mancunian

Actually I did not say cabins were larger on a standard balcony on Oceania, I said that the bathrooms were larger perhaps because they are better planned. I think the cabins are very nice on Riviera, but agree that Seabourns are larger, but both are a good size just prefer the aesthetics on the Riviera.

Glad to see that they have changed the policy for the MDR being closed for breakfast and lunch on Seabourn.

We have for many years cruised with HAL, which incidentally we still think is very good for the deals we have had.

Branching out a bit we have been on Oceania three times, Riviera twice, and recently on a portion of the world cruise on Insignia, and once on Seabourn last year.

The one we are unlikely to repeat is Seabourn for a few reasons, but sailing on these two lines has convinced us that HAL if going to the right places is also worth keeping with for some cruises. Our problem with HAL is that we have now done so many cruises with them we are running out of itineraries.

Our trips on Oceania have all been good. We love Riviera - we think she must be one of the most beautiful ships at sea. Cabins are very nice and the bathrooms are even bigger and better than Seabourn standard balconies. Insignia of course is very much smaller, and the bathrooms are minute - the only thing I did not really like about the cruise. The food is good, though in some areas - notably breakfasts, salads and variety of vegetables, we think HAL can beat them. Food was the thing we liked least on Seabourn. We did not like the dining room - the wooden floor made it noisy and the walls reminded me of a factory which had had its walls covered with muslin to make it look better. This meant we always ate in the terrace where the menu was more restricted. Having said that the two dinners we had in the MDR were not amazing. Our other big grouse about the dining room was that it was closed for breakfast and lunch, normally on cruises we eat in the MDR all the time. We felt that the main area on Seabourn revolved around alcohol which the staff were always trying to press on you at meals. This was on Odyssey, but I guess the other two ships are pretty identical, and although pleasant in areas no where near as attractive as Oceania.

We enjoyed our holiday on Seabourn but unlikely to go again, because in view of us being limited drinkers think it is too expensive. Other things I liked on Oceania were the (free) art classes every day, the iced coffee and the smoothies. Good lectures too. We actually think Oceania, though more expensive than HAL works out reasonably well costwise. On OLife we got 5 or 6 included excursions, free 24 hour internet, airfare and hotel at the Mandarin Oriental in Singapore, and from the agent free gratuities and 350 dollars onboard cabin credit. We used this for our limited alcohol and our onboard costs came to one additional excursion.

Incidentally someone mentioned lack of fresh fruit at breakfast on Oceania. I had a bowl of berries - strawberries, raspberries and either blueberries on blackberries on 17 of the 18 nights on Insignia, and remember having similar on Riviera, so clearly she was unlucky.

Interesting the comments about quality of food as well as the open fixed dining option. We have mostly been on HAL over the last few years but have also been on Oceania three times, Seabourn and Celebrity. Celebrity we have eliminated completely as having an overly noisy dining room, far worse than our experience on Koningsdam and a mix of meals from very good to poor. Seabourn we were generally happy with though were irritated that you could not have breakfast or lunch in the MDR which is where we usually eat. Oceania was better, or so I thought but on our recent 18 night trip on a portion of their world cruise I was not happy. Three times I asked for my steak to be well done and it was not even close, one time I ordered the poached salmon on the available everyday menu. It looked beautiful on the plate but when you cut into it it was completely raw, only a fine layer of the outer surface was cooked. You are then faced with the choice of sending it back, or going hungry. If it goes back you end up not eating with your partner. This is totally unacceptable particularly on a line that states it has the best food at sea. They even give you a list of the terms of how your steak is cooked, but then do not follow it. I am not the only person to complain on here about this. For a line which claims to be the best food at sea this is unacceptable. Fine if you want a lot of lobster say, which we do not, but otherwise not that brilliant. HAL measures up in many areas and in fact is better on breakfasts, salads and variety of veg. These two cruiselines are the two we will probably continue to cruise on, with HAL being the choice if the route is what we want to do.

I know many people will not agree with this, but it is our view. All round we think HAL is good value for money.

We would choose the Oceania ports, though to be fair we have been to them all over the years. We now prefer the smaller ports and as someone has said Kotor is brilliant.

We also prefer not to sail to or from Rome, though again we have many times. It is a long way to the airport.

We did this excursion a couple of years ago with mixed feelings. As far as I remember we left the luggage and one of the two hand baggages (with nothing of value in) at the pier and took the rucksack with us with laptop, cameras, kindle etc.

