Oceania Riviera in Japan – Discovering a Premium Experience: Part Four (Rough Seas!)

You know what your mother used to say, “If you have nothing good to say, don’t say anything?” Well, I never listened to my mother! And, of course, you depend on me to be honest and accurate, so when I say something is fantastic it really is, and if there is a problem it similarly is.

I have to start this article by saying I really wanted Oceania to impress me and to understand why some of my clients are so loyal to the brand. Oceania’s executive offices have been wonderful and I set things up to see how close to a luxury experience I could have, even paying to upgrade to a Penthouse, have the Premium Beverage Package, have the Premium High-Speed Internet Package, experience the La Reserve by Wine Spectator fine dining experience, purchase a Cooking Class, and take some Oceania tours, while also assuring I would dine in every venue.

It is truly unfortunate that my initial experiences starting from boarding Oceania Riveria have been more than challenging and in every instance the issues were totally avoidable and could have been handled much better.  Even for an extremely seasoned traveler such as myself, it really puts a damper on things when the frustrations grow and grow.

So, what could be so bad that I need to start my Oceania Cruises review so negatively? The list is unfortunately long and some of them, as noted below, seem to be ship-wide complaints from longtime Oceania loyal guests.

Because of what you will read, I can’t broad-brush what has occurred to say this is a typical Oceania cruise. I often caution my clients that any past passenger who claims to be an expert on a product after one or two cruises isn’t necessarily a good source. However, I am not just any passenger, so I see things with a bit of a different eye and experience set. I am hoping that these sorts of things are limited to my experience on this particular cruise, but admittedly it cannot help but skew my view.

What made the situations below even more troubling is that in other areas individuals ranging from the Reception Desk/Guest Services management, to bartenders and servers, to waitstaff, have been exceptionally good…and I mean really good.  I’m talking about restaurant service that flows as a team – with everyone working together and carefully watching each table, to craft cocktails not only being delicious, but perfectly presented and duplicated time after time.

So, with that, let’s begin with Embarkation and the least of my concerns. (Things will get progressively worse, so please read the entire article!) Because of such a great time at a great hotel was had in Tokyo, Japan, I arranged for a later embarkation. (On Oceania you may select your embarkation time.) Arriving on schedule at 3:00 PM, registration in the Riveria Lounge was a breeze, and with room key in hand, it was off to my suite…and it is a nicely renovated Penthouse suite.

The only problem is that someone was supposed to greet me at the exit from the Riviera Lounge to show me my muster station. That never happened. Now, rather than someone checking on this that day – maybe by calling my suite? – the next morning there was a note that I had to meet with security at 10:15 a.m. However, I had a tour at 9:00 a.m. So, it was down to the Reception Desk as the phone rang off the hook. I was told not to worry, and that Security would be in touch to set up another time to complete the muster. When I heard nothing for another 24 hours I asked again and was told not to worry about it. Huh?

I had an issue with my Shore Excursion the next morning in Nagoya and my Butler was supposed to assist me with the rather time-sensitive matter. It wound up that all he would do was drop off a shore excursion order form with absolutely no follow-up. I should note that the only reason I asked for the butler’s assistance was because the line at the Destination Desk was extremely long, so standing in line for over an hour didn’t seem like the first best option. Anyway, with no follow-up by my butler – which I learned after the fact – it took a rather aggravated call later in the evening to get it resolved. Geez!

Jumping ahead, I wish it hadn’t been! The Panorama of Nagoya Tour was downright horrible and pretty much everyone on the bus let it be known.  Our “guide” spoke very little English and provided no background information for any of the three stops we made. It was a “dump you off and you figure it out” three times…and then – with the tour not departing at 9:30, but much later, it returned you to the ship after all the lunch dining options were closed, other than 15 minutes at Waves, the outside casual dining venue, before it closed…with literally no available seating. (I’ll detail this in my more travelogue article.) 

My Butler, who referred to me as “Goldring”, not “Mr. Goldring” or “Eric” couldn’t even get my simple breakfast order right on either of the first two mornings nor could he find the time to replace the Diet Coke in the mini-fridge. Further, my issues with all of my dining reservations were nothing he would help me with (It is supposed to be his job!) or my almost total lack of internet in the suite.  (Hold on for those!) On the third night, after I had given up on the butler, and had a conversation with the Guest Services Manager, my butler was replaced and, apparently retrained. (My breakfast and Diet Coke – the only things I really use the butler for – have been fine since.)

Speaking of my Dinner Reservations, which seems to be a ubiquitous problem based on comments I have read before I boarded and heard afterward onboard, every single one of my bookings had been changed, including my private tables being changed to sharing with others. There was also an issue with La Reserve, the $180 per person alleged dining experience. (Again, I’ll address that in another article.) After being advised by my butler that he couldn’t help, I went to La Reserve to get it all sorted and was told they would work on it and get back to me.

After a day I called to the Dining Reservations Desk, but the phone just rang. I called again. No answer. So, as it was now almost the eve of the La Reserve reservation, and my alleged reservation at Polo Grill, I went down to the desk with a member of the Reception Team and was assured I would be contacted with resolutions. Nope. The night before I called and, again, no answer. So, I immediately went down to the desk and the staff was there just letting the phone ring while they were chatting among themselves. Insulting, to say the least.

