Just wondering …….

[clo]

2 hours ago, Vallesan said:

I can only say if you’ve not sailed before…. IGNORE THESE BOARDS!

 

We’ve sailed over 140 days on Oceania, small ships and their larger sisters. We’ve sailed the  Caribbean, Med, Asia and the Greek Islands. We have enjoyed every one of our cruises.

 

I wonder if Oceania passengers have ‘too high ‘ expectations after travelling , sorry to use the phrase,  on “mass market” lines?

 

No, Oceania isn’t perfect, but then no line is, not Slversea nor Seabourn. They are all different and all have different price points. 
 

At the end of the day the cruise you pick matches your preferred itinerary, your budget, your preference to size of ship and your desire for inclusivity. 
 

The choice, as they say, is yours!

 

It seems to have quieted down lately but the brouhaha over Simply More was astounding IMneverHO. And I will certainly keep in mind how O has handled things like the Red Sea. Operative words "keep in mind." And I'll be looking at SS and SB. We've been talking about spending our 'play money' on a single big thing so maybe that. We were actually booked on SS for Galapagos a couple of years ago but I had an accident that would have limited my off-ship activities.

[RPen63]

Disembarked Sirena in mid January.  That cruise was on par with any of the other 5 O cruises we have taken. Better in some ways and worse in others.  Overall, it was excellent.

[Tr1v1alCru1ser]

@daydreamer62 Having been on 20 O cruises, we have found very little to complain about.  (Apart from recent experience of sun lounger hoggers on Vista, but that’s selfish people, not the cruise or cruise line per se)

 

Different folks, different strokes.  Interestingly, friends of ours have recently sailed with Viking having been on several O cruises, and much prefer O, said the ship was very nice, but the food wasn’t as good as O.  

 

Look forward to your upcoming cruise, and have a great time. 

[daydreamer62]

Yes I've seen positive comments about Oceania in the Viking boards where I would think it would be less likely to see them than here!! . I'm sure I will have an excellent trip. After all we are going to Spain Portugal and France with many bubbly list items to tick off and we don't have to drive, pack and unpack, and search for a bar and restaurant after a long day of sightseeing. What's there to complain about!! (And I didn't complain about that either when I've done this types of trips

[Harters]

35 minutes ago, Tr1v1alCru1ser said:

Look forward to your upcoming cruise, and have a great time. 

That's certainly my plan. We'll see then if it continues to represent value for money for us - it is by far, the most money we have spent on holidays. If not, we may look towards other lines or, indeed, that might be us done with cruising. 

[daydreamer62]

Just now, Harters said:

That's certainly my plan. We'll see then if it continues to represent value for money for us - it is by far, the most money we have spent on holidays. If not, we may look towards other lines or, indeed, that might be us done with cruising. 

And likewise with us though we spent nearly as much last year on a 5 week driving trip through France that was absolutely the most amazing trip . On the couple of cruises we have done though we did appreciate the ease of it in comparison. so I certainly hope it also lives up to our hopes. I won't be done with independent travel but it's nice to intersperse with something where you are a bit more taken care of

[clo]

4 minutes ago, daydreamer62 said:

And likewise with us though we spent nearly as much last year on a 5 week driving trip through France that was absolutely the most amazing trip . On the couple of cruises we have done though we did appreciate the ease of it in comparison. so I certainly hope it also lives up to our hopes. I won't be done with independent travel but it's nice to intersperse with something where you are a bit more taken care of

That's us. We're thinking Northern Italy by train if that's an option.

[daydreamer62]

5 minutes ago, clo said:

That's us. We're thinking Northern Italy by train if that's an option.

We've done northern Italy a few times independently and loved it but I loathe lugging cases into trains!! The worst was 3 in one day  at the beginning of the last trip until we picked up our car in France 

[Harters]

15 minutes ago, daydreamer62 said:

it's nice to intersperse with something where you are a bit more taken care of

Indeed. We're actually looking at an upmarket all-inclusive resort in Cyprus for the autumn which would come in at about 50% of an O cruise. It looks as though it will replicate the hotel/restaurant side of a cruise although, of course, it's not sailing anywhere. 

[clo]

2 minutes ago, daydreamer62 said:

We've done northern Italy a few times independently and loved it but I loathe lugging cases into trains!! The worst was 3 in one day  at the beginning of the last trip until we picked up our car in France 

Sadness. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.

[NewSalty]

3 hours ago, Harters said:

In terms of recentish posts here, I think I can offer a possible explanation. And that's the introduction of Simply More which has not suited a number of established customers who have made unfavourable comparisons between "then" and "now". This will pass with time as "then" fades into the background, and contributions come from cruisers who only know "now".

