Oceania not bother answering emailed queries??

Hello,

I am wondering if this is the norm for Oceania? I emailed several queries to them a few days ago specifying an email response - but get called during a meeting today from a travel adviser who later emails but has no response to my queries.

So they passed on my details but not my queries to him - and when i replied by email that i had sent a few queries and wanted them replied by email - nothing back.

Is this the norm for oceania- just incompetence and bad service? Have to say as someone looking at them for the first time- not getting a warm feeling.

thanks

I found you are better off phoning them but not sure where you would have to call

The email process could take weeks to get a reply

Do you have a TA that you used or using for the cruise?

thanks - but i like things in writing so that companies like oceania - cannot back out of what they have agreed to.

i don't have a TA - based in europe and TA's are not really part of the culture for my generation- as we travel a lot so are used to making online queries and bookings- but then that's with companies who bother to reply and respect the customer.

it seems from what you are saying Oceania does not respect it's customers and so dosen't bother replying for weeks - if ever.

we were trying to decide between Oceania and other options - but seems Oceania is premium in price only and not customer service.

thanks - that makes up my mind up.

I have found that Oceania responds fairly quickly to specific issues and problems that arise. However, if one is making general comments that relate to specific Oceania practices or policies, they don’t attempt to respond to them all.

Since we don’t know the nature of your comments, we can’t really address the issue. Likewise, as stated above, if you booked via a TA your comments should be addressed via that TA to Oceania, not directly.

thanks - but they were specific queries related to a specific cruise - and the norm for an online query i would think is 48hrs response - norm with most companies.

if people say it takes weeks- then i am old school in how companies treat their customers- and think that is both disrespectful and incompetent.

Was the person that called not able to answer your questions ?

I have had no response for other companies I do business with sometimes it will take a week to get a reply

In this new age everyone wants to do business by text/email etc

& want the answers yesterday

Just saying

thanks - but i like things in writing so that companies like oceania - cannot back out of what they have agreed to.

 

i don't have a TA - based in europe and TA's are not really part of the culture for my generation- as we travel a lot so are used to making online queries and bookings- but then that's with companies who bother to reply and respect the customer.

 

it seems from what you are saying Oceania does not respect it's customers and so dosen't bother replying for weeks - if ever.

 

we were trying to decide between Oceania and other options - but seems Oceania is premium in price only and not customer service.

 

thanks - that makes up my mind up.

I am glad that you were able to resolve your dilemma so quickly and now you know which cruise lines to avoid.

It’s good to have clarity in one’s decisions.

i requested the information by email as a. i was in meetings and do not want to spend 30 mins on a call to someone trying to upset me - and b. and like things in writing - there is no confusion or back stepping then.

from a business perspective if a company does not reply to something then i assume they don't want my business as i take it elsewhere.

the person left a message and an email for me to call him- i replied i would like my answers by email.

i don't want the answers yesterday- but most companies have a 48-72 hr max turnaround on queries- it's monitored and measured.-- unless it doesn't matter to them- with Oceania it obviously does not matter to them.

they are happy to distribute my personal detail to a sales man who wants to waste 30 mins of my time trying to upsell me junk i don't want- but won't answer my queries.

thanks all- made up my mind on oceania.

I received an automated response to my email, but never received the promised response from a person.

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I am glad that you were able to resolve your dilemma so quickly and now you know which cruise lines to avoid.

It’s good to have clarity in one’s decisions.

I really think lot of folks don’t realize going through a TA can save you hours of grief 99.9 percent of time they can get the same fate. And trust me agent spend hours on some problems or questions with cruise lines to give the client the product there looking for. A good TA will often know the answers better then the cruise ship call center that pays min wage for folks that aren’t into traveling or just there to read off the screen. Much cruise lines often on there advertisements say call your TA for reservations.

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then the company don't care about responding to you - as do not monitor it. do you want to give your money to that company?

if you are a customer - if you are trying to sell into that company it is different.

it's basic math when monitored- x emails queries received - y answered within agreed timeframe, z answered outside - most large organisations there is software in place monitoring it and giving out weekly reports to a head of customer relations type person - y+ z must always equal x mails received.

usually the software identifies the number outside agreed timeframes and the objective is to respond to e.g. above 95% within timeframes.

but i digress - thanks all- If oceania - with the size of their organisation take weeks to respond- then I am happy to take my money elsewhere - as what that tells me is that they have more than enough customers- so they can treat them badly - and not care if they lose some.

