Europe 2012 Very dissapointing

[CintiPam]

Personally I cannot see a younger demographic choosing Oceania -- the younger crowd wants to party and O ships are not party ships.

 

O is not competing with Carnival. By younger, I mean under 60 (those who still need to work for a living and may have limited vacation time and discretionary funds), not under 30!:D

[pacheco18]

LOL Under 60! Really young for Oceania.

[orchestrapal]

O is not competing with Carnival. By younger, I mean under 60 (those who still need to work for a living and may have limited vacation time and discretionary funds), not under 30!:D

 

You'll also start seeing chilren.:(

[pacheco18]

You'll also start seeing chilren.:(

 

OMG. That would be a game changer. However, I think the lack of a children's program of any kind would still make O undesirable for families with younger children.

 

I'm not sure I am liking where this is going . . . .

 

Shorter cruises

Boring and repetitive ports

Changing demographic

Kids

 

Any other bad news out there? LOL

[flyerfan22]

Not only are the cruises shorter, but they seem WAY more expensive. In 2010, we sailed from Amsterdam to London, 12 days, for under $5000 (we booked our own air). 12 day British Isles cruise for 2012 is $7348 without air (same cabin). I can't figure out why such a drastic increase in price. Time to start researching other lines. So very sad....

 

P.S. We've been on 2 Oceania cruises, and loved them both, and we are from the under 40 age group.

[pacheco18]

Although we may not all be feeling it, the economy is improving. The wonderful cruise deals that were available for the past few years are gone. All the lines have increased fares -- I think they now feel comfortable doing so aa people seem more willing to spend and cruises are selling out.

 

It remains to be seen whether the higher fares will lead to vacant staterooms and last minute bargains or price drops.

[Mura]

The recent comments here are talking about price increases in the last year or two, but those of us who have been cruising on Renaissance, THEN Oceania ... those increases have been steady and regular.

 

Not saying I like them!

 

But it is nothing new.

 

I know some passengers we used to encounter regularly who have said that O is pricing them out ...

 

And I don't see them anymore, so I guess they were.

 

Mura

[A Knitter]

LOL Under 60! Really young for Oceania.

 

Whew!!!!!!!!! Thanks Laraine. Just made it under the wire:D

[MomC]

Let me be a ray of sunshine among all the doom and gloom. I have read every post and I understand your concerns, BUT we were thrilled to get our brochure on March 16 as we were told we would on our Marina Inaugural cruise in February.

 

The itinerary we wanted for 2012 (since our travel plans include two other cruises in 2011--on other lines with friends who can't afford O)--includes Ireland and Scotland. It's a once a year itinerary and since Ireland is the primary reason we wanted this itinerary, we were thrilled to see that it will spend 5 days in Ireland, up from 4 in 2011. Guess who booked today--AND upgraded from concierge to PH??? Guilty!

 

We had seriously considered a Tauck Tour in Ireland (we have done 2 in the past and enjoyed them very much), BUT while you get 14 days in Ireland, you stay at 7 different hotels. That's our main complaint with land tours. I concede that you get more of the local culture with land trips, but we have decided that ANY cruise on the Marina is such a bonus that we will sacrifice one type of culture for another. We loved every aspect of the Marina.

 

I have to agree that Western Med cruises become very repetitive. I couldn't find any Western Med itineraries that were not 90% ports we have already been to. However, that is because we have been on several Western and Eastern, and Baltic cruises. DANG!! It's time for us to consider S. America and Asia--not really on my bucket list.

 

Marina was our first cruise on Oceania--and they did everything right! We have retired our interest in Crystal, Regent and Seabourne (although we have sailed once on each)--unless we are treated in a totally different manner, we are now "lifers" on O. Thanks, Oceania, for your attention to detail, fantastic food, even better service; oh, did I mention food?

 

Mom C

[Imagineer]

...last year I brought up this topic and it generated a fair amount of discussion then, our last med cruise was 12 days and our next is a 10 day affair, which has become the common length for such an itinerary, unfortunately it appears that this is the wave of the future. Our TA indicated that almost all med cruises will be this long from now on and it's not just about the age of your clientele but has to do with attracting those who are still in the work force, they can take a two week vacation that allows the cruise and trip over and back, all within that time frame. I guess you could blame it on our society being so full of workaholics...

...like you, my wife and I are rather disappointed in this change, as someone said, you just get used to being on board and its time to leave. On our next trip we're going to go for a 2 or 3 week road trip through Italy prior to the cruise, so the cruise itself will be the grand finale, we thought it would make it seem a bit more special that way...

...seems to me that there's a lot of changes taking place in the cruise industry that seem to be driven only by the almighty bottom line, without really having a conversation with those who have become your customer base, a bit of a precarious undertaking in my opinion, as it could come back to haunt them...

