Live Report from the Marina (7/15/11)

[golubika]

Thank you Senior Citizen...

[What A Market]

Back to our day in Edinburgh. Once the bus returns us to S. Queensbury, we have just a bit of time to walk through the town and find a quick bite to eat. That accomplished we wander back to where the buses are gathering at the pier and find our tour. The tour we selected is “Braveheart Country and Stirling Castle.” I'm worried the first part of the tour is going to be something cheesy, but it turns out to be the best part of the tour. Here's is why: Like most, with Americans at least, my knowledge of Scottish history was limited to watching the movies Rob Roy and Braveheart. In the Braveheart movie William Wallace (now forever known as a guy with an Australian accent known as Mel Gibson), is portrayed as the great hero and liberator of the Scots, while Robert the Bruce is portrayed as a sniveling wimp. So you can tell where this is going, and although the reverse of the character portrayal in the movie is not exactly the case, the real hero of the Scots is Robert the Bruce. And they take his history as incorrectly played in the movie very seriously. Listening to our tour guide discuss Robert's conquest of the British at Bannockburn on the very spot where the battle took place made, for a moment, this piece of great history came alive. As the tour guide read the inscription on the monument to the battle her voice wavered with emotion. This did not seem contrived, and thus all the more amazing considering how ofter our guide likely conducts this tour. Oceania should consider renaming this tour to something like “Not just William Wallace” or “Robert the Bruce and a guy named Bill.” The Scots would probably appreciate it. Our tour then proceeds to Stirling Castle. The Castle has recently completed a multi-year restoration. Definitely a worthwhile visit.

 

Brief interlude. The ship is sailing through the fjords of Norway on our way to Hellesylt and Geiranger. Unfortunately the cloud cover is really dense, hanging below the tops of the mountains and of course it is raining. But still, it is one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. I marvel thinking what it would look like if it the weather was clear. There are more people up and about this morning at 6:30AM to watch the trip through the fjords, thus interfering with Frederic's and my time to discuss great matters of affair. It has been my experience that baristas in almost all coffee houses, setting aside Starbucks, are great communicators. Combine this with the fact that Frederic is French (forgive the stereotyping here) and therefore innately philosophical on all facets and life, and needless to say my morning cappuccino requires that I exert some brain power first thing in the morning.

[luv2travel100]

Thanks fellow boozers for giving me the inside scoop!!

 

What a Market, great report!

[LHT28]

gtragitt,

 

How big is the gym on Marina and what are the hours? Thank you!

NOISELAB has posted some photos of the fitness centre @

[gtragitt]

The gym is a good size for a ship. At least 8 treadmills. Bikes. Weight machines. Bring your headset so you can watch tv while on the treadmills. Sorry I'm sketchy about the equipment because I only use the treadmill. Open from 6 am to 10 pm. Free refrigerated bottled water and sports drinks. Towels provided.

 

They also have 4 elliptical machines and a couple of stair stepper machines. There is another room with spinning bikes.

 

The young lady from Serbia was very pleasant.

[What A Market]

Putting Polo on blast. Please do not think we are not having a good time on the Marina given the tone of some of these posts. As a whole the staff is great and works incredibly hard. (I think more so because of the size of the ship.)

 

 