Posted in error

I really think lot of folks don’t realize going through a TA can save you hours of grief 99.9 percent of time they can get the same fate. And trust me agent spend hours on some problems or questions with cruise lines to give the client the product there looking for. A good TA will often know the answers better then the cruise ship call center that pays min wage for folks that aren’t into traveling or just there to read off the screen. Much cruise lines often on there advertisements say call your TA for reservations.

 

 

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You are preaching to the choir :) I take full advantage of my TA.

You should have given this advice to OP but I don’t think he is open to this option :)

Hello,

 

I am wondering if this is the norm for Oceania? I emailed several queries to them a few days ago specifying an email response - but get called during a meeting today from a travel adviser who later emails but has no response to my queries.

 

So they passed on my details but not my queries to him - and when i replied by email that i had sent a few queries and wanted them replied by email - nothing back.

 

Is this the norm for oceania- just incompetence and bad service? Have to say as someone looking at them for the first time- not getting a warm feeling.

 

thanks

We had a similar experience. I wanted to see what was offered on Oceania so had to put down my phone number to accomplish this....I knew it would be most likely that I would receive a "marketing" phone call.

When the agent from Oceania called I told her that I had a TA and she was very nice about it and said she would note that on my file so that I would not receive any more phone calls. She did answer the questions I had, told me to contact her anytime and also suggested I first make a booking via her that could then be turned over to my TA.

Several days later I sent her an email with several questions and never did get any response.

From this experience I am assuming that Ocenaia's agents are just booking agents and not customer service agents. It appears that if you want answers to questions you must go through your TA or I have found CC gets you the fastest and most accurate answers.:D

I do not attribute this to incompetence and bad service from Oceania. I have not contacted all the cruise lines but I found that the ones I did contact all worked in a similar manner- agents rather than customer service available to answer questions.

Having contacted "customer service" agents at other cruise lines I find that "customer service" agents do not always give you accurate information and if you hang up and call back speaking with several agents you will possibly receive a different answer from each one. Sending emails to cruise lines has never resulted in responses...possibly as you have said because they do have many customers and do not feel the need to provide this service to attract more.

There are many cruise lines out there and many ways to book cruises online but from the reviews getting answers via email results in many negative comments. I hear what you are saying about TAs not being part of your generation's culture. I doubt I am of your generation but find doing my own research, comparing cruises and options available then contacting my TA has resulted in a very positive outcome: everything from quick email responses to my questions to price reductions via her efforts with a cruise line to solving any problems that arise. I continue to monitor my cruises and feel I still have control.

I hope you find the cruise line that works best for you as cruising is a wonderful way to travel.:)

Thanks DJS - good to know I am not alone being ignored by Oceania.

I think possibly one of the other differences with TA's is that as european based they do not have the same deals on offer as being offered by use based travel agents. the idea of regional pricing is really quite shocking compared side by side for same room on a ship - and the obc offered by use ta.

hence using TAs in europe results in even further costs on top of increased europe based costs e.g. same oceania cruise i just looked at can be booked by a use resident for about 1000 less than I can - same room - same cruise - same included items.

I really think lot of folks don’t realize going through a TA can save you hours of grief 99.9 percent of time they can get the same fate. And trust me agent spend hours on some problems or questions with cruise lines to give the client the product there looking for. A good TA will often know the answers better then the cruise ship call center that pays min wage for folks that aren’t into traveling or just there to read off the screen. Much cruise lines often on there advertisements say call your TA for reservations.

 

 

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Agreed.

Further, many TAs can give rebates on fares.

not in europe and not on companies like oceania that insist on regional based pricing.

not in europe and not on companies like oceania that insist on regional based pricing.

So use an American TA.

Your English seems fine...

i don't think you understand = most USA ta's are forbidden by companies they deal with selling to non USA residents.

they declare you can have your booking voided. its a problem european and austral;ian too face when booking cruise lines. many including oceania have different pricing models for different geo regions.

so the european couple in the cabin next to you may be forced to pay double as that is the pricing structure set up for european based residents booking.

it's a real annoyance for other geo area travellers - e,g, see the 70 pages on one thread on trip advisor

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowTopic-g1-i10703-k3350647-Regional_pricing_at_what_cost-Cruises.html

it's not something usa based residents face usually as the use companies skew it in their favour

i don't think you understand = most USA ta's are forbidden by companies they deal with selling to non USA residents.

