Vineyard View

The simply more excursion piece sure seems to be quite a big miss. Someone didn’t think this ‘enhanced benefit’ through well. It easily turns into a big frustration, leaving customers less than happy, rather than feeling like they received ‘simply more’. This almost punishes those who do not book additional excursions with them, in that there are few ways with which to use their excursion credit once one is cancelled on board during a cruise. Those who really don’t normally book excursions get hit the most…..maybe that was part of the unspoken strategy.

Bonus is having both options! HA! It sincerely is a lovely gesture to have when you board, and kick off your journey…not a deal breaker, but lovely.

I am definitely paying attention. I will note that I started this thread, in part for all the issues occurring with Oceania. I am not sure that any line is without issues…..when I read the prevailing ones on O they may be more concerning for our travel style that I am reading here so far. For instance, there are two sailings discussed here with pretty significant itinerary changes. One was handled with complete class by the captain, the other quite clearly was not. On O boards, missed ports and changed port times seem to be more SOP, and rarely, of ever handled with any class. Those situations would impact me greater than some of the disappointments so far on this thread. For others, the opposite could be true. Maybe not ever having Reistafel is a case where I don’t know what I am missing, so do not understand the lack of! I guess that could be a good or bad thing, depending upon the lens viewed.

Hiltner has a good amount of time on SB, and with our one cruise last year, there was a champagne greeting (Viking always did that too) as well as an earlier cabin availability. I want to say it was ready at 1:00 or 2:00 and we had a standard verandah. Viking was always ready way earlier than 4:00 too.

Thank you basor. I was not clear, but was referring to the SM excursions being booked. There are issues with what happens if they are cancelled by O. If you are not a ship excursion traveler, and they are cancelled, with nothing available, and you haven’t booked paid for excursions for the credit to go back to, there are reported issues.

Nu#1, what is your opinion on the MDR experience and food? How have the excursions been that were part of the package?

Good hearing from you Hiltner. I hope you truly enjoy your first O journey. I trust that your review will be fair and balanced. I do agree that the whole excursion situation is pretty unacceptable. It’s surprising to me that they have that many misses still. I look forward to following along with you! Thank you for taking the time to do this!

We took a cab that we found in Vodice. It was pretty easy. We spent the day in Sibenik exploring on our own. We likely missed some of the history in doing so, but we thoroughly enjoyed our day in spite of the rain! We walked up to one of the fortresses and enjoyed the history. Found a great little local place for lunch and beer in an alley, and just enjoyed the city. It was really very enjoyable. When we felt it was time to give ourselves cushion for our return, (I think the drive time was 15-20 min), we walked out to the central part outside of the old town (it will make sense when you arrive), we grabbed another taxi back. We dinked around Vodice for a bit, but honestly not a lot there to be honest. It was a throughly enjoyable day. Go for it!

I agree that individual chefs can have a big impact on any cruise line. How much of the food experience was from cost cutting or the chef, is pretty difficult to discern. Dated/worn furniture is cost cutting if the ships aren’t going into dry dock with the new ownership. That does not sound like building up a brand. Reading Riocca’s telling of the impressive communication from the captain is, IMO, how it should be when sailings change. On any line. Without That, it leaves too much room for speculation and dissatisfaction. Reading Ethel6666 experience, it sounds as if the opposite occurred with respect to communication. It truly sounds like a very disappointing and honestly, quite an unacceptable response from Azamara (10% credit for a future cruise), after all that occurred throughout that sailing. That would not entice me to sail on that line again. It would be reassuring to hear more about what the new ownership is doing to either keep the reputation at the level Azamara was when they purchased the line, or what they are doing to bring it up (other than the purchase from Princess). That said, my Thanks for all who are sharing their stories on this thread. They are helpful.

Wow. That would not have left us with a positive attitude, and 10% would not have produced a satisfactory outcome. Might I ask where your itinerary took place? Not that it should make a difference, but I am curious. I am truly sorry that you experienced this.

Curious as well.

That would not be the only reason we would look to book concierge class. Other benefits may be worth it, with this being an added bonus - but it sure wouldn’t be my only reason for booking.

The trip we had booked to sail next month, and had to cancel due to medical, is 28% higher than we booked it for if we were to sail it next year at the same time. In my mind, that is not a small increase. The other itineraries we are looking at for next year are not small % increases either, just since pricing offered in February this year. I guess cheers to SB if they keep filling the ships with these increases.

Simply worthless is sounding like a significant and justified concern. It certainly cements the simply more aka price increase argument. These threads truly give pause for a potential first time customer……and sounds like potentially to those experienced O travelers.

Excellent advice host Jazzbeau! Thank you very much for this information! Makes perfect sense!

Thanks for this further detail. Pretty sure having more comfortable seating would be a bonus, but all things equal, itinerary wins out. Absolutely your extensive O experience, and now recent A journey is valuable. I appreciated that part as well!

Thank you harrodsfan for your perspective. I appreciate that you are not necessarily brand specific. We’ve sailed on the larger ships in the past, and HAL back when they had smaller ships. Large ships are not what we care to experience now (grandkids might impact that claim!). We like the opportunity to get into smaller ports with fewer people. When on SB we found ourselves several times as the only ship, and their tendering process was so smooth it was a non issue. It is encouraging to read the stand out qualities you called out with Azamara…servers can make your meals great memories!

