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Review of my first O cruise on Marina


iticlaudia
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Just back from our 7 day Miami round trip cruise!

 

Getting on the ship in Miami was a piece of cake. We found a spot at Waves to have lunch and waited for our cabin to be ready. Promptly at 1pm they announced our cabins (PH2) were ready.

 

The cabins 11001 and 11003 were clean, beautiful and spacious. Antony (our butler) came to greet us and answered any questions we had. Antony really was wonderful and very attentive throughout the entire cruise. Anna was the young lady that took care of our cabin and she and her team were amazing.

 

Food on this ship is fantastic! My first two years of college had me majoring in Culinary Arts. I LOVE food and hands down the food on Marina is the best I've had on a cruise ship. There are so many wonderful things to eat on this ship that the only drawback is the clothes that fit getting on don't fit by day seven.

 

The service.........well.......

The service is really hit and miss. It's a shame considering the ship and the quality of the food. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one to complain and I get the fact I'm on vacation. In fact I really didn't care, I just noticed it.

I actually wondered if the lag in service is due to the fact that the staff has to figure out who is and who isn't on a drink package and if so which. The staff seems to spend a lot of time dealing with the cards and ringing up every order. I don't know if there is a better way of going about it, but to be honest having to hand a card over and have the staff run and charge it every time is a miss use of the staff's energy.

 

The entertainment was ok.

Entertainment is personal preference. If it were up to me there would be jazz instead of a string quartet prior to the dining room. The two shows we attended were ok. The band at Horizons was good, but so few came to watch and dance.

 

Getting off the ship today was super easy and I think we must have been the first through customs. It was so easy that we made a earlier flight home.

 

All in all it was a great experience cruising on Oceania.

 

P.S. If you don't order the Sea Bass at Red Ginger you are truly missing out.

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Firstly I have to say every one of the staff was beyond nice.

 

It was things like sitting in the dining room for dinner and waiting for the staff to finally show up to take the orders.

 

Sitting in Jacques and having to flag down the sommelier to get a second glass of wine. And then in the same evening ordering specialty coffee with dessert and having the coffee finally show up long after the dessert was consumed.

 

Having pre-dinner cocktails and having a martini come out in a glass with ice. After the correct drink delivered having two different staff asking for card for the accounting.

 

My husband and I didn't do breakfast in the main dining room but our friends did and they said the service was so slow that they watch another couple give up and leave.

 

Those are the worst. By no means the end of the world. Just noticeable.

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When I'm vacationing and little stuff like that happens I just figure the staff is overly busy.

 

Staff on cruise ships are generally super hard working people.

 

That's why I said I think the card thing might be a problem. I started to watch and noticed that the staff spent a lot of time running back and forth. First to take the orders, then to serve and lastly to get the cards to charge. During busy times at the pool bar there would be several working behind the bar serving but only one computer for them all to work off of to charge the cards.

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That's an interesting point. I don't remember seeing these kind of complaints -- about slow service -- before the drink package came into play. Maybe I just didn't notice. We've never had the package and while we've had some slow service on occasion, it hasn't been a real problem and wasn't related to drinks.

 

If the drink package IS the source of the problem, management should attempt to deal with it.

 

I HAVE seen complaints since the inception of the drink package regarding wine service in the restaurants. Not always, but frequently enough. The first glass comes quickly enough, the next glass ... well, not so much.

 

I don't take the wine package because I prefer to order by the bottle and don't want to be limited to the by-the-glass choices. And with a whole bottle I haven't noticed slow service. But, of course, if the bottle is sitting on the table -- I can pour for myself if the wine steward isn't in sight.

 

Mura

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We were a party of four. I had thought about asking to leave the bottle on the table, but generally we all were drinking some different so that really wouldn't have worked.

 

A couple days in some of the crew knew exactly who had the full beverage package and yet they still have to take the time to run each card. When asked they said it's to update the inventory (which makes perfect sense).

 

Just a suggestion to Oceania is to maybe issue a handheld tablet to each service staff to run those cards. With today's technology there is no need to have several staff waiting their turn to use one terminal for ringing drinks up.

