Just off the Marina Transatlantic -- my take

[no fuss travel]

I thought it was a good review as well. I agreed with some of her opinions as I experienced the same when I sailed last May. Just think how boring the world would be if we all had the same opinion.:D In our house at times just to be ornery we will take the opposite opinion just to spark a good conversation.:D

[rubysue]

I also thought it was a thoughtful review with many comments mirroring our own experience, positive and negative. We do like Marina better than the R-ships, overall. 1200 passengers seems small compared to other ships we have been on and we like the many added amenities. We look forward to another Marina cruise next year.

 

The experience with the customs letter was reminiscent of one we had on our September cruise regarding passports. Our itinerary required us to keep our passports for the first port (Koper, Slovenia) and recommended having them available for Croatia and Montenegro. Shortly after finishing that part of the cruise, we were stunned when we received a nastily worded letter at our suite, in the late evening no less, demanding that we turn in our passports "immediately" for Turkish customs (this was days ahead of our arrival in Turkey). We headed to the purser's desk with the letter and passports in hand and were icily informed by the staff that "many" announcements had been made requesting the surrender of passports to allegedly expedite this process (news to us - it was not in any of the daily newsletters, although we did have a tendency to tune out the morning CD announcements). In conversation with other passengers, we found quite a few folks that were also upset with the abrupt and belittling tone of this letter and they did not recall hearing any announcements. In a twist of irony, the return of our passports on the final evening in Istanbul was delayed several hours due to the Turkish customs checks. So much for treating us like recalcitrant children to "expedite" this process...

 

This experience did not obviously ruin the cruise for us, but it was documented in our survey.

[Paulchili]

Laraine,

Thanks for the comprehensive review.

I agree with you a lot more than disagree.

I too prefer the R ships' atmosphere to that of the Marina (though she is gorgeous!). I think that by far the best part of Marina is the food - especially the buffet in the Cafe. My least favorite of the specialty restaurants is Toscana (for both service and food). Of course, food is the most subjective part of anyone's cruise experience.

I think I've said enough about the MDR, library and theater before.

That said, we have future cruises booked on both, the R ships and the Marina, as itinerary is the most important aspect of choosing a cruise for us.

[TIMAS]

The crossing was my third cruise on the Marina this year. I found amazing improvements from the maiden cruise. I will try to be brief in my comments.

1. Nolan, does not have the class for a cruise line like Oceania. To many screaching announcements. i read the daily newspaper and I am responsible to be where I should be.

2. Entertainment, I agree it is the worst I have experienced on over 40 cruises.

3. Food: I have 50 years experience in the food service business and this is what I have observed. The food and service in the specialty restaurants and buffet are excellent. Some days there may be some flaws. Considering the number of meals served this can happen. the quality of the foods being purchased are the finest I have seen on a ship. The big problem on the Marina is the GDR. The servers are the same excellent people that serve us so well in the specialty restaurants. What is wrong with the GDR? I feel it is a combination of poor menus that are not thought out for ease of serving. O has many fine chefs and recipes to create excellent food. A very impotant skill that is lacking is how to get the food to the customer in a timely way that the taste is still there and the food is at the proper temperature. This problem in the GDR has to be addressed. I eat in the GDR for breakfast & lunch, because my wife and i do not like to carry our food. We go on a cruise to be served. I do not eat in the GDR for dinner. I attempted to on the crossing three times, but it is not sossible to get hot food in that dining room. When you can stick your finger into the centre of a baked potato, you know that the chefs have not placed a thermometer in the entree. The servers are doing their best, but the system of seving the food and getting it to the table promptly needs revamping. The lunch and dinner menus need changing so that they can be produced without to many complications. I followed the words of Ray Kroc, KISS (keep it simple stupid).

 

We had two wonderful B2B cruises and booked two more on the Riviera. O has a great product and is consantly striving for excellence.

[TERRIER1]

We eat in the GDR for breakfast and dinner unless we are at a specialty restaurant. We have not eaten at the Terrace Cafe since we do not like buffet and carrying our food. We have never had a bad experience with cold food or tardy service in the MDR. I think it has to do with the time you dine and the type of cruise you are on.

