Merry Christmas from the Oceania Riviera, docked at Margaritaville, Grand Turk.

[jwitt2]

Ship is beautiful, decorated for Christmas. Carolers singing as we boarded, very festive. Food is delicious. We had 2 downpours here at Grand Turk, but I ran in to Margaritaville. Free internet here. May not find it again. Oh, it is pouring again. 30 minutes to board before we leave. This is the first rain we have had when it mattered, only our first port.

[RJB]

Ship is beautiful, decorated for Christmas. Carolers singing as we boarded, very festive. Food is delicious. We had 2 downpours here at Grand Turk, but I ran in to Margaritaville. Free internet here. May not find it again. Oh, it is pouring again. 30 minutes to board before we leave. This is the first rain we have had when it mattered, only our first port.

Wow, It is refreshing that we are still allowed to say Merry Christmas on these boards. So many towns and governments have taken that away. Shame on them and great for cruise critic. :):):)

[rheasue38]

Hi!

How are you enjoying the Riviera? Have you been to any of the specialty restaurants yet?

We have sailed with Oceania 17 times and have 7 more upcoming cruises with them.

Hope you have a fantastic cruise!

Rhea

[jwitt2]

Hi!

How are you enjoying the Riviera? Have you been to any of the specialty restaurants yet?

We have sailed with Oceania 17 times and have 7 more upcoming cruises with them.

Hope you have a fantastic cruise!

Rhea

 

Hi Rhea,

Happy New Year! We just got off the ship today. Best food we have ever had on any cruise. The service was excellent. We went to all 4 specialty restaurants and enjoyed all of them. Went to Jacques for my birthday last night; it was wonderful. They had crepes Suzette, but they brought me a delicious birthday cake so we passed on the crepes. The only downside to the cruise were the 100 plus children who often did not seem to be supervised even though there was a program for them which they didn't seem to be attending. They were running and jumping in the pool and in the Horizon Lounge on New Years Eve where they were also batting the balloons around. Not sure when we will be back on this line again.

Jo Ann

[LHT28]

Not sure when we will be back on this line again.

Jo Ann

 

Just do not go at Christmas /New years other times of the year have very few children:D

[rheasue38]

Hi!

Glad you enjoyed the cruise! We love sailing with Oceania! We will sail with them again in March, 2014. This will be our 18th cruise with Oceania!

We never have any kids on any of our Oceania cruises!

We love all the specialty restaurants onboard but Jacques is our favorite! The General Manager, Thierry and his girlfriend, Natalie took us there last cruise. We ate there 3 times.We have celebrated many birthdays and anniversaries onboard. Love their birthday cakes!

How was your flight home?

Happy Belated Birthday!

Rhea

[alexandra cruiser]

and at least the kids weren t YOURS,or grandkids in my case.Can TRY to ignore them.Every luxury or premium cruise we ve been on over the holidays has this problem,but it s good time for us to get away,

Did they have a special xmas program at nite,or ny eve?Not that I d stay awake,haha.??

What was entertainment like,good singers and dancers?

How were shore excursions,did you do your own?

Have never been on Riviera,just Insignia and Regatta.Did you notice long lines for buffets,shore exc.,etc??;)

[redmanflorida]

Management clueless to this Problem as their President and Family was on our Xmas Cruise and seemingly ignored the problem without a Solution!

[hondorner]

Could be that only some considered it a problem...

[jwitt2]

Hi!

Glad you enjoyed the cruise! We love sailing with Oceania! We will sail with them again in March, 2014. This will be our 18th cruise with Oceania!

We never have any kids on any of our Oceania cruises!

We love all the specialty restaurants onboard but Jacques is our favorite! The General Manager, Thierry and his girlfriend, Natalie took us there last cruise. We ate there 3 times.We have celebrated many birthdays and anniversaries onboard. Love their birthday cakes!

How was your flight home?

Happy Belated Birthday!

Rhea

 

We drove to FL and stayed in Fort Lauderdale several days before the cruise. Traffic was very heavy on I-95 yesterday but not as bad today. Weather could be bad here in the morning, so glad we got home when we did.

[jwitt2]

and at least the kids weren t YOURS,or grandkids in my case.Can TRY to ignore them.Every luxury or premium cruise we ve been on over the holidays has this problem,but it s good time for us to get away,

Did they have a special xmas program at nite,or ny eve?Not that I d stay awake,haha.??

What was entertainment like,good singers and dancers?

How were shore excursions,did you do your own?

Have never been on Riviera,just Insignia and Regatta.Did you notice long lines for buffets,shore exc.,etc??;)

Christmas eve seemed to be the main event for the meal rather than Christmas day. But then Santa came and gave kids presents on Christmas morning. There was a nice video on TV with crew members wishing Merry Christmas in different languages. Then nice parties on NYE, one by the pool, one in Horizons, and maybe there was one in Martinis. The singers and dancers were at the party by the pool, one of the bands was in Horizons for dancing. I enjoyed the 4 or 5 shows by the singers and dancers. Patrick Dunn, the main singer is very talented and the 2 ladies who sang were also very good. The dancing girls are really beautiful. Among the entertainers, there was a magician, a pianist/comedian, and a classical guitar player who was interesting. Some nights the singers and dancers would perform a short act before the main performance which was nice rather than just having a magician, juggler or whatever.

We did shore excursions by the ship in St. Lucia and La Romana. There were mud slides in St. Lucia on Christmas Eve which affected some tours, but not ours. We just went to the fishing village and up through the mountains south of the city on a shorter excursion. We had booked an all day tour to Santo Domingo from La Romana, but it was cancelled, so we went to Altos Chavon and Casa de Campo which were worth seeing. I took a shuttle on my own at Grand Turk to Cockburntown just to see the museum and what else was there. We walked around on our own at Antigua, St. Barts, Tortola, and Barbados, had been to all of them before. I didn't notice any long lines for buffets or tendering in St. Barts. We didn't even have to wait very long to get off the ship in Miami. Sometimes it was crowded at the pool and I had to look a bit to get a lounge. Never had any trouble getting a seat for the shows.