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Oceania Decline

By mamaclark , March 3 in Oceania Cruises

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I continue to struggle with posting anything negative about a cruise line I have touted and loved for so long. We had an absolutely hideous Alaska cruise last summer on Regatta and I did not publicly post, only complained to my TA. We have tried to book the Tokyo to Singapore cruise since before Covid, no one's fault for sure. We are waitlisted for the Oct. 29 cruise. Since booking I continue to monitor reviews for Oceania and I am staggered by the number of mediocre and downright bad reviews on the food. On Oceania! I had three inedible meals and one that never arrived. So understaffed, too! Does anyone read the reviews or pay attention?  I know, this is heresy.

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Queen of DaNile

Not exactly sure what you're trying to say but the food on our recent cruise was very good.

Not experienced this decline.  Perfect, nah…but a wonderful experience. 

Thank you, I  realize for every bad review there are many good ones unwritten. I am agonizing over whether to pull the trigger on this rather expensive cruise when the list clears, which undoubtedly it will. All I can do is compare prior experiences. I never had a bad bite of food on Oceania, never. Were you on the Regatta?

We were just on Vista in January 2024. Was everything perfect? No. There were a couple meals that weren't as good as we thought they could be. But we didn't feel the need to complain to the maitre' de. Most everything in every venue was excellent. We had been on a larger mass-market line (friends chose that cruise) a year before and the food was not nearly as good.  Just our experience....no more, no less.

9 minutes ago, mamaclark said: Thank you, I  realize for every bad review there are many good ones unwritten. I am agonizing over whether to pull the trigger on this rather expensive cruise when the list clears, which undoubtedly it will. All I can do is compare prior experiences. I never had a bad bite of food on Oceania, never. Were you on the Regatta?

I was on the Regatta's repositioning cruise from Vancouver to San Pedro last September and I also found many meals on that cruise to be subpar.  I requested a meeting with the GM and Food & Beverage manager on that cruise to find out what the problem was as I was also on the Regatta in July and the food was good.  They listened to my concerns but were at a loss to explain how the quality of food declined so much in two months time.  Perhaps it was a one off occurrence.

Since then I've sailed on the Vista 3 times and the food was at the standards I expect from Oceania - very good in all venues.  So hopefully all will be well on the Regatta this year as I will be sailing on her for 23 days in April and May.  You can't get a hit everytime you go to bat, so I hope the Regatta isn't in a prolonged slump.

no fuss travel

We were on HAL for a New Years cruise.  Oceania's food beat them hands down.  The only decent dinners were on the Gala nights on HAL.  I think if you look at most cruise lines now you will find that their standards have slipped since Pre Covid.   They cannot get enough experienced staff, there has been problems getting supplies, the wars, the weather all contribute to the complaints.  It will take a while for all the cruise lines to reach preCovid standards.  We will just need to be patient.

If you also take into account, Cruise Critic seems to be getting poor reviews, but the ships are sailing at capacity or almost capacity and the complaints are not that numerous.  That means there are more satisfied passengers, than dissatisfied.  Take the complaints with a grain of salt.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and the only opinion that counts is your own to you.  What one person does not like, you may love.  Just go on your cruise and enjoy.  It is nice to be able to cruise again.

18 minutes ago, lj77346 said: So hopefully all will be well on the Regatta this year as I will be sailing on her for 23 days in April and May.  You can't get a hit everytime you go to bat, so I hope the Regatta isn't in a prolonged slump.

I appreciate your response very much. I suspect there is a tremendous difference between Vista and Regatta. I suppose we could just arrange to eat ashore when we can.

23 minutes ago, no fuss travel said: We were on HAL for a New Years cruise.  Oceania's food beat them hands down.  The only decent dinners were on the Gala nights on HAL.  I think if you look at most cruise lines now you will find that their standards have slipped since Pre Covid.   They cannot get enough experienced staff, there has been problems getting supplies, the wars, the weather all contribute to the complaints.  It will take a while for all the cruise lines to reach preCovid standards.  We will just need to be patient.   If you also take into account, Cruise Critic seems to be getting poor reviews, but the ships are sailing at capacity or almost capacity and the complaints are not that numerous.  That means there are more satisfied passengers, than dissatisfied.  Take the complaints with a grain of salt.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and the only opinion that counts is your own to you.  What one person does not like, you may love.  Just go on your cruise and enjoy.  It is nice to be able to cruise again.

