PinonNoir

I've sailed on Insignia, Regatta and Riviera. If my next cruise on Insignia in October is anything like this last cruise, I'll be shopping for another line. Particularly if they skip a port! Speaking of skipping a port, we are in Husavik, Iceland today, and we visited the Husavik Whale Museum. They are showing a documentary in the museum about the Faroe Islands and the slaughter of pilot whales in 2021. I found it particularly interesting based on our recent experience of skipping the islands. It's called "Bloody Tradition, Agree to Disagree", made just last year, and well worth watching.

Our first Oceania cruise was on Insignia in 2007, and it was the reason we fell in love with Oceania. Just because it's an older, smaller ship doesn't mean the food or onboard experiences should suffer. It was excellent back then, I "expect" it to be excellent again during our cruise in October. I will of course be posting an extensive review afterwards. We are in a PH2 on that cruise.

Just to be clear, I don't think the stemware must be "crystal'. It's about the shape and size of the glass more than anything else, as well as the thickness (or lack thereof) of the lip and the stem, as well as the overall weight of the glass. I know I sound like a pretentious ahole to some, and I'm fine with that, but around other wine enthusiasts this all makes perfect sense, and crappy stemware can make for a less than stellar wine experience. Look at it this way, would you rather drive through the Italian Alps in a Pinto, or a Porsche?

I asked for spicy, it still came out mild. I don't think their spice-o-meter goes above 5.

Riedel makes great stemware, no doubt. I have a bunch of their Burgundy glasses, but I rarely use them. Ive broken about a dozen, mostly while cleaning them...the stem is so fragile it can easily snap off. When I discovered Zwiesel it became my favorite glass. We have washed them hundreds of times in the dishwasher with no issues. These would be excellent glasses for any restaurant. Even a Riedel purist would be happy with the glass.

I did look for a "block" feature for the Icelandic Trolls, but for the life of me I can't find it. Edit: Never mind, found it, I just had to log in with my laptop. The feature doesn't exist using my android phone.

Hank, thank you for adding your post. This is very alarming! Why is Oceania going down this path? For me, the ports are THE most important thing in cruise selection, so if this is becoming the norm I will need to find another cruise provider. Our upcoming cruise, Montreal to Boston, in October, will be quite telling. If they skip anything for a questionable reason, this will be our last with them. I graduated from California Maritime Academy and worked in the maritime arena for my entire career, so my knowledge of what is questionable might be a little more attuned than others...as I've actually been on quite a few bridges and in quite a few navigational discussions. I'm really hoping my next Oceania review won't be my last.

Subjective comments regarding food and wine are important to me. I'm a wine collector and enthusiast, so if I can combine my hobby with my cruise, all the better. I read a lot of reviews regarding the wine rules before boarding as I intended to bring a lot of my own wine, if possible, ao subjective reviews were and remain of interest to me. I'm not a big spirits drinker, but for serious wine drinkers a glass can make all the difference. Once you've learned this, you can't unlearn it, so stemware becomes important. If somebody is not interested in my subjective comments, fine, but making it out to be unimportant in a forum filled with all types of people isn't adding anything to the conversation.

If it's not important to you that's fine, but I don't understand the desire to mock somebody regarding what's important to them? I'm sure you have something important to you that I wouldn't even notice, but I'm not here to denigrate you because of it. I'm here to offer information to others that they may find useful. Isn't that the purpose of doing a review?

Well, they did deny me initially, but their reason just said "Oceania is not a common carrier". We shall see during my appeal filing. The answer is always no if you don't ask....a motto I live by!

It is Asian Fusion, but I think it tries to lean Thai more than anything else. Just my perspective.

We have United Explorer Mileage Plus. I don't think it mentions cruises specifically, but it does mention coverage for common carriers missing a connection (more for flights, but Oceania is a "common carrier" in legal terms).

Gotcha. If your wife is Thai I fear for your reaction to Red Ginger. I really hope you find it enjoyable, or at least acceptable! Getting Thai right is an art form.

