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

[Benita]

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!:)

 

I included the same suggestion in the midcruise comment card on the Marina, asking for either an art list or an ipod tour. Oceania did not respond to the suggestion, but did send up the chief housekeeper to tell me he liked my other suggestion - a second soap dish in the shower.

[happy cruzer]

I understood what the OP was saying about his experience in Polo. I tend to not order any food before the wine, far too many times in too many well rated restaurants you can finish your appetizer before the wine appears. Plus occasionally there will be a problem with wine you order, the restaurant could have run out in which case you might change your order.

 

Remember the shoe can be on the other foot about the 3 hours, we had several 3 hour dinners in the MDR not of our choosing caused by slow service. Also regarding turning that table, the Polo did take a 7:30 reservation where they going to turn that table at 9:30 or were they going to make sure he fininshed in one hour and half to turn it at 9???

 

Give the OP a break, he is just reporting what he expects and what he experienced. The server could have just handled it better is the point I thought he was making.

[findacruise]

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

 

Feel special, too. I did a detailed assessment and didn't receive any acknowledgement - not even a form letter! Hope they take your suggestion. We did one cruise on the new QM2 just for the experience and to see the ship they had a programmed tour like a museum w/headset that told you about all the artwork etc on the ship. We did it on a rainy day and it was great.

[aZ4me]

.... 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, I'm enjoying reading your posts. Thanks for the reviews.

 

When we were on Marina in April (our first O cruise), we looked forward to dining in Polo. It turned out to be our least favorite of the specialty restaurants, so it was easy to picture what you described happening.

 

Had to laugh a little at your description of not leaving the wand in the shower turned in the right direction...poor Heidi! :eek: But, as you said, you'll never do that again.

 

Continue having a great cruise, and thanks for the interesting reviews.

[Paulchili]

 

poor Heidi! :eek: But, as you said, you'll never do that again.

 

Nor will Heidi turn on the wand again before checking its direction first :D

[wripro]

I enjoy taking two to two and a half hours for dinner because generally that is my evening's entertainment other than a drink afterwards. But I never eat before 8 so I know I'm the last table of the night. And it's a good excuse to avoid the shows.

[Love.II.Cruise]

Wow - what a great read! Thanks for the post. Maybe I'll do the same on my Transatlantic Cruise on the Riviera in Nov. 2012. But maybe by then, it won't be as interesting since it will the the last cruise of the inaugural season. :(

[JimandStan]

I enjoy taking two to two and a half hours for dinner because generally that is my evening's entertainment other than a drink afterwards. But I never eat before 8 so I know I'm the last table of the night. And it's a good excuse to avoid the shows.

Our sentiments exactly.

You took the words right out of my mouth,

and that is not very easy to do!

 

We must chat over a cognac, or three, on a cruise soon.....

[CintiPam]

I included the same suggestion in the midcruise comment card on the Marina, asking for either an art list or an ipod tour.

 

So much for my sole right to the copyright on this splendid idea!:D

 

Edit: But methinks your cruise was after mine, so I still may have sole dibs!

[CintiPam]

Feel special, too. I did a detailed assessment and didn't receive any acknowledgement - not even a form letter! Hope they take your suggestion. We did one cruise on the new QM2 just for the experience and to see the ship they had a programmed tour like a museum w/headset that told you about all the artwork etc on the ship. We did it on a rainy day and it was great.

 

How lovely to enjoy such a tour!

 

Although I handed in a mid-cruise assessment, I mailed the final assessment after my return home to Mr. Binder's attention, as his name was on the form, so perhaps the Miami folks decided I needed an acknowledgment, although it did not come from him.

[What A Market]

Sitting in a pub in Cobh, Ireland enjoying a Beemish (local porter like Guinness). The weather today as a private guide said is "a touch soft." Meaning it was pouring. It has let up now. First heavy rain of the trip. The last few days have been really nice. We got to the high 70's in Holyhead, Wales yesterday--perfect. BTW, if you need a private tour in Holyhead, use BusyBus. Great full day seeing everything around this part of Wales. The entire tour was almost nine hours. A great balance of driving, hiking in their mountains, and seeing castles. Conwy Castle is spectacular. Our guide, Peter, was great. Great, great value.

