Looking at Oceania

[tmk1941]

After several Retreat class cruises, we are considering trying Oceania. Comments from folks who have experienced both are solicited and welcome. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

Oceania is a completely different experience.   The smaller ship changes almost everything.  

[SusieV]

We did one Oceania and made a list of pros and cons. Overall we decided to stick to Celebrity.

 

O has much nicer included drinks on their drinks package and you can get them via room service, too. The food is better as well but if you keep an odd schedule there are times when nothing is available but room service. Also, while the quality is better, the selection is smaller because fewer passengers.

 

There are not nearly as many activities on O, so you'll mostly be eating and relaxing, maybe gambling in the very small casino.

 

You run into the same passengers over and over which is great if you like to socialize. Everything is open seating.

 

There is a lot more wave movement, if you get seasick easily.

 

You'll have to consider what is important to you and go from there.

 

[Aloha 1]

Just now, Arizona Wildcat said:

Oceania is a completely different experience.   The smaller ship changes almost everything.  

Depends on what you are looking for. The O class carries 1250 passengers with 7 FREE restaurants ( top shelf). Not as much nite life as X , true, but most cruises are port intensive. OP, find an itinerary you like and price it out. Then compare a similar one with X to see the difference.

 

We sailed almost exclusively on X until a few years ago when we "discovered" Oceania. Now, other than the edge cruise we are taking in a few days, we have 6 Oceania cruises booked between now and 12/23.

[patty1955]

We're long time fans of Celebrity but we've been disappointed with some of the changes they've made over the years. Oceania does things the way Celebrity used to and their food is a good as Celebrity's was years ago, it not better.

There is no elitism on Oceania, everyone is treated the same. That was one of the things we liked when we first sailed on Celebrity and we're not happy about the change. 

Oceania has several specialty restaurants that are available at no extra charge. 

[mason525]

Hi-

Took 4 Celebrity cruises in last year and just booked Riviera for next June. Thanks for any input on the differences.

Thanks,

Meg

[basenji56]

Food is significantly better on O.  I loved the four included specialty restaurants on the larger ships.  I did an O transatlantic and there were a lot of activities during the day.  Excellent lectures.  Laundry machines for free.  On the flip side, O is significantly more expensive.  But not as big a difference if you are in Retreat class.

 

[TFree]

We have taken 8 Celebrity cruises, with maybe the last 5 of them being in suites.  We took one Oceania cruise last October, in a Concierge Veranda on the Marina (one of their larger ships).  We booked another cruise with Oceania while on board, the Panama Canal for next year.

 

Since you have done several cruises in the Celebrity Retreat, our experience might be relevant.  We really enjoyed the Oceania cruise, but based on what we heard from our TA, we expected to be blown away by the food.  We were not (although we might be in the minority on this).  The fact that one visit to each of the specialty restaurants was included was great, and the specialty restaurants were truly outstanding.  But we were not that impressed with the main dining room, where we ate the bulk of our meals.  In fairness, we were comparing the Oceania main dining room with Luminae, so maybe it is not a fair comparison.  But for whatever it is worth, that was our reaction.

 

As a separate point, we found the Oceania O Life cruise fares options to be truly confusing.  I know lots of people complain about the Celebrity IT department (rightly so) but you have to really spend some time figuring out O Life.  Fortunately, there are some very useful threads on the Oceania boards that help with this.  But just for starters, you can book in multiple ways that are not obvious from the website: without O Life, with O Life including airfare, with O Life without airfare, and with airfare but without O Life.  Whereas you can sometimes find good Business Class airfares through Celebrity Air, everyone will tell you that if you intend to book Business Class, you should book your cruise with Oceania without airfare, because otherwise you in effect pay for economy airfare plus your Business Class tickets.  And then the O Life options take some explaining.  We chose the excursions option, which worked for us.  Really heavy drinkers might choose the beverage package option.  But nobody should choose the onboard credit option, because in doing so you are really just converting your cash into non-refundable credit (dollar for dollar, i.e., there is no extra OBC applied.

 

Tom & Judy

Edited June 24, 2022 by TFree

[lorimay]

We did two Oceania cruises in the last year on the Marina in Europe and the Riviera in the Caribbean. Before that we had cruised only celebrity for the last few years. The pros on Oceania- service is very good and very personal. Food is great and the specialty restaurants are no charge. Cabins are nice with very nice bathrooms. We had a penthouse suite on one cruise and the amount of space was incredible. Smaller ships mean getting off for excursions very easy. We don’t drink alcohol so can’t comment on that but soft drinks are included including large bottles of sparkling water. 
 

