First time on Oceania - some impressions

[jonthomas]

This topic is First impressions of Oceania. It has morphed into something unrecognizable. I take some of the blame for that. 

 

Even though it is off topic  I must add that the only way I can rationalize why this Viking experience was awful is that many on this cruise were using up covid credits. Our cruise was almost free.

The ship was two-thirds full. Perhaps things were cut back.

This happened to us with Azamara as well. Our first Azamara was amazing. The second Azamara was very bad. Many on the second one were there because of a deep resident discount. Maitre d' let us know that things were drastically cut back.

To me that is certainly a possibility for the inconsistencies that may occur.

[jonthomas]

52 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

You weren’t on her cruise and her ship. You haven’t a clue of the quality of food that was presented to her on that cruise. You haven’t a clue of who the chef was on her ship.

 

Here’s a clue for you. On Oceania food quality can very tremendously depending upon the head chef. 

I don't need your clues. I have experienced it for myself, hence my complaints about some of the food choices on O and how things changed when staff changed.

My complaining ended after sailing on Viking star. 

[mauibabes]

If I may, IMHO I don’t think past experiences on any cruise line are valid unless they are Post Covid. For us all to maintain credibility as posters on this Board, please focus your perceptions and experiences on Post Covid sailings. Every line has taken a huge hit, whether it is staff, food, cuisine changes, cutbacks, price increases, and you can keep going. People need to re-establish their cruise line relationships and opinions and perceptions because everything has changed. New ships are coming on line for most all lines which will necessitate the need for 10’s of thousands of new, trained cruise ship staff, and the debt load the lines are carrying is staggering so the only thing we know for sure is, “Change is inevitable”. Staff have come and gone, training has come and gone and perhaps some of our memories of the past have come and gone as well. The beat goes on but most importantly, Yesterday’s Gone.  

Well, that’s my two cents and by the way, we have sailed about 100 days over 7 segments on Oceania Riviera, Marina and Vista Post Covid and we are still quite impressed with the Oceania product. Perfect, NO, but still an amazing cruise value as far as we are concerned. No comments about any other line because based on my criteria expressed above, my experiences and perceptions would not be relevant.  
Off the soap box 🤪🙏👍

Mauibabes 

[CurlerRob]

9 hours ago, shepherd really said:

If you hover over someone's screen name a popup appears.  On the bottom right is an "ignore" button.  It works fabulously.  

 

Forego the entertainment value provided by the same incoherent ramblings posted ad infinitum? Never, I say! 🍺🥌

 

[Bone1]

On 6/14/2023 at 2:55 PM, Mariastreby said:

I’m also interested in your answer to this, @CurlerRob. We are also mainly Viking cruisers, with two more this fall and over the holidays.
 

But we did take our first Oceania cruise on the “new” Riviera in March. They have similar appeal. Many more people with walkers and scooters on O, so elderly people must go on Caribbean and Panama Canal voyages and hardly ever get off the ship. Viking has very few people in that category. The food offerings are better on O, with quality sometimes better. Crew service is equally as good on both lines. All Viking ships are virtually identical, which is starting to bore me. The Scandinavian look is nice… but I’m really looking forward to the exciting new spaces we’ll see on our transatlantic next year on the Vista. Different decor in each Oceania specialty restaurant is great, and the feel of the ships are just more elegant in almost all spaces. Also a lot of nice art and sculpture. The Vista supposedly has far better production shows now, which sounds good to us, and we found the guest entertainers to be more good than not. 
 

Viking excels in offering lectures about the areas where you are traveling, or sometimes random historical subjects. On our Riviera trip to the Caribbean, their one lecturer who spoke about the volcanic origins of the islands was downright bad, with disorganized slides. Think of your worst high school teacher! But during our Viking Panama Canal trip, not only did we get an early (two days ahead) two part talk about the creation of the canal, but the lecturer was on the ship’s sound system the day of the canal voyage. She could be heard in most outdoor spaces. She described what was going on as we got closer and into the locks. 
 