Actually, I think you've hit the nail on the head - although maybe not hard enough.  One of the essentials of the Simply More program is forcing people into purchasing ship excursions. One of the things I've noticed about most of the folks on the Oceania board is that they prefer to do their own excursions - in fact, the roll calls are one of the main reasons they're here. I think Oceania built up a large following precisely because you used to be able to go "cruise-only". And this is the audience that "You-must-buy-excursions" pissed off the most.  Given the high percentage of DIYers on the board, it's no wonder things seem so negative.

 

Personally, I'm fine with Oceania excursions. If we hit a port where we don't like Oceania's excursions - no problem, we'll do or own. But there always seem to be a fair number of ports where Oceania's offering fit well, so Simply More works well for us.

[Hlitner]

3 minutes ago, NewSalty said:

Actually, I think you've hit the nail on the head - although maybe not hard enough.  One of the essentials of the Simply More program is forcing people into purchasing ship excursions. One of the things I've noticed about most of the folks on the Oceania board is that they prefer to do their own excursions - in fact, the roll calls are one of the main reasons they're here. I think Oceania built up a large following precisely because you used to be able to go "cruise-only". And this is the audience that "You-must-buy-excursions" pissed off the most.  Given the high percentage of DIYers on the board, it's no wonder things seem so negative.

 

Personally, I'm fine with Oceania excursions. If we hit a port where we don't like Oceania's excursions - no problem, we'll do or own. But there always seem to be a fair number of ports where Oceania's offering fit well, so Simply More works well for us.

I want to put one of your comments into perspective.  We have cruised on 16 different cruise lines (our upcoming O cruise will be our 17th line) and O is the first ocean cruise line (out of 17) that forces folks to pay for excursions (whether they want them or not).  Yes, we do know there are some others (i.e. Viking, Silversea and Regent quickly come to mind) which we have avoided...until now.  I mention this because cruisers do have lots of choices between lines/ships (which is why we have never cruised on O until this year).

 

Hank

 

[NewSalty]

1 minute ago, Hlitner said:

I want to put one of your comments into perspective.  We have cruised on 16 different cruise lines (our upcoming O cruise will be our 17th line) and O is the first ocean cruise line (out of 17) that forces folks to pay for excursions (whether they want them or not).  Yes, we do know there are some others (i.e. Viking, Silversea and Regent quickly come to mind) which we have avoided...until now.  I mention this because cruisers do have lots of choices between lines/ships (which is why we have never cruised on O until this year).

 

Hank

 

Certainly agreed. I wasn't arguing that forced purchases was the "right" thing - just offering it up as an explanation for the negativity.

 

Right or not, Simply More is definitely Oceania's attempt to keep pace (or maybe catch up) with Viking.  The 2 lines are in an almost identical market, but in 10 years, Viking has grown to 9(?)  930 passenger ships (not including the 3 expedition ships), whereas O has 4x650 and 3x1200 in 20 years. From what I can see from watching their respective websites, Viking has little trouble filling those 4685 cabins on a regular basis and at higher prices than Oceania. NCL has got to be pressuring O to catch up!

 

[Hanoj]

I’ll hazard some observations about the generally more negative tone in the Oceania CC forum compared to others (in descending order of my perusals: Viking, Seabourn, Regent, Windstar - don’t feel Silversea would suit us). I’ve sailed Viking twice before the shutdowns (and had 2020 & 2021 cruises cancelled) and Oceania once, on Vista in August 2023. We enjoyed each cruise and our selection criteria continues to evolve to include getting to and from embarkation/debarkation ports, ease of cruise terminal transitions, port durations, tendering vs. docking, etc. We are presently evaluating itineraries with Oceania and Viking.

 

IMO, Oceania’s “Finest Cuisine at Sea” branding presents unique challenges in today’s conditions. Since resumption of cruising, the consistent sourcing of food supplies with sufficiently high quality and in adequate quantities has to be much more difficult than when O built its culinary reputation. And at what cost? Food prices are very high, made much more difficult for O who reportedly expends more per guest on food than other lines. Add to this all the training of new galley and wait staff to the “finest cuisine” standard, where even the plating of food is not trivial, must make maintaining this branding standard extremely challenging. All cruise lines are facing similar challenges, but where O had differentiated itself before the shutdowns with cuisine puts them at a competitive disadvantage during a period of rapidly rising costs and sourcing difficulties.

 

The real issue for O, as with other lines, is pricing. This too is perhaps more acute for O, as it is my impression (though I can’t substantiate this) O has attempted to offer greater value at a lower price point than Viking, et al. This is partly observed in O’s elimination of the former “cruise only” fare with the introduction of SM, for which perhaps a disproportionately high percentage of Oceania CC members lament this change. I believe a good measure of the negativity is because what O used to offer is not available with other lines. This way of cruising, for which many became loyal to O, no longer exists. For some, it may be similar to the grieving process over the death of a loved one (there’s five stages -  denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance - and I’ve read commenting indicating each stage).

