bradpole

To the OP, thank you for posting your review. I've skimmed through most of the thread. Don't worry I'm not going to "attack" you. I completely understand O is not for everyone. Just as X is not for everyone. I will say one thing, "One does not book an Oceania cruise for entertainment." For some that is an issue, for us, not one bit. Personally we enjoy the product as it is, including the repetition. One benefit of the minimal activities onboard is once you learn the schedule, that's pretty much the schedule the entire cruise, as well as from cruise to cruise. We've done port intensive cruises where we have cared about the ports (Europe) as well as several Caribbean sailings with O where we don't care about the ports at all and have remained onboard the entire sailing. For us we enjoy the onboard product just as it is, no need for any more activities or live music. Is everything perfect? Not a chance, nothing ever is, but for now we're happy. We've done the big ships, and we're done with them. For us the atmosphere on the R ships suits us just perfectly. Thankfully there are choices and you know that O is not for you.

Of course I can't find it now, Murphy's law says I'll find it a month from now and not remember why I was even looking for it, but I have a deck Plan of Insignia in her initial layout with Ren. Cruises. The area where the Artist's loft is actually had slot machines initially. I think R7 could have been the first to not have slots there, but I could be VERY wrong on that. You can still the the remnants of what could be considered "The Cage" or cashier booth today (It is used as someone's office). The bathrooms were always on Deck 9, in the space directly above on 10 is the emergency generator. The R class ships that have restrooms in Horizons were all additions added by other operators over the years (ie Princess). Sirena's deck 4 also differs slightly from the other R classes that weren't modified by Princess. The last few Portside Oceanview cabins were modified to create a couple of accessible cabins which were not part of the initial arrangement.

Formal nights? Thank goodness, NO! Casual as it seems? For Gentlemen in the evenings slacks and collared shirt for the Grand Dining Room or the specialities. If dining the the Terrace shorts are fine. Although dressing to a higher standard is fine if that is something you enjoy. There are gents who do wear a jacket and tie. Activities... "one does not book an Oceania cruise for entertainment" is the best advice I can give you. We enjoy the sedate atmosphere, others may not. For us we enjoy hunkering down with our Kindles with periodic breaks to participate in the "BIG O Points" events. They are nothing challenging, but fun. There are usually 3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon; Baggo, golf putting, table tennis in the morning followed by shuffleboard and mini golf in the afternoon. There are usually some lectures in the lounge, but they usually don't interest us. The evening entertainment is fine, no lavish production shows on these ships! Most days the piano player will be in Martinis before dinner, the string quartet later in the evening, then the show at 9:30 in the lounge. Sometimes the band will play up in Horizions after the main show.

Glad to hear you had a great cruise! We board 2 weeks from today... can't wait!

Thank you for sharing! That was wonderful!

We love the little R class sisters as well. We enjoyed the O class, but stepping back on an R class just felt like coming home! Yes, the bathrooms are tiny (we generally book interiors), but are very well designed and functional! We’ve had bigger bathrooms on other ships that have had less storage and were less functional! A perfect example was Crystal Symphony, her standard ocean view bathrooms (this was before her most recent dry dock) although they were bigger we felt the bathroom was much more frustrating than the tiny ones on the R class. The bathroom had 2 vessel sinks mounted on top of the counter that made it very hard to actually wash your hands without rubbing the sink bowl, very annoying! Plus it was tub only, and in rough seas it felt a little iffy stepping in and out of the tub.

What you're describing sounds like every O voyage I've been on. I can't remember if it was this thread or another where I remarked that after the first or second day we hardly need to refer to Currents anymore because we know at 9:30 baggo is in horizons, followed by put put at 10:30, 2:30 shuffle board and 3:30 mini golf... or whatever times/order that particular cruise director has them scheduled for. One does not book an O cruise for entertainment.

Everyone has different perspectives and experiences, I do agree Oceania is becoming more expensive, but we haven’t seen any decline in the areas that are important to us….thankfully. Is everything perfect? Not a chance, has it been perfect in the past? No, but we continue to enjoy our experiences!

You read my mind! I was going to submit a reply saying basically the same thing, then I saw yours. Once you read the currents on day 1 and 2 there is hardly any variation (which we enjoy). The one item that does change is the opening time for Terrace Cafe for breakfast; dependent on if it is a sea day or port day. As for the OP’s comment regarding the wasted paper for ship advertising I have to say O’s use of “ship spam” is laughably tiny compared to the mass markets! Art auctions, laundry specials, shopping talk, free charm bracelet, $10 sale, “clearance” T shirt sale, etc.. Thankfully none of that onboard O, just the occasional spa “special” or the book onboard reminders

I'm not an expert, nor do I know any of the bridge clearances up the Delaware, however Enchantment did call in Philly once or twice after her lengthening back in ~2005? Also, the port of Wilmington has hosted a P&O Grand Class ship a good 10 or more years ago. Both of those would have sailed under the Delaware Memorial Bridges.

We’re the same way. We enjoy the extra space, especially in the terrace cafe, and the dining options on the larger ships…but there’s just something about the smaller more intimate R class ships that we like better. Yes, even with the tiny bathrooms. 🙂

That has always been my opinion! What is even nicer coming home from a cruise, going through all the accumulated mail and seeing the envelope for your next cruise!

That's generally not an issue, for us anyway, on Oceania. That is one benefit of a small ship (especially our beloved R class) compared to the other ships out there. There really isn't a whole lot going on onboard, and to us that's what we're looking for! Generally speaking after reading Currents the first day we have the schedule (for the events we care about) memorized for the trip. Once we learn the time and location of the morning and afternoon Big O events (Baggo, put put, shuffleboard, etc..) there's really not a need to ever refer back to Currents. Even the evening entertainment hardly ever changes. Piano in Martini's before dinner, Quartet after dinner, and if we've managed to stay up "late" show at 9:30 in the lounge. Also, now that O provides a wifi login for each person we can use our regular messaging services to communicate with each other in the highly unlikely event we can't find each other on the smaller ships. Our last cruise a couple of years ago on RCL the app was a nice to have...when it worked.

That has been our experience, nothing is perfect, but have thoroughly enjoyed our experiences onboard, yes even post covid.

Thankfully there aren’t! Thank you for your review. Besides not having a white night or something like that, we enjoy the fact that the grand dining room and the terrace cafe offer basically the same menu. Those of us who enjoy a nice casual meal can still have a good meal without having to go to grand dining room. Oceania isn’t for everyone, that’s why there are so many different lines, but for now we enjoy the product the offer…especially the smaller R ships.