Review Mediterranean cruise on Oceania Riviera 5-12 August 2015

We are a Scandinavian couple in our early thirties/late thirties. We finished a very nice cruise on Oceania Riviera for couple of weeks ago. I've just made a short review about the cruise. We were happy to notice there was quite a lot people our age (and more kids than we thought but it didn't bother us. Well behaved kids!)

The best...

- Food is definitely a highlight. My husband enjoyed the Red Ginger best and I loved Toscana. Polo Grill was great too. We had so beautiful sea views from Polo Grill and Toscana. Service was perfect and at perfect pace.

- Pool area was great. During the happy hour and afternoons people were enjoying the sun and pool which made a nice atmosphere. We like the design and the size of the pool. Almost never too crowded.

- Ports were so interesting. Cruise started in Barcelona. We stayed couple of nights at Pullman Skippers by the beach. The cruise ended in Monte Carlo and we stayed a couple of nights at hotel Miramar in Cap d'Ail near the Monaco border. Both places were great! Stayed couple of days in Nice too. A great trip!

During the cruise we visited St. Tropez (nice market for shopping and then the beach for rich and famous).

Marseille (booked a private tour with Provence Connection, very good tour! Visited Marseille, Cassis and Aix en Provence)

Livorno (went shopping in Florence with Tuscany bus. Easy and inexpensive bus shuttle to Florence.)

Palamos (walked through the city and went to a local beach!)

Civitavecchia (it was raining whole day so we decided to take a walk in Civitavecchia and enjoy the ship instead. No Rome this time but we have been there before.)

La Spezia (we visited Lerici, a beach town 20 minutes away. Local bus and very easy. Beautiful small town almost like Cinque terre but not as crowded. We have been to Cinque terre so decided to skip it this time. August in the Med is so hot and crowded so you have find places which offer nice breeze and swimming...)

- Service. We really enjoyed the service onboard. It seems like the crew is used to scandinavians who are more silent and not that "small talkish". They were very nice and polite but not too pushy or social. We appreciated that a lot. It seemed like staff wasnt that overworked as it is on Celebrity (we saw staff joking and smiling to each other. Very nice to see staff enjoying the life onboard!)

The not so great...

Prices onboard.

So the cheapest beer costs 5,5$ + 18% gratuities + 10% Vat-tax for Europeans. Americans get back these extra 10 procents but it really made a difference for us. Cocktails even for us who are living in Sweden with very high alcohol taxes were expensive. With gratuity and Vat a cocktail or glass of wine would come to 12-13$. We had no idea about the extra 10% tax before we came onboard. We then decided to buy wine at ports and payed the corkage fee (25$) when dining.

Entertainment

We had read about the entertainment so we knew it wouldnt be the highlight of our cruise. The string quartet and piano player were good quality but became a bit boring after couple of nights. We had late dinner reservations (8.30) so we only saw the last minutes of shows. We know we are not the target group for entertainment so we don't really mind. We are not from US and are younger than average cruise passengers so it is ok. We enjoyed our dinners instead.

Stateroom service

This is definitely only bad luck. Our stateroom cleaning service was the worst we ever experienced. We had to ask for more shampoo, more water and beach towels. We are really easy going people (and Scandinavians dont like to complain! ) but we started to wonder if this is possible... Last evening of the cruise we found a wet cleaning fabric ON my husbands shorts when we came back from dinner. We didnt say anything but my husband was irritated.

It was a very nice cruise over all. We loved the food, ports and service. Prices and entertainment not as much... ;) We have cruised with Celebrity before (6 times) and enjoy their lively atmosphere more. Oceanias food and service is much better but I think Celebrity in Aqua class with premium drink package is a great value for money. Oceania is great but has a lot higher pricepoint and we youngsters miss a bit more action... :) We could definitely cruise with Oceania again if we find a good deal. We love good food so for that Oceania is perfect.

If you have any questions I'll be happy to answer.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us, interesting to read your points.

Thanks for your review.

Love your review!

Do US passengers really get the 10% VAT back when sailing from Barcelona ??

