First timer review of Sirena

Good afternoon everyone. As a first timer cruiser on Oceania I used this message board a lot before sailing and found it very useful. I therefore thought it might be helpful for anyone thinking of sailing on Sirena to get my feedback from my recent cruise. Having only sailed on Crystal and Seabourn before I wasn't sure what to expect from Oceania, but to be frank there was very little difference. My cruise (from Malta to Barcelona) was very overbooked, so I was upgraded from a porthole outside cabin to cabin 4027 which had a nice big picture window. This was a good location: opposite the medical bay, midships, quiet, just one floor below the MDR and the coffee lounge. Embarkation was easy and quick and I had my luggage within an hour or so of arrival. The cabin was small, which I sort of expected on a mid-size ship. Fine for me as a single occupant although I did get a face full of curtain every morning getting out of bed. The bathroom was a bit of a disappointment. I knew there would only be a shower but the bathroom was TINY; very clean though. I concur with other people's reviews of the beds - very comfortable. Storage space was good and cleverly thought out and there were enough hangers for a 10 day cruise (that doesn't often happen!) My one area of negative surprise in the cabin, apart from the bathroom, was that there were evident signs of wear and tear on the cupboards (doors not closing) and floor (stains on the carpet) on a ship which had only been out of drydock for about 2 months.

To the food - very good. On a par with Crystal and Seabourn. I palled up with some people who used Silversea a lot and they said the Oceania food was hands down better. Lavish afternoon teas (I only went once, too tempting!), fantastic burgers and fries at the Waves grill, excellent food at Tuscan Steak, can't think of a bad meal at the MDR. I didn't like the evening buffet at the Lido, but that's just a matter of personal choice. My one area of complaint (and I did complain) was about dirty crockery & cutlery. I had this several times in nearly all the food locations and it's just not acceptable.

The rest of the ship: the best library I have ever seen on a ship. Seriously. Good gym, well laid-out and never crowded. Spa - expensive, but good therapists. Destinations team - very helpful sorting out my requests, as was the concierge. As a smoker, the outside space on the pool deck and the inside room in Horizons worked really well for me. I can't talk about evening entertainment; frankly I did so much during the days on this port-intensive cruise that I was dead to the world by 10pm. History lecturer was interesting. Disembarkation was very straightforward.

Destinations: Capri was absolutely beautiful but you don't need an all day tour. If you book one, there will be lots of hanging around. Rome was stunning; I splurged and did the Vatican tour although it was hellishly crowded and hot. Positano - beautiful, but you can walk round in an hour. We docked at Villefranche instead of Monaco and St Tropez because of bad weather, but that was fine as it's pretty and close enough to the other places of interest on the Cote d'Azur. Marseilles is a great jumping off spot for trips to Provence (Avignon, Arles, Pont du Gard).

So in summary - you won't be disappointed if you pick either Oceania or Sirena.

Thank you for taking the time to write the review.

It sounds like Sirena was seriously neglected while with Princess and will need more than one dry dock to bring her fully up to the Oceania standard on the other R ships (cupboards and carpet in cabins, etc).

Sounds like you had a nice cruise overall. Perhaps next time try one of their larger ships or the other R ships.

Great review

It helps set our expectations when we board Sirena later this year

Thanks

Thanks for the review

Too bad about the dirty dishes that is unacceptable

I agree with Paul maybe they needed more than a month for the refurbishment after the neglect from Princess

I bet they will be doing repairs & cleanup as they go & not waiting for another drydock schedule ;)

They probably did more behind the scenes work so did not have time to get to some of the cabins yet other than new bedding etc..

Thanks for your review.

Thank you for taking the time to write up a review. Frankly, it's good to see some more favorable comments from cruisers. Glad you enjoyed the food. We only have one experience so far on Oceania but agree it is far and away the best food at sea. Your cabin is just down the hall from where we'll be in February, so nice to hear you thought the location was good. I do hope LHT28 is right about "fixing" carpeting and cabinetry "on the fly." I'll bet the acquisition of Sirena is being a bit more painful for O than they were hoping it would be.

Greg

Great review! I am just off Riviera and I met a few people who sail on Seabourn and they said that Oceania is just as good if not better! I was considering trying Seabourn but when I hear comments like this why change?! :)

I'll bet the acquisition of Sirena is being a bit more painful for O than they were hoping it would be.

 

Greg

I think that you are right.

I have cruise on Princess R ships a few times and always thought that they were not maintained nearly as well as the Oceania R ships. As these ships age, they need more & more attention - in addition to the regular maintenance over the years. Princess was not nearly as invested in their maintenance as Oceania was.

