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Oceania Insignia


st5310
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We are considering Insignia for a 10-day New England-Bermuda cruise in August 2018 out of NY. We are veteran cruisers, but our resume includes mostly Royal, Celebrity, and NCL. Summit and Grandeur are the smallest ships we've sailed on. We are older (70ish) and prefer fewer kids and better food, two things for which Oceania is particularly well suited, so I've been told. We don't like to fly, so any NY departure is attractive. I'm reaching out to Oceania devotees for help in making this decision.

 

I have a deposit on a Summit cruise (July 2018), but am willing to retract it in favor of Insignia if there is value in it. Not sure what I'm looking for here... maybe just some feedback on the line in general, and the ship, specifically. We would likely book a Penthouse suite (PH3).

 

Historically, we have enjoyed the larger ships with the shopping, the concierge lounges, casinos, and yes, even bingo! That we would not have some of that is a given, but how much of a culture shock would it be? Thank you! Neil

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The ships are small & cozy feel

not many children onboard usually

casino is small & not glitzy

cabins are cozy but the beds are wonderful

shops are small & limited selection

they do have bingo if that is important to you

no formal nights

no lines or if there is it moves quickly

 

I would give them a try & decide for yourself

JMO

 

The Preismans have a blog with photos of the Regatta a sister ship

http://www.thepreismans.com/bermuda_regatta_menus.htm

Edited by LHT28
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We cruise to Bermuda every year. Earlier this year we took a cruise on Insignia, so I decided to check Insignia's prices versus those of other cruises to Bermuda from NY/NJ, on the Breakaway and Summit. I found that Insignia's per diem fares were considerably higher on a comparable cabin to comparable cabin basis, so much so that we decided not to book Insignia. Obviously there are other factors...the size of the ships, the atmosphere on board, the quality of the food, and the fact that Insignia docks at Hamilton or St. George rather than the Royal Naval Dockyard, but overall I didn't find the pluses for Insignia to fully compensate for the price differential. Of course the decision is a judgement call. It depends on what's more important to you.

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We have cruised on Summit each of the last three years. We choose Aqua class. We have cruised on Insignia twice and will be sailing on her again in August this year on a Bermuda/Canada cruise out of NY. We are in a PH3 as on previous cruises. We enjoy Celebrity but Oceania is our favorite cruise line.

Overall the food and ambience on Insignia is significantly better than Summit particularly comparing the Main Dining rooms and the Buffets. Specialty restaurants are normally very good on both lines however Celebrity charge an upfront fee (quite significant IMO), on Oceania no upfront extra fees.

We find 'life' is more relaxed on Oceania

Hope you enjoy your cruise whichever you choose.

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Thank you kindly for your replies, folks. These will be VERY helpful to our decision-making.

 

Of late, we have been booking Celebrity because of the attractive Go!Best promotion that, for the extra $$, includes ALL the extras (WIFI, beverage, tips, etc.). I notice Oceania does not, and only offers a choice of one. How has your experience been with that on the Insignia or other Oceania ships? Neil

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Thank you kindly for your replies, folks. These will be VERY helpful to our decision-making.

 

Of late, we have been booking Celebrity because of the attractive Go!Best promotion that, for the extra $$, includes ALL the extras (WIFI, beverage, tips, etc.). I notice Oceania does not, and only offers a choice of one. How has your experience been with that on the Insignia or other Oceania ships? Neil

 

You certainly don't want to take the shore excursion option on a Bermuda cruise because there's absolutely no need to take organized group excursions. You can get anywhere you might want to go by public bus or ferry, or at worst a taxi ride.

 

That leaves you with the choice of a beverage package or shipboard credit. The beverage package offered is the "House Select" version, which entitles you to unlimited wine, champagne and beer with lunch and dinner. It doesn't cover spirits or cocktails at the bars or even wine or beer outside of the dining venues. Oceania sells it for $39.95 per guest per day if you were to purchase it separately. If that doesn't sound attractive to you, I would suggest just taking the shipboard credit.

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... We don't like to fly, so any NY departure is attractive. I'm reaching out to Oceania devotees for help in making this decision.

 

... Thank you! Neil

 

You may already have gleaned this info from browsing the forum, but if you do not use O's "included air" in an O-Life fare, you will pay a reduced price. What the dollar reduction in price ('air credit') is can vary greatly, depending on locations of embarkation and debarkation as well as marketing decisions - your TA can tell you what the $ amount is for a given cruise. Folks have reported that the air credit can vary for the same cruise as time passes (typically would decline as time passes, but there always seem to be exceptions to rules...)

 

Happy cruising, and cruise planning!