 

Some more musings on the Marina: They keep the temperature of the ship's public rooms somewhat on the warm side. Not too warm unless you are wearing a sweater or sport coat. Maybe it is due to the cruise being in a cooler climate. Or perhaps management has been listening to some of the

 

The butler (Ghosh) and the cabin attendants (Shirley and ______ -- darn it, can't remember his name ) couldn't be nicer. Our cabin is meticulous at all times. Poor Ghosh is distressed at times that I am not keeping him busy. All three are exceedingly caring and gracious. This attitude is truly genuine and never seems forced. Over dinner (yes, those extremely long dinners – ha!), each of our table mates without fail and unprompted has made this comment about their attendants and the staff on board in general. Some people on the Azamara board (Heidi and I sailed with them last year) will comment that the Oceania officers seem more reserved than those on Azamara. To me the difference is negligible.

 

Dinner at Red Ginger was a marvel. Two of the standout dishes for me were the duck and watermelon salad (thanks to JimandStan for their very strong recommendations of this dish) and the sea bass. Both rate up there with the best dishes I've had anywhere, land or sea. Red Ginger is the only dining room without a view of the sea. This is not a detriment as the design of the room and the artwork are spectacular. Both the wine service and the service from the dining staff were exceptional. Ghosh has already booked a second reservation for us.

 

Heidi rates our fellow passengers as some of the nicest and most open she has ever met while cruising. Heidi started cruising with her parents as a small child. She thinks this may be her fortieth cruise, so she has an extensive frame of reference. I'm only on number 12, but I absolutely agree with her assessment. As one would expect on a July cruise, there are some children. Maybe a dozen in total. A large contingency of Europeans, including many from England, which I attribute to the ease they see in doing a cruise that begins and ends in Dover.

 

Hard to believe we only have one more port after today.

[Paulchili]

Thank you for your continued efforts. I am glad that you were not deterred by some of our negative comments here about your "dinner" - no doubt due to your good sense of humor.

I am glad that both of you are enjoying the cruise.

[PintoLvr]

What A Market...What A Great Travelogue and Critique! I appreciate your time in writing this "live" review! I hope you will do the same on your 13th cruise. Enjoy your last couple of days.

 

Lani

[wripro]

JimandStan,

 

Dinner at Eight! Cognacs afterwards. sounds like a plan.

[malcliz]

Whatamarket. Thank you for your interesting reports. I see you have also sailed on Azamara. How would you compare Oceania and Azamara?

[What A Market]

Typing on b berry so forgive typos. Thanks to paul and others for the support. Last port day. Sad. Take care all and look for more posts soon I hope

[Benita]

So much for my sole right to the copyright on this splendid idea!:D

 

Edit: But methinks your cruise was after mine, so I still may have sole dibs!

 

The credit is yours, but great minds think alike - LOL.

[CintiPam]

Thank you for continuing to post your live updates, which I have enjoyed immensely. Enjoy the rest of your vacation!

[werder]

Hi everybody,

 

we were on the same cruise as WhatAMarket (Tom) and it was very funny to read his live coverage while being on board.

Now, being home for 3 days now (and the first day at work), I would like to add my 2 cents to this thread. Sorry for not being as eloquent as Tom, but I am still waiting for the reaction of kissing the Blarney stone ;)

 

1. the cabin

We were booked in a “simple” verandah B2 stateroom, but enjoyed it very much. The size was really nice for a cruiseship, the bathroom quite big. I read about the concerns about the size of the shower, but could not really follow this. O.K.; I am European and used to using wands (and turning them away from me – poor Heidi!!) and liked the pressure of the water. More would have been a massage ;) The size was just perfect, because I imagine that a larger might cause trouble while showering in heavy sea. And I am far away from being small or thin…..