Worse, lo and behold, absolutely nothing was noted and nothing had been done. Even the Reception staff was shocked. And, of course, none of my other dining issues had been resolved either. It was infuriating spending two days of this cruise just trying to sort out dinner reservations and being ignored. But eventually later that evening they were and it wasn’t because I was charming!

There is nothing worse than being patted on the head by people who clearly do not care and seemingly figure that if it is frustrating enough you will just go away. Clearly, they didn’t know that is not what I do! 

Oceania touts that it has Starlink Internet onboard Oceania Riviera. The Number One complaint I hear (other than the food…I’ll get to that!) is that the internet is painfully slow, even with the upgraded package (costing me an additional $119). When the connectivity in my suite was terrible, I went up to the Internet Manager and was told he was off in 15 minutes and to come back at 4:00 p.m. with my laptop because the Starlink signal was strong so the problem had to be my computer.  What?!

Aside from the flip and insulting response, I knew it wasn’t my laptop because none of my devices (phone, iPad, or laptop) could connect and they have easily worked on every ship I have ever sailed on…and there have been a few. After three full days, and my exasperated discussion with the Guest Services manager – who was wonderful! – the arrogant Internet Manager came to my suite with his measuring device and said, “You don’t have any signal in your suite!”  Really? Thank you for telling me. I would have never guessed!  To his credit, his attitude did change and was trying everything he could to get me a signal, including giving me his personal access point (which has given me a bit of a signal).  He also apologized that Oceania’s tech support in the U.S. wasn’t available because they don’t work weekends.

It is still painful to upload even the smallest of photos or download emails with the ship’s internet. For anything substantive, I am limited to hot-spotting my laptop to my phone when in port…thankfully noting that I have an international high-speed data plan with T-Mobile. Not much help in the late afternoons, evenings, and sea day though.

As it was explained, Oceania really throttles down each person’s access to the internet, even with the premium package. Basically, the Starlink signal is strong to the ship, but the amount of data allowed for any individual account to download or upload is heavily restricted. Hence, even under the best of circumstances, expecting enough high-speed internet to work on Oceania Riviera is going to be a real disappointment.

To add insult to injury, I have looked for some area outside of my suite where I can receive a decent signal (not the Library or Baristas, for example). So, I am finishing up this article while sitting at  the bar in the Horizon Lounge with Bingo going on around me. 

And, so far, the Grand Finale:  Similar to the United States’ Jone Act, Japan requires that any non-Japanese ship visit one foreign port on its Japanese journey. On our cruise, Busan, Korea is that foreign port. Curiously, when leaving for Busan we were required to officially depart Japan with full immigration and customs formalities. We then had to formally enter and depart Busan. No problem. But on the return to Hiroshima, we were required to go through the full immigration process again…and it was a disaster!

Oceania did not advise – in advance – that arriving in Hiroshima at 9:30 a.m. didn’t mean getting off the ship by 10:00 a.m., but to figure 11:00 a.m. at the earliest. In fact, nothing was said until the night before that the immigration process would not even start – best case – until 10:00 a.m. with no estimate of how long it would take to process 1,250 people; akin to four widebody jets arriving at the same time with only a few immigration officers to handle them. (Visions of my arrival in Haneda with fewer officers appeared in my head…as did the prospect of having a really angry tour guide in the morning since it was too late to contact them in advance.)

The letter we received said that tours starting at 10:00 a.m. (clearly impossible) would be processed first, but no mention of those with private tours. Oceania then scheduled immigration for later tours and finally by deck number. But rather than the letter stating that there was no rush and the tours would not leave until everyone was processed, nothing was said. Obviously, that started people talking about getting to the Riviera Lounge early so as to not miss their tours (Oceania or private).  Needless to say, right from the start, that created issues for folks like me who had arranged a private tour. Oh, but it got soooo much worse. It turned into utter chaos!

I figured with my private tour I would get in line at 9:30 a.m. so I’d be near the front of the immigration line. Nope. When I arrived at the Riviera Lounge, the line was already one-third of the way down the ship. By the time Japanese Immigration was ready to start, it was 10:30 a.m. and the line literally ran the entire length of the ship, and let’s just say many in line were getting a bit testy.  I also heard that some of the 10:00 a.m. scheduled tours did not depart until after noon…but I can’t verify that because I was off the ship well before then…and only with the assistance of Oceania’s guest relations! Who knows what it would have been otherwise! (And, yes, I paid my guide extra for her having to wait 45 minutes for me.)

I asked why Oceania simply refused to let passengers line up early and simply call them down one tour at a time, having to show their shore excursion ticket, while also assuring the passengers that the tours would not leave without them if they timely appeared, and I was told, “We are not allowed to tell the guests ‘No’”.  

Truth be told, I was never told “No” in any of the situations I mentioned above. I was ignored. I was pushed off to others. I was patted on the head. But admittedly I was never told, “No.”

All of the foregoing hasn’t made for a terribly good impression and, worse, it has really affected my first few ports in Japan because it is this sort of stuff that just grates on you. Being that I do travel often and I haven’t planned this Oceania experience for a year or two in advance, or saved up for years, or am a newbie, I can most certainly understand the grumblings and frustrations.

Yes, one has to keep everything in perspective, but you know what they say about First Impressions and Drip. Drip. Drip!

Now, let’s get on to the continuation of a very interesting Japanese journey!