Live from Vista—Montreal to Miami

[DrKoob]

Good morning, all of you who have stuck with this until this point. Today, I finished the two posts that give you an entire tour of the ship from top to bottom and bow to stern. There were so many photos that it was next to impossible to figure out how to get them all into one post so I had to break them into two. 

 

Also it was totally impossible to add that many photos to Cruise Critic. So if you want the tour, you will have to browse to one of the two posts I added on my blog. Click here for decks five and six and Click here for decks 12 through 16. 

 

If the links don't work just type in www.jimbellomo.com and you will get the last two pages.

 

I would be happy to answer any and all questions about the ship. We loved 90% of Vista and I will detail the parts we didn't in my final review. 

[makai 7]

Hi Jim- I want to let you know that you have convinced us to try Viking Ocean as an alternative to Oceania!
 

We are still doing a cruise on Vista, but may book a “last minute “ Viking later this week.😁

[ssawjo]

4 hours ago, DrKoob said:

Good morning, all of you who have stuck with this until this point. Today, I finished the two posts that give you an entire tour of the ship from top to bottom and bow to stern. There were so many photos that it was next to impossible to figure out how to get them all into one post so I had to break them into two. 

 

Also it was totally impossible to add that many photos to Cruise Critic. So if you want the tour, you will have to browse to one of the two posts I added on my blog. Click here for decks five and six and Click here for decks 12 through 16. 

 

If the links don't work just type in www.jimbellomo.com and you will get the last two pages.

 

I would be happy to answer any and all questions about the ship. We loved 90% of Vista and I will detail the parts we didn't in my final review. 

I can see there are not enough bar stools at the bar in Martini's.  

Edited October 16, 2023 by ssawjo

[DOJO466]

6 minutes ago, ssawjo said:

I can see there are not enough bar stools at the bar in Martini's.  I could not tell which photos were Red Ginger and Embers.  

Never was enough bar stools in Martinis. A shame because it is a fun area.

[DrKoob]

A Culinary Experience

This is a short bonus post for anyone who, like me, likes to cook. Vista has a culinary center on deck 14 forward that ranks with any facility that I have ever taken a cooking class in.

 

Prior to the cruise, I signed up for the only cooking class available in the online reservation section for our cruise. I had hoped to do a few classes, but the one I ended up taking was all that was available for pre-cruise booking. We later found out from the instructor that there are usually spaces left for some to book on board and that there are cancellations as well. So, if you aren't able to reserve the class you want or as many classes as you want, check with the reservations desk on Deck 5 when you are on board. Happily, the one class I signed up for, Cathy, signed up for as well—so I had a cooking buddy.

The cost for the class was $79, and that included two hours of instruction by our amazing teacher, Noelle, cooking and having fun, as well as eating what we made. To say that this class was well organized, that the facility was impressive and that the instructor was excellent would all be a gross understatement. All those things were true.

 

Our class was called "Lovers Together" or something like that. Cathy and I kept teasing Mike and Kathleen that they better come up and keep an eye on us. But the "Lovers" the class description referenced were the wine pairings—when wine and food are "Lovers." I know—stupid marketing speak. Just say Wine and Food pairings.

 

I would guess by now you get the fact that this class and facility were top-notch. Forget the fact that we are on a ship; I would take classes here (at a great price) at sea or on land—just an amazing experience. If you like to cook, take a class on an Oceania cruise. You won't be disappointed. Another great thing about these classes is that Noelle had three assistants who would set us up with everything we needed for the next course and clear out our refuse from the previous course while Noelle would have us come forward for instruction.

 

I put some photos on my blog at jimbellomo.com if you want to see them. 

 

After photography, cooking is my second favorite hobby, and I love experimenting and taking cooking classes. These were great. The instructor was super helpful and answered all our questions, including helping us with possible substitutions. That's a great teacher—willing to adapt.

 

Edited October 17, 2023 by DrKoob

[takemewithyou]

25 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

A Culinary Experience

This is a short bonus post for anyone who, like me, likes to cook. Vista has a culinary center on deck 14 forward that ranks with any facility that I have ever taken a cooking class in.

 

Prior to the cruise, I signed up for the only cooking class available in the online reservation section for our cruise. I had hoped to do a few classes, but the one I ended up taking was all that was available for pre-cruise booking. We later found out from the instructor that there are usually spaces left for some to book on board and that there are cancellations as well. So, if you aren't able to reserve the class you want or as many classes as you want, check with the reservations desk on Deck 5 when you are on board. Happily, the one class I signed up for, Cathy, signed up for as well—so I had a cooking buddy.

