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Seabourn vs. Oceania


cuddles115
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Have just come off Oceania Riviera and can say that service food and staff were far superior to seabourn Sojourn. We went on 33 day Christmas cruise and probably never return. Standards have drastically fallen since we sailed 7 years ago. Such a shame as the ships are lovely.

 

 

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'We went on 33 day Christmas cruise and probably never return. Standards have drastically fallen since we sailed 7 years ago.'

 

We were also on the Sojourn Holiday Cruise. We didn't feel that way at all. Things were more or less equivalent to our other SB sailings. My only critic was that John the Cruise Director went MIA and it took a few days for information about the situation to surface and another week or so for a replacement CD. Otherwise we had a great time and will return to SB soon.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi

Just found this thread. These were our thoughts & experiences on our 21 night Pacific cruise on Sirena in Jan. Our first on Oceania. We have sailed 140 nights on Seabourn over the last 6 years, in many different locations.......

 

Oceania v Seabourn

 

Far prefer layout of Seabourn 'big' sisters. Have missed deck 5 aft and deck 6 forward

The R class Oceania ships really only have the pool deck on 9 and additional sun terrace space on 11 which is closed in any rough or windy weather. However, the Oceania sunbeds and double daybeds are more luxurious than those on Seabourn, with very comfortable mattresses. The Concierge level Spa Terrace is nice with large Hot tub but only sunbed/mattress space for around 12 guests ......... it's glassed in forward and partially covered too. There is nowhere to get outside either forward or aft except rear Terrace of Terrace Buffet restaurant. No deck surrounds 'Horizons' the equivalent of the Observation Bar.

Competition for sunbeds and day beds is fierce, especially after a few days of inclement weather, with most either occupied or reserved by 9.00am. They do have beds on deck 5 both port and starboard but again only in fair weather and no bar service and only accessible from each side.

Inside, Oceania is beautiful in an English country house style. Very comfortable seating is available on deck 4 and 5 around the stairwell but the seating in Martini's bar and the small Grand Bar doesn't provide enough space for those seeking a predinner drink, which leaves the large Horizons bar on 10, forward where the Orchestra playing makes conversation more difficult.

Balcony cabins are smaller as are balconies and the shower room is tiny! You would have to go to a PH to get the equivalent of a standard Seabourn suite. To be fair, ours, (Concierge A1 midships) was beautifully appointed with a very comfortable bed, lovely bedding and new, good quality towels and nice amenities. There is ample storage in a bank of wardrobes and even in the shower room. There's a similar size flat screen TV to Seabourn though films are timed, not 'on demand' and a mini bar stocked daily with soft drinks.

We had one open air event, a 'Rock the Boat' similar to Seabourn's style.

The 'Terrace Grill' is not as good as the 'Collonade', either in style or service. There is no table service other than for drinks, so it's always buffet service .......and all food is served by Oceania staff, so even a simple lunch can involve joining several queues! Space between the service areas is limited, so very crowded at busy times.

' Waves Grill' has a continental breakfast buffet and various cooked sandwich options incl burgers & hotdogs at lunch but it closes at 4 and doesn't reopen.

Ice cream, smoothies & shakes are available only until 4.00pm so no ice cream option after that other than Room Service [emoji45]

Couldn't agree that Oceania has 'Finest Cuisine at Sea' ........generally it is good and the two speciality restaurants, Red Ginger and Tuscan Steak are excellent (altho' Tuscan did struggle with table of 8 on my husband's Birthday). Reservations are necessary and number depends on your stateroom category ........

MDR doesn't offer special order option and there is no 'fall back' Classic menu optIon of Steak etc if you don't fancy what's on that evening's menu! I had to send back two shell fish dishes as 'over cooked' - lobster & shrimp .........

Room Service breakfast was excellent and hot items were always served on a hot plate. Selection slightly less than Seabourn but I found if I wrote a particular request on the menu card, it arrived.

Bar service was good but not every venue had a staffed bar e.g., no bar at trivia and it was sometimes difficult to get service before/during a show.

Entertainment was similar to Seabourn with a core team of 6 plus guest acts. Venue had no pillars but only two levels of free standing seating.

We paid for the 'Premium' drinks package, upgrading from the 'House Select' package included in our fare - an additional 20USD pp pd.

Staff were Indian, Indonesian, Philipino and Eastern European. The first three were wonderful but some of the Eastern European staff weren't fluent in English and struggled with any requests that deviated from the general e.g. "A big 'O' cocktail, in a tall glass with extra orange & cranberry juice" was a challenge!!!

Did we have a good time? Yes! We did, and saw some beautiful places.

Would we cruise with them again? Doubt it, but never say never! Though not in an R Class ship.

Do we prefer Seabourn???

Ohhhhh YES!!!

 

Ailmarsh

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I am doing my first Seabourn in September. So I have only comments regarding Oceania which we have sailed 4 times, last time, last week. I do mean last time. Oceania used to be fantastic, great food, wonderful state rooms, etc. It has seen a decline since being acquired by NCL. Food is all tasteless, tiny drinks, tiny bathroom, tiny TV, horrible entertainment, lectures featured topics of fish and ships. Our veranda, had not seen maintenance in quite a while. The walls had huge rust stains, balcony flooring looked like it was done by someone with poor eyesight and poor measuring skills. The dividing panel was kept from moving by strips of paper forced in between. We were extremely disappointed. Here is one example of the food quality, our table mate received her entree consisting of 3 small scallops on equally small potatoes--that was it. My artichoke heart salad, had 3 paper thin strips of artichoke--really!

The staff is still very wonderful and the library, which is great saved our sanity. The destination desk, was uninformed and not at all helpful. I am really hoping the Seabourn does a better job,because we booked it for our anniversary.

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Seadiamond, what Oceania ship did you just finish last week?

 

DH and I did our first Oceania cruise, Alaska, just one week for a test, on the Regatta, finished 7/7.

I wrote a detailed review for CC and submitted it but it is not yet published ( can take up to a week or so). I rated it 3 stars.

 

Compared with 4 prior SB cruises, despite SB having some service problems lately, we greatly prefer SB. Life is short and we would not risk wasting time on another Oceania cruise unless it was on one of the bigger ships and the price was a steal, or major changes are announced.

 

The biggest disappointment on the Regatta was the food, service issues and mass market atmosphere were second. We had a PH suite and decor there was fine, as we thought it was in public areas.

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Ask this same question on the oceania boards and you will hear a resounding "I prefer oceania "

 

There is no right answer. Opinions vary greatly. Nice to have options

 

Our first seabourn experience was less than stellar. Many service issues. We were underwhelmed given what we had heard. Nevertheless we will give seabourn a try for Antarctica next February

 

But I greatly prefer oceania. To each his own

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
I am doing my first Seabourn in September. So I have only comments regarding Oceania which we have sailed 4 times, last time, last week. I do mean last time. Oceania used to be fantastic, great food, wonderful state rooms, etc. It has seen a decline since being acquired by NCL. Food is all tasteless, tiny drinks, tiny bathroom, tiny TV, horrible entertainment, lectures featured topics of fish and ships..

 

So do you think that when NCL took over, they changed the staterooms from "wonderful" and made the bathrooms and TVs "tiny?"

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