SB vs O which is better?

[babydrum]

I am going to cancel my Oceania cruise in May and I'm looking at a 34 night SB cruise on the Sojourn.  Has anyone down both and if so, which one do you like better.  It has all the gratuities, free drinks and I believe restaurants included.  Anyone prefer the food on one over the other?  One thing I don't like is the fact that it is an R class ship and that seems a bit small to me.  This one isn't as port intensive as the O cruise I'm canceling so the ship becomes more important.  The bathrooms and the room size seem to be bigger though so at least I won't have to sorry about that.  I have to decide soon.  I will be getting an OV on the SB cruise which cost almost as much as a B3 verandah on O.

[ak1004]

16 minutes ago, babydrum said:

I am going to cancel my Oceania cruise in May and I'm looking at a 34 night SB cruise on the Sojourn.  Has anyone down both and if so, which one do you like better.  It has all the gratuities, free drinks and I believe restaurants included.  Anyone prefer the food on one over the other?  One thing I don't like is the fact that it is an R class ship and that seems a bit small to me.  This one isn't as port intensive as the O cruise I'm canceling so the ship becomes more important.  The bathrooms and the room size seem to be bigger though so at least I won't have to sorry about that.  I have to decide soon.  I will be getting an OV on the SB cruise which cost almost as much as a B3 verandah on O.

SB is usually significantly more expensive, would you mind to share the itineraries where SB cost is similar to O?

[babydrum]

9 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

SB is usually significantly more expensive, would you mind to share the itineraries where SB cost is similar to O?

My Oceania cruise was a 27 day Dubai to Barcelona on May 14th for $21,198 for a B3 cabin.  It was originally more as my son was going to come with us but he couldn't so for two of us $21,198. This included PPG, $1500 OBC and of course SM.

 

My SB cruise (that I'm looking to replace it with) is a 34-Night Grand Voyages Cruise on May 2nd in an OV for 2 for $20,148. It includes $1300 OBC, gratuities and unlimited drinks and $2000 off of airfare.  The itineraries are very different but both include Safaga and Aqaba and Israel (which I know won't be a stop).  I like the Oceania cruise because it gave me 5 days in Israel but since that isn't a factor, the only other two stops I cared about was Egypt and Jordan. 

 

I've been to most of the Med stops on the O cruise so that wasn't really of interest to me.  I picked it for my son who hasn't been to those places.  I haven't been to most of the places on the SB cruise so it is more interesting in that respect.

[ak1004]

You got a very good price for SB. On the Canadian website it’s much higher.

 

Till May a lot can change and Israel should be back in the itineraries. But in any case SB cruise has an excellent price. I was never on SB but it should be a step up compared to O, with more inclusions.

[stanzy42]

We have cruised with O and SB. Our O journeys include an ATW - 180 day and SB includes Antartica. Here are some reasons we now lean toward SB.

 

1. O charges a $500 per person cancelation fee. SB does not. 

2. SB gratuities are included on ALL voyages. 

3. Alcohol is included. 

4. Basic balcony cabins on SB are the size of Os penthouse on an R ship. 

 

We have pretty much “jumped ship”.

[ak1004]

5 minutes ago, stanzy42 said:

We have cruised with O and SB. Our O journeys include an ATW - 180 day and SB includes Antartica. Here are some reasons we now lean toward SB.

 

1. O charges a $500 per person cancelation fee. SB does not. 

2. SB gratuities are included on ALL voyages. 

3. Alcohol is included. 

4. Basic balcony cabins on SB are the size of Os penthouse on an R ship. 

 

We have pretty much “jumped ship”.

O cancellation fee is $150 as far as I know. SB has more inclusions, but it’s typically also more expensive.

 

except for inclusions and cabin sizes, how would you compare them in terms of food, service etc?

[Queen of DaNile]

47 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

SB is usually significantly more expensive, would you mind to share the itineraries where SB cost is similar to O?

We are doing a West African cruise in 2025 on Seabourn in a 365'  V1 which will cost 25% less than a 322' PH on Nautica. Very similar itinerary but will be a totaly different experience. Seabourn food, IMHO, is on par with O but service and amenities are much better.

 

[ak1004]

5 minutes ago, Queen of DaNile said:

We are doing a West African cruise in 2025 on Seabourn in a 365'  V1 which will cost 25% less than a 322' PH on Nautica. Very similar itinerary but will be a totaly different experience. Seabourn food, IMHO, is on par with O but service and amenities are much better.

 

PH on the R ships is a very poor value in my opinion. I usually compare OV on O ships with OV on SB, and they are cheaper. Yes they are smaller but 240 sqft to me is more than adequate.