On top of that, I believe that from the point that Princess sold the ship to Oceania they invested minimum (or nothing) as this was no longer their ship.

The result is predictable and will take some time to correct.

Many thanks for your review. I am looking at S for one or two future cruises. I think I will wait a year or so before sailing her. Plenty of other cruises on the other R ships to choose from for now.

Thanks for the review

Too bad about the dirty dishes that is unacceptable

 

I agree with Paul maybe they needed more than a month for the refurbishment after the neglect from Princess

 

I bet they will be doing repairs & cleanup as they go & not waiting for another drydock schedule ;)

 

They probably did more behind the scenes work so did not have time to get to some of the cabins yet other than new bedding etc..

If they needed more than a month they should have taken more than a month.

If they needed more than a month they should have taken more than a month.

possibly the shipyard was not available for longer time frame & the upcoming cruises would also be have to be refunded & rescheduled

All sorts of logistics to consider

It is not like taking your car in for service & they need to keep it an extra week to fix the problem

JMO

Glad to hear about the storage space. Some ships really scrimp on that.

possibly the shipyard was not available for longer time frame & the upcoming cruises would also be have to be refunded & rescheduled

All sorts of logistics to consider

 

It is not like taking your car in for service & they need to keep it an extra week to fix the problem

 

JMO

None of which, imo, matters to people paying top dollar for a supposedly completely renovated ship. If the shipyard wasn't available for the required amount of time when they dry-docked then you wait until it is available and do it right. I understand the financial implications but you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

A ship doesn't have to be in "dry" dock to replace carpets and repair cabinetry. O's maintenance people should have been able to do a thorough walk thru of the ship, upon purchase, and determine the needed time to perform repairs .

None of which, imo, matters to people paying top dollar for a supposedly completely renovated ship. If the shipyard wasn't available for the required amount of time when they dry-docked then you wait until it is available and do it right. I understand the financial implications but you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Wripro-

That is perfectly brilliant advice.

If we were talking about a manuscript or a novel-

With a Cruise ship, however, even if one were to put aside the wisdom of allowing a multi-million dollar asset to sit idle for that additional length of time, there is a crew of several hundred people who must be considered.

There really was no other option except to complete as much as they could in the time that they had in the Shipyard, because if you lose the trained staff the first few "post refit" cruises are going to be a disaster, no matter what the ship looks like.

I'll paraphrase Churchill, "When you are going through hell, just keep going."

see: Catch-22

a set of difficult circumstances from which there seems to be no satisfactory resolution because of conflicting circumstances or regulations.

Maybe a reasonable (given the advantage of 20/20 hindsight) scenario might have gone like this:

About half way through the dry dock, O management realizes they "can't get there from here." As Jim and Stan have said you can't just cancel some number of cruises until the ship is up to O standards; and, as wripro has said, it's not fair to people paying top dollar to endure a product that isn't up to O standards. So, O management sends out a letter to folks on the (say) three post dry dock cruises and explains the situation. In the letter they offer a $XXX OBC or free beverage package or similar as well as a $500 credit on their next O cruise; or the option of moving to another (later or another ship) cruise (like when they are overwhelming oversold). This is just an off the top of my head example but with the actual numbers I'm sure O execs could have come up with a similar strategy to minimize upset and maximize customer's cruise experience...and maybe doing nothing was their answer.:eek:

Greg

I'm waiting to see what we will think when we board in Barcelona on October 4th ...

Mura

I'm waiting to see what we will think when we board in Barcelona on October 4th ...

 

Mura

Hi Mura,

We are getting on Sirena after you disembark. Hoping that the necessary repairs have been fully addressed and resolved. This is our first Oceania cruise, after many years of waiting to give them a try. We had/have high expectations. We have no point of reference when it comes to Oceania's ships, so a first impression for us is extremely important. We specifically selected not only this great itinerary, but the chance to cruise on Oceania's newest ship. A ship that underwent a major renovation should be up to snuff, one would think. Hoping!

Thank you NIX70 for your excellent review. I feel much happier going on Sirena on 7th August. We've been on most cruise lines including Seabourn so am interested to see the comparison. I'm sure we'll enjoy the cruise any way as we always do! I'll write a review when the cruise is finished.

Wripro-

 

That is perfectly brilliant advice.

If we were talking about a manuscript or a novel-

With a Cruise ship, however, even if one were to put aside the wisdom of allowing a multi-million dollar asset to sit idle for that additional length of time, there is a crew of several hundred people who must be considered.

