Oceania has gone downhill in customer experience. Marina management is horrible!

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 45

Review summary

Oceania has gone downhill in customer experience. Marina management is horrible! We had been on the sister ship Riviera a few years back and the service and attention to detail were excellent, because of that experience we decided to book on the sister ship Marina. Riviera's experience made us want to come back, however, the Marina experience was horrendous and will make us choose other higher-end cruise lines as opposed to returning to Oceania. First, we opted for a Penthouse with butler service. Per Oceania, this included helping with unpacking and packing, laundry services, in-room dining and other amenities. There is no way they could even deliver on the unpacking promise as our butler didn't even introduce himself to us. We finally met our Butler on the second evening when we tried to contact him to get some glasses for wine. (on the Riviera the staff made an effort to introduce themselves to us, not the other way around) After several attempts, he finally responded and came and introduced himself, and let us know that he had many cabins to take care of and one guest suite that had paid "a lot of money" and was being very demanding and taking up all his time. I told him we wouldn't be using any of the butler services but only had one request, that he makes sure that two fresh wine glasses and two fresh champaign flutes be placed in our room every day (that was our only request!). He left and brought some in... we never saw him or fresh glasses per our request again, until the last night when he came in to ask about our experience and asking for a good survey. Are you kidding me? I asked. I soon realized this wasn't an isolated incident, rather than helping guests most staff just sat around chit-chatting with each other while guest needs went ignored. This ship can't have that many bad employees, this ship has bad management that doesn't pay attention! Management too just stands around chit-chatting while guests have open conversations around them about the horrible service, I witnessed several of these occasions and not once did management engage with these clients. You have to find people if you want any service (with exception of Grand Dining and Toscana). As for using a Som... good luck number one, they are not knowledgeable and number two they will pour your first glass and good luck in finding them after that. Everyone has some bad employees, but this isn't about bad employees this is about bad management that sees guests having bad experiences and instead of engaging and correcting the issue they turn their heads and ignore the issues. It's as if the guests are coming into their home and interrupting their fun. Rivieria service made me come back, Marina service lost me forever!

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Lisbon, Portugal

Cadiz (Seville), Spain

Malaga, Spain

Alicante, Spain

Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands

Barcelona, Spain

Marseille (Provence), France

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Disembarkation

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