 

We have always cruised on port intensive itineraries. Many people eat on land since the ship departs late. We eat very late in general and the dining room is not as crowded. With port intensive cruises many people come and go at different times and the dining is more staggered and therefore more evening distributed.

 

The only time we cruised with many sea days is through the Panama Canal and that was on the smaller R ship where there were less passengers. We never had a problem on the R ships but that could be due to the size.

Our next cruise is June on the Riviera so I am curious if we will experience what so many have. We will also have to try the buffet given all the rave reviews.

[wripro]

Quality of food and service should not be dependent on the time you eat or the cruise you are on. It should be consistent no matter where or when. Unfortunately, in the GDR on the Marina both are consistently lacking.

[hondorner]

I don't have an educated palate. I mostly don't care what I eat with one huge exception -- I believe that food that is intended to be hot should be hot, and that which is intended to be cold should be cold. I sailed a Celebrity cruise once and never will again, partly because the only hot food I had was at the custom pasta station. This was most likely because of fixed dining times in which food sits in the kitchen waiting to be served all at once.

 

In 103 days aboard Oceania, on 2 out of 3 R ships and on Marina, I have had lukewarm soup served to me twice. Each time, a simple request to the waiter to make sure that future soups would be piping hot had exemplary results.

 

We generally eat breakfast in the GDR because the buffet is usually a madhouse and there are never enough tables. I dislike wandering through the restaurant 2 or 3 times to try to find a table. Like others, when we are on vacation we want to be served. I have only tried the GDR for lunch once or twice, against my better judgement, because nothing beats Waves for lunch (there's that uneducated palate, again). Again, I avoid the Terrace because of the crowds and having people butt in ahead of me when getting served. You get better service at Waves -- give your order, then sit down and let them bring the food to you.

 

Once again, we definitely prefer the GDR to the Terrace for dinner. We might try the buffet twice during a cruise, when the offerings in the GDR are too wacky for my palate, but we resist because of the service and table issues (in the GDR, we've never had our table cleaned off and given to someone else before we were finished. We've learned to carry sweaters or books to leave on the table in the buffet, or go up to the food line one at a time to guard our table).

 

The specialty restaurants are great, but after 103 days with the menus largely unchanged, we no longer get as excited about visiting them. We do so primarily with friends because the specialties tend to be more relaxed venus.

 

We also have no preference between the R ships and the Marina class. Each has advantages and disadvantages. I will say that while aboard Marina 34 days ion the last year I had no craving for anything on the R ships, but while on Regatta this Summer, I was happy but found myself missing some of the Marina amenities. Both are heads and shoulders better than anything we have sailed on other cruise lines with the possible exception of Regent, which is different because of its all-inclusive policies but really no better than Oceania, in my opinion.

 

I will say that if having an educated palate is what leads to complaints about the food aboard Oceania, I'm glad I don't suffer from that education. ;)

[wripro]

It doesn't matter if one's palate is educated or not. The GDR on Marina feels like a catering hall. It is large and impersonal and has none of the warmth of the GDR on the smaller ships.

[Mura]

Whereas we prefer it to the GDR on the "R" ships mostly because the noise level is much more tolerable.

 

Not that we refuse to dine in the GDR on the "R" ships, far from it. That's our preferred dinner venue (also breakfast) on the "R" ships but we certainly liked Marina's version as well.

 

To each his own!

[Mandolin]

Pacheco,

Are you confusing the male Broadway singer with Jeri Sager, the female Broadway star who was fabulous?

[Mandolin]

Don't worry---overall we have been on both the large and small Oceania and found the experience fabulous---all the complaints so far will not mar your cruise. In our opinio, the staff and food are really the tops in the business. We have been on 14 Oceania cruises and always feel like we are coming to our second home!! Just enjoy!

[pacheco18]

Pacheco,

Are you confusing the male Broadway singer with Jeri Sager, the female Broadway star who was fabulous?

 

You say fabulous. I say awful.

 

She is hardly a BroAdwAy star despite how she bills herself. I see almost every musical on broadway and I never heard of her.

