osandomir

2 hours ago, ORV said:

Does anyone know a date that the changeover from B-3 to A-2 is supposed to happen on these rooms? Oddly enough I just realized today that a cruise I booked onboard is in this situation. I'm booked in B-3 but I'm in one of the deck 7 extended balconies. My plan is just to be quiet and hope no one notices. Or maybe there is a certain date it starts and I fall before it. 

We’re booked in one of these B-3 cabins for our upcoming February 2025 cruise on the Riviera. I don’t remember the date but the cruises that were released at the time or after the change happened are affected. I understand that on cruises released like ours before the date of changeover these extended balconies cabins are still in B-3 category even if you book them now. At least for our cruise they are.

18 minutes ago, MrsSheba said:

Didn't find anything junky about our 12 day Caribbean cruise on Vista - food, service and ship were wonderful 

And the ports are delightful for many who book Caribbean cruises year after year. The ones who are not interested have many other options which also might be not that attractive to everyone else.

The Captain’s reception depends on your itinerary. If there're sea days it’s often on the first sea day of your cruise. And it can be more than one repeater’s party depending on the number of repeating guests on the cruise.

12 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Really?  Lots of discussions around this with a lot of similar posts. Not sure why this would trigger that response to me. 
 

I agree. The commission sharing is a pretty common practice within the industry. Though, it’s definitely not universal. Some people would prefer to book directly and have control of their bookings, but still use TA to get some price reduction. TAs get majority of the commissions anyway and many prefer it that way rather than loosing that customers altogether. And that type of customers still often are capable to plan and do a lot of things on their own, so it’s less work for TAs.

7 hours ago, Techno123 said:

Remind me to tip in UK pounds when I come to the US then - I'm sure the people concerned will be thrilled 😳

 

By doing this you are passing the inconvenience and expense of converting currency from you to the person you are tipping. It would be rude not to be thankful and guides are not going to say 'no thank you, have you got any krone/krona/euros' but you'll leave guides/drivers with cash they can't readily use without paying high fees on currency exchange.

 

Of course there are some countries where people prefer to receive £/$/€ as inflation is so high that the local currency quickly loses its value - Scandinavia is not one of those places.

It’s all relative. Some times tipping in other currencies, like your example with British pounds, has more value. And some don’t give any tips at all. The people in hospitality are used to receive tips in different currencies. They know how to exchange money and appreciate tips whatever the currency is.

5 hours ago, ORV said:

On another thread I had mentioned that the String quartets always seem to be females. Others pointed out that is not always the case. So, the group on Nautica, Amadeus, were all male. Might have been the first time I've seen an all male String quartet on Oceania. 

How was the quartet? Did you like it?

29 minutes ago, DaisyUK said:

Don’t need to ask. To me, the difference between uht and fresh milk is as great as that between Apple and orange juice. I should say though that my experience over the last several years has not been with Oceania as we cruise on different lines now.

I’m curious if you cruise on the different lines but not Oceania why would you ask your question on the Oceania board? It seems that you were able to find fresh milk on the cruise ships you sailed. But to answer your question there’s regular fresh milk on Oceania ships too.

6 hours ago, zoncom said:

Because the sub contracted  area knows they can get cash from most of ladies.

I was able to use OBC for haircut without any problem. And all charges go to our onboard account anyway. So OBC is used first and the balance charged to the credit card on file.

8 hours ago, Oceangoer2 said:

I'm looking at booking the Allura in 2025.  Seen speculation on this board that all perks (bev./excursions/wifi) will be removed, nothing replacing them but charging the same price...after Oct. 1st booking.  If that's the case I'll book before that date.  If there will be replacement to simply more or back to Olife it might be best to wait.  Do you or anyone have any insight into what's happening on 10/1?

I’d suggest booking now. Most likely you’ll be able to rebook it new program/price is better for you later.

27 minutes ago, Allinda said:

Haha, wasn't sure anybody would read my comment after 10 years.  I wonder if any of the writers have changed their opinion on coffee over that time????

 

Don’t expect that coffee is better than it used to be 10 years ago. And it’s pretty much the same with the other food offerings. But the food is still nice and we cruise because we’re able to get to the places we like. 

2 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

I'm thinking you mean an internal policy applicable to employees.  I cannot imagine a rule prohibiting passengers from offering to hand over money.   

Yes, you’re right. I mean accepting tips in exchange of providing the table.

6 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

my issue is that increasingly we have been seeing that staff are not satisfied with the included gratuity...

 

because many tip over and above, it has become expected and nothing is enough...

 

something else that we have not experienced before is stories told by staff of how difficult their lives are at home...how little O pays them and the expenses...I have no doubt that some have difficult lives, but have not experienced how freely they are sharing that...

 

intially we were stunned at the stories...but then they became too similiar....the female staff all have the same story....single mothers with children and nowhere to live....overly friendly with stories etc....

 

also stories from passengers, how they take their attendants to the store, shopping, etc...no wonder they are no longer satisfied with included grats....

 

one woman in the penthouse that we had dinner with, told us how she supports her butlers family back home in India...

 

has anyone else experienced this?

Never experienced anything like that. And we tip above the gratuities all the time. You can do whatever you want but don’t multiple times tell others what they have not to do. 

