Just back off Vista

[hgrca]

Hi All:
After using this site for so much information I thought I should share our experiences on our recent cruise which ended in Barcelona on August 4th.

We had a great time overall. This was our fourth cruise on Oceania and have also cruised Seabourn, Regent and Crystal.

We didn't find that this cruise matched up with those, particularly Seabourn and Crystal.

The vaunted "best cuisine at sea" was hit and miss. We were quite disappointed in Red Ginger (perhaps a bad night) and didn't love Toscana at all which we found extremely salty). In the past we loved both of those on both Marina and Riviera.

We did enjoy Polo and lowered our expectations for Ember and quite enjoyed our Cheeseburgers and fries!

We found the main dining room to be quite good. We had the same server each time and he was excellent. My wife is Celiac and they catered to her and her choices were abundant and generally good to very good.

Our room (Concierge Class) was well laid out and this was the best shower we have ever had on any of our cruises.

The front desk was less than helpful whenever we had a question. We tried to get change at the beginning of the cruise and was told that was not possible nor would it be possible for the remainder of the cruise.

Our biggest complaint was the fact that we rarely ran into the same people twice. We frequented all of the bars before dinner and met some very nice people.

It seemed very difficult to run into them again. I realize some of this had to do with the excellent layout of the ship, it never seemed busy anywhere.

There isn't much going on after dinner other than the show. However, after a full day touring we were generally tired anyway.

Would I book again? Definitely.

Hope you find this helpful.

 

[DOJO466]

I always got my change at the cashier desk in the Casino when it was open. You wopuld think they would be able to do that at reception.

[pinotlover]

Have they fixed the forward elevators yet? At the end of our cruise, two were non functional, and one had balance and weight issues.

[LHT28]

Was the food in GDR  salty?

 

Thanks for the review

[cruisingxpert]

Enquiring minds want to know if you could have 2 devices logged in at same time.  O says it will start October 1st but others are saying you can do it now.

[jonthomas]

to meet others, did you participate in trivia...usually there is one in the evening at 8:30.

we dont drink so no meeting anyone in bars...but play trivia and do other activities...that usually allows us to meet many...the tough part is finding others that you can have some kind of meeting of the minds. 

[Mkdvmz]

What do you think Seabourn and Crystal excelled at and were missing from Oceania

Edited August 14, 2023 by Mkdvmz
Misspelled

[hgrca]

2 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Have they fixed the forward elevators yet? At the end of our cruise, two were non functional, and one had balance and weight issues.

We only use the stairs on cruises! However, I think all were functional.

[hgrca]

12 minutes ago, Mkdvmz said:

What do you think Seabourn and Crystal excelled at and were missing from Oceania

Overall service. On Seabourn , in particular, they knew our names and drink preferences after the first day or so. Not quite the same on Oceania.

[hgrca]

1 hour ago, cruisingxpert said:

Enquiring minds want to know if you could have 2 devices logged in at same time.  O says it will start October 1st but others are saying you can do it now.

No only one device. It was quite expensive for the second device.

[hgrca]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

Was the food in GDR  salty?

 

Thanks for the review

No we didn't find that. Going forward we plan on requesting a low salt diet. You can request your meals in advance that way.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, cruisingxpert said:

 O says it will start October 1st but others are saying you can do it now.

Were "Others" in a top suite  by chance ?

[LHT28]

Just now, hgrca said:

No we didn't find that. Going forward we plan on requesting a low salt diet. You can request your meals in advance that way.

Yes I used to do that  but got tired of trying to choose  2 days in advance LOL

 Last few years they seem to lower the salt content  so was able to  just choose like normal people

 May have to switch back to advance notice

 Thanks for sharing that info

 

 

[pinotlover]

We did not find the food on Vista, including the GDR, salty at all. In a few cases I even added salt which I almost never do.

[DrBruce]

My wife and I are planning to sail on the Vista in February.  We'll be in 11073, which is located directly below the Terrace Cafe.  Would you happen to know if anyone complained about noise/vibration from above?  I've been trying to find out, but with no luck thus far.  Thanks for your review!

[ak1004]

5 hours ago, hgrca said:

Overall service. On Seabourn , in particular, they knew our names and drink preferences after the first day or so. Not quite the same on Oceania.

 

Thank you for the review. Very balanced and objective.

 

We sailed on Oceania, old Crystal and Silversea and found the service overall comparable. Maybe slightly more personal on Crystal, but only slightly.