Agree! Nothing is perfect. But I always say a day aboard a cruise ship is better than just about anything else. 🙂

No Gut No Glory

The world keeps changing, but critics are the one constant of which can depend.

News Flash: NCLH, CCL, RCL, etc. spent 2 years with expenses and no revenue, subsisting off salvaged ships and massive borrowing.

Where do y'all expect the cash to pay off COVID debt is going to come from?  Not just Oceania/NCLH's $6,000,000,000, but all the other lines' debts, too?

Some of it is going to come from suspended dividends, but no surprise if it comes out of value delivered to passengers, too.  Decide cruising is no longer for you if you wish, but I'm going to have "realistic expectations" until the good times come again (they are, aren't they? 🙄 ).

1 hour ago, DENIE said: Agree! Nothing is perfect. But I always say a day aboard a cruise ship is better than just about anything else. 🙂

And different things for different people.

3 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said: News Flash: NCLH, CCL, RCL, etc. spent 2 years with expenses and no revenue, subsisting off salvaged ships and massive borrowing.   Where do y'all expect the cash to pay off COVID debt is going to come from?  Not just Oceania/NCLH's $6,000,000,000, but all the other lines' debts, too?   Some of it is going to come from suspended dividends, but no surprise if it comes out of value delivered to passengers, too.  Decide cruising is no longer for you if you wish, but I'm going to have "realistic expectations" until the good times come again (they are, aren't they? 🙄 ).    

Thank you for your perspective, but this is their problem, not mine. I buy, they supply.

30 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:   Some of it is going to come from suspended dividends

FYI, NCLH has never paid a dividend since they went public in 2013, so that isn't a potential source of funds available for repayment debt accumulated during the COVID era.

1 hour ago, Snaefell3 said: $6,000,000,000

BILLION??????????? 

10 minutes ago, clo said: BILLION??????????? 

Yup, and that's just the extra for getting through the COVID shutdown.

(NCLH = NCL + O + RSSC)

1 hour ago, mamaclark said: Thank you for your perspective, but this is their problem, not mine. I buy, they supply.

Indeed.  Your cash, your tune. 

I just suspect it'll take more cash, elsewhere, to get what we were used to getting.  😞  

32 minutes ago, njhorseman said: FYI, NCLH has never paid a dividend since they went public in 2013, so that isn't a potential source of funds available for repayment debt accumulated during the COVID era.

Yup.  So even more so for NCLH than all the other lines that I was talking about.

cruisemom42

4 hours ago, mamaclark said: I am staggered by the number of mediocre and downright bad reviews on the food. On Oceania! I had three inedible meals and one that never arrived. So understaffed, too! Does anyone read the reviews or pay attention?

I'm a relative newbie to O but on two cruises (total of 34 days), I didn't experience any meal that was inedible, nor did any meals fail to materialize.

Are you cruising to Japan for the itinerary or for the onboard dining? If the former, there are better itineraries out there than O offers, and Japan offers many opportunities to sample delicious food ashore.

7 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:   I'm a relative newbie to O but on two cruises (total of 34 days), I didn't experience any meal that was inedible, nor did any meals fail to materialize.   Are you cruising to Japan for the itinerary or for the onboard dining? If the former, there are better itineraries out there than O offers, and Japan offers many opportunities to sample delicious food ashore.  

Would you please provide an example of what cruise line offers a better itinerary to Japan. It’s definitely possible. We mostly cruise with Oceania but I would really be interested to look it up.

30 minutes ago, osandomir said: Would you please provide an example of what cruise line offers a better itinerary to Japan. It’s definitely possible. We mostly cruise with Oceania but I would really be interested to look it up.

Well, as one example, I'll point to the 28-day Japan "cherry blossom" cruise I took last April on Holland America. Just for starters, you get 28 days circumnavigating all of the main islands of Japan for less than the price of the 16 day Regatta cruise mentioned by the OP.