Dinner at Polo last night. Argh!!! This was definitely a hit or miss night. Our originally scheduled time for dinner was set for 7:30. I asked our butler to change the time to 6:30 as I have been having difficulty getting to sleep after eating later into the evening. (Getting old sucks.) Heidi and I both don't mind taking two to three hours enjoying a dinner and conversation, so a 6:30 start time has a chance of getting us out of Polo maybe by 9:00. We arrive on time and I request a table by the windows. This is provided. Our waiter quickly appears with menus and introduces himself. After exchanging greetings I ask him to have the sommelier stop by. As we sit there waiting for the sommelier, the waiter appears and asks if we are ready with our order. Actually I am the only one he asks this of as Heidi has already completed her menu selections as part of her gluten free restriction requirement. (Yes, the gluten free menu routine extends to the specialty restaurants, which is great.) I tell our waiter that I would like to see the sommelier first and enjoy some wine before we start our dinner. Bingo, the wine steward appears. I have a wine we didn't finish from last night, and because I want to treat this evening as a celebration of our trip I also order a nice Far Niente Cab. Both wines appear and I ask that our already opened bottle be put on ice for a bit as at room temp it is too warm. I don't ask to feel the Far Niente bottle because the wines I ordered for each of the previous evenings were stored properly or at least brought down to the proper temperature before serving. This proves to be a mistake on my part because a little later in the evening when it is time to open and decant the Far Niente it is also at room temperature. Now I'm baffled, but no matter a little icing brings it to a better temp. The Far Niente is one of Polo's exclusive wines, meaning it only appears on the Polo wine list. Does Polo store its wines differently from the GDR? As soon as our first glass of wine is poured the waiter appears to take my order. I let him know again that we would like to enjoy our wine for a while. It was clear at this point that I was cramping his style. This was so obvious that I got a bit ticked by his attitude. Now I understand that if I make a reservation at an earlier hour that the restaurant is going to try and “turn the table.” This would be same routine at any restaurant in the States. A nicer restaurant would not be so obvious about it. On to dinner because I finally let our waiter take our order. Crab cakes first for the both of us. Heidi's will be prepared gluten free. When they appear, Heidi's looks very much different than mine. This turns out to be a good thing because mine is mixed too heavily with what I assume is mayonnaise. Heidi's crab cake is great. Mine is close to inedible. (OK that may be a bit harsh, but you would never see a crab cake like this except in the cheapest of restaurants.) Chalk a win up to the gluten free diet. Heidi is nice enough to share. On to the salad. I ordered the beefsteak tomato salad with onion. When it appears, it is clear the tomatoes are nothing more than the standard tomatoes served through the ship, except larger. In fact if Polo stuck with serving the smaller denser tomatoes, the dish would have been better. Going with the term “beefsteak” just to sound like a high end steak house was a weak effort in my opinion. Finally the steaks. Mine is going to be the rib eye with au poive sauce. Heidi's a New York. Various potato and vegetable sides accompany our steaks. Because we had lingered over our salads, the steaks were left to sit at the waiter station for too long. It should have been obvious to the waiter that Heidi and I were in no rush, but no matter, the waiter was going to impose his time line for this dinner on us. My au poive sauce is great. I'm used to seeing the sauce with cream added. In Polo there is no obvious use of cream in the sauce. I think this is a vast improvement. Heidi's New York is perfect. Thick, dense, rich and comes out at the right temp. My rib eye did not fare as well from sitting around. For one thing it was cut too thin at less than an inch. Not as marbled as it should be for a prime cut. All in the time it spent on the waiter's station ruined it. We close the meal with dessert. Heidi's gluten free option is one of Polo's standard desserts – the trio of marshmallows. She loves them. Because I can't decide, I order Polo's signature dessert, which basically consists of almost every dessert on Polo's menu. I like this because I can a small taste of each item. Dessert was a success for both of us. The wine service was also considerate. Summation: Polo is a beautiful room. The meal and service were unfortunately mediocre, even inept. I'm not sure if the waiter ruined the whole thing for me, but he didn't help. Two specialty restaurants down, two to go.

[What A Market]

Sittiing in a cafe on the Isle of Man, so you can see I'm way behind in keeping up writing and posting. But here's some more.

