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16 hours ago, Paulchili said:

 

4 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

Thank you...... there is one small fly in that ointment....   I have just about run out of places to cruise to.   I dont want to start repeating stuff.  Yes I know there are people who have sailed to the same port 4-5-6 times .   I would not enjoy that as I would rather do something  which I have never done.. be it a cruise, a land trip, an adventure.

Sadly or realistically , I have been to all the places where Crystal is a competitive with O.    Might have been fun .

God only gives you so much time... you can waste it doing the same things or  spend it wisely discovering the world and its alternatives 

I believe their new smaller ships will be traveling to some more exotic ports and there are also the river cruises. 🙂

5 hours ago, Hawaiidan said:

 

 There used to be a joke that there was really one island  and that each evening  as the ships sailed off into the night, the locals changed the signs to a different name and ships came back the next day !       

I'm thinking it's no joke. LOL. Thanks for the laugh. I hadn't heard that one.

I forgot to say, that yes try Crystal because even on some of their other cruises they are competitive. And I don't drink either.

On 6/23/2019 at 8:56 AM, orchestrapal said:

After 13 Oceania Cruises we tried Crystal and were instantly crystallized And it  is now our first choice.

We found the the food to be excellent with greater variety than O and of course the lectures on Crystal are fantastic and often something we miss on O. The cabins are smaller than O even in PHSuites but very well laid out with the best butler service we have ever had.

We also did  a b/b on Viking which was very enjoyable but not up to O in food or service. We do not take group tours so can not speak to those which are included on Viking. The ships are new and modern and very well kept but cold and devoid of anything which would provide warmth such as plants and fresh flowers.

Bottom line we recommend looking for the lower priced Crystal  offers off season if you can.

 

As Crystal devotees, I believe that the standard cabins on Crystal are smaller than on the O class Oceania ships but are larger than on the R class ships. Penthouses are larger on the O class but again smaller than the penthouses on the R class.

I found the food on both ships to be excellent. 

What sets Crystal apart for me was the service and the lectures. So much more to do on Crystal on sea days in terms of lectures, classes, etc.

We had issues on our first and only Oceania cruise 2 years ago to Cuba in a PH and for that reason had no desire to cruise with Oceania again, but I'm trying it once more with my son on a 7 day Caribbean cruise. First time we were on Marina and this time we'll be on Sirena. 

On 6/16/2019 at 2:05 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

 

 

But I will say if the right itinerary comes along on one of their R class ships, we'll definitely consider it as we had good internet service in our A1 cabins during the 48 days we sailed on the Sirena and Nautica last year.

Oh that's good to know since I'll be on Sirena in January. Hoping it's still good or better since the refurb

On 6/15/2019 at 3:03 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

They definitely do. We just got off a 30 day SE Asia cruise on the Crystal Symphony and were allotted 2 accounts per cabin with up to 4 devices. Never once did we have either a bandwidth issue or router connectivity issue, which included great connectivity on our balcony. Yes, it is doable and O has no excuse for providing such poor service when compared to the prices they charge. 

Agreed. We too had no problems with our wifi on Crystal.

5 hours ago, Paulchili said:

I was on the Sirena only once a few years ago and I do not remember if they have the oils - perhaps someone else can comment.

I would be very unhappy if I couldn't eat shellfish - perhaps my favorite food group 😀

..and, yes, we are all very lucky to have these wonderful choices.

It used to be my favorite food group too, but I developed a food sensitivity to it. Ah well, I still haven't managed to starve. 🙂

3 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Actually, you are in luck as Sirena has Tuscan Steak which is a "best of" Polo and Toscana 😀. It also has Red Ginger.

Here is the menu from Tuscan Steak:

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/Documents/Menus/61698/Tuscan-Steak-Dinner.PDF

Personally, I was not impressed with Umi Uma despite it carrying the famous chef's name - personal preferences, I guess.

But does it have the specialty oils? 🙂

And aren't we all lucky that we can have choices? Maybe it's because the RG menu is limiting a bit to me because I can't eat shellfish and I don't eat red meat. 

On 6/15/2019 at 12:42 AM, Paulchili said:

Interesting that you should mention these “cheap wooden chopsticks”.

We are getting ready for our Silversea Muse cruise and I am reading that they provide these chopsticks (the ones you have to separate) in their Kaiseki Japanese restaurant and the Silversea customers are understandably confused about this (ditto for their Indochine restaurant - same chopsticks).

I’ll take O’s “silly” choice of nice chopsticks over those provided on the “luxury” cruise line like Silversea.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2665233-a-mused-in-a-laska-seward-to-vancouver-27-may-to-6-june-2019/page/4/?tab=comments#comment-57617427

 

LOL. I loved both RG and Toscana and am disappointed that there is no Toscana on Serina which is the ship my son and I will be sailing on. And I loved the choices of olive oils.

As for the chopsticks, I found that to be a cute touch and a bit of fun. Having said that, while the food at RG is very good and I certainly look forward to it, I'll take the wooden chopsticks in Umi Uma on Crystal any day. (Nobu's Japanese restaurant) 

20 hours ago, Starlaker said:

" I smiled and nicely told her that no, she should please put them under the bed for us."

 

There is a difference between telling her that she should put them under the bed for you and asking her if she would please put them under the bed because of your bad backs.

 

We have often asked that our luggage be stored outside the room and it was done promptly and cheerfully.

 

You will like the smaller R class ships.  They are our favorite.

I absolutely did ask by starting with please and said thank you when she finished. I was pleasant.

I don't think I need to give her a litany of our health issues.

And as I've said, this was the absolutely first time EVER that we were expected to put our bags under the bed.

Thank you. I do prefer a smaller ship and I'm hoping my son will enjoy his first ever cruise.

