sunlover12

I was on Nautica at the end of August, The CD was Leslie Jon. He is fantastic. He's a natural at the job. Just the right amount of talking. I've been on 7 Oceania cruises, all with different CDs. Leslie Jon was the best. I don't know if he is still on Nautica. Enjoy the cruise.

The OP also mentioned Royal. They offer complimentary WiFi for suite guests. No restrictions on number of devices.

@DrKoob Thanks for your review. I haven't been on Vista but I hope to someday. Just to clarify a couple of things. You mentioned Viking doesn't do an upsell in the spa. Oceania doesn't either. They don't try to sell me anything after the service. No ship photographers on Oceania either.

Your 2017 cruise isn’t recent but I am curious about what you said about entertainment being non-existent. There is a show in the lounge every night, among other venues as well. Regarding elevator music being played everywhere….I wouldn’t classify Eagles and Led Zepplin as “elevator music”.

I'll chime in. I understand the disappointment and frustration of the OP however as many have already pointed out, the cruise line can legally change the itinerary. What is happening in that region is a tragic situation and major changes must be made to the itineraries involved, through no fault of Oceania and other cruise lines. As cruisers, we are aware that ports and itineraries can change with little notice. I accept that. If there are certain places that a person has their heart set on visiting, consider booking a land tour. Regarding Oceania issuing FCCs, I understand why they are reluctant to do so. If there are too many passengers on that cruise who don't like the new itinerary for whatever reason, where does that leave Oceania? What was once a possibly fully booked cruise may then be half booked 3 weeks before the cruise is set to embark. I do not think an FCC is justified.

I agree with you about the eggs benedict. I've tried it a few times in Terrace Cafe and wasn't impressed so now I just get a croissant and fruit. The croissants are very good. They don't do scrambled eggs well either. The berries can be hit or miss. Seems to depend on how close to the end of the cruise you are. I'll drink one cup of coffee a day so on my next cruise I will make it a point to go to Baristas rather than getting the mediocre coffee in Terrace. I didn't go there at all on my last cruise. Thanks.

We have found the Oceania brand to be a good fit. We like the semi-inclusive format. I know there are some amenities that I'm not going to get my money's worth on and that's okay. We don't drink the sodas in the refrigerator. The only thing in the cabin that we'll drink is the Vero water and the bottle of wine that's included with Oceania Club. I've been on 7 Oceania cruises and I could count on one hand the number of times I've been to afternoon tea. I'll go to Baristas once in awhile, certainly not every day. We go to many of the nightly shows but not all. All of the above are included in the fare but I know I'm not taking advantage of it all. It's okay. I understand that some people don't like Simply More pricing including beer and wine with meals and a credit for excursions. It appears to be becoming more common and it could be harder and harder to find a smaller, upscale cruise line that doesn't include these things now. I think Oceania's pricing is fair and the product is good. YMMV

@roberts2005 Sorry you had to go through all that. It sounds like more of an issue with the connectivity on the ship rather than the device you were using. I've done the survey on my iPhone on Nautica (last month) and on Sirena (2022) without a problem. For the concierge or whoever told you that you can't log in using Apple products is just wrong.

It is unfortunate that you were given wrong information. I completed the survey on my iPhone and didn’t have any trouble with it.

I can also say that I've never been on a ship excursion with 40 people on the bus. Most of them have been in the 25-30 range. It depends on the location too. On a South Pacific cruise you won't be in a large bus because they don't have them. You'll be in a van, pick-up truck or boat. Europe and other locations are different but still....it's not going to be 40 people. Not in my experience anyway.

@techteach Sorry to hear this. Regarding Waves Grill, there is much more on the menu than hot dogs and hamburgers. There is surf (lobster) and turf (steak), panini sandwiches, salads, ice cream, shakes, among other selections. When you are eating at Waves Grill, order your drinks from the server and then you won't have to stand in a line. Room service is available 24 hours. I agree service in the GDR is unpredictable. Sometimes good, sometimes not. Talk to the GM onboard if things don't improve.

On the R class ships, the Captain's Party is in the lounge. It's only on the larger ships where it's in Horizons. It wouldn't be feasible to have your group in the lounge because the bar won't be open. It will close after the Captain's party and won't reopen until the 9:30 show.

The Captain's Party on Sirena will be in the lounge on Deck 5. Horizons is a good place to meet. People would just have to move up a few decks if they want to attend both.

On a 7-day cruise you will not get a mid-cruise comment card. Look for instructions in Currents on how to access the online end-of-cruise survey.

