关于大洋洲巡游的6件事
经过多里·萨尔茨曼(Dori Saltzman)/Travel Market Report recently spent seven days onboard Oceania’s Marina during a 10-day Baltic cruise. The port-intensive sailing also featured a press briefing by Oceania executives, a preview of new culinary and beverage offerings coming to Vista next year, and a chance to sit down and chat with two of Oceania’s top-selling travel advisors.
For advisors who have never sailed with Oceania Cruises, here’s what you should know before recommending the line to your clients.
1.服务很细心(资本“ A”)
毫无疑问,服务在大洋洲邮轮s a highpoint. Beyond friendly, which it is, we’ve rarely experienced service that’s as attentive as the crew onboard Oceania are.
肮脏的盘子被瞬间搅打,水杯在空着之前被填充,在您从餐厅的眩光中斜视之前,几乎要抽出窗帘。
与其他高级邮轮公司相比,我们在大洋洲排名最佳的服务中属于最佳服务。
我们并不孤单地发现这种情况。
“I’m a service person,” Richard Sacco, an independent travel consultant with Travel Edge, told TMR during an afternoon chat in the Martinis lounge. “The quality of service that I’ve experienced on this cruise is above and beyond service.”
One example of that service, Sacco said, was a sommelier who sought him out in a different venue, two days after he sampled a Malbec he didn’t like, to have him try one she thought he’d enjoy more.
“哇,那是从哪里来的?!”他说,并补充说,这种服务水平并知道他的客户将得到充分照顾,这是他向客户推荐大洋洲的主要原因之一。
话虽如此,缺乏“使其实现”,这使得稳固的服务在高级巡航类别中而不是奢侈品。例如,我们被告知,当我们在未提前通知的情况下要求在托斯卡纳(Toscana)要求无麸质面食时,这是不可能的。对我们的管家进行了询问,就忽略了枕头的可能性。但是这些实例很少,而且彼此之间很远,也没有摆脱我们所获得的服务的卓越。
2. Food是亮点
There’s a reason Oceania makes a claim of the finest cuisine at sea. It’s not only delicious. It’s high-quality, it’s consistent, there’s lots of variety, and it’s (almost) all included.
根据您的客户航行的不同,他们最多可以拥有四个包括特色餐厅,以及主餐厅和自助餐/户外烤架 - 更不用说广阔的房间服务菜单以及超级费用的小型小组用餐体验储备和私人。还有一种令人愉悦且积极的绅士下午茶,如果您沉迷于您,请给您留下很少的晚餐空间。
And, where some cruise lines sacrifice main dining quality in favor of the specialty venues, that is more definitely not the case on Oceania.
“The consistency of the product has yet to disappoint me,” Sacco said. “No matter where we have had inner on this ship, the quality of the food is there.”
Sacco pointed out the Maine lobster on several menus as an example of the quality of food Oceania serves. Most cruise lines serve rock lobster (also called spiny or Caribbean lobster), which is less expensive, doesn’t have claws, and, according to some lobster lovers, is not as tasty.
萨科说,像这样的细节是美食家的欣赏。
他们还喜欢烹饪中心,在那里他们可以参加动手烹饪课。对于那些想品尝他们所访问的目的地的人,甚至还有许多烹饪风格的海岸游览。beplay银行卡
Sacco’s wife and business partner, Helen Capra, was just as enamored of the food onboard, even going so far as to tell TMR she’s planning on going home and selling Oceania’s newest ship, Vista, based solely on a dessert she had a chance to try during a special Vista tasting lunch. (The dessert? A triple chocolate brownie with salted caramel and vanilla sauce.)
“The dessert is enough for me to call my clients and say, ‘you need to sail on the Vista because of this dessert. Forget the itinerary, forget anything else, you need to go for this dessert.”
3.美元的高价值
The inclusion of most of the specialty dining venues, the high-level of service, and several included amenities such as unlimited soft drinks, bottled water, and specialty coffees, along with fitness classes and a DIY laundry room, give Oceania a higher value-for-money than many other premium cruise lines.
In fact, Capra said she believes these inclusions push Oceania higher than premium.
“大洋洲是一条高级邮轮公司,但事实并非如此。这是高于溢价的一步,因为您获得了很多便利设施,以至于您无法使用其他高级邮轮公司。您不必支付的一系列特色餐厅真是太神奇了。”
在大多数其他优质邮轮公司中,维京人排除在外,专业餐厅不是免费的,也不是便宜的。
“I personally feel that for every dollar you spend on this cruise line, you get $1.25 back,” Sacco added.
4.当代但不是现代或时尚的
Bucking the trend that’s seeing many cruise lines embrace a more modern, hotel-style atmosphere, Oceania is sticking to its traditional roots, though it plans to add a touch of contemporary – “not modern” emphasized senior vice president of hotel operations Franco Semeraro – during upcoming refurbishments.
“We wanted to be more contemporary, not modern,” he said during a media briefing onboard Marina. “The colors are sharp, fresh.”
当代趋势还进入了菜单,从在酒吧中增加更多的bourbons到餐饮场所的植物和酮菜肴。
卡普拉说,重要的是要保持这些趋势,萨科补充说,尽管他不进行酮饮食,但他还是赞赏代表客户的包容。
But following the trends isn't the same as being trendy, Oceania executives emphasized.
烹饪计划与发展主任亚历克西斯·夸里(Alexis Quaretti)表示:“我们不是要进行分子美食之类的邮轮系列。”
大洋洲巡洋舰喜欢传统。当邮轮线试图调整他们的一些标志性菜肴(其中包括烤宽面条和提拉米苏)时,这种反弹是迅速而声乐的。
5.家庭应该看其他地方
寻求高级巡航经验的家庭可能应该看其他地方。尽管欢迎孩子们在大洋洲,但没有孩子的俱乐部,在游泳池外没有什么可做的。几乎没有什么白天的活动,仅限于桥梁,高尔夫球,沙芬板,乒乓球,琐事和丰富的演讲。
"Would I recommend this for a child? Because there's no children's program, probably not,” Capra told TMR. But she added, for families that are a “cohesive unit,” that simply want to be together and do not need someone else to entertain their children, she might consider it.
6. Mediocre Entertainment
如果大洋洲的链接最弱,那就是车载娱乐。我们的帆船由一位文特奎斯特喜剧演员组成了两场表演,两位由爵士钢琴演奏家和歌手组成,两场由西区女高音的歌手和两场演出,以及内部歌手和舞者的三场Revue Style表演。
While tastes vary, and the often-much older audience seemed to enjoy most of it, it was, overall, mediocre. At least one or two people walked out within the first 10 minutes at every performance we attended, with the exception of the soprano.
When asked about the entertainment, Sacco, a boomer himself, said "I'm not going to go there. I';ve got five more days to go, maybe things will change."