The excursion itself was a great end to the cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, getting to the excursion boat and away at the end was a bit of a nightmare, particularly for me and another disabled lady. We had queried this when we booked and were told that a bus would take us to the boat and bring us back. Neither happened and we had a very, very long walk. On the way back we walked again and the whole party had to stand for over half an hour waiting for the coach to take us to the airport. Perhaps to some it might have just been an irritation but for me and the other lady life was very very tough. We just felt we try to check for difficulties before we start and think that the port bus had never been arranged.

I am fascinated by some of the cost statements made on this thread. Just checked and a three week cruise in a balcony cabin on one of the smaller Oceania ships to Norway is £8000. A two week cruise to Norway in a balcony cabin on Koningsdam is £3049. The price differences for the cruise in the US as opposed to UK must be very different if HAL comes out the same or dearer. Even with the extras there is no comparison.

HAL is no way comparable to Pando which has got worse and worse over years. Food is the worst we have had. We have not been on Princess but think HAL and Princess probably similar except that what we have seen on TV Princess is much more glitzy which is definitely not us.

I can only say we are going on Oceania in 12 days from Singapore to Bali. Really looking forward to it, but again if the same cruise had appeared with HAL we would have looked forward just as much and would have been happy with the savings. We have found food on HAL to be more than acceptable. Pinnacle grill is good, Tamarind excellent in our view. Tamarind however, is only on the three largest ships, Nieuw Amsterdam, Eurodam and Koningsdam. Salads are definitely better on HAL. Breakfasts in the dining room have an amazing choice of menu and comparing different dishes seemed to me to match or exceed Riviera's.

Bottom line is, if HAL is going to the places we want to go that is our first choice. Love the ambience and choices and price. If they are not Oceania is our choice. We have not found a cruiseline we like as much as these two except perhaps the defunct Orient Lines.

We have sailed on HAL 15 times and another booked, and Oceania twice and we are going again in two weeks.

You cannot compare apples and pears. For a start have you compared the cost of a Norwegian cruise on Oceania. We looked and nearly fell off our chairs. Yes you do perhaps get more included on Oceania, but by the time you have paid the extras on HAL you are still quids in over Oceania. Also alcohol and excursions are very expensive on Oceania.

If food is your main concern yes Oceania is better, though we have thought the food on HAL good too, particularly on our last cruise on Nieuw Amsterdam. I don't think it is necessarily true that the speciality restaurants are not as good on HAL - Tamarind takes some beating.

If entertainment is important go for HAL.

I personally do not agree about the beds finding HAL much the more comfortable. Because I have a spine problem I personally find it very hard to turn over on Oceania.

We find the service to be good on both with HAL having the slight edge. They may have to work harder but the Indonesian crew love to serve, crew on Oceania are well trained but we think see it more as a job. Neither time on Oceania have our cabin crew been as good as HAL.

We love both and will continue to travel on both dependent on itinerary. We have also tried Celebrity and Seabourn but are unlikely to go on them again, particularly Celebrity.

You pays your money and you takes your choice as the saying goes. But just be sure of what you are comparing.

I am writing this purely in the hope that HAL reads these boards.

They can say what they like at Seattle but the crew and passengers know exactly what happened.

We are four star cruisers with 16 cruises under our belts and another one booked. We have liked HAL very much over the years, but if this happened to us on a cruise we would NEVER sail with them again. There is no way we would either be prepared to eat before 6 pm and even more certainly we would not eat in the lido. We never have done and are not likely to start now. HAL need to be very careful on this or they will be in great trouble. And what happened to the great promise "as you wish dining".

My worst spa suite experience was on Seabourn. I had, as I do on HAL, paid to use the heated beds. Odyssey is only small so it is really only heated beds, sauna and a circular pool in the middle where you are supposed to put your legs and feet in the hot side and walk round to the cold side.

Now my idea of a session on heated beds is perfect relaxation which means a fairly quiet atmosphere. Clearly not on Seabourn, where people who have treatments are encouraged to go and relax there afterwards, usually with the beautician who has attended to them and then they discuss how they want their tea, and talk about future treatments. Once the beautician has left them to get the tea a general conversation ensues. On top of this despite a corridor encircling the outside of the room, the beauticians find it much quicker to walk diagonally across and there is constant movement. After my third time on the beds I was so enraged when I returned to the cabin I said I am not going there again. I did complain on my questionnaire, but I had realised this behaviour was so deeply entrenched that complaining at the time would have done no good at all.

