Dear Oceania

[basor]

1 minute ago, shepherd really said:

I've regretted buying the iPhone mini for exactly that reason.  "It fits in my pocket" turned out to be a poor reason to purchase it.  I don't need glasses. I just need a bigger phone  😎.  

Since I don't use my Iphone like a laptop/IPad, fitting in my pocket/purse is more important to me....choices are good!

[SATaxman]

Slightly off topic; however, on another thread I read that people are using their devices at trivia, and other people do not like it. Again, We have our first O cruise booked, and do not play trivia.

It seems that people are using devices for more than checking their daily schedule.

[basor]

1 minute ago, SATaxman said:

Slightly off topic; however, on another thread I read that people are using their devices at trivia, and other people do not like it. Again, We have our first O cruise booked, and do not play trivia.

It seems that people are using devices for more than checking their daily schedule.

Highly disapproved and several CD's will ban someone if caught.....and believe me, other trivia teams will complain!  The majority go to trivia to enjoy the event and do not try to cheat.  But, as in life, there are always some that believe rules are for someone else...same ones boasting about taking their drinks from their room to "beat the system"

[alaskaca]

22 hours ago, Woofa said:

I would agree that choice is a very good thing.  I have no doubt that an App will come but not because I believe the current O cruiser will use it.  Rather an App is what O will need to entice the next generation of cruisers who will make or break the line in the future.

I think this thread so far shows a good indication of the current O cruiser.  While I may be wrong, I would go so far as to say that many would much prefer not to be sailing with a majority of cruisers who would be carrying phones throughout the ship.  And lets face it, these are for the most part small ships, many if not most cruisers are repeaters and while there are activities, they are low-key.  

I think that O has its work cut out for them figuring out a way to make the next generation happy while making sure not to alienate those that cruise and pay the bills now.

We are a younger demographic on O.  I am early fifties and my wife late forties.  I can tell you honestly that I don't believe most of my peers would be happy sailing O.  As an example we met a nice couple on Riviera.  Maybe slightly older than us but still younger than the average.  We had breakfast the final morning before departure and were discussing the fact that we had put down a deposit for a future cruise.  They agreed they loved the ship, their room and the food but, would not be sailing O again, at least not for some time.  There was just not enough activity for them.  They were still looking for action.  He was in the casino every night, bored after spending an hour or two at the pool.  To us, it was the opposite.  Two hours for dinner was a welcome experience.  Playing bridge on sea days a pleasure.  We fit in perfectly with what has been termed the relaxed elegance of O.  They did not.  Its OK, plenty of lines out there for everyone, go where you are happiest.  But, I do believe that it will be harder for O to excite the younger generations which start with my group and get progressively more tech oriented and immediate satisfaction oriented as they get younger.

I believe that O was created to cater to a specific audience and its success over its history shows how well they succeeded.  The reality however is that as that audience ages and cruises less they will need to do certain things to ensure the next generation of O cruisers takes their place.  Don't kid yourself, at least here in America it is quite a bit different.  

And lets remember that O is still a relatively small niche, they don't have fleets of mega ships to fill.  I believe they are doing their best to find a happy medium between living for today and planning for tomorrow.  They are certainly not perfect and of course there is no way around the Covid shutdown which I am sure removed all easy decisions and allows even less room for error.

 

Spot On +1

[Sabbycat]

I love effective cruise line apps. Being able to view the evening menu while looking out at the ocean, book excursions, see the days' agenda. If you prefer walking to look at the menus, going to the excursion desk to book an excursion, and carrying a program with you, that is great, but choice is better. But don't say they shouldn't have one because I DON'T WANT IT. You are not their only customer. They don't only have your favorite menu you items, your favorite room type and your favorite activities. They have a variety to reflect EVERYONE's tastes. It is the same with an app. Don't like it, don't use it, but don't say they shouldn't have because I don't want it. Selfish ppl are so annoying.

[basor]

27 minutes ago, Sabbycat said:

I love effective cruise line apps. Being able to view the evening menu while looking out at the ocean, book excursions, see the days' agenda. If you prefer walking to look at the menus, going to the excursion desk to book an excursion, and carrying a program with you, that is great, but choice is better. But don't say they shouldn't have one because I DON'T WANT IT. You are not their only customer. They don't only have your favorite menu you items, your favorite room type and your favorite activities. They have a variety to reflect EVERYONE's tastes. It is the same with an app. Don't like it, don't use it, but don't say they shouldn't have because I don't want it. Selfish ppl are so annoying.

