sunlover12

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.

I thought the food on Nautica a week ago was very good. No complaints. Thinking back, the only thing I didn't like at any of the restaurants was the scrambled eggs at Terrace which I tried once. I usually just have a croissant and fruit for breakfast so can't comment on the temperature of the food. There was a Chef's Market Grill for 2 nights in Terrace while we were sailing off of Italy. It was fabulous. Hot foods were hot. The executive chef was Mario Santoro, one of the best in my opinion. I saw him several times roaming the ship, including at Terrace. You know you're in good hands when he is onboard.

No masks were provided on Nautica in August. I didn’t see anyone on the ship wearing one. Didn’t hear or see a lot of coughing either. We’ve been home several days now and have not been sick.

Reading the above comments - In defense of the online survey, I've completed it on every cruise and haven't had any problems. The login ID is your Oceania Club number which is on your card. Then you enter your birthdate and you're in. I do it on my iPhone. Never had a problem connecting to the survey on my iPhone. My technical skills are average at best and I have found it to be easy. I completed the survey in 15 minutes. Never had the need to go to the internet guy onboard for help. I agree that we should be allowed to complete it after we disembark however the online survey eliminates the need for huge piles of paper that will take a great deal of time to process.

Generally speaking, there is no live music from 7:00 - 9:30. I can't speak about Insignia but I was just on Nautica. The majority of passengers are eating dinner at this time so it wouldn't be worthwhile for the pianist to be playing in Martinis or for any other live music being played.

Just to clarify, on the R ships the Captain's reception will be held in the lounge. I believe on the O ships the reception is in Horizons.

Not that I am aware of. I was on Nautica last week and didn’t see any Red Ginger dishes on the menu. I wish they would.

I was just on Nautica. This was my 7th O cruise so I guess that makes me a “regular”. Food is highly subjective. I found the food quality and preparation to be very good as always. No complaints. It was a 7-day cruise. Barcelona to Valletta. The most apparent difference of this cruise compared to our other O cruises, which were longer, was passenger demographics. There were many first time Oceania cruisers and they were much younger on average than any of the other O cruises I’ve been on. I am in my late 60’s and I can get around without difficulty. I felt like one of the old ones onboard. At the Oceania Club reception, they said that 290 of the 643 onboard were repeat customers. A vast difference from our other O cruises. If Oceania is trying to attract a younger clientele, looking at the makeup of this particular cruise, they are succeeding. It was a good cruise and we met some wonderful people. I’m glad we were on it.

I haven’t found RCCL more expensive. We’re paying quite a bit less for a Skyloft Suite on Harmony of the Seas than for a PH on Oceania although it’s dependent on the particular cruise. RC’s suite is larger. Not all deposits on RCCL are non-refundable. I believe you can choose between that and refundable. I like cruising on both lines for different reasons.

@QuestionEverything I wanted to comment on what you said about Simply More. I understand your position about not drinking much and that you DIY shore excursions. I haven't been on other premium cruise lines that are Oceania's direct competitors but I did look at their websites. The lines I looked at include wine and beer with meals and some offer included excursions. Oceania is doing this to stay competitive. They know they will lose some loyal customers but they will gain more. (just my opinion). The mass market cruise lines still offer cruise only, no drinks or excursions. I will be on Nautica soon for the first time. Looking forward to the awesome bread that you mentioned. Thanks for your post.

I'm on Nautica next week where O changed several of the shore excursions times, without notification to passengers. I just happened to notice it when I logged into my account. The excursion we booked was supposed to be 10-3. It's been changed to 1-6, along with several others. The ship is scheduled to depart the port at 6:00. So much for all aboard 30 minutes before departure. When I called Oceania they are clueless as to any of it. Will be interesting to see what happens.

I'm not surprised to hear this. We just booked a 2024 river cruise in Europe with a well known company. They require a 10% non-refundable, non-transferrable deposit. It's the new order in the cruise travel business.