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Here are some other photos of the Penthouse suite if anyone would like to see them. Note the space between the end of the bed and credenza which really shows how wide these rooms are. The shower is larger than it appears in the photos.

Here are the few I took. We were on deck 7. From the deck plans it seems that there are a few more penthouses on 11 with those balconies and several concierge rooms with extended balconies on the other decks.

On the Vista, some of the penthouses also have extended balconies which we found to be very nice. We had a dining table and two loungers out there. I'm not sure what the regular balconies have. The bathroom is quite large and the shower very spacious so that's a plus along with the closet space. The entire suite is one of the largest and nicest entry-level suites that we have enjoyed on any ship. For us this is the most important as I am claustrophobic and wouldn't sleep well in a small cabin. We have always had a butler on our cruises and sometimes we use them a lot and sometimes not as much. This last trip was pretty simple so we didn't require much but our butler tried to do things for us anyway such as leaving snacks in the room and checking in frequently to see if he could be helpful to us. The big bonus was that I had no trouble getting reservations of my choice for the specialty restaurants. My friend is cruising in concierge soon and said she was not able to get the times she wanted so that might be a factor if those reservations are important to you.

Thanks to everyone for the insight. I think my instinct against this itinerary was correct. I’ve been to Bermuda many times and it’s a nice location for a land vacation. I just enjoy cruising more and would love to do something close to home before the Caribbean season cranks up later in the fall. I don’t usually mind if we have an extra sea day or things get changed a little but if the entire point of the cruise is to go to Bermuda and we can’t do that, I would be extremely disappointed.

So that is what I was wondering. They actually board the ship and completely change the itinerary I guess instead of cancelling. Unless they decided to change it to a New England /Canada itinerary(which I'm sure they wouldn't) I would be very upset as the only reason to take that for us is to go to Bermuda without having to fly there and stay in one of the very overpriced hotels and navigate taxis to dinner, etc. Seems very risky.

We are tempted to try the Bermuda itinerary in September on either the Nautica or Insignia. Being a Florida girl, this scares me quite a bit as that is the peak of hurricane season but I think being on the ship might be a nice way to go since the hotels are super pricey and last time I was there the restaurants weren't anything special. I just want to take my daughter since she hasn't been before. Can anyone share their experience if they have done this trip with Oceania? Was the weather ok? Did you get all of the time in port as advertised? If there was a storm brewing during your cruise time, how did Oceania handle this? I am concerned about getting on the ship and not being able to actually go to Bermuda or having the trip cut short. I panic a little after seeing some of the crazy storm/cruiseship videos out there so any information would help me decide. Thanks!

Many thanks to all of you for the insightful comments. For us the recent cruise travel has been about the experience on the ship and not as much the itinerary so this is of great importance. We were a little underwhelmed with our recent Oceania experience although the ship was lovely and the butler and suite experience was just as good as Silversea (with the exception of alcohol being included in the mini fridge). It was some of the food quality and small things like slow or nonexistent service at the pool deck that bothered us. It seems that going back to Silversea may not exactly solve those issues especially if the price is quite a bit higher. It's a bit sad for us as we were always devoted to SS as our first and literally only choice for many years but as TLCOhio stated, "VALUE is a legitimate question and concern."

Silversea was previously the better priced of the luxury lines but the new “inclusive” packaging along with general increases has really made me think twice. We don’t mind paying a little more if it’s truly a high luxury product but many comments are concerning and we don’t always want excursions if we’ve been to a port multiple times.

We were longtime Silversea cruisers but haven’t been aboard since 2019. Upon our return to cruising after the shutdowns, we decided to try out some other lines as we are Florida based and could easily jump on with shorter notice and a quick drive to the ports. Having experimented with Celebrity Retreat and most recently the Oceania Vista, we are a bit nostalgic for Silversea. My fear is that it won’t be anything like we remember and we will have spent a substantial amount over Oceania or another line just to be disappointed. We remember impeccable service, great CDs, very good food and wine, and small and organized shore excursions. They made us feel special always. For those who have been with them for a while, has the experience and food deteriorated as much as some of the posts on here say? We didn’t love Oceania after the quality of food and service on SS but I’m a bit concerned that what we remember is long gone.

No we were expecting gratuities but the shore excursions that we lost out on would have more than covered this cost if Oceania had given a credit back for them.

This is interesting that they used to give credit for this even though they were “included” excursions. I understood that it wouldn’t have been safe to dock in Costa Maya but that was about half of our credit that we lost and the other excursion that they cancelled because they overbooked basically and didn’t offer us a solution was really unacceptable. The real kicker was when they charged my credit card $200+ for tips after all of this.