9 hours ago, LHT28 said:

if you are flexible  they do have some sailings  with a lower single supplement

some are for certain cabin cat  so you need to check that  in the offering

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/special-offers/single-supplement/

Unfortunately no we are only flexible within the month but thank you for the idea. 🙂

1 hour ago, Rob the Cruiser said:

Why would you consider Oceania after having such a horrible experience?

 

Stick with Regent, HAL, Celebrity or of course Crystal and hopefully your suitcases will magically disappear.

Because  the itinerary is good for my son and I for that time schedule. The food is much better than HAL or Celebrity. I prefer a smaller ship without all the announcements and gold by the mile. And I'm willing to give Oceania another chance since it generally gets high marks

As for sticking with Regent or Crystal, if I wasn't going to have to pay for two single supplements, that might have been an option. Of course neither has 7 day cruises in the Caribbean during January 2020 either. 

23 minutes ago, Mura said:

I'm very surprised at the condition of your cabin on Marina, not to mention the poor service you describe.  We've been on Marina more than a few times and never saw anything like you described.  And it has never occurred to me to ask the staff to put the suitcase under the bed.  I HAVE asked them to store a large suitcase (that did not fit under the bed) elsewhere and they were always happy to do so.

 

Mura

Trust me. So were we as we had heard wonderful things about Oceania. Our stewardess seemed from the beginning to have an attitude and we actually tried to avoid her after that first day.

I realize that things can happen (they can happen on any ship, either because they're rushed or something happens.) but what sets apart a top quality ship isn't that things happen, but how they're handled. And in our case, in all instances, the way it was handled was to ignore us.

As for the suitcase, it has never as I said occurred to me that I with my bad back (and my SO with his bad back) should have to try and put the bags under the bed. Like I said, it didn't even happen on HAL or Celebrity and Oceania is certainly a few levels above a HAL or Celebrity cruise line.

10 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

And you can opt for O Life w/o air fare, which lowers the cost by the value of the air credit (still giving you whatever O Life perk you may desire).

BTW: B Cabins on R ships are plenty big (w/shower). We've done quite a few 4-5 week cruises in them.

 

Thank you. Does anyone know if since the refurb they have made the shower a glass door enclosure or do they still have shower curtains? (Can't say I love the idea of a shower curtain.)

I know I sound negative but what else I like about this cruise is the low number of pax, the relatively low price since I'll be paying for 2 rooms with probably 2 100% single supplements. And of course the food. My son feels he would also prefer the smaller ship size especially when it comes to getting on/off the ship and tours.

Being that I'm not sailing with my better half, I figure I don't need the larger room.

10 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

 

 

I have never asked the steward(es)  to put  the cases under the bed

I can still manage it myself

Thank you.

As for the suitcases, in all my cruises I have never had to ask. They just magically disappeared under the bed, whether on Regent, HAL, Celebrity or of course Crystal. And I would think at least if we paid a premium for a PH, that was the least they could do since they obviously didn't even clean the room

I'm considering taking my son on the Serina for a cruise to the Caribbean (we wanted to do Cuba, sigh) in January as his graduation present and am willing to give Oceania another try.

I was on the Marina several years ago with my better half (one of the first cruises to Cuba!) in a Penthouse Suite which was quite a nice size. However, the service was less than desired which is one reason he and I haven't been back. The clothes drawers were full of sand when we came in and went to put our clothes away. The room was dirty with finger marks on the fixtures and the telephone needed a good cleaning. There were the previous tenant's pill bottles and cold medicines and her handbag in one of the dresser drawers. The balcony had salt spray 1/2" thick on the deck and the seats. The verandah window had obvious salt spray. We called and asked them to reclean the room which didn't make our stewardess happy. The butler was almost non existent.

When I mentioned to our stewardess that we were finished unpacking our bags, her response to us was, "Oh YOU can put them under the bed." I asked again because I didn't believe what I was hearing but again she repeated it. I smiled and nicely told her that no, she should please put them under the bed for us. She did reluctantly and the rest of the cruise she gave us an attitude.

One day at tea, I asked what was in a sandwich. The waiter told me egg salad. I took the sandwich and I bit into the sandwich and it was egg salad WITH shrimp. I have a food sensitivity to shellfish. Thankfully not a full blown allergy. When I complained to the maitre'd, he shrugged his shoulders. Not even a sorry. So we went to speak to the head concierge. Told him all about our room the first day plus the issue with the sandwich and how it could have killed someone with a true allergy. He said he'd look into it and get back to us. That was several years ago. No one ever got back to us either on or off the ship even after we filled out our cards. We normally sail on Crystal and before that on Regent, Celebrity and HAL. I can tell you if any of that had happened on any of those ships, we would have had a personal note from the hotel director and probably some sort of compensation (a special bottle of wine, or a small cruise credit or specialty chocolates) to show how sorry they were. On Oceania, crickets.

Despite that, because the fares are low and the food was really excellent on Oceania, I'm willing to give Oceania another try and would book my son in an ocean view cabin and book myself into a Concierge Verandah Cabin. I noticed that the stated size of the Verandah cabin is 216 square feet. Is that including the balcony or is that just the cabin itself?

For those who book a verandah, is there adequate storage etc? Do you feel cramped?

Is there a shower or only a shower/tub combo? (I prefer a shower!)

Are all single supplements 100%?

Also am I correct that internet is not included unless I do O Life? Doing the O Life would not pay for me since the cruise is out of MIA and I just need to drive from my home in FL and it seems that the big benefit of O Life is the airfare? It might pay for my son since he'd be flying in from JFK but even then it might not pay. Are there any other ways to get perks like O Life?

Any suggestions or thoughts?

And lastly will the stewardess put the suitcases under the bed? 🙂