All Viking ships have large regular veranda cabins. The bathrooms are great, with heated floors, fog free mirrors, and roomy shower stalls. We always get a PV cabin, which is similar in sq feet to Oceania’s PH cabins. There are no butlers or special Concierges on V, but each cabin or mini suite level gets its own perks, such as laundry and booze in your room fridge. Every cabin has a Nespresso coffee machine, so we love making coffee no matter what time we wake up, vs a pre-determined room service delivery time. The way you reserve excursions is different, and is a definite weakness on Viking’s part, compared to almost every other cruise line out there. However, there is always a free included excursion at every port, but they are heavy on panoramic bus rides, with perhaps a bit of walking.
 

Also, a big plus with Viking - free beer or wine is included at every lunch and dinner. The beverage package is around $23-24/day, but A La carte drinks are amazingly well priced. You get quality upgraded wines at dinner with the package. No gratuity is added to the cost of the drinks. Many cocktails are about $9.00-$9.50, with beers from $5.50-8.00. Viking’s afternoon tea is far better than the ones offered in Horizons, mostly because it is set in a beautiful light filled area designed just for serving high tea. It does get used for other things obviously, but mostly the tea and your personal 3 tiered tower of goodies. Viking’s included Wi-Fi is for any device in your cabin, but tends to run rather slowly. So no logging off and on between two phones and an iPad, for example. 

Yes, we like Viking, but Oceania’s larger ships are great with their Waves Grill, Baristas, larger theater seating area, many more restaurants, classy decor, and having better service at the cabin levels from PH on up.

Just came off the Vista and she is a beauty. Beautiful cabins, bathrooms, showers, etc.  I believe you will enjoy your trip on it next year. The shows were good, but not spectacular.  The comedian was very good.  They also had a speaker before some of the ports. (We sailed on the Holylands cruise).  I would not hesitate to sail on the Vista again!  Enjoy your cruise!

[rjscott]

On 11/16/2022 at 10:24 PM, CurlerRob said:

We just completed our first trip with Oceania – Insignia, from Montreal to Miami. We decided to post our impressions as data points for other people considering a first O cruise. By way of background, we are experienced cruisers, sailing previously with HAL (their older ships) and Viking.

 

Booking / Embarkation

 

• We found the booking and pricing information more complex than necessary. OLife with airfare was contrasted with cruise-only pricing but does not clearly identify the actual OLife cost. While the math can be done, why make it so obtuse? And, quoting astronomical “brochure fares” is utterly pointless.
   
• The timeliness of information regarding requirements (vax, travel authorizations, country entry requirements) prior to the cruise was poor. Requirements were only finalized shortly before the cruise – although the various country requirements were available from country websites much earlier. As well, there were numerous discrepancies between the various documents on the O website – consistency is critical.
   
• Embarkation itself was well handled and quick - only 1/2-hour in total. Our cabin was ready by 1 pm. It was a nice touch to have our steward’s name up on the TV screen upon arrival.
   
• Overall rating B.

 

The Ship

 

• Insignia is a smaller ship, which very much suits our preference. We found her clean and well maintained. Getting oriented was very easy – this may have been due to the very similar layout to the older HAL ships.
   
• The decor is more the traditional style, as opposed to Viking’s contemporary approach.
   
• A strong plus was the great forward lounge (Horizons) that has copious seating all along the windows with quality views forward and abeam.
   
• Regretfully, I was unable to find any exterior spot with an unobstructed view forward for pictures, unlike HAL or Viking.
   
• The lack of a full, covered promenade deck was a minus for us as walkers. In order to walk a complete lap, one had to go up to the fitness track on Deck 10, which is completely open to the elements and was closed on occasion due to winds.
   
• Overall rating A.