 

they declare you can have your booking voided. its a problem european and austral;ian too face when booking cruise lines. many including oceania have different pricing models for different geo regions.

 

so the european couple in the cabin next to you may be forced to pay double as that is the pricing structure set up for european based residents booking.

 

it's a real annoyance for other geo area travellers - e,g, see the 70 pages on one thread on trip advisor

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowTopic-g1-i10703-k3350647-Regional_pricing_at_what_cost-Cruises.html

 

it's not something usa based residents face usually as the use companies skew it in their favour

I'm in Canada; I've used US-based TAs for years. Oceania, NCL, Lindblad... cruises, all-inclusives, hotels etc.

You are overthinking this.

it's not over thinking when you can't use certain websites - as in your non north america address is not accepted when trying to book

do you think the 70 pages of people on trip advisor are " over thinking"

i don't think you understand = most USA ta's are forbidden by companies they deal with selling to non USA residents.

 

they declare you can have your booking voided. its a problem european and austral;ian too face when booking cruise lines. many including oceania have different pricing models for different geo regions.

 

so the european couple in the cabin next to you may be forced to pay double as that is the pricing structure set up for european based residents booking.

 

it's a real annoyance for other geo area travellers - e,g, see the 70 pages on one thread on trip advisor

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowTopic-g1-i10703-k3350647-Regional_pricing_at_what_cost-Cruises.html

 

it's not something usa based residents face usually as the use companies skew it in their favour

Bob is correct, TA can’t book for other countries if cruise line have there own fair structure for other countries. The exchange rate.and govt refs play big part of it. It is sad that many cruise do what ever they can to make fairs so restrictive. My mother has owned a travel agency for over 40 years in San Francisco Bay Area. I don’t work there as I chose to go into the ship management / repair field 30 years ago. But have helped her out and see how they spend hours on the phone with the cruise booking department explaining to the sales folks what they advertise but know , they all seem to hire new kids on the block and get trained by the TAs

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thanks SFB.

Yes the geo blocking and regional pricing models in favour of north americans by cruise lines specifically is reason it is very expensive for europeans on certain lines like oceania.

so i can look on my euro website and have another page opened on the USA website - and the difference is just maddening- double and more sometimes.

so for me to take a cruise from two hours down the road - european starting and based cruise - it's usually a lot more expensive for me than the american couple flying into europe for it.

if you american cruisers think about that in reverse - if i was given special rates as a european resident for a cruise starting in miami- that you as a USA based resident had to pay double for.?? how would you feel??

for europeans it;s probably even more annoying as one of the centre points of the european union is free movement of people, goods , services.

I really think lot of folks don’t realize going through a TA can save you hours of grief 99.9 percent of time they can get the same fate. And trust me agent spend hours on some problems or questions with cruise lines to give the client the product there looking for. A good TA will often know the answers better then the cruise ship call center that pays min wage for folks that aren’t into traveling or just there to read off the screen. Much cruise lines often on there advertisements say call your TA for reservations.

 

 

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I think US travel agents may be different. Much more attuned to the needs of the customer and price themselves much better due to competition. I used a travel agent once for a cruise and I knew more about the ship having done my research.

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thanks SFB.

 

 

 

Yes the geo blocking and regional pricing models in favour of north americans by cruise lines specifically is reason it is very expensive for europeans on certain lines like oceania.

 

 

 

so i can look on my euro website and have another page opened on the USA website - and the difference is just maddening- double and more sometimes.

 

 

 

so for me to take a cruise from two hours down the road - european starting and based cruise - it's usually a lot more expensive for me than the american couple flying into europe for it.

 

 

 

if you american cruisers think about that in reverse - if i was given special rates as a european resident for a cruise starting in miami- that you as a USA based resident had to pay double for.?? how would you feel??

 

 

 

for europeans it;s probably even more annoying as one of the centre points of the european union is free movement of people, goods , services.

If you think a cruise is good value then book. If not, then don’t book. The pricing changes constantly - although I think US travellers do get better deals and also have better cancellation terms. EU customers, in theory, have better consumer protection but I think the cruise ship lobbyists have insulated the industry from some of the more consumer friendly regulation such as the airlines have to do.

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