Oceania Riviera Guest, Please Post Reviews

[Sthrngary]

As a first time Oceania Cruise guest, I love to read reviews.  The more the merrier. Especially since the Riviera was just drydocked.  At first, I wanted to see the new PH category. Then a ship tour after the work was done.  Both video's  just showed up on another social media source. I then went to CruiseCritic.com reviews to see what folk thought.  The very few reviews done in January 2023 were not what I expected.  They were less then stellar, some times contradicted each other especially on dining.  I studied survey systems in my previous life and this is not a cross sampling.  

 

Please if you take a cruise and are a member of cruisecritic.com, take some time and do a review.  Be fair across the board so we can learn from you.  Thank everyone for considering this request.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[schmerl]

We are on the Riviera now. This is our first time sailing with Oceania., Also our first time with a butler, 

Our butler is a doll and has been helpful in getting us more dinner reservations, however, we did that on our own the day we embarked, 

Friends who have sailed with Oceania made a VERY big deal about the food, For the most part, it's OK, Our two meals at Jaques were wonderful. My sister had a steak in the Grand dining room that she could barely cut, They did offer to bring her something else, Our meal at Red Ginger was good but not as special as we expected from the hype we had heard, 

Our PH suite is very nice, especially the shower. 

The deck around the pool gets VERY hot so keep your shoes on. I'm surprised they didn't use a surface that doesn't get so hot,

The shows have been so-so. 

The big standout is the staff throughout the entire ship, They are so personable and make a special effort to make sure things are going your way, 

[Redtravel]

We were on Marina recently.  Fish and poultry dishes were good. Beef was often very tough. Polo steak was so tough that I sent it back. Replacement was somewhat better.  It was a real letdown.  On previous cruises we loved Polo. We canceled our next booking in Polo. We met other people who did the same.  

[MEFIowa]

1 hour ago, Sthrngary said:

As a first time Oceania Cruise guest, I love to read reviews.  The more the merrier. ... I then went to CruiseCritic.com reviews to see what folk thought.  The very few reviews done in January 2023 were not what I expected.  They were less then stellar, some times contradicted each other especially on dining....

You will get such disparate reviews because people have different experiences & expectations, esp. if they compare across past cruises, and differing cost/value considerations in light of them. And food is entirely subjective to begin with. I pity the cruise lines today in light of all the vegan, gluten-free, etc. issues. And you'll get people complaining or thankful over the soda pop in their mini-fridge!

 

I wish more people would first focus on more objective factors. If your cruise lost ports or time in ports, that matters to me. If your room or deck has a toilet back up issue, that matters to me. If the cruise had no guest lecturers, that matters to me. If elevators aren't working or sliding doors aft in the Terrace Cafe aren't working, that matters to me. If your veranda sliding door or the doors in your bathroom aren't working properly, that matters to me. Etc.

 

I got to talk to the comic on Sirena in November, 2022. They had a 2nd comic come on mid-cruise who also did "predictions". Something was off on his first show. I mentioned it to the comic. Who said, "He was lucky to be there. Sick as a dog. But the show must go on." Then it made sense! And I heard his second show was quite the success.

[ak1004]

I learned not to pay too much attention  to the reviews. Somehow it became very popular to criticize everything. If you look at Silversea or Seabourn reviews, they are not much better. Some of them are just silly. 

 

We did 2 sailings on O and one on SS after the restart, all of them were wonderful, and still got 1 start review from some people. After our last sailing on the Regatta someone posted a 1 star review complaining that we missed 2 ports. Dah.. ever heard about the hurricane? Or they expected the captain to take the ship into the hurricane?

 

Our steaks were perfect on the Riviera and the Regatta. Maybe some people order them well done?

 

Yes, entertainment and activities on O are so-so. This is a well known fact.

 

Just know what to expect from each cruise line and you won't be disappointed. 

[InsGuy3]

4 hours ago, schmerl said:

We are on the Riviera now. This is our first time sailing with Oceania., Also our first time with a butler, 

Our butler is a doll and has been helpful in getting us more dinner reservations, however, we did that on our own the day we embarked, 

Friends who have sailed with Oceania made a VERY big deal about the food, For the most part, it's OK, Our two meals at Jaques were wonderful. My sister had a steak in the Grand dining room that she could barely cut, They did offer to bring her something else, Our meal at Red Ginger was good but not as special as we expected from the hype we had heard, 

Our PH suite is very nice, especially the shower. 

