Regatta January 2, 2007 Review

[llarsen]

Hello,

We just returned from our first cruise on Oceania with good friends that we've enjoyed cruising with over the years. We had been looking forward to our first Oceania cruise for a little over a year. We were anxious to see what would be different about Oceania.

We've enjoyed all our past cruises. I really can't say any of the food on previous cruises was bad or inedible. But once you step foot on Oceania, you will experience luxury cruising. The service in all the dining areas was outstanding. The food was superior to all others we've experienced, excellent quality and presentation. (We also had the fresh berries every morning and loved them! Happy to hear you can now have them at dinner.) The table settings are beautiful, the crew was cheerful and the ship has a warm and luxurious feeling.

We loved the size of the ship (same as Tahitian Princess) and the fact that there were no ship photographers in your face everywhere you turned, no pushing souvenir drinks, no cattle calls for dinner, no formal wear required, and none of the tackiness we've experienced on other cruise lines.

The deck chairs are all wood with nice cushioned covers. There are double lounges and outdoor sofas with pillows (which we used every night and had the whole deck to ourselves) The library is well stocked and you can check or send email on the ships computers (there are two in the library) for only $2.00 per email. This was a great way to keep in touch while away.

The itinerary was one of the best for the Caribbean we've been on. We went to The Baths in Virgin Gorda. The huge boulders are unbelievable. We rented a car in St. Barth's, toured the island and beaches, then hiked over to Colombier beach, which was beautiful. Rented a car in Antigua, toured the island, Nelsons Dockyard, Shirley Heights and many, many beaches. Took a ferry to Peter Island while in Tortola (this was the best) and had a wonderful day. Attempted to go to Cayo Leventado in Samana, but this is the most unorganized port of call we've seen. We could see the white sand and palm trees calling to us from the little island a short distance away, but there was no one to take us there. I guess they haven't figured out the tourism thing yet. Samana has beautiful lush green foliage and palm trees swaying in the breeze, but the streets are torn up and littered with garbage. If I could suggest a free tender to Cayo Leventado for Oceania guests, Samana might be a place worth stopping. Grand Turk was great. Margaritaville has a really nice bar, pool and beach right next to the dock area. The dock has a nice new shopping area and the water is crystal clear. We used the free lounge chairs on the beach and enjoyed the music coming from Margaritaville!

To us, the music and entertainment onboard was outdated and boring. A little symphony and orchestra here and there is enjoyable and relaxing, but after 10 days of it...a little calypso band would have been music to my ears.

We loved our Oceania cruise, and it would be hard, if not impossible to go back to anything other than Oceania.

[meow!]

The library is well stocked and you can check or send email on the ships computers (there are two in the library) for only $2.00 per email. This was a great way to keep in touch while away.

Thank you for this concise report. Your impression of the ship is very similar to ours back in April, 2004. At that time, it was also $2 per e-mail (of reasonable length). I might be wrong, but I vaguely remember having read that it was changed to a per minute charge rather than per e-mail in 2005. Has it been changed back to $2 per e-mail, or I have mistaken?

 

In April, 2004, a two-week Mediterranean cruise in a basic balconied cabin was only $3,200 per person including airfare. Those were the good old days!

[hondorner]

$2.00 per email; with a limit of 100,000 bytes. I think they said it was the equivalent of something like 23 pages of text. You could send a page or two of text and one or two reduced-size pictures if you know what you're doing.

[llarsen]

Yes it is only $2.00 per email incoming and outgoing. I would write one email with our daily trip report to my son. After the trip report section I would address any specific questions to each of my kids and have my son forward the email to whomever it applied to. This was less time consuming since I didn't have to write a separate email to each of them, and saved money since it was sent to all of them for the $2.00 rate. They have a computer room onboard, but the library was so convenient and closer to our room.

llarsen