HaveDogWillTravel

Of course not. Everyone in that line was booking a new cruise! I am saying that of all the things I did on the ship I never encountered a line where I had to wait except to book a new cruise. This supports that there were many happy cruisers like me on this sailing. I hope I have explained myself better now.

I just disembarked the Riviera after taking my first O sailing. My TA told me I could bring whatever I wanted on board at embarkation or in ports, either in checked or carry on. I brought 5 bottles of wine and a small bottle of gin and dry vermouth initially. When I realized the ship had no decent bourbon or sweet vermouth on board we got some at our first port along with beer and more wine. No one blinked an eye or counted what we brought on. I found the offerings onboard to be seriously lacking. Being able to bring on what I wanted made all the difference. I don’t know why but the three martinis we ordered in the bars - Martinis, Horizons, Casino- were all served in Margherita glasses. I really did not care for that presentation. BTW we carried much of that off as well. I like choices though so thank goodness for luggage with wheels.

@santos949 I was also on this cruise (first time on O) and agree with all your positives. There simply was no entertainment before 9:30 pm to speak of so for us it was as if there was none. The piano player in Martinis was painful to listen to at best. You’re correct food is subjective. I can’t count the number of times I’ve sat at dinner on a cruise, eating the exact same dish as someone else and one of us loves it while the other hates it. I thought 95% of the food I received was excellent. I found the choices to be outstanding. I booked 2 new cruises onboard and went down to the Ambassador’s office (I think that’s what the future cruise person is called on O) at least 6 different times to work out questions and so forth. I had to wait in line every single time! In fact it was the ONLY place on board the ship I ever had to wait! I don’t discount the OP’s post or that they need to find a line better suited to their needs. I do think there were a lot of happy people on that cruise, more than this thread is indicating. Just wanted to throw that out there for the lurkers to the O thread deciding whether to take that first O sailing.

I’m about to lose my internet as the ship sails out of port Canaveral. I really, really loved our day in St Augustine out of Jacksonville. We got a rental car last minute really cheap. We would have gone to the zoo the next day but decided not to.

For the person who asked about sticky buns. DH said they didn’t have b]nearly enough cinnamon so he did not finish it. So that’s it for me. we are getting ready to leave Charleston. The internet on the ship is ok for texting but not much else. Tomorrow is a busy day taking a rental car out to the Kennedy center and the wildlife refuge. Then packing and cocktails and dinner oh my!

Yes we thought so. A couple of things needed a bit more salt. Food is subjective though. I think the ship is very pretty. Here’s some pictures of my deck 7 aft starboard balcony and some of favorite places on the ship. outside the theater outside the theater outside the theater outside the theater outside the theater still haven’t seen a show and probably won’t. 9:30 is far too late for us. We think the theater looks lovely and those masks are gorgeous. horizens. Remarkably , we have not smelled the smoke up here at all. I was worried as the smoking room has no door. waves grill at night transformed into a pizzeria at night. Funny thing is that the smoke from the smoking section on the same side but forward wafts back. Especially when someone is smoking a cigar. casino or grand bar. Not sure which is the correct name for this deck 6 aft bar. Deck 5 atrium? Piazza? Idk what it’s called on O yet upper aft track. more more more more Baristas deck 14 best shower! our cabin great balcony with amazing furniture. a really lovely library. There’s a game room with games too. the blue night light in the bathroom. It doesn’t photograph well. It’s not annoying at all. sanctuary area open to all. Nice and quiet. live the public bathrooms. Took me a while to stop looking for paper towels. Lol. Upper decks Buffet eating area upper sports deck. baristas looking down on the special aqua spa suite area. upper decks GDR library officer board

