Nautica Review 14-28 July

[brian_uk]

Well we have been back a week and really miss the Ship and the lifestyle.

I do not intend to go into any real detail as BruinSteve has done that already.
Having been on Insignia last year and beenn in constant touch with others via these boards NOTHING came as any surprise and we were therefore not disappointed.

We have now cruised the Med 3 times, once on the Millenium (never again - way too big) and twice with Oceania and for us the latter experiences were by far the best.

We met many wonderful people, had some great food and visited interesting places.....what more could we want......

The OS was simply fabulous and the huge balcony was a great place to sit and watch the world go by....except around Mykonos when very high winds rocked the ship. Steve has gone into some detail on this matter....I think the crew handled the matter well and were only concerned about safety of the passengers and ship.

Kotor was a real discovery and if you visit there, just sit on deck and enjoy the approach through the mountains....spectacular.

Things that should be considered by Oceania management, which are exactly the same as last year are as follows.

If you did not want to take an Oceania tour you were definitely " On Your Own". Free shuttles were NEVER provided to Town and in Mykonos we were told there were only 23 taxis on the Island so we had better pay $20 per person for the 7 minute shuttle bus. This is just nonsense.....we got off the ship and there were taxis taking people to other ships and we just stopped one...cost 5 euros in total.

In Venice the Grand Princess was alongside and they provided a Water Bus for their guests to The City free of charge,,,,,Oceania provide a coach to the Station and then you had to make your own way to town This was exactly the same observation as last year and still they do not address the problem.

Cabanas.....we booked, with our friends, two adjoining cabanas for the trip. On arrival ours was in a good spot but the other was by the Funnel or whatever and was so hot that you could not sit there. We both cancelled the cabanas and got a partial refund.
It was also stated that there was an attendant on hand but this was untrue....you had a telephone and could call someone.....room service.

BUTLERS.......I still haver absolutely no idea what they do. Bring a few canapes at 4 pm...not difficult....c'ept ours never arrived till 5.30 usually....not a real problem. He did serve breakfast on two occasions but the single request that I made at the beginning....please make sure that the fridge always has 6 diet cokes..was ignored and I had to continually remind him. He did manage to secure addditional reservations at Toscana and Polo but I really do think that this could have been handled just as well by the Concierge.

Speaking of tthe Concierge he was so helpful in dealing with the switched ports and tours that we had arranged....

Finally reserving chairs by the Pool is forbidden and when I complained at 9 am that there was NOT ONE available....nobody in authority wanted to know. Eventually the Concierge arrived and managed to squeeze two in by the Stairs but it seems that all these rules are ignored despite the newsletter advising that property will be removed from chairs.

Having got all that off my chest......

WE HAD A TRULY FABULOUS TIME and would go afain on Oceania.

Yes there were kids onboard but they behaved perfectly and we even saw couples in their 20's and 30's having a great time.

Well thats about it from me....oh yes too many Aussies for my liking.....just a joke truly....we won THE ASHES.

Brian

[brian_uk]

Not one comment.....oh well

Brian

[jfb128]

Thanks for the review Brian- Since we will be going to Kotor soon I appreciate the heads up.

I think I agree almost 100% with your general comments from our experience on other cruises as well.

As to the butler issue we have found that some people appreciate him much more than others. If you dine in your room (which we never do) they seem to serve a purpose. But we found when we all decided to pool our champagne and wine and have a little cocktail party in the room he came in very handy. He arranged for some nice snacks and brought a serving table and some glasses and ice. Also I found out that when I would return from the fitness center at around 6:45 each morning he would bring me a small pot of coffee and cups and that was a nice touch. But if everyone had to go thru the concierge to get reservations at Polo and Toscana it might be a mess. Nevertheless I made my own reservations at Polo and Toscana and rarely use the butler for that.

[neviboy]

Our visit to Kotor in early June was one of our highlights. There are quite a few taxis at the dock with good tours. The best tour is to go to the top of the mountain and then head for Budva and St.Stephan. Try to get some local currency or you will pay a bit more to convert from Euros.
Make sure the driver speaks a little English. The ride should be about 5 hours.
The views are fantastic. Try to get off the ship as soon as it docks and make your deal. But make sure that the driver waits for you.
There is a good review at www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main under Montenegro.

[countryguyinny]

I'm discouraged that what Oceania says in its brochures and what is in fact the case onboard are quite different. You say that only a telephone was available to call room service in your cabana. However, the brochure I received from Oceania quite explicitly states that "a dedicated attendant is at your beck and call to provide you with meal and beverage service..."