 

Couple this with O’s poor communication reputation (lack of transparency and slow to inform about itinerary changes, etc.) and slow implementation of IT features (no phone/device app) and the difficulty of getting to acceptance over these changes breeds negative sentiments more so here than in other forums. Perhaps the price elasticity of O patrons demand is different than that for other lines. It appears to me O is not able to raise prices sufficiently, so they introduce SM approaching Viking inclusivity seeking to broaden its customer base. O may also be attempting to cut operating costs (shortening ports to reduce fuel costs?) in less than transparent ways, heightening speculation for patrons whose former way of cruising has changed dramatically. This can, but doesn’t have to, be a breeding ground for negativity, which appears more acute here.

Edited February 4 by Hanoj
Typo

[Hlitner]

1 minute ago, NewSalty said:

Certainly agreed. I wasn't arguing that forced purchases was the "right" thing - just offering it up as an explanation for the negativity.

 

Right or not, Simply More is definitely Oceania's attempt to keep pace (or maybe catch up) with Viking.  The 2 lines are in an almost identical market, but in 10 years, Viking has grown to 9(?)  930 passenger ships (not including the 3 expedition ships), whereas O has 4x650 and 3x1200 in 20 years. From what I can see from watching their respective websites, Viking has little trouble filling those 4685 cabins on a regular basis and at higher prices than Oceania. NCL has got to be pressuring O to catch up!

 

We have no problem accepting these different kinds of cruise line business "models."  Since DW and I generally avoid cruise line excursions (like the plague) we had to compromise in order to book "O."  We have already booked just enough excursions to use up the credits and will suffer through the group tours.  Our 35 day Vista cruise was actually a pretty good deal (even with Simply More) and should satisfy our curiosity about O (somewhat spurred on by Flatbush Flyer's many online comments).  If we like the product there will likely be more future O cruises, and if not we will just book more cruises with other lines.  Free choice is a wonderful thing :).

 

Hank

[mac_tlc]

As someone who has their first two O cruises coming up this November and next November, I don't know what I no longer get. If you want a dose of more negativity, head over to the Celebrity board. 

 

Seems to me, all long-time cruisers on any line don't like the changes any of those lines have made in the last year. We don't like the changes Royal and X have made, accompanied with higher pricing, so we are looking around. Two O cruises booked, 1 HAL booked and looking at Viking, Regent and SIlversea, as well as MSC YC and the new Princess ships.

 

The long-time loyal cruisers are looking around and don't have any experience with what their "new" line used to have. All you can do is compare the current products and make a decision that works for you. It does seem there is a lot more movement by consumers among cruise companies. Or at least its talked about a lot. 

 

 

mac_tlc

Edited February 4 by mac_tlc

[babysteps]

4 hours ago, daydreamer62 said:

... If you look at the other boards there are quite a few pinned 'helpful' posts at the top. Here, just the one shuttle post(which has been really helpful for me) ....

Many requests from prominent posters (for some years now) to create a few pinned topics on this board - so far, not happening. Favorite proposed pinned topics include (but are not limited to) alcohol policy, dress code/dress reality, and pricing basics (more critical when O-Life was still an option).

 

I suppose we could just start such topics and post a "bumping" message often enough that they behaved like pinned posts! The DIY approach, might be up the alley of many here 😁

[Harters]

35 minutes ago, Hanoj said:

This is partly observed in O’s elimination of the former “cruise only” fare with the introduction of SM, for which perhaps a disproportionately high percentage of Oceania CC members lament this change.

Although worthy of a note that, as I understand it, "cruise only" was never an option for customers outside North America. Certainly I can't recall it ever being available to me in the UK. But I certainly understand the broader point that SM now includes things that have to be paid for by everyone. I could whinge about that - as someone who doesnt drink alcohol  - but don't. It is what it is and there's no point, IMO, in moaning about the loss of what used to be. It's gone. 

[shepherd really]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

Although worthy of a note that, as I understand it, "cruise only" was never an option for customers outside North America. Certainly I can't recall it ever being available to me in the UK. But I certainly understand the broader point that SM now includes things that have to be paid for by everyone. I could whinge about that - as someone who doesnt drink alcohol  - but don't. It is what it is and there's no point, IMO, in moaning about the loss of what used to be. It's gone. 

