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When we arrived at the Quebec airport, it was after 11PM. No time to unpack as we had a tour the next morning. Did you know that 98% of the people who live in Quebec City have French as their first language. We didn’t. We knew it was a French city, but that surprised us. We were also surprised at how enthusiastically the city celebrates Halloween.

I will be posting comments and photos during our cruise to hopefully give you a clear picture of our voyage. While we haven’t yet boarded the new Explora I, we have arrived in Quebec. In order to upload the photos, I will be reducing their size, but I hope you will still enjoy.

I was wondering if there has been any discussion onboard about tropical storm Philippe. I am not exactly sure where you are at this moment or whether the storm will impact your cruise. The winds don't seem to be as big a factor as the torrential rain expected. Here is some information from AccuWeather. The latest AccuWeather Eye Path takes Philippe inland over Maine late Saturday night to Sunday morning as a tropical wind and rainstorm prior to making landfall. Due to the anticipated impacts of heavy rainfall and gusty winds, Philippe has been rated "less than one" on the AccuWeather Real Impact Scale for Hurricanes in new England and Atlantic Canada. A broad zone of tropical -storm-force wind gusts ranging from 40-60 mph (64 to 97 km/h) will extend from Northeaster Maine through much of the gulf of St. Lawrence region in Canada. The bulk of the rain associated directly with Philippe will focus from Maine to southeastern Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. A general 1-4 inches of rain will fall in this area with locally higher amounts. Of equal interest to me was this statement about the long lasting chill to follow Philippe since we are on the next leg of the cruise. Philippe's interaction with the jet stream will lead to an extended period of November-like weather for much of the Northeast and Atlantic Canada next week. Snow is even in the AccuWeather forecast for parts of Quebec and upstate New York.

I understand that Explora I has electronic pianos aboard. Does anyone know the brand? I have a Yamaha Clavinova at home and would love to be able to play the ones onboard. Are they available for passenger use?

Thank you so much for your replies. I have two more questions. I have not read anyone's comments about the casino. Size? Types? Friendliness. LOL. Do they have table tennis? My partner and I are avid players.

We are on a later cruise (Quebec to Miami) and have been extremely frustrated by the company's website and their lack of knowledge to our telephone inquiries with regards to their excursions. I have read all the reviews from previous sailings (which were very mixed to say the least). Does anyone onboard have any comments about Explora's excursions? We are familiar with outside companies. If that is our better alternative, we would like to know.

Actually the opposite is true. "Viruses and bacteria thrive in cooler temperatures and drier conditions. Cold and flu particles that are released into the air through sneezing or coughing can survive on surfaces for up to 48 hours. The warmer and more humid your home is, the more likely these particles will go inactive sooner." I just wanted to clarify your statement for health reasons. It also doesn't explain why the thermostats did not work in two different cabins. Let's face it. Insignia is just old.

Since we haven't sailed on Oceania in nearly 5 years, I can't comment on specific food shortages. As for the general quality, it is nowhere near what it was. We just disembarked from the Insignia, and I would say that the food was among the worst we have eaten on any ship. What was most disappointing was how they labeled their dishes inappropriately. "Shrimp scampi" without garlic in a red sauce; "Classic BLT" served mushed like an egg salad, a "Cuban sandwich", that didn't even approach what a cuban sandwich looks or tastes like. Certainly my worst meal was at Polo Grille of all places, where I was served a veal chop that I could not cut with a steak knife. First the waiter and then the manager came over as they could not believe that veal would be that tough, so I offered to let them try. When they could not cut it, I got a new meal.

Thank you for your comments. I am concerned that many of the issues we faced are industry wide. This was our first cruise in 3 years. We will be on the Regent Splendor in March/April. That will be the real test as that is one of their newest ships on a 6 star line.