 

Back to our day in Geiranger. After a brief stop in Hellesylt to disembark passengers for tours, we cruise further up the fjords to Geiranger. It wasn't obvious from the cruise literature, but the only way to get off the ship in Hellesylt was if you were on a ship's tour or a private tour that entailed taking you by ground on to Geiranger to meet back up with the ship. Both modes of touring meant you were going to take transportation to the top of the cliffs, which in turn meant you were going up into the dense cloud cover. I guess the real beauty of the fjords is to be on top looking back down into the fjords. Of course this requires a clear day, and that was not going to be the case today. Pity. As it turns out Heidi and I have luckily booked a kayaking tour for when we get to Geiranger. So instead of getting wet standing on top of the fjords and seeing nothing, we get to get wet sitting on the water in our kayak and seeing at least some of the beauty looking up to the tops of the fjords. Turns out we are doubly lucky today as the rain ceases for the rest of the day when we make it to Geiranger. Kayaking was a blast. I'm not sure it would have been nearly as fun if it was raining on us. We had 23 other intrepid souls from the Marina join us on the kayaking excursion. I think everyone had a great time. When we were finished kayaking we had a little time to walk through Geiranger. You only need a little time because Geiranger is tiny. Really only a few tourist shops and cafes as well as stores that cater to provisioning campers and backpackers. Geiranger is absolutely stuffed with these sport enthusiasts. There are also two other ships in port with us so it is definitely busy. Another note about Geiranger: everything is expensive. And I don't mean expensive by normal Norwegian standards. This is a whole new standard for expensive. I guess it makes sense because (1) there is no easy way to get anything to this remote location and (2) you are clearly a captive audience. On the tender back to the ship I chat for a bit with Antonio. Antonio is the other crew member that staffs Baristas with Frederic. Antonio was stunned by how expensive things were in Geiranger. He marveled that a single soft ice cream cone cost 17 Euros. He joked that he thought they were quoting him the cost to purchase the ice cream machine. Because we were doing the kayak excursion, Heidi and I left our credit cards on the ship. All we had with us was enough Krone for giving the tour guides a tip plus a stray 20 Krone coin. What do you get for 20 Krone in Geiranger (about four American dollars)? Exactly five postcards from a really cute art store. I get off cheap on our stop in this port. Heidi is going to coordinate a meeting one evening on the ship with all the kayakers to share a cocktail and exchange photos.

 

After the fjords of Norway. We have a full day at sea cruising across the North Sea on our way to Ireland. I have to say that even though I don't suffer from motion sickness, I was a little intimidated about this mini-crossing. (Please, no snide comments from those of you who have done TA's in the winter. Ha!) ho worries though as the seas are very calm. Hardly any motion can be felt on board except for a slight rocking motion. Yahoo! It has been my experience that a day at sea is a welcome break from the hectic pace of touring. These sea days also pass much more quickly than I ever anticipate. This proves to be the case for this day as well.

 

Update: The news from Norway is shocking, particularly after just having left the beauty of the their fjords. The "real" world can intrude at any time. Even in this horrible way.

[Paulchili]

I certainly understand your issues with food quality (crab cakes and steak) and wine temperatures and such. I have less sympathy over the issues of you wanting to take 3 hours to dine in Polo. There will obviously be people showing up at their scheduled times wanting "your" table - why should they have to wait for your to finish (any longer than what was estimated by Polo)? I know that I would not be happy if I were made to wait for a table longer than is reasonable because you (or someone else) is taking 3 hours to finish a meal. After all, if they were to allow you to dine "at your pace" why shouldn't they do the same for everybody else; then they may only have 1 seating per night at each table. You were planning to get out "by 9 PM" - there is no seating after 9 PM, AFAIK.There is a reason why they assign times in all the specialty restaurants in order to accommodate as many of the 1,200 passengers as they can.

If you wish to dine this leisurely, you may do so in the MDR, where there are plenty of seats and no assigned seating times or in your suite; or choose a late seating rather than 6;30 so nobody needs to follow you.

