Oceania - You're Fired!

[LHT28]

Do cruise lines refund port fees for missed ports?

We have missed 2 ports but another was substituted for 1 & I cannot recall if we got a refund on the other. Maybe an OBC

[rallydave]

An excellent question. We have only missed a very few ports on our cruises but I don't recall having those fees refunded. They might have been and we didn't notice, but I rather doubt it.

 

Mura

 

It really depends on the cruise line, the reason for missing the port, if the port fees were separately collected or buried in the cruise fare and other situations.

 

Have had it refunded and have not had it refunded. As I understand a court ruling in Florida, taxes and fees have to be paid to the Government entity so if the port fees are specified for your cruise and you don't stop at a particular port, they fees aren't paid to the port and must be refunded.

 

As to Oceania and Regent (both under PCH and Apollo). From experience and numberous posts, these cruise lines rarely if ever make any refunds and port fees are not separately delineated on your invoice so there is no legal reason for them to be refunded so don't expect to see any refund on Oceania for missed ports.

[Master Echo]

Have just read your comments regarding your cruise, and your inability to receive a reply from "Management".

 

We have done two cruises with Oceania, and whilst the crew are all delightful, the food is good, and service virtually exemplary, we would think twice about choosing Oceania for another cruise. Since our last cruise, we have done two Silversea, and have just returned from Azamara Quest to the Adriatic and the Dalmatian coast.

 

We think the attitude of the senior ships staff, in particular the Purser on our last Nautica cruise, leaves a lot to be desired and is hardly customer focused. We had an issue with visa charges which were automatically charged to our onboard account, which were not necessary - day trip visitor to Egypt do not need visas. After returning home, posting exactly what had transpired on CC, Oceania eventually retracted and future cruisers were not charged. However despite writing to Frank Del Rio and another of his henchmen, we never got a reply.

 

This is symptomatic of a cruise line being owned by a hedge fund, where profit is king, and every last nickel and dime is inveigled out of passengers. Was horrified to read on this thread - what appears to be their latest money making trick - charging a surcharge for "small parties" on shorexs, when they must know that one of the main reasons so many people are put off partaking of ships tours, is the amount of people who have to be herded on and off coaches etc.

 

Furthermore, it is blatantly obvious that fewer and fewer Americans are travelling at the moment, and as Oceania purports to be mainly targeted toward the American market, one would have thought they would have treated loyal passengers in a better fashion. Insignia is being chartered to Hapag Lloyd from April 2012 for a period of two years - surely a sign that with their two new ships, Oceania are having trouble filling a five ship fleet.

 

If you like Oceania's ships, try Azamara Quest or Azamara Journey! We just did - August 6th - Quest to compare with Oceania, because the ships are basically the same, and to see how the ships were run. They are a much nicer bunch of ships officers and management. They even throw a cocktail party for Cruise Critics' passengers if they have more than 25 onboard!

 

Happy future cruising

 

Master Echo

[Mura]

Agreed, Dave. The only missed port I can recall is from our 2003 Panama Canal cruise, and that was a port that we were told is often missed due to weather (San Blas). Unfortunately it was the ONE port we really wanted to see! But such is life.

 

And no, we didn't think to ask for a refund of those fees either.

 

I can't remember any other missed ports ... well, other than Libya in November 2005! But we knew about those in advance ... One caveat: those without internet access to the various lists did not, though, and they were NOT warned in advance. There wasn't even a sign in the lobby at check-in which I did find shocking.

 

Mura

 

P.S. In looking at Dave's initial post it looks like I missed some of it, but that's okay! We weren't worried about fees in a port where the natives greet you by canoe ...

[raffeer]

I would doubt that the port refunds fees to the cruise line if the ship does not dock there due to weather.

[rallydave]

I do have a suggestion that will either get you a reply or a refund. Put part of your payments into disputes with your credit card company. Depending on who your credit card company is, you could even put your final payment into disputes. Or you could part of your payments into disputes equal to the money you expect should be refunded to you.

 

Oceania has to respond or the full amount in disputes will be refunded to you. If they do respond, it will probably be filled with BS which you can further dispute. If the credit card company does not get a response in a reasonable amount of time, they will credit your account. And if they do respond, at least you will see why they are not providing any compensation. If enough people do this, maybe Oceania (and Regent) management will think twice before failing to respond directly to the customer.