The cost for the class was $79, and that included two hours of instruction by our amazing teacher, Noelle, cooking and having fun, as well as eating what we made. To say that this class was well organized, that the facility was impressive and that the instructor was excellent would all be a gross understatement. All those things were true.

 

Our class was called "Lovers Together" or something like that. Cathy and I kept teasing Mike and Kathleen that they better come up and keep an eye on us. But the "Lovers" the class description referenced were the wine pairings—when wine and food are "Lovers." I know—stupid marketing speak. Just say Wine and Food pairings.

 

I would guess by now you get the fact that this class and facility were top-notch. Forget the fact that we are on a ship; I would take classes here (at a great price) at sea or on land—just an amazing experience. If you like to cook, take a class on an Oceania cruise. You won't be disappointed. Another great thing about these classes is that Noelle had three assistants who would set us up with everything we needed for the next course and clear out our refuse from the previous course while Noelle would have us come forward for instruction.

 

I put some photos on my blog at jimbellomo.com if you want to see them. 

 

After photography, cooking is my second favorite hobby, and I love experimenting and taking cooking classes. These were great. The instructor was super helpful and answered all our questions, including helping us with possible substitutions. That's a great teacher—willing to adapt.

 

I loved the classes so much on my first O cruise, that I knew to book very early and I have  3 coming up on my TA.  can’t wait 😛 

[cdn.cruiser]

Dr. Koob, 

Are you still doing a summary of the food on board in varying venues?

when do you think that will be?

thank you.

 

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, cdn.cruiser said:

Dr. Koob, 

Are you still doing a summary of the food on board in varying venues?

when do you think that will be?

thank you.

 

I am working on it tonight and hope to get it online tomorrow or at the latest on Wednesday.  

 

 

[cdn.cruiser]

Thank you, I will look for it.

[Pandazoo]

@DrKoob  What did you make and what were the pairings?  

[DrKoob]

2 minutes ago, Pandazoo said:

@DrKoob  What did you make and what were the pairings?  

Wander over to my blog at jimbellomo.com and you can pics of everything we made and the wines are right behind them. 

 

[DrKoob]

It's All About the Food

As is the case on so many cruises, it's all about the food. There is something about being able to eat out at a restaurant every single night during a vacation, and they never bring you the check (except for drinks). I wish I could have included all my food photos here but they are on my blog at https://www.jimbellomo.com.

 

Within the cruise industry, it is common knowledge that Oceania is known to have the "best cuisine at sea." Is this true? My judgment is that I expected too much and that 90% of their food is better than 90% of the food on other cruise lines. Other lines we have been on have had some dishes or meals that have stood out over the years. The original United States Dining Room on Celebrity's Infinity was amazing, as was Qsine before Celebrity ruined it with their stupid Petit Chef. Some meals in Club Orange on Nieuw Statendam were as good as anything we ate on Vista. The grille on Viking Sky is better than the Waves Grille on Vista. But all in all, Vista has better food overall.

 

The Steve Test

After our disastrous Celebrity Millenium cruise in May of 2022, my brother Steve came up with a way to rate food and restaurants on a cruise better than I have ever been able to do it myself. From then on, I have called this the Steve Test. Here it is: If you eat in a food venue on a ship, be it the main dining room, buffet, grille or a specialty restaurant, and that restaurant were near you once you got home, would you go there again?  

 

That's pretty simple, right? I think it is the best way I have ever heard of to rate food on cruise ships and I will rate each venue (and, in the case of some of them, by the dish or meal) using the Steve Test.

Please keep in mind that the Steve Test Ratings below are my ratings. Steve will (I hope) chime in with a comment about what he thinks passed his test.

 

Editor's Note: Since this is about the food, I struggled to figure out how to cover it. I didn't want just to list things we ate. So let's take it venue by venue. And sorry, but I don't have the menus for every restaurant, but my buddy Mike will when he does his review. I am more about taking "pretty pictures," and Mike is about remembering that you want to read the menus. I will post a link as soon as his review is up. Is it done yet, Mike?