 

To each his own

[Reggiefan]

Our only cruise was one recently on Marina; hence, I can't compare our experience to that on the smaller Oceania ships.

 

However, we found overall the food on Marina to be excellent. There were exceptions. One night the service in the Terrace was poor (though the other nights we had the same server, who was extremely good), and the dishes at the pasta station were not good. We actually had a disappointing meal at the Polo Grill as far as both the steak and the service. But we found Jacques good, and Red Ginger and Toscana superb. Our one dinner at the GDR was very good. We enjoyed the quality and diversity of the food offerings at night in the Terrace, and breakfast in Waves. Again, overall, we gave Marina high marks for the food.

 

Go to your favorite restaurants 10 nights in a row, and chances are one night you will find the meal or service a tad off.

 

As to Nolan Dean, my only complaint--and it may not have been Nolan's fault--was that no explanation was given when the time period in one port was cut short. Otherwise, no complaints, but I was on an itinerary-intensive cruise.

[Cruiser Jane]

o boy!!

 

Just back from Insignia's TA, & I am booked on Marina's March & November's TA.

 

Now I'm scared, very scared.

 

Loved the intimacy of the R ship. David as CD and Jason as hotel manager.

 

I've been told to expect Dorothy as CD and Damian as hotel manager whom we love. But overcrowded venues????

 

Dear Sitraveler,

 

We may be on the same TA next year leaving on Nov. 22 - Rome to Rio? Did you say Dottie would be our CD for that cruise also? She's the best - so no worries!

 

We were on the Marina for an 18 day port intensive cruise July 1, 2011. We were also looking forward to being on Marina and thought we'd never want to go back to the R ships. Wrong! You do feel the larger size of the Marina but there were no lines to get into the restaurants except for Terrace. We always prefer to be served in the MDR. Much nicer than fighting crowds in Terrace. And it's fun to get together with other CCs for dinners. On this last Marina cruise we always dined with other CCs. SO FUN!

 

The biggest difference we saw was the elevator problem. On the R ships, we were able to walk up and down the stairs for most events. But on the Marina, if you are going from the specialty restaurants on 5 to Horizons on 15, you've got 10 floors to walk. So you are forced to take the elevators. I'm hoping Oceania has corrected this problem. They have a button for each set of elevators across from each other, and most people press the button on both sides and the elevators are stopping at every floor. Sometimes they have too many people in them and you can't get in. If you only have to go 4 floors or less, best to walk or wait up to 5 min! We're just not used to this. This upcoming cruise in 11/22/12 will be our 9th Oceania cruise.

 

We had David as CD on this last cruise and he was also great. Experienced none of the problems cited in previous posts here. And we thought the food was very good. But the service not as good as the R ships. I can identify with the understaffed, undertrained problem though. I do hope they correct this before our next cruise.

 

I agree that the Library is very strange - it meanders through a main passageway and is poorly lit. The ship is beautiful; now they have to work on functional. And I agree the R ships are more comfortable. Nevertheless, we're booked on another Marina cruise because of the great deal we got and the itinerary. And if Dottie is our CD, we're in good shape.

 

I got to be friends with Dottie and have her email. She told me she was starting on Marina in January. I figured I'd ask her if she was the CD in Nov but didn't think their schedules go that far. Now I will ask her.

 

One problem Oceania has on the Marina is the staterooms below penthouse. The closet is smaller than the R ships, which is okay, but you can only get into one side of it because the night table is flush against the back side. Look at the floorplan. Best to store shoes under your side of the bed. And the shower is so small and low that a large person would be forced to use the tub. It has a handheld shower wand, but don't drop it like I did - Wet the whole room! O had such a great opportunity to make the most of more space, and they did the opposite. The vanity is very nice, so that's one good thing! More space for stuff in the bathroom. And the tub does serve a purpose - hanging your washed smalls.

 

I am still looking very forward to our next cruise on Marina. For an Ocean crossing, I'd rather be on the larger ship as I tend to fight seasickness. And now that the shock of the mistakes made on board this beautiful ship is past, I can deal with it!