[Jayne E]

I certainly understand your issues with food quality (crab cakes and steak) and wine temperatures and such. I have less sympathy over the issues of you wanting to take 3 hours to dine in Polo. There will obviously be people showing up at their scheduled times wanting "your" table - why should they have to wait for your to finish (any longer than what was estimated by Polo)? I know that I would not be happy if I were made to wait for a table longer than is reasonable because you (or someone else) is taking 3 hours to finish a meal. After all, if they were to allow you to dine "at your pace" why shouldn't they do the same for everybody else; then they may only have 1 seating per night at each table. You were planning to get out "by 9 PM" - there is no seating after 9 PM, AFAIK.There is a reason why they assign times in all the specialty restaurants in order to accommodate as many of the 1,200 passengers as they can.

If you wish to dine this leisurely, you may do so in the MDR, where there are plenty of seats and no assigned seating times or in your suite; or choose a late seating rather than 6;30 so nobody needs to follow you.

Totally agree! Too picky. Glad I made 8:30 Rez for upcoming cruise.

[meow!]

After the fjords of Norway. We have a full day at sea cruising across the North Sea on our way to Ireland. I have to say that even though I don't suffer from motion sickness, I was a little intimidated about this mini-crossing..

 

Wow, we have already paid for our Azamara Journey Copenhagen - Norwegian coast - Iceland - Dublin voyage in less than four weeks time. We checked the sea maps

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast_and_sea/shipping_forecast/

http://www.oceanweather.com/data/

 

We are getting worried about those 20 feet swells for days. In our previous experience, 5 ft swell is fine, 8 ft we call room service instead of go to the restaurants, 10+ ft we have to lie in bed and of course take medication. We don't remember having tasted much more than 10 ft swell. We wouldn't dare go to the Drake Passage, where people need to wear bed belts, of course.

 

Can you describe what happens to the folks on the ship when the sea gets rough. At 20 ft swell, do things fall down, rocking and rolling and pitching, everybody confined to their cabins ... Tell us as much as you can so we'll be prepared. We hope the sea will be calm when we get there .. meow!

[vaitape]

Wow, we have already paid for our Azamara Journey Copenhagen - Norwegian coast - Iceland - Dublin voyage in less than four weeks time. We checked the sea maps

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast_and_sea/shipping_forecast/

http://www.oceanweather.com/data/

 

We are getting worried about those 20 feet swells for days. In our previous experience, 5 ft swell is fine, 8 ft we call room service instead of go to the restaurants, 10+ ft we have to lie in bed and of course take medication. We don't remember having tasted much more than 10 ft swell. We wouldn't dare go to the Drake Passage, where people need to wear bed belts, of course.

 

Can you describe what happens to the folks on the ship when the sea gets rough. At 20 ft swell, do things fall down, rocking and rolling and pitching, everybody confined to their cabins ... Tell us as much as you can so we'll be prepared. We hope the sea will be calm when we get there .. meow!

 

On that size ship, you should be just fine. 15-18 foot swells on the little Paul Gauguin...piece of cake. On a ship 2-3 times that size...would there be problems?

 

BED BELTS.......REALLY?

[What A Market]

Hi Paul

I didn't mean to imply that I thought I could take three hours of time in Polo. Just my preference when diding out to take two to three hours. The pace the waiter was setting would have turned the table in less than 90 minutes. Not acceptable. Also, trying to get the food courses out before wine is served also would seem unacceptable in a fine dining establishment.

[What A Market]

