Just back from 10 day Riviera. Our first cruise ever. We are hooked.

[MEFIowa]

4 hours ago, pete_coach said:

There is presently only 4 docks in the Old Town area. 2 more are being built. There were 3 big ships in with Wonder of the Sea coming in later. Those 4 big ships would not have been able to dock where Rivieria did. In my opinion, the shuttle to the little square in town was a mess. There were lots of buses from other tours there and it was just full of people and guides and traffic making it a very crowded and confusing area.

A great reminder why sailing slightly off peak can be so wonderful! We were on Sirena in San Juan on Black Friday (2022), the ONLY cruise ship there! Wife and I took a lovely walk from the terminal/pier around the outside wall to the west, entering by way of the west-central gate to spend the day just wandering around the old city. Was fascinating to see how empty it was from about 0900-1300 and then suddenly the crowds came out and thousands of PRs were enjoying the shops and market and sites of interest. I walked back up the gangplank right at the end of our scheduled time. Quite the enjoyable day in Old San Juan.

[halfapair]

20 hours ago, Woofa said:

Okay, so here is the big one you have been waiting for.  Food.  Once again let me preface this by saying that we have nothing cruise-wise to compare this to as this was our first cruise ever.  Across the board we had great service but more importantly the type of service you would expect in a fine restaurant, they change up your silverware and your plates for every course, clean your crumbs when they get out of hand, fresh ground pepper or cheese is offered where needed, the bread on board was uniformly very good (except the bagels for breakfast and lets face it, the croissants were very good so I just had my smoked salmon and cream cheese on a croissant every morning!) and butter in most places was in a single serving dish or in the MDR in pats on a special tray with ice hidden below it.  I am open to splenda but generally use stevia at home we had both at most venues.  We had asked for Coke Zero in our cabin and we had plenty however most venues did not have it available.  Luckily I can also drink diet coke so no big deal. 

I will start with Barista's even though this not technically a food venue.  However as a coffee drinker, this quickly became my favorite part of the ship.  The Americano with cream was as good a cup of coffee as I can remember.  They will make it to go as well and I usually went here to get my coffee and then carried it into Terrace for my breakfast.  I found the other coffee on the ship varied from okay to pretty horrible.  As this was pretty much my biggest food complaint, first world problems as they say.. 

My wife had Cappuccino and the iced coffee made in their special machine and thought it was also great.  A nice plus is that I have also started using their wood stirrers as book marks which will keep Oceania on my mind through the time until our next cruise.  Baristas did have food and orange juice available although we did not eat much.  It is okay for a small snack, some bread, cookies, mini sandwiches.  Nothing we thought worth getting again.

Waves (daytime) - This is where we had our first meal on the ship hamburgers after we got on board and we had a few meals here throughout the week.  It is very convenient if you are spending time by the pool and just have to throw on a shirt and some shoes and walk 50 feet to grab a table.  FYI, one day I asked and was actually served our food on the chaise lounges by the pool just let them know and they will deliver.. Burgers hot dogs, all the sandwiches, uniformly good.  Fries also were very good for the most part. 

Waves (nightime) - This is the new pizza venue when waves closes and they have a combination of burrata type cheese salads and pizzas.  Seating is the waves seating so still casual and comfortable.,  We found the pizza to be the best on the ship and very good overall compared to land restaurants.  I am not sure if this venue will really excel however as it is very limited in menu.

New ice cream, smoothie, shake venue by the pool.  I think this was just moved over.  I probably had a milk shake every day on board.  (I ordered chocolate and asked them to throw in a banana.)  very good and the portions are not super huge so you don’t feel too glutinous.  I had a few smoothies as well, they were fine but the milkshakes…

Terrace Café - This is where we ate the majority of our breakfasts and a few dinners.  Breakfast was pretty inclusive and they always had fresh made eggs or choose your omelette.  I was happy as they also always had smoked salmon.  This can be a great venue to eat outside in the right weather.  We mostly ate lunch in Waves.  To me this venue for dinner is completely dependent upon the grill.  They had the grill going most nights where they will make you Shrimp, lobster tails, steak, lamb chops, salmon etc, to order.  Along with grilled vegetables this is actually a great way to have a low carb meal here and there.  I soon found my favorites to be the Shrimp (large, probably U12 or so) and the lamb chops.  On two days they had Caribbean night and the grill was not available.  At that point it lost some luster for us.  The rest of the buffet is solid but not what I would call exciting unless you happen to hit on an item you really like.  Overall I would compare this to a very good buffet like The Bellagio in Vegas (although much smaller and without things like heaping bowls of shrimp or crab legs).  Not quite as good as our favorite Vegas buffet at The Wynn which is now the only one we will go to and usually not for dinner.  There were times that this was crowded and you might have to wait a few minutes for the grill or for them to serve you but it was usually pretty quick.  This is also a great venue to connect to others you meet on the cruise and we sometimes shared tables here.  This is also a great place to try the Humphrey Sloccam ice cream of the day although it is also available in the MDR.  Truth is most of these were a miss for me but only because of the combination.  You could taste it was quality.  I tend to be a Chocolate/Vanilla type of person.  My wife did have a Meyer lemon flavor in the MDR one night so much she ordered seconds.

