AtA

2 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

So if you came across a good port intensive itinerary on one of Oceania O class ships, would you consider it? Or there are other deal breakers on Oceania except entertainment, daily activities and enrichment program? 

 

Hard to say because our first cruise on Oceania 3 years ago on the Marina left such a bad taste in our mouths. Service on that cruise was just ok and the attitude of the staff was poor. No one seemed happy on that cruise. Our room was dirty as I mentioned and our butler was nowhere to be found the few times we needed him. We went to voice our concerns to the concierge who said he'd get back to us. He never did.

Now compare that to our cruise this time where the staff was superb! Our butler was probably one of the best we've had and our stewardess always had a smile and went out of her way to help. Roland the concierge was on top of the few issues we did have and was probably the best concierge we have ever encountered. And the front desk staff was friendly and helpful as well as the destinations desk.

The other issue for us is I'm not sure we'd ever choose an itinerary that was completely port intensive. When we did the Baltics a few years ago, it was very port intensive. We had planned to stay in London visiting friends and catching up on one of our favorite cities but 3/4 through the cruise we decided to bag London and fly home the day we got off the ship as we were so tired from sightseeing. Nowadays we try and choose a cruise that has a mix of sea days and port days.

To answer your question, most likely not as I'd go back to Regent before Oceania. (We used to sail Regent but stopped when they included all tours as many times we prefer to do private tours). Or I'd try Seabourn or Silversea. 

8 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

My wife doesn't need leather seats, sunroof and all the bells and whistles. In the same way, people who don't drink, might not find much value in all inclusive lines like Crystal.

As I've said before it isn't just the all inclusive with Crystal. It's also things like the entertainment and the activities. Crystal was the last luxury line to go all inclusive and yet people still preferred it to the other lines because of their daily activities and their willingness to go out of their way. If it's even remotely possible, Crystal will not say no.

9 hours ago, clo said:

Why? We drive a Toyota RAV4 and a friend drives the equivalent Lexus. They're almost identical in looks but one cost $30k and one $60k.

LOL. My last car was the Toyota RAV4 (2011) and I fully intended to buy a new RAV4 as I really liked the car. However they changed the seat so I could no longer get it comfortable (On long rides my back can start to hurt if the seat isn't angled right) so had to look elsewhere. I wound up with the Lexus NX 300 which is a glorified Toyota RAV4. And it doesn't cost anywhere near $60k.

On 1/9/2020 at 10:33 PM, agnesd said:

Wow!  Equal to an Assisted Living institution.   Hope not. We are headed for Sirena next week.  Food sounds ominous. 

We were just on Sirena. Food in the MDR was hit or miss but no, it wasn't equal to an Assisted living place.

First night my son's chicken (an everyday item that is a Jacques Pepin signature dish) came out undercooked and my pasta sauce tasted overly sweet. Additionally service was hit or miss in the MDR. After my pasta was served, I asked for cheese and pepper flakes and instead of the waiter going to get them immediately, he went to take the next table of 6's order while I sat there watching my food get cold. Another night I had a vegetarian pad thai which was tasty but was supposed to have broccoli in it. There was one sorry tiny piece of broccoli in the whole thing, but it was smothered in onions.

My son found the shellfish throughout the ship excellent and liked the Ruben and the hot dog in the grill.

I found it harder to find food to eat as I can't eat shellfish and don't eat meat, pork or lamb.

Note that they serve the same food in the Terrace at night that is in the MDR. They do if it's not a specialty night also have sushi and grilled hotdogs and hamburgers.

The food in Tuscan Grill and in Red Ginger was excellent. I highly recommend the miso sea bass in Red Ginger.

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

 

 

When comparing lines, I think It’s also important where you sail. On port intensive cruises like Europe, enrichment programs and daily activities are much less important, and Crystal advantage in those areas becomes much less.

Agreed. 

1 hour ago, clo said:

Do you think they had put two twins in there, pushed together, to make a king?

No, it was definitely a queen sized bed.