We weren’t necessarily upset about it but we’ve never encountered that before and being later diners, the room was a bit cavernous and the staff was cleaning up around us a bit so we didn’t find it to be the best atmosphere for dinner if we arrived after 8 even though the hours were until 9:30. It was just a different vibe than we are used to. In contrast, all the specialty restaurants were packed at that time.

I literally told my daughter I should have tried the Lasagna so I do think that my choice of a fish that would have likely been boring in any restaurant was a blight on that dinner. We did not try Ember with all of the bad reviews as I expected to like the main dining room more and wanted to have time to experience it on a few nights since it was a shorter cruise. I think it's difficult to judge a line when you are just on for 7 nights and you need to get the feel of the ship and how everything works. Oceania was like an interesting mix of the two lines we have sailed with before. In our experience, there was very little that was on the level of Silversea but like I previously stated, that was a few years ago and the price difference is notable so you have to factor that in. I am going to escalate the situation with the shore excursions if possible in hoped that they will make adjustments to the program to allow that credit to be used on board or applied to tips.

We just came off of our first Oceania cruise about two weeks ago. I'm still trying to form an opinion as there were good and not-so-good things that occurred. The Vista was beautiful and our Penthouse suite was immaculate thanks to a great butler and housekeeping team. Food was a real mixed bag with Red Ginger as the star and Polo and Toscana as just okay. Our steaks were overcooked and maybe we just ordered the wrong things in Toscana but both of us found the food lackluster. The main dining room we found sort of strange in the fact that it was nearly empty by 8 pm and the food seemed a bit overcomplicated compared to normal fine-dining restaurants or other more premium lines. The big surprise for us was the buffet which was not only very good for an outside lunch but was really nice at night. It wasn't crowded, the tables were set beautifully, and the chef did a few specialty meals. One was a Mexican theme since we were in the area and another was a sushi night. Burgers at Waves were very good. This is a problem on a few lines like Celebrity so I'm happy to report this. We liked Aquamar Kitchen and had most of our breakfasts there. Here are the things that fell apart for us: Upon embarkation we received a note that one of our shore excursions had been cancelled and we should go to the desk to rebook. When I went to the desk I was told there was nothing available and I could get on a wait list. So there was one day with no excursions that were "non-refundable". We skipped our last port due to weather and guess what...another day of "non-refundable" shore excursions cancelled. It seems that they need something in place to at least give us a shipboard credit to use at the spa or on drinks, etc. since both of those were on their end. We only got to go on one excursion during the 7 day cruise. I understand they are calling this a "free" credit but that was part of the deal we paid for so it just seems wrong. The other thing that was bothersome for us was the lack of service at the pool areas including the spa deck. Knowing that sea days are very busy it seems they need more staff cleaning up dirty drink glasses etc. around the pools and the sun loungers at the main had towel covers which people sat on and were not changed frequently by staff so it was hard to find a clean lounger at times. There was virtually no service at all on the spa deck. it would have been nice to have someone with cold water, drinks, towels like other lines do. I still have questions as it was a nice cruise and staff were great but I'm comparing to our previous Silversea cruises and a few Celebrity Retreat that we tried last year. I'm considering going back to Silversea but I'm worried that it might not still be the same as the last time we cruised with them as it has been about 5 years. I'm still looking at Oceania along with other high-luxury lines so if anyone has a recent comparison experience I would welcome the information.

We are doing the same itinerary in the spring. Many people have given Victor Bodden tours in Roatan good reviews. It seems they do private and small group customized tours. We have the excursion credit so we are using that in Harvest Caye because that is an island owned by NCL/Oceania so everything will be connected to them anyway. I read reviews that the electric boat cruise which is a small group is very relaxing and there are a few individual activities that you can do there as well. We are trying the glass bottom reef explorer but I think there are also snorkel boat cruises. I believe there is a ferry to the mainland but you would need to research and find a tour guide there. Costa Maya has a touristy shopping village at the port and the actual town is a few miles away and the excursions such as the ruins are further. Those types of excursions should be low-key anyway even if done with the ship. I'm not sure which ships you have been on before but my expectations for Oceania are that the excursions will be less crowded and more tame due to the clientele and overall vibe of the ship. I hope I'm correct. Cozumel is nearly uninhabited on the side of the island opposite our docking. There are beaches there but the ocean tends to be a bit more choppy and the beaches are fairly remote in some cases. There are jeeps and cars available for rent near the ports and there are multiple tour operators with stands that can take you around the island or snorkeling. You can also get a ferry to Playa del Carmen if time allows, I believe its a 45 minute trip across. Trip Advisor is useful in reading the reviews on tour companies and also finding out which snorkel spots are the best.