On the Riviera half way through Miami/Miami

Cruise began with Check In at the Miami Cruise terminal. Arrived at 12:45 P.M. Long line of folks checking in, but within 1/2 hour we were on the Ship. Oceania runs a seamless operation here. We were first time Cruisers to Oceania, so it took us some time to get acquainted with Her. Got into our room about 2:30 P.M.

What a Beautufl ship and clean as a whistle. Enjoyed looking at all of the Fabulous Art Work and Ceramics. Ports of call have all arrived a bit early and the weather has cooperated with perfect weather. Service on this ship is wonderful. I can’t say enough how well the Staff treats everyone. Food has been very good in every Venue we have tried (except for one which I will discuss in length here in a moment). I have read on some previous threads that their Entertainment isn’t always the best, we have found just the opposite. WE have absolutely enjoyed every performance. The Oceania Singers and dancers have put on some shows that certainly compare to Broadway shows. Sometimes wonder how some of these young Folks never make it to the Big Time.

So far the only major Bump in the road has been my trip to the Terrace Resturant the second night on the ship. About 3 hours later I begin to feel like I had some serious indigestion problems. I awoke with the sweats and immediately became very ill, after the first trip to the Bathroom, I thought I was coming down with the Flu, but after the second, third and 4th trips, I realized it was FOOD POISONING. Yes I know some of you are going to say Iv’e been on many many Cruises and never had this problem. Well so have we, have been on 36 different Cruises with no such issue, and yes I am certain it was Food Poisoning. If you have had it before (which I have) you know the symptoms quite quickly and I also know how to treat it. I drank a great amount of Water to keep me from Dehydration and in the morning my wife got some Gatorade from the Gym for me. Drank two full bottles of it to help replace my Electrolytes. By Noontime I was feeling much better and by Supper time I was completely back to normal. I might add I am fit and Trim for my 83 years old Body. I work out in the Gym 5 days a week and play Golf a couple of days as well in the summer we leave the Arizona Heat and retreat to the Mountains around Park City Utah and Hike and Backpack almost every day, being in good Health definitely shortens the recovery process.

Yes I did report it to the Food Mgr and we did discuss in detail, not much he could do, except apologize and explain how they maintain the Food quality controls

I do believe it resulted from a Tainted piece of Lobster. before everyone thinks the worst will happen aboard the Riviera let me assure you Food Poisoning can hit you anytime and anywhere in the very best of Facilites. I do believe this to be a very isolated situation. We are enjoying our Cruise very much and have even booked another Riviera Cruise in March 2018, but I admit I have avoided Dinner in the Terrace cafe

Thanks for listening to our Cruise experience

What a positive attitude, and I am in awe of your fitness and I think you are correct, starting off healthy does help enormously shake off these things. Hope you continue to enjoy your cruise.

I too admire your positive attitude.

Your unfortunate "lobster" episode would ruin most peoples' cruise but to your credit you just moved on.

Enjoy!

PS I had a bad case of food poisoning in Shangri La in Shanghai - so yes, it can occasionally happen even in very good restaurants. I have eaten at other Shangri La's since and I will continue to enjoy lobster at the Terrace :D

If you are enjoying the art works maybe ask about the audio tour

They give you a device that you listen to as you walk around enjoying the artwork

One of my favourite pieces is just as you come in from the Sanctuary

Sorry you were struck down with something & are feeling better

Enjoy the cruise

We did the Dec 2 cruise, took us 31/2 hrs to board. I have the shell fish allergy and did notify Oceania. After we ate in Red Ginger I was getting symp

Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope you are feeling better already and are enjoying the rest of the cruise. We are probably going to be arriving at the port around 2 pm later this week. What dining option is open for lunch at that time on the Riviera?

Appreciate the kind words from all of you. RE: Dining, the Grand Dining room has been open every day of the cruise for Breafast, Lunch and of course Diner

Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope you are feeling better already and are enjoying the rest of the cruise. We are probably going to be arriving at the port around 2 pm later this week. What dining option is open for lunch at that time on the Riviera?

Embarkation day- lunch is only available in the Terrace and Waves, Grand Dinning room is not open.

Thanks arima for her giving her the correct info on arriving divining options. I misread her question, guess it comes with old age. i have read on previous threads where some CC posters related that the Grand Dining. Room had been closed over lunch hour when the Ship was in Port. Not so on this trip

Jim, thanks so much for the message you left under our door, appreciate your concerns, feeling 100%. Let me know your Cabin # and your last name so I can contact you personally

Found out today, i wasn’t the only one with food poisoning aboard this cruise

I wonder if it was NORO ??

People on RCCL the same week had it

tis the season

I am on this cruise as well and have sampled lobster in one form or another in all 7 dining venues: no rubberiness, and no illness, but uniformly tender and delicious. I have not seen or heard any complaints of sickness or NORO fears. Passengers however are 10-15 years older on average than my 1/3/17 cruise on the same ship, and they were bit above 60 even then; age can compromise the immune systems of even the healthy.

We’ve had a great cruise and tours, but there was a tragedy yesterday on the road in Costa Maya with 12 passengers from Serenade of the Sea or a Celebrity ship being killed due to a bus overturning inexplicably; I assume there will be a thread or two on this.

Just to be clear I’m not suggesting that the OP didn’t suffer food poisoning, and I’m glad he’s recovered; it’s always nasty.