 

 

The Grand Dining Room

This is the best place to start. We ate dinner here our first three nights and never went back. It wasn't that we didn't like the food. It was because they had just about the same food in the buffet, and when we went to the buffet, we didn't have to dress up and put on hard-sole shoes. We also found that dinner took so much longer there. If we went to dinner when the dining room opened at 6:30, we never got out of there before 8:30. Sometimes that is fine, but when you are going to bed at 9:00, it leaves you stuffed and feeling bloated when you are trying to sleep. We also found that we ate too much. We would be seated; they would bring out some bread to keep us going while we went over the menus. They would take our order and bring more bread. We would eat it. They would bring the appetizers...and more bread. Then the same thing through the salad course, the soup course and finally the entrées. The only course without bread of some kind was dessert. And yes, I have absolutely no self-control when it comes to bread of any kind. So we switched to the buffet for dinner.

 

I will say here that the dining room food and ambiance were far superior to Viking Ocean or pretty much any cruise ship dining room we have eaten in for quite a while. Here are some of the dishes we had in the Grand Dining Room. I tried to remember what they were, but it's been two weeks. I will mention if they were either exceptional, bewildering or just bad.

 

We also had breakfast in the Grand Dining Room once because they serve lamb chops for breakfast, and we all had to try that—because we all love lamb—at least Steve and I do. Here's the pics on that.

 

 

My Steve Test Rating: Nope, not special enough. Nothing really stood out. If this restaurant were next door to my house, I wouldn't go back.

 

The Terrace Cafe (the buffet)

In the buffet, we found pretty much the same food as the dining room but in a more relaxed setting, and we also found (much to our surprise) that we ate less. For one thing, a lot less bread. We would all go grab a salad or some sushi, have that, and then instead of eating bread and waiting for the next course, we would just walk back and get an entrée or two. When we were done with that, we went back and grabbed a dessert. And all of it was excellent food.

 

We did have a couple of quibbles. First, the desserts were always cold. Even cobblers and bread puddings that should have been served warm were kept cold on purpose. It ruined a bunch of very good desserts. Second, sometimes, they would repeat menus/theme evenings. The last two nights had the exact same menu, and we actually think that some parts of what was available that evening were just leftovers from the night before. Sadly, this is what their parent company, Norwegian Cruise Line, is doing with their top-tier Haven product. They have the same menu every night in their Haven dining room, so why not migrate that idea to Oceania? It would also be nice if they had a couple of other large tables. With seven of us, we had only two tables in the buffet where we could all fit. Steve and Jamie would often go up and save one of those two big tables so we could all eat together. Other than those three rather minor things, we loved the Terrace Cafe.

 

The thing I really loved the most, Terrace, was the service they gave our buddy Jocelyn, who was walking with a cane. Almost every time she would go to get some food, she would come back to the table with no plate in her hand...but she would be followed by a server or maitre'd with her plate in their hand. I loved how they took such great care of her—heck, of all of us.

 

My Steve Test Rating: I would go back...for certain items and for the amazing selection of things. There was never a night (not even when we had the same menu two nights in a row) that I couldn't find something I really wanted to try.

 

I also need to mention one amazing meal that we ate in the Terrace Cafe. Other than our night at Toscana, this was the most memorable food I had on board. I wish they had done this menu again and again. I would have eaten there every day. It was a Mexican-themed lunch. And the Chocolate Mole' Braised Short Ribs were the second best dish I had on the entire cruise...from any Vista restaurant. It is really hard to get a chocolate mole' sauce to work. So many chefs try it but Vista's chef hit the ball out of the park. That plus there were a lot of other great Latin-American dishes as well.

 

My Steve Test Rating: If I could get this dish at home, that would be the only restaurant I would ever eat in again. Well, maybe not the only one, but I would get really fat if I could drive to this within an hour.

 

 

The Aquamar Cafe

 

 My incredible Poke Bowl

This is a new eating venue for Oceania (or so I think–please correct me if I am wrong) and other than the design (open-air to the outdoors) it is one of my favorites. The idea is healthy alternatives for breakfast and lunch. We never ate breakfast here but I can tell you, when these guys do healthy lunch, the knock it out of the park. We ended up eating lunch here at least eight days out of 15. Maybe more. They had a poke bowl that knocked my socks off. Easily in the top three things I ate onboard. They also had some of the best sweet potato fries with chipolte mayo. Only problem was, you had to order them again and again because they never brought enough 🤪. The crispy chicken burger was Kathleen's favorite. I had it once and really liked it but it was really hard for me to eat there without having that Poke Bowl. 