(HAL does offer a limited number of Japan cruises in the fall, but to me cherry blossom timing was a big driver, and while it's a bit of a crap shoot as to whether you'll hit "full bloom" or not, the HAL itinerary is designed to take you from the south to the north, so at some point along the way you're bound to hit the sweet spot.)

The Oceania itinerary really doesn't even include that much of Japan, and does none of the very interesting and lesser known northern ports. (For example, I really liked Aomori and Hakodate). It does include stops in other places like Vietnam and Singapore, which is fine, but it's not Japan.

The HAL cruise has the minimum number of extra-Japan stops (at least one foreign port per cruise, much like US regulations, and the 28-day cruise is really considered 2 14-day cruises...) The 2024 itinerary (now sold out) is shown below as it is fairly similar to the 2023 one I did, although it does include a few more intriguing-sounding ports on the western side.

There are probably others as well. All I know is that when I was looking for 2023, O's itineraries were not even in my top 3 or 4.

Oceania Regatta Itinerary:

HAL Itinerary:

42 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:   Well, as one example, I'll point to the 28-day Japan "cherry blossom" cruise I took last April on Holland America. Just for starters, you get 28 days circumnavigating all of the main islands of Japan for less than the price of the 16 day Regatta cruise mentioned by the OP.   (HAL does offer a limited number of Japan cruises in the fall, but to me cherry blossom timing was a big driver, and while it's a bit of a crap shoot as to whether you'll hit "full bloom" or not, the HAL itinerary is designed to take you from the south to the north, so at some point along the way you're bound to hit the sweet spot.)   The Oceania itinerary really doesn't even include that much of Japan, and does none of the very interesting and lesser known northern ports. (For example, I really liked Aomori and Hakodate). It does include stops in other places like Vietnam and Singapore, which is fine, but it's not Japan.   The HAL cruise has the minimum number of extra-Japan stops (at least one foreign port per cruise, much like US regulations, and the 28-day cruise is really considered 2 14-day cruises...) The 2024 itinerary (now sold out) is shown below as it is fairly similar to the 2023 one I did, although it does include a few more intriguing-sounding ports on the western side.   There are probably others as well. All I know is that when I was looking for 2023, O's itineraries were not even in my top 3 or 4.     Oceania Regatta Itinerary:     HAL Itinerary:      

It’s been long time since I checked mainstream cruise lines. This one indeed looks attractive. To be fair Oceania sails to Japan northern ports that you mentioned on the different itinerary, but nothing close to be as inclusive as those of HAL cruise.

We also did Oceania cruise from Tokyo in spring and I agree that this is a magic time to visit Japan. Now we’re booked on the Tokyo to Singapore that includes Philippines, Indonesia and more in February 25. We’ll spend some time in Japan pre- cruise, but definitely will miss the Cherry Blossom this time.

6 hours ago, mamaclark said: I continue to struggle with posting anything negative about a cruise line I have touted and loved for so long. We had an absolutely hideous Alaska cruise last summer on Regatta and I did not publicly post, only complained to my TA. We have tried to book the Tokyo to Singapore cruise since before Covid, no one's fault for sure. We are waitlisted for the Oct. 29 cruise. Since booking I continue to monitor reviews for Oceania and I am staggered by the number of mediocre and downright bad reviews on the food. On Oceania! I had three inedible meals and one that never arrived. So understaffed, too! Does anyone read the reviews or pay attention?  I know, this is heresy.

It’s unfortunate that you had such a poor experience, and that recent reviews are making you doubt your choice of O for future cruises.  Only you can make that call.

So, I can only pass along another R-ship experience.  Currently on the Insignia from LA to Bali, 55-days.  It is the best cruise experience we have ever had.  Sure, some things were not up to par, and we reported them, or wrote them into the surveys.  O quickly acted on most of them.  Still, an overall great experience and value for our dollar, so we have booked a 50th Wedding Anniversary trip to Alaska with multiple staterooms for Family in 2025.

Best of luck in whatever you choose to do.

shepherd really

Currently on Marina, it's not perfect but I would have to dig deep to complain, and I'm a pretty picky person.  

If you go in with an attitude that your cruise will be a terrible experience, it will be.

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