Some of my favorite foods so far. The only real miss so far was the onion soup we ordered from room service. It was just without any flavor, had one baby crouton and the tiniest bit of some unknown cheese. As you can see from the following photos there is so much that is excellent I really could care less that the onion soup was less then. I’ll try to post captions. My apologies if I can’t. room service dinner last night Toscana filet toscana lamb toscana red pepper flan toscana stuffed artichoke toscana bread basket. Needed some crunchy sea salt but the olive oil and vinegar helped. toscana menu GDR breakfast terrace cafe lunch GDR breakfast terrace cafe breakfast GDR dessert Ted curry chicken GDR GDR breakfast GDR stir fry GDR roasted herbed chicken GDR grilled salmon red ginger menus GDR breakfast yes lollipop lamb chops go with everything. more menus seriously addictive super tasty (lemony, creamy, graham cracker goodness) NY cheesecake. GDR Cancun power bowl red ginger tea menu GDR Lebanon lunch special GDR May I please have a green salad with any veggies you have? Here you go GDR shrimp ap breakfast terrace cafe no bourbon on this sailing but lots of jam. Red ginger scallops Red ginger Sea bass Red ginger Forgot what it’s called but delicious. Red ginger Forgot what it’s called but delicious. red ginger lamb red ginger steak red ginger tempura red ginger tuna and ? red ginger shrimp red ginger calamari red ginger

