rxlowry

Great review so far! With one week to go until I board Insignia, this is perfect! Thanks for sharing!

The OP is summarizing a call he was on with Celebrity for TAs. I heard all the exact same info on the call yesterday. If I had been drinking when she said “sold hundreds” I would have choked!

I heard the same thing. They claimed to have sold hundred. I highly doubt they did Bc why discontinue?

He did a great job summarizing this info direct from Celebrity. The reasons given were the same I heard.

Hmm I see chicken not duck on my app

Thanks for the review. I’ll be on my first Oceania cruise on Insignia next month.

Really enjoyed your blog when I tried Carnival Mardi Gras last minute when our NCL Escape cruise was cancelled. Feel free to look over my blog Alpacamybagsblog with a few NCL cruises and ask any questions. Lots of knowledgeable people here!

NCL was our go to line for years for cruises to supplement our luxury cruises. They’ve gone way down from our start and even more since 2020. Our last cruise with them, the crew was so tired and miserable. We chatted with our room steward who was so upset with changes. We booked this Oceania cruise to test them out and I really hope the crew are not as sad as on NCL. I haven’t been on Regent in some time but I wonder if they’ve noticed changes there?

I wasn’t expecting it to be as good but many comparisons were made in this review plus the statement that pricing was comparable (although this cruise was not for us I would rank food as Crystal, Seabourn then Regent. It will be interesting to see where O falls.

Thanks for the review. After reading this board lately, I’m not as excited for my first Oceania cruise. We are foodies and Oceania makes big claims. It’s not sounding close to Regent, Seabourn or Crystal with this review. But I’ll judge for myself next month.

I’ve only done MSC in Yacht Club so I can’t say how the MDR compares. The specialty restaurants were comparable. The buffet was excellent and the pizza amazing! The Seascape has lots of great venues and activities for kids. I’d recommend using a travel advisor especially for MSC as booking with them can be confusing.

Great review! I loved Mariana and Serkan too! As well as our servers! Blu was fabulous

My husband did in February and said it was one of the best things he’s had on NCL!

Good idea to pass! Mine was filled with rubbery calamari!!

I hope it’s fixed for you. It isn’t cool to be unable to access areas you pay a premium for. I did see the one working to go to Rooftop Terrace. But that area is for those not in protective custody or isolation. (Sorry…couldn’t resist as “gen pop” is a pet peeve of mine but not as much as using the offensive “first world” to describe a problem)

Glad you had a great cruise! Thanks for sharing this information!

Agreed! The weather was not bad! We had fun ashore! IMG_4158.mov

We were on your cruise as well and loved Blu! The service was great and the choices were delcious and so flavorful. Some had some nice heat to them which surprised us but we loved!!

Final thoughts on my first Celebrity cruise: Cabin was very nice. We both loved the decor and thought the beds were very comfortable (unlike the rock hard bed on Joy last summer). The shower was on the small side and we both thought it awkward on how it opened in and had a grip bar where it was easy to whack yourself. Food was excellent. We loved our dinners in Blu. It definitely gives me NCL Haven or luxury line vibes. I would also rank it above my MSC Yacht Club cruise. Sushi on Five and Tuscan Grille also fabulous. We did tire with the buffet at lunch but I think a big part was that we couldn't serve ourselves. But for the most part, the buffet was nice for lunches and late night snacking. The cocktails at the bars were good as well. I was really impressed with the Zodiac ones I tried in Sky Lounge which were nicely balanced drinks. The Martini Bar was good but I am not a real fan of sweet or dessert drinks but I did sample some and all were made well. The Aperol Spritzes and negronis were made very nice as well. My daughter liked some of the zero proof drinks but did not have many as they were very sweet. She did not reorder any that she tried. We did not notice many servers, sometimes we were served at seats but mainly we did go to the bars. We never saw a server in the casino. However, the service was pretty quick even when busy unlike my last NCL cruise where we waited 20 minutes at times. We both enjoyed the entertainment options. The cruise director, Manuel and his team of just two were superb! He will go down as one of the more memorable CDs. We loved the trivia and parties at night. The live music options were abundant and went way later than I anticipated. The theater shows were a good quality, very old school cruising (which I am a fan of since my first cruise was in the 80s) vibes. I enjoyed not needing reservations for the entertainment. The Persian Garden was ok. We only used it one day. But we did like the Solarium a lot. We did not do much in Bermuda as the ship was our real destination. I believe this might be my 14th trip to the lovely island and I'll be back in September trying out Oceania with the husband this time. Embarkation super fast and organized!! Same for disembarkation. I think the only miss for us was the cooking class but we had an experience! Awesome trip! I've posted three days so far of the blog and I need to finish up the remainder if you want to read more! (Alpacamybagsblog) Any questions, please ask!

Last day breakfast on most cruises can be so bad. Not just because you are sad the cruise is over but the quality and service is lacking. This was not the case. It was just as good as during the cruise!! It was sad to say goodbye to our servers. We both got hugs from hostess and maitre’d on our way out!

I'll definitely sail on Celebrity again! I will post some final thoughts here

Oh we know your team! we also won or tied trivia a few times. I think you were on of the ties!! We also won Majority Rules!

The last night dinner was back on track. Loved the smoke trout with sweet potato fritter, summer roll was another hit! I enjoyed the branzino and Veronica thought the veal was nice as well. For dessert, there was a soufflé special, so we were excited to try it. They came out way under cooked. Complete goopy mess. Our wonderful assistant server replaced it was an amazing Apple tart. The comedian was pretty good although he did get heckled bad. It was a tad awkward. Silent disco fun again. We ended the evening with the music director playing big band hits. I read that nightlife is lacking but we found it very fun with good options.

Blu opens at 5:30 on paper but people are seated before five! We checked in around 6:10 and got seated around 6:50. Getting there at five is too early for us! The salad was very nice. They brought the MDR first which was not as good (lettuce kind of wilted, different dressing and the Parmesan from the bottle). I think I’d stick to Blu or higher on Celebrity for me

Oh I added that from the side dish bowl to make room. The steak is served totally alone on plate. I paid before cruise but it’s about 55pp I want to say.