Being in a PH, you won't have trouble getting a table for 2 on any night you choose. You don't even need to do this at 5 or 6 in the morning. Get a good night's sleep. We book PH and there have always been many choices of times and dates, non-sharing and sharing. Whatever we want. We book it within 48 hours of when it opens up. This has been our experience on all of our Oceania cruises.

That's been my experience as well. They'll mention the top 2 or 3 by name and only mention the number of cruisers reaching each level. All pins will be in the cabins.

I haven't seen anyone wearing baseball caps in the restaurants on any of my cruises but if I did, I would probably cringe. (with the exception of the need for it following chemo treatment). Oceania's dress code is country club casual. It is well-documented that Arnold Palmer had a policy on the wearing of caps indoors in his clubs and restaurants. It is strictly prohibited. I was recently in the pro shop of a golf club where a gentleman wearing a cap walked in and was immediately requested to remove it. Now if only Oceania would enforce the no casual jeans rule. I've seen it too many times unfortunately.

I recommend Terrace Cafe for dinner especially after a day in port. It's more casual. There is the grill with made to order steaks and seafood. I especially recommend it for the Chef's Market Grill where they prepare dishes from the region where you are sailing. On my last couple of cruises I had Spanish Paella and Tuscan Fish Stew as an example of that. They will usually do that for 2 consecutive nights so make sure you set aside a night for that. The service has been good in my experience. As long as the wine or spirit is available at the Terrace bar you won't have to wait long. On rare occasion it's not, the waiter may have to go to another bar to get it. We've eaten at Terrace for dinner on numerous occasions and never had trouble getting a table even with arriving after 6:30. The most crowded time at Terrace is breakfast.

Interesting comments about the beef. I don't eat a lot of red meat and I rarely buy it at home. When I'm on a cruise, I splurge at one dinner and order a steak. On my most recent cruise I ordered a 7 oz filet mignon at Polo Grill and thought it was very good. It was tender and flavorful. 4 out of 5 at our table ordered it and we all liked it. Polo Grill has been my least favorite specialty restaurant in the past but on this cruise, I thought they really stepped it up. We did however notice that their 7 layer Belgian Chocolate Cake was only 5 layers. Still good though. My husband ordered the beef bourguignon one night at dinner in the GDR and liked it. I'm not a cheerleader. I just call it like I see it. I agree with LHT28 when she says that negative comments are also "influencers".

It's a personal choice. For me, the specialty restaurants are worth the extra money. The food and service are so much better. I was on Wonder for the first time earlier this year and was very displeased with the main dining room. Thanks for your review.

Something similar happened with our recent Mediterranean cruise. We booked an Oceania excursion that was originally scheduled for 10:00 - 3:00 but then was changed to 1-6pm without explanation. The ship was scheduled to depart at 6pm. When I called Oceania about it, they couldn't offer any information or explanation. It wasn't until after we boarded that we found out the new departure time was 6:30. My guess is that your new departure time is going to be around 8:45. This was the first time this had happened to us as well.

Dress code has been discussed here ad nauseam but I have to say that it's not being enforced. On my Nautica cruise last month I saw a man in the GDR wearing casual everyday jeans at dinner. Definitely not nice designer jeans. Another night I saw a woman in the GDR wearing extremely short shorts and some sort of tight-fitting tank top that I couldn't quite figure out what it was. I could not believe they let her in. I guess it was because of her fashionable shoes. It seems like just about anything goes as to what is accepted for dinner.

I'm not sure what's going on with the wines by the glass offerings but the white wines on my August cruise were awful. I'm not a wine expert by any means but I tried a couple of them and couldn't drink it. I prefer white over red. After 3 strikes on the white wine list, I switched to a red and found it to be drinkable. The wine list may have changed somewhat from 2022, I can't recall. If this list is what is going to be offered when they switch to SM, I won't be drinking much. As FF said, the offerings are "mediocre".

I’m not a big gambler but the casino experience is going to be dependent on the cruise. I’ve been on some Oceania cruises where the casino is not busy at all. The dealers were waiting for someone to sit down. On my recent Nautica cruise it was the opposite. Very busy. People were waiting for someone to leave the blackjack tables so they could have a seat. I don’t play the table games but will occasionally play the slot machines. IME, you’ll have better odds in Las Vegas than you will on a cruise ship.

It was the already prepared scrambled eggs. Like I said, that the was only food I had on the whole cruise that didn't live up to quality.