MDR - This is truly a beautiful venue and we enjoyed eating here.  Only because of how much we liked the specialties was this second place.  This was by far the most formal venue in our opinion.  Menus were nice but we found the food to be hit or miss.  Salmon overcooked one lunch, Risotto undercooked one dinner.  On the other hand I had Beef Wellington with Caviar as an appetizer one night and I loved both.  Similarly one day for lunch I had probably my favorite Club Sandwich ever (with hard-boiled egg, avocado and the edges of the bread cut off.)  What made it better is that we sat by the window and had the entire section to ourselves.  Felt like true pampering.  Quick note on window seats.  For our cruise, once it got dark, window seats were a waste, there was nothing to see.  But if you had one during the day, let's say on a sea day while the boat was moving, well worth it.  It is my impression from our cruise that overall the MDR skews a little older and certainly more formal than Terrace.  More than once we were seated next to or near couples who were very dressed, very proper and to be honest put a slight damper on having a fun talkative dinner.  The MDR does have a daily souffle which was good.  We even had dinner one night in the Terrace and then walked over to the MDR just to order dessert and get the souffle.

 

The specialties were in our opinion, well special.  I can see why people do try to get more than their allotment when possible.  But it is not just that food is very good, the restaurants are beautiful, the service was great and each is so different you have the ability to dine in four completely different high end restaurants on the same cruise, five if you include the MDR.  

Jacques:  I would say our favorite of the four.  Our escargot was perfect, we had lobster thermidor first the first time ever and loved it. 

Polo Grill:  The filet I had for dinner along with my wife’s Rib Eye was very good.  To compare I would say it was one notch below what we get when we go Del Friscos Double Eagle.  (For a true comparison I actually had what I think was the best filet ever when we got back to Miami and had dinner with friends at Bourbon Steak.  That was truly spectacular.)  Appetizers, salads, all very good.

Toscana:  My favorite food to eat out is usually Italian and Toscana on our last night did not disappoint.  My wife loved getting to choose her olive oil and balsamic and I was still able to get butter as that is my preference.  The roasted garlic they put in with the bread was a nice touch.  Calamari and Buffalo Mozzarella did not disappoint.  I had veal scallopini with a side of capellini Bolognese.  Perhaps my favorite meal.  Veal was very good, again I would say a notch below the truly fine Italian restaurants I have eaten at in New York, Philadelphia, etc.  Dessert, let’s take a minute to discuss dessert.  I am usually a pretty plain jane dessert guy.  I like cheesecake, I like bread pudding and a little else. The quintet of mini deserts was the best we had eaten all week and in particular, they had a peach tart that I wish I had asked for additional helpings. 

Red Ginger:  We split the vegetable tempura and some sushi to start, both very good.  I love the idea of picking your chopsticks depending upon your skill level.  FYI, they had no problem bringing me a fork.  I ended up with the lobster pad Thai and it was best pad Thai I have eaten (although that number is somewhat limited.)

 

There were so many other dishes I would still like to try at the specialties for our next cruise.  You can certainly push for more reservations and we did actually try on the second night (sea day) and was unable to get anything, then again on maybe day 5 or 6 when we were able to snag a Jacques reservation for 8:30 but around 6 that night my wife was hungry so we cancelled that reservation and just went to the Terrace. Looking back now that might have been a mistake.  One of the gentleman I played bridge with aboard let me know on day nine that he had actually eaten in a specialty on 8 of the first nine nights.  Of course I don’t know what level cabin he was in. 

 

So,  overall, I can imagine that Oceania does have the finest cuisine at sea.  Of course food is subjective and just recently on these boards I can see people having varied results on the different ships.  We felt very good about the food on our cruise and that for our next cruise we will be able to zero in on what we now know we like to make that one even better.  Was every meal 100 perfect, no, was any meal the best of its type we ever had, well not really as my Pad Thai experience is limited.  But overall with a little research, and armed with the knowledge that you can always walk into the terrace, maybe even have an appetizer, then walk out and go to get Waves Pizza for a main course then head to the MDR for dessert, I think most people will find this a very pleasant dining experience.

 

Happy to answer any additional question I can.

My favorite dessert in Toscana was the peaches with zabaglione. OMG, SO GOOD!

[pete_coach]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

Sometimes  the ships have to dock where the harbour master tells  them   or just skip the port

JMO

 

 

Point was that the Rivieria is a small ship and can fit at the very old Pan American pier. There were 5 ships in port that day and they needed the bigger piers. Rivieria was relegated to the old pier..

[LHT28]

17 minutes ago, halfapair said:

My favorite dessert in Toscana was the peaches with zabaglione. OMG, SO GOOD!