 

Hope you get what you deserve.

[Hunding]

LOL!

 

 

P.S. In looking at Dave's initial post it looks like I missed some of it, but that's okay! We weren't worried about fees in a port where the natives greet you by canoe ...

 

I wanna go to these ports!

[Mura]

Yes, we did, too.

 

And they had wonderful hand embroidered textiles for sale ... my best friend form college grew up in the Canal Zone and she had some of those! The lecturer on board talked about them ...

 

But alas ...

[Ms Understood]

In 14 cruises we have only missed one port (knock wood): Helsinki with Regent. We were not offered and did not expect to be, any kind of refund. Never occurred to me to ask about port fees.

--------------------

Helen

[RandB_Toronto]

Given that it is a military installation, though, Im sure they arent as concerned about the motion sickness of their passengers as O and others would be...

The difficulty in tendering in rough weather does not have anything to do with passengers becoming sick. A small tender will bounce around while the ship does not so stepping from one to the other becomes very dangerous, especially for older passengers. (And many of O's passengers do tend to be older!) The company wants to avoid accidents, which I think is very reasonable.

[RetiredFL]

Missing ports is part of the cruise experience.

We have missed Mykonos due to high winds, the port for Olympia due to the fires in Greece and on our last HAL cruise from Montreal to Boston we missed two of the six ports due to "rough seas" in the St. Lawrence!

I think Oceania or HAL gave us a small on board credit for one missed port, it was about $15-20, not enought to get excited about.

A cruise is not like a theme park where everything is under the complete control of the operator. Mother Nature has here own plans.

We cruise for the whole experience, not for one must see port.

[rallydave]

Given that it is a military installation, though, Im sure they arent as concerned about the motion sickness of their passengers as O and others would be...

 

The difficulty in tendering in rough weather does not have anything to do with passengers becoming sick. A small tender will bounce around while the ship does not so stepping from one to the other becomes very dangerous, especially for older passengers. (And many of O's passengers do tend to be older!) The company wants to avoid accidents, which I think is very reasonable.

 

Technically it is not a military installation, it is run by ESA, the European Space Agency, kind of like the European version of NASA. Sure they treat it like a military installation as I used to work at NASA and the guards did carry guns but, it is civilian and not military to split hairs.

 

Everything else you said is absolutely correct.

[zula]

I have not cruised as much as many of you, but on the few cruises I've been on, I have seen several injuries because of tendering on rather choppy seas. Once with Azamara and the other with HAL and I'm not speaking of just some little injuries, but some more serious where people had to visit the doctor several times on board. I'm not yet fifty and tall (longer legs are a bonus getting into a tender sometimes) but maybe in ten or twenty years I would also think twice before getting on a tender having seen for myself it can get dangerous. So I understand that a captain has a great responsibility, and yes when things went wrong and people got hurt, many said it would have been better to have skipped that port.

 

Regards,

Sonja

[ebobh]

Only because Ive been there, and have an affinity for the specifics of military uniforms, can I comment. When we were there, the soldiers sharing the bar on Ile Royale were from the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment. I remember this because it is the only time Ive seen Legionnaires in person. Asking them what they did, they loosely (and appropriately) answered that they "protected the islands."

 

Digging further, one finds that Kourou's spaceport is directly staffed with members of the Gendarmarie, but that the 3rd Regiment provides security on the periphery. This differs from American sites like Cape Kennedy, where the military installation is adjacent to, but not secured by, the Air Force. In essence, the ESA facility is civilian, is a JPA on French soil, secured by their national police. Given its remote locale, and sensitivity of ops, it is also logical to have a military presence nearby, which they do. Not sure if the penal colony is still technically under the control of the Legionnaires, or if it is just the closest spot for a beer...

[Mura]

Missing ports is part of the cruise experience.

We have missed Mykonos due to high winds, the port for Olympia due to the fires in Greece and on our last HAL cruise from Montreal to Boston we missed two of the six ports due to "rough seas" in the St. Lawrence!

