Oceania v Seabourn

[Kiwifruit]

My partner and I have just booked an Oceania cruise in the Mediterranean. We are in our 30's and travelling from Australia. While we have been on many cruises this will be our first on Oceania and we are curious to know how it compares with Seabourn which is our preferred cruise line. I know about the absences of formal nights which certainly has its advantages and spares the need to lug formalwear around the world but would be interested to hear how they compare in other respects.

 

I am also interested to hear what our fellow passengers will be like in terms of age and nationality. Do many non-Americans travel on Oceania?, it certainly is not a cruise line that promotes itself in Australia but the reviews I have read are mostly very positive. On Seabourn, while the majority of the passengers are from North America there is usually a good spread of other nationalities.

[7continentKaren]

We were on the cruise Nov 17, ostensibly to Libya, etc. It was an even older crowd than we experienced on Princess to Alaska. I would guess the avg age close to 70. No lie. We are in our 60's ourselves and felt like the youngsters on board. We have not been on Seabourn but were on Radisson Song of Flower, similar price range. On the other hand, only 100 of us were on Song of Flower. One 22 yr old, one 38, one 50, a few others in the 50's, maybe 25 in the 60's and the rest old and older.

 

On Oceania, you pay for everything - tips, alcohol, etc - which were included on Radisson. We thought the excursions were a rip and arranged our own when we got to our ports. We were seriously late to two of them so were glad we had not booked and paid for private tours in advance. The food is not even as good as that on Carnival. The chef had no clue how to make Thanksgiving desserts though he tried. Inedible pumpkin pie. Boring breakfast. We did like the specialty restaurants and thought the open seating worked well. We hated NCL's Freestyle where everyone showed up at once demanding to eat at 7 PM. The library is the best we have seen on board. Huge and a big selection of passenger trades. The beds were excellent and the cabin size adequate.

 

The stabilizers are the pits so we rocked all over the Med even without the first night storm. They actually closed the elevators for 24 hours with a storm that was not that bad. The disabled were stuck in their rooms.

 

Very little to do during days at sea. There was an ongoing trivia game, that's it. Bring books, use the library. Our weather was too cold for sunning by the pool. Entertainment was mediocre.

 

Don't expect them to give you any money back if anything goes wrong - unlike the well publicized Queen Mary episode lately. We were due in Malta at 8 AM and got in at 5 PM. Ship blamed it on the storm keeping the speed down to prevent seasickness but the storm ended 24 hrs before we arrived and we still sailed at 3/4 speed. One staff member whispered in my ear that an engine was out. Brass denied it.

 

Attire: country club casual. We have never seen such a confused range of clothing. One old lady actually showed up for dinner in her pajamas! Most people dressed like they were about to go gardening. A few at the other extreme wore formal clothes anyway. Just plain weird.

 

On the other hand, Oceania is cheaper than Seabourn.

[muddsmom]

Is this person for real? This is really a horrible report and since my husband and I are almost 60, we are wondering if we have made a mistake here because of the crowd being a bit too old for us along with many other things mentioned. I truly thought most people were in their late 50's up. I realize long cruises are usually frequented by retired people because they have the time, but are you serious about a woman showing up in her PJ's? I have a feeling this person has an ax to grind regarding Oceania. I must say that we have only taken one cruise, which was on the Grand Princess and the only reason we got stuck on that huge ship was because we had a reservation for a Seabourn Med cruise (about 7 or 8 years ago) for our 25th wedding anniversary. A couple of months before our scheduled cruise with them, they "wrote" and told us, we were canceled because someone had rented out the entire ship, (turned out to be Queen Oprah). They didn't even try and make ammends to us, ruining our truly, much anticipated anniversary. We hated the thought of a large ship, but the Grand Princess was the only ship sailing around the time and with the itinerary we needed. Needless to say, we will NEVER sail on a Seabourn ship. We expect this line to be high end and it certainly doesn't sound like it from this review. Again, I have a feeling, this person has an ax to grind for some reason.

 

Sharon

[cruiseyguy]

muddsmom-there is "ax-grinding" on these boards. It goes with the territory. Most are pretty easy to spot, especially when they start talking about lack of compensation for a "bad" experience. You have to look at the big picture and not focus on one or two posts.

