Just back from Riviera cruise

I am sitting in Barcelona airport with a couple of hours to spare, so thought I would write a review on our Riviera cruise while it is fresh in my mind. I will post in the Reviews section also.

Accommodation

We stayed in an Owners Suite (9147) which was wonderful – comfortable, luxurious, spacious and beautifully appointed. I do agree with Hambagahle’s comment about the deck. It is spacious, in that it is very wide – the full width of the ship, minus the width of the entry foyer which dissects it – although not very deep, and the amount of furniture which has to be navigated to get from one end to the other makes it seem less than it is. However, we stepped up to the plate and made the journey regularly!

There were many nice touches, like the films pre-loaded on the TV, a bookcase full of huge and beautifully illustrated hard-back books, the piano tinkling away in the background, a phenomenal pillow menu, etc, etc – too many good things to mention individually, but which demonstrated the care and thought which have gone into making being in the suite such an enjoyable and luxurious experience.

The Butler service provided by Sandeep (and his assistant, Larson) was outstanding, and we were very appreciative of his skill in anticipating our needs without being intrusive.

Food

The food was an absolute delight. As on our previous cruise, Red Ginger was our favourite. This time, though, we were surprised to find that Toscana was our second equal favourite with Jacques, and then Polo. Our only minor disappointment, food-wise, was an overdone steak in Polo – hardly a deal-breaker, but a small blot on an otherwise clean sheet.

We ate twice at La Reserve. The first time, we had the new Odyssey menu, and the second the Connoisseur menu. Both were outstanding, with great wines. These evenings are a lot of fun, and we enjoyed them enormously.

We ate a few breakfasts, lunches and one evening meal in the Grand Dining Room. All were excellent, with quick service and the food served hot and fresh.

Excursions

With the exception of Zadar, we have visited all of the regions on this cruise previously. In the main, therefore, we wandered around on our own, which we generally prefer to do in any case, or stayed onboard and enjoyed the facilities of a near-empty ship.

We went on only 2 organised excursions, both of them with Oceania. Both were enjoyable, although the day in Rome was long and exhausting and I know some people were struggling with the heat. The second excursion was from Marseilles, to a vineyard and garden about an hour’s drive away, where we enjoyed a very pleasant lunch before going on to Aix en Provence for a couple of hours.

Culinary School

We did one cookery class. We had intended to do more, but the scheduling conflicted with other dining reservations and one of our La Reserve evenings, when we wanted to be sure of being hungry at 7pm. We had Chef Kelly, which was a first for us, and she was both delightful and informative. I wish the culinary centre would do some earlier classes, as I hate to miss dinner and cannot eat twice within such a short space of time – which, effectively, is what happens with all the food sampling within the classes. I can understand that this would not work for many people, however, as it would obviously interfere with excursions.

Entertainment

We missed much of the entertainment, which was a shame. I heard good reports from other passengers, and we will make more of an effort on our next cruise. We did hear Paul Emmanuel, who sang well and was very entertaining. We also heard about 10 minutes (or less) of Ugo, an Italian tenor. We did not appreciate this at all, but were later told by several people that he was actually pretty good and that we should have given him more of a chance. Again, we will endeavour to do so on our next trip. Another new show was ‘Dance Trance’, a couple from England who danced mainly Latin-American, but some freestyle also and we enjoyed watching them.

Miscellaneous Observations

Nothing, in our view, has deteriorated since our last cruise on Riviera in August. The ship was in absolutely pristine condition. At a dinner with the Captain, he remarked (as I suppose he would) that no expense was spared in terms of maintenance of the ship. As mentioned, in our view the food was as good – if not better – than previously. Service was also excellent, with everyone we interacted with being friendly and helpful.

Safe trip to home. Thank you for the review.

Thank you for this! So glad you had a great voyage!

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Thank you for the review. The Riviera is our favorite cruise ship.

Great to hear! We will be on Riviera June 1 and can't wait... I check this board daily to get the last updates and for some pre-fun.

Lovely review, Daisy UK and Ken and I are SO glad that the "substitute cruise" went so well. I was only thinking this morning that it was about that time (the dreaded "D" day or Disembarkation day...)

Travel home safely.

Gerry

Thanks so much for the lovely review of Riviera; we will be sailing what appears to be the same itinerary. Looking forward to the Riviera. We previously have sailed on Insignia, Regatta and Marina.

Thank you all. George'sGal - I'm sure you're going to love the itinerary. Actually, I just realised I made a mistake. Dance Trance are not from the UK; I think they are Australian. Anyway, we enjoyed them. Also, I didn't mention that I didn't notice smoke anywhere on the ship other than the designated place, and that I didn't see a single e-cigarette.:)

Thank you all. George'sGal - I'm sure you're going to love the itinerary. Actually, I just realised I made a mistake. Dance Trance are not from the UK; I think they are Australian. Anyway, we enjoyed them. Also, I didn't mention that I didn't notice smoke anywhere on the ship other than the designated place, and that I didn't see a single e-cigarette.:)

Thanks for your review and update on smoke and e- cigarettes. Now that the mis- information on where e- cigs may be used has been corrected no one will hopefully have to see any accept in the smoking section.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise!