pacheco18 Posted June 9, 2012 #1 Share Posted June 9, 2012 We are just off 16 nights on Nautica and I believe it was our best O cruise ever! The best of the best: David Shermet -- wonderful CD Toscana -- superb -- first time we have ever repeated a visit to an O specialty restaurant -- we ate there 3 times and each time it was great. Our cabin attendant - Snezana - a doll! Atmosphere -- nothing beats an R ship AND - entertainment!!! - yes -- the new Nautica singers were only on their 2nd sailing and they were great -- broadway style reviews -- lots of talent. What an improvement over past cruises. Thank you FDR!! The string quartet may have been the best I have ever heard on a ship - wide repertoire from classical to Broadway show music. The concert pianist was amazing. The dance band was terrific and we love ballroom dancing. I could have lived without the juggler. The worst Polo -- hard to have a ribeye with no flavor but they managed it. Steaks were excessively fatty ( not just marbled). Many shared my opinion. The executive chef called me after my mid cruise comments. Oddly, on the Marina we had a wonderful Polo meal and a lousy Toscana meal. Consistency is not there among the ships . Also We ate in the GDR a few times. Better than usual but if you sat at the wrong station service was painfully slow. One dinner took 2 1/2 hours! We ate with the F & B Manager one evening (he was great) and of course service was flawless and much faster. Beware - the O shore excursion prices were beyond ridiculous. They were asking 200 - 400 dollars for a transfer from Copenhagen port to the airport! A taxi was $40. I heard many complaints. We did only private excursions and we compared prices -- O's were not as good and were hundreds more per person in most cases for a busload. We made some great new friends and had a great time. Our trivia team (which I arranged on the roll call -- usually won -- I ended up with over 100 Big O points - yes!) Looking forward to my next Nautica cruise next April. This cruise reconfirmed for me that I only want to be on the R ships when I sail O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbeauinal Posted June 10, 2012 #2 Share Posted June 10, 2012 I can confirm that your trivia team was quite good. My team usually got points, but we weren't in the same class as y'all. Heard about Cruise Critic for the first time on this cruise. Looking forward to learning more. We've already booked another Oceania cruise for 2013. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted June 10, 2012 Author #3 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Wish I could have them with me on every cruise!! Glad you found CC. We told many others about it on the cruise. You will find it invaluable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MightyQuinn Posted June 11, 2012 #4 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Pacheco, I'm interested in your comments about your private tour to Seville. We're booked with the same company but I'm wondering if it's too rushed at the principal sites. Did you feel you had enough time inside Alcazar and Seville Cathedral? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted June 11, 2012 Author #5 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I had been to Seville before -- this tour was largely for my husband's benefit. The amount of time in port was really not enough to spend meaningful time in both the Alcazar and the Cathedral -- but we spent time in other parts of Seville before going to the old part of the city. We used Top Day Tours (aka Spain Day Tours) for our group of 10 and they did a fine job. They provide one guide from Cadiz to Seville and then in Seville you meet up with a licensed local guide. Both were excellent. The real limitation is imposed by the cruise line. We made sure we had plenty of time to get back to the ship. I never like to cut it too close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted June 13, 2012 Author #6 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Hi, Laraine. It was a pleasure meeting you & Bob in person onboard & we totally agree with your comments about the Nautica. We also liked it better than the Marina because of the ambiance & the smaller numbers which made for shorter wait times for everything. Hope to cruise with you in the future sometime! Cathy We'd love to cruise with you again. Didn't we have a ball?! Great to meet you both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbie21 Posted June 13, 2012 #7 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Hi Laraine and other friends, I agree pretty much with you except for the Polo vs Toscano. We ate once in Toccano and were under impressed with both food and service. However, we ate in Polo 5 times. Prime rib and Maine lobster were excellent. Steaks, very good. Service was excellent and warmly friendly. I guess it may be partly luck of the draw but Polo just seemed better run. We had the same experience as you with slow service in the MDR. The tours you organized were great. Thanks again. The late arrival in Lorient was annoying. It was attributed to the tides but one would think even the French can publish a tide table a year or more in advance. As a consequence our tour with Cathy, et. al., was somewhat curtailed. All