Thoughts from our first Oceania cruise - Riviera, March 4-18

[isabelle315]

Well, we're back, and since I'd rather think about our cruise than work - here I go! I always enjoyed reading these little reviews before our trip, so I'm going to post one. Will probably do a shorter version for a formal review.

 

Background: we are in our early 30s, and this was our honeymoon from getting married last October (we took a "familymoon" right after with my 5 year old, this was our "grown up" trip!). We love good food and are very active and adventurous. We are not the crazy party types, or really ones to stay up late. This was our first Oceania cruise. We have taken a Disney cruise (with daughter!), enjoyed it and would do it again, but it was obviously a very different kind of vacation. I've also done one Celebrity way back (was OK), and once on Carnival (in college - even then, I said never again!!)

 

First, I'll post some general comments, followed by more specific goods and bads, and then reviews of our port activities.

 

Our bottom line: we LOVED it, and will definitely do Oceania again in the future. We booked a cruise on Regatta for October 2015.

 

Cabin: we were in a standard Verandah on deck 7. It was just perfect for us. Plenty of storage, both in main room and bathroom, and our steward was wonderful – everything was kept clean and we had whatever we asked for (beach towels, water, etc.) without delay. The bed was super comfortable!

 

Ship in general: Décor was lovely, and we spent a lot of time looking at the artwork as we walked around. We loved how uncrowded the ship felt – especially in the evenings, strolling around, it almost felt as though we had the ship to ourselves. The only times we felt too crowded was in Terrace on embarkation day (which we understand, since no one can be in their cabins yet), and on the pool deck the very last sea day. The bars and public areas were beautiful.

 

Food and wine: overall, fantastic. We only went to the GDR twice for dinner (once by ourselves, the second time by invitation with 2 of the entertainment crew), once for breakfast. Nothing wrong with the food there, we just preferred the ambiance in the other venues. We really enjoyed the Terrace at dinner, especially sitting outside with a view of the port we’d been in receding in the distance. Food was always really wonderful. Waves was the surprise winner – that surf and turf with the truffle fries!! I also really enjoyed the salmon burger. We loved Barristas for a morning or mid-day macchiato or cappuccino break.

 

We enjoyed the specialty restaurants, and found it relatively easy to get reservations at the times we wanted. Red Ginger (ate there twice) was one of our favorites – everything was delicious, from the appetizers to the sake to the dessert (chocolate-lemongrass crème brulee was a memorable favorite). The only miss here was a fried fish special, which was kind of dry and flavorless. Jacques (also twice) – everything was really lovely here, but I was disappointed to miss the mussels. The cheese plate was divine. Toscana (twice again!) – the appetizers and pastas were very good; the entrees were more up and down. My husband had a pounded veal filet which was tasteless, and the Osso Bucco was very good but not so out-of-this-world as advertised. Lamb here was better than in Polo, and filet just as good with a delicious topping. We really enjoyed the desserts in Toscana. Polo (just once!) – overall really good, but my rack of lamb was tough. Dessert quintet was a disappointment, and the reason we picked one more dinner in Toscana for our last evening over Polo.

 

Overall, the wine was good – not amazing, but good – and see my note below about the sommeliers. Bar drinks were well-prepared.

 

Entertainment: as noted below, we enjoyed the music, particularly the string quartet. We only made it to two of the late shows (Rock On and the 60s show) – both were better than we expected, given the tepid reviews I’d read here. Very much enjoyed them. We actually spent some time with two of the main singers/entertainers, and had dinner with them in the GDR one night – it was fun to learn a little about their experience on the ship. We did trivia quite a few times, and really enjoyed it – trivia was led by the cruise director most times and we thought he did a fine job. Bingo was also fun – we played on three days (and came out $6 ahead, not bad!)

 

Embarkation/Debarkation: Smooth and easy on both ends. No complaints; compared to previous experiences with larger cruise lines, the whole process felt pretty luxurious even without any sort of preferred cabin level!

 

Tendering: easy, no issues; we showed up on the earlier side, though. We only tendered in one port (St. Bart’s) and were not with a ship tour.

 

Fellow Passengers: yes, we were a little concerned about our ages coming onto the ship, but it was a non-issue. (Though we were asked if we were crew members more than once!!) Virtually everyone was friendly and we really enjoyed getting to know some of the other people on board. There was just one child on the ship - she was very well-behaved, and we loved chatting with her, as she was the same age as our little girl back home.