This is my first Oceania sailing. I’ve sailed just under 300 days with over half of them since the restart. Mostly Princess but also Cunard and Celebrity. We boarded in Nassau (medical emergency delayed our travel by 36 hours) and the streets near the port were so crowded our driver had to beep, beep, beep the horn to get thru. Six ships in port equals madness on shore. The port and Oceania did an absolutely standup job taking two very tired passengers thru the gates, onto the ship and up to our cabin with all our luggage. I’m just now reading this live from and have been making notes as I read thru so forgive the seemingly scattered format. Thanks @ORV for creating it. I’ll pipe in with our experiences in regards to some earlier comments. Of course this is just what we’ve seen and others could have different experiences. We have eaten in GDR, terrace cafe, terrace grill, Toscana, red ginger and room service. We’ve had our water glasses kept constantly full in all venues. In fact when a server in terrace grill saw me get up with my vero bottle to fill it they insisted on taking care of it for me. We don’t have a drink package but I’ve noticed that those around us at lunch and dinner never have an empty glass. We purchased a couple of bottles of wine on board and our glasses have been refilled always prior to being empty. We were disappointed about missing Nassau. But I took another bite of my lollipop lamb chop at breakfast and felt much better. 😉 Stirrup caye would have been great as we’ve never been to one of these ship island resorts. An overnight in Jacksonville allowed us to rent a car (used points so it was “free”) and drive to St Augustine, a lovely historic city with amazing architecture. The Lightner Museum was well worth the visit. Flagler College was gorgeous. The marching band of bagpipes, drums and such thru the historic district for St Patrick’s day was a fun surprise. Having the rental car allowed us to get to a Publix and a liquor store to get the beverages that we prefer that the ship does not stock. I really appreciate being able to bring on all the alcohol, wine and beer I want without question. Our deck 7 aft starboard cabin has a walk-in shower big enough for 2. The bathroom is spectacular with so much storage! Rest of the cabin’s storage is a bit lacking and awkward (the closet is so close to the bed), but we’re managing just fine. The HS ice cream (in fact all of the ice cream is lovely) has been a standout. The strawberry corn today …..yummmmm. I have her slice some banana in the bottom of my waffle cone first then layer in two flavors and off I go into my daily ice cream coma. @ORV Oceania has definitely made converts out of these first timers! Port changes due to weather and problems tendering due to sea conditions are not something we hold the ship responsible for. When we booked our two new sailings on board the sales lady was a bit surprised by our tactic of choosing cruises primarily based on 3 criteria: Start and end ports. While not a complete guarantee, odds are excellent that you will embark where they say and get off where they say. The stuff in the middle? That can and will change based on all sorts of issues out of anyone’s control. Ship. I need a big deep balcony with nice padded chairs and loungers. Availability of said special cabins on said ship. I will always sail Princess out of my home port of SF. If I’m traveling internationally or to the east coast then I will look at other cruise lines. Oceania will definitely be on the short list. DH had eggs Benedict in MDR but did say the hollandaise was not flavorful. I usually do not cook with salt or very little when I do, preferring to add it at the end. So when I say that some (not all by any stretch) of the food (including the beautiful breads) is a bit bland due to no salt it’s just weird! That’s just never happened before. Unfortunately the salt shaker in GDR and in terrace cafe has only one hole and it is pretty hard to get salt out. I noticed new (at least I am pretty sure they weren’t there previously) salt and pepper grinders up in terrace grill today at lunch. @BWV yes we’ve noticed the unfortunate peeling wallpaper. I’m sure they will start fixing it soon. @ORV how did I miss the free drinks on St Patrick’s day? So disappointed in myself! We received an invitation to the first timers party in our cabin. It was an open bar for the duration 5:30-7:00 and a few officers were there. There was no drawing or prizes or really much said at all except that we had 348 new cruisers. I think it’s new and they simply haven’t thought it out all the way yet. @ORVwe were surprised by the pizzeria set up in the Grill too. But when I looked back at my currents I saw this listed: pizzeria | waves grill (12) 6:30-9:30. I’m from NY and like my fire roasted pizza. I asked for it “crispy” and they got it mostly right. They didn’t blink an eye when I asked for shaved parm and mushrooms on my Margherita pizza. Now for a few impressions so far. The food is simply outstanding overall. Real poached eggs, the Toscana head chef making fresh fettuccini in the buffet and chatting us up. He actually gave me a tip regarding an issue I’ve struggled with when cutting my pasta. Those little lollipop lamb chops at breakfast, all the pancakes, my goodness the smoothies and juices on deck 12, the blueberry bowl in GDR at breakfast, everything at red ginger (we went twice), the barista on deck 14, the fillet and lobster at the grill, the fresh berries and melons, the fresh salads, there is an enormous array of super healthy options everywhere we’ve eaten. It is so incredibly nice to finally sail on a ship with a sufficient number of crew to properly take care the number of passengers on board. The service has been quick, professional and attentive. Even during the captain’s reception (which was the only time the ship seemed crowded) in Horizons the bartenders and servers were super busy but they kept up. I was amazed when Ivan not only remembered us the next night but exactly what we had ordered! Seriously? We only had one drink each! I do wish dinner started earlier and that there was a 7:30 show. Then you could go to dinner first then a show OR go to the show and have a late dinner. We finished dinner last night at 8 and there was nothing happing on deck 6 at all. I think deck 12 in horizons had a guess of the tune thing at 8:30. But we don’t know trivia at all of any kind. Especially not music, movies or anything to do with entertainment industry. We really wanted to stay up for the 9:30 show but it was dead and we were bored so we didn’t. No big deal for us. We tried to watch a movie in our cabin but the tv kept pixelating and loading……loading….loading. Since we were in port we could use our iPads. But fell asleep by 10 anyway! I filled out the mid ship comment card and was shocked that it was read and acted upon. I said 3 things: They need to stock decent vermouth. Martini and Rossi (only vermouth on board I checked every bar and not a supply issue it’s just what they use) ruins a cocktail as soon as you put it in. I listed a few options as suggestions. They need to stock decent bourbon. I listed a half dozen easily available mainstream popular choices. They only stock High 10 ($10.99 for 1.75 liter) and JD (while might be good for some it’s really not in my wheelhouse). That’s it. (Other than ultra premium $25 a shot ones that you would never, ever, ever put martini and Rossi in!). Again not a supply chain issue all the bars said that’s just what they use. It’s weird that a line that curates it’s food so well pays little to no attention to their cocktail ingredients. It’d be nice to have a proper throw blanket for the balcony. Lo and behold a day later I have 2 proper throw blankets for the balcony (fyi I did ask my steward but was given a blanket that might be used in the sofa bed?) Lo and behold 2 days later the bar supervisor calls to talk about the vermouth and Bourbon comments. I’m not sure if anything will actually come of it but if all y’all on future sailings all of a sudden have Makers, Bullit, Buffalo Trace, Knob Creek……..I’m claiming credit! Lol. I didn’t mention that they should also stock luxardo cherries. Since Oceania lets you bring on anything, my cabin is now stocked with all the fixings for my one evening cocktail with all my preferred ingredients. Now it’s time for said evening cocktail.

Thank you. We are having a great time. I will try to read and contribute to @ORVlive from.