They used to have that in the GDR several years ago  sometimes different fruit 

Glad to see it is back  YUM

[Woofa]

Well, we are now official again.  Loved the first one so much we  paid our deposit onboard and we just confirmed with our TA our second cruise is almost an exact copy of our first.  11/27/24 to 12/7/24.  10 day Caribbean on Marina this time.  A few different ports including St. Lucia.  Cabin 7121 extended B3 which my wife absolutely loved (we were in 7119 on Riviera.)

I could not believe my wife was willing to cruise over Thanksgiving but she said we will just do Thanksgiving with the kids the weekend before.

Not planning all too much different for this one except cutting back on our packing, we way over packed for the Caribbean.   Good to be looking forward to the next one!!!

[Woofa]

This just arrived.

When we got home I found this on ebay.  They have the same book in the Riviera library.  I ordered one more Book as well, will post when I get it.  

[Woofa]

Received the second book.  This one is real nice And heavy with plenty of recipes.  Plan to take a good look through this and maybe make some stuff. Also to plan some meals for our next cruise on Marina.

[CruisingCleo]

I have been looking for the cookbook for years! How did you order it? Or can you buy it on board? 

[mauibabes]

Woofa,

Now that you are hooked and booked on Marina for another Caribbean cruise, the next suggestion is to forget Caribbean cruises and head out to see more of the world, perhaps the Med or more of Europe,.  No more short 10 day sailings, 14 or more is much more enjoyable if you do head “across the pond”. 
 

just ENJOY!

Mauibabes

 

[Woofa]

I ordered both books off of ebay.  Just put in Oceania cruises and a bunch of stuff came up. These were of course used but both in great condition and I got both for way less than even one would cost new.  Fyi plenty of luggage tags available available and some other cool things.  They were selling Jacques cookbooks on Riviera last month in the gift store but not this one.

[Woofa]

3 hours ago, mauibabes said:

Woofa,

Now that you are hooked and booked on Marina for another Caribbean cruise, the next suggestion is to forget Caribbean cruises and head out to see more of the world, perhaps the Med or more of Europe,.  No more short 10 day sailings, 14 or more is much more enjoyable if you do head “across the pond”. 
 

just ENJOY!

Mauibabes

 

We will certainly try but as we both still work, we push even for ten day out of a US port right now.  In a few years we are hoping for sure.

I knew my wife was hooked when she turned to me around day four and said "you know I can imagine a world cruise."  

Keeping our flights shorter also lets us keep our costs down.  Since we really do not drink and did not pay for any shore excursions we were able to do our entire ten day trip, in an extended balcony including air and insurance for about $6500 and our next one should be about the same.  (Our end of cruise bill was $33 for two Martini's my wife had throughout the cruise.)  It helps that we have friends in Miami to stay with and give us rides.

Honestly, I had been looking at an Alaskan one way for our next cruise and while my wife wanted to basically do the same again, I think that over the next few years we will do that one and a new England to Bermuda cruise.  Loved the O size ships but would like to try an R and Vista as well.  

Hoping to work our way up to a European cruise and to be honest I think we would also like a TA.

While our kids are now out of the house (most of the time,) we have still not been able together them off the payroll.  When that happens we may be able to jump up to the next level.

[jonthomas]

As I have said many times here, we are escapees from C. We are doing our best to get to the meaningful loyalty levels on O, With C we were Elite plus, but that basically gets you nothing that is not already included on O. We will be doing our 6th on O in Sept to Alaska. 

We do almost all of the ports on our own, walk around, get lost, use maps and enjoy the adventure. In Alaska we will be doing one tour, to hopefully see some whales, but maybe in Sept that is doubtful. 

 

We love transatlantics where we get to enjoy a mix of ports and time on the ship which we love. Meeting people, doing the activities, lectures and the leisurely dining with mostly good food. 

 

In the past on C it was all about organizing private tours in each port. Now things have changed, many private providers are no longer in business. The port schedules are now very fluent, depending on weather, politics etc, so many times port times are changed or cancelled all together. The other concern is health. Seems that many doing tours, are catching the flu etc. 

 

Over the years we have done many of the ports we are now revisiting.  It is fun to do them on our own and I really I dont remember all the information given to us. The best tours are participatory, rather than drive bys or listening to commentary.

 

Enjoy O, the small ambiance cant be beat. 

[CruisingCleo]

1 hour ago, Woofa said:

I ordered both books off of ebay.  Just put in Oceania cruises and a bunch of stuff came up. These were of course used but both in great condition and I got both for way less than even one would cost new.  Fyi plenty of luggage tags available available and some other cool things.  They were selling Jacques cookbooks on Riviera last month in the gift store but not this one.

Thank you so much! I have ordered it and am really looking forward to it. I saw the book on the Riviera during our first cruise in 2015 but did not buy it because its weight was too much for our luggage allowance for our flight back to Europe. On our next cruise in 2018 they did not sell it anymore.