Oceania Insignia

Choosing to spend your money the way you wish doesn't make you a pauper! We sailed with a couple on Oceania a few years ago who usually are on Deck 4 on the "R" ships but stay in 5 star hotels on land. We, OTOH, tend to economize on our hotels but spring for suites on a ship.

 

 

It's your money!

 

 

Mura

Anybody who goes on a cruise isn’t a pauper! Especially on oceania

Choosing to spend your money the way you wish doesn't make you a pauper! We sailed with a couple on Oceania a few years ago who usually are on Deck 4 on the "R" ships but stay in 5 star hotels on land. We, OTOH, tend to economize on our hotels but spring for suites on a ship.

 

 

 

 

 

It's your money!

 

 

 

 

 

Mura

I don’t mind which type of cabin I’m in, I just like cruising. Once your outside your cabin your treated the same as everyone else. I know we’ll receive great service, wonderful food and be able to get a sun lounger in the sun if/when I want one. We could have booked a balcony cabin but I’d rather spend the extra money on staying in NYC 2 nights pre cruise and 4 post cruise.

Can you say what concerns you about the Insignia ??

I have read cruise critic reviews from people who have sailed on Oceania Insignia and the overall ratings are disappointing. The assesment is from cruise critic members. The areas of concern are multiple

I have read cruise critic reviews from people who have sailed on Oceania Insignia and the overall ratings are disappointing. The assesment is from cruise critic members. The areas of concern are multiple

Most people that have not sailed on an R ship are surprised by the size of the W/C in the A to G cabins

the decor is old world or country club so that is also disagreeable for some

If you are not used to small ships it can be a shocker but overall we like them & have not really had any issues but that is us

We like the R ships as well as the O class ships for different reasons

Only you can decide if you would be happy on the ship

I have read cruise critic reviews from people who have sailed on Oceania Insignia and the overall ratings are disappointing. The assesment is from cruise critic members. The areas of concern are multiple

We are going on Insignia next month and I went back looking at reviews but I didn't really see any major issues? I mean, we don't expect her to be brand spanking new and we know how big the cabins are.

I have read cruise critic reviews from people who have sailed on Oceania Insignia and the overall ratings are disappointing. The assesment is from cruise critic members. The areas of concern are multiple

Sounds like you'd be happier on a different cruise line.

I have a cruise booked on deck 3 (ocean view porthole) in August 2019 on Oceania out of NY to Bermuda. I haven't tried Celebrity however I like the idea of a smaller ship and that it goes into Hamilton and St George. I am OK with modest entertainment and "country club" style. Just want the food to be better than Princess. Not that I hated the food on Princess but would have liked better. If the service is as good as Princess I will be OK.

I am looking at the negative comments and wondering if there is any reason I should cancel my reservation? Or if people know of any problems with deck 3 (picked deck 3 because it is lower and towards the middle).

I have a cruise booked on deck 3 (ocean view porthole) in August 2019 on Oceania out of NY to Bermuda. I haven't tried Celebrity however I like the idea of a smaller ship and that it goes into Hamilton and St George. I am OK with modest entertainment and "country club" style. Just want the food to be better than Princess. Not that I hated the food on Princess but would have liked better. If the service is as good as Princess I will be OK.

 

I am looking at the negative comments and wondering if there is any reason I should cancel my reservation? Or if people know of any problems with deck 3 (picked deck 3 because it is lower and towards the middle).

I sm still considering the insignia for next august

I have a cruise booked on deck 3 (ocean view porthole) in August 2019 on Oceania out of NY to Bermuda. I haven't tried Celebrity however I like the idea of a smaller ship and that it goes into Hamilton and St George. I am OK with modest entertainment and "country club" style. Just want the food to be better than Princess. Not that I hated the food on Princess but would have liked better. If the service is as good as Princess I will be OK.

 

I am looking at the negative comments and wondering if there is any reason I should cancel my reservation? Or if people know of any problems with deck 3 (picked deck 3 because it is lower and towards the middle).

Not only is the food "lightyears" better on Oceania vs Princess, look at the $40 million Oceania spent to bring the former Ocean Princess (now Sirena) up to the standard of Insignia.

