Oceania dumbing down?

We have been on lots of Oceania Cruises and have always loved them and preferred them. However, when booking our latest, the agents in Miami were so rude, disinterested, etc. that our travel agent actually asked him if she were boring him or keeping him awake. He couldn't have cared less. When he was to phone her back with pertinents info he never did. She phoned several times and the cruise line really couldn't have cared less about keeping our business. We always travel in a top level cabin and have been with them for over 10 years. We were so put off that we cancelled our trip and have gone with a competitor.

Oceania is going from luxury to cattle?

Nice first post.

Were you put off by your travel agent? ..or the agent at O?

Or, was the agent at O put off by your travel agent?

So you cancelled a cruise because an agent was rude.

Uh-huh.

Can't understand what was going on here?!? Was the OP sitting at his TA's desk the entire this was going on?? Was he tied into a conference call? If the first, how long did you hang around your TA's office for all of this??

What were these "pertinent" facts? Did it include getting info from O Air, which doesn't happen automatically. I typically give any questions I have for a particular cruise to my TA, and she responds back to me within a day, with all the answers. If you have sailed O many times, as you claimed, there isn't really a lot of questions to ask that aren't addressed on the website with the cruise, so would really like to know what facts you were after, and in what total time period. If you were sitting there the entire time, how fast was your TA hitting redial to O?

TA's do not speak to the same customer service personnel as individuals do generally. Different department. If the TA believes they are having problems, they should ask to speak to Colleen . She seems to give my TA very prompt and polite service within normal operating conditions.

I'm beginning to wonder which side was agonizing the other the most? While working out any details, if the TA asks nicely, O will typically put a hold on any specific cabin /suite one may desire while working out the specifics, so you don't have to worry about not getting that suite you want.

We have been on lots of Oceania Cruises and have always loved them and preferred them. However, when booking our latest, the agents in Miami were so rude, disinterested, etc. that our travel agent actually asked him if she were boring him or keeping him awake. He couldn't have cared less. When he was to phone her back with pertinents info he never did. She phoned several times and the cruise line really couldn't have cared less about keeping our business. We always travel in a top level cabin and have been with them for over 10 years. We were so put off that we cancelled our trip and have gone with a competitor.

 

 

 

Oceania is going from luxury to cattle?

Oceania is not luxury it is premium.

Which competitior have you booked with?

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Seems to be a few first and second time posters unhappy with O lately. Almost a pattern. Hmm??;)

We have been on lots of Oceania Cruises and have always loved them and preferred them. However, when booking our latest, the agents in Miami were so rude, disinterested, etc. that our travel agent actually asked him if she were boring him or keeping him awake. He couldn't have cared less. When he was to phone her back with pertinents info he never did. She phoned several times and the cruise line really couldn't have cared less about keeping our business. We always travel in a top level cabin and have been with them for over 10 years. We were so put off that we cancelled our trip and have gone with a competitor.

 

Oceania is going from luxury to cattle?

In their defense, the rep was probably a vendor hired by Oceania at a call center in Nebraska (if I recall properly). You can't fault Oceania for a disgruntled employee of a vendor making $10/hour to put up with the public. Who knows, the employee could have been close to being fired or had already put in their notice. The intolerance of imperfection by some people on these boards sometimes blows my mind! I'm sure Oceania doesn't endorse the behavior of this person since it clearly isn't good for their business. By the way, what did you hope to accomplish by your posting or is responses like mine exactly what you were looking for?

Seems to be a few first and second time posters unhappy with O lately. Almost a pattern. Hmm??;)

Safety in numbers?? Takes guts to criticize O

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I don't think it takes gut to knock O. I have been very specific in some of my knocks. All those while I think O does a great job. Here we have a hit and run that doesn't want to talk about any specifics. If he really had problems, he should enumerate them for analysis, imo. They may be very pertinent or not.

In their defense, the rep was probably a vendor hired by Oceania at a call center in Nebraska (if I recall properly). You can't fault Oceania for a disgruntled employee of a vendor making $10/hour to put up with the public. Who knows, the employee could have been close to being fired or had already put in their notice. The intolerance of imperfection by some people on these boards sometimes blows my mind! I'm sure Oceania doesn't endorse the behavior of this person since it clearly isn't good for their business. By the way, what did you hope to accomplish by your posting or is responses like mine exactly what you were looking for?

The call center in Omaha Nebraska is NOT a vendor but, a PCH office that also houses a Regent Computer system and I assume a PCH computer system as backups to the systems in Miami. Many companies located in Hurricane and severe storm areas put computers and offices in safer areas of the country so highly doubt much or your assumption. The close to being fired or having given notice or a number of other reasons are certainly possible but, not that it is a hired call center with $10/hour phone answers.

Agree if the descriptions of the person answering the phone are even close to correct, they are unacceptable in any case but, they are Oceania employees I'm almost positive and calls are divided between Miami and Omaha as that allows more coverage with different time zones involved.

Need to stick in my two cents. First, it is easy to criticize "newbies" to Cruise Critic and it is also easy for first time callers to Oceania (or Regent) to criticize the person they spoke with at the call center. In terms of who is currently answering the phones for Oceania and Regent, I have some questions myself. The call center for Oceania is now overseen by NCL. There has been quite a turnover at PCH so any assumptions that are being made here may not be correct (including mine). Someone called the call center on Regent this past week and received a response that was completely different from anything I have heard in 10+ years of doing business with Regent. Only someone unfamiliar with Regent could have made such a statement. IMO, it was a "new" NCL scripted statement. So, my suggestion is to be open to whatever someone posts that may be different than our prior experience(s). On the other hand, I cannot imagine a long time Oceania cruiser booking with another cruise line based on one phone call to Oceania.