You could have just gotten the Beverage package & not worried about the prices

FYI for next cruise

Beach towels are not usually supplied to the cabins like on the main stream lines

They have them at the exit when leaving for shore excursions so just grab them on your way off the ship along with bottles of water

Thanks for sharing

It sounds like you had incompetent stateroom service to say the least. We have never encountered what you described. And leaving a towel on the passenger's clothing is totally unacceptable. Even if you don't like to complain, I hope you did! The supervisors should know that some of their staff need more supervision.

Mura

Thank you for taking the time to write your review. We will be going to a couple of places you mentioned next year, so I have written down the bus company and the tour company that you used. I was also glad you enjoyed your trip on Oceania as it will be our first time also. I am now worried that we our going in August and that it will be too busy.

Do US passengers really get the 10% VAT back when sailing from Barcelona ??

You could have just gotten the Beverage package & not worried about the prices

 

FYI for next cruise

Beach towels are not usually supplied to the cabins like on the main stream lines

They have them at the exit when leaving for shore excursions so just grab them on your way off the ship along with bottles of water

 

Thanks for sharing

Pretty sure nobody gets VAT back for things like food, drink, hotel rooms, etc. Non-EU people do get VAT back for purchasing items that they export over a certain value and declare and show the items upon leaving the EU via planes. Canadians get the same refunds. Believe the OP is confused over VAT refunds for tangeable items exported vs on board VAT charges for items purchased on board. Have to get a form from the seller to complete and turn in at the airport and ships of any line don't provide that so everbody pays that on board VAT tax when sailing from Spanish ports.

Pretty sure nobody gets VAT back for things like food, drink, hotel rooms, etc. Non-EU people do get VAT back for purchasing items that they export over a certain value and declare and show the items upon leaving the EU via planes. Canadians get the same refunds. Believe the OP is confused over VAT refunds for tangeable items exported vs on board VAT charges for items purchased on board. Have to get a form from the seller to complete and turn in at the airport and ships of any line don't provide that so everbody pays that on board VAT tax when sailing from Spanish ports.

I know about getting VAT on purchases taken out of the country but did not think anyone got the extra VAT charged on drinks

I have not done a Med cruise so was curious

I know about getting VAT on purchases taken out of the country but did not think anyone got the extra VAT charged on drinks

I have not done a Med cruise so was curious

You area absolutely correct Lyn. Nobody is going to get the VAT charged on board back. You don't get VAT back for food, drinks, or hotels on land so also don't get it back at sea.

The Beverage Package is looking better and better...;)

The Beverage Package is looking better and better...;)

Remember, you have to purchase the package before boarding or you pay the VAT on the package as well so you have a choice of using the OBC and paying the tax or paying for the package ahead of time and saving the tax.

Thank you for the comments. I am actually unsure about the vat-tax for non European citizens. I remember there was a letter from Oceania

in our stateroom which informed us about the vat-tax and I somehow remembered it wasn't for non Europeans but I am not sure... Sorry, you only read the text carefully when it is interesting for you. I might have missunderstood the letter.

When it comes to beach towels we left the "beach towel card" on our bed which says we would like to have our beach towels delivered to our stateroom. We didn't know we could get the towels before leaving the ship near the water station. I didnt see any towels there but didn't know either towels were available there.

Thank you for your review. Could you tell us what type of stateroom accommodation you had and if you have any photos of the ship you could share?

When it comes to beach towels we left the "beach towel card" on our bed which says we would like to have our beach towels delivered to our stateroom. We didn't know we could get the towels before leaving the ship near the water station. I didnt see any towels there but didn't know either towels were available there.

Well maybe this is something new

We have always gotten the beach towels on the way off the ship

This year it was a no beach towel type cruise too cold so never saw card or towels

Pretty sure nobody gets VAT back for things like food, drink, hotel rooms, etc. Non-EU people do get VAT back for purchasing items that they export over a certain value and declare and show the items upon leaving the EU via planes. Canadians get the same refunds. Believe the OP is confused over VAT refunds for tangeable items exported vs on board VAT charges for items purchased on board. Have to get a form from the seller to complete and turn in at the airport and ships of any line don't provide that so everbody pays that on board VAT tax when sailing from Spanish ports.

I am not sure what the value added tax is for as there is no vat in international waters , the same as if one was leaving an international airport in Europe all purchases are duty free.

also every country in Europe has different rates of vat.

The Spanish rate of vat is 21% so I don't know what the 10% refers to ??

We just did the Med on O and purchased the prestige packages onboard with a combo of OBC and $. There was no VAT assessed.