[jfb128]

Muddsmom- All you have to do is look at the past posts of 7 continents. She had an axe to grind before her cruise and has an axe to grind now. We are similar in age to you and your husband and have found many great people our age and even older aboard Oceania. If people are positive and upbeat that is all we care about. We have cruised with 30 year old couples to 80 year old people and found the overwhelming majority to be delightful.

 

As to someone showing up in PJ's, remember it only takes one. In our six cruises aboard Oceania we have never encountered anything like that but I am sure it could happen.

[muddsmom]

Thanks for the positive posts. I guess we are a bit nervous about this cruise because of our bad experience with Princess. It's not that Princess was a bad cruise line, we just don't like that many people, horrid stage productions and forced seatings with people we didn't know and got mad if we didn't show up for meals. The cabin was very nice, itinerary and tours terrific and food was fine. We don't worry about what drinks do or don't cost and because we travel so much, we won't even be that upset if we miss a port. We are accustomed to slow travel and could actually enjoy ourselves if we needed to stay on the ship during a few of the port days. I must say, I was a bit concerned about the comment regarding the stabilzers and so much motion. We have reserved a cabin in the middle of the ship on deck 8, hoping I won't get seasick. That was a positive on a really large ship. I actually never felt the ship moving.

 

We will continue having very positive thoughts about Oceania and look forward to seeing the Greek Islands and Croatia next September/October.

 

Sharon

[blackfoot]

Go back and read her prior posts: it is obvious she needs meds! I hope she switches to Raddison or Seaborne and stays away from Oceania.

[nparmelee]

muddsmom, I'm 42 and DH is 55 and we're looking forward to our June cruise. This particular poster was quite negative before their cruise and that may have had a large impact on their overall impression. Many folks were disappointed with that particular cruise and Oceania did not handle communications to pax well with that particular cruise. When looking at a wider range of responses and reviews, they are very good.

 

Food is subjective and even looking at other boards, you'll see different people on the same cruise who loved the food and others who thought it was horrible. I've observed that most of the folks here really enjoyed the food on Oceania. A cruise is what you make of it, and you sound like you will have a good time even if there are some bumps. I know that's how we plan on going! Enjoy!!!

[garykool81]

The food is not even as good as that on Carnival. The chef had no clue how to make Thanksgiving desserts though he tried. Inedible pumpkin pie. Boring breakfast.

 

Even taking into effect the fact that food quality and taste is somewhat subjective from person to person, this is total garbage. I'm a darn hardcore reviewer when it comes to cuisine, and I can honestly say without doubt that Oceania has by far the best meals of any cruise line I have sailed with, including Celebrity, Holland America, NCL, Carnival, etc.

 

Oceania's cuisine certainly wasn't as good as what one might have at a five-star restaurant on land (no ship will ever meet that level, IMO), but they were definitely on par with a solid three and a half star restaurant where one would expect to pay $50pp or more for dinner. In other words, VERY good for a ship in any class.

 

The other comment regarding how passengers dress for dinner was total rubbish from my experience. I sailed with Oceania on a 10-night transatlantic, and ALL passengers at minimum dressed "business casual," with some opting to dress in more formal attire in the evening. Oceania was the ONE cruise line I sailed with where I never noticed a single diner not in proper attire for the dining rooms.

[catfcp]

Even if others are wearing their pajamas in the dining room, who cares? Life is too short to worry about what others are wearing.

[Phoenix cruiser]

While I have never been On Seabourn, 2 cruises ago we were upgraded to a Q5 suite on the Queen Mary 2. Butler, private dining facility for the Queen's suite passengers, a suite with a walk-in closet bigger than our cabin on Celebrity, etc. So when we went for our first Oceania cruise to the Baltic last year we were concerned that nothing could live up to that experience. Well, we fell in love with Oceania and have booked them again this summer for Istanbul to Athens. So Kiwifruit- it may not be as Posh but I cannot imagine you won't have a great time. there were all age ranges on our cruise and many nationalities- including Aussies.

[cruisin'cats]

Not that this will change my reservations but I was wondering about the demographics of the Oceania line, particularly the Nautica cruise May 17th '06. I have observed that the longer the cruise, the more the cruise costs, and if the cruise isn't during a typical holiday period that the make up of the pax list is usually retirees for the most part. My husband and I are young 50's, as a matter of fact, I will have my 50th birthday during the cruise. I gather from the people I've been 'talking' to online that most are retirees. I have had great cruise experiences with pax younger and older than we are but can't seem to find a place for in-between start-up families and retirees. We just took a Celebrity cruise (10 day Mex. Riv.) and the majority were older than we are but we ended up bonding with people younger than us and had a good time. The only observation I made to my cruise buddies and hubby was that, with each passing year, I see more gray haired people on the cruises we're on--and more gray hairs on our own heads too! (Of course, my mother is L'Oreal and "she" gave me great genes :-)!)

[tlmlb]

I will always remember the comment to me on my Med cruise with Oceania from a fellow passenger looking down their nose at me....

 

"Oh, you are still working? You poor thing."

 

Sorry...its a true story. My wife and I got so tired of it that after a while we stuck to two tops whenever possible. The only truly friendly people on the ship were the Australians, Kiwis and, of course, the crew. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time in spite of this. Its just that there were a bunch of "look and hear what I have" pretentious folk. There are much better values out there, where the people are truly there for the experience.

 

Another anecdote from that trip. We were at a two top but were within unfortunate conversation distance to another couple. The frumpy 50ish woman complained that while in Venice her wallet was stolen out of her newly purchased $900 Vuitton bag. The nerve of that thief, violating her new bag. My wife and I got an ironic chuckle from her story. Sorry, that she was a victim, but at least she could afford it. She should have took out an low hanging fruit advertisement. Why mention the Vuitton bag?? We found a lot of people that were boastful about insignificant accomplishments.

 

Face it, if you have to boast, you haven't made it.

[muddsmom]

Face it, if you have to boast, you haven't made it.

 

 

This comment is our belief as well. My husband will be 60 in April and plans on working for many more years. Not because he wants to, but because he loves his company. The reason we chose Oceania was for the exact reasons you state. We can choose a table for the two of us at any time we desire or even hang out on our balcony and have meals there if it becomes too much. With other cruise lines, you are more or less forced to share space with these types of people.

 

Sharon

[PurpleCow]

Gee, tlmlb, I found exactly the opposite! The folks I met on the Insignia last summer were very friendly, helpful and cordial and, believe me, they knew I was "still working" and not nearly as well traveled and successful as they. I made several friends with whom I'm still in touch. It's one of the reasons I can't wait until we sail Oceania again, perhaps the biggest reason. There were a few fru-fru types, but even they were cordial. We didn't particularly socialize with them but they didn't offend us in any way.

[garykool81]

tlmlb --

 

Sorry to hear about your negative experience with a passenger or passengers aboard your cruise. Like the person stated above, our Oceania experience with fellow travelers was entirely different.

 

People on our cruise were extremely welcoming, open-minded and very down to earth. Unfortunately, I think ALL higher mid-end to luxury level cruises tend to occasionally attract the elitist types.

 

Just brush it off and move on to other people :-)

[lcand1923]

The folks who were on our Western Med cruise ranged in age from late 30's to early 90's - probably the most diverse age group that we have every encountered on a over 10 day cruise . There were some definite braggarts (one couple told EVERYONE that this was there 30th cruise), one couple pushed their way onto every tender and elevator and ahead of everyone else into the Grand Dining Room, one group of eight were joined at the hip and would not let ANYONE interfere in any way/shape/form on the stairs/elevators/access/egress of their group on any spot on the ship and one couple was ALWAYS late for each ship sponsored shore excursion.

 

After about three days these folks were known by just about everyone on the ship and, as my Grandmom always said, "Make allowances for those that need them."

 

That being said, the vast majority of the people were polite, courteous and a joy to be around. The vast majority of the passengers dressed "business casual" at all times. The crew was an absolute delight!

 

The vast majority of passengers on our cruise were from the USA, but I did hear UK and Southern European accents.