I am currently on the Riviera and find the service and food to be equal to or better than what we received 18 months ago on the same ship. Nothing has changed (yet). Speaking for myself only, I will pay close attention to posts that are from people with current information as things seem to be changing on a daily basis.

This post got me thinking- if I cancelled every time I talked to someone in customer service that was uninterested, tired, or bored with my questions I pretty sure I wouldn't have TV cable, charge cards, checking, car, phone, power, and EVERYTHING else I own!!!!!!!

This post got me thinking- if I cancelled every time I talked to someone in customer service that was uninterested, tired, or bored with my questions I pretty sure I wouldn't have TV cable, charge cards, checking, car, phone, power, and EVERYTHING else I own!!!!!!!

Before you put down your Pom poems and flame the OP, you might want to research their previous post and note that this is their fourth O cruise. Just maybe, the OP has a valid point.

I find it very interesting on this board that anyone who posts critical opinions about Oceania is immediately considered a fraud. Makes one think that O cheerleaders have blinders on. Just sayin'.

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Kiawahdon,

You man want to read the OP's Post #1 again. He claims the May cruise he has booked will be his 3rd cruise on Oceania and his 2nd cruise on Marina. That means the OP has thus far taken only 2 cruises on Oceania.

Kiawahdon,

 

You man want to read the OP's Post #1 again. He claims the May cruise he has booked will be his 3rd cruise on Oceania and his 2nd cruise on Marina. That means the OP has thus far taken only 2 cruises on Oceania.

Point taken. I just get upset with anyone who is critical of O getting beat up. Every cruise line has its issues on occasion- some more than other.

I'm not flaming the OP, they just need to chill out a bit. If they don't like the answers the TA is getting. Maybe they need a new TA, or at least let them do their job. Reading CC is like reading any review on Expedia- you throw out the really negative and the really positive review and you will find the truth somewhere in between.

I just want to chime in to say that not everyone who is an Oceania fan is over-reactive to critical comments.

I just had a private email this evening from a friend who is about to take her FREE Oceania cruise (which I believe is #20) and she had a very unfortunate experience on Regatta recently which started out with people boarding the ship in South America who were sick from their pre-cruise visit to Machu Picchu, and things went downhill from there.

She is an O fan but had a bad experience, and concluded that as a result O had lost a number of possible passengers. But she isn't leaving the line yet, she just noted that this particular cruise was not a highlight.

These things happen. She's not bailing yet ... and I certainly wouldn't bail because of a difficult telephone rep, or at least I don't THINK I would.

I'm holding off on making judgments. So far our cruises have been wonderful. (The last was on Marina in May/June.) If I see changes on our April cruise, I'll feel free to say so. (Not that I think that we will really see changes because of the NCL takeover that soon, but we may see some changes just because.)

Mura

Well said Mura

Imagine if everybody dropped off us the first time we erred, we would be lonely people!

If it becomes the norm then we vote with our feet.

Point taken. I just get upset with anyone who is critical of O getting beat up. Every cruise line has its issues on occasion- some more than other.

+3 agree 100%

No pom-poms with this thread's dissent.

It was a stupidly climaxed post that would get dissed on any cruise line's forum.

No facts, just drama over second-hand info?

Sounds like the TA was the culprit...hiding behind a "bad" phone call to the cruise line? TA's have so many other options with the home office to secure correct info.

So little factual info here to come to any other conclusion.

This just seems a strange complaint because obviously the poster is simply repeating what his/her TA has said. There is no way it's a first person account. And to cancel plans because of an agent just doesn't make sense to me. Stuff happens all the time; walking away because we're a little peeved about some little thing is going to leave us very unhappy people down the road. There will be nothing left.

I would never criticize anyone who has an honest complaint. Except for our first Oceania cruise which truly was perfection (as first times often are ;) ), the second two weren't perfect. But they were still two of the best we've had in many years.

I confess I'm worried about NCL. I've seen this happen on other cruise lines and inevitably the passenger is affected no matter how much we are assured. But the jury is still out. I think complaining right now is jumping the gun.

I confess I'm worried about NCL. I've seen this happen on other cruise lines and inevitably the passenger is affected no matter how much we are assured. But the jury is still out. I think complaining right now is jumping the gun.

Certainly...we need to wait and see. As many have said, Norwegian would dilute their investment by messing with the model.

Exploding the quality of a call center would not be smart idea.

The latest corporate communication from Norwegian emphasizes the "don't fix what ain't broke."

Certainly...we need to wait and see. As many have said, Norwegian would dilute their investment by messing with the model.

 

Exploding the quality of a call center would not be smart idea.

 

The latest corporate communication from Norwegian emphasizes the "don't fix what ain't broke."

 

Now that is a good ad! I hope that they are able to accomplish it. To maximize their investment, they will need to.

Nice post, Ron! I remember similar "conversations" that happened when PCH bought Regent. In fact I think Regent benefitted from the move. I know nothing about NCL except I do not like the painting on the outside of their ships. So my knowledge is limited...and I am more than willing to wait and see how things will be when we board Riviera on 1 April... And since "the dreaded Carnival" also owns HAL and Seaborne I think NCL might have a role model?