Bait and Switch itineraries, boring, horrible food, and rude management

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 7

Review summary

We chose this cruise for the itinerary. Before we booked, we already weren't impressed about Oceana but our "personal concierge" booking agent as they call it, reassured us that this ship was the finest quality of luxury, dining, etc. He was so friendly and “call me anytime attitude”, until we called and asked for a refund and wanted to cancel the cruise because they cut out half of our ports, then he was cold, indifferent and rude. It was a 10 day cruise. My husband and I chose this line, because it would have given us 4 more new countries. We were supposed to see UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. A week before the cruise, they told us they were cutting out the last two ports and used the excuse of the "Israeli war". Total excuse. They just wanted to save money. As soon as we boarded, we were met by a lady and her husband who said they were already on the ship for I think 20 days and quickly confirmed that they "baited and switched" her itinerary also. She was 9 days "at sea" because the captain refused to go to port. When concerned customers tried to talk with the manger about this, they were told the manager was too busy to speak to them. She also told us that another couple demanded to speak with the Captain to ask why their itinerary had been changed and when finally granted an audience with the Captain, he essentially said, shut up or get off my ship, so they got off. The lady also told me that the Captain had told her that he would remove her from the ship if she kept talking to guests about the “bait and switch”. Seriously. From our experience, I can confirm the management was impatient, rude and unhelpful when asked about anything. The staff was pleasant, but they were very annoying and wanted to “overserve” and were very “hovering”. I couldn’t get coffee by myself and walk to a quiet nook to sip it to wake up without being assaulted by at least 10 staff insisting they carry my coffee. The ship was NOT elegant. It was frumpy. Our AC in our room never worked properly so the room was stuffy and hot the entire time. The bed was saggy and uncomfortable. The food was DEFINITELY NOT “fine dining”. It was subpar, tasteless cafeteria food. I could barely find anything to eat that was edible. They even served “mashed potatoes” that were rehydrated flakes and overly watered down. Disgusting. Their “desserts” were inedible. Nasty quite frankly. I am 57 and my husband is 61 and we were almost the youngest people on the ship. Most of the cliental were in their 80s. The “activities” were crossword puzzles, shuffle board, mahjong. When I attempted to use the fitness room to stretch and do Pilates, I was rudely told that I had to leave because they were about to start a “seminar”. Two old ladies showed up because they were bored. The ship has been hawking antiaging pain management “seminars” to get them to buy their crap. One lady told me she had to pay $90 for a bottle of supplements. Can you imagine? You’ve got a captive audience that is 90 percent very elderly people and you try to rip them off by promising “anti aging benefits”. It was such a horrible cruise, that my husband and I decided to get off early and return home for Christmas.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Dubai, U.A.E.

Doha, Qatar

Disembarkation

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