The tranquillity beds are marvellous, would like to take it home with me.

 

Negative: cleanliness….. We had severe problems with a really clean cabin in the first week, even found some slippers from former guests, eyeliner, paperclips and a lot of dust under the sofa :eek: After two friendly complaints at the reception desk this was finally done. We got a nice bottle of wine and a letter of apology.

 

2. the ship

Very, very nice! I have no comparison to the smaller ships, but the size was acceptable. Never had the feeling that it was too crowded at any places.

Loved the pool, because it was big enough to really swim and never full – maybe because of the cooler temps.

 

3. the restaurants.

Really, all of you experienced Oceania cruisers didn’t promise too much – the food was great. We often used the Terrace Café, because we wanted to sit outside. Wonderful Sushi…. The GDR was nice, but we used it only twice for Dinner. Speaking of the Specialty restaurants my preferences were: Jacques(!!), Red Ginger (the often discussed Duck/Watermelon Salad and the Sea Bass were magnificent), Polo and Toscana (which was o.k., but not that great).

The service teams were outstanding, had to get used to so much pampering in the beginning (now I am waiting for someone to bring me a black napkin…)

A special comment goes to the chef Rhan (sp?) from India in Terrace: he prepared his special ginger tea for me twice when I suffered from a bad cold. It helped a lot!

 

4. ports/excursions/tendering

The itinerary was the main reason for booking the Northern Knights for us and it turned out to be more than we expected. Some ports (Isle of Man, Holyhead, Fowey) were surprising to us and we will return to some of them.

We did not book any excursions because we found them to be completely overpriced. Thus, we rented cars, bought Island Explorer passes and used the HoHo buses or used public transportation. We had a lot of fun!!

 

5. the passengers

I have to admit that we were a little bit concerned because we are well under the average age of OC cruisers and are not coming from an English-speaking country. But we met so many wonderful, friendly and interesting people that it was a great experience. I loved the atmosphere and have to admit that it might have been not as open and relaxing if more Germans were onboard (sorry… :o)

 

 

O.K., this was a very (too) long post, but the impressions and memories are still fresh and I would like to share them. Definitely, I will recommend such a cruise to everyone who asks – and to those who don’t :D

[findacruise]

for sharing your impressions. Welocme to the group of Oceania fans!

[Paulchili]

werder,

Thank you for taking the time and sharing your Marina experiences with us. I am glad you enjoyed the cruise.

Cheers.

[Jancruz]

Thanks Bobi. I think we have well over 100 but the color purple intriques me plus the silver chairs will match my hair. :D If you or anyone else has any other suggestions other than Horizons, please let me know. Looking forward to the cruise. Planned it over a year ago and now starting to get goose bumps. :)

 

I have suggested the Grand Bar to several people I personally think it is a great place to hold a M&M because they never hold any functions there..so you dont run into problems

Jancruz1

[Jancruz]

I included the same suggestion in the midcruise comment card on the Marina, asking for either an art list or an ipod tour. Oceania did not respond to the suggestion, but did send up the chief housekeeper to tell me he liked my other suggestion - a second soap dish in the shower.

 

When I was on the maiden voyage with Frank we discussed this..he told me there eventually would be a book with all of the art pieces in it with descriptions..I asked about a docent tour (he said to hard to train people that would stay) and I asked about an Ipod and he said no for some reason, I dont remember..LOL

 

Jancruz1

[Jancruz]

I took this trip on Azamara with my grandaughter in 2009 and it poured every single day..we did not have one break in the weather..Captain Smith (great Captain) said it was the worst weather he had ever encountered..but it did not deter us we had a GREAT time!!

Jancruz1

[What A Market]

Hi Jan

I think we were really lucky with the weather on this cruise. We only had "real" rain in Edinburgh and Cobh. The cloud cover in the fjords in Norway was unfortunate, but did not detract entirely from the extraordinary beauty.

 

I was amazed how calm the seas were over the entire cruise. Again, maybe we were really lucky.

 

Say "hi" to Shari for me.

Tom