Thank you for your responses. I know that A is a favorite line of yours, and that you have a lot of experiences with many trips on Azamara. You make some valid points. The times in port and overnights are part of what is attracting us to the itineraries we are looking at. (Viking does not, and never has, posted port times, where O seems to be missing on hitting those posted times too frequently). We will likely upgrade the drinks package. The only time we did not need to was on SB last year. We enjoy nice wines, so hopefully that opens up the selection on A, or offers discounts on bottles. I haven’t yet looked into that piece. We very much enjoyed the all included (except excursions) on SB. The food, service, the itinerary, the officers presence, the layout of the stateroom (superb) - so we will keep our search within their options (only depending on future sales in the next few months), as well as Azamara and Oceania. All three have itineraries I have written down and am looking at. It’s good to know that you feel Sycamore is not degrading the brand. I did read that speculation at the time.

Thank you for sharing this. We too steered clear from sailing, until last Spring. Like you, I am finding some very attractive itineraries on A…..which is what prompted these questions. I am sure you would not have re-booked on A of your past experiences did not warrant it. I hope you enjoy your Eastern Seaboard trip….that is one we have not yet done.

Thank you for this comparison. I’ve ’talked with you” over on the O board. I genuinely appreciate this comparison. I wondered about the layout on the two different cabins/lines as it seemed to be less inviting on A with that big chair and a desk chair, rather than couch. Strange choices IMO. Not a deal breaker by any means, but good to know. I am glad to hear about the overall experience being, as an Oceania go to person, one that you would come back to the brand. That speaks volumes. Thank you for the bullet point comparisons in this response.

Wow. This is really Interesting. When do the new season launches generally occur with SB?

I have not been on the Azamara board for quite a long while. We had to cancel our first booked cruise due to high Covid concerns. Since then we sailed on Seabourn and really loved our experience with them, so much that we booked onboard a cruise for next month. Once again, we had to cancel due to a medical situation. So now I am researching for a trip next Apr/May. The most recent “sale” with SB is actually a very large price increase. So much so that I am now looking at other lines (ie: same itinerary we were to sail next month is up 28%). We are also considering a land trip across the pond for the first time in years, as it is clear that Azamara, as well as Oceania, and definitely Viking, have bumped up considerably as well. We realize that this is occurring across the industry, and will likely continue until the point that consumers change directions (which may, or may not occur anytime soon). We don’t care about ship excursions, so that baked in price on Viking (after multiple sailings in the past), is off the table. I keep reading on Oceania about the reduced port times, and skipped ports, so much more than any other line that I look at. We sail for itinerary as well as line, so this is concerning. I just perused this morning the Azamara board. I am reading a lot about cost cutting, raised package prices on drinks and internet, cheap furniture that hasn’t been replaced on Journey, Azamara Evenings being a party on board now, and overall concerns around how the new ownership may be devaluing the brand. With Azamara (Or Oceania R) we would book entry level suite due to bathroom size (I know, not worth it to many, but it’s what we would do). We see several itineraries of interest next year, which is what is drawing me back to this board. So I am curious. A lot of you have spent so much time on Azamara over the years. Do you see the value proposition still there for Azamara over similar competitors in the premium/luxury category? What do you see in the current service/price model that makes Azamara the best fit (or not) for travelers who like to enjoy cocktails before dinner, are not focused on entertainment, enjoy spending time on their balcony at times, enjoy maximizing port times, DIY in port mostly, and have a taste for good food (and wine)? I thank you in advance.

I completely agree with you - the immersive experience of traveling on land far exceeds a day or two in port. We love partaking in those options. We did so more in the past than recent years. With all these changes in travel price structures, I am starting to look at the possibility of a country/region specific area in Europe on land in three different regions. I am also looking a two other cruise lines as well as SB, where I was pretty set on SB prior to this latest increase. When we do cruise, we don’t take ship excursions….we prefer DIY or Private, and we ALWAYS carve out time to just sit in a local place, drink a local beer or wine along with local cuisine, and just take it all in, without a time limit. I realize from experience that it is not the same as DIY land travel. We also prefer DIY land over tour land travel, however. As the years go by, land travel can present challenges that weren’t a big deal before (schlepping bags from hotel to hotel, on and off trains, ferries, etc). So I guess there are certainly tradeoffs as tours are going to assist with that, but if we decide on land next year, we will DIY with home bases as we’ve done in the past. I just looked at one of the itineraries I had a screenshot on from Feb 25, for sailing late May ‘2025. It’s gone up again! Almost $6k more now on a 14 day itinerary. Ugh. Questioneverything, you nailed it. We are all very fortunate here on CC to have had, and to plan, the travel memories that we do!

Hawaii used to be a ‘go to’ easy trip from where we live. We crossed that destination off our list years back for these reasons. Hawaii is not, in our opinion, worth these prices. Some of the itineraries we are looking at need to be done by ship, but the one I shared pricing on we could see and enjoy immensely (Adriatic) by land for the most part. Europe would offer excellent options at a lower price point than this, no doubt. When we stayed in Venice last Spring we had a lovely suite, with fantastic balcony overlooking the Lagoon, without worrying about what we spent on food and drink for way less than these prices. So, it does have us talking. We enjoy all the advantages of land travel that Robisan, Sunprince, & texanaust point out. The big advantage on cruising is the unpacking once, and visiting places more difficult to navigate by land. Markandji, absolutely agree! We too, have those stamp to memory, get into your heart safari memories. One of the best ever trips. And yes, we’ve said a couple times “we could go on another safari” for these prices! But damn. We do love to cruise!

I sure hope that after this current promotion, prices might settle back down a bit. I am not counting on it, but I am sure hoping. We had to cancel a cruise next month due to medical. Looking at the same itinerary for April 2025, and the pricing has gone to $1,414 per person per day, from $1,022 per person per day. That is pretty huge in my estimation. Yes, a couple other lines I am watching have certainly increased their prices as well. It’s happening everywhere. These price points, and this steep % increase over a 12 month period, for these geographies, could tend to push customers down market. It may very well be a pie a in the sky wish that prices go back down, but current pricing might be out of reach for some comfort levels.