 

My Steve Test Rating: I could eat lunch at the Aquamar Cafe every day for the rest of my life. If it were next door to my house, I might never go anyplace else. Oceania hit it out of the park with this restaurant for lunch.

 

Waves Grille

On the opposite side of the ship from the Aquamar Cafe was the Waves Grille. They were really two restaurants in one. At lunch, they served burgers, paninis, one specialty dish (paella, chili, BBQ chicken, etc.) and had an ice cream counter. In the evenings, they turned into a great little pizza place with some pretty great pizza.

 

As a grille at lunch, I wasn't impressed. Nice place (very crowded), burgers were OK. Paninis were "fine." Fries (thick steak fries) couldn't hold a candle to the sweet potato fries in the Aquamar Cafe. You could get the ice cream at the buffet, and the two times I had the specialty dish, I was unimpressed.

But at dinner, their pizzas were excellent. They do New York style, but the crust was a little too thin for me. But the choices were excellent, and one of our favorite parts was that you could order a pizza and have it delivered to the buffet next door. One night, we decided to do a pizza night, but there is not a single table that would hold seven of us in the Grille. So we took up our regular table in the buffet (just inside the door to the grille) and ordered one of every kind of pizza they made. They gave us a number, asked where we were sitting and brought us every pizza...and a BBQ beef flatbread that was WONDERFUL!

 

My Steve Test Rating: For lunch—FAIL! I would not go there for burgers. The grille on Viking Sky was far superior. But for dinner, their pizza was really good and that night was one of the most fun meals we had. That said, I probably wouldn't go back there either—I make better pizza 😁.

 

That's going to be it for today. What's left here are the four specialty restaurants on Vista. I have some work to do today, and I want to get this post online. So tomorrow morning, I will hit those and then the final review and comparison. Again, you can see many more photos of the food on my blog that you can reach by clicking here.

 

 

[Harters]

I've been enjoying the thread, as we'll be on Vista next year. It's helped me get a feel for the ship. 

 

FWIW, we always apply the Steve Test when we eat away from our home area. We've been on Marina and Nautica and, whilst the food has been fine, only Toscana would pass the Test. And, from time to time,  some dishes/meals in the GDR

[SSFrance69]

I've enjoyed following along. Your photos are fantastic. I drooled on my keyboard looking at some of the food photos. I'll have to look out for that Mexican themed lunch when we sail on Vista in February. I agree that the pizza in the evening at Waves is really good. I wish it were available for lunch as well. You say you make better pizza though? I say, what time should we come over to try it?!? Just kidding. We are in the DC area, so that might not be logistically feasible. I went to your other website too and you are a couple in your 70s? You must be doing something right, because you both look like you're in your 50s. Thanks so much for taking the time to write the review and post photos. I'm also looking forward to reading your friend's review and seeing those photos. I've been to his site before and always enjoy all the detailed food pictures and menus. Is it done yet, Mike? 😆

[DrKoob]

5 minutes ago, SSFrance69 said:

I've enjoyed following along. Your photos are fantastic. I drooled on my keyboard looking at some of the food photos. I'll have to look out for that Mexican themed lunch when we sail on Vista in February. I agree that the pizza in the evening at Waves is really good. I wish it were available for lunch as well. You say you make better pizza though? I say, what time should we come over to try it?!? Just kidding. We are in the DC area, so that might not be logistically feasible. I went to your other website too and you are a couple in your 70s? You must be doing something right, because you both look like you're in your 50s. Thanks so much for taking the time to write the review and post photos. I'm also looking forward to reading your friend's review and seeing those photos. I've been to his site before and always enjoy all the detailed food pictures and menus. Is it done yet, Mike? 😆

Thanks SSFrance69! We are in Seattle so that would be a long way to go for a pizza. My Sicilian grandmother taught me everything I know. Her and Nick Stelino. Everything from scratch. You can get pizza at lunch at the buffet but it isn't as good. 

 

Thanks for saying we are doing something right...but those are old pictures 🤣.

I will let you know when Mike is done. His food pics will be even better. 

[jackdeb]

Thank you Dr.Koob for taking time away from your cruise to write such great reviews and pictures. Some of the best written on this board, concise and informative. Unfortunate about the soufflés, those were some of our best desserts always piping hot. 
Jack

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, jackdeb said:

Thank you Dr.Koob for taking time away from your cruise to write such great reviews and pictures. Some of the best written on this board, concise and informative. Unfortunate about the soufflés, those were some of our best desserts always piping hot. 
Jack

Jack, 

You are very welcome. Maybe it was just an off couple of nights for souffles. It was strange to us that even the sauce was served cold.

