PinonNoir

The piano can be played, it's just the the "player piano" is a speaker driven crappy system that sounds like a small Bluetooth speaker...versus a real player piano. I think you will enjoy the Oceania Suite...we will definitely opt for that if we do Riviera again.

I thought I responded to this post, but it appears it disappeared? I don't want to say our suite experience was a "disappointment"....I just wanted to explain to others that there is a downside to the ultimate suite on the ship. The positives are obvious...huge suite, great location, etc. I just haven't seen others state the obvious about how silly some of the layout of the Owners Suite is.

We have survived, and continue our journey in Iceland. I appreciate your concern however!

We got off Riviera 5 days ago in Reykjavik, so I felt it was time to give the Owners Suite a review. First off, I have to say I expected to be blown away, and the view upon first entering the suite was indeed incredible. However, after a few days, we started to realize how much wasted space there was in the suite, as well as other issues. Here are my details: 1. The central space with the piano and the bar are silly. There is a table with a huge pot of orchids, and they block a lot of the view. There are two chairs behind this table that are basically unusable. Why are they there? There is a spotlight you can shine on the piano....for some reason. The piano can play music without a player, but it's not a real player piano....it has speakers under the lid...crappy ones. This is lame...like really stupidly lame. They do make real player pianos...just saying. The bar is super small and the refrigerator is just as small. This is the Owners Suite! Make the frig double the size, or add a second one on the right side of the existing one. You have the space! 2. The lighting system takes a degree from MIT to figure out. Can you label them so they make sense? Can we get a nightlight in the bathroom? Why does it take 9 days into a 12 day cruise to get the jist of it? Just stop it and make it easier for us. 3. In the lounge area (is that what they call it), the drapes to the deck block out about a third of the window space. The key to the Owners Suite is the view outside....why block it with shades that won't open all the way? We ended up using bungee cords we brought along (for luggage) to keep them open. It was funny that the staff took them off once....but when I put them back on, they stopped. They looked like crap, but it was better than blocking a third of the outdoor view. 4. We had heard there was a hot tub on the starboard side of the deck. Nope! 5. When the ship is coming into or out of port the stern thrusters practically knocked the fillings out of my teeth. If California ever wants to set up an "earthquake research center" I suggest the Owners Suite. 6. It appears you get free beer in the suite, but it's next to impossible to get the beer you want. I asked for a specific beer they had on the ship, but could never get it in the tiny fridge. We had the best butler on the ship, but this beer was just unobtainable (Newcastle Brown Ale). Don't get me wrong, our butler was awesome! He did great things for us, but snagging a few bottles of a specific beer was just a mountain too high to climb. 7. The toilet in the Master Bathroom is too close to the wall to use appropriately. I'm not even that tall, but I can't imagine if I were. Fortunately the guest bathroom toilet is much better situated, so we pretty much used that one exclusively. 8. If the ship has an announcement to make, it never comes into the Owners Suite. You don't need to know. 9. The deck is laid out as if you are expecting a huge crowd to suddenly appear in your room. I think there were 10 chairs, 4 tables and 2 chaise lounges. The chaise lounges were designed to trip you and send you to the ships doctor, which we avoided thankfully. We moved the lounges aside twice to remove the tripping obstacle, and it took both times for the rearrangement to stick. Not sure why they put them where they did in the first place....just as stupid as the chairs in the bar area. I know, first world problems personified.....but *****, if you are spending this kind of money, why can't they design something that makes a lot more sense, and works well for the passengers. We visited an Oceania Suite our friends were staying in, and frankly, thought it was much better. We won't be doing an Owners Suite again. Rant mode off...thanks for reading if you made it this far!

I thought I posted a response to this but I don't see it. We are on a 12 day cruise with a group of 10 and hosting nightly parties in our suite, so 21 bottles won't make it that long. Looking to pick up another 6 bottles tomorrow in Edinburgh.

Boarded with a case and picked up 9 at the wine store. I was very obvious with the wine, no questions asked. There really is no limit.

Is it expected to tip the extra amount in cash? We have an Owners Suite and we are traveling with 4 other couples, and we plan to make our suite party central, so our butler will be quite busy! I figure I better reward him appropriately.

This set amount of $23/person/day then get divided up among all the crew? Does anybody tip on top of that, say to your butler?

I highly suggest you visit Nicora, Torrin and Denner. Denner in particular has a beautiful tasting area.

Do you remember which Sauternes it was? Trying to determine if I should bring one or not.

I'm boarding the Riviera this Sunday with 12 bottles of wine, and plan to go to Majestic Wine (10 minutes from the dock in Southampton) after checking in and picking up another 12 bottles of wine. I'll let you know what happens.

AMHuntFerry, thanks for pulling out the huge catalog! So I was embarrassingly interpreting my invoice completely incorrectly. My TA emailed today and corrected me, much like you did with your breakdown. Simply More would indeed by "simply more $$" to the tune of $700/person. That'll teach me to keep my big mouth (or in this case fingers) shut until I know more. I will not be opting for the Simply More, and will just bring my own wine onboard.

I can't edit my post so I am quoting my own post....hate that. Regardless, I made a mistake in my comparison of the rates (looking at rates with Air versus without). Still, the Simply More rate on this cruise appears to be $500 less per person than what I have already paid. One interesting note is my original invoice shows an Air Credit of $500/person. The new rates for the same cruise show the Air Credit is now $700/person. Also interesting that I received an Oceania brochure in the mail today with the Simply More details and rates. They have their mailer timing down to a science.

Not sure if this is a mistake on the part of Oceania, but my PH2 booking on the Montreal-Boston cruise departing October 8th is actually now $1000 less per person under Simply More. I'll take it if my TA can pull this off next week!

"Intelligently More" didn't pass muster. Neither did "Slightly Less Confusing OLife". Sorry.

Agreed. For example, I've told everybody I possibly can to avoid Europcar because of a terrible experience with their Dublin, Ireland airport location. They were literally advising every car that came in that the car was damaged so they could extort them.

Curious how this would work on board. We currently have a cruise booked out of Montreal departing on Oct 8th. We opted out of OLife. Now, if they are going to make it so drinks are included on our cruise, how will they distinguish those of us with an old reservation to those with a new one that includes alcohol at lunch and dinner? We are going to have to show our ships ID card at every meal, and the wait staff is going to have to remember this for each table throughout the meal?

I never understood "OLife". You pay $600 to get a credit of $600, or get $600 off. Is this some sort of Jedi mind trick to test your intelligence?