Reduced port stays

[LHT28]

We cruise  for the ports

We may not be gone  all day  like some 

We may or may not be back for lunch  depending on the tour we do or if we do  a tour

We sometimes  just wander  the town  stopping for  a snack or meal depending on the day

We sometimes  have  a day on the ship  as  we need a break from the touring

 We usually are not bringing up the gangway   when we return  but  we do enjoy our day  no matter

 

 People are so judgemental 

You can spend your day  the way you want  but why judge others  for doing the same

When you start paying for their cruise  then you can tell others what they have to do whether onboard or in port

 

Enjoy life  it has an expiry date ..you just do not know what that date that is

 

 

 

[sofietucker]

Love it, LHT28. On our random, self-created "sea days." we feel like kids whose parents went on vacay and left them home: we get the whole pool to ourselves! Lol.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our previous O cruise in winter --which did follow the itinerary and times. We consider ourselves very go-with-the-flow and have been to almost all these listed ports but have a couple of bucket list or deeper port exploration items on this itinerary (he's never been to London, for one). So a couple changes would be okay anyway--just an excuse to go back.

 

And it may be that additional changes will become the way of the world, across the seas (that saragssum belt is likely affecting many cruises just now. Ans someone mentioned the whale roads...). Live and let live, we say.

[shepherd really]

38 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Let me tell you about Puerto Chacabucco and that missed port.

 

The ship was scheduled to arrive at 07:00 and commence tendering operations shortly thereafter. We had a ship shorex booked for 7:15. Others started at 7:30. Passengers up early , stuff down breakfast, then start piling into the Lounge for the tender tickets.

 

The ship is still moving, but Destination Service tells us we should be cleared soon. We sit and sit, the Lounge fills .

 

At about 8:45, one of the other passengers stands up, with iPad in hand, and announces we have sailed nearly 60 miles past Chacabucco and at the current ship’s speed we passed it about 02:00 in the morning! People started checking their phones and sure enough the port was long in our rear view mirror. Destination Service did a disappearing act.

 

At 08:00, the Captain came on and said he just cancelled the port! “ Just”, really! Then absurd fake weather report followed that was easily checked on line.

 

Mutiny on the Marina was close. We were told:

 

1.  The CD doesn’t like making early morning announcements over the system because some like to sleep late and it wouldn’t be fair to them.

 

2. Only the Captain can announce a port is being missed. No one else is authorized to tell all we passengers sitting in the Lounge for an extended period that the port was being skipped.

 

Ak1004 is obviously correct. This is what we now need to expect on Oceania.

I'd love to see the communication between Miami and the Captain.  I bet that would illuminate the situation.  

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

17 hours ago, Wasasalad said:

Safety is number one concern. I’ve only been on Azamara once. I loved it!

I’m new to Oceania so looking forward to July Alaska. 
I’m solo and had a great deal but hearing so much negativity I upgraded to a concierge balcony. I love a balcony but just didn’t want to spend the money. 
I’ve been on at least 50 cruises over the years. Never had a bad one. I call them a mystery cruise because you never know where you will end up! I do plan shore excursions but they are often not as described. Most are wonderful! Often ended up in different ports! 

I saw the Mighty Cruise Ships program on Azamara's mystery cruises!  That sounds like fun, even though I'm the type of person who plans out every stop almost hour by hour😁 and perhaps a mystery cruise would be a tiny bit disappointing! But I hope you love your cruise. And at least with Oceania, the stops are usually frequent and wonderful, so even if something was not up to par, I barely notice it or care.  And oh, the places I can go - O adds new ports each year, switches up the itineraries, and keeps some small ports mixed in with the tried and true better known, larger ports.  Alaska is wonderful.  When we went, I wondered why in the heck it took me so long to go there! 

 

[Jayne E]

25 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

I'd love to see the communication between Miami and the Captain.  I bet that would illuminate the situation.  

Arising at 6 AM for excursions that O knew were not to be makes no sense.

There’s a sudden change….people should be notified asap. Worried about waking up a few people early for an announcement??? Most O cruisers are up very, very earlier….those who make it to 8 AM are the minority.  I do, but would have no issue with being awakened for fellow passengers being advised of the cancelled port. 
What about calling cabins directly? Placing cancellation notices under cabin door?

Decision making not good.

 

 

[pinotlover]

26 minutes ago, Jayne E said:

Arising at 6 AM for excursions that O knew were not to be makes no sense.

There’s a sudden change….people should be notified asap. Worried about waking up a few people early for an announcement??? Most O cruisers are up very, very earlier….those who make it to 8 AM are the minority.  I do, but would have no issue with being awakened for fellow passengers being advised of the cancelled port. 
What about calling cabins directly? Placing cancellation notices under cabin door?

Decision making not good.