[takemewithyou]

So about these pizzas….are there any alternative crusts like Cauliflower?  
I looked at the pictures…..perhaps I need to go look at the copy of the menu again on your website.  Those pics look like it’s a pretty thick crust.

I prefer thin crusts and preferably cauliflower, even though I am not gluten free.

[DrKoob]

48 minutes ago, takemewithyou said:

So about these pizzas….are there any alternative crusts like Cauliflower?  
I looked at the pictures…..perhaps I need to go look at the copy of the menu again on your website.  Those pics look like it’s a pretty thick crust.

I prefer thin crusts and preferably cauliflower, even though I am not gluten free.

I have to say that I did not see anything about gluten free. The crusts were only thick on the edges. I like a thicker crust so you would probably like these. My Siciilian grandmother just rolled over in her grave with me even discussing a non-wheat crust 😁.

[kjbacon]

Your pictures are fantastic and descriptions too. We are on Vista next year and am very excited to try out Aquamar Cafe. Any chance you have pictures of anything other than that gorgeous poke bowl which I will order on day one in your honor!?

[DrKoob]

3 hours ago, kjbacon said:

Your pictures are fantastic and descriptions too. We are on Vista next year and am very excited to try out Aquamar Cafe. Any chance you have pictures of anything other than that gorgeous poke bowl which I will order on day one in your honor!?

Thanks so much. And order that poke bowl and I will be green with envy. And sorry, I didn't take any other pics in Aquamar. I was too busy eating. My bad.

[DrKoob]

Speciality Restaurants...one is truly special

 

Keep reading. This is the best dish I ate on Vista. More about it below.

 

Vista has four specialty restaurants. Unlike most cruise lines, you get to eat there for free. No charge! But you have to make a reservation—in advance. Everyone gets four guaranteed—one in each restaurant. Unlike Viking, where you could get into one of their two specialty restaurants almost any night you tried. We tried to get another reservation for Toscana, but we couldn't. We really wanted it, but all they could offer us was 8:30 p.m. on the last night of the cruise. We were not doing that one. So the message here is: if you want to eat in a particular restaurant on a particular night, be online on the day you can make reservations at midnight EST and make them. I was lucky enough to get ones that worked well for us.

 

Before telling you about the four of them, I want to reiterate the Steve Test from yesterday's post.

 

The Steve Test

After our disastrous Celebrity Millenium cruise in May of 2022, my brother Steve came up with a way to rate food and restaurants on a cruise better than I have ever been able to do it myself. From then on, I have called this the Steve Test. Here it is: If you eat in a food venue on a ship, be it the main dining room, buffet, grille or a specialty restaurant, and that restaurant were near you once you got home, would you go there again?  

 

That's pretty simple. I think it is the best way I have ever heard of to rate food on cruise ships, and I will rate each venue (and, in the case of some of them, by the dish or meal) using the Steve Test.

 

Ember

Ember (I keep wanting to put an S on the end of it and name it EmberS) is a new restaurant that is only onboard Vista. On Marina and Riviera, you get the French Bistro, Jacques, named after Oceania's menu-planning chef, Jacques Pepin. So we didn't get high-end French food; we got slightly higher-end Applebees food. Check out the sample menu on the Oceania website , which will give you an idea of what we ate that night. I had the lobster roll appetizer (mostly bread, very little lobster), salt-crusted beetroot salad (it was "fine"), the pork chop (Mine was OK but the sauce was watery, Mike's was tough), a side of "potato dippers" with no dip??? Not sure what that was about. I finished up with the fried Beignets (dry as a bone with very little sauce underneath them). All-in-all, it was a very unimpressive meal.

 

Even though it wasn't my favorite meal on board, I do want to thank the maitre'd Raja (also the head of house in the Aquamar Cafe during the day) for taking such good care of us. When I made the reservation, I could only get a table for five and another for two. When I saw Raja in the Aquamar in the afternoon, he came up to me and addressed me by name and told me he would have a table for seven ready for us that night—that is service!

