No more blue books??

[HilsTas]

I'm not sure if this applies to Australia only, but today I received emails from Oceania saying that the Cruise Vacation Guides will no longer be sent out due to a trebling in shipping costs.

I have kept every blue book from every Oceania cruise and look back on them with pleasure.  This (in my mind) is a cheap and tacky action by Oceania.

 

Here is the body of the email:

Dear Valued Guests and Travel Advisors,   We would like to share an important update to our Cruise Vacation Guide program, which provides guests with pre-cruise information. As part of our on-going evaluation of the pre-cruise guest experience, we have found that widespread shipping delays combined with the trebling of shipping costs have reduced the timeliness and efficiency of the printed format. As a result, we are transitioning many of our printed pre-cruise communications to a digital format, and you will no longer receive a printed Cruise Vacation Guide for your upcoming voyage or future booked voyages.  You will continue to receive your final cruise documentation digitally and shore excursion details will be provided with your invoice. In addition, a digital version of the Your Voyage booklet, which provides general travel and onboard information, will be available upon request. We appreciate your understanding of this transition as this change will increase the timeliness and relevance of the communications we share with you as well as have the added benefit of significantly reducing our carbon footprint. Additionally, please note that luggage tags will be available to you pierside.  We look forward to welcoming you on board soon.  Warmest regards,   Carlos E. Ortega Vice President, Global Guest Services

 

I have emailed my Oceania contact to express my extreme disappointment with this decision and I urge any CCers to do likewise.

 

[sunnies]

I agree with you. Our first Oceania cruise was in 2007 and we have kept every book. I am not happy with the direction Oceania is going - no more booklets, luggage tags pier side, reduced times in some ports and the cost of tours for South American ports has increased by 50% between 2020 and 2024. 

[AMHuntFerry]

Would it be acceptable to receive the print materials on the ship? If so, ask them to do that instead. It does seem a bit penny pinching though.

[vaitape]

Why not cut back on the contant onslaught of O brochures? That would save $$ on postage as well as printing costs and cut back on recycling/landfill costs.

[PaulMCO]

20 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

Would it be acceptable to receive the print materials on the ship? If so, ask them to do that instead. It does seem a bit penny pinching though.

It is about cost period.. 

 

They split the book into two.  One is general and the other was cruise specific.   The General one had the usual dining, procedures and other general info, that can be printed on mass well in advance - presume split to save money.  Other contained the cruise specific info as well as shore excursions.

They had both books centrally printed by a New Jersey firm and mailed directly to save $$.

 

My opinion it is about people creating the book more than the distribution costs.  With shortage of workers that is the real cost.  It takes alot of work to assemble the cruise specific, voyage specific and passenger specific data (cabin location, booked shore excursions, dining reservations etc.).  Even sister "luxury" cruise line Regent does not do this. 

 

 

1 minute ago, vaitape said:

Why not cut back on the contant onslaught of O brochures? That would save $$ on postage as well as printing costs and cut back on recycling/landfill costs.

 

Brooke -- you know we have not received an O brochure in two years.  Since we have done one Regent cruise recently (and have 3 more booked), we are bombarded with Regent mail -- maybe 2 per week.  No rhyme or reason...

[vai]

1 hour ago, PaulMCO said:

It is about cost period.. 

 

They split the book into two.  One is general and the other was cruise specific.   The General one had the usual dining, procedures and other general info, that can be printed on mass well in advance - presume split to save money.  Other contained the cruise specific info as well as shore excursions.

They had both books centrally printed by a New Jersey firm and mailed directly to save $$.

 

My opinion it is about people creating the book more than the distribution costs.  With shortage of workers that is the real cost.  It takes alot of work to assemble the cruise specific, voyage specific and passenger specific data (cabin location, booked shore excursions, dining reservations etc.).  Even sister "luxury" cruise line Regent does not do this. 

 

 

 

Brooke -- you know we have not received an O brochure in two years.  Since we have done one Regent cruise recently (and have 3 more booked), we are bombarded with Regent mail -- maybe 2 per week.  No rhyme or reason...

Well how in the heck did your mail delivery person escape the heavy burden of mail from O to you??

Ps/Very envious of your cruise schedule!

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, PaulMCO said:

Brooke --

you know we have not received an O brochure in two years.  Since we have done one Regent cruise recently (and have 3 more booked), we are bombarded with Regent mail -- maybe 2 per week.  No rhyme or reason...

We have not received brochures in years

Had our TA get our name off the list

Sometime I would like to see the major ones but  not going  into that rabbit hole again LOL

[LHT28]

Having to get baggage tags  at the port will be a major PITA

JMO

[PaulMCO]

11 minutes ago, vai said:

Well how in the heck did your mail delivery person escape the heavy burden of mail from O to you??

Ps/Very envious of your cruise schedule!

a lot of this stuff is directed through your TA.  My old TA retired and switched to a new one who we've done only 1 cruise (Dec/Jan) with. 

 

Lots of travel, the big issue is to find a house sitter each time (with our mix of dog. cats, birds, mules, donkeys and horses)...

Edited April 14, 2023 by PaulMCO

[LHT28]

2 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

the big issue is to find a house sitter each time (with our mix of dog. cats, birds, mules, donkeys and horses)...

I thought I had problems  just getting someone to look in on the cat

You have a zoo to look after  😄

[NYAS]

We received cruise documents April 3 for our upcoming May 23 Lisbon-Amsterdam sailing. It includes a personalized 46-page brochure similar to a “Blue Book” I kept from years ago, although excursion descriptions were not included. The packet did include personalized luggage tags. Everything was packed in a good-looking glossy folder with pockets and Velcro closure, cover artwork depicting Portuguese tile work.