[PinonNoir]

Any thoughts on food quality on SB versus O?  We are looking to branch out to some other cruise lines in the future.  Thanks!

[Queen of DaNile]

5 minutes ago, PinonNoir said:

Any thoughts on food quality on SB versus O?  We are looking to branch out to some other cruise lines in the future.  Thanks!

We found the food to be comparable to Oceania. Personal service is much better on Seabourn.

 

 

Edited October 14, 2023 by Queen of DaNile

[PinonNoir]

Just now, Queen of DaNile said:

We found the food to be comparable to Oceania. Personal service is much better.

 

Our service on our current cruise on Oceania Insignia has been phenomenal, so it's hard to imagine a noticeable step up, but I'm glad to see your vote of confidence!

[stanzy42]

17 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

O cancellation fee is $150 as far as I know. SB has more inclusions, but it’s typically also more expensive.

 

except for inclusions and cabin sizes, how would you compare them in terms of food, service etc?

We were signed up for the 2024 ATW aboard Insignia - cancellation fee was $500 per person. Maybe a world cruise is more $ to cancel. Food and service appear to be very similar. Don’t think I would rank one higher than the other. We just completed a crossing from Lisbon to Miami aboard the new SB exploration ship, the Pursuit. If you want to walk with the penguins, the Pursuit and the Venture offer amazing adventures to Antartica, the Falklands and South Georgia. Passengers - 254!!

[ak1004]

4 minutes ago, stanzy42 said:

We were signed up for the 2024 ATW aboard Insignia - cancellation fee was $500 per person. Maybe a world cruise is more $ to cancel. Food and service appear to be very similar. Don’t think I would rank one higher than the other. We just completed a crossing from Lisbon to Miami aboard the new SB exploration ship, the Pursuit. If you want to walk with the penguins, the Pursuit and the Venture offer amazing adventures to Antartica, the Falklands and South Georgia. Passengers - 254!!

Yes I believe the longer the cruise the higher the cancellation fee.

[Vineyard View]

We have not sailed on Oceania yet, but we did sail SB this year. Our yardstick was Viking I would say that while there were areas that we felt VO was a step ahead, in a vast majority of percentages of comparison SB excelled -including cuisine and particularly cabins. . So I would say that itinerary is a big piece of what you are looking at with the unfortunate changes. We travelled to a lot of smaller ports with SB and we were concerned with the large number of tender ports. They have that down to a science. That said, having a balcony is really important to us, so we would not be willing to give that up. I think you will likely enjoy either line very much. 

[kjbacon]

Our favorite cruise line is regent, followed by a close second in Oceania. Our absolute least favorite is Seabourn. Oceania does a very good job across the board and the food is excellent with plenty of variety. Their larger ships are gorgeous.

 

Seabourn failed on almost all counts. We have a 10 day FCC that we will be using next year but we did consider not using it and that says a lot. The food is only fair with limited variety. I could go on and on, lol, but you get my point.

 

Oceania, hands down!

[firsttimers68]

I like Oceania and Seabourn. I do however find the overall Seabourn experience to be better. Food is comparable, although Oceania has the specialty restaurants. I  could list the pros and cons of each, however it comes down to personal choice, so I sail with both!

[Queen of DaNile]

12 hours ago, ak1004 said:

PH on the R ships is a very poor value in my opinion. I usually compare OV on O ships with OV on SB, and they are cheaper. Yes they are smaller but 240 sqft to me is more than adequate.

Can't give you a comparison to an OV on an O ship because only Nautica is doing this itinerary. I only gave the comparison to an R PH because the space is actually a little less than a regular SB veranda.

165' of interior space in an R veranda or below, is no longer acceptable to me for a longer cruise. We did 30 days with the Nautica bath in a B2 and I swore never again. That's why I looked at SB for this itinerary

.

What I can tell you is that it will be only $9. more per day to be in veranda on SB vs a veranda on Nautica.  When I compared the per day costs for this itinerary and looked at the different amenities, it was a no brainer.

[ak1004]

17 minutes ago, Queen of DaNile said:

Can't give you a comparison to an OV on an O ship because only Nautica is doing this itinerary. I only gave the comparison to an R PH because the space is actually a little less than a regular SB veranda.

165' of interior space in an R veranda or below, is no longer acceptable to me for a longer cruise. We did 30 days with the Nautica bath in a B2 and I swore never again. That's why I looked at SB for this itinerary

.

What I can tell you is that it will be only $9. more per day to be in veranda on SB vs a veranda on Nautica.  When I compared the per day costs for this itinerary and looked at the different amenities, it was a no brainer.