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That's an interesting point. I don't remember seeing these kind of complaints -- about slow service -- before the drink package came into play. Maybe I just didn't notice. We've never had the package and while we've had some slow service on occasion, it hasn't been a real problem and wasn't related to drinks.

 

If the drink package IS the source of the problem, management should attempt to deal with it.

 

I HAVE seen complaints since the inception of the drink package regarding wine service in the restaurants. Not always, but frequently enough. The first glass comes quickly enough, the next glass ... well, not so much.

 

I don't take the wine package because I prefer to order by the bottle and don't want to be limited to the by-the-glass choices. And with a whole bottle I haven't noticed slow service. But, of course, if the bottle is sitting on the table -- I can pour for myself if the wine steward isn't in sight.

 

Mura

 

In our experience the service issues we noticed on our last couple of cruise had absolutely nothing to do with the drink package, unless you were trying to order a Mimosa at breakfast, but you'd have the same issue without a package.

 

The problem we saw was lack of management and procedures in the MDR at pretty much all meals. It was quite hit or miss. At times the service was great. I've read enough about it and actually experienced it enough lately to think it's becoming a problem that Oceania really needs to explore and fix.

 

FWIW, we've had no issues at any of the bar venues with service. There at times are issues with Sommelier service in the eating venues.

 

OP, thanks for your review.

 

PS, This has been on the Marina and Riviera. In the last 14 months I've been on the O ships almost 100 days. I haven't been on an R Ship since Aug of 2015, but will be on the Regatta real soon.

Edited by ORV
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It was drinks service, or lack of it, which was our main issue on Regatta last March, in all the restaurants including Terrace. They seemed to think that if you had water you were OK! Nobody ever asked if we would like a drink, soft or alcoholic. You had to fight to catch somebody to ask for one, every time, and it became very wearisome. Not to mention the strict demarcation lines, so the wine waiter would not bring a soda as well as the wine, or even ask for it on our behalf, unlike other cruise lines. As you say, bar service was fine, it was the restaurants that had the problem.

Edited by marylizcat
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That's an interesting point. I don't remember seeing these kind of complaints -- about slow service -- before the drink package came into play. Maybe I just didn't notice. We've never had the package and while we've had some slow service on occasion, it hasn't been a real problem and wasn't related to drinks.

 

If the drink package IS the source of the problem, management should attempt to deal with it.

 

I HAVE seen complaints since the inception of the drink package regarding wine service in the restaurants. Not always, but frequently enough. The first glass comes quickly enough, the next glass ... well, not so much.

 

I don't take the wine package because I prefer to order by the bottle and don't want to be limited to the by-the-glass choices. And with a whole bottle I haven't noticed slow service. But, of course, if the bottle is sitting on the table -- I can pour for myself if the wine steward isn't in sight.

 

Mura

 

Ditto We don;t drink enough to warrant the package, but we do buy expensive bottles and stretch it.. Always get great service.

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We were also on this cruise. I will write a bit about that and start my own thread.

 

As far as beverage service, I have no complaints. We did not have any package, but got served well, both at the captain's welcome and the following nights during cocktail hour.

 

We brought our own wine to dinner and paid corkage. The sommeliers were very happy to open and serve and keep on refilling the glasses. We offered them a taste and they did taste and chatted about the wine for a bit.

 

We really appreciate that we are able to bring our own wine onboard. We had our butler send it to our dining venue. In the past, on other lines, when we have not had a butler, we have just carried it ourselves to the dinner. It was really nice not to have to do that.

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Somewhat of an overstatement perhaps? Of course, this may very well be true for YOU. We've had 3 hour dinners on occasion, but that was always when we were a group of 6-8 people. I'd say our average is more like 2 hours for 4 people. Not that I've timed it!

 

When we dine alone we do get out much faster. Then again, very often we aren't interested in seeing the show so we really don't care that much if service is slow. Not that we like to be sitting there waiting for more time than we spending eating!