I've gotta believe the food issues are going to be hit and miss depending on the ship and the crew. We still had some decent meals, particularly in Toscana and one pretty decent meal in Polo, as well as two excellent meals in Privee. Red Ginger was just ok. I wanted to like it more, but we do a lot of Thai food and it just didn't live up to what we were hoping for. Missing ports will be my biggest concern with Oceania going forward. We are on a fall cruise from Montreal to Boston on Insignia, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! You should be ok in Lisbon, as it's a very protected port. No matter the weather conditions, you should be good! I just can't imagine not docking there!

That private operator doesn't exist in the Faroe Islands, at least I couldn't find one. This is a unique stop with few private tour companies.

I write a blog for my friends and family, and have been doing so since I retired 5 years ago. If it wasn't for that I agree...who gives a crap about the internet. However, I had two unexpected sea days that I could spend to get caught up...but with the wifi from hell I was just wasting my time. Just because you don't care about the internet doesn't mean it shouldn't be important to others. You bring decent wine onboard and don't care about stemware? Wow! You need to get more educated on how important stemware is. We bring our own to several restaurants where we live. It matters! You completely missed the point on the iced tea story. So it's ok that service is good on Day 1 to 10, but sucks on Day 11? Really? Wow again! I appreciate your input, but I disagree with most of it. I expect more for my money. A lot more.

I've gotta be honest, I have yet to see a pair of jeans that weren't "casual". That's what jeans are, and why we love them so much! Again, just state "clean and untorn jeans" to make it clearer. I for one would appreciate it. Chris

My credit card includes Trip Insurance, and that's the claim I made. I received a rejection claiming that Oceania is not a "common carrier", which is incorrect. Don't worry, I'm a persistent ahole about these things. If a refund is possible I'll find a way!

Missing a port was a first for me. I've been on 5 cruises before this one and hit every port. Hell, I was in the Navy and we never missed a port! We missed two on this cruise. Two days in Faroe Island, and one day in Eskifjordur, Iceland. The second one the Captain said it was too rough to use the tenders I call bull pucky on that one as well, the seas were calm outside the fjord, I can't see how it's worse inside. This Captain is so risk averse I'll bet he wears two condoms. I should find out his name so I can ensure he is not on any future cruises I might select. BTW, our Butler told us they missed 3 ports on the prior cruise. I guess I should be thankful it was only 2?

I filed a claim with my credit card, and their initial response was "no". I plan on filing an appeal, just haven't had time to do so yet. Thanks though!

I can't answer about the band. We went to a comedy show one night and that was it. When you dine with a group of 10 dinners tend to go quite late.

Update: I forgot to mention disembarkation issues. The last day on the ship they have you head to the gangway in a color coded system, supposedly to make it more orderly. We were one of the last groups called, and I expected since we were called that the gangway wouldn't have much of a line. Wrong! Holy crap, what a cluster-truck! The line stretched back to the lounge! We were in no hurry as we figured we couldn't check into our hotel right away, so we took a seat and waited the line out. Twenty minutes later the line was down to two dozen people, so we joined in. When our number was called we were relaxing in Terrace Cafe, and could have spent at least 15 more minutes there without issue. Who is making the call on when they call the next batch for disembarkation? They do this at the end of EVERY CRUISE, so you think they'd have it figured out by now. We are fairly fit so standing for 20 minutes wouldn't have been a huge issue, but there were people with walkers and canes in that line the entire time. Last note, twice while disembarking they stopped the line to get somebody in a wheelchair off...and this is a VERY slow process. I think it took 10 minutes both times, with people clustered up behind them waiting to get off. Simple rule, people in wheelchairs get off last. That may sound harsh, perhaps even ageist, but you are inconveniencing dozens of people for one person. If there is a line at disembarkation, wheelchairs should wait it out. Ok, putting on my flame retardant suit!

Wait, English Muffins are an American invention? I'm happy to say I had them most mornings for breakfast, so they remain available. I can't comment on corned beef hash...not my thing. Hell, just the name is off-putting!

Actually my comment was more of curiosity regarding dress code enforcement. I would prefer to wear jeans myself, but opted to remain respectful to the code. I'd be happy if they changed the rule to allow clean un-torn jeans. We are spending three extra weeks in Iceland and I'd have preferred to not have to pack dress pants that I won't use the rest of the trip.

I will say the best food on the ship was a Toscana special pasta that should be on the regular menu, and the key lime pie from Polo. Our butler was able to get us key lime pie on several occasions to match with a sauternes we had brought with us. Really exceptional pie!