 

There really was no other option except to complete as much as they could in the time that they had in the Shipyard, because if you lose the trained staff the first few "post refit" cruises are going to be a disaster, no matter what the ship looks like.

 

I'll paraphrase Churchill, "When you are going through hell, just keep going."

 

see: Catch-22

 

a set of difficult circumstances from which there seems to be no satisfactory resolution because of conflicting circumstances or regulations.

I accept all of your comments regarding the refit. They are perfectly sensible.

However the trained staff you cite are apparently unable to ensure that guests have clean cutlery and crockery in most food locations on the Op's cruise.

As someone who has recently booked their first Oceania cruise on Marina ( which looks the most stunningly beautiful ship) after many happy experiences on Azamara this is rather disquieting.

Thanks for your review. We are nervously awaiting our first Seabourn cruise next month. We have loved Oceania but our last cruise was not up quite to the standard we had enjoyed previously so we thought we would try something else.

I suspect we may be returning to O with our tails between our legs – but you don’t know until you give it a go.

I accept all of your comments regarding the refit. They are perfectly sensible.

 

However the trained staff you cite are apparently unable to ensure that guests have clean cutlery and crockery in most food locations on the Op's cruise.

 

As someone who has recently booked their first Oceania cruise on Marina ( which looks the most stunningly beautiful ship) after many happy experiences on Azamara this is rather disquieting.

I have been on 4 of the 6 ships & never had dirty dishes or cutlery this is just my experience so others may comment differently

It may be some issue with the equipment & certainly with staff if they did not notice things were not clean

Hopefully it is a one off

It should have been brought to the attention of the GM at the time so it could be resolved

If this was an issue on all ships you would have read about it here :D

I have been on 4 of the 6 ships & never had dirty dishes or cutlery this is just my experience so others may comment differently

 

It may be some issue with the equipment & certainly with staff if they did not notice things were not clean

Hopefully it is a one off

It should have been brought to the attention of the GM at the time so it could be resolved

 

If this was an issue on all ships you would have read about it here :D

I have had dirty cutlery and dishes as well as a piece of broken glass in my salad at Waves (which I quietly and unobtrusively pointed out to the wait staff). Many people just don't post issues or don't even know about CC.

I have had dirty cutlery and dishes as well as a piece of broken glass in my salad at Waves (which I quietly and unobtrusively pointed out to the wait staff). Many people just don't post issues or don't even know about CC.

Sirena?

I do not think any cruise line is perfect & stuff does happen even on Oceania ;)

SPURSGIRL

if you are looking for reasons to complain BEFORE you board then you will not enjoy any cruise jmo

Sirena?

 

I do not think any cruise line is perfect & stuff does happen even on Oceania ;)

 

Exactly. Stuff always happens. It was the Marina for the glass issue. They asked if I wanted another salad but I passed. Figured I dodged one bullet that day and didn't want to push my luck. Dirty dishes on the others. I just asked for new cutlery and/or glasses.

On the Sirena I had the door falling off the desk and kick plate of the closet hanging on by a nail. The furniture was in really poor shape but I was in a B cabin not a PH which was totally redone. The Sirena needs a lot more money to be put into her before she comes up to par with the other R ships. All the soft goods were replaced but there are other issues. Two washing machines were broke (I think they still are) and the freezer at Waves was broken. It doesn't taken a major investment or time to get a new ice cream freezer. Minor issues but it puts the problems into perspective.

Everyone keeps saying the Sirena was left in poor shape by Princess. No corporation buys a major asset without thoroughly doing an inspection and estimating the cost of refurbishment based on the inspection. I just think Oceania said we are investing "X" amount of money into refurbishing and then drew the line where that money would go. There were a lot of folks asking where the $50million went.

They lost a golden opportunity for satisfying and retaining first time Oceania cruisers and lost a lot of loyal repeaters. I don't have the exact number but a little over 50% of the inaugural were repeaters and the rest new to Oceania. First timers didn't feel there was value for money compared to the other lines they sailed.

Loyal old timers felt it was time to look elsewhere. No one said they "would never return" but there were a lot of unhappy campers. This was not an inexpensive cruise. Your cabin shouldn't have soiled carpets, nailed shut drawers, toilets that don't properly flush, dirty toilet brushes, used workmen's clothes left in the closet, etc. The food and service was very good but then again Del Rio and the Pepin family was on board. It sort of made me sad that my favorite cruise line put forth such a negative impression for the first timers and changed so much for those of us who sailed her for a long time. Oceania is part of a large corporation now and there is a difference from when the line was smaller. Bottom line first and passengers second.