 

Cheers,

Jan

[sitraveler]

Dot & Damien for March. No one knows about November yet- too far in the future. Even March can change.

But, god willing, will see you in November.

[AWED23]

Laraine,

Thank you for your objective and detailed review. My wife and I have sailed on Regatta, Insignia and Marina this year so have recent experience of the 'big' and the 'small'.

 

Agree with you fully on the PH3 but have mixed views on the butler...2 great, 1 not so good. Generally on all three cruises the service was somewhat spotty and not up to the overall standard of the the three previous cruises on 'R' ships in 2009/10. The reason I have given that background is to share with the board a conversation I have on the Insignia November sailing with a senior company executive. After sharing my comments above, I ventured that the service 'drop off' appeared to be coincedental with the introduction of Marina to service and the need for Oceania to add so many new staff.

 

I was told that I had pretty much hit the nail on the head. They have done lots and lots of training and have spread experienced staff over 4 ships rather than the original 3. They expect that with the introduction of another ship in April, even with the lease of Insignia to another company, they will continue to struggle with quality staffing for a few more months. I was told that the company fully understands this issue and were fully committed to restore their very high standard which clients expect.

 

A minor point but relevant to a comment you made. We had dinner with the General Manager one evening and my wife said she was disappointed that they had dropped the Wedge Salad from their menue. The General Manager said he was as well, as it was his favorite. Their reason given for dropping was " it is not one of the Peppin approved salads" and they cannot change. Interesting.

 

On all three sailings this year our CD has been David who we agree is great. One evening he asked me to give my views on Marina on which we did a Baltic cruise in June. He was very familiar with passenger comments about the Marina lounge and the poor design particularly for seating at the back. I won't go into all of the issues we talked about save to say he, and the company are certainly listening to the passengers.

 

Overall current service is certainly not bad and I am convinced we will see improvements in 2012. We have two sailings booked for next years so I am banking on it. LOL

Can you tell me the name of the General Manager on the Marina when you were aboard?....We will be on Marina from Jan. 13-Feb. 4.....I feel the GMs are the most important to my over all experience on board...Thanks:D

[jtamchay]

This review is really geared toward those of you who have cruised O before. These are my impressions of Marina -- the great, good and the not so good -- and even the bad. I am sure the die-hard “Oceania can do no wrong” group will be upset with some of what I am going to say, but I am just calling it as I see it.

 

I did not do any ship-sponsored excursions, went to few on board events (other than Trivia, one cooking demonstration, a photo class and one game of bingo) so I will leave comments about those activities to others. The cooking demonstrations and the on board lecturers got high marks from others with whom I spoke. We formed our own knitting group and that was a lot of fun.

 

Cabin

I was in a PH3 and to say it was fabulous would be an understatement. We do not generally book suites but we splurged because of all the sea days. It was spacious with tons of storage, a walk-in closet and terrific bathroom (great L’Occitane amenities) a separate desk area where my husband Bob could set up his computer and a clever hidden makeup mirror vanity area for me. I am forever spoiled. My butler, Mervyn, was a hunk (sorry, Bob) and I did try to keep him busy.

 

The Ship

Very beautiful. Elegant. She is not dissimilar in layout to the R ships with a few additions and bigger spaces. The Artist’s Loft is a great addition and although I do not do crafts (other than knitting) I saw many enjoying themselves. Unfortunately the classes were oversubscribed and some of the teachers ran out of materials.

 

The teaching kitchen is over the top wonderful. I have taken many cooking classes, including a week of cooking school in Italy, and I cannot say enough good things about this facility and the amazing Chef Kelly. I took 2 classes and learned a great deal. She is a treasure.

 

The laundry rooms on each floor are great - never a wait and really comfortable seating, including a TV. The Executive Lounge is a great convenience but as you will learn, ANYONE can use it. They do not check your stateroom key for access. Same is true for the private sun deck outside the Spa. In essence, you can book an inside cabin and enjoy at least two of the amenities reserved for suite passengers. I think if I had booked a suite for those perks I might have been upset.

 

As has been noted, the placement and design of the Library makes no sense at all.