1 hour ago, clo said:

I forgot that a cruise employee said that they can stack more of them than they can towels. This is an anti-noro precaution.

Sounds weird but makes sense I guess.

2 minutes ago, clo said:

I looked at the floor/deck plan and all the cabins in that area look the same size.

I agree. Weird isn't it?

2 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

OMG!! Cloth napkins instead of actual hand towels? That's a real disaster!! No loveseat in the cabin?? Sandwiches overly fancy?? 😊

 

The simple truth is that once you get used to one line, you notice every small thing that another line does differently. I remember a big Oceania fan tried Crystal few weeks ago and posted a 3 star review.

 

Once you want to find negatives, you will find them. We noticed some things that Crystal does better, other things that Oceania does better, but we enjoyed both lines very much. I cannot imagine sailing on one line only. It's boring. Change is good.

I'm giving my observations. And you are correct, you do notice things that another line does differently. The good and the bad. No cruise line is perfect. Not even Crystal. 

51 minutes ago, Cruseforme said:

  We asked  Butler, and he had housekeeping replace while we were at dinner.  

If you look at the picture, I doubt there would be room for a loveseat.

1 hour ago, 1985rz1 said:

I am truly puzzled about Ata's "review."  I've never been on an Oceania cruise where the loveseat was replaced by a club chair.  I certainly agree that Oceania is not a good choice if your looking for evening entertainment or in depth lectures, but the food is mostly excellent for my tastes, but I don't have a restrictive diet that's outside the norm.  But to each his/her own.

See the picture I posted with my son sitting in the club chair. You may be puzzled but it was what it was. 

If the ship had any interesting daytime activities and/or evening entertainment, I would have happily overlooked the food. I've been on HAL and Celebrity and found there was more to do on both those ships.

1 hour ago, ORV said:

I guess the takeaway after cruising Oceania twice is that it is not to your liking or a good fit. I personally wouldn't book it again. I felt the same way about Princess the one time I booked it. Never went on it again. 

I have no intention of booking Oceania again. I tried it twice. I'm glad I did and as I said, there were lots of good things but my idea of a good cruise is not just sitting around by the pool reading a book all day. 

This was NOT a connecting cabin. I was in cabin 8046 and for those who think I photoshopped the picture, here is one with my son sitting in the club chair.

6 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

as opposed to touching all the serving handles  🤣

Same difference. You made my point

3 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

HMMM could have sworn it had serving dishes  with utensils  to help yourself  unlike on O where the staff serve you

Yes they bring the skewers of meat around  if you not die from starvation waiting  ..but if you do not eat meat you would not have to worry  about  that

 

Yes I did forget to mention that is a big positive in that the staff serves you from the buffets. However then if you want mustard or may with your food you're touching the same container others who may not have washed their hands are touching. 

Just now, clo said:

Off-topic I suppose but what foods do you eat when you're not on a cruise? What do you cook at home?

Lots of veggies, sometimes with or without pasta. Lots of fish (we're in FL where we get very fresh fish), sushi, salads, chicken, turkey, soups. 

7 minutes ago, Classiccruiser777 said:

We were on Sirena this past December, our 10th on Oceania, and she was consistent with Regatta and Insignia. We had a great cruise, a clean cabin, good to great food every day. Perhaps Oceania has two different Sirenas?

Did you realize the Terrace menu at night was the same as the MDR menu? Or didn't you check?

21 minutes ago, sunlover12 said:

I haven't been on Crystal so I can't comment on them but I see from their website that their ships are larger than Oceania Sirena.  It's not really an equal comparison. 

 

I've been on Oceania Regatta twice and I do agree with you about the small bathrooms. What I found the most surprising from your review was what you said about the same food being in GDR as in the Terrace.  I didn't find that to be true at all on Regatta.  There was a lot of variety in the Terrace and it changed daily. There are selections in the GDR that are not in Terrace. Maybe it's different on Sirena...... 🤔

You also mentioned that you don't drink but may have a 1/2 glass of wine with dinner.  If you have to pay for it, you won't.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Crystal inclusive?  That means you're paying for that glass of wine.