“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”

― Omar Khayyám

[Stella Maris]

I've cruised 10 times with Oceania, and have two more cruises booked.  Clearly, I've had positive experiences, but there have been occasional bumps.  And what stands out is how well staff and management responded when those bumps were brought to their attention.  We find that when dining service is off more than one night, or the food isn't hot enough, all we need to do is speak quietly to the headwaiter, and someone always listens and corrects the situation.  We've noted things on the midcruise survey, and quickly received calls from staff to discuss fixes.  There's a dedication to customer service and quality that I still see, even as I see them economizing, and that's enough for me.

[pinotlover]

On my upcoming April cruise, I believe I have reasonable expectations for food and services based on my past history. I’ll be a very happy customer if Oceania goes to all the ports they advertised and remains in port as published.

 

FWIW, just got notice that Oceania had cancelled one of our few scheduled ship tours. It was the only tour they offered over 4 hours, in that port, and the only one remaining ashore until 4:00 with a currently scheduled 5:00 departure. Why do I have a feeling we’ll be notified, once aboard, of schedule changes? 😤

[clo]

2 hours ago, Stella Maris said:

I've cruised 10 times with Oceania, and have two more cruises booked.  Clearly, I've had positive experiences, but there have been occasional bumps.  And what stands out is how well staff and management responded when those bumps were brought to their attention.  We find that when dining service is off more than one night, or the food isn't hot enough, all we need to do is speak quietly to the headwaiter, and someone always listens and corrects the situation.  We've noted things on the midcruise survey, and quickly received calls from staff to discuss fixes.  There's a dedication to customer service and quality that I still see, even as I see them economizing, and that's enough for me.

I've long said if there's a problem and all you do is complain here or to your table mates, then you've accomplished. And if I got food that was cold when it shouldn't have been I would send it back.

[CraigM]

On 2/4/2024 at 3:39 PM, clo said:

It seems to have quieted down lately but the brouhaha over Simply More was astounding IMneverHO. And I will certainly keep in mind how O has handled things like the Red Sea. Operative words "keep in mind." And I'll be looking at SS and SB. We've been talking about spending our 'play money' on a single big thing so maybe that. We were actually booked on SS for Galapagos a couple of years ago but I had an accident that would have limited my off-ship activities.

Yes, the Red Sea fiasco this past November alienated a lot of old and new Oceania passengers. We were part of the fortunate few who received FCCs, and were therefore not "forced" (i.e. go or lose the tens of thousands of dollars the cruise cost) to go on a cruise which was not at all the one we paid for, and which passed close to Yemen during frightful times. There was a lot of discussion at that time, but that has now passed.

[SellaVee]

I always felt that Oceania had three great things in it's favour.  One was the itineraries, and another was the variety of cabins.  One year we had a few land based holidays booked when I noticed a Baltic cruise with 3 nights in St Petersburg.  Rather than miss it we travelled In one if the lower deck porthole cabins, which made it affordable.  It was great, and being the Baltic I didn’t miss the balcony.  We'd previously sailed on Wind Surf so portholes weren't a problem.  The third thing was the à la carte nature of Oceania's product.  I could book my own flights and hotel and arrive early without paying deviation, I could bring on my own wine and pay corkage if I wished, and I could book my own excursions via the roll call, or independently.  
 

Last year, we spent 15 nights on Marina, and had a wonderful time.  I was toying with booking the follow on cruise this year.  Then along came Simply more.  By giving a credit amount of say $1000, but not providing enough excursion places for everyone, Oceania is making it very transparent to folk just how much money they are wasting.  On last years cruise we took the O life excursion credit, but then found that the excursions we wanted were full, so we switched to the drinks package.

Many regulars have said it's simply a price rise, get over it.  Instead, I've jumped ship, to a fully inclusive line with newer vessels.  I'll be interested to see how we get on.  The increase in price made it much less of a jump.
 

I don’t know if this is a positive post or a negative one!

[lackcreativity]

On 2/4/2024 at 6:12 PM, mac_tlc said:

The long-time loyal cruisers are looking around and don't have any experience with what their "new" line used to have. All you can do is compare the current products and make a decision that works for you. It does seem there is a lot more movement by consumers among cruise companies. Or at least its talked about a lot. 

As a loyal Viking cruiser, my consideration of Oceania is not driven by disappointment with Viking per se, but rather a search for new itineraries. From what I have learned from the Oceania website, it was looking like a promising option. Even the change to the new Simply More seemed more a bonus than a turn off for us.

 

However, I must admit that spending too much time on this Cruise Critic thread has been raising all kinds of questions in my mind. I never put much stock in the "Best Cuisine at Sea" claim, but all the distress over port changes and times, along with the description of the ships as lacking the Viking openness to sea views are cause for concern. Casinos and Concierge Suites and butlers are more of a turn off than a draw for us. Still, several itineraries and pricing are of interest. I will certainly work to manage expectations if we do decide to give Oceania a try. 

Edited February 8 by lackcreativity