Route of the Vikings

[cstrick]

This was our longest cruise ever and we loved it. The ship was new and bright. The food was very good and the specialty restaurants were for the most part outstanding. They did run out of some food in Jacques. The service was outstanding especially our room attendants and the wait staff. The entertainment not so much. We paid for a concierge level cabin and we would not do it again most of the perks were either not available or not as advertised. Embarkation was a disaster but debarkation went very smoothly. We used the ships transfer and the bus arrived quickly. However for the price I would have expected some aid on the airport end. Our flight to NYC wasn't until 5 PM and we arrived at Heathrow at 11 AM. There were Oceania reps there but they didn't have any idea about what to do with luggage. We did a ships excursion in each port and some were outstanding but some seemed like they were just filling time. The Isle of Man was a pleasant surprise. All of the excursions were overpriced. I had an excellent massage and was pleasantly surprised when the staff did not push their products. All in all out trip was very relaxing and unique.

[Ms Understood]

PLease: what concierge perks did you not get and which were not as advertised? I am booked in concierge cabin on the new Riviera with lots of time to change.

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Helen

[gtragitt]

I agree about the entertainment and the food.

 

I would rate the entertainment for this itinerary at the bottom of all cruises I have experienced.

 

I was surprised it was better on the R ships.

 

I see many were not too happy with the Grand Dining Room. For me everything in the Grand Dining Room was perfect.

 

Red Ginger was very good the first visit. The noise was terrible on the second visit; so, we didn't stay. We reverted to the Grand Dining Room for a great meal.

 

Toscana was quite good except my wife's lasagna ( I tasted it) was poor.

 

Ice cream and sorbet were good at all venues.

 

The lamb in Polo Grill was exceptional.

 

The Fois Gras in Jacques was great. The Napoleon was poor. Scallops were fantastic.

 

The Kobe Burger in Waves was tremendously good.

 

Terrace Grill was never chaotic like buffets on other cruises.

 

Destination Services was useless.

 

I was on a wait list for the Flam Railway. They refused to indicate my relative position on the wait list. They changed the departure time for Flam. The morning of the arrival into Flam, I discovered 2 tickets for the railway. I cancelled them and went to the railway station and bought $70 tickets vs the $155 excursion tickets. I would have paid $85 for coffee and a pastry.

 

I tried to get a transfer to Heathrow from Dover. They would not allow me to use the bus at a charge of $129/ person because my flight left Heathrow for Houston at 11:40 AM. They would not let anybody use the bus if their flight left before noon. They offered to book a private car at a cost of $500. The Concierge was unable to find an alternate means of transport.

 

I visited Marks and Spencer in Isle of Man. I used free internet and found Minivans Plus. I booked a Mercedes sedan for 159 GBP plus a 6% on-line booking fee. The trwo of us arrived at Heathrow at 8:30 AM.

 

Disembarkation was so well organized. The whole cruise was so well organized and stress free.

 

Tender service was also so well organized. I had reservations that it would be problematic due to a larger number of passengers on the Marina than on the R Ships.

 

Bridge games were not hosted. On an R ship they had hosted duplicate bridge games.

[cstrick]

Embarkation was not early. We arrived right on time to chaos. It took 90 minutes for us to check in. That was one on the perks. Luggage was supposed to be delivered right away. It took 5 hours for all of our luggage to arrive. We were not alone in that most of the people on deck 10 were looking for their luggage. The rest of the perks were not worth the upcharge. Unless you are set on a particular cabin, I would think about not going concierge class.

[AHB626]

Embarkation was not early. We arrived right on time to chaos. It took 90 minutes for us to check in. That was one on the perks. Luggage was supposed to be delivered right away. It took 5 hours for all of our luggage to arrive. We were not alone in that most of the people on deck 10 were looking for their luggage. The rest of the perks were not worth the upcharge. Unless you are set on a particular cabin, I would think about not going concierge class.

 

We were on the Oceania line for the first time. We chose the Marina's Route of the Vikings on July 1st. We loved the beauty of the ship, the comfort of our cabin (non-conceirge), the quality of the food, and the impeccable service. I agree that the entertainment was sub-par, but the fabulous itinerary more than made up for it. We embarked at 3:00 P.M. as scheduled for regular cabin guests, and we had no problem getting right on the ship. Disermbarkation was just as orderly. Thanks to the cruisers we had met on Cruise Critic, we had many private tours already

booked by the time we boarded. This avoided having to pay double to take the ship sponsored tours. We enjoyed this cruise so much that we booked the Oceania Riviera for September 2nd, 2012. We hope to start a Cruise Critic thread for this voyage as it was extremely helpful.

[gtragitt]

We were on the Oceania line for the first time. We chose the Marina's Route of the Vikings on July 1st. We loved the beauty of the ship, the comfort of our cabin (non-conceirge), the quality of the food, and the impeccable service. I agree that the entertainment was sub-par, but the fabulous itinerary more than made up for it.

 

Except for rain in Bergen the weather was spectacular as well.

 

Locals in Flam indicated the day we were there was the first time they had seen sun since May.

[Benita]

My husband, Michael - the guy with the photojournalist vest and all the cameras, posted some photos from the cruise on his web site if anybody in interested. He loves feedback.

http://www.pbase.com/michaelblum/oceania_marina_cruise_july_2011

[seafare]

My husband, Michael - the guy with the photojournalist vest and all the cameras, posted some photos from the cruise on his web site if anybody in interested. He loves feedback.

http://www.pbase.com/michaelblum/oceania_marina_cruise_july_2011

 

 

Stunning pictures, enjoyed viewing and pass on to Michael my thanks for sharing.

 

Jill

[Senior Citizen]

My husband, Michael - the guy with the photojournalist vest and all the cameras, posted some photos from the cruise on his web site if anybody in interested. He loves feedback.

http://www.pbase.com/michaelblum/oceania_marina_cruise_july_2011

 

Benita,

 

Tell Michael that his pictures are FANTASTIC!!!! I especially love the pictures of the puffins!! He has some pretty artistic shots from throughout the trip. Thanks for sharing. They are absolutely wonderful. I can hardly wait to see what he does for the Alaska cruise!!

 

BTW, were the pictures of the arctic terns taken before, during or after the "incident?"

 

Frances

[CintiPam]

My husband, Michael - the guy with the photojournalist vest and all the cameras, posted some photos from the cruise on his web site if anybody in interested. He loves feedback.

http://www.pbase.com/michaelblum/oceania_marina_cruise_july_2011

 

Great photos, Benita. Thanks for posting the link.

[Benita]

Benita,

 

Tell Michael that his pictures are FANTASTIC!!!! I especially love the pictures of the puffins!! He has some pretty artistic shots from throughout the trip. Thanks for sharing. They are absolutely wonderful. I can hardly wait to see what he does for the Alaska cruise!!

 

BTW, were the pictures of the arctic terns taken before, during or after the "incident?"

 

Frances

 

I asked Michael if the pictures of the terns were worth losing blood over (for those who were not there, he did not carry the stick in order to free both hands to take pictures and a tern attacked his scalp- bloody, but no major injury). He called himself a suffering artist.