 

 

We were in Forillon National Park (the tip of the Gaspe in Quebec) in June and drove on a not-too rainy day to Parc de la Gaspesie, in the direction of Quebec City and along the St. Lawrence. The water was REALLY ripping it up that day. It was quite a spectacular drive even if I would have preferred a sunny day.

 

The waves were higher in the St. Lawrence than I saw this morning courtesy of Hurricane Irene in NYC. (Well, I admit we were very lucky -- lots of New Yorkers had very rough weather, but the lady seemed to ignore Brooklyn Heights right over NY Harbor.)

 

One doesn't expect the St. Lawrence to be rough, but it sure can be. It was thrilling to see the waves breaking on the pilings at the shore. Then again, we were in a car and not on a ship. :D

 

 

Mura

[RandB_Toronto]

Last summer on a HAL cruise we anchored at Heimaey, Iceland and I think one tender loaded but then the captain said it was too choppy and dangerous to continue the tendering. He said he would have to go closer to the shore where it was protected to continiue, but it would be impossible to drop anchor so he would have to keep the ship in position all day by running the engines! We thought that was pretty decent of him!! (And on our tour around the island on a small boat we really got tossed around by the waves!!)

[Ask4Jay]

In 2007, coming back from Barcelona on the Regatta, we had to skip Bermuda. We had been in storm and had to slow down to 11 kn for quite some time. The stop in Bermuda would have delayed our arrival in Miami.

Excerpt of my log: "Rcvd $100 OBC due skipped Bermuda." We did not ask for it, but there it was.

 

 

Juergen (and Helen)

Via Tapatalk & iPod touch.

[hughdm]

Missing ports is part of the cruise experience.

We have missed Mykonos due to high winds, the port for Olympia due to the fires in Greece and on our last HAL cruise from Montreal to Boston we missed two of the six ports due to "rough seas" in the St. Lawrence!

I think Oceania or HAL gave us a small on board credit for one missed port, it was about $15-20, not enought to get excited about.

A cruise is not like a theme park where everything is under the complete control of the operator. Mother Nature has here own plans.

We cruise for the whole experience, not for one must see port.

 

I bet that was just the port fees refunded. The only port we've missed to date (lucky, aren't we?) was Kauai on a Hawaii cruise with Princess, and they refunded the port charges.

[boburly]

Seems like this thread has veered off course, so I thought I should again clarify my issues with Oceania. As I stated earlier, the fact that we were not able to tender at Devil's Island was not my complaint. We only thought that the captain should have informed us earlier so that we could have a photo opportunity if only from the distance. Since we had 8 hours scheduled for the port, there was plenty of time to wait a little while.

 

We are mostly disappointed that Oceania refused to refund all or part of the disasterous shore excursion we took. We've been on plenty of cruises where they have issued refunds due to problems encountered and most times unsolicited.

 

Someone posted earlier that there are people who come back from a cruise and then send a complaint letter to the cruise company just to see what they can get in return. I can say that we've taken over 25 cruises and have never written such a letter just to get compensation. This was our first such letter. We assumed (wrongly) that Oceania valued loyal passengers. I wasn't looking for future cruise credits, just some consideration for the miserable 4 hours we spent standing on an overbooked whale watch excursion.

[Mura]

Boburly,

 

Obviously I can't comment on the excursion that has made you so unhappy.

 

I do recall -- I'm pretty sure I'm right on this! -- that Oceania's inaugural, or perhaps a few sailings later -- had some very upset people who took a very expensive ship's tour. As I recall it was to a palace of some sort with a banquet dinner and perhaps entertainment as well. The first problem was the weather, which was awful. And then everyone was disappointed with everything else.

 

(I would remember the details better had I been one of the passengers!)

 

But I do remember that Oceania either refunded the entire cost to everyone (and never used that agency again) or at the very least refunded a significant portion of the cost.

 

Perhaps they have changed their policies over the years ... Given your reaction, if so, that hasn't been a good business decision.

 

Mura

[CintiPam]

Seems like this thread has veered off course, so I thought I should again clarify my issues with Oceania. As I stated earlier, the fact that we were not able to tender at Devil's Island was not my complaint. We only thought that the captain should have informed us earlier so that we could have a photo opportunity if only from the distance. Since we had 8 hours scheduled for the port, there was plenty of time to wait a little while.