 

 

Thank you Jayne, you grasp what many of the Cheerleaders can’t. We would have been disappointed in missing the Falklands in any case, the the true discontent comes from the Great Lie! The ship had cancelled Port Stanley several days in advance of our scheduled arrival. We Passengers were getting emails and texts from our tour operators telling us our tours were cancelled because the ship wasn’t coming. People would go to DS with the information and DS would look them in the eye and LIE saying we were still going to the Falklands. Even after it became apparent to all due to distance and cruising speed we weren’t going, no one on Oceania’s staff would admit to it. Finally, a day out, the Captain made the announcement. Why didn’t he/they make the announcement when the port was notified?

 

Same with Chacabucco above. OK, the decision was made to cancel the port at around 02:00, make the announcement instead of having everyone trudge and sit in the Lounge! 
 

Why is communicating so hard for Oceania. Missing the ports isn’t nearly as bad as being constantly lied to about the facts. Not grasped by the Cheerleaders.

[Jayne E]

22 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Thank you Jayne, you grasp what many of the Cheerleaders can’t. We would have been disappointed in missing the Falklands in any case, the the true discontent comes from the Great Lie! The ship had cancelled Port Stanley several days in advance of our scheduled arrival. We Passengers were getting emails and texts from our tour operators telling us our tours were cancelled because the ship wasn’t coming. People would go to DS with the information and DS would look them in the eye and LIE saying we were still going to the Falklands. Even after it became apparent to all due to distance and cruising speed we weren’t going, no one on Oceania’s staff would admit to it. Finally, a day out, the Captain made the announcement. Why didn’t he/they make the announcement when the port was notified?

 

Same with Chacabucco above. OK, the decision was made to cancel the port at around 02:00, make the announcement instead of having everyone trudge and sit in the Lounge! 
 

Why is communicating so hard for Oceania. Missing the ports isn’t nearly as bad as being constantly lied to about the facts. Not grasped by the Cheerleaders.

Can the cheerleaders explain away spending time making numerous visits and waiting on line at DS? Attempting to connect to internet for information not being provided by O? Two hours sitting in Lounge at 7 AM for no reason? 

We have cruised only O since 2007….I am a cheerleader too!  However, the various situations arising lately are not “isolated” and are extremely disappointing. 
I’m not a complainer…..just want a cruise that’s a semblance of what I booked. 

[cruiseaholic78]

A similar thing happened on our 35 day circumnavigation of Australia in December 2022 as may have been mentioned previously. People were waiting in the lounges for their excursions being informed by private tour operators that they were cancelled.

Oceania knew about this the day before!

Attached is an article dated 7th January in which an Oceania spokesperson said that the vessel would be missing two ports and was on her way to Philip Island. They KNEW at least on 7th (it might have been submitted earlier) that we would not be going so why did they not inform us until the morning of the 8th?

 

I did reach out to the author of the article asking when he had received the information but as he has not replied I presume “he is protecting his sourse”

 

https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/queen-elizabeth-fourth-ship-to-fall-foul-of-new-zealands-environmental-laws/

There were quite a few newbies on our cruise and many said that it would be their last, we all understand that **** happens but Oceania should not think not informing us is ok. Especially in this wifi day and age when everything can be checked so easily.

 

Edited March 26, 2023 by cruiseaholic78

[SophieM]

I hear what you all are saying, but, for me anyway, this is quickly becoming a dead horse discussion. Please send your constructive suggestions to O, if you haven’t already. 

[janecambridge]

Sadly we aren’t sailing Oceania again in the near future. We too were lied to on our Christmas Amazon cruise. 
I don’t trust a liar. I would have been mortified if still on Marina and missed Falkland Islands.  
Clearly  when a tour operator is telling you day(s) before that tours are cancelled and you are being told not so, it’s untrue. 
I did send my ‘constructive suggestions’ to Oceania and never heard a thing and it continues. 
pinotlover is spot on 

[LHT28]

As long as I can remember   Oceania  has never been good  with communication  onboard

A couple of Captains were very good about  telling pax about  port changes  but not all Captains relay  that message

 

If unhappy talk with your wallet 

 

When DH was served bad food  not once but 3 times on the same sailing  I had a hard time convincing him to sail Oceania again

(I cannot blame him after his experience)

 

It may be time  to move on to another line  there are so many to choose from

JMO

[Jayne E]

O’s Customer Service doesn’t respond. 
Sorry Sophie, but communication on these boards at least let’s you know “it’s not you” and these situations have become pervasive. 
My TA let her person at O know that many of her clients are very upset about recent changes, cancellations and port time changes. She had over 16 cancellations for the June 2024 17 day Riviera that had Croatia ports and Venice changed to a sea day, Izmir & Istanbul. She received no explanation.  TA’s doing a lot of booking & cancelling for which they receive nothing for their time. 

[mnocket]

4 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

To me it's not "Those that cruise for the ship versus those cruising for the ports".

