be filed in a few weeks gives me a very good reason to change my mind, and based on the financials I've seen to date that is extremely unlikely.

[osandomir]

5 hours ago, Psoque said:

There's also no guarantee that Oceania will reduce the time in port even more on the same itineraries after the final payment.  Also I'm assuming that Oceania is watching how their customers will react to this "strategy."  If we don't complain enough, I would assuming that Oceania will do more of this to their itineraries.

I don’t believe that complaining will do anything good at this point. When people don’t agree they can cancel if outside of the cancellation penalties or stop booking their future cruises with the line. Only if Oceania see fewer bookings as the result of their “strategy” then they can decide to offer longer port time or do something else differently.

 

We also cruise for the itineraries first and we are not happy with their decision. As with a lot of others products we have a choice where to buy. We’d like to continue cruising, and for now we don’t see any other cruise line that offer us better combination of value, quality and longer port stays. 

[PhD-iva]

17 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I travel in many different ways -- I do independent travel on land, I do specialized tours (e.g., usually in-depth history or art or archaeological tours) in small groups, and I cruise. 

 

Maybe I'm not a "real" traveler, 🙄 but when I cruise I am cruising for specific itinerary/destinations. Sometimes one day in a place is all it takes to satisfy my primary interests. For example, I'm keenly interested in Classical -- mostly Roman -- history. I can see in a day one major site or several smaller sites in enough detail to satisfy me. Med cruises are a great option for some of these smaller sites and also allow the possibility to combine with pre- or post-cruise land travel.

 

I really don't need more than a day to see Philippi from Kavala, for example, or Butrint from Sarande, or the 3-4 well-preserved Roman monuments in Pula. 

 

And of course, I also have taken multiple Med cruises -- more than I can count on two hands so far -- so other places can be revisited and new sites there visited or old ones re-visited with new insights from my reading/research.

 

Having said all that, I have been looking for several years for a cruise that takes me to the specific places in Greenland -- basically where ruins of Viking settlements or museums exist -- that I want to see. I just booked Oceania a few weeks ago. Now I am getting notified of shortened hours in ports. The letter I received does state that shore excursion hours were not impacted by the changes; personally, I've not had a chance to compare yet.  But as an introduction to Oceania cruising, it is not a favorable first impression.

 

Pls email me (in signature). Would love to pick your brain for travel alternatives. I share your interests.

Many thx!

[Palm Beach Babe 51]

On 1/22/2023 at 9:56 PM, NYAS said:

This evening we received a message from O detailing revised times in ports for our upcoming May Lisbon-Amsterdam cruise on Marina — a total of 7 fewer hours in 6 of our 9 port stops. The letter attributes this to O’s efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, but certainly reducing expenses must be a significant factor. This cruise is a segment of a longer itinerary, so I assume there are also revisions to other itineraries as well.

 

I’d read in other threads about skipped ports and reduced hours in ports on some Caribbean and Australian itineraries, and now I see it is happening for European ones. Very disappointing, especially in light of negative comments seen recently on this board from recent cruisers.

At least you received info from Oceania.   We have heard nothing and are on Marina May 11 Istanbul to Amsterdam.  Our friends who are also going, happened to see this on Cruise Critic and let us know.  Maybe ones that booked through a TA have to wait until O sends it to them and then they inform us.

[LHT28]

30 minutes ago, Palm Beach Babe 51 said:

At least you received info from Oceania.   We have heard nothing and are on Marina May 11 Istanbul to Amsterdam.  Our friends who are also going, happened to see this on Cruise Critic and let us know.  Maybe ones that booked through a TA have to wait until O sends it to them and then they inform us.

If you used  a TA it is their booking  so  it is up to them to inform you

 

 

JMO

[susiesan]

38 minutes ago, Palm Beach Babe 51 said:

At least you received info from Oceania.   We have heard nothing and are on Marina May 11 Istanbul to Amsterdam.  Our friends who are also going, happened to see this on Cruise Critic and let us know.  Maybe ones that booked through a TA have to wait until O sends it to them and then they inform us.

Look on the O web site for the changed port times for your sailing and compare to what your itinerary shows now.

[sofietucker]

30 minutes ago, Palm Beach Babe 51 said:

At least you received info from Oceania.   We have heard nothing and are on Marina May 11 Istanbul to Amsterdam.  Our friends who are also going, happened to see this on Cruise Critic and let us know.  Maybe ones that booked through a TA have to wait until O sends it to them and then they inform us.

We booked thru a TA (Marina, May 23, Lisbon-Amsterdam) but got the direct email from O. Do they have your email cobtact info?

I'm pretty darn unimpressed with this. I had private plans for exploring Neolithic sites (Lorient) that will have to be adjusted. They cut Bordeaux by TWO hours, and we dock down the river instead of the city proper, so  it's a two hour drive ONE WAY,  meaning we actually only have 6 hours available to explore, say St Emilion, or tour several chateaux. 

[ak1004]

51 minutes ago, Palm Beach Babe 51 said:

At least you received info from Oceania.   We have heard nothing and are on Marina May 11 Istanbul to Amsterdam.  Our friends who are also going, happened to see this on Cruise Critic and let us know.  Maybe ones that booked through a TA have to wait until O sends it to them and then they inform us.

The email we got from Oceania was to our TA with cc to me.

[golferwayne]

53 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

If you used  a TA it is their booking  so  it is up to them to inform you

 

 

JMO

We booked Oceania via a travel agent for a Barcelona to London cruise.  I subsequently added the cruise to my Oceania account. My wife, myself and our travel agent received the notice of Itinerary Update. 

 

Could be having an Oceania account, with email addresses, is why I received the notice from Oceania.

[ak1004]

42 minutes ago, sofietucker said:

We booked thru a TA (Marina, May 23, Lisbon-Amsterdam) but got the direct email from O. Do they have your email cobtact info?

I'm pretty darn unimpressed with this. I had private plans for exploring Neolithic sites (Lorient) that will have to be adjusted. They cut Bordeaux by TWO hours, and we dock down the river instead of the city proper, so  it's a two hour drive ONE WAY,  meaning we actually only have 6 hours available to explore, say St Emilion, or tour several chateaux. 

So Riviera/Marina ever dock at Bordeaux? I thought they are too big to go on the river.

[BWV]

2 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

So Riviera/Marina ever dock at Bordeaux? I thought they are too big to go on the river.

We were on the Marina in early June, and we docked in Bordeaux - beautiful sail up the river and beautiful view from the ship. Fortunately, it was easy to walk around from the ship.