 

Gym and Spa: we used the fitness facilities a few times, and they were very adequate, although my husband complained that the free weights didn't go high enough (I told him he'd survive ;)). Gym felt clean and spacious. Spa service prices were exorbitant, so we avoided it, but I did get one manicure - service itself was fine, but, for the price, not really worth it - and my nails chipped in less than 24 hours. The woman who did my service had warned me that they use organic product and it wouldn't last very long. No kidding!

 

Things I’d like to see improved:

 

- Recycling!! I meant to put this in my comments form, but forgot. It was really disconcerting to see all those bottles and cans going into the trash, as well as all the Currents newsletters and other paperwork that inevitably got discarded on a daily basis. If they have to store the trash somewhere while at sea, I have to imagine it wouldn’t be much harder to have separate storage for recycling (and bottles/cans can be compressed). Plus - for me, anyway - it would be a positive selling point.

- For goodness sake, just get On Demand for the movies (this could also allow for access of billing statements, etc. on the in-room television). There was one movie in particular that we wanted to see, but, every single time it came around, it was played at 7pm – basically impossible to schedule dinner around (we ended up ordering room service pizza!) The lack of being able to pause the movies was irritating, too, now that we can all “pause” TV shows at home.

- Sommeliers. They just didn’t seem as knowledgeable or as helpful as we expected. On a cruise line like this, most people are already going to have a basic understanding of types of wine and what goes with the food. What we would have liked, upon asking for a wine suggestion to go with our chosen entrees, is a decisive suggestion with perhaps a reason why… I mean, the menus in the specialities don’t change, so they ought to be able to say “ah, yes, the 2009 (whatever wine) will pair well with the dover sole, it is light and fruity” or whatever. Instead, when we asked for a suggestion, we invariably heard “well, you could maybe do a zinfandel or a pinot noir – what do you prefer?” It sort of left us wondering why they bothered with the sommeliers at all!

- Future Cruise Booking: we did book a future cruise while on board (Regatta in October 2015). It was not really a pleasant process, however. While we ended up with a good deal, when we first stopped by, the woman we worked with quoted us a much higher price, and specifically said that no prepaid gratuities or other benefits were available. After checking online and taking screen shots of the lower price advertised after partially booking the same cruise and category, she then lowered the price to what it should be and added in the advertised prepaid gratuities. It really left a bad taste in our mouths that she was misleading at first – certainly didn’t encourage us to trust what she said, and we didn’t. Too bad.

 

Our highlights: we really loved the whole cruise, but these were the things that stood out to us:

 

- Service in general. With rare exceptions, everyone was exceedingly friendly, and very timely with refills and other service. It seemed like every time I started thinking I’d like more water or coffee, a refill appeared. The few exceptions were mainly sommeliers taking a little too long to come by or in refilling a glass (when having wine by the glass or when they stored the wine bottle away from the table).

- La Reserve. Was fantastic – the food was wonderful and the wine was really even better. We will definitely be doing it again if we have the chance.

- The culinary classes. The instructor (Annie) was really phenomenal, and the classes so much fun. We have some experience cooking, but still got plenty out of both classes we took. Yes, you have to pay for them, but you get so much out of it – your own cooking station for two (not the usual case in other cooking classes I’ve taken), wonderful ingredients prepared for you, and delicious products to eat.

- The string quartet. The music around the ship was really nice in general, but the string quartet was really phenomenal. We made a point to stop and listen when they played in the Grand Bar in the evenings, and they even did a 45 minute matinee concert toward the end of the cruise.

- The concierge (Javier). He helpfully answered questions for us several times, but, in Curacao, our prescheduled mountain biking tour had cancelled on us at the last minute. We went to him that morning to see about horse back riding or something else to see the countryside – when we came back after breakfast, he had it all set up for us, and our day turned out to be lovely. We really felt that he went above and beyond, with little time to do it in.

Notes/reviews on ports and activities:

 

- Aruba: we took a stand up paddleboard lesson with Aruba Surf and Paddle School – fun and highly recommended, then relaxed on Palm Beach. Very nice.

