garycd

16 hours ago, jeriram said:

We have just booked a cruise on Sirena - does anyone have a better photo of the bathroom that they could post?  We sailed on Marina and found that the shower was just fine, but based on the comments here, I am wondering how it would be.  Thanks!

 

Jeriram: Please see this facebook post which has additional photos and a helpful video: https://www.*****/485850748261831/posts/1968334976680060/

Let's keep in touch as interested in your thoughts after your Sirena cruise.  Our cruise on Insignia is for November 2022.

On 1/6/2022 at 6:55 PM, Redtravel said:

Pictures are not always accurate. Wide angle lenses can alter views.  The showers on R ships are an oddly shaped pentagon. There used to be a photo on web that showed a woman’s feet in the shower. The feet together left little room on the shower floor. The Riviera or Marina have 2 showers.  One is in the tub area. That has plenty of space.  Other has a round floor. It is small, but you have enough floor space to turn around.  It is huge compared to the shower on R ships.  

Redtravel -- that is very helpful!  Appreciate it!  Was thinking the shower had enough space to turn around in, so good to know it does not.

2 hours ago, Redtravel said:

If you think the veranda shower on Riviera is small, don’t sail in a veranda cabin on any of the R ships. That shower is tiny.  Cabins are also much smaller than those on Riviera. If you sail on an R ship, you should book a suite.  Better still, stick to Riviera or Marina.  After our last Sirena cruise, we refuse to sail on an R ship unless we book a suite. 

Redtravel -- based on the pictures it looks like the showers in the R class ships are the same width but a little longer than those small showers on Riviera and Marina. (I use the bathtub shower on the O class ships as so much bigger.)

6 hours ago, LHT28 said:

With the glass panel now  it will look roomier

They are longer than the stand alone showers on the O class ships

 I do not have an issue with either  but some others do

 

Thanks!  That is what I was thinking -- longer but probably the same width.

Got a hold of this picture -- doesn't look quite as small as the Riviera Verenda shower.

LHT28 and Ka Honu -- thanks!   Unfortunately, a PH suite would be out of our budget. The Spa is a good option -- appreciate that, but sort of prefer the privacy of showering in one's cabin.

We were just on Oceania Riviera which we have sailed on that ship and the Marina several times -- always in the veranda staterooms.  My wife always uses the shower in the Veranda cabins but I find the showers too small (large frame) and take advantage of the shower in the bathtub which works great for me.  We are considering sailings on the Sirena and Insignia and looking at the Inside/Oceanview/Veranda cabins -- all seem to have the same size shower -- but not sure if that shower is bigger, smaller or the same as the shower in the Riveria Verenda cabins.

Appreciate if anyone that has sailed on both the R class ships and the larger Riviera/Marina ships can comment on how the showers in the lower priced staterooms for the R6 cabins compared to the showers in the Marina/Riviera staterooms.

Please never mind.  Just found the answer: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/3657

The bathrooms, although still tight, definitely look bigger and brighter, with new fixtures, lighting and vanities. Passengers will rejoice that the showers now have French glass doors, as opposed a clingy curtain. The suite bathrooms are more luxurious, with lots of marble and granite.

I know that for the SIrena (R Class Ship, also), Oceania replaced the shower curtains with glass.  Does anyone know if this has also been done for the Sirena balcony and oceanview cabins?

Most kind.

 

My good camera is a Leica Q, and for everyday a Leica 109.

 

 

I heartily recommend using Lightroom and some presets, especially for making dark silhouettes into visible images. A little skill goes a long way in improving dodgy shots.

Skyring, Thanks! Really love that last set of two pictures of the ocean (sunset and clouds.)

 

1) Showers on the A to D cabins. Has to be a better design. Too small plus that shower curtain has to go.

Totally agree!!!

 

#1...larger shower and bathroom with shower door. No excuse for those dreadful little bathrooms on such a nice ship.

Totally agree with #1!!! They may not be able to make the shower or bathroom larger, but at least replace the hideous shower curtain with glass.

Moonheart,

Please post a summary of your cruise on this thread (either during the cruise or when you get back) or a link to your blog. Your are very fortunate to be going on such a cruise, and though maybe not the best choice for you in terms of social interaction, its a good choice if you enjoy food and travel. As an earlier poster mentioned, see if you can get a friend to come along. That would be ideal. If not, you will find an opportunity to meet many interesting people. When I went on my first cruise at age 14, in the late 1960s, my parents, grandmother, sister (age 17) and I shared a table with a retired Colonel (in his 90s) and another elderly gentlemen. Such an opportunity to talk to people that had lived in a very different era and have wonderful food! In addition, much of the time was spent on excursions with my family, so even if I did not find the stories of the older people fascinating, it would have been a great cruise. If you look focusing on getting the most out of your Oceania cruise you will do just fine. By sure to take pictures! I have very few pictures to look back on in my childhood to help refresh memories -- fifty years from now, such pictures will be very much appreciated by you. Also, either keep a journal or post daily entries on a blog about your trip. That will also be something to enjoy far into the future.

