Oceania Riviera Review, July 2023

[PinonNoir]

6 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

All true. But the suggested Zwiesel isn’t over the top expensive at all. It is a great everyday wine glass with a good selection for different varietals. A wine will truly open up better in a shape designed for that type of wine. Riedel may be asking  too much from a cruise line, and I get that, but this in my opinion, isn’t asking too much. 

Riedel makes great stemware, no doubt. I have a bunch of their Burgundy glasses, but I rarely use them. Ive broken about a dozen, mostly while cleaning them...the stem is so fragile it can easily snap off. 

 

When I discovered Zwiesel it became my favorite glass.  We have washed them hundreds of times in the dishwasher with no issues. These would be excellent glasses for any restaurant.  Even a Riedel purist would be happy with the glass.

[PinonNoir]

8 hours ago, china addict said:

The food in Red Ginger is prepared to appeal to a wide swath of diners, many of whom prefer their food bland.  After a few initial disappointments we have learned to specify that we are not afraid of spicy.  I actually believe that when the chefs are advised upfront, they enjoy making their dishes as  authentic as possible.  Don't leave it to chance, specify your heat preference when ordering. 

I asked for spicy, it still came out mild. I don't think their spice-o-meter goes above 5.

[PinonNoir]

 

7 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

I understand your point, but there is a wide range between fine china and a Styrofoam cups and a fine china plate and a paper plate.  Oceania doesn't serve its wine in Styrofoam cups or its steaks on paper plates.  I think the poster say that he thinks crystal stemware is essential over a somewhat lesser quality glass stemware.

Just to be clear, I don't think the stemware must be "crystal'.  It's about the shape and size of the glass more than anything else, as well as the thickness (or lack thereof) of the lip and the stem, as well as the overall weight of the glass.  I know I sound like a pretentious ahole to some, and I'm fine with that, but around other wine enthusiasts this all makes perfect sense, and crappy stemware can make for a less than stellar wine experience.

 

Look at it this way, would you rather drive through the Italian Alps in a Pinto, or a Porsche?

 

 

[Jayne E]

9 hours ago, china addict said:

The food in Red Ginger is prepared to appeal to a wide swath of diners, many of whom prefer their food bland.  After a few initial disappointments we have learned to specify that we are not afraid of spicy.  I actually believe that when the chefs are advised upfront, they enjoy making their dishes as  authentic as possible.  Don't leave it to chance, specify your heat preference when ordering. 

Perfectly stated! We found that when ordering, waitstaff would warn us that dish was spicy. We think they see an older couple and assume we like bland food.  We specify spicy and have always enjoyed some very good spicy dishes.

[BAMA_BOY]

On 7/29/2023 at 6:12 PM, PinonNoir said:

I recently wrote a review about our stateroom experience on our Riviera cruise, and I wanted to write a review about our cruise experience overall.  This was our third Oceania cruise, so we had some experience and expectations going in.  I will try to remain balanced in my review.  We just disembarked 9 days ago, so I'm writing this while my memory is fresh.

 

First the positives:

 

1. The multitude of restaurant options is great.  There is something for everybody, and for a 12 day cruise it was nice to be able to eat in a variety of spaces.

2. The ship has a lot of common spaces to enjoy, and none of them felt overly crowded.

3. The Barista's spot makes excellent coffee....the best on the ship in our opinion.  We were regulars there.  Really fantastic...even staffed by an Italian!

4. The Oceania staff is excellent.  They always seem to go above and beyond with limited exceptions (sticking to positives here).

5. The ship was clean everywhere we went, including common area bathrooms.

6. Embarkation went smoothly, and we were in our stateroom quickly.  Our luggage showed up fairly quickly.

7. It seemed that the Bridge crew went out of their way to sail in such a manner as to keep the ship's movements minimized as much as possible.

8. We had dinner in Privee 3 times, and two of those times were outstanding (remember, this is the positives)!

9. Our Butler and support staff were top notch, cordial, professional and just outstanding in every way!

10. Fellow passengers all seemed to be well seasoned travelers, with mostly positive attitudes.  This is important to us.  We hate being around people who are "fun vampires".