 

Please help me to understand: what's the importance of the crew remembering your names? I hear this a lot, and while it could be nice, I don't really understand why it's so important for some people. A genuine question, really.

[shepherd really]

21 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

Thank you for the review. Very balanced and objective.

 

We sailed on Oceania, old Crystal and Silversea and found the service overall comparable. Maybe slightly more personal on Crystal, but only slightly.

 

Please help me to understand: what's the importance of the crew remembering your names? I hear this a lot, and while it could be nice, I don't really understand why it's so important for some people. A genuine question, really.

Call it the Cheers Syndrome, when you wanna go where everybody knows your name

[Muckyduckway]

10 hours ago, ak1004 said:

Please help me to understand: what's the importance of the crew remembering your names? I hear this a lot, and while it could be nice, I don't really understand why it's so important for some people. A genuine question, really.

I also don't understand why staff remembering the drink you ordered is important - do people really just drink one thing for an entire cruise? Again, genuinely interested in the thought behind this? 

[Elbig]

19 hours ago, hgrca said:

Hi All:
After using this site for so much information I thought I should share our experiences on our recent cruise which ended in Barcelona on August 4th.

We had a great time overall. This was our fourth cruise on Oceania and have also cruised Seabourn, Regent and Crystal.

We didn't find that this cruise matched up with those, particularly Seabourn and Crystal.

The vaunted "best cuisine at sea" was hit and miss. We were quite disappointed in Red Ginger (perhaps a bad night) and didn't love Toscana at all which we found extremely salty). In the past we loved both of those on both Marina and Riviera.

We did enjoy Polo and lowered our expectations for Ember and quite enjoyed our Cheeseburgers and fries!

We found the main dining room to be quite good. We had the same server each time and he was excellent. My wife is Celiac and they catered to her and her choices were abundant and generally good to very good.

Our room (Concierge Class) was well laid out and this was the best shower we have ever had on any of our cruises.

The front desk was less than helpful whenever we had a question. We tried to get change at the beginning of the cruise and was told that was not possible nor would it be possible for the remainder of the cruise.

Our biggest complaint was the fact that we rarely ran into the same people twice. We frequented all of the bars before dinner and met some very nice people.

It seemed very difficult to run into them again. I realize some of this had to do with the excellent layout of the ship, it never seemed busy anywhere.

There isn't much going on after dinner other than the show. However, after a full day touring we were generally tired anyway.

Would I book again? Definitely.

Hope you find this helpful.

 

Thanks for sharing. Interesting review. I always find it fascinating what is important to others and what they focus on. Knowing my name and my drink are not important to me especially on Vista with all the drink options. As far running into people, I don’t get the big deal. What is your point? If you liked them and wanted to meet again the why didn’t you say something at the time. Leaving it up to chance is just that. Anyway I appreciate your comments. 

[roberts2005]

If you had sea days, how crowded is the pool area?

[maxamize]

37 minutes ago, roberts2005 said:

If you had sea days, how crowded is the pool area?

Crowded and chair hogs were very active on our Vista cruise. Without them or a stricter enforcement it wouldn’t be a problem. The new bigger layout of the pool is nice for the pool but less so for space available for loungers. 

[roberts2005]

Thank you    Are there shaded areas?

[maxamize]

43 minutes ago, roberts2005 said:

Thank you    Are there shaded areas?

Yes by the pool under the deck above. 

[FeliciaLee]

17 hours ago, ak1004 said:

Please help me to understand: what's the importance of the crew remembering your names? I hear this a lot, and while it could be nice, I don't really understand why it's so important for some people. A genuine question, really.

I never really thought about it until we tried Regent. Every day when entering the dining room they'd ask our name and cabin. By like the ninth day, after eating almost every meal in one of the sit-down venues and greeting the same maitre-d virtually every time, it seemed bizarre. Not necessarily because he had to go through the motions, which is totally understandable, but just the cold, aloof look, like he was seeing a brand new face every time.

 

Perhaps just a one off. We seem to prefer Oceania, Crystal and even HAL, but to each his own 🙂

[mauibabes]

@DrBruce

We will be in 11073 beginning October 16. Feel free to mark your Calendar and send me an email a few days into our trip. Gerryesker at gmail dot com

We are certainly hoping it is great as we booked specifically that room on  Vista’s Inaugural opening minutes two years ago. 
Mauibabes