Oceania CEO responds to complaint

[ashtyn]

I ran across this thread and thought that I should share with all of you.

 

To make this long thread short, 2 seperate groups of people were "bumped" off of their criuise about a week before it was to depart. They weren't given the option, they were told that they could not cruiese. The OP wrote a letter to the CEO of Oceania and he responded on page 7.

 

I guess sometimes the big wigs do actually read what passengers have to say.:rolleyes:

[cruzegirl]

What thread and what letter?? Nothing there.....:confused:

[chrysalis]

you will see it referenced on the home page of cruise critic...it is not about Princess

[chessbriar]

It's in cruise critics new section.

[ashtyn]

oops....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=363011

 

true it is not about Princess, just a thread to show that the sometimes the higher ups do read our threads and maybe changes can be made from them:rolleyes:

[TheParrotHeads]

The story can be found here: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=1692

 

I'm wondering if this move is sincere or construed out of public humiliation? I am hoping the former, but it's nice to see it handled in this matter. Did those who were initially affected by this even try to call back and ask for a supervisor or someone in charge of operations before taking these extreme actions? Either way, all was ok in the end.

[Spikesgirl]

One was called directly by the company and the other was notified by their TA. I think the part that was so hard for both posters was that it ocurred just before they were to leave. There was also a lot of doubt by many of the thread readers who attempted to investigate and reveal that the whole thing was a hoax. There was a lot of misinformation all the way around, but the company did pony up in the end and make things right. Many doubters did apologize in the end, but I still felt badly for the folks that had to go through this. Neither had had much experience eith such things and it served as a cautionary tale to the rest of us. Know your rights and your options.

 

Charlie

[caviargal]

Kudos to Oceania for handling this so well and for accepting responsibility!

 

Last November I got a call from a clerk (first day on the job) at MSC cruises telling me that they were cancelling a cruise that I had a group of 193 passengers booked and confirmed on for March. These folks booked and paid up to twelve months ahead, we had paid all deposits to MSC. They had air paid for and we had hotels pre and post booked and paid for.

 

They did NOTHING, offered NOTHING and were incredibly rude and unprofessional about the entire event. They refused to protect me on the only two lines that matched the dates of the cruise I had booked, instead eventually offering me Costa which was a joke and the dates were not the same. I requested they protect me on either Princess or HAL and they refused.

 

Mulitple emails to the president of US Operations went unanswered. And the President of the entire company, based in Genoa, basically told me that his folks here behaved ethically and properly.

 

Their lack of ethics cost me untold hours of extra work and thousands and thousands of dollars.

 

I am happy to note that they are not doing well in the US market and that the reviews on their product continue to worsen. I hope the company goes under as they do not deserve to stay in business.

 

It is nice to see that all cruise lines are not slime.

[TheParrotHeads]

Kudos to Oceania for handling this so well and for accepting responsibility!

 

Last November I got a call from a clerk (first day on the job) at MSC cruises telling me that they were cancelling a cruise that I had a group of 193 passengers booked and confirmed on for March. These folks booked and paid up to twelve months ahead, we had paid all deposits to MSC. They had air paid for and we had hotels pre and post booked and paid for.

 

They did NOTHING, offered NOTHING and were incredibly rude and unprofessional about the entire event. They refused to protect me on the only two lines that matched the dates of the cruise I had booked, instead eventually offering me Costa which was a joke and the dates were not the same. I requested they protect me on either Princess or HAL and they refused.

 

Mulitple emails to the president of US Operations went unanswered. And the President of the entire company, based in Genoa, basically told me that his folks here behaved ethically and properly.

 

Their lack of ethics cost me untold hours of extra work and thousands and thousands of dollars.

 

I am happy to note that they are not doing well in the US market and that the reviews on their product continue to worsen. I hope the company goes under as they do not deserve to stay in business.

 

It is nice to see that all cruise lines are not slime.

I don't believe the airlines even have this kind of power, to simply refuse service to a scheduled, paid, and checked-in passenger?

[Ethel5]

I am happy to note that they are not doing well in the US market and that the reviews on their product continue to worsen. I hope the company goes under as they do not deserve to stay in business.