A little discussion as to ways to fill a day at sea, at least for me. Number one: don't get up early. I think I stayed in bed until 8:00AM. Spend 90 minutes in Baristas reading and drinking too many cappuccinos. Drag Heidi out of bed in time to make at Terrace Cafe before they close at 10:00AM. When they say they close at 10:00AM they mean it. By 10:30 everything is put away as the staff has to have the lunch buffet ready by 11:30AM. At home I never eat breakfast. (I know, shame on me for missing the most important meal of the day.) On board the Marina it is hard not to overindulge at breakfast. Although I try to stick with fruit and oatmeal, it is hard not to indulge in the other offerings. Most everything is prepared and set out in the buffet. There is an omelet station though where you can can get eggs prepared most any way to your liking. There is a huge variety of freshly baked breads and pastries every morning. I have developed too fond a liking for eating baguette bread and butter at every breakfast and dinner. The bread is great and European butter is far better than the butter we typically can buy in the States. On to the rest of the day. The ship has a number of activities planned ranging from a cooking demonstration, wine tasting, dance class, lectures, martini tasting, trivia and bingo. This is only a partial list. I avail myself to none of them. (Heidi though has been playing team trivia everyday.) Rather, between eating (which included my first time trying the Afternoon Tea) I spend reading, working out in the gym (very large with plenty of machines), swimming laps, and getting a massage. The spa on the Marina seems like a huge space. The only oddly small part is the steam room. There is room for four people and the quarters are close. Depending on your “confidence level” maybe too close. Ha! BTW, a 50 minute massage cost $140. This is high even by five star resort standards, but not outrageously so. The day is done and it is now time to proceed to the evening activities.. As I said, these seas days easily fly by.

 

Some random thoughts on the Marina. As many other Cruise Critic posters have noted, the beds are great. I am sleeping better than any cruise I have ever taken.

 

A word on the hand held wand in the shower: Make sure you replace the wand so the spray direction is turned back into the shower NOT TURNED TOWARD THE OPENING TO THE SHOWER. I left the wand in this position once and Heidi got in the shower after me. Heidi does not like walking under the rain head shower to start her shower so she always turns on the wand first. Of course this time, she gets a blast of cold water to the mid-section because I left the wand in the outward facing position. I will make this mistake only once.

 

The art work is both varied and impressive. I believe it is our fellow CC Oceania poster, JimandStan, that has commented frequently on the art work. It is definitely worth numerous comments. It is amazing how extensive the collection is and it is everywhere you look. In fact, you have to keep your eyes open for some of the pieces tucked away in interesting corners. One piece is a tad jarring. In the GDR there is a very large painting (looks Picasso-like) displaying numerous female breasts and a particular other part of the female anatomy. It is an interesting piece, but somewhat distracting for a dining room. It would be worthwhile for Oceania to print a list for distribution of the pieces on board and their location. Maybe they have a list, so I'll need to ask.

 

The string quartet that plays at various times and locations on the ship is made up of four young ladies. They are as talented as they are pretty. I find myself gaining a new appreciation for classical music. :)

[JimandStan]

It would be worthwhile for Oceania to print a list for distribution of the pieces on board and their location. Maybe they have a list, so I'll need to ask.

 

 

Before HAL was a part of the mega corporation their "loyalist list" received lovely brochures guiding us through the art collections of each new ship as she came online. They also had copies available by request during each cruise.

 

The art collection on the Marina is so diverse and so spectacular that I wish that Oceania would follow suit. I'd also love to see art tours added to the daily activities.

 

Deck 6 outclasses many a mid sized city museum (notice how I cleverly avoided the use of true museum plural "musea" which causes such controversy :p )

[Paulchili]

Hi Paul

I didn't mean to imply that I thought I could take three hours of time in Polo. Just my preference when diding out to take two to three hours. The pace the waiter was setting would have turned the table in less than 90 minutes. Not acceptable. Also, trying to get the food courses out before wine is served also would seem unacceptable in a fine dining establishment.

 

Understood.

I would think 2 hours would be the maximum time "allowed" for a dinner in a specialty restaurant. That way they can have a 6;30 and a 8;30 seating at the same table; beyond that they could not schedule another reservation for that table.

[ffnole]

Many London restaurants (was just there on business) limit your reservation to a two hour or at most 2.5 hour block. And these are fine dining establishments. They boot you politely when tiime is up. Wish they would do that in the states. Just waited 75 minutes in NY past a reservation time at a top Manhattan seafood restaurant because someone ahead of us decided to take three plus hours for their meal. What was ironic in the above post was the dining at 630 issue (cant sleep) because of concerns about eating too late. Then the remainder of the post was about being rushed and not having enough time. But, I do appreciate the indepth review of the ship. It has been very informative. The readers can draw their own opinion as to whose fault it is when expectations are not met. Everyone is different. Entertaining read.