 

Ok, now the negatives...which I'm going to be as honest as possible about.  I am not piling on here, just telling it like it is:

 

1. The food has slipped.  We noticed this in pretty much every restaurant, with the possible exception of Toscana.  However, on our last night , we ate in Toscana, and I ordered a Maine Lobster dish.  It was bad...very fishy...as if the lobster was way past it's prime.  I returned it immediately and ordered another pasta I had ordered previously, and it was of course excellent.  Why did they serve lobster that was unworthy of an Oceania customer?  It was really bad!  This is my last night on the ship, and it remains a solid memory.  Bad form.

 

2.  The wifi.  Holy mother of God what in the world is Oceania doing with this wifi?  I could hear my old 4400 baud modem clanging away as I tried to log in, but the wifi on the ship was no match for my 4400 bauds!  I write a travel blog for fun....and I couldn't even upload a photo without waiting an hour!  Fortunately we were near land on occasion and I could use my international plan to do some work, but I'm still a week behind thanks to their "Pony Express" wifi!  We had two "at sea" days due to canceled ports of call (coming up on #3), and I can't tell you how many hours I wasted trying to write one blog post!  Also, when you are logged in, you get logged out repeatedly.....over and over....never for more than a few hours at a time.  It was a constant struggle, almost like they would log you out on purpose!

 

3. Ok, here is a rant with a conspiracy theory.  Our ship pulled into the Faroe Islands, turned around in the harbor about a dozen times, very slowly, and then abruptly left.  The Captain said it was due to weather, but it was sunny and calm.  We were supposed to be there for two full days, and I had a private excursion planned (for 10 people) that I ended up losing over $2000 on.  A week prior to this the Faroe Island populace had a pilot whale hunt where they killed a bunch of them in front of another cruse ship.  It's my firm belief that Oceania Corporate told the Captain to pull into harbor, make a big show of the fact we were there, and then depart, sending a political message.  The company I was working with on the excursion advised me they had no idea why the Captain didn't dock, as the weather was calmer than usual.  If Oceania wants to take a political stance with the Faroe Islands, fine, but don't impact my cruise experience!  I was really looking forward to this port!

 

4. We had a habit of getting iced tea every day at the Waves Bar by the pool.  Our last day on the ship, we stopped by the bar and there was nobody there, during their opening hours.  We went up to Horizons to see if they could help us.  They told us they didn't have iced tea, go back to Waves Bar.  When we told them nobody was there, they said "oh well".  This was a group of 3 guys at the bar.  W T F?  This is not the service we have come to expect from Oceania!  One of these guys should have said "what is your stateroom number, I'll get some and bring it to you!"  I think the fact it was the last day on board lended itself to staff taking a lazy attitude towards the customers...."oh well, they are about gone, I'm done hustling for these guys".  I hope that's not the case, but it sure seemed like it.

 

5.  The Grand Dining Room.  We ate here for breakfast one time.  Once!  The food was cold, the coffee was cold, the service was terrible...and it wasn't even crowded!  Again, W T F?  Why is the service in the main dining establishment on the ship so crappy?  How can it be that hard to bring warm eggs from the kitchen to the table?  We ended up eating 10 of 12 breakfasts in our suite.

 

6. The "internet guy".  This guy had the worst attitude on the ship.  We couldn't get logged into the wifi (not that it was worth logging into) on our first day so we went to see him on our second day.  He really doesn't want to be there.  After taking care of us he walked away, and there was somebody waiting behind us.  We realized his "working hours" had ended at the same time he took care of us, so screw that guy behind you, he can wait until tomorrow.  Again, W T F?

 

7. The Best of Oceania!  One of the 3 nights we ate in Privee we picked the "Best of Oceania" dining menu.  It was terrible.  Every dish was lackluster.  It's been too long to remember details at this point, but the entire group of 10 was disappointed.  If you do Privee, stick with the Polo and Toscana menus.

 

8. The "Sommeliers".  The wine people on the ship, while they are nice, don't know how to pour wine in equal servings.  Now I know pouring one bottle for 10 people is difficult, but this is likely a common occurrence and it should be practiced. We always ended up with one person who had almost twice as much wine as another, and with high end wines and high end enthusiasts, this is not a fun vibe!