 

Entertainment

Worse than ever. We walked out of the “fabulous Broadway singer” during the second song. The band played decent dance music, but the singer (who was just a musician who sang) was terrible. He sang in a thick accent, reading the lyrics in a monotone manner with no phrasing. It was painful. Good thing Simon Cowell was not on board. O can do better.

 

The seating configuration in the Marina Lounge is not great for trivia but better for speakers and shows. What I do not understand from a design standpoint is why the seating way in the rear is not elevated (you cannot see a thing if you are way in the back section) and why they had to use pillars for construction (other ships have huge theaters with no pillars to block views).

 

The string quartet was delightful.

 

The incidental music throughout the ship was fabulous. Many of you may not notice it but I did.

 

Spa

I will not pay $200 for a massage. They are kidding! Most people I spoke with felt the same way. I don’t mind a small price adjustment for being a captive audience in the middle of the Atlantic but it was highway robbery.

 

Service

In general service was good -- but not flawless. My butler was outstanding. The service in the buffet and GDR (I only ate there once for breakfast and once for lunch) was wonderful.

 

We came across one surly concierge.

 

Service in Jacques was spotty. In Toscana it was a disaster. The waiter and bus boy acted as if they had just met -- they could not coordinate. When we asked the waiter for bread -- we saw others around us had it -- he told us they do not give bread until the order is taken. LOL We just rolled our eyes. More about the food later.

 

The CD and staff

On O the CD is an important part of my enjoyment of the ship. I am a trivia devotee and I have loved sailing with Leslie and David. Trivia was very popular on this sailing, especially with all the sea days.

 

Our CD was Nolan Dean and the kindest thing I can say about him was that he was irritating. I was not alone in feeling this way. Many of us gave him scathing reviews. He was a one joke act, making snide remarks and acting like the class clown. He made so many announcements that someone intervened. He made a few un PC remarks and that too was stopped. He totally lacked the kind of sophistication and dry sophisticated humor that I expect from an O CD. He would be perfect for wet tee shirt contests on Carnival. I will be very disappointed if he is CD one of my future cruises.

 

He also was not a good manager of events. The photo workshops were so oversubscribed that there was standing room in the Artist's Loft. It took a fellow CCer to tell him to change the venue to the Lounge -- and he balked. He was not aware of the overcrowding until someone told him. The same was true for the oversubscribed Spanish classes. I never saw him on board except at Trivia The CD should be ubiquitous.

 

He also did not manage Trivia well. His source for questions was an old Trivial Pursuit game. In the evening Trivia was sometimes assigned to one of the dancers or singers who did not know how to really do it well. And on several days we had the same questions out of the box afternoon and evening. Trivia was trivial to him.

 

He was not good at crowd control. He did not even try. When we docked at Bermuda after nearly 6 days at sea he allowed a mob scene at the gangway. He started yelling from the top of the grand stairway. He should have anticipated that everyone would be anxious to get off the ship and arranged for a smooth organized debarkation. He said, “I cannot control these people.” Ugh. He also failed to inform everyone that they needed identification beyond the World Card to get back to the area where the ship was docked.

 

Disembarkation was a complete disaster. He failed to keep everyone informed about the substantial delays.

 

A word about the photo workshops: Great idea -- they were way oversubscribed. The teacher was very knowledgeable but an awful instructor. He was disorganized and a poor speaker. The classes were not segmented well. He was more interested in bragging about his travels and selling his CDs than putting work into organizing the program suitable for all levels and all kinds of cameras. O can do better.

 

And then there is assistant CD Roy - from Cuba. Make him a CD. He was fabulous. My husband took his Spanish lessons every sea day. I used to be a Spanish teacher, Assistant Principal in charge of foreign languages and a high school principal in an earlier life and I can attest to the fact that he was a teaching star. He has lots of personality and people loved him. I vote for Roy for CD.

 

Natalie, the Social Hostess, was also terrific.

 

Because of the size of the ship I barely got to know the rest of the staff. That is a sacrifice to size.

 

Shops

 

I mention this only because there was one wonderful shopping opportunity on board and I hope O does more of this in the future. Like most of you, I do not buy anything on board. It is overpriced and we all know it. Of course, logo items and the like are fun to buy but the watches, diamonds and other stuff are just a rip-off (as they are on all ships).