I believe most people indicted they are fine with an App as long as they offer both options.....since the O ships are small, walking to do anything is easy (and with all of the good food, any exercise is a plus for me!)

[Ray4Fun]

Dear NCL management. Why does O not have an APP?  Maybe you have a reason? I am all ears. Promise I listen, and sometimes agree. I will move on no matter what is stated. I always remember this wise thought given to me years ago. My opinion and 6 bucks gets me a Latte at the S. 🙂. Happy Labour Day folks. 

[basor]

12 minutes ago, Ray4Fun said:

Dear NCL management. Why does O not have an APP?  Maybe you have a reason? I am all ears. Promise I listen, and sometimes agree. I will move on no matter what is stated. I always remember this wise thought given to me years ago. My opinion and 6 bucks gets me a Latte at the S. 🙂. Happy Labour Day folks. 

Neither NCL management or anyone from NCL or O monitor CC - so you will not be getting any response from any of them.....

[LHT28]

46 minutes ago, Ray4Fun said:

Dear NCL management. Why does O not have an APP?  Maybe you have a reason? I am all ears. Promise I listen, and sometimes agree. I will move on no matter what is stated. I always remember this wise thought given to me years ago. My opinion and 6 bucks gets me a Latte at the S. 🙂. Happy Labour Day folks. 

no one from management is reading your posts

Send them  an email  since they do not have an app 😈

[Ray4Fun]

I wrote and sent that letter to VP of marketing yesterday! Email while modern, does not work. That old fashioned letter via USPS does. 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Ray4Fun

[ORV]

I'm reminded of the ol A & W Root Beer commercial every time some people post. 

[cardygans]

Who needs an app on an Oceania cruise? You've already booked all your specialty restaurants and get a card on the door the day before.  Trivia is at 10:30, 4:30 and 8:30.  Needlepoint is at 9:30 on sea days. Dine when you want and see a show when you want. The CD announces the schedule twice a day.  Just read the daily newsletter. 

 

An APP for what?  Our other V cruise sucked because  we had to book everything from dinner to shows to lunch and it never worked properly the entire trip and I hated having to carry my phone everyplace. We never got what we wanted and ate a hell of a lot of Pizza the whole trip because we couldn't get into restaurants  I'm on freaking vacation, why should I have to work so hard?

[Pandazoo]

Unfortunate it didn’t work for you.  Maybe if it had you would have been happy with it.

[ORV]

22 hours ago, Ray4Fun said:

Dear NCL management. Why does O not have an APP?  Maybe you have a reason? I am all ears. Promise I listen, and sometimes agree. I will move on no matter what is stated. I always remember this wise thought given to me years ago. My opinion and 6 bucks gets me a Latte at the S. 🙂. Happy Labour Day folks. 

 

21 hours ago, Ray4Fun said:

I wrote and sent that letter to VP of marketing yesterday! Email while modern, does not work. That old fashioned letter via USPS does. 

You sent that letter? Maybe you could get Gary to help you with your approach to brand corporations. 

[ToxM]

This question also popped up on the R board. While writing a reply over there, it occurred to me that apps are like self service checkouts in supermarkets. There are really no lines on O ships, and we don’t want to give O an excuse to cut staff, which I would imagine is a key reason to have what is essentially DIY option to an extent.

 

I like the staffing level on O - the staff and the level of service is optimum, why are we talking about applying mass market cruiseline ways of working to products that clearly aren’t mass market?

 

Would love the menus online and the daily mag, but still want paper versions 🙂 

 

 

[Snaefell3]

3 hours ago, ToxM said:

 

Would love the menus online and the daily mag, but still want paper versions 🙂 

Datum:  Princess Patter was going to be discontinued when their app went live.  After some ...customer feedback, they decided to have it available at the Purser's.  Before we gave up on Princess, they were back to a copy in each cabin each night. 

[Pandazoo]

This app question is just one more thing for people to say “lower your expectations and then you won’t be disappointed.” This goes for missed ports, early departures, the food, the by the glass wine, 

the excursions, the lack of activities, captain communication, etc, etc. etc.  IMO This is 2023 and honestly it’s ridiculous there is no app whether you personally like them or not.  