Cons - the passengers are much older than the average Celebrity passenger. We felt very young and we are not! Also the passengers are a little more refined. Don’t expect much entertainment. You see the same string quartet and house band everywhere. The shows in the theater are at 9:30 at night and while the quality is good they are not big production shows. During the day there is great trivia and sometimes a lecture but otherwise a ping pong or putting tournament is it. Cooking and painting lessons are an up charge. Compared to Celebrity there was definitely a lack of “energy” on the ship. 
 

Itineraries are usually port intensive and smaller ships can get to more interesting places. 
 

We’re booked on two cruises on Beyond this October so it will be interesting to compare. 

[lorimay]

5 minutes ago, TFree said:

  We really enjoyed the Oceania cruise, but based on what we heard from our TA, we expected to be blown away by the food.  We were not (although we might be in the minority on this).  The fact that one visit to each of the specialty restaurants was included was great, and the specialty restaurants were truly outstanding.  But we were not that impressed with the main dining room, where we ate the bulk of our meals. 

 

As a separate point, we found the Oceania O Life cruise fares options to be truly confusing.  I know lots of people complain about the Celebrity IT department (rightly so) but you have to really spend some time figuring out O Life.  Fortunately, there are some very useful threads on the Oceania boards that help with this.  But just for starters, you can book in multiple ways that are not obvious from the website: without O Life, with O Life including airfare, with O Life without airfare, and with airfare but without O Life.  Whereas you can sometimes find good Business Class airfares through Celebrity Air, everyone will tell you that if you intend to book Business Class, you should book your cruise with Oceania without airfare, because otherwise you in effect pay for economy airfare plus your Business Class tickets.  And then the O Life options take some explaining.  We chose the excursions option, which worked for us.  Really heavy drinkers might choose the beverage package option.  But nobody should choose the onboard credit option, because in doing so you are really just converting your cash into non-refundable credit (dollar for dollar, i.e., there is no extra OBC applied.

 

I have to agree about the main dining room on O and we don’t do suites so I’m comparing to celebrity dining room. Good for breakfast but dinners were very disappointing. And you are restricted to one time in each specialty restaurant unless space available or you are in a suite. We ended up eating most of our evening meals in the buffet which has a wonderful outdoor area. The buffet is pretty limited and food was good but not mind blowing. However they have a grill with cooked to order steak, chops, fish, lobster etc  that is excellent.

 

And  O life is incredibly difficult to figure out. 

[baggal]

We were on the Insignia - once.  I actually don't remember the type of cabin we had but it definitely wasn't a suite and the bathroom was the smallest bathroom I have ever encountered on any cruise ship.  I actually met some people who chose to shower in the health club area instead of using their cabin's shower.

 

As far as food, the Insignia had two specialty restaurants (a steakhouse and Italian) which were excellent.  The MDR was less so.  I had requested low sodium meals and I had trouble getting that request fulfilled in the MDR until I met someone on board, a repeat customer,  who interceded with a Maitre D' on my behalf.

 

We are just regular verandah cabin cruisers.  Celebrity more than meets our needs and expectations and we are happy to continue sailing with them.

 

[Cap_D]

Does Oceania charge for a small scoop of gelato?  Do they have a coffee machine in each room?  Even with a premium suite and always included, the premium drink package, and all the retreat hosts and concierges one can use to find .25 of lays potato chips and pots of mass brewed coffee, Celebrity charges for gelato.  

[maggie.1008]

I have been on 63 cruises on 12 different lines. Half of those cruises were on Celebrity.

 I think Oceania has the best food at sea. We have never had a problem getting specialty restaurants reservations. We also had good food in the mdr and buffet. 
I enjoy the two larger ships and love having a bath tub and Bvlgari products in the regular balcony cabins. 
service is good on both lines and X does have more nightlife. 

[Ken the cruiser]

We used to cruise with Oceania. But on our last cruise in the fall of 2018, which was 45 days, our internet-enabled devices would get knocked off the router near our cabin about every 2-3 minutes, which was really annoying. Why? Because about 2 months early, O HQ decided to give every stateroom on the ship one free internet account without upgrading their router capacity. It wasn’t too big of deal on the smaller R class ships. But on their larger O class ships, it was a total different story. BTW the internet speed was fine. It was just staying connected to the nearby router that was the issue. Maybe they’ve upgraded their router capacities since then, no idea as we have moved on. 

[PTC DAWG]

Good info here, I’m sticking with Celebrity. 

[Gracie115]

On 6/24/2022 at 1:16 PM, Aloha 1 said:

Depends on what you are looking for. The O class carries 1250 passengers with 7 FREE restaurants ( top shelf).  

 

Isn't it true that only the "O" class, Marina and Riviera, on Oceania carry 1250 passengers?  Most of the others are half that size, which I believe would present a MUCH different experience.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Gracie115

[LGW59]

30 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Good info here, I’m sticking with Celebrity. 