 

O brought on a fabulous jewelry designer who took vintage findings and pieces from vintage jewelry and turned them into modern masterpieces. She was an expert on jewelry history. I cannot say enough good things. She brought on a trunk show and I not only bought several one of a kind pieces on board, I expect to buy from her direct in the future. A great addition to the usual stuff you see on board. Do more of this, O.

 

However, there was one big misstep on this cruise and it infuriated many. At the end of the cruise, everyone who had spent $800 or more in the on board shops was identified to Customs Officials for a special inspection. People went wild! Several passengers returned items they had bought. Many of the items were exempt from duty (e.g. the jewelry designer’s items were all US made), but O never told the Customs Agents. We had to fight to get a certificate of authenticity to get the exemption. It was not pretty.

 

Food - just my opinion

 

I lived most of my life in NY where I have eaten in some of the world’s great restaurants -- Per Se, Alain Ducasse, Peter Luger for steaks, places owned by Mario Battali and Lydia Bastianich and I have been to many other world class restaurants such as French Laundry. I have been to cooking school in Italy. I travel to NY every month on business and still eat in some of the greatest restaurants in the world on a regular basis. I tell you this for no other reason than you give you an idea of my frame of reference for evaluating food and restaurants.

 

As many have reported, the buffet is AMAZING. Likely the best at sea. We ate dinner there every night except for the nights in the Specialties. We never dined in the GDR. I prefer to sample small amounts of different things and not commit. The buffet was consistently over the top wonderful. I wish they could replicate on the R ships.

 

Waves too was terrific - oh those Kobe burgers. The milk shakes were a little thin but a fellow passenger told met to ask for another scoop of ice cream to be added and that did the trick.

 

Tea was excellent in every respect. With all those sea days, I got to really enjoy it. The Special Tea event was so superb as to defy description.

 

I have not changed my mind about he Specialty Restaurants on O. For the most part, they are not that all that special IMO. Jacques was a disappointment. The duck was dry and not crispy. Most people with whom I spoke on the ship shared my view about Jacques. Reviews, however, were mixed and some passengers had both a good experience and a bad one on two different nights. Consistency is important. Although the food in Toscana was good (not great), the service, as reported earlier, was lacking. The cappuccino was ice cold. Toscana also got mixed reviews from fellow passengers.

We had our first properly prepared steaks ever in Polo. Food and service were excellent. However, with all the great steaks and chops and lobster tails in the buffet, Polo is somewhat of a redundancy.

 

The one extraordinary restaurant was Red Ginger. The food was wonderful and innovative, the service was flawless and the decor was both beautiful and inviting. Everyone was raving about it.

 

The brunch buffet was so awful that we walked out -- as did many others. The selections were very limited. There were 2 carving stations -- one with dried out salmon en croute and another with ham. Lots of smoked eel and unrecognizable salads. Not very appetizing. We went directly to Waves.

 

Coincidentally, Enzo, from corporate was on board surveying the food scene and I was able to have a many chats with him throughout the cruise about my take on all aspects of the food and service. I also shared with him comments I had heard from the fellow cruisers. He took plenty of notes and was grateful for the input. He told me that they had brought 2 top chefs from Italy for this sailing and that they were working on new dishes for Toscana. They also are working on changing the menu in Jacques. There were two chefs from Regent on board as well. I for one was pleased to see that he recognized that there are some problems in those 2 restaurants and that O is addressing them.

 

Ever have a salade nicoise with green, red and yellow pepper, plated as a big mixed salad? Ugh. I went to the GDR for lunch just to have it and left it uneaten. The head chef told me he shared my pain but it’s a Jacques Pepin Signature Dish and he cannot touch the recipe.

 

 

We had 200 CCers for a Meet & Greet and we had a one-time dispensation from the “no hosted M & G rule” on O. They made us a fabulous hosted party with open bar and wonderful hors d’oeuvres. It was great to have so many friends on board. Thank you O.