- Curacao: we’d booked a mountain bike tour with WannaBike, but they cancelled at the last moment. We enjoyed horseback riding in the countryside (it was beautiful), but can’t remember the name of the ranch – the taxi just dropped us off there and then picked us up a couple of hours later! That evening, we had a wonderful dinner at Baoase, with our table right on the sand – definitely recommend if you’re in port late here.

- Bonaire: sail and snorkeled with Woodwind – highly recommend, we had a great time.

- Grenada: booked a private tour to the Seven Sisters Falls with Chris’s Tours and Taxi, and we loved it. The hike down to the falls and back up was a bit difficult but very doable with good shoes on. The water was cold, but we couldn’t pass up swimming by the falls! Would highly recommend this activity.

- Barbados: we rented a car here and had a LOT of trouble with navigating the highways! Be sure to ask the best way to go – the most “direct” way on the map may not be the easiest way to get there. We visited St. Nicholas Abbey way up north (highly recommended!!!) and then we took a surfing lesson with Boosey’s Surf School. It was my first time surfing, but he made it easy and we had a blast.

- St. Vincent: this is the only port we could have skipped. I hate to badmouth any city or country, but the city here just wasn’t enjoyable to walk in. The two older cathedrals were nice, but there is really no nice or central street to stroll along. We visited the Botanical Gardens, which, if you stop here, is definitely worth doing.

- St. Lucia: we hiked Gros Piton with Spencer Ambrose tours. As for Gros Piton itself – it is an amazing hike, but extremely challenging. We are both military people, very fit, and it was hard. Took about 1.5 hours up, a little less on the way down but no less difficult! Our legs were sore for days. The view, though, made it all worth it.

o As for Spencer Ambrose – for this tour, it was fine – they dropped us off right at the beach, and then came and picked us up with lunch after (delicious), and dropped us off at the beach where everyone else was, now called Sugar beach but (I think) previously Jalousie beach. There is no way we’d have wanted to spend a whole day on that beach – one hour was plenty!! It just wasn’t the nicest atmosphere – a little junky, lots of boats coming and going. Spencer himself was rude (demanded a tip from us when we paid, even though that was the first time we’d interacted with him!), but the staff and boat drivers were very nice (they got the tips).

- Antigua: we took it easy this day – spent most of the day hanging out on Dickenson Beach on the recommendation of the concierge; enjoyed it very much.

- St. Barts: rented a car from Turbe rental – pickup at the pier was quick and easy, and we dropped off at the airport (they gave us a ride back to pier). We drove around the entire island, enjoying the views and checking out all the various beaches. It was a perfect way to spend the day – the island is really breathtaking.

 

That is quite a lot, but - I hope it's helpful to someone planning their own trip! If I think of anything else, I will add it later :)

 

A big thanks to Cruise Critic in general for helping us be so well prepared and planned for this trip. It was one for the books, and we look forward to our next cruise!

[orchestrapal]

Thanks for a wonderful and complete review. I'm so glad you loved your cruise and hope you have a very happy marriage with lots more Oceania in your future.

[LHT28]

I am glad you enjoyed your cruise

 

One comment

I believe Oceania does recycle they do it below deck ..no blue boxes taking up space in your cabin like on some other lines

 

If I am mistaken someone will correct me ;)

 

Lyn

[JaniceB]

Really enjoyed reading your review, very detailed!

[isabelle315]

Lyn - I sure do hope that's the case! If it is - I can't be the only one who wouldn't mind a couple, small "we recycle all plastic and paper" or something like that, here and there or in the staterooms. It would have made me feel slightly better about everything I threw in the trash!

[pacheco18]

Well, we're back, and since I'd rather think about our cruise than work - here I go! I always enjoyed reading these little reviews before our trip, so I'm going to post one. Will probably do a shorter version for a formal review.

 

Background: we are in our early 30s, and this was our honeymoon from getting married last October (we took a "familymoon" right after with my 5 year old, this was our "grown up" trip!). We love good food and are very active and adventurous. We are not the crazy party types, or really ones to stay up late. This was our first Oceania cruise. We have taken a Disney cruise (with daughter!), enjoyed it and would do it again, but it was obviously a very different kind of vacation. I've also done one Celebrity way back (was OK), and once on Carnival (in college - even then, I said never again!!)

