Maybe I Should Cruise Oceana

[rallydave]

Am absolutely amazed over all the issues being discussed on this Regent Board. Have been thinking of Oceana as a Regent substitute and since all the Volcano issues, it is absolutely amazing to see the difference in boards. No discussions (fights) over children on cruises vs. adults only. No attacks of Regent (Prestige Holdings) over the closing of airports resulting in people not being able to get to ships or get home, just friendly, respectful discussions over issues that most of us care about.

Seems there aren't any felines over on the Oceana board stiring the pot which might be the reason. Have had my issues with Regent's home office and posted them here but, still have worked with them thru phone calls and e-mails to resolve the issues which are slowly being worked and resolved.

Yes, passengers have been inconvenienced but, so have millions of others because of the Force Majurs (act of god). Regent has a business to run with ships sailing from different ports on a regular basis and those people need to be taken care of as well. The priority should be and is the people getting off the ships who can't fly home and from what has been written, they are being taken care of at Regent's expense (which is a nicetity that Regent is NOT required to do) until airports open and they can be put on planes home. Those of us who make our own air reservations have made that choice knowing that Regent won't take care of us and that is the risk we take to save a few bucks and/or fly when, where, and on our chosen airline. Those on the way to meet the Mariner in Venice couldn't have gotten there no matter what Regent did and needed to work out their own issues to get home domestically and that is really easier to do real time at the airport than via. numerous phone calls thru Regent air.

Haven't seen this issue on other boards and haven't seen other boards attack their cruise line because they didn't post a special notice. We, on Regent are all adults and probably more intelligent and worldly than most of those on mainline cruises and should be able to fend for ourselves so why all the crying and attacking mostly from those not involved this time??

Maybe those that expect to have their hands held for every minor and major difficulty should find a cruise line with individual concerieges??

Based on the differences in the CC boards and recommendations by people who have tried both lines, going to think hard about Oceana on our next cruise.:)

[WC11]

I just can't believe the direction this board has turned with these vicious personal attacks. Some of these people really need to calm down.

[rallydave]

I just can't believe the direction this board has turned with these vicious personal attacks. Some of these people really need to calm down.

Well, if you check out one of the threads that is causing many of these issues. while this thread was starting, the President of Prestige Holdings, Mr. Frank Del Rio was posting a message that strongly supports the above post. Did it take the President of Regent's holding company to finally bring this board to a calm respectful series of posts??

I am very calm and collected and have watched this issue grow and grow with many insightful responses that are totally ignored by the instigator whose best response is for us to ignore whatever is posted by the instigator.

Maybe the instigator simply needs to STOP being a know it all about everything and actually read and comprehend valid suggestions. None of us is correct all the time and we all need to take constructive critism without simply sticking to our misguided ideas.

Hopefully Mr. Del Rios posting will turn this board back on track!!

[Emdee]

The only reasons to cruise Oceania are:

You dont like the all inclusive concept
You like Oceania's itineraries
You are comfortable with a higher average age

Otherwise, stay with Regent ...... you wont be sorry. Despite all the recent complaints that Mariner service is down and that they favour some passengers we had excellent service on board and the only people we knew from past cruises were the Cruise Director and Assistant Cruise Director. Oceania has excellent itineraries but the Regent staff go out of their way to make your experience special in every way.

[Colonel(Ret.)Wes]

Dave, suggest you cruise both Regent and Oceania; find an Oceania itinerary you like and book Oceania along with Regent. We were drawn to Oceania's newest ship, Marina for her stunning looks, exceptional design (public spaces and suites), varied dining venues (six choices)and due to the consisently favorable reviews Oceania other three ships get here on (Oceania thread and the review section) of CC. We cruise, Silversea, Regent (soon Oceania) and enjoy each for different reasons. Believe, after we sail the Marina (have a Voyager cruise booked this November--currently our favorite lux cruise ship) the Marina will be our favorite ship.

[JoAnne B]

rallydave

Perhaps you are right and Oceania may be a better choice for you. Regent presents itself as a six star, luxury cruise line and its passengers expect and deserve service commensurate with that rating...and pricing. Sure it was a situation beyond their control and little could be done until the flights resumed, but when their customers have thousands of dollars and a missed vacation on the line, maybe some hand holding or just reassurance is appropriate. Doing it "by the book," closing the office, and providing no personal contact is not the best way to handle such an unsettling situation.

My husband is stuck here in Houston unable to get back to his office in Austria so I can understand the frustration others are experiencing. Fortunately he is at home so the inconvenience has been minimal. But he expected and received communication from his travel agent over the weekend even while spending hours himself trying to get informaiton from Lufthansa. They insisted his flight was going until almost checkin time,so he was left up in the air not knowing whether to head for the airport or not. I can't imagine how anxiety-provoking the flight cancellations were for those in route to or from their cruise.

I do not think it is unreasonable to expect that Regent would have had people manning the phones to provide what little information they could. I did not check the website to see what Regent did or did not post, but posting contact numbers or the latest information that was available would have been too easy to let fall through the cracks as it sounds like happened. That is called service orientation, which is the main area the new Regent is letting slip.

This board would quickly lose its usefulness if people only posted sugar-coated praise instead of real-life problems or frustrations. If the critical posts bother you, then just don't open those threads. that's an easy solution, isn't it.

To those who missed their cruises, I have confidence that Regent will step up to the plate and offer some compensation or replacement. Nobody could have predicted a problem of this magnitude. They just could have done a better job out of the gate.

[cruiseluv]

I just tried to post at the thread where Mr Del Rio posted and , not surprisingly, it has been closed . I wanted to thank him for laying out what Regent was doing during the weekend to assist their customers and dispelling some of the hysteria in that thread.

For the most part this is a good board. I think most of us know who spoils it by stirring the pot with her constant meddling and opining, many times without first hand information, just based on her impressions. It serves to create unnecessary chaos.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Just wanted to say that this board has always been contentious, ever since I first started reading and posting, which was around 2000. I gave it up for a while, but I enjoy most of the repartee, I just try to steer away from the nasty stuff.

Oh, and I must say that the contention on this board shouldn't be a reason not to cruise on Regent.

[NCCruzQueen]

Yes, the other thread is now blocked from postings. Notice the lock icon before the thread title.

[YoHoHo]

I tried posting this morning as well - think it was locked as I was composing my reply. I have not cruised with Regent so have no flag to wave nor axe to grind. Disclaimer: I have enjoyed two O cruises and have one upcoming. I have been lurking a bit on Regent postings as I am thinking some day I might.

Though I don't spend a lot of time on CC, in addtion to O related threads I do check "new posts" on occasion and see something that catches my eye on other boards. I skip so many of them because I can often predict by the first few posts that the thread will disintegrate into some very bad behaviour.

On the other hand, in general, some boards such as Os are much more pleasant, social, helpful places to visit. Taking the high road is always the right road in the end.

While a CC board may represent a few of the folks you may meet on a cruise, they are far from all of them. Some folks simply have very poor behaviour. They are easy to spot in public. No need to travel with them. There are lots of great fellow pax you can meet on CC.

I too thought it was great that FDR posted a reply including the comments that they did do something wrong (not posting a notice on their website in a timely manner) and also explaining how hard they have been working to communicate.
It is terrific that not only has FDR posted on this board in order to help improve communications but that they took the time to check CC in order to see what pax and posters concerns are. Very pro-active.

[wripro]

Since when does Oceania have a higher average passenger age than Regent?

[Goofyisme]

rallydave

Perhaps you are right and Oceania may be a better choice for you. Regent presents itself as a six star, luxury cruise line and its passengers expect and deserve service commensurate with that rating...and pricing. Sure it was a situation beyond their control and little could be done until the flights resumed, but when their customers have thousands of dollars and a missed vacation on the line, maybe some hand holding or just reassurance is appropriate. Doing it "by the book," closing the office, and providing no personal contact is not the best way to handle such an unsettling situation.

My husband is stuck here in Houston unable to get back to his office in Austria so I can understand the frustration others are experiencing. Fortunately he is at home so the inconvenience has been minimal. But he expected and received communication from his travel agent over the weekend even while spending hours himself trying to get informaiton from Lufthansa. They insisted his flight was going until almost checkin time,so he was left up in the air not knowing whether to head for the airport or not. I can't imagine how anxiety-provoking the flight cancellations were for those in route to or from their cruise.

I do not think it is unreasonable to expect that Regent would have had people manning the phones to provide what little information they could. I did not check the website to see what Regent did or did not post, but posting contact numbers or the latest information that was available would have been too easy to let fall through the cracks as it sounds like happened. That is called service orientation, which is the main area the new Regent is letting slip.

This board would quickly lose its usefulness if people only posted sugar-coated praise instead of real-life problems or frustrations. If the critical posts bother you, then just don't open those threads. that's an easy solution, isn't it.

To those who missed their cruises, I have confidence that Regent will step up to the plate and offer some compensation or replacement. Nobody could have predicted a problem of this magnitude. They just could have done a better job out of the gate.

As was pointed out by Mr Del Rio on the now closed thread, Regent did not close down its offices over the weekend and was working to find solutions. I believe the poster who said they were closed was misinformed.

[rallydave]

Thanks for all the positive responses. I am feeling much better regarding Regent than I did earlier. Still may try Oceana although the poster who stated the age on Oceana has scared me a bit although another poster seemed to discredit that assertion.

Seems the board has calmed down with the FDR excellent response as well as the closing of that thread and the seemingly absent board disrupter. Plan on taking our Sept. Regent cruise and having a wonderful time and will reasses our choices at that time.

Planning on continuing to support this board and provide answers I am familiar with and ask questions for things I am not up to speed on. There are a lot of great people on this board and am not going to let one bad apple spoil this experience.

A sincere thanks for the positive responses,

Dave

[commodore2010]

As I read the "Maybe Regent......thread", I became angrier and angrier at the original poster and their total lack of reality and the blatant mistruths. I could hardly wait to blast back and then I read Frank Del Rios response and that was all that needed to be said.

I do feel badly for the people who both missed their cruise and the ones trying to get back home. There are literally millions of people stranded all around the world because of this natural disaster. Regent passengers do not have a "go to the head of the line pass".

Rally - Comments from posters who have cruised on Regent should not have any affect on your decision to cruise on Regent any more than a continually known negative poster about a GM Car would affect your decision to purchase one.

[Paint Horse]

Yes this is quite the strange board. It becomes tiresome at times.

[Island Cruiser]

Tiresome? Actually, it remains fascinating to me. One of the reasons I read this board is it interests me. Clash of opinion and dramatic personalities interest me! "Bon voyage" and "I just got my cruise docs" do not. So I really want folks to post candidly about their impressions and opinions. Not only am I able to sort them out I really like doing so. When we arise in the morning my partner (freddie) and I devour the message boards before our dogs take us on their daily three mile hike in the woods while we discuss the contents of the message boards. It is great fun. We agree! We disagree! It's all part of the package. To me, one of the fun things about cruising is people watching. We all do it, I think. We love most of the people. And the small minority of jerks are at least frequently interesting. This board is, in a certain sense, an extension of the people watching we do on board a cruise ship. So my appeal is PLEASE don't reduce this board or any board to a bland diet of nicey nicey. Say what you think! Let me sort it out. Please! Pat

[Rally]

For the most part this is a good board. I think most of us know who spoils it by stirring the pot with her constant meddling and opining, many times without first hand information, just based on her impressions. It serves to create unnecessary chaos.

Well, as one who follows several forums (not travel) I can assure you of one thing: the internet and it's forums are anonimous. Anyone can say they are whoever and what ever they choose. Doesn't make it true. It is up to the reader to discern truth from fiction, fact from fable. I could tell you (in my post) that I am the owner of Silversea and you should never sail Regent. Would you believe me? Maybe not, but some would, and when you have a forum with thousands of visitors, those who believve will be many. Sad, but true. Let the Buyer/Reader beware =)



PS: I am NOT the owner of Silversea, don't work for them, nver have, and have never been in the travel industry. But watch someone respond to this post with a different assumption =)