Our experience on Riviera's Mayan Mistique (beware long review)

[roothy123]

Totally and utterly agree. (Though we did not go to Tikal) Lamanai was outstanding, as was getting there on the river. From Costa Maya we went to the Mayan ruins too. On both excursions we had superb guides and we learnt a great deal. I find it hard to imagine that someone would take this cruise without also taking the excursions to the Mayan ruins. But that said, I really enjoyed his review. Detailed, fair and informative...

 

Agree with the folks who loved the ports on this itinerary. We did Mayan Mystique about 3 years ago in March and loved it. But some people just like to relax on a cruise, and it sounds like the reviewer did that well, so to each his/her own. If I had wanted to just do that, I would have taken one of the Celebrity cruises, which go to the usual beach locations in the Caribbean. (Now you talk about tables too squished together - boy, Celebrity personifies that, in my opinion! But at least they had tons of music - of all kinds!) But I digress! Anyway, I was really happy with the Mystique ports, and even Costa Maya turned out to be great, once you get past those poor captive dolphins in a pathetic enclosure and the red choo choo train (although it WAS handy for cutting out a bit of walking!)

 

Overall, however, I found the review to be fair and very informative - thanks for writing it!

[beardedshark]

We did the Jan 13 sailing, it was excellent. Our 4th O cruise and everything was as good or better than ever. Staff were wonderful, helpful and very communicative. The ports were really interesting, we booked all our tours privately, loved Lamanai great value with Elio Belize tours, Stingrays in Grand Cayman, Happy fish in Guatemala and Native Choice in santo thomas.

 

Nolan the CD was great, really funny especially for the brits and unbelievably busy. Also has a gorgeous fiancée. Lucky boy. Good to see him back

 

Would thoroughly recommend :D

[JPR]

We highly recommend the Truman Little White House tour in Key West....

[Travelcat2]

Love the detail in your review. Below I am responding (in red) to part of your review (may comment on ports later).

 

This I a review of our Mayan Mystique cruise on Oceania Riviera that departed Miami on January 14th and returned January 24th. This was my 4th cruise with Oceania. I admit to being a fan but that also makes me extra critical at times. I have previously cruised on Carnival, Star Clippers and Celebrity. This is a very lengthy review so if you do not want to read through the whole text (and I can understand that) I’ll give a short summary first…

 

IMO, it is VERY important to remember that the OP has previously sailed on Carnival, Star Clippers and Celebrity -- not on premium or premium plus cruise lines.

 

Riviera is a beautiful ship, well designed and built with very high quality materials. She has many big ship amenities and mostly succeeds in giving guests a personable small ship feel and service. Every public room and deck is gorgeous and so is the art you find throughout the ship. Walking around the ship is a pleasure. The layout is very similar to the smaller R-Class ships so everything feels familiar. Food is good to excellent and so is most of the service. Excursions and the Spa services are expensive and if you do a little research you can get a much better tour for half the price.

 

Agree that the food is good to excellent and also that spa services are expensive (we avoid Canyon Ranch for that reason -- unless we have more on board credits than we know what to do with.) Excursions can be done better with small group tours - easily arranged on Roll Call.

 

Our ‘Penthouse Suite’ was gorgeous and more beautiful and spacious than many 4-star hotel rooms. Our stateroom attendants did their work perfectly fine, but either where either very economical with replenishing bath products or forgot to replace them on a regular basis. Our butler was very friendly but we barely used his services. The butler can be a nice perk but not for us. We are among the youngest guests on board and can pack, unpack and manage extra reservations and appointments ourselves.

 

Guests in ‘Penthouse Suites’ get one reservation in each specialty restaurant just like the rest of the guests in other staterooms. It would really be a nice perk if ‘Penthouse Suite guests’ could get two reservations like those in ‘Oceania’, ‘Vista’ and ‘Owner Suites’.

 

Disagree that PH suites should receive the same number of reservations as Oceania, Vista and Owner Suites. We have stayed in both PH and Vista suites on Oceania and believe that the extra cost for the Oceania suites is worth it -- if only to have more specialty restaurant reservations.

 

Although the design of the ship is very well executed there is a flaw. The pool deck and the outside deck of the ‘Terrace Café’ should have been larger. These areas can get really crowded on many occasions (breakfast, sea days et cetera) and those spaces then feel less luxurious than they could and should. This is partly because of the tables and chairs that are big, heavy (naturally when placed on a ship) and placed to close together.

 

IMO, there would not be a need for more space on the pool deck if there were not pool hogs. The simple solution is to follow through with the policy regarding hogging lounges

 

We loved the 4 specialty restaurants. The French themed restaurant ‘Jacques’ serves rich comfort food. It’s the type of food you always hope to find in a bistro in France, but almost never seem to get. The room is beautifully decorated and you feel like being in the countryside in France.

 

Agree 100%

 

‘Toscana’ is the Italian restaurant and serves very taste dishes. Good to know that you can order almost everything on the menu in smaller portions. Great if you like to taste multiple items on the menu. I can highly recommend the artichoke and truffle starter and the freshly made pasta’s. Also the veal chop is very good. As a dessert the Tiramisu is a real treat.

 

More or less agree with OP. The service is excellent but the some of the entree's could be better.

 

‘Red Ginger’ is Asian themed and has a very attractive menu. The watermelon and duck salad is a special you should try. They have a very tasty lobster pad thai. If you like Asian you can’t go wrong in this restaurant although they keep the spices very limited and that makes some dishes less authentic in taste.

 

Need to define "Asian themed". If you are looking for authentic Chinese, Japanese or Thai cooking, you will not find it here. This restaurant is very specific -- Southeast Asian inspired. This means Vietnamese/Cambodian inspired. If you are looking for a "true" Lobster Pad Thai, you will not find it here. However, Oceania's interpretation of this dish is spot on. IMO, Red Ginger needs to perfect dishes from specific parts of Asia and not be so "wishy washy"

 

‘Polo Grill’ is a great seaworthy version of an upscale American steakhouse. You will find quality meats and seafood that are cooked to order and done exactly as requested. We liked this restaurant but the entrée portions are gigantic and would be even more enjoyable if done a little smaller. We prefer not to leave the table feeling like we will explode any minute. Also if you like meat you can also order steaks in all dining venues aboard. I hope they will update this restaurant menu a little to make this beautiful restaurant stand out just a bit more.

 

IMO, this dining venue is fine the way it is. One standout menu item is their version of escargot (IMO, much better than the offering in Jacques)

 

The main dining room is one of the most stunning places on the ship. It’s bright and with high ceilings and warm hues of gold and soft whites a very nice place to have dinner. The room’s most iconic feature is the grand chandelier. From a distance it’s spectacular but the LED lighting within the chandelier makes sitting directly under it less romantic than it could be. The light emitted by the chandelier is so white that a plastic surgeon could perform his duties from the tables that are located in the center of the room. The food in the ‘Grand Dining Room’ is very good and the service is equally good.

 

Strongly agree that this is one of the most stunning places on the ship. We LOVE having breakfast here but find the food lacking for lunch and dinner

 

I would recommend Oceania for everybody who likes good food, art and an upscale setting that never feels stiff or rigid. Not packing a tux makes it even more attractive. It is a cruise line that attracts the more mature travellers and motorized scooters en wheelchairs are a familiar sight. There is nothing wrong with that but personally I would love if Oceania would spice up some aspects of their product so that the little less mature guests onboard also feel right at home. Not playing classical music and theatrical and movie themes performed on the pan flute around the pool 24/7 would be a nice start. Some menus in the specialty restaurants could also use a small rejuvenation without scaring away the loyal guests.

 

This is the area where we disagree the most. NCL purchased Oceania and Regent for a reason. One of the stated reasons is to take care of young passengers - with and without children (NCL), passengers that like a more upscale experience -- without children (Oceania) and a luxury experience (also without children) -- Regent. Although we do not utilize "motorized scoters or wheelchairs" I find the reference insulting. If you are looking for a cruise without a lot of seniors, I would suggest booking a cruise that is 10 days or less -- not in the Caribbean or Alaska or during the summer (actually, summer cruisers are children -- not so much seniors).

 

 

The Internet is very slow and also very expensive ($27 per day) and that’s a wicked combo for people who use modern things like those nasty portable computers, smartphones and iPads.

 

The internet is slower when you are in the middle of the ocean. While almost everyone uses these devices, there is a price to pay to access the satellite. Again, I find your post regarding the internet rather insulting -- especially since the "wicked people" have been using computers, smartphones and iPads for a heck of a long time. Despite the fact that almost all cruisers are computer literate, you need to either pay for it, or not. If you decide that $27/day is too expensive, perhaps you could go to an internet café ashore./COLOR]

During our trip we noticed many crewmembers that looked or acted worn-out and many even told us that the had been working so hard that they were simply exhausted. I hope Oceania’s management can do something positive for them because the crew really makes the difference.

 

Cruise ship workers are definitely worn-out. But, despite that, they strive to give the best service possible. Their livelihood and that of their families depend upon what they earn onboard the ship. They make extreme sacrifices. I truly hope that people reading this thread tip above and beyond what is expected.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Travelcat2

[Mura]

I will just add a couple of comments to TravelCat's ...

 

PH suites get that extra reservation on the smaller ships, but I can see why it isn't possible to give them to PH suites on the larger ships. There are too many people on board, even if you factor in two additional restaurants.

 

As to the musical options, OP makes it sound as if there is nothing but classical music on board which is very far from the truth. Sure, there's the string quartet at cocktail times and sometimes at fancy brunches in the GDR. But there is far more non-classical music on board than classical music.

 

I speak as someone who was raised in a classical music family. My father was a professional violist and I became a professional singer. I heard chamber music in the home as long as I can remember. (This didn't stop my younger sister from becoming a rock and roll fan.) So I am very happy that we can find some on board the ships, even if I am one who in general hasn't been that impressed with the quartets who have been hired. I'm still glad that they are on board.

 

Perhaps OP equates classical music with old people. If you go into the opera house in NYC, that feeling can be affirmed. But it's not true everywhere. And even at the Met there are younger people. (Given the Met's prices there is one obvious reason why most of the patrons are grey haired.)

 

By the way, on a recent cruise on Marina we were in Horizons at cocktail time and they had one fabulous woman jazz singer.

 

Mura

[maxamize]

Thank you all for continuing to reply to my review. I enjoy reading it every day with so many different people, with different tastes and different views giving comments. O has a very loyal and vocal fan base and it’s so nice when a post sparks so many replies.

 

I’m saddened that some posters feel that my remarks are insulting. That’s not my intensions in any way. What I try to do is put a little humour in my reviews, since that makes them more fun to read and write. It’s not intended to upset anyone.

 

I also have nothing against people who are older than we are. I really love meeting and talking to people from all walks of life and all ages. Every year I spend at least one holiday with my parents (58/70) and my grandmother (85). I have done so for the last 16 years and hope I can continue that tradition for as long as possible. I never feel that they are (to) old to hang out with.

 

What I meant by ‘spicing things up a bit’ is to make Oceania more attractive for a somewhat younger group of experienced travellers who like cruising, comfort, good food and interesting people. That’s not a bad thing and its not the same as turning O in to ‘Carnival’, 'RCI' or 'NCL' or telling me to go and sail with those cruise lines since they should suit me better. I know perfectly well why I like Oceania and why I keep cruising with them. There is no other cruise line that offers what Oceania does and that’s exactly what I like about them.

 

My point concerning the restaurants is that the menus on O (speciality restaurants) haven’t really seen an update since I started cruising with them in 2009. They are very good and nice but I would like to see some small innovations and novelties once in a while. All reputable chefs and restaurants that I know modernize their menus even if it’s just a little. Of course it’s good to recognize the dishes you come to love so much. I also like to try out new and exciting plates that could turn in to new favourites.

 

Than my internet comments. It’s not that I’m not able or willing to spend $27 per day to use the internet on the ship. If that had been the case I wouldn’t have sailed on ‘O’ but rather on ‘EasyCruise’. I know that internet on ships isn’t as fast as on land and have no problem with that. My issue was that it was much slower than normal and that the system and functionalities weren’t working, as they should.

 

The classical music comment also wasn’t meant to imply ‘old people’. I love classical music and enjoy listing to it (as do many of my friends, my parents and grand parents) but (as with eating lobster or sushi) not everyday around the pool area, the entire day, the whole voyage. The widely popular CD ‘Musical and Movie themes played on the pan flute’ could also be mixed with some other genres like jazz or when sailing in the Caribbean something tropical once in a while. Again just to be clear I don’t mean to play DJ Tiesto, Afrojack or Hardwell on O.

[SellaVee]

What a charming response, maxamize. Thank you for that, and for your review.

[CintiPam]

Thanks very much for posting such a detailed review of your January Mayan Mystique cruise. I know that such a lengthy review takes a lot of time to write, and I appreciate reading your perspective, particularly because we were on the same cruise, our second (annual?) Caribbean cruise. It was very interesting to read the perspective of a thirty-something on a winter Caribbean cruise on Riviera, where the average cruising age at that time of year certainly skews much older than on the European itineraries.

 

Not any criticism but simply a question: why did you choose the particular itinerary of this Mayan Mystique cruise yet chose not to visit any Mayan ruins or beaches? Our private tours to both Lamanai and Chacchoben were truly special and our beach days at Grand Cayman and Cozumel were excellent as well. Also, the Hemingway House and Truman White House tours at Key West were fascinating.

Edited February 7, 2015 by CintiPam