 

First, I'll post some general comments, followed by more specific goods and bads, and then reviews of our port activities.

 

Our bottom line: we LOVED it, and will definitely do Oceania again in the future. We booked a cruise on Regatta for October 2015.

 

Cabin: we were in a standard Verandah on deck 7. It was just perfect for us. Plenty of storage, both in main room and bathroom, and our steward was wonderful – everything was kept clean and we had whatever we asked for (beach towels, water, etc.) without delay. The bed was super comfortable!

 

Ship in general: Décor was lovely, and we spent a lot of time looking at the artwork as we walked around. We loved how uncrowded the ship felt – especially in the evenings, strolling around, it almost felt as though we had the ship to ourselves. The only times we felt too crowded was in Terrace on embarkation day (which we understand, since no one can be in their cabins yet), and on the pool deck the very last sea day. The bars and public areas were beautiful.

 

Food and wine: overall, fantastic. We only went to the GDR twice for dinner (once by ourselves, the second time by invitation with 2 of the entertainment crew), once for breakfast. Nothing wrong with the food there, we just preferred the ambiance in the other venues. We really enjoyed the Terrace at dinner, especially sitting outside with a view of the port we’d been in receding in the distance. Food was always really wonderful. Waves was the surprise winner – that surf and turf with the truffle fries!! I also really enjoyed the salmon burger. We loved Barristas for a morning or mid-day macchiato or cappuccino break.

 

We enjoyed the specialty restaurants, and found it relatively easy to get reservations at the times we wanted. Red Ginger (ate there twice) was one of our favorites – everything was delicious, from the appetizers to the sake to the dessert (chocolate-lemongrass crème brulee was a memorable favorite). The only miss here was a fried fish special, which was kind of dry and flavorless. Jacques (also twice) – everything was really lovely here, but I was disappointed to miss the mussels. The cheese plate was divine. Toscana (twice again!) – the appetizers and pastas were very good; the entrees were more up and down. My husband had a pounded veal filet which was tasteless, and the Osso Bucco was very good but not so out-of-this-world as advertised. Lamb here was better than in Polo, and filet just as good with a delicious topping. We really enjoyed the desserts in Toscana. Polo (just once!) – overall really good, but my rack of lamb was tough. Dessert quintet was a disappointment, and the reason we picked one more dinner in Toscana for our last evening over Polo.

 

Overall, the wine was good – not amazing, but good – and see my note below about the sommeliers. Bar drinks were well-prepared.

 

Entertainment: as noted below, we enjoyed the music, particularly the string quartet. We only made it to two of the late shows (Rock On and the 60s show) – both were better than we expected, given the tepid reviews I’d read here. Very much enjoyed them. We actually spent some time with two of the main singers/entertainers, and had dinner with them in the GDR one night – it was fun to learn a little about their experience on the ship. We did trivia quite a few times, and really enjoyed it – trivia was led by the cruise director most times and we thought he did a fine job. Bingo was also fun – we played on three days (and came out $6 ahead, not bad!)

 

Embarkation/Debarkation: Smooth and easy on both ends. No complaints; compared to previous experiences with larger cruise lines, the whole process felt pretty luxurious even without any sort of preferred cabin level!

 

Tendering: easy, no issues; we showed up on the earlier side, though. We only tendered in one port (St. Bart’s) and were not with a ship tour.

 

Fellow Passengers: yes, we were a little concerned about our ages coming onto the ship, but it was a non-issue. (Though we were asked if we were crew members more than once!!) Virtually everyone was friendly and we really enjoyed getting to know some of the other people on board. There was just one child on the ship - she was very well-behaved, and we loved chatting with her, as she was the same age as our little girl back home.

 

Gym and Spa: we used the fitness facilities a few times, and they were very adequate, although my husband complained that the free weights didn't go high enough (I told him he'd survive ;)). Gym felt clean and spacious. Spa service prices were exorbitant, so we avoided it, but I did get one manicure - service itself was fine, but, for the price, not really worth it - and my nails chipped in less than 24 hours. The woman who did my service had warned me that they use organic product and it wouldn't last very long. No kidding!