 

It's those who have realistic expectations and know that itinerary changes are one of the biggest risks of cruising and you need to accept them versus those who claim that those changes are made on purpose to save money.

 

It's those who enjoy their cruises even if things don't not always go according to the plan versus those who always find a reason to complaint and blame the cruise line for anything, even things that are beyond their control.

I really don't think the primary complaint is unavoidable port changes.  People seem to be upset because the new green policy is resulting in a systemic reduction in port stays.  In some cases, changes that aren't announced until well after final payment despite the impact of slower speeds being known well in advance.  This isn't a case of things not going according to plan - this is the plan.

[ak1004]

30 minutes ago, mnocket said:

I really don't think the primary complaint is unavoidable port changes.  People seem to be upset because the new green policy is resulting in a systemic reduction in port stays.  In some cases, changes that aren't announced until well after final payment despite the impact of slower speeds being known well in advance.  This isn't a case of things not going according to plan - this is the plan.

 

But port cancellations and reduced port times are two different issues. We are very concerned about reduced port times - in fact, we cancelled our Vista cruise next May and replaced it with similar itinerary on SS, partially because SS has longer times in ports (same ports O departs at 7pm while SS stays till 10-11pm). This is the plan, yes - but I don't believe that cancelling ports is.

 

That said, I do agree with @LHT28 regarding communication not being the strong part of O experience.

[susiesan]

I have just booked an Azamara cruise for Sept. 2024, 9 days from Venice. There are 8 ports, most in Croatia. Port times vary from the shortest at 8:00am to 5:00pm to the longest at 8:00am to 10:00pm. I was going to book a similar cruise with Oceania but went with AZ due to O's green policy of reducing port times. I have one more O cruise coming up in September, Sirena to the Canary Islands. After that I am probably done with Oceania. Oceania is my current fave go to cruise line but they are losing my business in the future. I won't stop cruising but it won't be on Oceania ships unless they revert back to the way they were if they can before all this sustainability BS started affecting how they operate.

[Pizzasteve]

13 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Still have the Vista booked in June and paid for. 13 port days on a 14 day cruise. One sea day. How they perform on that cruise will determine if we keep our cruise next April. Several lines go to Japan.

We may be on the same cruise.  Hope we can share a glass of Pinot.

 

Has anyone sent a link to this thread to Oceana mgmt?  On my Regent cruise last year i sat in the hot tub with a guy who was scheduled for a lunch with a Board member of the parent and he got a poor paswenger experience escallated when we discussed it while soaking.  We should share the brand damage message, but i will personally wait until our Vista cruise.  Lots of changes and I am done with NCL.

Edited March 27, 2023 by Pizzasteve

[Buckwheel]

I am currently on Nautica. Prior to our cruise we received a “Sail & Sustain” email reducing time at two of our nine ports. Since we’ve been on the cruise three additional port times have been reduced with only one announcement made ahead of time.

 

And by ahead of time, I literally mean the morning we were supposed to dock at an earlier time, they announced we would be arriving an hour later due to the port contacting them and advising them the port was too congested. It’s plausible this port reduction was unavoidable. 

 

We found out about one of the reduced port stays from an independent tour operator who contacted us to rearrange our tour schedule after seeing that Nautica was leaving an hour earlier than planned. 

 

We found out about the second reduced port stay by reading our port schedule in Currents. 

 

As I mentioned earlier, we are still on this cruise and so far, 5 of our 9 ports have had reductions of time spent in port. 

 

This is our first Oceania cruise and most likely our last. 

[ak1004]

1 hour ago, Buckwheel said:

 

This is our first Oceania cruise and most likely our last. 

 

I'm curious what would be your alternative?

[Jayne E]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

I'm curious what would be your alternative?

If you read the number of posts stating that they won't be cruising O unless changes are made, they will find alternatives.  We have our 20th free cruise shortly and if we see these problems continuing to arise on all the O ships, it will be our last. We don't care for sea days, but extra sea days seem to be what O is adding to many cruises  (numerous excuses). Can just as well pay far less for a crossing if you're going to spend a lot of time at sea.  That  includes arriving later and leaving earlier.....that's more "sea time".

[pinotlover]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

I'm curious what would be your alternative?

We are neither senile, mobility limited, nor tied to only Mommy Oceania’s offerings. We are seriously looking at :

 

1. A combo Via- Rocky Mountaneer journey from Quebec to Vancouver.

 

2. An Amtrak ride to Flagstaff, followed by a tour to the various canyon lands national parks in Utah including the Grand Canyon. A couple days finale in Vegas before flying home.

 

3. I ‘ve been contracted to host/guide a two week tour of Tuscany next year, with possible pre and post tour additions .Those on the tour will find far better cuisine than any thing offered at sea. It won’t be Merican or Americanized food! 🙄. Numerous excited “ travelers “ have already fully booked this trip.