 

9. Dress code.  I know the dress code says no jeans to dinner, or around the ship after dinner, but this code is broken so often without consequence that I wonder why it's the dress code?  I would prefer to wear jeans every day....just my thing, but I didn't.  Kinda weird to see what was accepted in the restaurants in the end.  Maybe just allow jeans?  I know, you purists out there want us all in tuxedos.

 

10. Stemware.  Ok, this is just going to be me most likely, but stemware matters.  Double the amount of decent Pinot Noir glasses you currently carry.  Schott Zwiesel makes some excellent Pinot glasses that are actually made with Titanium, and they are super hard to break.  I know, these are my daily drinkers at home, and I've barely broken any over the last 15 years!  Buy a bunch of these so your high end red wine drinkers are happy.

 

Ok, I think I've mentioned everything here.  I'll have my wife review tomorrow....she has the good memory in the family...and will add anything she brings up.  Again, thanks for reading!

 

Thank you very much for your comprehensive review.  We are booked on the Riviera in October and it's helpful to be forewarned about some of the issues you mentioned.  It's our first cruise on Oceania and we have a TransAtlantic booked on the Vista next year so I was very interested in your experience.  We have cruised a number of times since covid including Azamara, Regent, Viking, HAL etc.  It's our (shared) experience that you cannot get decent service or food in the MDR on most cruise lines these days.  We're hoping for a good experience and of course we have time to cancel the Vista cruise if we're less than satisfied with Oceania.  We've cruised almost all of the cruise lines since 1990, we're now limiting ourselves to fewer cruises each year and looking to book higher categories and/or more luxury lines - and feeling blessed to be able to do so. 

 

 

[slewis7]

Thank you so much for this review.  Like several other posters on this thread, my wife and I have yet to sail on Oceania.  Our interest in the line is from the many positive comments and reviews I have seen in the Oceania forum here and the emphasis Oceania puts on cuisine.  Some recent comments including the OP’s have me concerned.  
 

We have a long European itinerary now booked on the Vista for 2025.  After we booked that cruise a few months back, we decided we need to have a trial experience with Oceania earlier, so now we are booked on a Caribbean itinerary onboard the Insignia this December.  If the Insignia cruise experience disappoints us, we will likely drop the 2025 reservation and be done with Oceania.  Hopefully that will not be the case.

Edited August 3, 2023 by slewis7

[Vallesan]

23 minutes ago, slewis7 said:

Thank you so much for this review.  Like several other posters on this thread, my wife and I have yet to sail on Oceania.  Our interest in the line is from the many positive comments and reviews I have seen in the Oceania forum here and the emphasis Oceania puts on cuisine.  Some recent comments including the OP’s have me concerned.  
 

We have a long European itinerary now booked on the Vista for 2025.  After we booked that cruise a few months back, we decided we need to have a trial experience with Oceania earlier, so now we are booked on a Caribbean itinerary onboard the Insignia this December.  If the Insignia cruise experience disappoints us, we will likely drop the 2025 reservation and be done with Oceania.  Hopefully that will not be the case.

I’m not sure that you can compare the two ships. I’ve not sailed on the Vista but have sailed on the Riviera a few times and on both the Sirena and Nautica several times and the experiences are quite different. The Insignia is old, the Vista is new. The Insigia is small, the Vista is a lot larger. I’ve enjoyed all my trips with Oceania, apart from a B2B in the Caribbean when the second, shorter 7 day leg, was a bit rowdy. Also you can’t compare longer voyages to the shorter ones they have a different atmosphere.
Enjoy your cruise but if your Insignia experience isn’t 100% ( I’m not saying it won’t be great) don’t let it put you off the Vista.

[anamari]

On 8/1/2023 at 9:44 PM, ORV said:

Here are the exact rooms For Future Reference. 

 

Penthouse Suites and Staterooms with the bathtub and shower:

PH3: 9138, 9145, 10002, 10003, 10004, 10005, 10008, 10009, 10010, 10011

A4: 9002, 9003, 9004, 9005, 9006, 9007, 9008, 9009, 9010, 9011, 9012, 9019, 9126, 9128, 9130, 9132, 9133, 9134, 9135, 9136, 9137, 9139, 9141, 9143

B4: 7010, 7011, 7012, 7014, 7015, 7016, 7017, 7018, 7019, 7020, 7021, 7022, 7023, 7024, 7025, 7026, 7027, 7028, 7029, 7031, 7102, 7104, 7105, 7106, 7107, 7109

Thank you! I have copied and saved this information for future.