[ToxM]

30 minutes ago, Pandazoo said:

This app question is just one more thing for people to say “lower your expectations and then you won’t be disappointed.” This goes for missed ports, early departures, the food, the by the glass wine, 

the excursions, the lack of activities, captain communication, etc, etc. etc.  IMO This is 2023 and honestly it’s ridiculous there is no app whether you personally like them or not.  

It’s not lowering expectations if it’s not needed. I don’t need an unocorn and my life isn’t adversely affected by the lack of it. 
 

megaships have climbing walls and I don’t need them either. 
 

if there were 17 dining venues onboard an app might be useful especially if there were 5000 guests also trying to book their spot. There is neither of these things. 
 

I am not against an app. I don’t think it needs the bells and whistles people seem to think it needs. 
 

 

[PSahoy]

On 9/2/2023 at 10:57 AM, Woodrowst said:

If you can do so without rolling your eyes, could you explain to those of us who are not digital natives why an app is important?  What would you want to do with it that cannot be done otherwise?  Inquiring minds want to know ☺️

I found the Seabourn app useful: it had my shore excursion bar codes, reminded me of the times, menus, activity times. Easier for me than walking around with the printed schedule. I would use if O decides to offer it. Don’t feel it’s either/or choice. Use what’s best for you.

[ORV]

1 hour ago, 1985rz1 said:

I believe that most people understand that an app may be quite useful on larger ships, especially mass market lines, but don't see a need for an app or it being particularly useful on O.  I also think that O sees it the same way, and doesn't believe it's worth the investment for the relatively few people who currently would like it.  That may change over time, but given cruise line economics, it's not a high priority investment for O.

Personally I'd like to see Oceania spend the time and money getting back to what they do best, instead of trying to keep up with mass market gimmicks. Yes, I use apps all the time, most of them are poorly done and tend to waste more time than the way things used to be. 

[1985rz1]

42 minutes ago, ORV said:

Personally I'd like to see Oceania spend the time and money getting back to what they do best, instead of trying to keep up with mass market gimmicks. Yes, I use apps all the time, most of them are poorly done and tend to waste more time than the way things used to be. 

I agree.

[sailfar]

I am thankful that Oceania is using a TV channel for restaurant menus, port information, lecturer coverage, sea location and conditions etc.  This is all in large print,  assessable and very useful in our cabin.  I like having a printed schedule with the daily activities and port info in case one needs to contact someone in a difficult situation.  This piece of paper always goes ashore with me.  I use apps for just about all entities in my life, some are more useful than others.  However, I hope that we on Cruise Critic use our voice to  really focus on why we cruise and shape what are the top priorities to us.  While an app may be more important in the future, as we evolve as techies, right now I want to encourage Oceania to keep high quality cuisine, super comfortable beds, excellent  lecturers, friendly well trained staff, and work towards high quality connectivity on the internet.  Thank you all for your thoughts and ideas in trying to improve our sailing adventures.

[jakes47]

On 9/1/2023 at 11:34 PM, Ray4Fun said:

Where's the App?  Your parent company has a great one. 

I haven’t gone through all the posts but couldn’t agree more.  They cant have an app until they do something about the wifi.  We were on the Riviera for 28 days unit the 2nd September.  The ship is in a time warp when it comes to IT.  Their TV is so outdated and even their account system is unnecessarily complicated.  It would frustrate me to just to send an email.  Send to one person and it might leave the outbox within an hour but if you cc to others it was much longer.  I had one that kept returning my outbox for 2 days.  Until they get the ship WIFI sorted I don’t see an app for the older ships in the near future. 

[Ray4Fun]

We've been on Starlink cruises. Awesome it is. 

[Nashna]

On 9/2/2023 at 4:03 PM, ToxM said:

Exactly!

 

Your experience of cruising is about to have a paradigm change. 

 

So maybe, and please don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe the best way to experience O when you travel on it is to experience it as it is … rather than explain why it should be like the line you just travelled on, before you even travel on it… 

 

 

I've sailed on Seabourn, Windstar, Azamara, and Regent.  However, this is my first experience with O.  Having sailed on much smaller ships than O, I believe I have a good idea of what to expect on O.  I will have my phone with me most of the time on my O sailing.  I use my phone to take photos, take notes (a great way to remember the names of the ship's staff and fellow passengers we meet), catch up on the latest news, and stay in touch with family.  Plus, I serve in a leadership position in several organizations that might require my input while I'm traveling.  If Oceania had an app, I would certainly make use of it.  However, I don't think using the app should be essential to sail.