15 hours ago, cruisr said:

Friends of ours were just on a cruise on O around the British Isles on one of the smaller ships with just Toscana and Polo.  They were in Concierge but when they jumped online at midnight.01 they could not get any early times for either alternate restaurant.   They celebrated a special occasion onboard and ended up tipping the maitre’d a $20. and got a table.  They showed up when Polo opened and were told, sorry, no.  The husband slipped the maitre’d the cash and basically said, we will wait here just in case anything becomes available for two.  Five minutes later, a miracle, a two top became available.

 

It’s not something to be proud of and posted on CC. Rules are the same for all. It’s strictly prohibited to tip in exchange of getting the table in specialty restaurants.

1 hour ago, sailing oldie said:

We've just negotiated 2 price reductions on our 2025 cruise, before final payment. Each time, the Oceania agent had to cancel and rebook on a new reference number.

It’s different in the US. Our booking number is always the same after the price reduction. And we never been charged the cancellation fee.

40 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

Has anyone ever needed to cancel a cruise (and rebook) to receive a price reduction on Oceania prior to final payment?

 

Thanks

Many times. No need to cancel just have it repriced.

On 9/9/2024 at 7:15 AM, Flatbush Flyer said:

Gotta ask: are you saying you’ve been paying for your own gratuities???

Even if you are not yet Silver, I think you may be the first person I’ve come across that actually hasn’t had your gratuities covered by your TA (either using OCAPP funds or via commission sharing).

Now, that really is an “event.”

Under the current rules you can have both covered gratuities and the commission sharing. So one doesn’t exclude the other. Everyone will be paying their gratuities incorporated in the price after the change.

Most complain that the inclusions disappear but the prices stay the same. In reality, the prices were not based on the inclusions but rather on the demand. We paid more with SM simply because the cruising became more expensive. For existing cruises if it’s less bookings after the change there will be a sale. Otherwise the prices will always go up. And it will be the same for the new release. And it will be safe to assume that the Loyalty program will also be devaluated if the demand is strong. So there’s no explanation for free gratuities for those with the status if the gratuities are included in the price.

We’ll have to wait a little more, I guess, until the new itineraries are released. I doubt that prices will go down. Inclusions aren’t that important for us. And unlike some others I have never ever calculated the per day price. It’s a bottom line and whether we can afford it or not. We’re itinerary driven and if O prices become too high the only thing not to be very disappointed is that we pretty much have sailed to the places interested to us that O is offering. For us it needs to be a new exciting itinerary so we consider to pay more. But I have a feeling that we aren’t a typical demographic that O is after now days.

We were having free gratuities for a quite a bit of time. But honestly, I’m glad to see that everyone will be going to pay the gratuities. Less complaining from others about them being included for some. No more envy and desperation to reach the desirable level of loyalty. And maybe the crew will be getting a little bit more that way. I’d rather have other loyalty benefits for those who are enjoying cruising more but not who just determining to lower their price in any way possible.

Obviously, the shore excursion credit wasn’t very popular but I doubt that after its removal along with the free drinks the prices will go down as well. But as it was mentioned better to wait ( until tomorrow? ) when we know the details. We book our cruises not based on the inclusions but rather on the overall value to be able to cruise where we’d like. And with included gratuities the O loyalty program will still remain a valuable proposition. It’s interesting how it all will play out.

We booked the same cabin as a B3 on the Riviera also for 2/25 about two years ago. There are couple extended balcony cabins available now and they are still in the same category B3. For that particular sailings they will remain in this category without any concierge benefits. They were rebranded as a A2 for the summer 2025 and beyond. And that’s unfortunate because nothing of concierge represents any of particular value to us.

4 hours ago, CJANDH said:

Just received an email from Oceania telling me that our cruise to Bermuda next April has been radically changed. We were to have had two nights and three day in Bermuda. They have now changed it to one night anchored off Bermuda, arriving at 6 PM and departing at 3 PM the next day. This means virtually no time to explore Bermuda, the only reason for booking this cruise. They have extended the one night stop in Charleston to two nights, which offers us nothing as we live in South Carolina just down the road from Charleston. We have cancelled and expect many more will too.

That’s a significant change. You have all rights to be upset. Sorry that you had to cancel after planning a great vacation for you. I’m wondering if Oceania still penalised you for canceling after such a change of the itinerary.

It’s an upgrade sale that just started. I believe there are two Alaska cruises in May 2025 that are included in this sale.

1 hour ago, Torquer said:

This is really shocking about the noise problems on Vista.  We have never had a problem on any ship we have ever cruised.  Can anybody let me know if they personally experienced or read about a noise problem in the named suites (OS, VS, OC) on Vista?  I have not read about it, but I have been only casually following this topic.  I would hope, that they spent more money in the design and sound proofing of the expensive suites.

Personally, we don’t sail in the highest suites. But I think that sound proofing insulation should be adequate not just in the suites but in all other cabins on the ship as well. So the money should be spent to fix the problem around the whole ship.

1 hour ago, fruitmachine said:

 

 

But a change from Leith to Rosyth would never meet the 'significant' hurdle.

 

Your beef seems to be with not being told the reason for the change.  Have you formally requested that reason from Oceania?

And how would that matter? Obviously, it was a reason other than just to make customers disappointed. But it seems that the OP was looking not just for an explanation.