 

[anamari]

3 hours ago, PinonNoir said:

I asked for spicy, it still came out mild. I don't think their spice-o-meter goes above 5.

Red Ginger had been a favorite in our previous cruises but this time my husband was disappointed as he asked for spicy and it still came out mild, I was very happy with my Lobster Pad Thai. 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, slewis7 said:

We have a long European itinerary now booked on the Vista for 2025.  After we booked that cruise a few months back, we decided we need to have a trial experience with Oceania earlier, so now we are booked on a Caribbean itinerary onboard the Insignia this December.  If the Insignia cruise experience disappoints us, we will likely drop the 2025 reservation and be done with Oceania.  Hopefully that will not be the case.

The Insignia  is  a different experience  to the larger O & A class ships

If you booked a PH +  you my find it ok

You might be better to do Riviera  or Vista 

YMMV

[ORV]

52 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

I’m not sure that you can compare the two ships. I’ve not sailed on the Vista but have sailed on the Riviera a few times and on both the Sirena and Nautica several times and the experiences are quite different. The Insignia is old, the Vista is new. The Insigia is small, the Vista is a lot larger. I’ve enjoyed all my trips with Oceania, apart from a B2B in the Caribbean when the second, shorter 7 day leg, was a bit rowdy. Also you can’t compare longer voyages to the shorter ones they have a different atmosphere.
Enjoy your cruise but if your Insignia experience isn’t 100% ( I’m not saying it won’t be great) don’t let it put you off the Vista.

Excellent perception and one that someone new to Oceania needs to understand. I thought much the same when I read Slewis7's post. 

[slewis7]

@Vallesan and @LHT28  I appreciate your comments; we are aware that Insignia is an older ship and I have much higher expectations for the surroundings on the Vista, but we are still looking for the food and service to be nothing less then excellent onboard the Insignia.

[PinonNoir]

19 minutes ago, slewis7 said:

@Vallesan and @LHT28  I appreciate your comments; we are aware that Insignia is an older ship and I have much higher expectations for the surroundings on the Vista, but we are still looking for the food and service to be nothing less then excellent onboard the Insignia.

Our first Oceania cruise was on Insignia in 2007, and it was the reason we fell in love with Oceania.  Just because it's an older, smaller ship doesn't mean the food or onboard experiences should suffer. It was excellent back then, I "expect" it to be excellent again during our cruise in October.

 

I will of course be posting an extensive review afterwards. We are in a PH2 on that cruise.

[Vineyard View]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

The Insignia  is  a different experience  to the larger O & A class ships

If you booked a PH +  you my find it ok

You might be better to do Riviera  or Vista 

YMMV

Why wouldn’t Marina also be suggested? Same size as Riviera. Maybe I do not know something experienced O travelers do. 
My only thing if I were to book one of the smaller ships would be to bump up in category due to bathroom sizes. We loved the smaller ship experience on Seabourn so wouldn’t hesitate to sail small ships again, as long as the cabin was right. 

[Vallesan]

1 hour ago, slewis7 said:

@Vallesan and @LHT28  I appreciate your comments; we are aware that Insignia is an older ship and I have much higher expectations for the surroundings on the Vista, but we are still looking for the food and service to be nothing less then excellent onboard the Insignia.

We have sailed Nautica, Riviera and Sirena in the last 12 months. The service on all three was really fine. The food was good on all except of course you have more speciality restaurants on the larger ships.

As this is your first O cruise you won’t have a comparison of food now with the ‘olden’ days! IMHO the food is probably just as good but the choices are not as extensive but in saying that you’ll never go hungry!

[LHT28]

4 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Why wouldn’t Marina also be suggested? Same size as Riviera. Maybe I do not know something experienced O travelers do. 
My only thing if I were to book one of the smaller ships would be to bump up in category due to bathroom sizes. We loved the smaller ship experience on Seabourn so wouldn’t hesitate to sail small ships again, as long as the cabin was right. 