The following review is intended to provide helpful information to those considering cruising on the Oceania Insignia. Please remember that this is only one person’s opinion and may not reflect your view or the opinions of others. I will be providing a grade for each of the ship’s various services along with an explanation of how and why I gave them this grade. I will begin with what I felt they did best. A+ Panama Canal: I felt I needed to single out this one special activity of our cruise because I have been through the canal two previous times, but neither even approached the quality and information provided on this cruise. A lot of the credit must go to the gentleman they brought onboard – Jaime – who provided the narration and then a Q and A session with the passengers. His talks were comprehensive and completely understandable. They were also humorous, and Jaime never refrained from answering our questions completely. Solid A Entertainment: I have traveled on numerous ships and cruise lines and the Oceania entertainment on this cruise rivaled any I have experienced. The production staff who performed various shows did an outstanding job of singing and dancing. Their song selection was varied and with an older passenger group, I wondered how all these young performers knew the words, music and dances of our generation. The outside performers the ship brought in included singers, pianists, magicians and comedians who were also outstanding. While I had my favorites, each appealed to a wide selection of the audience. My favorite evening’s entertainment was Liar’s Club. If you have not experienced Liar’s Club, I urge you to go if your ship provides it. I have seen it on several cruises, but this was the best I have ever seen. A Social Director: A cruise social director is a critical member of the cruise staff. He/she can make or break the success of a cruise. Our cruise director, Ray Carr, did an outstanding job, announcing the day’s activities, making himself available and entertaining us with his humor. His participation as part of the Liar’s Club panel was hilarious. B+ Itinerary: The cruise began in Miami and ended in San Francisco. Considering it’s location, I enjoyed the itinerary of Cayman Islands, Cartagena, El Salvador, five Mexican ports, San Diego and San Francisco. Certainly, some were better than others and we did have to tender into two of them, but I enjoyed the choices they made. A Disney ship followed us to each port. Solid B Activities: For a small ship, the Oceania Insignia, did an excellent job of providing a wide range of activities. As on many ships, trivia was well attended. This ship did it twice a day. They also had sports activities including table tennis (my favorite), shuffleboard, two kinds of golf, plus bingo, a destination speaker, a casino, and several special events. My only criticism would be that for the sports activities they never had us play more than one game each, so there was no real competition. It was nice that a staff member was present for EVERY event, something I have not found to be true on other cruises. B- Crew: The service of the crew was unfortunately very inconsistent. Some were excellent, like our room steward. Others were lacking. It wasn’t that their attitude was poor. I would call it a lack of training and supervision. This contrasts greatly from other cruises I have been on. C+ Excursions Unfortunately, I experienced the same inconsistency and lack of quality on the ship run excursions as I have on other cruises, which is why I more often than not, book outside excursions. I did experience one excellent ship excursion in Cabo San Lucas - Salsa and Salsa – a cooking class for making salsa and dancing instruction for the salsa. Every one of our outside excursions was excellent. I know some passengers are afraid to book outside excursions. However, I have never failed to return to the ship in time. Just make sure you provide a cushion when booking your outside excursions. On the other hand, I have witnessed more than a few times when a ship had to wait for their own ship excursions that were late. Considering the quality and cost, I highly recommend considering using outside excursions. C Speaker: This cruise only had one speaker, a destination speaker, who gave presentations throughout the 18-day cruise. While his content was sometimes worthwhile, his presentation skills were not. As a professional speaker, I may be more critical than the average passenger, but his slides (so small no one could read them) and manner of speaking (repetitive ums) were less than adequate. C- Cabin: The Insignia is way past its prime. Built in 1998, even with a refurbishment in 2018, there were so many things wrong, I believe the ship needs to be retired. The air conditioning system is horrendous. Everywhere you went on the ship was COLD. I would have a difficult time saying whether the showroom, Insignia Lounge, or our cabin was colder. The thermostats in our room(s) did not work. Yes, I said rooms. After the engineer was unable to get our air conditioner in our initial room to work properly, we asked to change rooms. Unfortunately, it was no better. The bathrooms are extremely small, but the showers are so small, you can hardly turn around. It reminded me of cruising in the 60’s when many of the cabins had bunk beds and bathrooms the size of airplane bathrooms. C- Food: Perhaps the most disappointing part of the cruise was the food. Oceania advertises itself as having the best food on the seas. Having sailed on multiple cruise lines, this simply is not true. While there were some selected meals that were quite good, the majority of the food was of mediocre quality. I spoke with many other passengers who felt the same. Some who have sailed on Oceania many times before simply said that this cruise was not up to their standards. In general, the meats were of poor quality, but my biggest objection was that their descriptions of the dishes was often misleading. My overall evaluation of the cruise would be a C, a rating not indicative of a cruise line rated 5.5 stars. As you can see from the above, there were certain parts of the cruise that I found to be quite good, but overall, it was a big disappointment.