Booking our winter cruise soon. Oceania question.

[barbon2]

We are booking our first post Covid cruise on Oceania.

We always have an excellent cruise with them.

Lately, I’m reading some very negative reviews.

Has anyone had a recent experience with them?

Thanks!

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, barbon2 said:

We are booking our first post Covid cruise on Oceania.

We always have an excellent cruise with them.

Lately, I’m reading some very negative reviews.

Has anyone had a recent experience with them?

Thanks!

Recently finished the last two segments of the ATW cruise on Insignia and also did a two week Riviera cruise back in January.

There were expected port changes on both cruises and a couple of special “local nights” food on Insignia (focused on Canada stops) saw failed attempts at Poutine and Lobster Rolls. But, I find the exec chef at fault with that menu departure.

Otherwise, it was normal/wonderful O., 

[no fuss travel]

We were on Nautica April and May just after the refit. Service was excellent as usual. Food sometimes was missing as they were having supply chain issues like everybody else.  No complaints. You find those of us who are happy don’t write reports whereas those who love to complain always do

[mauibabes]

Barbon2,

We offer major Dittos with FF and NFT  as we have been on 4 segments on Riviera after the return to sailing and a May Caribbean sailing on Marina. I would say they have  been the standard of Oceania excellence we have experienced for over 20 sailings.  JMHO but I would blow off the negativity posters and book your trip and have a great time. We are back on Marina in January in South America with many CC friends and expect nothing but the best from the Marina crew and a very full shipload of our Oceania family.  Is everything perfect, no but we find Oceania to still be working hard to take care of their guests and staff.  
Enjoy,

Mauibabes

[ToxM]

I think every line has staff and supply problems - I think everywhere on land or sea has that issue, so I think the best answer may be this:

 

If I was going to experience supply issues and a slight understaffing issue, the line which I would prefer to be travelling is Oceania. 

[SombraDeLuna]

We were on our 7th "O" cruise aboard Sirena for 3 weeks in June.  There was a mixture of experienced crew that provided great service, and new crew that was still learning and in need of more training and supervision (not unlike other cruise lines and general businesses at this point based on a world-wide pandemic).  Consistency in food quality/preparation was an issue in some locations, but not in other venues.  As mentioned in other responses, this was probably due to supply and staffing issues.  We learned quickly which venues to go to when based on menus.  The production crew was fantastic.  The smaller ship design is one of our favorites.  We're booked for our 8th "O" cruise on Insignia in the fall and are anticipating that it will be closer to our previous "O" experiences since it's been operating longer after the shut down.  But we will miss Red Ginger -- our favorite specialty restaurant on any cruise line!       

[Norseh2o]

Barbon2, November, 2021 Marina trip plus Regatta and Insignia Spring/Summer, 2022 = Oceania working hard to take care of guests and staff (thank you, Mauibabes!) 

[jonthomas]

12 hours ago, no fuss travel said:

We were on Nautica April and May just after the refit. Service was excellent as usual. Food sometimes was missing as they were having supply chain issues like everybody else.  No complaints. You find those of us who are happy don’t write reports whereas those who love to complain always do

 

and I find the opposite, those with criticisms are  often attacked for their opinions and therefore few have the fortitude to say anything negative....

[ShopperfiendTO]

Make sure you read this new development before deciding/booking!: https://www.oceaniacruises.com/sites/default/files/2022-08/sail-safe-new.pdf 

[hamrag]

15 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

 

and I find the opposite, those with criticisms are  often attacked for their opinions and therefore few have the fortitude to say anything negative....

I must say I haven't noticed that as an issue on Oeania threads. It is rife on the Azamara boards, so much so that there is a 'mafia' who report every post they do not like....it's unbelievable!

[lj77346]

We've been on four cruises (Riviera Dec. 2021, Marina Feb. 2022, Regatta May 2022 and June 2022) since sailing resumed and basically it was the Oceania cruise experience we were expecting.  As others mentioned, there was some supply chain issues like no Guinness or Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey on one of the Regatta cruises, but nothing major - I even saved some calories by not drinking beer so I could use those calories for ice cream.

 

As always the service was great and we were never in danger of going hungry.  The Riviera and Marina cruises had pretty light passenger loads and both Regatta cruises, if memory serves me correctly, were sailing at 80%+ capacity.  We are on the two California coastal cruises on the Regatta this Sept. and based on what I am seeing relative to vacant rooms appear to be close to fully booked.  The enjoyment we get from cruising again outweighs any minor issues that may arise.

[barbon2]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Things are so crazy with cruising and everything else, so I was glad to hear from some recent cruisers.

[Flatbush Flyer]

7 hours ago, hamrag said:

I must say I haven't noticed that as an issue on Oeania threads. It is rife on the Azamara boards, so much so that there is a 'mafia' who report every post they do not like....it's unbelievable!

The “jury is still out” on the results of the purchase of Azamara (by Sycamore Partners, which had zero cruise ship experience) on its product.

[hamrag]

7 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

The “jury is still out” on the results of the purchase of Azamara (by Sycamore Partners, which had zero cruise ship experience) on its product.

We sailed our only Azamara pre-Covid December 2019, and first Oceania last month on Insignia. The post-Covid (i.e. still trying to recover to pre-Covid experience levels) Oceania was waaaaaaaaaay better than the Az cruise, for us mainly because of the culinary experience which was excellent.

Edited August 9, 2022 by hamrag

[Flatbush Flyer]

6 hours ago, hamrag said:

We sailed our only Azamara pre-Covid December 2019, and first Oceania last month on Insignia. The post-Covid (i.e. still trying to recover to pre-Covid experience levels) Oceania was waaaaaaaaaay better than the Az cruise, for us mainly because of the culinary experience which was excellent.

FWIW: Oceania learned a major lesson from watching Azamara for several years before it was dumped to allow Celebrity to better pretend it is a premium line. 
In any case, Azamara was always known for its overnights in ports- something that O now does on a very regular basis with both two and three day stays on many of the longer itineraries. 
It was sad to see Azamara treated that way. It really was the other truly “premium” line.

[barbon2]

Thanks for all of your replies.  I appreciate it!

[DENIE]

We just completed our first Oceania cruise in June 2022 (Riviera - Rome to Barcelona), and found everything to be wonderful!  The food was probably the best we've had aboard a ship.  Most of our recent cruises were on Celebrity which we thought was very good, but Oceania is much better!  Of course, on a 10-night cruise there were 1 or 2 "misses", but nothing worth complaining about....

[Flatbush Flyer]

9 hours ago, DENIE said:

We just completed our first Oceania cruise in June 2022 (Riviera - Rome to Barcelona), and found everything to be wonderful!  The food was probably the best we've had aboard a ship.  Most of our recent cruises were on Celebrity which we thought was very good, but Oceania is much better!  Of course, on a 10-night cruise there were 1 or 2 "misses", but nothing worth complaining about....

Another happy “Aha!” experience.