 

cheers,

 

the Imagineer

[pacheco18]

Whew!!!!!!!!! Thanks Laraine. Just made it under the wire:D

 

 

And you look mahvelous dahling!

[dwelsh]

Reading this thread after all the exuberant ones on the debut of Marina is a big "downer" to this "O" cheerleader and CC'er.

 

Having the means to take advantage of the fine offerings of "O" is not something every floater in this world has. But, as my neighbor, Bruin Steve so succinctly states, it's like ice cream packaging. You get the same taste, the same quality but a lot less for your $$. As the per diem rate increases one has to make closer comparisons to the other luxe lines which, for a fare very close to "O", in many cases, include wines and beverages, which are becoming more "affordable."

 

So far as the 10 day schedules, it would appear to me that the appeal of "O" to the Euro zone is being made by them. I agree that going to Europe for a 10 day vacation is not something I would want to do. Well, we will see how the new scheduling and pricing plays out.

[LAexNY]

Let me be a ray of sunshine among all the doom and gloom. I have read every post and I understand your concerns, BUT we were thrilled to get our brochure on March 16 as we were told we would on our Marina Inaugural cruise in February.

 

The itinerary we wanted for 2012 (since our travel plans include two other cruises in 2011--on other lines with friends who can't afford O)--includes Ireland and Scotland. It's a once a year itinerary and since Ireland is the primary reason we wanted this itinerary, we were thrilled to see that it will spend 5 days in Ireland, up from 4 in 2011. Guess who booked today--AND upgraded from concierge to PH??? Guilty!

 

Mom C

 

No, you're not the only one who is not complaining. We also booked the British Isles Legends and are looking forward to it - our 10th Oceania cruise.

[chicagogal]

I have to agree that Western Med cruises become very repetitive. I couldn't find any Western Med itineraries that were not 90% ports we have already been to. However, that is because we have been on several Western and Eastern, and Baltic cruises. DANG!! It's time for us to consider S. America and Asia--not really on my bucket list.

 

 

Try S America and Asia - you are bound to love both!

[meow!]

The recent comments here are talking about price increases in the last year or two, but those of us who have been cruising on Renaissance, THEN Oceania ... those increases have been steady and regular.

 

I know some passengers we used to encounter regularly who have said that O is pricing them out ...

 

And I don't see them anymore, so I guess they were.

They have raised fares so much through the years (see our earlier post on this thread). Time and again through the years, we have cautioned against over-expansion, and it is like talking in the wilderness. Now with tripling capacity, and at a time of turmoil resulting in skyrocketing oil prices, and earthquake cum nuclear disaster, unfortunately about the worst timing possible.

[caribbeansun]

I seriously doubt any cruise line prepared their pricing for 2012 taking into account the Libyan upheaval or the terrible situation in Japan that occurred last week and I frankly can't understand their inclusion here.

 

I too am a bit disappointed with the increasing per diem rates and it is making us look at alternatives such as a land/river cruise/land combination for 2012 and this after our 2010 O cruise was arguably our best experience to date but at some point you do have to look at the finances.

 

What I find particularly curious are the more subtle changes that O is making that make the overall product less and less desirable for our chosen manner of traveling.

 

- Air credits that are without a doubt NOT equal to the cost of air. We used to use miles for flights and take the deduction to reduce our costs

 

- included shuttles. We mostly to do private tours so that adds cost for something we won't use

 

- and the latest one - included one night stay at a hotel for Europe. We often fly in 5-7 days in advance and use Starwood points for our hotels pre and post cruise. Now if we wish to go to Europe we have pay for a hotel night in a hotel we have no interest in using. Based on previous pricing for hotels I'm guessing this alone added $400-$500 per person to the quoted fares for 2012. Who asked for this?

 

Personally I just don't get it - why force all these additional costs onto everyone? In our eyes it just makes O less competitive compared to all the other options available to us.

[jjeffjb]

I also prefer 14 or more day cruises. But, there are some benefits to shorter itineraries. Oceania's reward program is based on number of cruises. Our plan for summer 2012 is four B2B cruises, that's 47 days. As this will be our 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th O cruise, that means included gratuities and $400. OBC for each cruise, plus a 5% discount for booking B2B. That's serious cash. So, rather than going from a 14 day cruise to a 10 day, why not go from a 14 day to two B2B 10 day cruises. The trick is finding 2 or more B2B cruises with itineraries that interest you.

 

Word has it that Oceania was selling on March 16 at a record pace.

[pacheco18]

 

Word has it that Oceania was selling on March 16 at a record pace.

 

 

The Riviera Inaugural is far from sold out.