Over many years we have experienced about 10 cruiselines. However, over the last five years we have done HAL 15 times, Oceania 2 with another coming up in April, Seabourn once and Celebrity once. Celebrity was the only one we disliked and will not be repeating. Seabourn was an experience but would not pay that amount for a cruise again particularly as we did not rate the food highly. Seabourn I think is only good if you are drinkers which in our case is only a couple of glasses of wine per day.

Oceania - twice on Riviera was good except I did not feel it had a friendly ambience, staff or crew, indeed often felt you were on the Marie Celeste. We are doing a section of the world cruise on Insignia in April so this may change our mind.

As you gather from above we love HAL. There is a very good ambience and I feel that the crew, though having to work harder give really excellent service. On Seabourn and Oceania the service is usually good, but on HAL the crew don't just do a good job but really give the impression they enjoy their jobs.

A good thing we are all different really.

I agree with Kazu about Berlitz reports. I guess it is now too many ships out there but they are not as accurate as they were. As to Prinsendam's falling scores - maybe they are, but so are other ships. On the Seabourn board they are very annoyed that the Seabourn fleet has been downgraded, and how Swan's Minerva could get 4 stars against Nieuw Amsterdam defeats me totally.

We are in fact going on Oceania for a third time in April on one of the smaller ships - part of the world cruise from Singapore to Abu Dhabi. We don't dislike Oceania, it has many good points, but feel HAL still our favourite. I think HAL wins on both crew and passengers. We thought Oceania (on Riviera) was somewhat remote. The staff were good but we felt it was because that was their job, whereas on HAL the crew seem to really enjoy serving you. We certainly did not get to know as many other passengers as on HAL.

At the end of the day however, we have cruised so much that itinerary has to win the day. It is laughable actually that we had decided that if an itinerary was right we would go on Oceania provided it was no more than 9 days. Our trip in April is 17 days but unfortunately HAL does not go to Burma and India!

Thanks for your help everyone. I felt Berlitz was probably wrong but needed to confirm. We are now booked for October 5th.

Dining is obviously as we have had before. Our first time was open dining largely in the main dining room though we were placed in the smaller one a couple of times. Our preference is the larger one - we like the windows all round. The smaller one we personally felt was like a corridor. But both fine. Really looking forward to this cruise. TA tells me the itinerary has recently changed as it was going to Turkish ports originally. Suits us fine. We have over the years done nearly all the Med ports, particularly the ones HAL does. The attraction to this particular cruise was that with 10 days in port six of them are new to us, and in fact some we have never seen on any itinerary.

We are considering a cruise on Prinsendam in the Med in October. DH was reading the critique in Berlitz and says it says that dinner is two sitting fixed.

We have been on Prinsendam twice before - the first time on an ordinary cruise and we had open sitting, the second was part of a grand voyage and it was fixed much to our dismay.

Has anyone been on an ordinary cruise, as opposed to grand voyages on Prinsendam recently? Is Berlitz correct. If so we will have to think again.

Many thanks

To Boyjtie

Yes I know it is on my card - I was really meaning finding their way to precisely where there lifeboat is

I am currently very angry with HAL re boat drill. We came back from Nieuw Amsterdam at the beginning of November, not the same cruise that has been mentioned here as being bad at the drill. It took 45 minutes between the sirens and starting the talk. There was a long list of people who did not attend. Personally I suspect HAL had the lists crossed and it was some of the people on the two week who had been told they did not need to attend, but that is my assumption no proof. There was certainly no time to disembark people before we sailed.

I feel this is totally unnecessary and HAL should not hold the passengers at the ransom of the ones who do not attend. When they announce the missing cabin numbers they should say that these people should report immediately to the front office where a "senior" officer is waiting for them and get on with the drill.

I am sorry but I consider HAL is being very negligent here. It was thanksgiving so lots of people with children and of course a huge number of elderly, frail or disabled people. Depending of the ages of HAL management would they be happy for their parents or grandparents to be left in the Florida heat for 45 minutes, or to keep their children quiet. Actually I have to admit in our lifeboat area we did not really have children but we did have masses of older and disabled people. The medical team had to come with a stretcher to the next boat and on ours two people had to be allowed to hang over rail to recover. I suspect there were incidents on other lifeboats.

We have been on ten cruiselines and on 8 of them boat drills were indoors. I do not agree it is too comfortable and at least on these you were in a fit state to listen. By 45 minutes people were in such a state I doubt any of us could have passed a test on what was said. This too is not the first time this has happened. As to knowing which your lifeboat is I doubt many people on a cruise remember, but not wishing to add gloom to the proceedings having indoor drills enables the captain to get passengers to a muster point earlier than if he waits to call them on deck, you are then led to a lifeboat. Note I say a lifeboat. If the ship is listing the lifeboats on one side could well be unusable.