 

Cabin

 

• We chose a ‘Concierge’ cabin, with a balcony. It was advertised as 216 square feet, which was somewhat smaller than the ~270 square feet on our comparative lines.
   
• In general, we found the cabin itself quite adequate, with more than ample storage. An oddity was that our one large suitcase would not fit under the bed, as it usually does, but it did fit nicely into the closet.
   
• The bed was very comfortable. The pillows were feather, which is not our preference but we did not request a change. The toiletries provided were highly scented, but scent-free versions were available from the cabin steward.
   
• The balcony was quite standard in our experience – a sliding door opened to two chairs and a small table – worked fine for two people.
   
• The bathroom was VERY small - to the point that the commode lacked the necessary legroom. Worse was the shower - it’s tiny and a strange trapezoidal shape, with maximum dimensions of about 22” by 34”. It was extremely difficult to use and would be dangerous in a seaway as there is simply not enough room to brace oneself. It was pretty clear where the sacrifice was made regarding the lower square footage. There’s obviously nothing to be done about the configuration, but new pax should be aware.
   
• Our rating would have been an A but the bathroom was so awkward to use that it dragged it down to a C.

 

Dining / Drinks

 

• Oceania says they have the “finest cuisine at sea”. Not having sailed on every line, I can’t confirm or deny that statement. I can say that their food was, in general, every bit as good, and frequently a notch above our previous experiences. There were usually five choices for each part of the meal, with good variety. Meats, fish and poultry were all cooked perfectly to order. The soups were uniformly excellent. There were a few failures (baked Parmesan-crusted chicken, I’m looking at you), but not a significant number.
   
• The Grand Dining Room was, in our view, the least distinguished from our other experiences – we’d be hard pressed to identify much that was different. Seating was reasonably prompt, other than on the first night crush. The tables are well-spaced so you can enjoy some privacy from your neighbours.
   
• The Terrace Cafe was a delight, not only for the variety and quality of the food, but especially for the large seating area on the stern - partly covered with nearly all tables protected from the wind. We ate there even on quite cold days, for the view and alfresco experience. We also appreciated that food service is done by the staff – apart from the improved hygiene, we find that provides more opportunity to interact with them.
   
• The Waves poolside grill had excellent hot dogs, burgers and sandwiches, with quick service even at peak times.
   
• We found the two specialty restaurants quite different. Polo Grill was as good as many shoreside steak houses we’ve been to. The Italian offering, Toscana, was average at best - across its service, food quality and ambiance. Unfortunate, as we love Italian food.
   
• One oddity we encountered was that coffee was not routinely offered after meals in any of the restaurants. We learned to order it with our dessert.
   
• Oceania’s selection of wines by the glass and beer was by far the best we’ve encountered - lots of choices and good quality at reasonable prices. As well, Oceania permits a single pax to purchase or upgrade their beverage package, rather than requiring everyone in the cabin to do so. A very classy move that was greatly appreciated by us.
   
• Oceania provided two aluminum drink bottles (that you can keep), which could be refilled with the ship’s special bottled water. Very helpful touch.
   
• Rated A.

 

Service

 

• We have never found a ship’s crew to be other than very friendly and accommodating. This continued on Insignia – fine service across the board. Any minor errors were acknowledged and fixed immediately.
   
• We did experience some inconsistency at times, which had the appearance of staff shortages / new staff. This was our first cruise post-Covid, so our observation may apply across all lines.
   
• Rated A.

 

ShoreEx

 

• We generally prefer independent excursions, which was fortunate, as we found Oceania’s performance in this area completely unacceptable.
   
• First, the prices. We are quite used to the cruise lines’ normal markups but found O’s to be simply ridiculous - often 400% versus a DIY tour. An example - the Newport cliff walk and Breakers tour was $300 for a couple. We replicated the tour for $73. Even if one wanted multiple ship tours and leveraged the O discounts available when selecting the OLife excursion option, prices still would show more than a 3X markup.
   