 

I feared that once I sailed Marina I would not be happy on the R ships. The opposite is true. I have two future O cruises book on O -- on Nautica -- and I look forward to being back on the smaller more intimate vessels. I would certainly sail on Marina or Riviera if the itinerary were perfect, but I vote for the R ships. The one thing I will miss are the cooking classes. But according to Chef Kelly, O has hired 8 new chefs to expand the program and the R ships the classes will be handled as excursions.

 

For me, the reason to pay more to sail on O as opposed e.g. to Celebrity (which I do enjoy) is the small size. That intimacy is well worth the extra money. With 1200 passengers you lose it. You might as well have 2000.

 

Marina is still a work in progress. I do not think the experience is as good as the R ships and I do not think the staff is very good at handling so many passengers.

 

Just my take. You can email me privately if you wish at pacheco18@comcast.net

 

Your review was very welcome and thank you for sharing your pros and cons...

[yorkiemomjn]

And it's fun to get together with other CCs for dinners. On this last Marina cruise we always dined with other CCs. SO FUN!

 

 

We feel the same way! So glad we found out about CC. You have some friends before you ever board the ship! :D

[pap5211]

Have to disagree with her. If she is the one we are thinking of, she disrupted trivia continually with interruptions and got to be a bore. We sat on the other side and could not hear all her gripes, but felt she was demonstrating her NY heritage. Some people get on board with an armpit of complaints and you just have to ignore them. We enjoy Nolan and appreciate his sense of humor. He is not PC all the time and that is healthy. He put up with a lot on this cruise and we appreciated him.

As to entertainment, if she walked out of the singer's performance, she was the only one - she got a standing ovation from everyone else! The other performers left something to be desired tho.

[GrammieK]

NY Heritage????? Is that a new slur that I missed?

[raffeer]

.....but felt she was demonstrating her NY heritage. .

 

Another healthy "not PC" viewpoint??????

[doublebzz]

Have always done TA's on HAL or Queen Mary 2 and have been satisfied. We were considering booking Marina's Spring TA but the very negative comments about the food and entertainment have given me second thoughts. After all, why pay twice the cost of a HAL cruise for a mediocre product. Am I wrong?

[Paulchili]

Have always done TA's on HAL or Queen Mary 2 and have been satisfied. We were considering booking Marina's Spring TA but the very negative comments about the food and entertainment have given me second thoughts. After all, why pay twice the cost of a HAL cruise for a mediocre product. Am I wrong?

 

I am not sure where you read this (please post a reference if possible).

While entertainment is not a strong suite for Oceania in general (though we found it more than just acceptable on our Marina cruises - YMMV), the food on Marina is the VERY BEST at sea - better than Silversea, Regent and Seabourn IMO and that of most people who have cruised on the Marina.

[JimandStan]

I am not sure where you read this (please post a reference if possible).

While entertainment is not a strong suite for Oceania in general (though we found it more than just acceptable on our Marina cruises - YMMV), the food on Marina is the VERY BEST at sea - better than Silversea, Regent and Seabourn IMO and that of most people who have cruised on the Marina.

 

Very well said, Paul!

 

If doublebzz was satisfied with the food on HAL, then he should be thrilled with what Oceania has to offer.

Grill Class on the Queens is in the same league, but in a very formal (dare I say stodgy?) way. Jam trolleys, for goodness sake.......:rolleyes:

[doublebzz]

Original poster indicated they didn't dine in MDR and said the following about the specialty restaurants:

 

"I have not changed my mind about he Specialty Restaurants on O. For the most part, they are not that all that special IMO. Jacques was a disappointment. The duck was dry and not crispy. Most people with whom I spoke on the ship shared my view about Jacques. Reviews, however, were mixed and some passengers had both a good experience and a bad one on two different nights. Consistency is important. Although the food in Toscana was good (not great), the service, as reported earlier, was lacking. The cappuccino was ice cold. Toscana also got mixed reviews from fellow passengers.

We had our first properly prepared steaks ever in Polo. Food and service were excellent. However, with all the great steaks and chops and lobster tails in the buffet, Polo is somewhat of a redundancy."

 

Glad to hear others share a different opinion.