 

Mura

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Maybe they could bring in some of the "jewelry" like Princess

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7543

That could cut down on the bar service at meals the waiter could just wand you when they take your order

 

Just a thought

 

Ooh Lyn.They remind me of the all- inclusive wristbands worn at many hotels.No thanks.😆

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Never had anything so long as a 3 hour dinner in any Oceania MDR ever...And never noticed any tables near us suffering such a long service. We always found service was excellent, food good and delivered quickly, and love the MDR, such a beautiful room. Something must have gone seriously wrong for you, such a shame

We also loved Red Ginger and Jacques.

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Never had anything so long as a 3 hour dinner in any Oceania MDR ever...

 

 

You must have been lucky

 

We had a 3 hr dinner in Polo at a 4 top almost 1 hr between the salad & main course ..ridiculous

 

If you are at a table for 2 time goes faster

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You must have been lucky

 

We had a 3 hr dinner in Polo at a 4 top almost 1 hr between the salad & main course ..ridiculous

 

If you are at a table for 2 time goes faster

 

Yes, tables for two get in and out faster. Tables of four are OK but if you are seated at anything larger add at least thirty minutes in GDR and even more in the specialties.

Overall Oceania does a remarkable job with the food but there is a trade off in time when food is cooked or at least finished to order.

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We were on the same cruise and it was my first Oceania cruise. I have to agree that service was a problem -especially bar service. We often had to wait some time for someone to take our drink order or fill our wine glass. As said before, we often had to flag down a wine steward in the main dining room. In Martinis, besides the wait, for the first three days, although I ordered a martini with a twist, it came with olives, which I hate.

 

As for the food, which is very subjective, I have to echo what I think others have said before. The food in the specialty restaurants was very good. For me, Red Ginger was excellent. However, we found the food and the service in the main dining room to be lacking.

 

I was also very disappointed in the cruise director. We played trivia and saw him then, but he did not acknowledge us, or virtually anyone else that I saw outside of required venues. In fact, he purposefully seemed to avoid having to talk to people at certain times. Most cruise directors I have encountered on other cruises seem to enjoy just getting to know the passengers and know how to work the room..

 

I have to disclose that I am a Seabourn regular. As expected, I did not find Oceania to be up to the same level. But, then again, the cost, even for a penthouse suite and including the drink package, was well less than a Seabourn cruise, so you need to balance your cost versus your expectations. With that i mind, for the right itinerary, I would consider giving Oceania another try, but Seabourn will remain my cruise line of preference for now.

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Having been on this cruise with you, I loved reading your first impressions of Oceania for the first time. And I would agree with you about service in the GDR which we have chosen to avoid the last 2 or 3 cruises for that reason. I have no idea why, but the service became painfully slow in the last couple years and often the food was tepid. When we aren't dining in one of the Specialties, we love going to Terrace. We've never been disappointed there and we found the service superb at dinner. We did have lunch in the GDR one day and although there were very few people, the service was extremely slow.

 

Personally I like a 2 hour dinner when sharing which is our preference, but when it stretches to 2 ½ or more, it's a bit much. We had no such problems on this cruise in the Specialty restaurants.

 

We don't drink at all so we wouldn't experience some of your issues with service. I did notice that no one ever asked if we wanted something other than water, but when they came to fill my glass with water I would always ask for my Sprite Zero or sparkling water and they were quick to get it. Since any beverage is an added cost for Oceania, perhaps they are told not to ask, but rather wait for the guest to request:).

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Interesting.

 

We usually stick our cards on the table, the sommelier recognises we are on a package , we have a chat with them and thereafter get good service , the cards only usually removed once. Maybe something has changed.

 

I don't see what's wrong with 2-3 hours for dinner , we see it as a social event in itself , we invariably ask to share and bore the pants of our fellow guests (hope not , have been bored to death by others once or twice ) it's great to meet new people and chat and eat and drink , so 2-3 hours not a problem , have landed up being there from 8 until it's obvious the crew want to go to bed and we are the last to leave , then off to the bar we go for a night cap!

 

Off course dinner for two with she who must be obeyed , can be a problem , chatting in a meaningful way with her for more than 20mins could leave one looking for the exit asap. ( hope she doesn't read this ) I jest, honestly.

 

We will see though May 1st if anything has changed dramatically !, most likely won't find any one to share with now either !!!

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