• The second issue was the degree of change to excursions, and lack of communication regarding those changes. We chose only one ship excursion, taken in NYC. Once on the tour, we discovered that the harbour cruise portion promised had morphed into a bus ride. We later discovered that the shore-ex brochure left in the cabin (which looks identical to every other excursion sales brochure we’ve ever seen) identified alterations to many excursions. There was no announcement, no ‘flag’ to be sure to closely review the brochure and no prior emails. The predictable result was a large number of upset pax.
   
• Excursion changes are normal, but we have never seen a cruise line who expects pax to ferret out changes without any notification.
   
• This was a total failure - rated F.

 

Internet

 

• We include thoughts on the internet service as it’s a “hot topic” on nearly every line. We had the standard internet package. Overall, it was similar to but slightly less functional than other lines, which is to say, usually slow and wildly inconsistent regarding reliability of service. We were annoyed that only one device could be active at a time - much switching required unless one wanted to pony up the high costs for a second login.
   
• Interestingly, when the service was behaving, we were able to have a few Skype video calls, even without the “streaming” upgrade, so that was a bonus.
   
• Rated C. (We have yet to find a cruise line that rated anywhere near an A).
   

Entertainment

 

• We are not partial to shipboard entertainment, didn’t attend any shows, so have no opinion to offer. There appeared to be a decent set of the standard activities and shows.
   
• Our only poor experience was when the show band played in the forward lounge one evening. They were so loud that most pax left within minutes.
   

 Summary
 

The ultimate question for us was “would we cruise with Oceania again”? Our answer was “yes”. Critiques aside, we felt that we received appropriate value on the trip.
 

For us, choosing O again would be a function of the itinerary and time of year – we would enjoy experiencing the ship with more time in warmer climes, as it seemed particularly suited to better weather. If we were to undertake a longer voyage, we would have to give careful consideration to a cabin upgrade to escape the bathroom purgatory – that would increase the cost by about 1/3 and would strain O’s competitiveness.
 

Hopefully, these observations and the logic behind them will be of use to other potential pax. Happy sailing! 🍺🥌

 

 

Curler Rob,

 

Very much appreciate your honest review. We will be taking our first Oceania cruise next month and have read a few reviews which were very negative about the line and the ship.  I feel relieved after reading your review. There are always pluses and minuses on every cruise, but I wasn’t seeing many pluses in the few reviews I could find.  My husband and I have cruised most of the “mainstream “ cruise lines and currently are loyal Viking cruisers.  We are looking forward to an enjoyable new adventure with Oceania. 
 

Becki

[Sujormik]

4 minutes ago, rjscott said:

Curler Rob,

 

Very much appreciate your honest review. We will be taking our first Oceania cruise next month and have read a few reviews which were very negative about the line and the ship.  I feel relieved after reading your review. There are always pluses and minuses on every cruise, but I wasn’t seeing many pluses in the few reviews I could find.  My husband and I have cruised most of the “mainstream “ cruise lines and currently are loyal Viking cruisers.  We are looking forward to an enjoyable new adventure with Oceania. 
 

Becki

I have been posting on the On Marina Now thread from our first O cruise.  I’ve been fairly critical but you should know there were a lot of positives too! We loved our penthouse, the linens were great, towels replaced all day long.  We don’t drink soda but our ice bucket was refilled often, as requested.  Most of the food was really good. We had no issue with the decor. The gym was good. Etc. We may get on a Viking sometime, though no cruises for us now for awhile.

[YourWorldWithBill]

On 7/4/2023 at 9:59 PM, Vineyard View said:

We have sailed multiple times on Viking. Not post C, but none of what you experienced was remotely close to what we experienced.

But overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our days on Viking. 

Just a quick note to agree, and we sailed twice after covid started on Viking, and our experience was excellent, and we still talk about how good the food was. We're sailing next on Oceania, however, for various reasons, and have been on a couple of HAL cruises after Viking.