They mentioned  the Caribbean  Marina  is doing South America  but if that works  for them by all means include the Marina

[Hanoj]

5 hours ago, PinonNoir said:

 

Just to be clear, I don't think the stemware must be "crystal'.  It's about the shape and size of the glass more than anything else, as well as the thickness (or lack thereof) of the lip and the stem, as well as the overall weight of the glass.  I know I sound like a pretentious ahole to some, and I'm fine with that, but around other wine enthusiasts this all makes perfect sense, and crappy stemware can make for a less than stellar wine experience.

 

Look at it this way, would you rather drive through the Italian Alps in a Pinto, or a Porsche?

 

 

 

Pinto for my first drive. This way I could have more time enjoying the views. Also, better chance of an unexpected stop for a picnic due to a breakdown. 😎

[Vallesan]

6 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Why wouldn’t Marina also be suggested? Same size as Riviera. Maybe I do not know something experienced O travelers do. 
My only thing if I were to book one of the smaller ships would be to bump up in category due to bathroom sizes. We loved the smaller ship experience on Seabourn so wouldn’t hesitate to sail small ships again, as long as the cabin was right. 

I’ve not sailed on the Marina yet, and maybe PinotNoir hasn’t either, so that’s why I didn’t mention the ship. Nothing sinister although she is due a refit in April 24.

Yes definitely go up to a PH on the smaller ships the veranda cabins, and especially the bathrooms, are small. Having said that I think the veranda cabins on the small ships now have large showers since the refits.

[Vineyard View]

9 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

They mentioned  the Caribbean  Marina  is doing South America  but if that works  for them by all means include the Marina

Got it. That makes perfect sense, and clearly what I was missing! 

[Vineyard View]

1 minute ago, Vallesan said:

I’ve not sailed on the Marina yet, and maybe PinotNoir hasn’t either, so that’s why I didn’t mention the ship. Nothing sinister although she is due a refit in April 24.

Yes definitely go up to a PH on the smaller ships the veranda cabins, and especially the bathrooms, are small. Having said that I think the veranda cabins on the small ships now have large showers since the refits.

Large shower stalls would make a big difference. Thanks for mentioning that. 

[LHT28]

3 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

. Having said that I think the veranda cabins on the small ships now have large showers since the refits.

showers on the R ships are the same  they just put glass door instead of the pesky curtain

[Vallesan]

5 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

showers on the R ships are the same  they just put glass door instead of the pesky curtain

Sorry. I just made an assumption I’ve not actually been in a veranda cabin I was just going by the pictures. Have they not replaced the tub? with a walk-in shower?

[LHT28]

2 minutes ago, Vallesan said:

Sorry. I just made an assumption I’ve not actually been in a veranda cabin I was just going by the pictures. Have they not replaced the tub? with a walk-in shower?

The A & lower cabin categories  on the R ships  never had tubs 

 I think they may have  taken the tubs out in the PH   though 

we usually book  A ,B or C  cabin  on both  R & O  class ships

 YMMV

[Vallesan]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

The A & lower cabin categories  on the R ships  never had tubs 

 I think they may have  taken the tubs out in the PH   though 

we usually book  A ,B or C  cabin  on both  R & O  class ships

 YMMV

Thanks for the clarification LHT28. Sorry if I missled anyone.

[PinonNoir]

1 hour ago, Vallesan said:

I’ve not sailed on the Marina yet, and maybe PinotNoir hasn’t either, so that’s why I didn’t mention the ship. Nothing sinister although she is due a refit in April 24.

Yes definitely go up to a PH on the smaller ships the veranda cabins, and especially the bathrooms, are small. Having said that I think the veranda cabins on the small ships now have large showers since the refits.

I've sailed on Insignia, Regatta and Riviera.  If my next cruise on Insignia in October is anything like this last cruise, I'll be shopping for another line.  Particularly if they skip a port!

 

Speaking of skipping a port, we are in Husavik, Iceland today, and we visited the Husavik Whale Museum.  They are showing a documentary in the museum about the Faroe Islands and the slaughter of pilot whales in 2021.  I found it particularly interesting based on our recent experience of skipping the islands.  It's called "Bloody Tradition, Agree to Disagree", made just last year, and well worth watching.

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by PinonNoir