Cruise West "Spirit of Oceanus" vs. others

[40cub]

My husband and I are looking for a cruise along the coasts of Spain and Portugal for our 30th anniversary. We have been on Regent Seven Seas, Windstar and Seaborne. Cruise West offers the itinerary we are looking for, plus we like the fact that they do not have formal nights and there are only 120 pax. My question is whether we would be happy compared to other ships we have cruised on. We are foodies and really enjoy excellent meals and wine that are in keeping with the areas we are cruising. We also want good service and accomodations, not to mention qualified tour guides in port. If anyone is familiar with Cruise West and their Spirit of Oceanus ship we would love some feedback. The cruise we are looking at is for 16 days and therefore quite expensive so we don't want to make a mistake. Also we want it to be special being a romantic occasion! All feedback would be most appreciated! :)

 

PS - as a comparison we found Seabourn to be stuffy, Windstar fun but food so so and Regent our favorite although a larger ship than we prefer.

[Cyberchomp]

We sailed on the Oceanus in 2006, when Cruise West scheduled exploratory cruises of Japan and Korea. We'll be back on board this April on the Middle East leg of the ship's world tour (provided that CW is still in business by then).

 

Oceanus was formerly a Renaissance Cruises yacht. It has sort of an executive yacht feel to it. The cabins are luxuriously appointed in dark woods and brass - very comfortable. Most of them have portholes instead of windows, but you're not likely to spend much time indoors anyway. This is an exploration cruise line. Most CW ships seem like being at summer camp, with bunk beds in the cabins. But this is the best ship in the CW fleet.

 

There is nothing stuffy about Cruise West. It is very informal. No formal nights, no roving photographers, no obnoxious cruise directors, no Broadway theater shows. Dinner is country club casual, but you can dress for dinner any way you like. Dunno if they still do this, but they had tours of the bridge on our last Oceanus voyage (as they did on our only previous CW cruise on the Spirit of Endeavour) - how many cruise lines do this, anyway? No casino. And, no shopping galleria; whatever there is to buy is sold out of a closet at the back of the ship's lounge.

 

The passengers aren't terribly stuffy, either. They're older, well educated and have a real sense of adventure.

 

The crew is international (the North American CW ships have American crews) and is professional but friendly. On our Japan trip, we appreciated having local tour guides on board for the entire cruise. We also appreciated the cost of all shore excursions: $0.

 

The excursions: we saw a lot of temples and shrines in Japan, but also a lot of local culture. During our visit to Nagasaki, we were greeted by elementary school children who gave us Japanese paper fans with homemade origami flowers attached to them. Mine still hangs on the wall of my office. In another port, we were treated to an exclusive sake tasting hosted by the biggest sake exporter to the U.S. You just never know what to expect from a CW port stop. One thing you should expect: you get to do a LOT of walking, and some of the tours lasted most of a day.

 

What's great about small-ship cruising: we were to visit one of the largest Shinto shrines in Japan, located on an island near Hiroshima. A big ship would dock in Hiroshima, disembark its tour passengers on buses headed toward the nearest city to the island, then ferry across. We dropped anchor off the island, stepped into Zodiac boats and were on the beach in ten minutes.

 

The food is only okay. Not Seabourn quality, but after a long day of walking, the meals were delicious and varied. Before dinner, the chef would come to the lounge at happy hour and personally announce that evening's selections. There is only one seating per meal, and dining room seating is open. There is a decent wine list. Most of the "foodie" dining you will encounter will be on your shore excursions. CW picked some interesting restaurants during our Japan tours.

 

The Spirit of Oceanus voyages are wicked pricey - but the Japan cruise was the best cruise we have ever taken.

 

 

My husband and I are looking for a cruise along the coasts of Spain and Portugal for our 30th anniversary. We have been on Regent Seven Seas, Windstar and Seaborne. Cruise West offers the itinerary we are looking for, plus we like the fact that they do not have formal nights and there are only 120 pax. My question is whether we would be happy compared to other ships we have cruised on. We are foodies and really enjoy excellent meals and wine that are in keeping with the areas we are cruising. We also want good service and accomodations, not to mention qualified tour guides in port. If anyone is familiar with Cruise West and their Spirit of Oceanus ship we would love some feedback. The cruise we are looking at is for 16 days and therefore quite expensive so we don't want to make a mistake. Also we want it to be special being a romantic occasion! All feedback would be most appreciated! :)

 

PS - as a comparison we found Seabourn to be stuffy, Windstar fun but food so so and Regent our favorite although a larger ship than we prefer.

[surfklutz]

I think you would prefer SeaDream over Cruise West for Spain and Portugal. Cruise West certainly doesn't specialize in luxury for anything at all, but SeaDream is all luxury done in a casual manner. I have sailled with Cruise West - and with SeaDream and I would much rather sail SeaDream anyday!

 

I just found the SeaDream blog which may give you some insight: www.seadreamblog@wordpress.com

[veve09]

I think you would prefer SeaDream over Cruise West for Spain and Portugal. Cruise West certainly doesn't specialize in luxury for anything at all, but SeaDream is all luxury done in a casual manner. I have sailled with Cruise West - and with SeaDream and I would much rather sail SeaDream anyday!

 

I just found the SeaDream blog which may give you some insight: www.seadreamblog@wordpress.com

 

I agree with surfklutz. I've been on both Cruise West and SeaDream. Both are casual, both are small, but the food was definitely better on SeaDream, as was the atmosphere. I think SeaDream is a better buy.

 

Also, the blog address is http://seadreamblog.wordpress.com