 

Regarding fruit in your cabin, you can order that from your butler when in a PH.  There is also a very good canapés menu that you can order from every day when in a PH.

 

I'll be on Sirena for the first time later this year so I read your review with interest. One of the things that draws me to Oceania and not to cruise lines that are inclusive is that I can pay for only what I want a la carte.  Thank you for submitting your review.

I too found it most surprising to have the exact same menu in both venues, even down to the desserts. In fact the times we did eat in the MDR, we'd relax for a bit after dinner and then go upstairs to the Terrace before closing to get our dessert as my son didn't like having dessert right after dinner.

Yes Crystal is all inclusive.

Yes I know about the canapés menu but I I don't go on a cruise to eat in my room. But you are correct in that I should have ordered fruit for my room.

I also liked that I didn't have to pay for spirits but the difference is that on Crystal we get so much more than just alcohol that isn't on O. I'm talking daily activities and entertainment which are important to me.

3 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I am not surprised by the review

Sirena is  half the size of the Serenity  so of course the rooms are smaller

Why she even booked an Oceania cruise again  is beyond me

She did not like  Marina  so of course  an R ship would be inferior

 

The  dinner buffet on Crystal is very small &  only holds a small portion of guests  in the evening  (think smaller than Polo)   but very odd service   You get your hot/cold sides then wait for the servers to bring the skewers of meat around  after 45 min & 1 piece of meat each we gave up

 

Yes food is subject  but  to not find anything to eat ??

 

 

I booked the cruise because I don't believe one time is telling. If a restaurant has great reviews and i go for the first time and find it less than stellar, I will give it a second chance. Because of the reduced price of this cruise, I thought it would be a good one to try O again.

The dinner buffet on Crystal is not a buffet. It is considered a Brazilian steak house type of restaurant. Big difference. Personally it's the one restaurant on Crystal I am not a fan of but that's to be expected since I don't eat meat.

Yes nothing except in the specialty restaurants which I already said were excellent. I wound up losing 2 lbs this past week on the cruise.

One other thing I forgot. The towels in the bathroom were like sandpaper.

21 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

AtA,

Thank you for taking the time to write such a comprehensive review.

You might have read my comparison of the two lines and it was essentially 180 degrees opposite from yours.

That only makes sense as we are two different people with different likes and preferences.

You are fully entitled to your point of view as I would expect the same courtesy from you.

We obviously each have our preferred cruise lines and that is how it should be.

I would only like to point out two things:

1 As others have mentioned, while the Terrace mirrors the MDR in many entrees, it also offers a variety of items at the grill and pasta/wok station. Crystal has no equivalent dining option at night

2 What is the per diem comparison between the PH on Sirena vs a PH on Serenity? That is an important consideration for this to be an apples to apples comparison.

1. I agree Crystal has no equivalent dining option at night but it does have besides Waterside (it's MDR), Umi Uma (Chef Nobu's restaurant), Prego (the Italian restaurant), Silk (the Chinese inspired restaurant) and Chiarascura (or however it's spelled. The Brazilian steak house)

Additionally in the MDR, on the rare occasions I can't find anything to eat (and their dining menu is more extensive), they will make me anything I want within reason and I don't need to give 24 hours notice.

I will admit that 3 years ago on Marina we did enjoy eating in the Terrace 2 of the nights and there was a nice variety. The only option this time at the pasta station was the same pasta as downstairs in the MDR and at the grill the only thing I'd eat was chicken and I was getting quite tired of grilled chicken.

2. Obviously the PH on Serenity or Symphony is more especially with this cruise I took which had originally been a Cuba trip. However the per diem didn't include any booze on O. The PH on Crystal on either ship was larger as was the bathroom AND the balcony.

