kwtaper

Eventually the A/C problem was mostly solved, but not 100%. At this point it is most likely fine. We had no trouble with internet and speeds were good. We usually popped in once a day, after dinner, to touch base with family and supply updates on our adventures. We did hear that one day during the daytime hours that the connections were not working.

Should have also reminded, that you will have to pay an additional 10% tax onboard for alcohol purchases when sailing from any Spanish port. So if you are considering corkage, by all means, take that into consideration as another reason to bring your own to dinner.

There was a very nice wine shop in the market on Las Ramblas, La Carta de Vinos . We picked up a few bottles there - but almost any market you go into has a decent selection. Brush up a bit on regions and varietals/blends. Each port we stopped at gave us an opportunity to purchase for our in-cabin enjoyment. We did one corkage night.

My wife and I did one previously and certainly would sail on another if all the other components make sense (itinerary, schedule, etc). Liked the gifts we received and other little perks.

Agree with the valua of setting up tours privately. We did that on Tahiti-Tahiti cruise on Marina a couple of years ago. This time opted to not do all that prior leg-work. next time out, maybe we'll opt to go private for some excursions again.

Just back from our Aug 5-15 Barcelona-Lisbon cruise on Insignia. Our 4th trip with Oceania. Once again a great way to visit new places for us. As usual loved the food, the service and the size of Insignia. We were able to list a number of folks to give kudos to due to their attention during our cruise. We can confirm that the bars and restaurants on board are indeed having to charge the 10% tax on alcohol purchases when cruising from ports in Spain. So calculate that into your costs, and perhaps opt to bring on board a local bottle of wine for dinner and pay the corkage. It was also great to be docked at each port we visited so that tendering (and all that goes along with that) did not factor into our time ashore.

Now for the not so good parts of our experience that Oceania has been pretty much unresponsive to. The cabin air-conditioning was not working properly on embarkation day and that night along with night #3 (a night so bad that what I wore to bed was soaked through as were the bed sheets and pillows) and others. After bringing this to the attention of the staff as of day one and hearing that other cabins were having the same problems, the ship issued notification cards that regular maintenance would be having an impact to the a/c functionality.

We also expressed our displeasure with a trend that occurred on a number of shore excursions in Spanish ports. In Ibiza we were on Wine Tasting at Sa Cova – my recommendation is to avoid this one. The winery was nice enough but the tasting was poorly paced, taking way too long to work through 4-5 wines. The wines were lacking in any character that would inspire a purchase – and we purchased at every other winery we visited during the cruise. Actually out of our entire bus, no one purchased a bottle here. Hoping to salvage the excursion we looked forward to the next stop on the tour, a visit to the village of Santa Gertrudis, looking forward to capturing some photos and a taste of village atmosphere. But for some reason this stop was eliminated as the guide kept referencing a dinner back on the ship.

In the port of Valencia we took Explore Sagunto and Valencia – again a part of the excursion description was not delivered on. After visiting the Roman Theater we were supposed to head further up to the castle complex. Our guided opted out of the castle complex citing the distance and amount of time required to reach it and nothing really being there. Again not delivering all of what Oceania used to help us decide which excursions to book.

In the port of Malaga, we booked Mijas: The Charm of Village Life. What a cute place that we enjoyed walking around and photographing. Even stopped for a glass of wine at a lovely venue. However the excursion was listed as being a 5-hour tour, yet the guide showed us her paperwork from Oceania to be back at the ship in 4 hours. This amounts to a 20% deduction of time, yet no corresponding 20% deduction in cost of the excursion.

We still love Oceania and will be back for a 5th cruise on one of their ships, we’ve now been on all but Riveria. Just wish that the company had not been impacted by these fumbles and a lack of responsiveness to our insights and complaints. We expected more from Oceania in terms of some kind of resolution when paying a good deal of money for something not delivered as described.

For those who fly out from Lisbon, if you have not done so before, allow extra 30 minutes or so to make it through passport security which comes up the last thing prior to getting to your gate. Also know that you will print your boarding passes prior to approaching baggage check-in.