 

Things I’d like to see improved:

 

- Recycling!! I meant to put this in my comments form, but forgot. It was really disconcerting to see all those bottles and cans going into the trash, as well as all the Currents newsletters and other paperwork that inevitably got discarded on a daily basis. If they have to store the trash somewhere while at sea, I have to imagine it wouldn’t be much harder to have separate storage for recycling (and bottles/cans can be compressed). Plus - for me, anyway - it would be a positive selling point.

- For goodness sake, just get On Demand for the movies (this could also allow for access of billing statements, etc. on the in-room television). There was one movie in particular that we wanted to see, but, every single time it came around, it was played at 7pm – basically impossible to schedule dinner around (we ended up ordering room service pizza!) The lack of being able to pause the movies was irritating, too, now that we can all “pause” TV shows at home.

- Sommeliers. They just didn’t seem as knowledgeable or as helpful as we expected. On a cruise line like this, most people are already going to have a basic understanding of types of wine and what goes with the food. What we would have liked, upon asking for a wine suggestion to go with our chosen entrees, is a decisive suggestion with perhaps a reason why… I mean, the menus in the specialities don’t change, so they ought to be able to say “ah, yes, the 2009 (whatever wine) will pair well with the dover sole, it is light and fruity” or whatever. Instead, when we asked for a suggestion, we invariably heard “well, you could maybe do a zinfandel or a pinot noir – what do you prefer?” It sort of left us wondering why they bothered with the sommeliers at all!

- Future Cruise Booking: we did book a future cruise while on board (Regatta in October 2015). It was not really a pleasant process, however. While we ended up with a good deal, when we first stopped by, the woman we worked with quoted us a much higher price, and specifically said that no prepaid gratuities or other benefits were available. After checking online and taking screen shots of the lower price advertised after partially booking the same cruise and category, she then lowered the price to what it should be and added in the advertised prepaid gratuities. It really left a bad taste in our mouths that she was misleading at first – certainly didn’t encourage us to trust what she said, and we didn’t. Too bad.

 

Our highlights: we really loved the whole cruise, but these were the things that stood out to us:

 

- Service in general. With rare exceptions, everyone was exceedingly friendly, and very timely with refills and other service. It seemed like every time I started thinking I’d like more water or coffee, a refill appeared. The few exceptions were mainly sommeliers taking a little too long to come by or in refilling a glass (when having wine by the glass or when they stored the wine bottle away from the table).

- La Reserve. Was fantastic – the food was wonderful and the wine was really even better. We will definitely be doing it again if we have the chance.

- The culinary classes. The instructor (Annie) was really phenomenal, and the classes so much fun. We have some experience cooking, but still got plenty out of both classes we took. Yes, you have to pay for them, but you get so much out of it – your own cooking station for two (not the usual case in other cooking classes I’ve taken), wonderful ingredients prepared for you, and delicious products to eat.

- The string quartet. The music around the ship was really nice in general, but the string quartet was really phenomenal. We made a point to stop and listen when they played in the Grand Bar in the evenings, and they even did a 45 minute matinee concert toward the end of the cruise.

- The concierge (Javier). He helpfully answered questions for us several times, but, in Curacao, our prescheduled mountain biking tour had cancelled on us at the last minute. We went to him that morning to see about horse back riding or something else to see the countryside – when we came back after breakfast, he had it all set up for us, and our day turned out to be lovely. We really felt that he went above and beyond, with little time to do it in.

Notes/reviews on ports and activities:

 

- Aruba: we took a stand up paddleboard lesson with Aruba Surf and Paddle School – fun and highly recommended, then relaxed on Palm Beach. Very nice.

- Curacao: we’d booked a mountain bike tour with WannaBike, but they cancelled at the last moment. We enjoyed horseback riding in the countryside (it was beautiful), but can’t remember the name of the ranch – the taxi just dropped us off there and then picked us up a couple of hours later! That evening, we had a wonderful dinner at Baoase, with our table right on the sand – definitely recommend if you’re in port late here.

- Bonaire: sail and snorkeled with Woodwind – highly recommend, we had a great time.

- Grenada: booked a private tour to the Seven Sisters Falls with Chris’s Tours and Taxi, and we loved it. The hike down to the falls and back up was a bit difficult but very doable with good shoes on. The water was cold, but we couldn’t pass up swimming by the falls! Would highly recommend this activity.

- Barbados: we rented a car here and had a LOT of trouble with navigating the highways! Be sure to ask the best way to go – the most “direct” way on the map may not be the easiest way to get there. We visited St. Nicholas Abbey way up north (highly recommended!!!) and then we took a surfing lesson with Boosey’s Surf School. It was my first time surfing, but he made it easy and we had a blast.

- St. Vincent: this is the only port we could have skipped. I hate to badmouth any city or country, but the city here just wasn’t enjoyable to walk in. The two older cathedrals were nice, but there is really no nice or central street to stroll along. We visited the Botanical Gardens, which, if you stop here, is definitely worth doing.

- St. Lucia: we hiked Gros Piton with Spencer Ambrose tours. As for Gros Piton itself – it is an amazing hike, but extremely challenging. We are both military people, very fit, and it was hard. Took about 1.5 hours up, a little less on the way down but no less difficult! Our legs were sore for days. The view, though, made it all worth it.

o As for Spencer Ambrose – for this tour, it was fine – they dropped us off right at the beach, and then came and picked us up with lunch after (delicious), and dropped us off at the beach where everyone else was, now called Sugar beach but (I think) previously Jalousie beach. There is no way we’d have wanted to spend a whole day on that beach – one hour was plenty!! It just wasn’t the nicest atmosphere – a little junky, lots of boats coming and going. Spencer himself was rude (demanded a tip from us when we paid, even though that was the first time we’d interacted with him!), but the staff and boat drivers were very nice (they got the tips).

- Antigua: we took it easy this day – spent most of the day hanging out on Dickenson Beach on the recommendation of the concierge; enjoyed it very much.

- St. Barts: rented a car from Turbe rental – pickup at the pier was quick and easy, and we dropped off at the airport (they gave us a ride back to pier). We drove around the entire island, enjoying the views and checking out all the various beaches. It was a perfect way to spend the day – the island is really breathtaking.

 

That is quite a lot, but - I hope it's helpful to someone planning their own trip! If I think of anything else, I will add it later :)

 

A big thanks to Cruise Critic in general for helping us be so well prepared and planned for this trip. It was one for the books, and we look forward to our next cruise!

 

The best deals do NOT come from the cruise line. They come from a good TA who specializes in Oceania. You have 30 days to transfer your booking. You will get an even better deal if you do so.

[LHT28]

Lyn - I sure do hope that's the case! If it is - I can't be the only one who wouldn't mind a couple, small "we recycle all plastic and paper" or something like that, here and there or in the staterooms. It would have made me feel slightly better about everything I threw in the trash!

 

Oceania as you noticed is more classy than some other lines so having blue boxes around the ship would not appeal to some

I seem to remember in the early days they printed this fact of recycling in the newsletters

Like I say I could be wrong but ...I am seldom wrong just ask my DH :D

[isabelle315]

We do intend to transfer the booking to a TA; currently shopping around, as I think we can do better than the one we used this time.

[Steph27]

Fantastic review! Appreciate you sharing your Oceania experience on the Riviera. Some of the activities sound challenging. Thanks for explaining that even as military people it wasn't so easy on the hikes. It made me feel better! I am very impressed you rented a car on St. Barts. It is not an easy drive with few guard rails and sharp turns around the cliffs. It is a beautiful island. Glad you had no trepidation to explore and enjoy it.

[DOJO466]

We were port side at St Lucia and decided to just stay onboard as we had been to the port a number of times. We sat on our balcony and just watched the goings on. We did see the trash coming off the ship and noticed that there had been a great degree of separation of regular trash vs bottles etc. We always put our glass and plastics to the side of the trash bucket in our stateroom more of a habit at home than anything else. We also noted that there were a number of shall we say" flea market peddlers" for lack of a better word who congregated at the trash disposal area who were partaking of a huge bin that contained pots, pans, fryers and various other kitchen items which were being disposed. They took every item. There were also other items offloaded that the locals took advantage. It was nice to see that someone could reuse these things.

[portofrome]

Thanks so much for posting your review.

[G&G]

Thanks for the great review.

 

We were also on this cruise and it was wonderful. Were you on the Bonaire sail & snorkel in the morning; I was. It was incredible. We were taken in groups of 4 or 5 with our own guide while snorkeling.

 

As far as the Future Cruise person, we sailed on Oceania for the first time a year ago with the same Oceania agent. She royally screwed up my reservations for this cruise which took an act of Congress to correct ashore.

[floatplan]

There is recycling done below decks of trash.

 

I've had tours on other ships and seen the environmental department. All trash is hand sorted to separate the glass, aluminum, paper, plastics, etc. They have equipment to compress it into bales, and glass is broken and stored in bags. Other toxic things are separated like batteries. Food is ground and ejected as fish food. Some things are burned. If those bales really get recycled I don't know, they could end up in landfills. The Freewinds is known for off loading a lot of trash to landfills in Bonaire and Aruba, but it's not really a cruise line ... for the unclear non-thetan mainstream.

Edited March 21, 2014 by floatplan

[alexspepa]

Great review and very helpful as we will be on the Riviera in May...thanks!

[alexandra cruiser]

We do intend to transfer the booking to a TA; currently shopping around, as I think we can do better than the one we used this time.

 

we get the best price we can find.Then book with TA(based in Dallas,but a brick and mortar agency I found googling and checking out).Then get check for 5% cash back before cruise.

Sorry,we can t give out names.But they DO EXIST and worth some digging.Many will also give OBC and free gratuities,etc.Do ask for any SPECIALS like that.:)

[turnip eater]

Thanks for the great review.

 

We were also on this cruise and it was wonderful. Were you on the Bonaire sail & snorkel in the morning; I was. It was incredible. We were taken in groups of 4 or 5 with our own guide while snorkeling.

 

As far as the Future Cruise person, we sailed on Oceania for the first time a year ago with the same Oceania agent. She royally screwed up my reservations for this cruise which took an act of Congress to correct ashore.

 

Hello!

 

Would the Future Cruise person be the one with the wild hair?

 

Turnip

[G&G]

Hello!

 

Would the Future Cruise person be the one with the wild hair?

 

Turnip

 

You must have ESP !

[Terryd444]

Thank you for the detailed post, I love hearing about my favorite ship....even if it is the only one I have experienced! Two cruises down and just booked a third on Riviera.

 

Your post took time to write and was very thorough and enjoyable. Thank you for taking the time...

 

Terry

[turnip eater]

You must have ESP !

 

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

 

We went to the talk on future cruises......she stated that the smaller ships carried 864 passengers each...WRONG!

 

 

It's 684.......if she can't get it right, how can you depend on her:rolleyes:

 

She s quite abrasive when dealing with queries:rolleyes:

[G&G]

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

 

We went to the talk on future cruises......she stated that the smaller ships carried 864 passengers each...WRONG!

 

 

It's 684.......if she can't get it right, how can you depend on her:rolleyes:

 

She s quite abrasive when dealing with queries:rolleyes:

 

I wrote a letter to Oceania Corporate concerning our issues a year ago and received no response in writing or by phone.

[turnip eater]

I wrote a letter to Oceania Corporate concerning our issues a year ago and received no response in writing or by phone.

 

Hmmmm...not very good

[edgee]

we get the best price we can find.Then book with TA(based in Dallas,but a brick and mortar agency I found googling and checking out).Then get check for 5% cash back before cruise.

Sorry,we can t give out names.But they DO EXIST and worth some digging.Many will also give OBC and free gratuities,etc.Do ask for any SPECIALS like that.:)

 

As I understand it, agents who do give rebates threaten their relationships with and even ability to book with some cruise lines. Probably not wise to even mention the city and state of agencies which offer such rebates.

[G&G]

Hmmmm...not very good

 

I actually wrote two letters; the other letter was telling Oceania that our first cruise on Oceania last year was the best ever out of 50 ! I did not receive a reply.

[orchestrapal]

As I understand it, agents who do give rebates threaten their relationships with and even ability to book with some cruise lines. Probably not wise to even mention the city and state of agencies which offer such rebates.

 

Oceania is very aware of what their top producing agents are doing and it all falls within the guidelines.

[alexandra cruiser]

As I understand it, agents who do give rebates threaten their relationships with and even ability to book with some cruise lines. Probably not wise to even mention the city and state of agencies which offer such rebates.

 

this one limits to lines that are luxury(or premium)NOt mass market.

Have used them for yrs.and have had NO PROBLEM>others have also used and recommended them.

 

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