The deck around the pool gets VERY hot so keep your shoes on. I'm surprised they didn't use a surface that doesn't get so hot,

The shows have been so-so. 

The big standout is the staff throughout the entire ship, They are so personable and make a special effort to make sure things are going your way, 

We are also on the Riviera currently and we concur with schmeri’s comments. The food has been mediocre at best, IMO. The variety in the Terrace Cafe is very limited and without healthy choices as we have experienced on other luxury cruise lines. The food in the Specialty restaurants was acceptable but not memorable. I know food is subjective but we need to point out how we feel about it. The embarkation process was very disorganized, the tender process was very slow today, general boarding was about 3 hours was after we anchored. Our Butler, Stewardess, and the entire crew, in fact have been awesome, very personable and professional and have made our experience a pleasure. Although, the interiors have been refurbished, the deck furniture needs some TLC. Perhaps, the biggest gripe that we have is the quality of the wi-fi. Totally unacceptable in 2023. The crew makes up for all the ships shortcomings. 

Edited March 6, 2023 by InsGuy3
Added comment

[ak1004]

12 minutes ago, InsGuy3 said:

We are also on the Riviera currently and we concur with schmeri’s comments. The food has been mediocre at best, IMO. The variety in the Terrace Cafe is very limited and without healthy choices as we have experienced on other luxury cruise lines. The food in the Specialty restaurants was acceptable but not memorable. I know food is subjective but we need to point out how we feel about it. The embarkation process was very disorganized, the tender process was very slow today, general boarding was about 3 hours was after we anchored. Our Butler, Stewardess, and the entire crew, in fact have been awesome, very personable and professional and have made our experience a pleasure. Although, the interiors have been refurbished, the deck furniture needs some TLC. Perhaps, the biggest gripe that we have is the quality of the wi-fi. Totally unacceptable in 2023. The crew makes up for all the ships shortcomings. 

 

Completely agree about wi-fi. Unacceptable. But since the demographics are older, maybe O made a strategic decision that most of their guests don't care about wi-fi since they are retired? Not sure how to explain it. But wi-fi on our last SS cruise was also pretty bad..

 

I just re read on of the 3 star reviews. Here are some examples of the negatives mentioned in the review:

 

Entertainment VERY limited - yes, like on most small ships (except the old Crystal). Well known fact.

 

No enforcement of evening attire - what evening attire? Oceania doesn't really have any dress code. If you want a dress code, go to Silversea or Cunard.

 

Overpriced tours, events and drinks - well, dah.. this is true for any cruise line. You can book private tours and/or bring your own wine.

 

Constant nickel and diming for everything - for what exactly? except for alcoholic drinks, everything is included. 

 

 

[ORV]

1 hour ago, InsGuy3 said:

We are also on the Riviera currently and we concur with schmeri’s comments. The food has been mediocre at best, IMO. The variety in the Terrace Cafe is very limited and without healthy choices as we have experienced on other luxury cruise lines. The food in the Specialty restaurants was acceptable but not memorable. I know food is subjective but we need to point out how we feel about it. The embarkation process was very disorganized, the tender process was very slow today, general boarding was about 3 hours was after we anchored. Our Butler, Stewardess, and the entire crew, in fact have been awesome, very personable and professional and have made our experience a pleasure. Although, the interiors have been refurbished, the deck furniture needs some TLC. Perhaps, the biggest gripe that we have is the quality of the wi-fi. Totally unacceptable in 2023. The crew makes up for all the ships shortcomings. 

Curious about what age group you are and what types of food you prefer. I'd like to know more what you consider "healthy choices"?  Unless there's been a change I've never had an issue with the food on Oceania. I'm not a cheerleader or an apologist, I just know what I like. It's been since Dec of 2019 since I was on Riviera but I was on Regatta in Sept of 22 and the food was pretty much as Oceania's food always has been. 

[LHT28]

3 hours ago, InsGuy3 said:

The food has been mediocre at best, IMO. The variety in the Terrace Cafe is very limited and without healthy choices as we have experienced on other luxury cruise lines.

I am curious also  what do you consider healthy choices?

 

 We have always found they had  fresh fruit/salads/vegetables  etc..