I am on this cruise as well and have sampled lobster in one form or another in all 7 dining venues: no rubberiness, and no illness, but uniformly tender and delicious. I have not seen or heard any complaints of sickness or NORO fears. Passengers however are 10-15 years older on average than my 1/3/17 cruise on the same ship, and they were bit above 60 even then; age can compromise the immune systems of even the healthy.

We’ve had a great cruise and tours, but there was a tragedy yesterday on the road in Costa Maya with 12 passengers from Serenade of the Sea or a Celebrity ship being killed due to a bus overturning inexplicably; I assume there will be a thread or two on this.

Tragic. 12 killed on a bus carrying guests from both Celebrity Equinox and RCCL Serenade of the Seas. There were 27 guests in total on the bus and they were set to tour to the Chacchoben Ruins.

The excursion seems to have been booked independently of the Cruise Lines.

The bus crash occurred about 45 minutes after we passed on the same road on a 7.5 hour tour with Native Choice; they do both independent tours and tours as agents for Oceania, but I don’t think they do RC/X.

On our return 5 plus hours later the bus was in a ditch on the side of the road and we were told it had rolled over but no one had particulars on the cause; there were more than 50 police in the area and we were told the road had been shut down for several hours after the accident.

It was sunny all day and the road was quite good and remarkably straight. There were no apparent skid marks on the road.

We also have had a fatality on our ship: a very obese passenger collapsed on board and died before any action could be taken. I’ve been reminded by my wife that this has happened on 2 previous cruises we were on, so I guess it’s really not uncommon.

Despite the above this has been an excellent cruise; the crew, including officers have been genuinely friendly and have provided excellent service. The breads and pastries have been fabulous - much better than our last cruise. With some informed choices the specialty restaurants have reached our high expectations. Only the new classical quartet and the piano player have been a disappointment.

Sandbag, as to the string quartet I have ALWAYS been disappointed in what we heard. No doubt a large part of the reason is because my father was a professional violist who played with several A-list string quartets and I grew up hearing performers of that level at home.

When I hear people expressing their gratitude on board for the wonderful string quartets, I am non-plussed. Of course, we may well have been on different cruises listening to different string quartets!

Yes, I'm supercritical where this is concerned. I freely admit it!

I'm not suggesting that the quartet should be eliminated! It would be a rare cruise where the Emerson or Fine Arts Quartets (just to name two top-notchers) would be on board ... But that would be beyond wonderful if so!

Mura

Despite the above this has been an excellent cruise; the crew, including officers have been genuinely friendly and have provided excellent service. The breads and pastries have been fabulous - much better than our last cruise. With some informed choices the specialty restaurants have reached our high expectations. Only the new classical quartet and the piano player have been a disappointment.

We got off on the 12th & some of the cookies & scones at tea were subpar

DH spoke to the Executive chef & the next day the cookies did improved the following day they were much better ...scones did not improve much

Who is the Piano player & the Quartet??

We got off on the 12th & some of the cookies & scones at tea were subpar

DH spoke to the Executive chef & the next day the cookies did improved the following day they were much better ...scones did not improve much

 

Who is the Piano player & the Quartet??

Pawel Pluzek and Primavera String Quartet.

I didn’t try the cookies or scones; overall the desserts on Riviera have not impressed me and we didn’t do tea time at all. Had a chocolate croissant today and it was very right.

Sandbag, as to the string quartet I have ALWAYS been disappointed in what we heard. No doubt a large part of the reason is because my father was a professional violist who played with several A-list string quartets and I grew up hearing performers of that level at home.

 

When I hear people expressing their gratitude on board for the wonderful string quartets, I am non-plussed. Of course, we may well have been on different cruises listening to different string quartets!

 

Yes, I'm supercritical where this is concerned. I freely admit it!

 

I'm not suggesting that the quartet should be eliminated! It would be a rare cruise where the Emerson or Fine Arts Quartets (just to name two top-notchers) would be on board ... But that would be beyond wonderful if so!

 

Mura

Agreed; I’d seriously consider a cruise with the Emerson’s playing the Shostakovich Quartets, but I won’t hold my breath for that. We have an abundance of professional orchestras and musicians in our area; I don’t expect much on a cruise, no Smetana, Ravel or Dvorak, but a little music played correctly on properly tuned instruments would satisfy: we didn’t get that.

Pawel Pluzek and Primavera String Quartet.

I didn’t try the cookies or scones; overall the desserts on Riviera have not impressed me and we didn’t do tea time at all. Had a chocolate croissant today and it was very right.

We had a different quartet ..they were fine

we did not get to listen to Pawel

We had a different quartet ..they were fine

 

Sorry my mistake :eek:

We did have the Primavera Quartet

Cannot believe they got that bad in a few days

DH is a Classically trained musician (not a violinist like Mura & her family) & thought they did just fine

Oh well I guess differences make the world go round

So sad about the people who died as a result of bus crash in Mexico. It's chilling to us to think that we were on an O tour on that exact route in Jan.

Sorry my mistake :eek:

 

We did have the Primavera Quartet

Cannot believe they got that bad in a few days

 

DH is a Classically trained musician (not a violinist like Mura & her family) & thought they did just fine

 

Oh well I guess differences make the world go round

Don’t want to double down on what I said but they could not even play Satie with any conviction; the quartet we heard in January mixed their classical with popular but were otherwise competent. Glad I brought some music with me.