 

My Steve Test Rating: Not a chance. Worst of the four specialty restaurants. Just not impressed at all. Would I go again—nope, I don't eat at Applebees. Never have, never will. How bad was it? I didn't even take a photo. Go down and eat at almost any American restaurant. You will see just what the food looks like. I can't wait to try Jacque's on Riviera. They should replace Ember with it as soon as possible.

 

The Polo Grille

This is Vista's steak house. I need to say upfront that I am not a steakhouse person. If I want a steak, I will grille my own. We don't eat that much beef—balsalmic ribs on Christmas Eve, etc. But I can count on one hand the number of times I have ever ordered a steak in a land-based restaurant...in my life.

I thought this was the most impressive restaurant, ambience-wise. High on deck 14, with wrap-around windows and low lighting, it is beautiful if you come in pre-sunset. We barely got here in time to see the sun disappear. We didn't appreciate that this was the only restaurant where they didn't have a table for seven for us. They basically just pulled up another chair to a table for six. This made eating a little painful. The number of dishes they brought to the table would not fit on the table. Sides had to be quickly scooped onto entrée plates. And don't stick your elbows out, whatever you do. Here's a link to the menu on Oceania's website. I had the escargot, no soup or salad (None of the selections appealed to me), the rack of lamb (they were "fine" as rack of lamb goes), the truffle parmesan fries and the roasted asparagus spears. For dessert, I had the Polo Quartet. This is a small sample of all their best desserts. It included their chocolate fudge brownie, key lime pie, Bailey's cheesecake and Granny Smith Apple Crumb Pie—the best part of the meal.

 

You can find more photos of the food at the Polo Grille on my personal blog by clicking here.

 

My Steve Test Rating: Since I don't eat at steakhouses, I am not the one to ask about the Polo Grille. My brother loves steakhouses and often orders a good steak. I will let him give the rating on this one—I just texted him. He said he would go back, but it would depend on how much it cost. So I asked him if he had to choose between the Capital Grille and Polo, which would he choose if the prices were close. He said Captial Grille—hands down. Maybe compared to Sizzler 🤪?

 

 

Red Ginger

Red Ginger is Vista's Asian restaurant. Before we went, if I told someone we were going on Oceania, they would tell me that I would LOVE Red Ginger. That it was the best Asian restaurant they had ever eaten in. Having eaten there, I wouldn't say it was the best Asian restaurant I have eaten in, but it was very good.

 

The ambiance in Red Ginger and Ember (located on Deck 5) is nowhere near as good as in Polo Grille and Toscana. Mainly because you can't see the ocean. But that's OK. The food made up for it. If you have been to Red Ginger, you know that their most loved dish is a watermelon and duck salad. I am sure it is wonderful but I despise watermelon, and Kathleen is highly allergic to duck, so we didn't even try the dish everyone raves about. And I am not a big soup fan, either. So that meant I got to try three appetizers instead of a soup and salad course. Yummy! Here's a link to the Red Ginger menu. So you can see what I didn't eat.

 

I started with a special appetizer that isn't on the sample menu featuring my favorite food—octopus. I followed that with the spring roll and then the crisp ginger calamari. I think the pic of the ahi was Steve's, but I am not sure. My entrée was an easy choice as they had soft-shell crab on the menu, a dish I have loved since I had it in Bangkok. Theirs was excellent. I finished it all up with a steamed ginger cake. All-in-all, a wonderful and tasty meal. Here are a few photos from around the table. Again, if you would like to see photos of more of the food, head on over to my blog post at www.jimbellomo.com.

 

My Steve Test Rating: I would eat there on a monthly basis if this place were nearby. Just about every dish was better than what we get when we go out for Asian food. The local place has much the same type of menu, but Red Ginger just seemed to up the game on every dish. For example, instead of calamari, they gave it a slight twist and added a bunch of ginger. Nice touch.

 

 

Toscana

Way up on Deck 14 aft, on the opposite side of the ship from the Polo Grille, sits one of the best Italian restaurants I have ever been to. Usually, we don't go out for Italian food. That's because I make a lot of Italian food. So I went to Toscana expecting another great Oceania meal. What I got was a wonderful Italian dining experience. One that I would put up against any place we have eaten in our four trips to Italy.

 

It wasn't just the food (which was amazing) but also the service and the bread and the olive oil and balsamic pairings (by the wonderful Massimo from Milano) and so much more. This was more than a meal; it was the way I want to be treated at every restaurant I ever go to. Viking Ocean has an Italian restaurant called Manfredis. Toscana and Manfredis should never be mentioned in the same sentence (shame on me for doing it here).