Maybe they are not providing those any more & that would be disappointing

[osandomir]

5 hours ago, InsGuy3 said:

We are also on the Riviera currently and we concur with schmeri’s comments. The food has been mediocre at best, IMO. The variety in the Terrace Cafe is very limited and without healthy choices as we have experienced on other luxury cruise lines. The food in the Specialty restaurants was acceptable but not memorable. I know food is subjective but we need to point out how we feel about it. The embarkation process was very disorganized, the tender process was very slow today, general boarding was about 3 hours was after we anchored. Our Butler, Stewardess, and the entire crew, in fact have been awesome, very personable and professional and have made our experience a pleasure. Although, the interiors have been refurbished, the deck furniture needs some TLC. Perhaps, the biggest gripe that we have is the quality of the wi-fi. Totally unacceptable in 2023. The crew makes up for all the ships shortcomings. 

I’m picky about my food… and we frequent the finest restaurants on land while traveling and at home. That being said, I wouldn’t call O food offerings mediocre at any dining venue onboard. We keep our expectations realistic though, especially now. Yes, we can understand why on our recent Sirena cruise in December the food in general was a bit different but not by much from what we’ve been used on many O cruises before. Some offerings were not much to our liking, but we still found wonderful choices at every meal, probably just knew what to pick, with most dishes (talk real caviar) being as great as they’ve been on Oceania before.

 

Anyway, we don’t cruise just for food. As you mentioned, the service was wonderful. The same great crew and we met some officers and crew members from our past cruises. Not everything was perfect, internet and entertainment included, but we enjoyed our last cruise as much as any of our cruises in the past. We plan to continue cruising with Oceania if everything stays the same or hopefully even better.

Edited March 7, 2023 by osandomir

[schmerl]

I guess timing is everything, Our embarkation was very smooth, The porters took our bags and we went right in, No line at check in at all. We are in a Penthouse so there is a separate check in line

 As stated above, the staff is fabulous throughout the entire ship, 

Edited March 7, 2023 by schmerl

[InsGuy3]

17 hours ago, ORV said:

Curious about what age group you are and what types of food you prefer. I'd like to know more what you consider "healthy choices"?  Unless there's been a change I've never had an issue with the food on Oceania. I'm not a cheerleader or an apologist, I just know what I like. It's been since Dec of 2019 since I was on Riviera but I was on Regatta in Sept of 22 and the food was pretty much as Oceania's food always has been. 

We are in the over 65 group. We prefer foods that are tasty without being laden with loads of butter or plant based salads that are visibly drenched in oil. Yes, there are always fresh foods and green salads but we cannot have that for every meal without a decent protein. Like I said, food choices are personal and vary from person to person. We prefer low-fat choices, that’s what I mean when I say healthy. I’m sure a lot of O regulars will take exception to my post but isn’t that the purpose of this website? It’s just not for us and that is OK!!! Bear in mind that Executive Chefs change and at times the menus change with them.

[JeffElizabeth]

We had a great cruise last March and April on this boat. Food was awesome but I am very worried about budget cutbacks. Norwegian predicts a couple tough quarters coming up. 

[Woofa]

Hello Insguy3,

 

Just wanted to throw out a few ideas, we do not disagree that while on a cruise for more than a week it is nice to have some less heavy meals.

1.  As far as I know the main dining room has Aquamarine healthy options every night.  True they are more limited.

2.  While not available every night, terrace has the fresh cooked grill station including multiple proteins and grilled veggies.  To be honest, we loved this and felt nights it was not available the buffet was not that special.

3.  Don't hesitate to ask your server for small menu changes.  Or even larger ones.  I can be a little picky and I learned long ago the worst thing they can do is say no.  But often the answer is yes if they make it happen.

4.  The new pizza restaurant by waves at night had fresh and basically healthy salads and pizzas although limited.

 

Overall, you may be right that quite a bit of what's available is slightly heavy or fatty but I think with a bit of planning and willingness to find what you really want Oceania will try its best to make it happen.

[susiesan]

9 minutes ago, Woofa said:

 

2.  While not available every night, terrace has the fresh cooked grill station including multiple proteins and grilled veggies.  To be honest, we loved this and felt nights it was not available the buffet was not that special.