@Host CJSKIDS I am sorry to report I did not get a chance to utilize all the wonderful information in this thread. Due to a medical emergency we had to delay our flight 36 hours. At that point we just took a red eye to Miami and then a flight a couple of hours later to Nassau to join the ship at its first port. Thankfully we only missed 24 hours of the sailing. Seems like a lot of people will get useful insider tips though from this discussion. Thanks again for creating it.

On day 5 of a 10 cruise, I’m sitting on my B category balcony on the Oceania Riviera getting ready to sail into stirrup cayes. This is a basic balcony category with no priorities or special perks. I paid $7000 including gratuities (but no beverage package) for 10 days rt Miami with stops in Bahamas, Bermuda (cancelled due to weather) Charleston and port Canaveral. My balcony has two loungers with thick beautiful cushions like the sanctuary used to have and two large wicker chairs with thick padded cushions. The bathroom has an amazing amount of storage, counter space and the shower is large enough for two people. the room has a comfortable loveseat and a desk with.a chair. it’s comparable to a mini suite on princess in layout snd price but far, far better. On Oceania the captain buys drinks through out the ship on the first full day of the cruise from 5-7 pm. Everyday there is a 2 for 1 happy hour from 5-6 and 10:30 to 11:30. You can bring on wine, alcohol and beer for consumption in your cabin. You pay $25 corkage if you take it to the dining room. Proper thin lipped white and red wine glasses are served in all venues (except pool deck) at all times including room service. I can finally stop traveling with my wine glasses! All your specialty coffees, cans of soda (stocked in your fridge), filtered Vero water, specialty teas are included. There’s a pool side venue with fresh made juices (spinach, cucumber ginger……..), smoothies in the morning. In the afternoon it serves incredibly smooth and creamy ice cream with waffle cones and all the toppings. With all of this included we have no need for a drink package. I was told by a crew member we have about a 1000 passengers. With a capacity somewhere around 1200 for this ship nothing ever feels crowded. No lines to speak of. Everyone, regardless of cabin category, gets a night in each of the 4 specialty dining restaurants. The Grand dining room is beyond wonderful and the Terrace Grill and Buffet have filet and lobster daily. GDR breakfast is twenty times better than the sabatini full suite breakfasts that I loved on princess. The included wifi is slow but if this posts you’ll know it works! There’s only one per room so you have to share. Every chaise & chair on the open decks is cushioned and the loungers have terry covers. The entire ship is sanctuary level comfort, quiet and service. What this ship falls short on for me is the quality of bourbon and vermouth on board. I can’t get a good Manhattan as they only have martini and Rossi vermouth and the bourbon is either High 10, JD or Blanton. The Blanton of course is lovely but I’d never use bad vermouth in a cocktail made with it. Plus it’s a $25 premium pour and not included in the happy hour. There’s also no Stoli Elite or Ciroc Vodka. The wine selections by the glass are fine, not stellar but better than what my last 5 cruises on Princess since September has been. Other things I like better about Princess are: Better cabin storage Proper throw blankets for the balcony Magnetized walls in the cabin Pillows Entertainment I’ll always sail princess out of SF and of course the eclipse cruise. But I’ve already booked 2 more Oceania cruises on the new Vista. I don’t think I’d like their R class ships this much.

This is what was offered on the Royal Feb 25- March 2, 2023 in the buffet area

Thank you very much for this wonderful detailed description. I am very appreciative.

I sailed Royal Jan 6-16, 2023 and again Feb 25- March 2, 2023. Here are photos of the MDR wines by the glass that have vineyards listed. In January the whites and roses were between $2-$4 over and the reds were $4 -$6 over. In Feb those same wines were now $1-$4 over for whites & roses and $2- $4 over for reds. The price of the port went up $3 so it stayed $1 over Plus.

@Host CJSKIDSThank you again for that incredible wealth of information. We get all the great Mexican we want here in California. Cuban is something that is missing for us. Very happy to hear of all those great options for Cuban food. Definitely going to try one of those!

Sorry I’m not on the ship now. While the newly printed menus may have some errors they have gotten the whole up charge situation sorted. The first 2 days I wasn’t getting billed the upcharge for my drinks that were over but by the 3rd day I was. A $30 beverage would be charged $10 plus 18% on Premier package.

