Recent experience on Insignia?

[Isidoro]

We will be on the Insignia a month from now, Venice to Barcelona. Our previous cruising experience is limited to a River Po cruise a few years back. Alas, the river went dry and the latter half of the "cruise" became a bus tour:rolleyes: . I am reasonably sure the Mediterranian will not go dry on us, but...

 

...I would appreciate impressions from members of this forum who have been recently on Insignia cruises, as well as collegial advise as applicable.

 

Anticipated thanks.

[LHT28]

I think if you ask 100 people on the same cruise you will get 100 different answers.:D

 

You may be best just to scroll through the messages here or do a search for specific information.

read the reviews

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=cl&cl=Oceania%20Cruises

 

Enjoy your cruise

[cruzemaven]

:) Just returned from a cruise on the Insignia. In a few words...it was great. We enjoyed almost everything. The alternative dining was wonderful. We had a terrific waiter in the main dining room named Churchill...definitely ask for his station. The concierge was extremely helpful. Our cabin attendant and butler were very good as well. We have been on Oceania several times and have found the only negative to be the lack of good entertainment in the evenings. We had given up attending the "shows" a few cruises ago... However, some of our friends did go during this trip and reported back that the shows were definitely substandard. We did not find the lack of acceptable entertainment to be a major negative. There are so many other aspects that create an exceptional cruise and I would say that Oceania more than meets that criteria.

[wripro]

The shows are only substandard if you go expecting Vegas style production numbers. What I can't understand is that everyone knows Oceania does not have these kinds of shows yet they board and complain about it.

[cruzemaven]

I've cruised on Oceania four times and know that the shows are not going to be Las Vegas style. I have come to expect exactly what they are going to be-substandard. Though I must say, the reviews from my friends(we were a group of 16) who attended some of the shows, said the shows on this cruise were even worse than the last time ...We just don't bother going. It is what it is. Doesn't make or break any cruise as far as I'm concerned. Every ship has positives and negatives.

[LHT28]

Entertainment like food is subjective

One persons idea of good entertainment may not be yours or mine.

 

We prefer the low key type of shows.

Last year we sat through one show with the entertainment staff ...YIKES the 2 ladies sounded like Alvin & the chipmunks.

[hezzy]

We were on the Insignia in April for our first cruise and just loved it. Granted, we had nothing to compare it to. We loved the size of the ship, the stewards and all the wait staff were just great. Everyone was very friendly and made you feel great about being there. We enjoyed the food especially the fresh fruit. It was very well prepared and well presented. Only minus was on a busy night in the Grand Dining Room, service was slow.

 

Being our first trip to Europe with limited knowledge, we took 2 of the ships excursions, Pompeii and Rhodes. Loved the Rhodes tour. The guide was excellent and gave great info about Greek life. The Pompeii tour was only 1/2 day, so brief. Enjoyed it and felt it was worth the cost just for the drive there. Beautiful scenery. We also used the ship's Florence on your own tour. Very good, since the main purpose was transportation to Florence.

 

We also thought the entertainment was not very good. It wasn't a big deal to us because we toured and walked a lot everyday so we were tired at night. We were in a penthouse. Enjoyed it, but did not really use the butler's services much. I do think a balcony is great for the Med but probably would not book penthouse, just a balcony room.

[Isidoro]

Thank you all who have been kind enough to take the time to reply.

 

We are very encouraged by the good impressions of the ship, the crew and the service.

 

Frankly, entartainment wasn't even on the list of requirements we had. We are quite realistic: there maybe a few hundred (maybe not even that many) first class entertainers altogether and there are how many thousands of concert halls, shows, ships, bars, clubs, etc. etc. ? One can't expect much and if it happens to be even at an acceptable level, this would be a bonus.

 

As an aside, we have B2s "guaranteed" and we don't even know yet the cabin numbers (plural, because we are two couples of life-long friends travelling together).

[Paulchili]

Isidoro,

I am sure you will enjoy the cruise - Oceania is generally a classy operation, running on all cylinders (most of the time).

I would recommend you make your reservations to the alternative restaurants EARLY (you can make 2 reservations per cabin to start with - try one for each restaurant; you can make more reservations later, pending availability).

They are both very good, very popular and there is no extra charge. I prefer the Polo Grill myself, but Toscana is very good too.

Enjoy your cruise.

[SteveS]

We sailed on the Insignia Aug. 6-20. Did it exceed our expectations? The food ranged from good to superb. The staff was excellent. The ship is very clean and attractive.

The negatives: one of the chairs on our veranda was torn when we boarded it took 2 days for it to be repaired and returned. On sea days there was plenty of deck space but not enough lounge chairs. Some people put their stuff on chairs at 7 AM and used them for an hour or so all day.

But the itinerary was wonderful and it was a fabulous cruise.

[LHT28]

Some people put their stuff on chairs at 7 AM and used them for an hour or so all day.

 

That is a problem with most cruise lines it is so rude.

 

The solution is ...if people do not come back with in 45 minutes MOVE THIER STUFF or mention the fact they have not been seen in over 30 minutes to the pool attendant & they will move it.

 

Lyn

[thrpy]

We did the Insignia in April and had a wonderful time. The food was great, both Tuscana and Polo are worth the 'little extra" to set them up. The largest majority of the staff were great, inly had problems with the two little twits that handed out the tickets for traveling to shore if you don't have a booked excursion.

Some different ports, but...

http://community.webshots.com/user/thrpy

[LHT28]

. The food was great, both Tuscana and Polo are worth the 'little extra" to set them up.

 

Can you elaborate on "little extra"?

 

We prefer Polo to Toscana but just a matter of taste

[jg2256]

I just got off the Insignia on Monday (1 Sep) and have to agree that the food and service and itinerary were fantastic and exceeded our expectations. However like others I thought the entertainment was everywhere from very good (comedians, string quartet) to just not very good. Or perhaps a better way to say it is that it is aimed solely at a singular audience that is in their 70's or 80's or a great lover of broadway musicals before the 60's. The quality was not really that bad but I am in my mid-50's and and the music at all the venues from the Insignia lounge, Martinis and Horizons was singularly aimed a much older set. None of the lounge live music had vocalists (with the exception of the occasional appearance of JR the Cruise Director...very broadway centric) so it was even more limited than you would think. At the final party on deck the Cruise director was singing songs from the 30's and 40s which was even a little long in the tooth for folks in their 70's. The simple addition of something like a good wedding band (capable of playing to a variety of audiences) with electric guitars and live singers would have done so much to add variety the entertainment. There were a number of people in my age group that felt the same way and even though there was disco it was just not the same as having live entertainment.

 

We had no problems with getting lounge chairs at the pool perhaps because the cruise was so port intensive and there was so much sun to be had. There were also lots of chairs up at the sun deck. By the end of the cruise it was harder to get a chair out of the sun than in the sun.

[Oceans&Rivers]

The negatives: one of the chairs on our veranda was torn when we boarded it took 2 days for it to be repaired and returned.

 

While it was being repaired, did they give you a replacement?

 

 

 

On sea days there was plenty of deck space but not enough lounge chairs.

 

Unacceptable.

 

Some people put their stuff on chairs at 7 AM and used them for an hour or so all day.

 

Why tolerate bad behavior like that? Either ask staff to remove it (first choice) or remove it yourself.

[RJB]

We got off Aug. 20th and the only problem was the new "Waves" T.V. system. It was awful. You could not go 20 or 30 seconds before a break in the sound or picture. Very hard to watch. Also they seem to want to rent you a movie for 14.99 instead of having 3 or 4 free movies as in the past. Everuthing else was great. :)