 

Not true. The Terrace grill station is open every night. On a December 2022 14 day Marina cruise I ate there every night except the 4 nights in the specialty restaurants. There was always something being grilled.

[Woofa]

I am no expert like some on these threads but I think Oceania knows very well that once they start the slippery slope of affecting "the best cuisine at sea." It will only be a question of time until their regulars stop rebooking.

On the other hand, I don't doubt overall prices will continue to rise on all cruise lines as they get more comfortable that cruising is back and we continue to see the longer term affects of covid. 

While I know not all agree, I think Oceania is doing a good job of keeping its niche.  That's not to say everything will always be perfect but as long as they refurbish their ships and keep making new ones, I think they feel confident their model will stay mostly as is and keep their heads above water financially.

At least this is what we are hoping as new Oceania cruisers.

[Woofa]

Well, I can only give you our experience on Riviera in January they had two nights without the grill in Terrace.   Or at least two nights without the main Grill station offering steak, lamb chops, shrimp, lobster tails, etc.  These were the special Caribbean themed nights.

[LHT28]

54 minutes ago, InsGuy3 said:

We are in the over 65 group. We prefer foods that are tasty without being laden with loads of butter or plant based salads that are visibly drenched in oil. Yes, there are always fresh foods and green salads but we cannot have that for every meal without a decent protein. Like I said, food choices are personal and vary from person to person. We prefer low-fat choices, that’s what I mean when I say healthy. I’m sure a lot of O regulars will take exception to my post but isn’t that the purpose of this website? It’s just not for us and that is OK!!! Bear in mind that Executive Chefs change and at times the menus change with them.

Just  ask  for the dressing on the side  or speak to the Exec Chef  about your low fat requirements

Ask for  fish to be grilled  without the butter  etc..

If you do not tell them  what you want  they do not know

 

We ask for low sodium diet & they will accommodate as best they can

If they have the Spa  menu choices maybe choose from those options

Talk to the wait staff when ordering  & adjust the items  to suit your needs/wants

JMO

[susiesan]

16 minutes ago, Woofa said:

Well, I can only give you our experience on Riviera in January they had two nights without the grill in Terrace.   Or at least two nights without the main Grill station offering steak, lamb chops, shrimp, lobster tails, etc.  These were the special Caribbean themed nights.

Interesting. So they didn't grill anything Caribbean style? On my 14 night Caribbean cruise last December there was no Caribbean night at all.

Edited March 7, 2023 by susiesan

[VAWCB]

2 hours ago, Woofa said:

Well, I can only give you our experience on Riviera in January they had two nights without the grill in Terrace.   Or at least two nights without the main Grill station offering steak, lamb chops, shrimp, lobster tails, etc.  These were the special Caribbean themed nights.

   We were on the Jan 31 to Feb 10 Riviera cruise.  On two nights we went to the Terrace Grill and found no ribeye, lobster, or shrimp on the grill.  These were Greek night and Caribbean night.

   One of our favorite meals had always been the surf and turf sandwich in Waves.  This time it seemed different - maybe the sauce on top?  Did anyone else notice a difference?

[Croooser]

2 hours ago, VAWCB said:

   We were on the Jan 31 to Feb 10 Riviera cruise.  On two nights we went to the Terrace Grill and found no ribeye, lobster, or shrimp on the grill.  These were Greek night and Caribbean night.

   One of our favorite meals had always been the surf and turf sandwich in Waves.  This time it seemed different - maybe the sauce on top?  Did anyone else notice a difference?

We were on that sailing as well. Our assessment is that there are now some misses here and there, but overall still very good. We have learned what we like and what we don't on the various menus and that helps to avoid disappointments. A couple of examples:

 

We learned the hard way about the theme nights in the Terrace on a TA last year. Solution: So we checked the menu on the TV before heading to the Terrace and skipped the Caribbean night this year and went to the MDR. Don't usually care for MDR vs Terrace but that's a real first world problem once or twice a cruise.

 

Example  - I think that years ago the Cuban in Waves was made with roast pork. Now it's made with something that looks like Oscar Meyer. Not what we expect or want. Solution: Ordered the Surf and Turf with double turf/no surf aka a filet mignon sandwich. Enjoyed it.