[RetiredFL]

We have been to several local restaurants that, if you overstay your welcome at your table, the Host/maitre d' comes over to the table and offers you a complementary after dinner drink at the bar.

It is a polite way of getting you to vacate your table without realizing it and the cost of an after dinner drink is more than made up with the next seating at the table.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Really got a kick out of RetiredFL's sig:

 

Sonoma for wine

Napa for auto parts

In our last trip to Napa/Sonoma, we definitely noticed that Sonoma wines had the edge over Napa, at least the places we went.

[tropicalkerry2002]

I LOVE your batobus!

[JPR]

A couple of thoughts re the review of Polo. (Please understand these are meant to be constructive; I appreciate the interesting critical posts and I'm sure most everyone on Cruise Critic who reads them appreciates them as well.)

 

Fwiw, we had a much different experience at Polo, and went back there for a second dinner (the maitre d' was kind enough to squeeze us in without a reservation, seating us with another couple in the same boat). The lamb chops were wonderful, though the order was small (doesn't bother us as long as they are fine with a double order). We enjoyed all of the specialty restaurants (also returned to Jacques for our last night). Our favorite was La Reserve. (We did not go to Privee, but did look inside: I expected Goldfinger or Dr. No to appear at any moment to appear in this Bond-like setting.)

 

Every restaurant on the planet screws up an order once and awhile. Send back the crab cakes and no doubt a perfect order will arrive. The wine was badly handled, clearly.

 

I agree with other posts; once you changed your res to 6:30 you were fortunate to still have a res; you should limit dinner to 2 hours max.

 

Finally, huge blocks of type are difficult to read. I recommend that you use paragraphs in the future. They don't need to be as short as mine, but any paragraphs at all would be an improvement for the reader--particularly on a computer screen. Thanks!

[LHT28]

Hi Paul

. The pace the waiter was setting would have turned the table in less than 90 minutes. Not acceptable. Only to you

 

Also, trying to get the food courses out before wine is served also would seem unacceptable in a fine dining establishment.

This is a cruise :rolleyes:

They need to turn the tables so everyone gets their chance for the specialty dining

If everyone took 2-3 hours to dine then many people would not get a turn

If you want to enjoy the wine for 1 hr prior to your meal have you butler serve you in suite at your pace

 

Lyn

[meow!]

I would think 2 hours would be the maximum time "allowed" for a dinner in a specialty restaurant.

We would think an hour and a half would be sufficient for dinner, and hope not to have to sit for two full hours or more -- that would be slow service! And people get tired sitting for too long.

[CintiPam]

[quote=What A Market;29918922

The art work is both varied and impressive. ... It would be worthwhile for Oceania to print a list for distribution of the pieces on board and their location.

 

I proudly will claim credit for this idea when Oceania makes this list available to interested passengers.;) I prominently included a list of art objects and locations as my prime suggestion on the Guest Questionnaire I completed in detail for my cruise.

 

However, the form letter I received in response to my painstaking assessment of my cruise experience did not mention my brilliant idea!:)

[Paulchili]

I proudly will claim credit for this idea when Oceania makes this list available to interested passengers.;) I prominently included a list of art objects and locations as my prime suggestion on the Guest Questionnaire I completed in detail for my cruise.

 

However, the form letter I received in response to my painstaking assessment of my cruise experience did not mention my brilliant idea!:)

 

If it ever does get published, we'll know where credit is due :)

[CintiPam]

If it ever does get published, we'll know where credit is due :)

 

Thanks, Paul, it was a very bad day, and I decided to blow my own horn for a needed ego boost!:)