 

I'm sorry that your group had difficilties but I must differ with you on your opinion regarding MSC. We have sailed her once and our close friends sail her every spring for a total of 5 cruises for them. It is NOT you typical Americanized cruise experience. But if you have an open mind and are willing to embrace a different culture, then you will get along just fine. The food is good with some dishes-pastas and risottos-being outstanding. the crew is anxious to please and love talking to Americans to hone their language skills.

 

Again, you had a bad experience but that doesn't mean that no one will enjoy the cruiseline and to be happy that a business is failing (which it is not) is childish.

[Iamthesea]

The OP wrote a letter to the CEO of Oceania and he responded on page 7.

 

I guess sometimes the big wigs do actually read what passengers have to say.

It was my understanding that a representative of Oceania cruiseline was a regular member on Cruise Critic and the OP addressed the letter to him.

[caviargal]

I'm sorry that your group had difficilties but I must differ with you on your opinion regarding MSC. We have sailed her once and our close friends sail her every spring for a total of 5 cruises for them. It is NOT you typical Americanized cruise experience. But if you have an open mind and are willing to embrace a different culture, then you will get along just fine. The food is good with some dishes-pastas and risottos-being outstanding. the crew is anxious to please and love talking to Americans to hone their language skills.

 

Again, you had a bad experience but that doesn't mean that no one will enjoy the cruiseline and to be happy that a business is failing (which it is not) is childish.

 

I have cruised with MSC which is why I booked my group with them. And I am Italian so appreciated MOSTof the differences I experienced aboard (I cruised them in the Med) or I would never have chosen Opera for my group.

 

IMO as a long time agent, their behavior was unprecendented and unacceptable. I filed formal complaints against MSC with all of the organizations involved with agents and cruising in the hopes that others will be spared the financial risk associated in dealing with MSC in group cruising.

 

What is childish IMO is their handling of the situation. It goes far beyond a "bad experience". This is not only my opinion but the opinion of industry leaders who were involved in the situation at every step and shocked at MSC's behavior.

[ashtyn]

It was my understanding that a representative of Oceania cruiseline was a regular member on Cruise Critic and the OP addressed the letter to him.

 

The original poster knew that the CEO does read the boards so she addressed it to him. A TA that personally knows him called into Oceania and tried to help the OP. The CEO did read the original post and then responded in a letter to the original poster and the second poster thru the thread.

[amyr]

I've read Oceania threads in the past where the CEO (Jack Del Rio?) did respond. I remember one in particular where he was asking his cruisers what sort of things mattered to them, what changes they would like to see, etc. In fact, I think he started that thread.

 

Seemed like a pretty good guy. I'm not sure I remember it correctly, but I think that not all the posters were respectful, and he backed off for quite a while. Good to see he's still around.

[BaumD]

Princess called my TA three days before a cruise on the Golden in April with an offer to cancel, reschedule to another cruise with a cabin upgrade and a generous shipboard credit. We were tempted, but with only 3 days notice we declined.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I've read Oceania threads in the past where the CEO (Jack Del Rio?) did respond. I remember one in particular where he was asking his cruisers what sort of things mattered to them, what changes they would like to see, etc. In fact, I think he started that thread.

 

Seemed like a pretty good guy. I'm not sure I remember it correctly, but I think that not all the posters were respectful, and he backed off for quite a while. Good to see he's still around.

 

 

It's Frank Del Rio. I read the entire thread and was very impressed with the way he handled it--very professional. He handled the situation well.

 

One of the couples that was bumped had gone ahead and booked with HAL and Mr. Del Rio offered to pay any cancellation fees (which at that point were full fare) imposed by HAL and gave them each $500 shipboard credit.

[Ethel5]

. IMO as a long time agent, their behavior was unprecendented and unacceptable. I filed formal complaints against MSC with all of the organizations involved with agents and cruising in the hopes that others will be spared the financial risk associated in dealing with MSC in group cruising.......What is childish IMO is their handling of the situation. It goes far beyond a "bad experience". This is not only my opinion but the opinion of industry leaders who were involved in the situation at every step and shocked at MSC's behavior.

 

OK, so you filed complaints with the proper agencies dealing with cruise lines and they, in turn, were "shocked" with MSC's handling of the situation. So what did the agencies do about it and what was the outcome?