in all this was an excellent itenerary and the ship services were, on balance, also excellent. We will try the Riviera in Feb and let you know our experience with the newest ship. Say hi to Bob for me, Robbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted June 13, 2012 Author #8 Share Posted June 13, 2012 We really enjoyed spending time with you both. Any Bordeaux left? Polo for you. Toscana for us. That's generally how it always is. LOL Hope we get to cruise with you again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl Rosebery Posted June 14, 2012 #9 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Thanks for arranging our tours in Casablanca and Vigo. Sorry for the confusion at the mosque. It was great fun. Nautica is a wonderful ship. We vote for Toscana 3 to 0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted June 14, 2012 Author #10 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Thanks for arranging our tours in Casablanca and Vigo. Sorry for the confusion at the mosque. It was great fun. Nautica is a wonderful ship. We vote for Toscana 3 to 0. Wonderful meeting you and Mary! Love your independent spirits. Toscana in the lead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted June 15, 2012 #11 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Ever since Oceania came on the scene, LOTS of people have preferred Toscana. (As I recall that was true of Renaissance as well.) But we never did. We have always preferred Polo. Maybe that is because we had more than our share of poor (or relatively poor) meals in Toscana, and living in NYC we have access to marvelous Italian restaurants ... but we tend not to go to steakhouses all that much. I will say that on more recent cruises, Toscana has been much better. Or maybe we were luckier with what we ordered! But I still prefer Polo ... And if I'm on Marina (or Riviera), I prefer Jacques. C'est la vie! To each his own ... Mura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted June 15, 2012 Author #12 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Hello Mura The problem I see with both Toscana and Polois that the only thing they have in common across the ships and the sailings is the name on the door Itis a proverbial crapshoot as to the quality of your meal. A different chef, a different Maitre d and you have a different experience. This was our fourth O cruise, second on Nautica. On our first two cruises the food in those Toscanas was ok but not so good that we wanted to return. On my Marina cruise food and service in Toscana were awful Like you I was raised on great Italian food in ny and I have even gone to cooking school in Tuscany. That leads to some pretty high standards. On this last cruise Toscana was a wow. The Maitre d Claudio made us feel like we owned the restaurant. We met the chef so we could congratulate him. Food and service were as good as it gets I will be back on Nautica next April. Again, Toscana will be nothing more than the name on the door until I try it. I am hoping it will be just as good but .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klscaz Posted June 15, 2012 #13 Share Posted June 15, 2012 We are just off 16 nights on Nautica and I believe it was our best O cruise ever! The best of the best: David Shermet -- wonderful CD Toscana -- superb -- first time we have ever repeated a visit to an O specialty restaurant -- we ate there 3 times and each time it was great. Our cabin attendant - Snezana - a doll! Atmosphere -- nothing beats an R ship AND - entertainment!!! - yes -- the new Nautica singers were only on their 2nd sailing and they were great -- broadway style reviews -- lots of talent. What an improvement over past cruises. Thank you FDR!! The string quartet may have been the best I have ever heard on a ship - wide repertoire from classical to Broadway show music. The concert pianist was amazing. The dance band was terrific and we love ballroom dancing. I could have lived without the juggler. I enjoyed your review. We just booked our first Oceania cruise on the Riviera for 3/28/13. I've booked independent shore excursions for my last 4 cruises and have been very pleased with the experience--sounds like it is a must on Oceania. Love the idea of no upcharge for the specialty restaurants! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarleneAm Posted June 18, 2012 #14 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Thanks for arranging our tours in Casablanca and Vigo. Sorry for the confusion at the mosque. It was great fun. Nautica is a wonderful ship. We vote for Toscana 3 to 0. ____________________________________________________________ Can you tell us what tour company was used for Casablanca? We are callling there next year and want to use reliable tour company. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted June 18, 2012 Author #15 Share Posted June 18, 2012 ____________________________________________________________Can you tell us what tour company was used for Casablanca? We are callling there next year and want to use reliable tour company. thanks. Contact Omar omar chouiyakh <octours@gmail.com> Please tell him Laraine Brokaw referred you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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