 

I agree with you 100% regarding the cabin size on R ships. We don't pay to much attention to cabin sizes, but 165' is definitely below our comfort zone.

[FeliciaLee]

15 hours ago, babydrum said:

My Oceania cruise was a 27 day Dubai to Barcelona on May 14th for $21,198 for a B3 cabin.  It was originally more as my son was going to come with us but he couldn't so for two of us $21,198. This included PPG, $1500 OBC and of course SM.

 

My SB cruise (that I'm looking to replace it with) is a 34-Night Grand Voyages Cruise on May 2nd in an OV for 2 for $20,148. It includes $1300 OBC, gratuities and unlimited drinks and $2000 off of airfare. 

I would definitely go for Seabourn. The price alone.

 

We have been on Sojourn only once, but had a great time. The things we like better about Oceania are just personal (dining at 7pm earliest; not having many activities).

 

We felt the food wasn't quite as good as Oceania, but definitely comparable. The buffet was excellent, Both the service and the quality.

 

Like Oceania, extremely friendly passengers and crew.

[ORV]

I'm a little curious why if you've already decided to cancel the O cruise the purpose of this post? Or maybe you haven't decided yet. 

[babydrum]

14 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

We have not sailed on Oceania yet, but we did sail SB this year. Our yardstick was Viking I would say that while there were areas that we felt VO was a step ahead, in a vast majority of percentages of comparison SB excelled -including cuisine and particularly cabins. . So I would say that itinerary is a big piece of what you are looking at with the unfortunate changes. We travelled to a lot of smaller ports with SB and we were concerned with the large number of tender ports. They have that down to a science. That said, having a balcony is really important to us, so we would not be willing to give that up. I think you will likely enjoy either line very much. 

I agree and I checked with the TA this morning and I can get a V1 for about $1900 more. So that’s what I’m going to do. This itinerary has more sea days than I would normally go with, do they have a lot of activities, what is the average age compared with O and the dress code for dinner in the evening? We are active 50s and 60s. Thanks. 

[babydrum]

2 hours ago, ORV said:

I'm a little curious why if you've already decided to cancel the O cruise the purpose of this post? Or maybe you haven't decided yet. 

I am definitely going to cancel the O cruise but I wanted to replace it with another O cruise since this was going to be my first O experience. I really like the way the Riviera looks in YouTube videos, it’s size and it was port intensive so I wasn’t going to be bored.
 

I found this around the same time of year searching cruises on CC using my desired port and dates. It’ll be easy to change my to vacation dates but I don’t love the itinerary.  It does include my most desired ports so I’m leaning toward it and trying to decide by Monday. I’ve heard O cruisers compare it with SS and SB but I don’t know which one measures up to the O experience so I wanted to ask people who have done both. 

[Vineyard View]

7 hours ago, babydrum said:

I agree and I checked with the TA this morning and I can get a V1 for about $1900 more. So that’s what I’m going to do. This itinerary has more sea days than I would normally go with, do they have a lot of activities, what is the average age compared with O and the dress code for dinner in the evening? We are active 50s and 60s. Thanks. 

I would not say there are a lot of activities, but while we are active, we generally don’t look for that. Remember, they are smaller ships. I can only compare to VO, but we commented on the fact that on our sailing there was a good range of ages - much more widespread than we found on VO which tended to skew older. I cannot comment on whether that is common. Maybe ask on SB boards? 
Again, I believe that both lines have great options depending on what one is looking for…..but no line is perfect in every way. 

[babydrum]

3 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

I would not say there are a lot of activities, but while we are active, we generally don’t look for that. Remember, they are smaller ships. I can only compare to VO, but we commented on the fact that on our sailing there was a good range of ages - much more widespread than we found on VO which tended to skew older. I cannot comment on whether that is common. Maybe ask on SB boards? 
Again, I believe that both lines have great options depending on what one is looking for…..but no line is perfect in every way. 

Thanks.  I'll check out the SB board.  I looked for a Roll Call for the cruise and couldn't find one so I don't think this is that popular of an itinerary which might explain the price.

[jakes47]

We had a very poor experience on our August cruise on Riviera - so much so we cancelled our 32 day, 2025 cruise and have booked with Seabourn.  We like the V suites on SB, more so than the PH on the Riviera.  We have never found O cuisine that special and Seabourn, from memory, was a bit more consistent.  We loved the attention to the small things on SB - like staff remembering your name and drinks preference etc.  We loved the marina days, beach parties, caviar and other special events on SB.  SB seems to attack slightly younger passengers and I love not having to produce my card to buy a drink.

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by jakes47