 

It will require quite the weather event to alter any schedules. 

Ships are only needed by cruisers to have an enjoyable time. They are optional for travelers. Perhaps by late 2025 or 2026 the surviving cruise lines will decide and demonstrate what they want to be. Currently, it seems hazy with some.
 

 

[Wasasalad]

As I read these posts I’m getting very concerned that I have made a mistake booking with Oceania. I’m usually with Holland America but chose Oceania for a change. Many many complaints about Holland America as well. 
My port days have already been cut by eight hours! One hour less in each port. 
I fo not enjoy sea days! I love the ports!

[ak1004]

15 minutes ago, Jayne E said:

If you read the number of posts stating that they won't be cruising O unless changes are made, they will find alternatives.  We have our 20th free cruise shortly and if we see these problems continuing to arise on all the O ships, it will be our last. We don't care for sea days, but extra sea days seem to be what O is adding to many cruises  (numerous excuses). Can just as well pay far less for a crossing if you're going to spend a lot of time at sea.  That  includes arriving later and leaving earlier.....that's more "sea time".

 

I don't disagree.. on the contrary.. I cruise to see the world, not to spend time on the ship. I want as few sea days as possible. But I also want a great ship experience. Not willing to go back to crowds and lines and mediocre food of Celebrity/Princess etc.

 

So what's left if we still want to continue cruising?

 

Regent is way too expensive for us, not willing to pay that kind of money.

 

SS and SB have some good deals from time to time, but overall they are also much more expensive than O.

 

Viking is not an option for me - just don't like the idea of giving someone an interest free loan for 2 years, plus their itineraries are limited and repetitive.

 

What's left? Azamara. Great itineraries, but the ship experience is not as good. There is always a tradeoff of course.

 

We are not married to any cruise line, but at this point there are not too many alternatives that provide a similar overall experience at reasonable price.

[Wasasalad]

16 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

We are neither senile, mobility limited, nor tied to only Mommy Oceania’s offerings. We are seriously looking at :

 

1. A combo Via- Rocky Mountaneer journey from Quebec to Vancouver.

 

2. An Amtrak ride to Flagstaff, followed by a tour to the various canyon lands national parks in Utah including the Grand Canyon. A couple days finale in Vegas before flying home.

 

3. I ‘ve been contracted to host/guide a two week tour of Tuscany next year, with possible pre and post tour additions .Those on the tour will find far better cuisine than any thing offered at sea. It won’t be Merican or Americanized food! 🙄. Numerous excited “ travelers “ have already fully booked this trip.

 

It will require quite the weather event to alter any schedules. 

Ships are only needed by cruisers to have an enjoyable time. They are optional for travelers. Perhaps by late 2025 or 2026 the surviving cruise lines will decide and demonstrate what they want to be. Currently, it seems hazy with some.
 

 

1. I did the Rocky Mountaineer train trip July 2022. Definitely different! To me it was like being on a bus that you can’t get off of for 16-18 hours! I was in the deluxe gold leaf double decker with separate dining room! 
Eight hour days stretched to 16-18 hours because whenever a commercial train comes along you get to pull to the side and wait and wait and wait!

Two bathrooms for a train full of people. I can’t imagine the regular seating! They ate on trays at their seats! 
The way to go is by motor home! I saw thousands of them because the train tracks follow the highway!

The Fairmont Hotels were amazing! A couple overnights were in motels that I would never have chosen! 
I don’t like sea days but now I’d rather an extra sea day with a whole ship to explore rather than a double decker gold leaf train with a rather small outdoor deck. 
2. Just fly to the canyon area and rent a motor home! We traveled cross country three trips and by motor home it was an amazing trip! Nothing comes close! 

3. We did Amtrak Boston to California via the Chicago route! Amazing trip but tedious! 
Just my opinion! 

[ak1004]

20 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Ships are only needed by cruisers to have an enjoyable time. They are optional for travelers. Perhaps by late 2025 or 2026 the surviving cruise lines will decide and demonstrate what they want to be. Currently, it seems hazy with some.
 

 

 

For me, ships are a convenient way to see the world. They are floating hotels that travel at night. No need to pack/unpack every few days. No time wasted to move from city to city in the middle of the day while this time can be used to see places. No guessing and researching hotels and restaurants. 

[Wasasalad]

5 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

Viking is not an option for me - just don't like the idea of giving someone an interest free loan for 2 years, plus their itineraries are limited and repetitive.

I feel the exact same way about Viking! My local travel club talked me into going on a cruise December 2023! I had to pay for it over a year ago! Never again! It’s a group that I do theater trips with and they caught me on a weak day!

Also they did not want to take a credit card payment! They wanted a wire transfer of funds! No way! When I said credit card or cancel they finally took the credit card!