Also I am surprised that you only received a partial refund. If they do not provide the service they advertise, I would think a full refund would be the appropriate thing to do.

[Bustaty]

Thanks Brian for posting your review.

A question, you stated, Speaking of tthe Concierge he was so helpful in dealing with the switched ports and tours that we had arranged....

Were these tours private ones? And if so, would you expand on how he was helpful? I ask because we have some private tours arranged for our cruise and am wondering if anything got changed, how I would go about informing my contacts as soon as possible.

Thank you

[brian_uk]

When we first went to use our Cabana which was on our first Sea Day we found the location because they had left instructions in the cabin. There was nobody around so we started to put towels out and open the ceiling canopy...not that easy......after about 10 minutes an Officer arrived and called a "pool man" who then opened it fully and turned the very heavy chairs to face the sun.
We were told that we were due to receive a fruit plate, very nice, and if we had any other requests we should use the phone provided.

As far as refunds were concerned, because I had paid in advance and because I had technically had the use of the cabana for the first 3 days the best they would offer was $500. For me....life is too short to spend time haggling so I took the money as an onboard credit.

On City days there was never a problem in getting seats around the pool in the afternoon but SEa Days it was a real struggle.

Hope this answers your question

Brian

[Pecoraro]

Finally reserving chairs by the Pool is forbidden and when I complained at 9 am that there was NOT ONE available....nobody in authority wanted to know. Eventually the Concierge arrived and managed to squeeze two in by the Stairs but it seems that all these rules are ignored despite the newsletter advising that property will be removed from chairs.

I had a problem with this on our two cruises with Oceania. I also mentioned it to someone who stated there was nothing they could do. I called the front desk and registered a complaint to which they said they would send someone directly up to the pool deck - no one ever showed. I happened to see on every sea day people out at around 7:30 to 8:00 placing books, magazines, shoes etc to save the chairs. All Oceania needs to do is have somebody monitor the area early in the day and they could solve a major amount of the problem.

The worst I saw was a couple who had two chairs in the sun and two chairs in the shade - alternating between them and telling anybody that asked if they were available that their friends were in the pool - I sat beside them for at least four hours overhearing this several times.

This type of event you expect to happen on the mass market lines and not on the upscale lines. Mr. DelRio - can you do something to fix this?

[Bruin Steve]

Frankly, it's hard to understand why anyone would bother with a cabana for a 14 night cruise with only 2 "at-sea" days...and these cabanas are nowhere remotely near the pool...They are, if memory serves me, at the extreme front of the ship on Deck 11 while the pool and jacuzzis are midship Deck 9...and, yes, Brian is correct, the "attendant at your beck and call" is at your beck and call by means of a telephone...and he has to run up and find you from somewhere on Deck 9. If you just could find a chair on Deck 9, all the food and drink you could want is right there...

I guess about the ONLY reason to book a cabana is to avoid the chair hog mess that is the pool deck on at sea days (though finding a chair that far away from the pool is not quite as hard).

Yes, the problem on Oceania is just as bad as it is on Carnival, Royal Caribbean or Princess...human nature is what it is...There are less people on board, but it is also a far smaller ship--with far fewer deck chairs...It's still a matter of only so many people competing for so few deck chairs...and people, whether they be Oceania cruisers, Carnival cruisers or whatever line cruisers don't want to be the ones left without a chair in this game of Musical Chairs...

EVERY cruise line needs to address this problem or it will keep getting worse...
Maybe they should police the area in the morning and remove the "stuff" from the chair of anyone leaving the pool deck..."When you come back out, you can retrieve your stuff and find another chair, if available"...Or they could go around like the parking meter maids and mark each chair and, if unaccounted for for over one hour, "tow" the stuff...

But, clearly, on this ship, as with so many others, it was almost funny to be out on deck in the early morning on at sea days and watch all of the people staking out their chairs only to disappear off to breakfast, maybe not to return until sometime after lunch...

[brian_uk]

Steve says

"Frankly, it's hard to understand why anyone would bother with a cabana for a 14 night cruise with only 2 "at-sea" days...and these cabanas are nowhere remotely near the pool...They are, if memory serves me, at the extreme front of the ship on Deck 11 while the pool and jacuzzis are midship Deck 9...and, yes, Brian is correct, the "attendant at your beck and call" is at your beck and call by means of a telephone...and he has to run up and find you from somewhere on Deck 9. If you just could find a chair on Deck 9, all the food and drink you could want is right there..."

Brian says..............