[vai]

53 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

a lot of this stuff is directed through your TA.  My old TA retired and switched to a new one who we've done only 1 cruise (Dec/Jan) with. 

 

Lots of travel, the big issue is to find a house sitter each time (with our mix of dog. cats, birds, mules, donkeys and horses)...

 

[Rumpledbumskin]

For our cruise last summer we received a FedEx envelope with an empty Oceania folder - except for one set of luggage tags. The FedEx envelope looked like it had been dragged to Calgary by the Pony Express. FedEx was no help nor was there time for Oceania to do anything.  Too bad, we looked forward to that document as a memento. And I suppose that it was too small an issue for Oceania to demand their money back.  If it had been me, I would have enjoyed the prospect of taking on FedEx for the postage.

 

Jim

[mauibabes]

We had not heard about this change. Any chance it is specific to Australia? Our Vacation Guide for the Vista Founder’s Cruise arrived a couple days ago and it looks great.  No Excursion info as in the past but it is a very nice keepsake.  
I am sure others preparing to sail will keep us updated regarding the issue of the Guides. 
Mauibabes

[bob brown]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

Having to get baggage tags  at the port will be a major PITA

JMO

They should do like NCL, and offer the option of printing your own.  I have been doing this for several years, and it works very well.  It is especially useful, when you get a last minute guarantee assignment, change or upgrade in cabin, that would make mailing not possible…

[HilsTas]

5 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

Would it be acceptable to receive the print materials on the ship? If so, ask them to do that instead. It does seem a bit penny pinching though.

 

4 hours ago, vaitape said:

Why not cut back on the contant onslaught of O brochures? That would save $$ on postage as well as printing costs and cut back on recycling/landfill costs.

I have suggested both of these to O in my email. 

I actually would be very happy to receive the blue book/printed materials on the ship - and they could just post the luggage tags.  I have a collection of Oceania cruise booklets - helps me remember the cruise, the ports, the crew etc etc - and I like having them!  

[vaitape]

2 hours ago, vai said:

 

Gees, meant to add that we're happy to ranch sit. Let us know.

[JoePDX]

Other cruise lines have not sent luggage tags for years and expect you to print them at home.   I never thought this would hold up, so I bought these as we sail Celebrity too.   They are strong and reusable.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Cruise-Luggage-Caribbean-Celebrity-Essentials/dp/B09Q94FLCC/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=cruise+luggage+tags&qid=1681458346&sr=8-5

 

For our cruise on Riviera in Sept/Oct 2022 the Blue Book never arrived and thus no luggage tags, so I made up a template for Oceania Luggage tags.   I print two per piece of luggage, cut them out and tape them to a thin piece of cardboard.  This makes it much easier to get them in and out of the sleeve.  I have attached the template below.

 

On that Riviera trip, getting tags at the pier would have been a nightmare as the whole embarkation process was just that.   The guy accepting luggage said they were the best tags he had ever seen.  😀

 

I used them on our recent Sirena cruise too, along with the ones that Oceania sent.

 

Joe

Oceania Homemade Luggage Tags Template.docx

[DOJO466]

9 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Having to get baggage tags  at the port will be a major PITA

JMO

I totally agree with you Lyn. Let's just all pile up alongside terminal to attach tags.  Makes no sense.

[LHT28]

Back in the old days  the Blue  book had  more information   like who the Officers were on the ship  & a much nicer  book

The past  maybe 7 yrs  they are  not really  that useful anymore

What set Oceania apart from the Main stream lines was the book & luggage tags 

 

The only useful  thing was the luggage tags  no messing with having to print them off

 

For  new to Oceania  people the book was  a nice keepsake  as some have posted here

 

You get all the other info  by email  in the Final Cruise Summary  & you can get the PDF excursions list from O or your TA

 

Unless  they have a desk set up pre porters   with tags   it will be  a royal pain & I am sure the porters are not going to wanting to fill out a few thousand tags on embarkation day

Time will tell how this plays out

JMO

 YMMV

 

 

[pinotlover]

I truly wonder if this isn’t for certain countries like OZ and NZ??!! In Jan, we got our luggage tags for our February cruise. We’ll see what we get for our upcoming June cruise in the next month.
 

For us the Blue Books are a waste of trees, publishing costs, and postage. My children don’t need more stuff to sort through some day. We are earnestly trying to de-stuff. 
 

The luggage tags, which we put on before departure from the hotel for the port,  are a nice convenience.

[LHT28]

It would be much cheaper if they just  sent  blank luggage tags  to people

I for one  am not paying big buck for O cruises  to have mess around printing out my luggage tags

If I wanted to  do that I could save money  & cruise on a main stream line .. well maybe not 😲

[Cape Hernlopen]

Dear Fellow Cruisers:

We recently received our "blue book" replacement for our June 2 cruise.  It contained luggage tags and a general information booklet without any tours listed or reservation information.  It listed our names, ship name and cabin number, and mentioned pre and post cruise hotel names.  The package was so thin that we almost discarded it as a regular Oceania sales brochure.  

 

Joel Barry

[Woodrowst]

12 hours ago, NYAS said:

We received cruise documents April 3 for our upcoming May 23 Lisbon-Amsterdam sailing. It includes a personalized 46-page brochure similar to a “Blue Book” I kept from years ago, although excursion descriptions were not included. The packet did include personalized luggage tags. Everything was packed in a good-looking glossy folder with pockets and Velcro closure, cover artwork depicting Portuguese tile work.

We got the same thing last week for our cruise departing at the end of May.

[Queen of DaNile]

13 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Having to get baggage tags  at the port will be a major PITA

JMO

 

Edited April 14, 2023 by Queen of DaNile
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