Anyway I do not usually complain to HAL about things but I put much of what I have said here on my halftime report on board and also written to Seattle. Somebody is going to die from a heart attack or stroke from boat drills as bad as this.

When you say explorer lounge now Lincoln centre do you mean trhey have changed the lounge layout to long rows of chairs as on Koningsdam or have they left the layout the same as before.

You ask which airline. We are flying Virgin (as we have done previously) and find them an excellent airline. We are staying in Miami overnight and taking a shuttle. The only problem is that I think they only fly to Orlando from Manchester, Miami I think is just from Heathrow.

What exactly do you mean by "low rating?" Do you realize that CC posters account for a very very small portion of the overall passengers on every cruise ship? So, when you do the math, realize that, on CC, it may be something like 20% (for argument's sake). But that's 20% OF 5% of the total passengers. So, out of 100 folks, that would be 1 person, not 20. Add to that the general reality that online comments (in any arena) more often cite concerns rather than kudos.

 

In any case, many folks posting on the Oceania CC thread have just moved over from mass market lines. And, if they're looking for Johnny Rockets and Appleby's food on Oceania, they will be sadly disappointed. Yes, food reviews are highly subjective.

 

Finally, as regards Azamara: all I can say is that we attended a TA presentation by the Azamara president who, when queried about the difference between A and O, basically summed it up as "we (A) are about evening port experiences while they (O) are about food." And I have heard that same comment from every Azamara passenger I've met on an Oceania ship.

 

BTW, it's also interesting to hear all the former Celebrity cruisers who, on their first Oceania cruise, remark about the clearly higher quality of O food and service.

 

Nonetheless, to each his/her own.

I thought my question was straightforward enough. If you look on CC reviews the percentage of people who love Oceania is as follows:

Marina 77

Nautica 75

Regatta 73

Riviera 73

Insignia 58

Sirena 50

Sirena does not surprise me because this seems to be par for the course with a new ship to a line. Koningsdam (HAL) and Brittania (P&O) are exanples of this. However Insignia is not so new but does not seem as popular as other Oceania ships. I have looked at several reviews and cannot pin down why which was why I was asking for some ideas on here.

I think I have been flamed. I do research before cruises. We have been over 25 years on 10 lines and over 40 cruises. We have been on Riviera twice and loved it. We are also used to small ships - in fact have been on one of these ships when Swan Hellenic owned one.

We are not concerned about the size of cabin and bathroom and not very bothered about entertainment. What I am querying is why does Insignia get such a low rating mark as compared to the others - is it the food or service (which are the aspects of a cruiseship that matter to us and the thing that can vary from ship to ship in a cruiseline.

I too am very interested in replies to this as we are on a portion of the world cruise in April too. Have only previously been on Riviera and first time on a small ship. Slightly concerned about the percentage being only in the 50's.

Hi Ruth

Thanks for your good wishes

Hope you are recovered from your operation.

Actually we went on Oceania quite a bit later than you and our food was very good with plenty of choices. We are going with them to India and Burma (Singapore to Abu Dhabi) on a segment of the world cruise next April. It is on one of the smaller ships and previously we have been on Riviera so we shall see.

Thanks to both of you. I have been a little worried it might be in one of the two places I mentioned.

Ruth you must be off on Koningsdam soon - let us know how you get on. We went unexpectedly on Seabourn Odyssey for a week in the Greek Islands. For Seabourn it was a very reduced trip - to do with Turkey I think and changed itinerary. As it was our golden wedding last month we decided let's go for it!! An interesting experience and a very good cruise but to be honest I was not bowled over by it. I think the normal prices are far too expensive and the food is not as good as Oceania. Did like the ambience however. I think the main reason for the cost is all the alcohol people seem able to consume. We are getting older and with medication do not drink much at all. At home only about two glasses of wine a week. We did drink more on the cruise - about three glasses a day but we do not think Seabourn good value for us.

Has anyone been on NA recently. We go in three weeks and are wondering if there is still a library and a cinema. We are also wondering where the new test kitchen opening on 13 November is to be located. Any ideas.

I do have severe back problems and have always found the beds on HAL excellent as was the bed recently on Seabourn. I personally hated the bed on Celebrity. Oceania on the other hand feels beautifully comfortable when you get in, but the topper was so soft I was unable to turn over in bed which is a struggle at the best of times but impossible on these beds.

I personally would not ask for a topper until you have tried a bed - it can actually make things worse and you may not need one.