And it's impossible to do an apples to apples comparison because O doesn't have the plethora of daytime activities including lecturers from Broadway or film and TV, astronauts like Scott Kelly, world affairs, etc. They don't have a computer lab where they teach classes that range from iPad and phone tricks to working with Photoshop Elements, etc. They don't have art classes on the R ships. They don't have knitting classes, golf lessons, pickle ball, dance classes, bridge classes, a full movie theater showing a different movie daily and on and on.

At night they don't have shows that are full production shows with costume changes as well as designer sets and top notch singers and dancers. Nor do they have 2 piano players, a show band as well as a separate dance band. And there are other things I'm missing that I can't think of right this minute.

1 hour ago, clo said:

I was really shocked by the photo of the cabin. We were just on O Marina in a concierge verandah and had a sofa. The Sirena PENTHOUSE just had a chair? Wow.

It has just a club chair and two chairs for the dining table.

1 hour ago, Classiccruiser777 said:

We are just off a Sirena cruise so a few quick notes regarding the OP’s comments.

 

• The Terrace has similar offerings as the GDR but not the same. Lobster tails, lamb chops, prawns and other grilled items are always available at dinner but not in the GDR. On our December cruise sushi was also available every night.
• I, too, have dietary concerns and restrictions. I have found Oceania to be extremely accommodating with advance notice which is what is advised on the O website as well as when talking with restaurant staff onboard.
• Room service, which has an extensive menu, is also available so I take issue with the need to “scrounge” for food.
• When I order a dish at any restaurant I always include my preferred condiments for that dish at that time.

While on an Oceania cruise I have met and talked with several passengers that have been on Crystal ships. The general impressions I have made from these conversations were that the food on O was equal to or better than Crystal, that Crystal has formal nights, and the price point of a Crystal cruise wouldn’t be worth it for us. May the OP be happy with their future choices.

 

Yes the GDR has the same offering and yes they have lamb chops prawns and lobster tails. I'm allergic to shellfish which means I can't eat any of the things you just mentioned.

Sushi was available the first night but as I had sushi the night before boarding, I didn't want sushi. We went to the MDR on day 2 and on day 3 we went to Red Ginger. On day 4 AND day 5, they had Caribbean night and there was NO SUSHI in the Terrace. And I hadn't filled out my early menu because I had expected to go to the Terrace and have sushi on day 4.

Yes O is accommodating with ADVANCED NOTICE. Note the word advanced. On Crystal, unless it's the tuna tartare in Waterside or a special dessert, I don't have to give advanced notice. I can ask when I sit down to eat that same night.

Yes I can eat in my room but I don't go on a cruise to eat alone in my room. I dislike eating where I sleep and I enjoy the atmosphere of being with other diners.

The general impressions I have made from these conversations were that the food on O was equal to or better than Crystal, that Crystal has formal nights, and the price point of a Crystal cruise wouldn’t be worth it for us. May the OP be happy with their future choices.

Food is a personal choice and prefer the food on Crystal. 

Crystal has black tie optional nights. If you choose not to dress formally, no one will penalize you. For men, a jacket over a sport shirt works fine if that's what you prefer.

If you don't drink, then yes O is much less expensive. If you drink, the difference may not be as much as you think. However even more importantly is on Crystal the entertainment is far above what's on O and so are the activities. 

2 hours ago, ORV said:

I've never been on Sirena, but I have been on all the other R ships. I'm surprised about the comments on the storage space. I've always found the R ships storage more than adequate for my wife and I and well thought out. Perhaps Princess messed with the layout of them. 

On the toilet tightness, I feel your pain. That has been one of my complaints/dislikes. Being a large man I find it very tight. 

 

Having no special requirements on food I haven't had the issues you experienced. 

 

Did you like Harvest Caye? I thought for people that like a beach day it was great. Of course the day we were there we were the only ship there. If I like hanging out on a beach, which I don't care for, I would think it was great. See pic. 

Harvest Caye is beautiful and I had been there before. We didn't spend time on Harvest Caye this time because we did the snorkel trip which as I said was one of the best ones ever in terms of how conscientious the crew was. I have been snorkeling for well over 15 years and I actually learned a few things from them!