CruisingCleo

We are taking an evening flight and arriving at the Miami airport the morning of our departure on Insignia at 6:00am. We are planning to just wait in the airport until our ship boarding time, which is 1:00pm. :rolleyes: I just realized that we will be waiting down by the baggage claim area (not the main airport) because we will need to pick up our suitcases upon arrival. Any suggestions for us beyond just waiting in the baggage claim area for 6-7 hours?

thanks!!

Whatever you choose to do, don't wait in the luggage claim area of Miami airport. It is one of the most depressing rooms/spaces I have ever been in. It was our first impression of Miami and it was not a favourable one.

Thankfully that changed after we had checked in in the Intercontinental hotel downtown.

So yes, go have breakfast in one of the hotels near Bayside Market, drop your luggage, do a little shopping and then take a cab to the cruise terminal.

Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you for the nice review. I just got off of the Marina a few weeks ago and could have posted an almost identical review of the ship and food. And being in a balcony cabin I can say that the ship was nice at that level too :) Julia

Couldn’t agree more!

Thank you so much for the lovely review. We will be sailing on the Riviera for the second time this November and can hardly wait to embark in a little more than 140 days (counting the days! ;) )

It is so good to read that service, food and the ship itself are still in such a good shape.

We both love scallops and had one of the best scallop dishes ever one evening in the Terrace Cafe, with a kind of cream of carrots. I still dream about it sometimes.

I hope you enjoyed your wine, either in the restaurants or on your balcony. We loved sitting on our balcony during sailaway and sipping our wine or a cocktail made from the spirits we brought on board. It was such a relaxed way to prepare for the rest of the evening.

Enjoy the memories of a lovely cruise and thank you for sharing them with us! (y)

I hope he will still be there when we board the Riviera on November 13. He was our CD also on Riviera in December 2015 and liked him a lot.

Mirjam

On Nov. 13 we will board the Riviera in Barcelona. We are planning to buy some nice Spanish wines and cava during our precruise stay in Barcelona, thinking about 12 bottles, so 2 boxes. Can we leave these boxes safely on the quay with the rest of our luggage (we will put the cabin number on the boxes and indicate that the content is fragile) and be brought to our cabin? Or is it a better idea to take them on board our selves with our hand luggage?

I hope some of you have experience with this.

Regards,

Mirjam

Really looking forward to this blog as this cruise is on my bucketlist. So kind of you to spend time blogging and keeping us all informed during your hard earned vacation! Thank you! (y)

Mirjam

Here’s another shout out to Jordy Castillo, the member of the Production Staff that spent so many hours of his time and energy into compiling all the photos of artwork, carpeting, sculptures, etc. for his now FAMOUS and BELOVED scavenger hunt. It was truly one of the most unique and entertaining and informative pastimes we have ever participated in on a cruise ship. Although, I must add, until you figured out he had put a few ”kinks in the works”, so to speak, it was very confounding. In a little under one hour he will have the reveal as to who got all the answers correct. KUDOS, Jordy, you are a star in our estimation and we thank you for the countless hours of enjoyment we got out of your hunt.

I hope this is also organised during the Riviera Transatlantic in November. It's sounds like great fun!

How was this event announced? In the daily program?

Regards,

Mirjam

Greetings from Amsterdam. It can indeed get quite busy at the Rijksmuseum so going earlier in the day really helps. But it also depends on what day in the week you are going, with the weekends being busier than the other days. And April, May, July and August will be busier than other months.

Checking the cruiseport calender is a good idea but if there are just 2-3 ships in port I would go there. There are so many non-cruise visitors in Amsterdam every day that it does not make much difference as not everybody has the same interests.

But what makes a difference is that the Mona Lisa is a very small painting compared to the Nightwatch. 20 visitors standing around the Mona Lisa is not the same as 20 visitors in front of the Nightwatch.

Have fun in the Rijksmuseum and don’t forget to visit the other paintings and other collections as well. There are more Rembrandts, but also Vermeers, Frans Hals, Jan Steens.

Greetings, Mirjam

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We're taking the return TA, our first with O, in November back to Miami, so it will be interesting to hear about your experiences. Thanks for taking the time to post your observations!

+1, first Transatlantic but second time on the Riviera.

Really looking forward to the rest of your review!

Mirjam

On December 6 of this year our cruiseship will arrive in St. Maarten. But we will not be the only one. On that date 6 other ships will arrive, with a total of almost 20.000 passengers, all arriving at 7 or 8 AM.

How difficult will it be to get a taxi from the cruiseterminal between 10 AM and noon to go to the French part of the island? Thanks!

Mirjam.

We were also directly above the Grand Dining Room on the Riviera and never heard a thing. I would not worry about it.

Indeed good for people with late flights. We used this service in December 2015 and hope to use it again this December. In 2015 it was also offered to passengers on a B2B between the 2 cruises (without the luggage service and with a return transfer to the ship) as everybody had to leave the ship in Miami. Really good service.

In case your TA doesn't provide a private transfer I would take a taxi. The distance is 15 kilometres to the city centre.

There are taxi stands at both terminals (T1 and T2) at the airport. Taxis from Terminal 2 will take 25-30 minutes to get to the city centre, however during rush hour may take a bit longer. Taxis from Terminal 1 will take about 5 minutes longer. The price will probably be between € 25 and € 30.

If I were eating off the ship in NYC, I'd probably break the bank and go for World class fine dining in Daniel or Per Se.

If that is not your thing, I'd suggest a restaurant where the city itself is the lure. Somewhere that could not be duplicated anywhere else on the planet.