We have cruised many times in the Mediterranean and it was first time we experienced the vat-tax onboard. This time the cruise visited only EU-countries so I assume it is thats why. Before we had a visit in Montenegro, Turkey etc...

10% it is not that much but if you consider the alcohol prices onboard and even count in the dollar exchange rate it really makes a difference. If you bring own wine to restaurant you pay only 25$ (no vat or gratuities) We tipped the sommeliers couple of dollars but it still ends up being the most economical way... :)

Well maybe this is something new

We have always gotten the beach towels on the way off the ship

 

This year it was a no beach towel type cruise too cold so never saw card or towels

Lyn, it changed a few years ago. I have not seen towels upon leaving ship. You are to let room stewards know you want towels delivered to your room.

Thanks for the review. Not sure about that VAT tax either. Regarding the sloppy suite steward, I am sorry you didn't complain about it. It was not good enough, and I am sure O would not expect such poor service.

Oceania is pretty perfect for us "oldies" now who like a quiet relaxing time, but in our early days of mainstream cruising the entertainment was pretty important, so I understand that you missed that element of cruising.

Good review.

Lyn, it changed a few years ago. I have not seen towels upon leaving ship. You are to let room stewards know you want towels delivered to your room.

Thanks Deb

WE are not beach people so never really look for them or noticed they were missing ;)

Lyn

The way I understood it was if you leave from a Spanish port like Barcelona then any purchases while in Spanish waters or until you hit a port not in the Schenegan zone you are charged the extra 10%

I know there was several threads in the past on the topic

Someone may know the correct situation where it is applied

I am not sure what the value added tax is for as there is no vat in international waters , the same as if one was leaving an international airport in Europe all purchases are duty free.

also every country in Europe has different rates of vat.

The Spanish rate of vat is 21% so I don't know what the 10% refers to ??

roger b and others questioning this tax. This is a new tax that unfortunately has only added income for the country in mind and is now being enforced by Spain, Italy, and Brazil as far as I know. May be other countries as well and would not doubt other countries looking for money will legislate this type of tax as well. Totally agree it used to be that there were no taxes in international waters but, as I said time are changing and cruise ships are collecting these taxes. Won't go into the specific times this VAT is collected as it varies by country as well as location of the ship and whether or not the ship visits a non EU port during your cruise. Suggest if your cruise visits Spain, Italy, or Brazil you google the requirements of collecting this unfair tax and make any purchases if and when the tax is not collected. 10% is correct for this tax and 22% is the tax for Italy with the tax even worse in Brazil at 25%. Google is your friend to find the details for your specific cruise and for now the cruise ships are charging and collecting these taxes so let the buyer beware.

roger b and others questioning this tax. This is a new tax that unfortunately has only added income for the country in mind and is now being enforced by Spain, Italy, and Brazil as far as I know. May be other countries as well and would not doubt other countries looking for money will legislate this type of tax as well. Totally agree it used to be that there were no taxes in international waters but, as I said time are changing and cruise ships are collecting these taxes. Won't go into the specific times this VAT is collected as it varies by country as well as location of the ship and whether or not the ship visits a non EU port during your cruise. Suggest if your cruise visits Spain, Italy, or Brazil you google the requirements of collecting this unfair tax and make any purchases if and when the tax is not collected. 10% is correct for this tax and 22% is the tax for Italy with the tax even worse in Brazil at 25%. Google is your friend to find the details for your specific cruise and for now the cruise ships are charging and collecting these taxes so let the buyer beware.

Yes But how are the taxes assessed and how does the cruise line calculate payments, Having investigated further it seems tax is only payable on a return trip to a Spanish port or in Spanish territorial waters.

According to Travel weekly it should be 8% not 10%.

http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Insights/On-Europe-cruises-getting-acquainted-with-VAT

Yes But how are the taxes assessed and how does the cruise line calculate payments, Having investigated further it seems tax is only payable on a return trip to a Spanish port or in Spanish territorial waters.

According to Travel weekly it should be 8% not 10%.

 

http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Insights/On-Europe-cruises-getting-acquainted-with-VAT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_waters

DON'T BUY ANYTHING ABOARD UNTIL YOU ARE OUTSIDE THE 12 MILE LIMIT !!!

This might be the answer