Me too!  I had a O cruise booked for Dec 2022, which I canceled two weeks ago.  I loved the itinerary and the thought of the Vista suite, but after taking to friends (who are in their mid 70's) who regularly sail on O, they did warn me that at 62 yo, I would be among the young ones, and knowing what I enjoy, O would probably not be for me.  Unless I enjoyed having the public spaces almost to myself after 10pm. 🙂  

[Treasure Hunter]

We cruised Oceania 4 Times , two in Europe ( very Port intensive) and tiring , one to Cuba ( fabulous) on Serena ( the old PacificPrincess). I much prefer the two larger, newer ships. Otherwise I would not cruise in less than a penthouse suite because of the size of the bathroom. The food is good not excellent and the casino and entertainment fair. Service is excellent as are itineraries.but everyone is not treated the same. The higher the cabin choice the earlier you can get reservations . We now NCL Haven or Celebrity, any cabin a we prefer Celebrity MDR to Luminae.

[basenji56]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We used to cruise with Oceania. But on our last cruise in the fall of 2018, which was 45 days, our internet-enabled devices would get knocked off the router near our cabin about every 2-3 minutes, which was really annoying. Why? Because about 2 months early, O HQ decided to give every stateroom on the ship one free internet account without upgrading their router capacity. It wasn’t too big of deal on the smaller R class ships. But on their larger O class ships, it was a total different story. BTW the internet speed was fine. It was just staying connected to the nearby router that was the issue. Maybe they’ve upgraded their router capacities since then, no idea as we have moved on. 

I used the internet on Riviera in March on a TA.  Paid to upgrade.  It was fine most of the time.  Glad it's been upgraded since your very disappointing experience.

 

[basenji56]

2 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

 

Isn't it true that only the "O" class, Marina and Riviera, on Oceania carry 1250 passengers?  Most of the others are half that size, which I believe would present a MUCH different experience.

The Vista will also be in that class.  

[Ken the cruiser]

17 minutes ago, basenji56 said:

I used the internet on Riviera in March on a TA.  Paid to upgrade.  It was fine most of the time.  Glad it's been upgraded since your very disappointing experience.

 

Glad to hear you weren't knocked offline while doing internet "stuff" in your cabin. It was quite annoying, especially when my DW was sending an email with a large attachment (5 mb) and would continually lose the connection (on a daily basis) to the router during the middle of the "sending" process. Although back then, you only paid to upgrade if you wanted to stream, like watching a movie online. But you still received the same bandwidth service as if you were still using the "free" service.

 

At least on Celebrity when you pay the additional fee for Premium, your bandwidth is usually double or triple the speed of the Basic internet service.

[basenji56]

Currently, I have found Oceania,Viking Ocean, Royal and Celebrity upgraded internet to be roughly comparable 

 

I was able to use WhatsApp to make voice calls. 
 

Did some streaming of short videos. 
 

Got knocked off more than I liked. 
 

 

[lorimay]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Glad to hear you weren't knocked offline while doing internet "stuff" in your cabin. It was quite annoying, especially when my DW was sending an email with a large attachment (5 mb) and would continually lose the connection (on a daily basis) to the router during the middle of the "sending" process. Although back then, you only paid to upgrade if you wanted to stream, like watching a movie online. But you still received the same bandwidth service as if you were still using the "free" service.

 

At least on Celebrity when you pay the additional fee for Premium, your bandwidth is usually double or triple the speed of the Basic internet service.

It's still the same - you have to upgrade to stream. I worked on our Caribbean cruise in March and did upgrade the last couple of days because I had to do a couple of zoom calls. But I could not do them from my cabin - had to go to one of the public rooms to get internet that was good enough, even with the upgrade, to zoom. The basic internet is free and does everything you want it to do except stream although it's slow. However, I hear Celebrity isn't much better -

[Ken the cruiser]

26 minutes ago, lorimay said:

It's still the same - you have to upgrade to stream. I worked on our Caribbean cruise in March and did upgrade the last couple of days because I had to do a couple of zoom calls. But I could not do them from my cabin - had to go to one of the public rooms to get internet that was good enough, even with the upgrade, to zoom. The basic internet is free and does everything you want it to do except stream although it's slow. However, I hear Celebrity isn't much better -

Agree. We've been on 4 Celebrity B2Bs (72 days in all) since cruising started back up and we had to upgrade to Premium, if we weren't booked in a Suite AND there were at least 1100+ passengers onboard, in order to even log onto CC. But when we did, the service was more than adequate. 

[TrulyBlonde]

I probably have equal cruise days on both O and X. Depending on timing and itinerary, I would choose O.

O ships are beautiful ( stick with Riviera and Marina) both exceptional.  Just a more refined experience.

 

However, when we cruise on X, it always makes me feel younger and a totally different vibe. We also cruise only in suite class on X which works well for our needs.