@Host CJSKIDSthanks for the Brickell thread. What great wine/liquor store recommendations! Truly appreciated. We love (in this order) Cuban, Indian, Thai, Mexican food. Any suggestions are most welcome.

B735RoyalPrincessFeb2023.MOV Hopefully the video I took of B735 on the Royal will load and be viewable. I stayed in this cabin this week and just got home yesterday. We hosted parties for 10-15 people on 3 different days. The concierge lounge host, Carmen, was amazing and arranged for afternoon tea for two of those parties. Lots of food, lots of room on the balcony. The inside is only good for 4-5 people though. There's a bit of a choke point at the tall closets where you walk in to the bedroom from the living room. These loungers have a very nice tan colored pad that is not too hard. They also lie completely flat so great for afternoon naps. The Sapphire, Diamond and Ruby full suites I've sailed in over the last 6 months have the hard, blue pads and I find them too hard to be comfortable. We had zero soot issues. B735RoyalPrincessFeb2023.MOV

@SteerageJoeThank you very much for your input. It is most useful. @Host CJSKIDS Thank you for your wonderful information as well. Yes I would love some suggestions for dining in the Brickell area. Walking would be good to work out the cramps from the long plane ride if possible but Lyft/Uber is fine too. We will need to walk back to the Publix the next morning to stock up wine and alcohol for our Oceania trip. My O travel agent person has been with O since they started and assures me it is perfectly fine to bring on whatever we want. Plus she is taking the cruise with us so I feel confident it will be okay. It will depend on how tired and stressed we are when we land as to whether we choose ride share or train. We do like to support good public transportation though and try to do so when possible. I'm glad to know we have the two great choices to get to the hotel. Thanks again for all the help!

Thank you for this great description of how to get to Metro Rail. We are arriving from SFO. I would guess there is signage for Miami Mover in the domestic arrivals as well. Do you know if you need to use an elevator (hopefully there’s an escalator) to change floors to get to the Miami Mover from a domestic arrival? We are staying at Hampton Inn Brickell downtown and I see it’s a short 3 min walk from the metro rail station. Do you know if the metro rail from MIA to Brickell is clean and safe? Or will we be riding with sketchy characters?We are coming in on American around 4:45 pm on a Saturday if that matters. I’ve used a lot of public transportation in NYC and SF and I know some lines are better than others. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

Hi @DoctorTDog! Yes I am your neighbor. I’m dropping my participation in the roll call but will swing by and introduce DH and myself when we get onboard. If you’d like to email me I’d love to connect prior. Jacqueline dot faris at yahoo dot com.

For the person who wanted to know about bourbon on board. Princess live, Bellinis & the two without the bar name in the picture came from crooners

@Caribensunyes the elite wine tasting is offered. I didn’t go. These are new menus just printed. So far all bartenders I’ve asked have handed them over no issue. in no particular order. Better photos of last nights menu, our food, the patter for today. The new Princess favorite dessert Lychee, raspberry & rose mouse was a huge hit as was the warm berry cobbler. The cheesecake and carrot cake recipes must have changed as they were dry and not very good at all. The smoked pork was a huge hit, as was the seafood bowl(no photo) and the prime rib was very good. The pasta with shrimp was prepared in CC and was excellent. I’ll try to snap a few snappy of the bout and today for whoever asked.

@wowzzmy friend said the lamb was excellent and he ate every last bite. @partybarbie Funch is in the house!!!! In no particular order Heres tonight’s menu, patters, juice bar and its price list, Lailen serving up Scooby Doo shots at Bellinis , officer board, Alfredo’s menu & our pizzas, Bellinis specialty menu and a photo of the red plus wines they have at the moment. Plus wines can and will change from day to day and sailing to sailing so keep that in mind. There’s a reason they do not list the vintage or winery. Also find photos of the brand new printed bar menus. Lailen at Bellinis said this is what all the bars are now using.

Last nights dinner menus. I only have good pictures of the lamb. All the other entrees were half eaten by the time I took pics. Also please don’t quote posts with these multiple photos as it takes forever to load the thread on ship’s wifi.