I have a cruise booked on deck 3 (ocean view porthole) in August 2019 on Oceania out of NY to Bermuda. I haven't tried Celebrity however I like the idea of a smaller ship and that it goes into Hamilton and St George. I am OK with modest entertainment and "country club" style. Just want the food to be better than Princess. Not that I hated the food on Princess but would have liked better. If the service is as good as Princess I will be OK.

 

I am looking at the negative comments and wondering if there is any reason I should cancel my reservation? Or if people know of any problems with deck 3 (picked deck 3 because it is lower and towards the middle).

We took an Oceania cruise back in 2004 we tool Princess in 2005 all we could say this in not like Oceania

we have never looked back

Deck 3 is fine there are only a few passenger cabins there

we prefer deck 4 but just a personal choice

Not sure of the negative comments I did not read the reviews

everyone has something they like or dislike

Oceania is not perfect but they a pretty darn good IMO

Go & judge for yourself

I sm still considering the insignia for next august

I looked at the reviews and my perception is that there are a couple of bad reviews among mostly good reviews. One of the bad reviews, I read the other reviews by that person and I think they tend toward negative reviews in general so I will discount that one. I am booked on Insignia August 2019 and I am not deterred because for me as the primary reason to book Oceania over Summit that week is that Insignia will port at St. George's and Hamiltion. Summit will port at the Dockyard. I have been doing Bermuda cruises since 2000 and docking in St. George's and Hamiltion is my preference over the Dockyard. For Bermuda the destination is prime to me over the ship. I have been on an R ship once and Summit five times. Both ships are the same age and I believe both will have drydocks before next August. For sure they will add more cabins to Summit and make it more crowded. In any case the Oceania itinerary is far superior for a Bermuda cruise so I will be on Insignia primarily because of itinerary but I think Insignia will be fine. As a bonus I will get to try Oceania.

Keep in mind if the wind is over a certain speed then they will not attempt the channel to St George. There is one point where the opening is pretty narrow. We've had this had once with Regatta. But Hamilton is not a big issue for them.

Keep in mind if the wind is over a certain speed then they will not attempt the channel to St George. There is one point where the opening is pretty narrow. We've had this had once with Regatta. But Hamilton is not a big issue for them.

The opening is called The Cut. My luck has been good on that. All six cruises with St. George's scheduled were able to make it thru the cut to St. George, those were once on Pacific Princess, four Celebrity Zenith sailings and once on Azamara Journey. If the ship had to do Hamilton the whole time I would still prefer that over the Dockyard. I did Veendam twice to Bermuda that only did Hamiltion because I don't really like the Dockyard much. Built for tourists and 6000 cruise ship passengers at the same time.

I wonder if you all remember I started this thread back in April 2017 when I was considering booking Oceania for the first time. Well, I did book the Insignia for this coming August 4 sailing to NE and Bermuda--my first foray into the smaller ship/upper end category. All of your replies have been helpful, definitely interesting to read, and I thank you. I infer from the many collective opinions that Oceania is an excellent choice for this category and that most of you would be delighted to sail the line again, and in fact, many of you have. Almost everyone agrees on O's superior food which is one of the main reasons we selected it. As for cabin, we opted for a PH3 Penthouse because we're used to suites on Celebrity and Royal and we like the larger bathroom at that level as some of you have mentioned. Thank you for your input. Neil

We were on Insignia last fall for ten glorious days. The ship is fine and we have three more cruises booked on her. Love the R ships!

I wonder if you all remember I started this thread back in April 2017 when I was considering booking Oceania for the first time. Well, I did book the Insignia for this coming August 4 sailing to NE and Bermuda... Neil

We will be getting of the Insignia on 8/4 as you get on. Wishes for you to really enjoy your cruise.

We have booked our first cruise with Oceania, at the last minute, on the insignia in July 2018. We have deliberately chosen this ship as we love the size of the R class ships and the itinerary is new to us. Although we have only ever sailed in Suites we are having a Balcony room this time. We have visited a cabin of the same size on the Azamara Journey to see how bad it was, bathroom wise. It looked perfectly adequate, small yes but manageable. We took turns standing in the shower which was the only issue our friends had and all agreed it was tight but do -able.

I am sure we will enjoy ourselves and I hope you do to.

After all it’s better than being at work.

No question that a cruise beats working.

I just want to say that we started out on the veranda cabins with Renaissance. Pretty soon we discovered we preferred the PH cabins. Even later we discovered we liked the higher suites, although on Marina/Riviera we've only been in the OC or VS suites. (Very nice!) The OS remains a dream that probably will not be fulfilled!

On the "R" ships we were in an OS once, a couple of Vistas. You do get spoiled with all that room!

But my real point is that as much as we like the extra room in the higher levels, we were booked on Nautica in July 2016 in a PH. We received a downsell offer that basically paid for our next cruise on Sirena in a VS, and so we took it. We weren't sure how we'd feel about a B2 on Nautica. (In the end they upgraded us to a B1, which isn't much of a difference other than location.)

Whereas originally I was really bothered by the small shower in the veranda suites -- more the shower than the bathroom itself -- when we were in our B1 cabin it no longer bothered me. In fact, it was rather cozy -- I left the shower, and could dry myself off with the towel almost but not quite reaching the opposite walls. It no longer bothered me. And the storage in that bathroom is fine for our purposes.

The ONE problem we had was that DH tended to trip on the corner of the bed when heading for the door or bathroom. That's mostly because of his vision problems, but you may want to pay attention to where you are stepping when making that change!

Have a great cruise!

Mura

I would down grade too for a free cruise.

We are splashing out pre cruise with the flight, a hotel in Times Square and lots of excursions both in New York( we have been to the airports on many occasions but never the city) and on the cruise. Therefore economies had to be made. My DH also has sight problems and I thought the smaller cabin would make things easier.

I would down grade too for a free cruise.

 

We are splashing out pre cruise with the flight, a hotel in Times Square and lots of excursions both in New York( we have been to the airports on many occasions but never the city) and on the cruise. Therefore economies had to be made. My DH also has sight problems and I thought the smaller cabin would make things easier.

As were in the lowest grade cabin our only downgrade would have to be in the lifeboats! Lol [emoji23]

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I would down grade too for a free cruise.

On the other hand, if you had enough money that you were booked in a PH suite, do you really care about the price reduction if you end up in a cabin that you'll be unhappy with? I was on a Celebrity cruise once with someone who always booked a suite and booked a guarantee because that was all that was available. They screwed up and didn't end up with a suite for her so they put her in Aqua class (smaller cabin). They ended up refunding all of her money but I still think she wasn't happy that she was not in a suite.

Unfortunately, I have none of these problems. I am booked in an oceanview guarantee for my upcoming sailing and keeping my fingers crossed that I will get an upgrade since nothing below A1 concierge balconies are currently bookable (and even that is a now a guarantee while last week there were several available), plus PH2 and above. Of course, I am sure they are frantically trying to push upsells on people in oceanview and lower category balcony cabins to open up spots for the guarantees.

As were in the lowest grade cabin our only downgrade would have to be in the lifeboats! Lol [emoji23]

Those might be roomier than the bottom class cabins!

Those might be roomier than the bottom class cabins!

Our cabin will be at least 160sq ft but probably bigger as it’s a disabled cabin. The next upgrade is only 143 sq ft so I’ll not be taking an upgrade, free or not. However if they want to upgrade me to balcony or above then I’m in. [emoji41][emoji23]

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Our cabin will be at least 160sq ft but probably bigger as it’s a disabled cabin. The next upgrade is only 143 sq ft so I’ll not be taking an upgrade, free or not. However if they want to upgrade me to balcony or above then I’m in. [emoji41][emoji23]

 

 

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I could stand such a small stateroom. Would have to be in one that is 200 sq ft or more. Would definitely take away from any enjoyment I would have on the ship. Probably would need a CC class or a Penthouse #3. We take 3 cruises a year- would cut it down to 2 rather then feel clostrophobic

I could stand such a small stateroom. Would have to be in one that is 200 sq ft or more. Would definitely take away from any enjoyment I would have on the ship. Probably would need a CC class or a Penthouse #3. We take 3 cruises a year- would cut it down to 2 rather then feel clostrophobic

if you are going on an R ship then definitely book a PH or higher then