The aptly named "The View" restaurant on the 48th floor of the Marriott Marquis is just such a place.

https://www.theviewnyc.com/

The food is really very good, the drinks are generous, and there is the added benefit of "passing above" your floodlit cruise ship as you dine.....nothing more festive, and a great opportunity to "bless the ship" with a smart cocktail!

As a surprise gift for my 60th birthday my husband booked a trip to New York for us in April 2017. For the evening of my birthday he had booked a table at The View. We had a wonderful evening there: the view was (of course :D) great, service was terrific and the food delicious. What I liked was that much of the food was sourced locally and regionally. And our server, Tony, really made the evening for us. We would go there again in a heartbeat.

Regards, Mirjam

You were all absolutely right, just filled in my name and the booking number the travel agent gave us (of which I thought it was their booking number) and voilà, our booking appeared on the screen. And to my delight I can already book cooking classes for the first part of the cruise.

Thank you so much! :)

And Glenndale: let's meet for a drink in Barcelona!

Mirjam

We have booked and confirmed our transatlantic cruise in November 2018 on Riviera 10 days ago through our Amsterdam based travel agency. It has also been fully paid 5 days ago.

But when I go to our personal cruise page on the Oceania website it states that we have no future cruises booked.

How long does it normally take for a future cruise to appear on the personal cruise page?

Thanks for your help,

Mirjam

That is good to know, thank you!

On our Riviera cruise in 2015 I enjoyed the frappucino’s as a guilty pleasure, limited myself to 1 per day....

I don’t see them on the Barista menu on Oceania’s website anymore.

Are they still served?

Thanks,

Mirjam

Thank you for all the information. This is very helpful as now I have an indication of the prices. We had the Discovery menu 2 years ago but I could not remember the prices of the menus. It's a pity that this menu will be replaced by the French menu, as I still dream about the porcini cream with the duck foie gras and about the 72 hour braised short ribs, those were really outstanding dishes.

Of course the French menu sounds wonderful, but the other ones are more unusual. But that's just my opinion and really a deluxe problem. :D

Thanks again,

Mirjam

In December 2015 we made our first ever cruise, a B2B in the Carribean on Riviera. Despite it being a code red cruise due to Norovirus, we as cruise newbies had the time of our lives and were very eager to repeat the experience.

So now we have booked as our second ever cruise the Transatlantic on Riviera from Barcelona to Miami B2B with the next cruise to the Southern Carribean. When I look out of the window right now here in The Hague (Netherlands) I really can't wait for some Carribean sunshine!

For our first cruise we got a lot of helpful suggestions from the CC members on the Oceania forum, which really helped in making it an even better experience then expected.

This time around I will have some questions again, so here is the first one:

Where can I find the prices for the La Reserve menus? Are they on the Oceania website? Or does one of you know them?

Thank you!

Mirjam

@Robjame, just like you, we were cruise virgins and booked our first cruise ever on Riviera, in December 2015. After 2 days onboard we told each other that we were spoiled for life. We had an absolutely wonderful 3 weeks on board and were very sad to leave. We had only one day with lots of wind, from Cancun to Grand Cayman but had no problem at all with seasickness.

I wish you a wonderful cruise and hope you will enjoy it as much as we did our first cruise. I'm green with envy!;)

Jacques:

Poached scallop gnocchi with lobster in a white wine sauce

Red Ginger:

Spicy duck and watermelon salad

Avocado lobster salad

Imperial spring rolls

La Reserve Discovery menu:

Cream of Porcini with sauteed duck foie gras bites

Bay scallops on jamon Iberica over Tarbais bean cream

72 hour slowbraised short rib with gnocchi au jus

The whole menu in La Reserve was excellent, but these 3 dishes were outstanding! And the wine pairings were beautiful.

Sorry but quote wasn't working for me (grrrr)

 

I checked out the library and I didn't see any magazines of any sort there at all when I looked.

 

There are some magazines in the executive/concierge lounge but they are basically printed off copies of select articles from magazines.

 

This seems to be the limit of the magazines on board from what I can see so your DH may want to bring a few of his own or pick up a few in ports.

 

hope this helps :)

Thank you, Jacqui!

I will tell him to buy some at AMS Airport when we fly to Miami, they have a wonderful selection. I loved your library pictures. Looks the perfect place for DH for a nap while pretending to read a scientific magazine :D

Mirjam

 

We have extra enrichment lectures today, I think I'll have extra rations of rum instead.

Extra rations of rum: must be the best way to kill the virus :D

Tomorrow was supposed to be our Bermuda day - actually two days with a lovely overnight.

 

The captain has come on to announce that we have been refused entry to Bermuda by their Ministry of Health.

 

So our 5 days at sea has now turned into 7 days at sea and instead of one day in Nassau we will have two days in Nassau.

 

Nassau? Not worth two days IMO but there isn't much we can do about it.

 

I suspect there are a lot of unhapy campers on board. I know I am disappointed. We had a lovely catamaran tour planned for the roll call and now it is by the way side.

 

Now I will RANT about the Noro precautions on board. I don't understand why they shut down the laundry when they are leaving the rest of the stuff open which is much more high risk - the pool, hot tubs, casino, library, salt and pepper shakers still on the tables for everyone to touch, etc.

 

<sigh> at least we are still healthy and so are most that we know - so that is a good thing.

 

But, I was looking forward to Bermuda.....

 

I am so sorry for you that you are not going to Bermuda. After so many sea days I can only imagine how much you must have been looking forward to this stop, especially with the catamaran tour planned... :(

But you sound like a 'glass half full' kind of person so I'm sure you will still enjoy the rest of the cruise, together with he 1850 passengers and crew who are not ill.

Mirjam