 

Red Ginger - excellent food and service

Toscana - ordered a few rounds of starters including an entrée sized portion of Eggplant Parmegan. excellent food and service

Polo - a disappointment. How can a steakhouse be "out of" Filet. The replacement rib eye was reminiscent of Ponderosa. Waiter was great but the management was the worst that we have experienced on O. Service was slow because of two 4 tops of high maintenance folks with nonstop additional requests, a brand new inexperienced, but eager, assistant waiter and then compounded by seating a latecomer with no booking in our waiter's section when he was already running behind. One maître D was oblivious and stared at the computer on the podium the whole time. The other was walking around greeting the diners, but never realized that our section was going down in flames. Having said all of that, the lobster and starters were excellent.

Passed on Jacques.

Terrace  - overall vey good selection, quality and service. Noticed a few things missing, but still met our expectations. Service was good to excellent. 

We tried the pizza and thought it was improved and good, if not great.

 

Housekeepers were inexperienced but could not do enough for us and did a great job.

 

The Net of it for us is that we are booked twice on Vista and looking forward to it. If our experience on Vista is much like this sailing (or maybe even better), we will be happy. 

 

HTH

YMMV

 

[ORV]

We'll board Riviera Sunday. I'll try to do a few live from posts, but I don't promise much. I only take an ipad with me, don't really take many pictures, and don't really won't to worry about attaching them to CC. But I'll try, and give you my opinion as to the current state of affairs vs the last time I was on her in Dec of 19. 

[NeedToChill]

11 hours ago, JeffElizabeth said:

We had a great cruise last March and April on this boat. Food was awesome but I am very worried about budget cutbacks. Norwegian predicts a couple tough quarters coming up. 

 

Only $1 billion in debt repayment due this year. If you all hurry up and buy your enhanced beverage package with the enhanced price, this will all be over soon. 😉

[loriva]

19 hours ago, susiesan said:

Not true. The Terrace grill station is open every night. On a December 2022 14 day Marina cruise I ate there every night except the 4 nights in the specialty restaurants. There was always something being grilled.

 

We had the same experience as @Woofaon our Riviera cruise 20 February to 02 March.  The grill at the Terrace Cafe was closed for two nights for a Mexican-themed buffet.  Instead, they used that area to offer churros.

 

We did eat in the TC on other nights when the grill was open and enjoyed the lobster tails.  They are not actually advertised on the grill menu, so thanks CC.com contributors for letting us know aouut that option.

 

We also enjoyed the new pizza in Waves Grill after 1800 hours.  We watched the chef cut the tomatoes and assemble the caprese--very fresh and delicious.

 

Jacques (which had restocked escargots, although they were not on the printed menu) was the most successful of the specialty restaurants.  Red Ginger a close second.  Toscana was mixed.  My lobster fra diavlo had mushy lobster and was missing any spice in the sauce.  DH had a swordfish dish (a special, I think) and it was excellent.  Polo Grill was the least successful--DH's NY strip was thin and overcooked.  (We brought a bottle of wine to match each specialty restaurant onboard--a malbec for Polo, for example--and paid the corkage, so cannot comment on wine offerings.)  One tip:  if you like to play the evening trivia (2030 hours on our sailing), you need to book a table for two at 1830 hours in the specialties.  And let the staff know you want to be finished by a certain time.

 

One thing that really surprised us.  We went to the Odyssey dinner in La Reserve.  A lovely talk by the executive chef describing the menu, and the food was excellent.  There was not, however, a real sommelier present to describe and serve the wine.  Instead, it was a head waiter/supervisor from the Terrace Cafe.  He was unable to answer some of the questions about the wine from a guest at our table.  Given the tie-in with Wine Spectator, I'd have expected the presence of a true sommelier.

 

 

 

[Tyskie]

 

We too will be first time cruisers on Riveria and Oceania.  It's interesting to read about the experiences (review seems like a negative word) of those having sailed - especially since the pandemic.  I do think it's hard to compare the Caribbean voyages to the European voyages.  JMO  

 

I do know that our experience with cruising on Princess and NCL - since the restart - the steakhouses have had major issues with their beef.  Supply issues have always been stated for the reason, 🤷‍♀️

 

Being out of stock of many items at the beginning days of a cruise seems ridiculous to me - more mismanagement are my thoughts.

 

On all cruiselines - staff has been wonderful and pleasing!  After our last cruise this Feb on Princess, we are so looking forward to Oceania.  🌞