 

We are mostly disappointed that Oceania refused to refund all or part of the disasterous shore excursion we took. We've been on plenty of cruises where they have issued refunds due to problems encountered and most times unsolicited.

 

Someone posted earlier that there are people who come back from a cruise and then send a complaint letter to the cruise company just to see what they can get in return. I can say that we've taken over 25 cruises and have never written such a letter just to get compensation. This was our first such letter. We assumed (wrongly) that Oceania valued loyal passengers. I wasn't looking for future cruise credits, just some consideration for the miserable 4 hours we spent standing on an overbooked whale watch excursion.

 

Congratulations on the first week anniversary of your "vent", as you called it in your initial post. I certainly cannot get too excited about your lost photo op. Your shore excursion complaint seems to have some validity but is this really the best way to pursue it (after being offered a substantial future credit) by beating us with it over and over again? This occurred in April; I suggest that it is time to move on.

[boburly]

Congratulations on the first week anniversary of your "vent", as you called it in your initial post. I certainly cannot get too excited about your lost photo op. Your shore excursion complaint seems to have some validity but is this really the best way to pursue it (after being offered a substantial future credit) by beating us with it over and over again? This occurred in April; I suggest that it is time to move on.

 

Do you feel better now?

 

Believe me, I have moved on, and I don't appreciate your snippy response to a legitimate post.

[ORV]

Congratulations on the first week anniversary of your "vent", as you called it in your initial post. I certainly cannot get too excited about your lost photo op. Your shore excursion complaint seems to have some validity but is this really the best way to pursue it (after being offered a substantial future credit) by beating us with it over and over again? This occurred in April; I suggest that it is time to move on.

 

I feel a public forum is absolutely the best place for a grievance if the other avenues have already been exhausted. We can each make our own decisions as to the validity of a grievance. Unfortunately we only get one side of the story in these forums. Public perception and goodwill can do more for Oceania's business than all the slick brochures they constantly send out combined.

 

Fortunately we've never experience any issues on a vacation. I guess we live a charmed life. Or have a different set of expectations.

[Dutch Explorers]

Then in Dominica we took a ship's whale watching shore excursion. The boat was overbooked and we ended up giving away our seats to some elderly people. The seas were extremely rocky, and one lady fell down. We stood for over 4 hours, trying to keep our balance. We immediately asked for a refund when we returned to the ship. The shore excursion desk person was very nice and said that she had received several other complaints. She couldn't issue a refund because she had to send the request to Miami. After a few days, we were informed that Miami denied our refund.

 

When we returned home, I wrote to Oceania explaining our issues. They said they had contacted the shore excursion provider who stated that there were enough seats. Well, there were some seats INSIDE the cabin where the crew slept. Now, why would anyone want to go on a whale watching expedition and sit inside the crew's quarters? Weren't we there to look for whales?[unquote=boburly;30337676]

 

We have done several whale watching trips and it is very common that there are not a lot of seats on deck and certainly not enough for everybody to sit down.

Most of the boats have inside seats that are never utilized as everybody want to watch out for whales.

On our last whale watching trip our of Boston there were only a couple of seats outside so over 90% of the people had to stand up. Only on the way back to the harbour everybody moved inside as there were plenty of seats.

So if your expectation was that everybody should be able to sit down outside does not match the reality and so i can understand the position of Oceania in this matter.

[Pandora1958]

[/b]

We have been on 23 cruises....The only cruise line that we have ever missed a port was on Oceania.

 

Missed two on Celebrity and we really wanted to go to Casablanca but for safety reasons (other cruise line crew had been mugged and hurt badly - along with other bad things happening to people)

 

We missed Turks and Caicos with O because the winds were pushing us off the dock into very shallow water. Many of these islands are not ready to handle ships at their docks. The Captains are professional - ie: our captain on the Nautica Hong Kong to Athens cruise last year was the very same who out ran and protected ALL passengers and crew when the pirates off Somalia tried to board our ship on a prior cruise.

 

PS..try cruising through Hurricane Jean with 60' seas and 100 knot winds when ports would not let us in!

 

Lynne