We all have choices and given the description in the Oceania brochure....4 of us thought it would be a nice way to spend not only the sea days, but those afternoons and early evenings after coming back to the ship from Tours.

If Oceania had produced what was promised and if our friends were in the adjoining cabana....No Problem.

Brian

[Bruin Steve]

I guess I may have sounded a bit flippant, Brian...
It really wasn't intended as a knock on your choice...more a bit of hyperbole...

Yes, I agree it WOULD enhance the cruise experience, even with a small percentage of time spent on the ship and provided one had little concern of the expense...

BUT...
...that would be if the cabana thing really DID come with extra service and luxury...and would be better value if the cabanas were better located...

We had a cabana for a week at the Grand Wailea resort in Maui...But those cabanas were poolside and steps from the beach, ample in size and came with extraordinary service...

...and of course, on that trip, we had no ports and excursions to deal with--spent a large portion of the vacation at the pool...Ahhhh...but what a pool!

http://grandwailea.com/activities/pools.asp

http://grandwailea.com/gallery/default.asp?id=1

http://grandwailea.com/images/photos/GRW045H_wide.jpg

http://grandwailea.com/images/photos/ActivityPool.jpg

http://grandwailea.com/gallery/default.asp?id=5

[Jancruz]

Here is what I do..if a chair is empty for more than 30 minutes..I move wahtever is on there and take the chairs..I am always backed up by staff on deck..if someone wants a chair than they should sit in it..
Jan
*************

[timbo89]

Brian:

I agree about the butlers on Oceania. My experience is that they don't do what is asked of them. I asked for Diet Cokes in my refrigerator, and asked our butler to make reservations for the specialty restaurants. Both requests (on 2 separate cruises with Oceania) were ignored, until , on our last cruise I got so fed up that I sat the butler down in our room and told him very very explicitly what I expected. We have had far better success with the butlers on Celebrity, who seem to be much better trained. I even spoke to the concierge about the butlers on our last cruise. He was nice about it, but reading between the lines of what he said, I didn't expect much.

As for "chair hogs" - I couldn't agree more. I have no idea how they can easily police smoking, but have a lessez faire attitude about chair saving. (Thought - perhaps they could put the butlers to better use as pool attendants!!!!)

I have written twice to Oceania about these issues, and get the usual "brush off" letter.

Oceania is my still my favourite line - these are a couple of my pet "peeves" with them. (I have others, but I want to keep this thread on track)

[LHT28]

EVERY cruise line needs to address this problem or it will keep getting worse...
Maybe they should police the area in the morning and remove the "stuff" from the chair of anyone leaving the pool deck..."When you come back out, you can retrieve your stuff and find another chair, if available"...Or they could go around like the parking meter maids and mark each chair and, if unaccounted for for over one hour, "tow" the stuff...
..

I agree they should do something .
I know on our last Princess cruise the deck attendants DID remove stuff from chairs that were left empty for 30 min or more.
Now what they did with the belonging I don't know.

It is very unfair to all if people leave their "stuff" to save a chair & not return for the better part of the day.

[dwelsh]

"In Venice the Grand Princess was alongside and they provided a Water Bus for their guests to The City free of charge,,,,"

We were in Venice with Princess in 2004 and unless they have changed the way they operate there was a $20.00 charge for the water taxis they provided to pax.

[brian_uk]

You may be right about Princess making a $20 charge.....but to us it showed that they had actually arranged transportation right into the heart of Venice.

Brian

[brian_uk]

My apologies for overlooking your question.
We had booked a private tour of Athens and then Ports were switched....Santorini and Athens....the reason given was that 7 ships were due in Santorini on the original date.

I went to the Concierge who located my Tour Guide (Spiros) and arranged the changed date....all in 24 hours.
An excellent service.

Brian

[dmk]

I had a problem with this on our two cruises with Oceania. I also mentioned it to someone who stated there was nothing they could do. I called the front desk and registered a complaint to which they said they would send someone directly up to the pool deck - no one ever showed. I happened to see on every sea day people out at around 7:30 to 8:00 placing books, magazines, shoes etc to save the chairs. All Oceania needs to do is have somebody monitor the area early in the day and they could solve a major amount of the problem.

The worst I saw was a couple who had two chairs in the sun and two chairs in the shade - alternating between them and telling anybody that asked if they were available that their friends were in the pool - I sat beside them for at least four hours overhearing this several times.

This type of event you expect to happen on the mass market lines and not on the upscale lines. Mr. DelRio - can you do something to fix this?

Wow, I thought it was only Celebrity that had these problems.