Also have fun talking to the crew! Most of them are from Asia, Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, Central America, South America or Africa and love to talk about their cultures and their experiences working on the ship.

Skyring,

Excellent commentary and pictures!

Please advise what camera you use. We currently need to upgrade and impressed with your photos!

Everyone: Thanks for the information on the shower and bathroom. Very helpful!

Would go with Jacques as a little more intimate than the Main Dining Room, but as noted, the Main Dining Room often has it's best food on the second night of the cruise.

It may be already on the boards, but could not find it. Does anyone have a link or photos for the Insignia lower cabins (inside, oceanview, verenda)? We wanted to see what the shower and bathroom area looked like. (How small is the shower, is it a shower curtain, or glass?)

CC manager LauraS posted on the 9th, thread "Oceania Cruises Rolls Out New Lunch Experience to Fleet".

 

While the menu looks great to me seems not too well received from comments on that thread. Might be the execution of some items or, reading between the lines as the poster who said it was uninteresting has not said why, it might have been a bit of this menu along with a bit of the regular menu so did not meet expectations. CC has clarified it is only this "Bistro" menu with the "Taste of the World" now.

 

You can see that discussion here though it is now more on whether or not the GDR is open for lunch and when :

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2597045

Thanks!

Previously deployed on Sirena, coming soon to all Oceania ships. Click on second link for sample menu:

Article: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8388

Menu: https://www.oceaniacruises.com/Documents/Menus/81604382386/Grand-Dining-Lunch-Menu.pdf/

Thoughts?

... Every time we saw her the rest of the cruise it was always the same, She would run over and gave the wife a huge hug and another 10 min chat. The other guests must have started to wondered how on earth we were on such good terms with Guest Services.

Thanks for sharing!

We just returned from our 1st cruise. We were shocked how people treated servers etc.....

 

Treat others the way you want to be treated is our motto!

 

At the windjammer one afternoon they were doing a cook a wok meal. Myself personally I like to try new things. So I engaged the cook and asked if he ate that particular dish and said yes it’s his favorite.. Perfect! So I asked if he would make me his favorite combination for me. The smile on his face said it all.... what was sooooo shocking is the guests around me all thought I was nuts, stating I was going to get something horrible and disgusting..... I just kept talking to the cook and soon the amazing aroma started to come from the hot pan..... Now these same people said ohhh I want what he is having.... The cook looked at them and said “I forget”and just gave me a big smile and darn did I have an amazing lunch....

Weedwhacker2,

What a great story! So allegorical!

“I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it's because in addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light changes, and ships change, it's because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea - whether it is to sail or to watch it - we are going back from whence we came.”

― John F. Kennedy [1962]

Should be no problem with a room next to elevator/stairs: rooms are nearly sound proof, and Viking passengers are generally a very quiet bunch, even when they are filling up the stairs while waiting to get off the ship.

Exercise is key. Don't concentrate on losing weight before a cruise, but increase your overall exercise, so that when on a cruise you can spend some significant time in the gym or jogging on the decks. Muscle mass helps burn those extra calories you will indulge in on any cruise ship with good food.

There's a saying: "treat others like you would like to be treated."

It amazes when I see cruise passengers (guests, if you prefer) treat cruise servers or other staff as if they were mechanical robots, not acknowledging them, not saying please or thank you, or some equivalent display of civility, but treating them as if they are a different class of people than themselves. I find that much of the enjoyment of a cruise is getting to know and interacting with the staff. It's worth the time when passing an employee scrubbing away at the stairs or the deck, to learn a bit about where they are from, how long they have worked on the particular ship, etc. A cruise is so much more fun when you know the staff by their names and get to greet them when you see them each time.

Many of these crew members have left their family to take a position on a ship in order to support that family, ensure proper care for their elderly family members, or ensure a better education for their children. If if they have taken a position for the adventure of working on a ship, they are still away from their family, friends and the village, town or city they grew up in. They really don't need or deserve rude treatment from "entitled" passengers. Seems to me, since we are the fortunate ones able to take cruises, that we should be at our very best when interacting with the people working on the ships.