The Marina Inaugural sold out in 3 minutes!

[TERRIER1]

- Air credits that are without a doubt NOT equal to the cost of air. We used to use miles for flights and take the deduction to reduce our costs

 

- included shuttles. We mostly to do private tours so that adds cost for something we won't use

 

- and the latest one - included one night stay at a hotel for Europe. We often fly in 5-7 days in advance and use Starwood points for our hotels pre and post cruise. Now if we wish to go to Europe we have pay for a hotel night in a hotel we have no interest in using. Based on previous pricing for hotels I'm guessing this alone added $400-$500 per person to the quoted fares for 2012. Who asked for this?

 

Personally I just don't get it - why force all these additional costs onto everyone? In our eyes it just makes O less competitive compared to all the other options available to us.

 

I am in the process of booking a 2012 Oceania cruise in Europe. You get a $249 pp hotle credit and our case $1125 pp air credit (JFK to BCN) if you do not partake of these "perks".

 

We are new to cruising and this will be out 5th O cruise. I have to admit it was difficult to find an itinerary we wanted and hadn't already gone to even for us newbies. I think in 2013 we will take a land cooking/course. The prices for O are increasing steadily and I love the product but will look elsewhere.

[caribbeansun]

Thanks for the information - last cruise I rec'd a quote for air credit was Toronto to San Fran and it was only $200 pp.

 

I am in the process of booking a 2012 Oceania cruise in Europe. You get a $249 pp hotle credit and our case $1125 pp air credit (JFK to BCN) if you do not partake of these "perks".

 

We are new to cruising and this will be out 5th O cruise. I have to admit it was difficult to find an itinerary we wanted and hadn't already gone to even for us newbies. I think in 2013 we will take a land cooking/course. The prices for O are increasing steadily and I love the product but will look elsewhere.

[pacheco18]

Air credit is wholly dependent on distance involved.

$200 from Toronto to SF might be right.

Regardless, the amount is miniscule, and the business class upgrades on O are ridiculously overpriced.

 

The hotel credit is 250 pp - this was an additional feature that they could have done without.

 

I hope FDR is paying as much attention to this thread as he has to the glowing comments about Marina. I love O and want to continue to make her my cruise line of choice, but there are other options. I have 2 more O cruises to go and I truly hope there will be more after that.

[potterhill]

- Air credits that are without a doubt NOT equal to the cost of air. We used to use miles for flights and take the deduction to reduce our costs

 

- included shuttles. We mostly to do private tours so that adds cost for something we won't use

 

- and the latest one - included one night stay at a hotel for Europe. We often fly in 5-7 days in advance and use Starwood points for our hotels pre and post cruise. Now if we wish to go to Europe we have pay for a hotel night in a hotel we have no interest in using. Based on previous pricing for hotels I'm guessing this alone added $400-$500 per person to the quoted fares for 2012. Who asked for this?

 

 

Flying from Canada you would be hard pressed to get air credits anywhere near the cost of booking a regular flight. At least that has been our experience. On one of our TA's the cheapest flight I could find was almost 2X what we paid for the 14 day cruise, including flights, accommodation, and all meals.

 

We don't have lots of points as we don't travel for work. Takes us years to get enough to take a flight and then our kids come begging and there go the points!

 

The hotel is great for people who don't do deviation but we want more than 1 night prior so have done deviation except for our first cruise when we didn't know any better! We will probably not use this hotel as we would never pay that much for our hotel unless we had to, and I am lazy and don't want to move hotels.

 

I think from Oceania's point of view it will mostly eliminate dealing with late arrivals and so is probably cost effective for them. Has to be a pretty big delay to be 24 hours late.

 

Since we often do our own thing in ports, shuttles are something we may or may not use. Lots of people don't do tours in every port.

 

Not defending O here, but just pointing out that the things that have no value for you may for others.

 

Mo

[RJB]

Disappointed in the 2012 itineraries. Probably look for another line.

Not trying to bad mouth O, as they have been our cruise line of choice for the past 6 years, but they have made a complete u turn from what they have been. What we loved so much about them they no longer are. Cost has gone up alot and itineraries are no longer exciting. Do they think that they can fool us with smoke and mirrors? :mad:

[flyerfan22]

O has been our cruiseline of choice for both of our europe cruises. In the past, I didn't seriously consider any other line. I considered O to be affordable luxury. Not the mass market cruise, and not super expensive luxury cruise like many other small lines in Europe. Now, pricing is more inline with higher priced luxury offerings, so I will look elsewhere before booking my next O cruise. I love O, but not $7000 worth for 12 nights.

[Aruba]

You'll also start seeing chilren.:(

"Oh Shane, say it ain't so!" :eek: