Bad Riviera Reviews

[Misssmb]

Went on Marina last November and we loved it so much that we booked Riviera for this November. Two recent bad reviews were posted. Can it be that bad or just really picky people? 

[Mura]

It's always hard to discern whether people are just picky or negative or have legitimate complaints!  We weren't there.

 

We were very pleased on our Riviera cruise in May 2018, and we've always been pleased in general with all of our Oceania cruises.  Yes, there have been glitches at times but we never unhappy.

 

I will say that if you are reading a review that is 100% positive or 100% negative, you should ignore it!

 

Mura

 

[clo]

3 minutes ago, Mura said:

I will say that if you are reading a review that is 100% positive or 100% negative, you should ignore it!

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS!

[LHT28]

sometimes you need to read between the lines

The one did not really give any specific on what went wrong other than the staff did not speak English

 

How does one spend $70K on a PH  cabin anyway??

 

[FANC6]

We were on the Riviera a few weeks ago and did not have any problems. We were on the same cruise as those bad reviews and I was quite surprised to read all the negative comments. I have submitted my review but it hasn't been posted yet.

[orchestrapal]

10 hours ago, LHT28 said:

 

 

How does one spend $70K on a PH  cabin anyway??

 

 

Put it on one’s credit card!😕

[StanandJim]

43 minutes ago, orchestrapal said:

 

Put it on one’s credit card!😕

Obtuseness aside, can you find an example of an Oceania cruise, of a similar length to that in the Review which is being discussed here, which might cost $70,000 for two persons, as was claimed in the review?

I could not.  

[LHT28]

I would not say the Riviera is dated

"something from the 70's"    HMMM

makes you wonder if they were even on Oceania   or just  fake news ...as they say

 

different strokes for different folks 

 

 

 

[Misssmb]

Thanks everyone! I’m sure I will love it!

[WNcruiser]

I was on Riviera in February and it was definitely not dated. 70’s? No way, it was beautiful. Now we did have some minor issues with food and service but overall a great cruise. Unfortunately people can post reviews with no proof of ever being on that ship. 

[shank63]

We were on the Rivera in October 2018 and have no significant complaints, and in June of 2019 we sailed on the Marina.  Both ships exceeded our expectations and will definitely continue to sail on both ships.  We do not expect perfection but we do appreciate the level of service and attention of the Oceania staff.

[Jay23]

That latest review................  Were they on Oceania?.............. Were they on Riviera?   Five restaurants all serving the same food ? Perhaps they posted it on the wrong site.   J😂 😂 😂

[LHT28]

even before the latest fluff up I would not call the ship dated

 some photos ..you can decide for yourself

https://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/riviera-607/

[Misssmb]

36 minutes ago, Jay23 said:

That latest review................  Were they on Oceania?.............. Were they on Riviera?   Five restaurants all serving the same food ? Perhaps they posted it on the wrong site.   J😂 😂 😂

Haha they remind me of some of the guests on the TV show, “Below Deck!”

[warburg]

As a frequent O sailor I would love to read the terrible review mentioned above. If someone in the know would post a link, maybe I will be able to read it . After a dozen tries, I gave up. Maybe it's my MacBook Pro. There is no search, so I have to rely on that long list of ships. When I highlight Riviera, it's meaningless. I never get there.There was a review like the one described here on Regent that I managed to read. We pick itineraries to match occasions, and lately they have fallen on Riviera and Explorer. We love to be on a ship for the biggies.

 

Our most recent O cruise was a 10 day Caribbean on Riviera in March of this year. A truly superb evening was the Dom Perignon dinner. Our favorite restaurants are Jacques and Polo and we dined there twice each. Once each at the other two, rounding off our trip with the Terrace and MDR.  To loosely paraphrase Mark Twain, we pick the stuff we like to eat, so what we eat is stuff we like. The main difference between our favorites and the others is the quantity  of stuff we like. However, we had no trouble the October 2020 TA from Rome to Miami while on board.

Mary

[Ken the cruiser]

We were on the Riviera beginning last October for 45 days in the Med followed by a TA back to Miami and had a great time in our A3 cabin. The only shortfall was the very poor internet service. However, if you only have minor Internet needs while on your cruise, you should be fine. 

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, warburg said:

As a frequent O sailor I would love to read the terrible review mentioned above. If someone in the know would post a link, maybe I will be able to read it . After a dozen tries, I gave up. Maybe it's my MacBook Pro. There is no search, so I have to rely on that long list of ships. When I highlight Riviera, it's meaningless. I never get there.There was a review like the one described here on Regent that I managed to read. We pick itineraries to match occasions, and lately they have fallen on Riviera and Explorer. We love to be on a ship for the biggies.

 

not sure if this will work or not   just scroll down the page until you see the reviews

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=607

 

this is one

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=660498

[Mura]

Based on Lyn's hint I think I found the particular review -- one of the first.

 

Easily the worst cruise company there is on a dated ship with untrained staff who don’t actually understand English but do “speak it.” Spent over $70k and food was meh, service was bad and no one seemed to care.

Try Seaborne if you can afford or Windstar before ever considering this line or this ship.

We have cruised for years and this was the largest and most messed up ship ever and it is relatively small at 1200 passengers.

Sad. Utter disappointment.

Canyon Ranch Spa is NOT. Just branding.

5 restaurants. Not really. Just a mix of the same poor ingredients prepared differently.

Staff dedicated — yes but constant language barrier makes any requests impossible.

I don’t need to work to help paid staff on a cruise I am paying to enjoy. I was speechless to recognize that senior staff and management honestly don’t care. In fact one manager said they could not address the problem because they were in the middle of their own personal spa appointment in the middle of the work day. That’s choice!

 

 

My rule about ignore any 100% negative reviews certainly applies here.  I have never said that Oceania is perfect but I've never met a crew member who couldn't speak English.  (Perhaps this was a rude passenger they didn't want to talk to?)  The description of 5 restaurants preparing the same ingredients poorly is likewise off.

 

Was this person even on the ship?

 

Mura

 

 

[Paulchili]

5 minutes ago, Mura said:

My rule about ignore any 100% negative reviews certainly applies here.  I have never said that Oceania is perfect but I've never met a crew member who couldn't speak English.  (Perhaps this was a rude passenger they didn't want to talk to?)  The description of 5 restaurants preparing the same ingredients poorly is likewise off.

 

I agree Mura - any cruise or cruise line may have issues but NO WAY is a cruise on Riviera anything like this description.

In 25+ cruises on Oceania on all 6 of their ships I have never had an experience even close to what is described here (nor did I ever pay anywhere near that much for a cruise of that length).

Have I encountered some issues here and there - sure, but certainly nothing like this description.

[Noxequifans]

Sounds different from the Oceania we have experienced. Fake Review.

[Mura]

It does seem like none of us have experienced anything like what the reviewer claims to have experienced ...

 

If this proves anything it proves that we need to read reviews carefully ...

 

[clo]

1 hour ago, Mura said:

we need to read reviews carefully .

I read a lot of restaurant reviews and, yes, if all bad or good I ignore them.  Unfortunately businesses lose business based on things like this.

[Mura]

Very true.  The sad thing is that people will read many reviews and based on ONE negative review, will often have a negative opinion.

 

 

[RJB]

13 hours ago, Noxequifans said:

Sounds different from the Oceania we have experienced. Fake Review.

Nothing like we have found on a bunch of Riviera cruises. All very good to great.  Seems like they were on a different cruise line.  Not any of Oceania's ships. 

[Misssmb]

I agree! The food, service and entire cruise on Marina last year was AMAZING!! That’s why we decided to book the sister ship!  I can’t imagine any crewmember not being able to speak English and not being helpful. They went beyond and beyond for us! I even had one crewmember who was cleaning up the chairs around the pool, stop what he was doing and went and found me champagne on the ship because the bar upstairs didn’t have any.  That wasn’t even his job! All the employees were especially friendly and as far as the food, I thought the specialty restaurants were delicious!!!