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mybagsarepacked

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  • Posts

    1,127
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About Me

  • Location
    Castelmauro, Italy
  • Interests
    Reading, guitar, music, gourmet cooking, writing, foreign language, ballroom dancing,and crafting.
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Crystal, HAL, RCCL, and Oceania
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Mediterranean

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. Exactly what I told my husband! I am sure they won’t miss us at all, their ships will fill up, but I will be happier knowing I don’t support their business model. ☺️
  2. Interesting. I will run this by my TA, though I am not inclined to do anything further with them.
  3. Actually, we were booked on a Celebrity Cruise and they had to change the embarkation port at the last minute. It threw a lot of people for a loop because they did it three days before our departure and we were originally scheduled to leave from Sydney. Like many people we had planned to go in early and Celebrity gave people the option of cancelling outright for a full refund including airfare and early hotels, they also gave an additional cruise credit on top of the one we cancelled. They were amazing to all of us. They did not have to do anything and they bent over backwards to ensure we were all happy. We rebooked two cruises with them and had a fabulous time. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 is Customer Service at its finest.
  4. Yep, you are right, that is what O says. So that is zero incentive to book any cruise while on board, because they just get to keep it? But if you book while NOT on board, it is refundable? Unbelievable policy. And once again, just because they say it is their "policy" - it does not make it right. Much less, ethical.
  5. As a follow-on to this, I thought I would let you all know that I contacted our TA and cancelled the two upcoming cruises we have booked with Oceania. They informed my TA that they are "keeping" our deposits, EVEN THOUGH we are more than one year away from the commencement of the closest one, Dec 2024, and the paperwork states we are currently in a 100% refund situation. They are claiming deposits are not refundable. Since when???? I told my TA I am considering the threat of the loss of our deposits extortion since the company said we would not lose the deposits if we decided "not" to cancel. I would rather lose the deposits than give them one more penny of my money. Wow. But these guys are unprofessional. I can't wait to give my future travel budget to professional companies where loyalty is a two-way street. Oceania stinks, IMHO.
  6. There are numerous posts on the decision to quit Oceania, along with numerous others who are disappointed and upset. I was told today that my Future Cruise Deposits were not refundable, even though the cruises I am referring to are more than a year away and we are way ahead of any cancellation fees and forfeits. We are taking the cruise that begins this Saturday, though we really don't want to go. 90% of the people on our Roll Call say it is their final cruise with Oceania as well. I told our TA that we will forfeit our deposits on the future cruises if Oceania won't refund them, even though I think it is unprofessional and is just another reason to make me believe we made the right decision to stop traveling on Oceania. I would rather lose our deposit than bend to their extortion and take the cruises in the next two years. I have never seen a company lose my love and loyalty so fast as they have, and I know so many others on my upcoming cruise that feel the same way. After doing some digging and research, I am not even sure what they are doing is legal. We are over a year away and all of the contracts say 100% refund at this point but they are "keeping" the deposits we put down, according to our TA. All in all, thoroughly disgusted with this company. There are plenty of other fish in the sea, and we love several other lines where we have had great experiences. Sad to know we are losing all our loyalty status with Oceania, but it turns out loyalty is a one-way street with them away.
  7. Then why don't they just remove the MESSAGE button? That is so silly. Not to mention confusing.
  8. Ugh, well I tried to send you a message with CruiseCritic but the error message I got was that the Message function is now disabled. my email is stacyallen5 at gmail.
  9. We have the same Attitude. We have decided to go, even though we live in Italy, travel extensively, and literally just came back from a 12- day Med cruise with a similar itinerary. We have decided to go, really enjoy it as best we can, leave our resentment at the door, and hang with people like you who feel the same way. We are not going to bite our noses to spite our faces, but we also are smart enough to know we vehemently disagree with this whole mess, and we are cancelling our future business with Oceania. Way too many other great lines out there. I will send you a DM and maybe we can have a coffee or a drink or have dinner with you all.
  10. After much back n forth with O as well as our TA, we are done with Oceania. We have decided to go on this one but I have cancelled our two future cruises with them, and also got a new TA. Her attitude over this has ruined our faith in her. I think the ripple effect of this for Oceania will be significant. We spend (or i should say we did spend) $100,000 a year with them - and so do many others of you. We have decided we would rather invest our travel budget with a company that actually cares about its clients.
  11. In the article it states the trip insurance was through Oceania. No idea what was actually said, just what was communicated to the clients.
  12. I agree wholeheartedly. Which is why, regardless of the outcome, I have decided to cancel my future cruises with Oceania and move to one of our other favorite lines. They have handled this very poorly.
  13. They do offer insurance, but the people in the USA Today article were told by Oceania that their trip insurance would not cover the cruise in this case because Oceania had made the decision to alter the ports and the insurance would not cover them. Period. So... trip insurance is great, unless Oceania just says "No, not this time." It is unbelievable the way they are handling this. It isn't the fact that it is a war zone, and they are making careful decisions. We all understand there is a war going on. It is how they are handling the communications and how they are treating this that makes us all shake our heads. There are about a thousand better ways they could have handled this, and they chose none of those ways. They offer FCC, then reverse their decision. They waited way too long to decide to cancel, instead of doing it when the war actually started. Waiting until two weeks prior to the cruise is ridiculous. It doesn't exactly make us feel like valued customers when we are all told, "Too bad, so sad," end of conversation. That is the issue here. If they are so concerned about our welfare, why in the world would they take us through the Suez Canal, through the Red Sea, and through the Bay of Oman? It seems disingenuous to say they are concerned about safety, then turn around and take us down waters right off the coast of ports they are bypassing. Do they think only terrible things happen on land? They clearly have forgotten all about the Achille Lauro (1985).
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