 

They will blow you away from the moment you arrive. You sit down; they bring you one of the most amazing bread services I have ever seen. Then they put bowls of superb parmesan cheese (big hunks of it) on the table for you to share. Massimo comes by to pair any of seven or eight incredible olive oils with any of five or six balsamic vinegars to dip your bread in. Then, the wonderful sommelier comes over and recommends some great Italian wine. While you are sipping that, your server takes your order. When you tell him that you would really love to try the lasagne, but you don't want to eat an entire order of it, and a few others around the table say the same thing, he says he will take care of it. Later in the meal, four entire orders of lasagne show up for the seven people. We all say we will try a bite, but when we finish dinner, there is very little left.

 

Let's get on with the rest of the food, though. Click here to see the Toscana menu. I started with the stuffed artichoke. It was just fine, but it was the only thing I had that night that I wouldn't order again. Then I sampled (devoured) the lasagne and topped it off with my entrée—the best dish I had on the entire cruise on Vista, the Agnello Arrosto. There's a photo of this dish at the top of this post.

 

Seriously it was that good. Here's the description from the menu: "roasted stuffed lamb loin, spicy soppressata sausage, spinach, aubergine stiletto, tomato jam." That sounded amazing to me when I read it, but to be honest, it was all about the sauce. I would give my right arm for the recipe for that sauce. But everything just came together for that dish. I can't say more great things about it.

How good was it? I didn't even have dessert. I didn't even think about dessert. What I really wanted for dessert was another serving of roasted lamb, which was beyond amazing. When you do another Oceania cruise, forget the other specialty restaurants. I will book Toscana for four nights and order the lamb. Maybe the photos on my blog at www.jimbellomo.com will make you even hungrier.

 

My Steve Test Rating: If this restaurant were within 100 miles of here, it would be our "celebration restaurant." It is the kind of place you go for your birthday or anniversary. If it was within 30 miles, I might go once every other week if I could afford it. I have to try and find out how they make that sauce. But it was more than just than just that one dish. It was the entire experience. I would sail on Vista again to have that Toscana experience one more time. 

 

I think that about covers food on Vista. If you have any questions about the food or the restaurants, please ask away.

 

 

 

[Harters]

As I mentioned upthread, Toscana was the only restaurant in two cruises which would pass our version of the Steve Test. It is definitely up there with our favourite Italian place at home and, if it was nearby, I'd alternate between the two. 

 

I was obviously unsurprised at seeing the American thing with the oil and balsamic for bread dipping. It's not something generally done here, nor have I ever seen it in trips to Italy. We've usually declined it on trips to the States but did sample it recently on Nautica - basically saying to guy "serve whatever" (although much more politely). Bread as good as they serve in Toscana doesnt need anything more. 

[Azulann]

Thank you so much for your  detailed trip report on the Vista. Toscana  sounds incredible , both the food and service.  

I was, at the same time ,reading a trip report about the Explora 1 by a another CC  poster that I admire.

IN the end, I will continue to  travel on Viking Ocean, but  I would try Explora in 2024  after they get their communication with cruisers  figured out before and even while on board, depending on the itinerary.  

Love your pictures and your Steve test for food.

Look forward to your next trip report and thank you for taking the time for all of us CC posters who love reading trip repost  no matter which ship or cruise line.

Cheers,

Patti

 

 

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, Azulann said:

Thank you so much for your  detailed trip report on the Vista. Toscana  sounds incredible , both the food and service.  

I was, at the same time ,reading a trip report about the Explora 1 by a another CC  poster that I admire.

IN the end, I will continue to  travel on Viking Ocean, but  I would try Explora in 2024  after they get their communication with cruisers  figured out before and even while on board, depending on the itinerary.  

Love your pictures and your Steve test for food.

Look forward to your next trip report and thank you for taking the time for all of us CC posters who love reading trip repost  no matter which ship or cruise line.

Cheers,

Patti

 

 

Hi Patti, 

Thanks for your comment. If you stick around for one more post I will be comparing V and O. Oceania seems to be trying to keep up with them so it should be interesting. I should have that online by Friday morning at the latest. Working on it now. 

 

Jim

 

PS: I think you are smart to hold off on Explora. I never trust a new cruise line in their first year in business. And them being owned by MSC also gives me pause.