reply from oceania guest relations re Nautica rome to athens

[myrtlewinston]

We missed Portofino, Amalfi, Sorrento, Delos and Mykonos. The substitutions were Genoa and Naples. Instead of Delos and Mykonos, we docked at Athens late in the afternoon of the second last day.

 

The Cruise Director was Ray Solaire.

[LHT28]

We missed Portofino, Amalfi, Sorrento, Delos and Mykonos. The substitutions were Genoa and Naples. Instead of Delos and Mykonos, we docked at Athens late in the afternoon of the second last day.

 

The Cruise Director was Ray Solaire.

 

Thank you

[wripro]

Frankly, when I pay my money I expect to get what is advertised. I don't care if crews are being shifted from one ship to another or one line to another. It is Oceania's responsibility and obligation to make sure whatever crew and staff they put aboard AT ANY TIME is up to the job. They are certainly not refunding any part of the fare if they cannot get proper crew.

[agabbymama]

This is exactly why I'm not thrilled with cruising, but my friend loves it, so we compromise. I do go on cruises to see the ports. I select the ship/cruiseline by the itinerary. I guess I never read the cruise contact closely enough, and didn't find out until approximately June of 06 that "...the cruiseline reserves the right to change the itinerary for mechanical reasons, weather, or FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER..." or wording very similar to that. I was astounded that they do not have to provide what you paid for.

 

It doesn't matter that you have paid thousands of dollars for a specific itinerary. They could actually sail around the Med for the 12 days and only owe you the missed port fees.

 

So beware, it's all cruiselines, not just Oceania. Some are better at compensation than others, but most of them do the minimum.

[TRAVELFEVER]

This is exactly why I'm not thrilled with cruising, but my friend loves it, so we compromise. I do go on cruises to see the ports. I select the ship/cruiseline by the itinerary. I guess I never read the cruise contact closely enough, and didn't find out until approximately June of 06 that "...the cruiseline reserves the right to change the itinerary for mechanical reasons, weather, or FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER..." or wording very similar to that. I was astounded that they do not have to provide what you paid for.

 

It doesn't matter that you have paid thousands of dollars for a specific itinerary. They could actually sail around the Med for the 12 days and only owe you the missed port fees.

 

So beware, it's all cruiselines, not just Oceania. Some are better at compensation than others, but most of them do the minimum.

We have been on over 30 cruises and this is by far the most dissapointing ever. The problem with this Cruise is there was no need to not tender in many of the ports , from my balcony I was wavinig to local boaters in small 18-20 ft boats . They seemed to enjoy the waters with very little wake.

[myrtlewinston]

I don't care if crews are being shifted from one ship to another or one line to another. It is Oceania's responsibility and obligation to make sure whatever crew and staff they put aboard AT ANY TIME is up to the job.

 

I agree. If we could have tendered safely, why should we have been penalised by a craven captain?

[TRAVELFEVER]

I agree. If we could have tendered safely, why should we have been penalised by a craven captain?

I think that this Craven Captain.......also should of been responsible enough to tell his passengers over the PA system why he could not tender in . Why did we keep hearing time after time from the Cruise Director. It seems to me that the Captain did not have the guts to tell us.

[skybarshrek]

The actual quote from customer services in Miami was, "The captain is always right even when he's wrong".

 

That's an interesting notion.

[Paulchili]

Myrtlewinston (and others from the “doomed voyage”)

you might like to check out this thread on SilverSea:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=849688

where Steve Tucker (director of sales for SS) is almost daily and very promptly responding to posters' concerns (though not discussing prices, understandably), making changes to the SS's web site to reflect correct information almost instantaneously, etc

I expect that is what you would like to see from O, whether here on CC or to you personally.

[meow!]

We were not on that voyage and had no first hand knowledge. The following is just guessing and trying to be as fair as possible (as we usually strive to do):

 

While the sea, from the pictures looked calm, we all know that waves come and go. A few snapshots do not tell the whole picture. We do not know, but guess that the captain might have received some advice from the port authorities. (On our Celebrity Century British Isles voyage this past May, the ship did not anchor at Guernsey based on advice from the port authorities. We were naturally disappointed at losing such a potentially once in a lifetime chance to visit such a off-path island, but we understood that safety came first, and the captain did not even apologize, saying it was "for your own safety".

 

Yes, there might be small boats sailing happily around, but that might have been done despite advice from port authorities (or being just boats, they did not check for such advice). After all, the skipper of those boats were only responsible to themselves, while the captain of a cruise ship was responsible for hundreds of people. What an outcry it would be if anyone was injured, or worse, lost?

 

Yes, the cruise line handled a bad situation badly. They should be generous enough to provide the shuttle bus rides free of charge. They should have explained the situation at the time through the public address system. It was a public relations lesson that the cruise line should learn from. On the other hand, those who are threatening law suits are not realistic, as these are lengthy, complicated, and the compensation would not be worth the effort -- it would likely be just posturing.

 

After "holding the line" for so long, Oceania is likely not to offer any compensation or meaningful apology. Their stance appears to be "tough it out" and things will quiet down in due course. Their business (and all cruise lines for that matter) is likely to deteriorate with the present financial crisis in due course (say 2009 and 2010). At the moment, for some reason (not understood), they seemed to be relatively immune to the downturn despite repeated hefty price increases. Perhaps economics researchers would like to make a case study of why and how Oceania managed to be so unyielding and yet doing well enough up to now. (Silversea appears willing to compromise to a "reasonable" degree to placate customers whose voyages a year down the road have been cancelled, for example). As ordinary individual customers, we don't know enough of the facts, and as per the old saying, time will tell !

[skybarshrek]

Thank you Paulchili for showing us all on this thread that there is another way for companies to approach difficult situations.

 

I implore Oceania to follow the link you sent and see that there are other ways to speak to their passangers.

 

So as not to be called a "trouble maker" I have not included the link on this post. I leave that up to anyone interested to look at the post before this!

[Paulchili]

Thank you Paulchili for showing us all on this thread that there is another way for companies to approach difficult situations.

 

I implore Oceania to follow the link you sent and see that there are other ways to speak to their passangers.

 

So as not to be called a "trouble maker" I have not included the link on this post. I leave that up to anyone interested to look at the post before this!

 

Sure - let me be the trouble maker (just kidding; I probably am one already anyway, according to some).

[Roxally]

We have had the same wishy washy reply from Oceana and have subsequently asked them to remove us from their mailing list as we will be not be cruising with them again as our experience of their customer service was so poor. It's their loss, as we normally cruise 3-4 times a year -This was our first Cruise with Oceana. There are plenty of other cruise lines out there who will appreciate our custom.

[TRAVELFEVER]

We have had the same wishy washy reply from Oceana and have subsequently asked them to remove us from their mailing list as we will be not be cruising with them again as our experience of their customer service was so poor. It's their loss, as we normally cruise 3-4 times a year -This was our first Cruise with Oceana. There are plenty of other cruise lines out there who will appreciate our custom.

I agree....They can take their 2 for 1 fake advertising..... I must of received 4 or 5 mailers plus e-mail fake specials..... This is one cruise line I do not trust.

[lovecruisingtoo]

 

It was a public relations lesson that the cruise line should learn from. On the other hand, those who are threatening law suits are not realistic, as these are lengthy, complicated, and the compensation would not be worth the effort -- it would likely be just posturing.

 

I completely disagree with your opinion that "the compensation would not be worth the effort". At times, there is more than just money involved. The result of the law suit could help people in the future avoid the same situation. You can not put a price on this type of result.

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

Being that this thread has deteriorated into several posts deleted for name calling, this thread is now closed.