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Hi ST,

 

If price is your major concern, I suggest you stick with The Summit.

 

If first class service, excellent cooking and premier comfort is what you are after, I suggest The Insignia.

 

Ira

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its not a fair comparison.... Summit is a huge ship with tons of activity and....3 times the passengers and everything is cost+ on board so in the end you will pay about the same as O.

 

It will be some what of a culture shock... like Coney Island compared to the Hamptons You are the entertainment for the cruise, Dining and conversing with others not racing to shows the casino the disco.... It low subtle and well mannered compared to Summit and with 600 thats just wonderful.

The lack of kids and the low key ambiance . Its a totaly different world for those who are tires of the hub-bub and hype ot the mass market boys

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OK, I have cruised Summit. It was fun (I do like that on a cruise ship). I have cruised ships with more than 3,000 pax. OK. We cruised on Pacific Princess (same as Insignia) through the Canal. Great experience. We cruise a lot on Holland America because they go where we want to go when we want to go.

 

Oceania is more expensive than HAL on a per day basis. Several places on the forums, mention has been made of the food. What about it? Portions bigger or smaller? Innovation in preparation? Service better than anywhere on shore? Variety of options on longer itineraries or repeated itineraries?

 

Can you break it down? We are considering Insignia in August to New England and Bermuda. What can you say that might make this better than any other cruise? You are welcome to check my signature to see where and when we have cruised.

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This may or may not be a good thing for Oceania, but the differences between it and the mainstream lines, and I'll include Celebrity there, are not things which are quantifiable on a spreadsheet.

 

If you really want to know why Oceania's' food is better, it is because their grocery bill per passenger is gigantically higher than other Cruise Lines and quality going into the kitchen means quality coming out.

 

I'm also led to believe that those better ingredients inspire the chefs to try harder whenever corporate gives them some leeway.

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To me, it has been higher end provisioning on the ships. Better quality ingredients available in more venues.

 

For example, in Terrace ( the buffet), at breakfast, you will see fresh berries and very authentic croissants (due to the flour and butter used). Lamb chops are available in the MDR at breakfast. At dinner, you will find lobster and lamb chops at the grill in the buffet.

 

It carries over to the pool grill, with its surf and turf burgers. And, if you look through the menus in the specialties you will find a higher end ingredients used in the composition of many of the dishes.

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Asking about portion size may be irrelevant since if you want more food, you can just ask for it ... as on any ship ...but for me the portion sizes are very generous.

 

Heck, in Polo (or Tuscan Steak) you can get a 32 oz. hunk of prime rib (on the bone) ... or if you want to be more conservative, they have an 16 oz boneless version ...

 

I am more likely to leave food on the plate than I am to want more ...

 

Sorry that I can't compare to Holland America since we've never sailed with them ...

 

Yes, some people have complained on occasion ... the food was served cold, it was overcooked or undercooked, etc. But that can happen in any restaurant. We have rarely been unhappy with the food presented to us. My guests consider me a gourmet cook (I don't categorize myself that way) so my opinion is that I'm a fair judge of food quality ...

 

JimnKaren, are you overthinking this? As many have said before, the best way to decide if you will like Oceania is to take a cruise. Maybe start out with a 7 day as opposed to the round-the-world ...

 

Mura

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Thank you kindly for your replies, folks. These will be VERY helpful to our decision-making.

 

 

 

Of late, we have been booking Celebrity because of the attractive Go!Best promotion that, for the extra $$, includes ALL the extras (WIFI, beverage, tips, etc.). I notice Oceania does not, and only offers a choice of one. How has your experience been with that on the Insignia or other Oceania ships? Neil

 

 

You're trying to compare apples to oranges. There is a significant difference in just about every aspect of the cruise experience between O and Celebrity. Whether it's bedding or food or service, ask any of the many O repeats who started on Celebrity and now never look back.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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We have sailed with HAL and Oceania and many other lines. HAL's food is bland, often without herbs and spices. Their buffet is repetitive with very limited choices. If you are fine with that, by all means sail with them. They have interesting itineraries.

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  • 10 months later...

Thank you all... love reading all of your critiques regarding Insignia specifically and Oceania generally. Most of confirms what I have heard elsewhere about Oceania, namely the superb cuisine, the adult crowd, relaxed ambience, etc. We booked a Penthouse Suite (PH3) for the 8/4 sailing out of NY and are wondering if that category cabin features a coffee maker?

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have been on 2 o cruises, 1st was regatta 2016. just excellent in all ways stated already. went back last year, but on marina. i liked regatta better. main differences i observed were: jacques and red ginger on marina. bigger showroom and other lounges/bars etc. Regatta: was hard to get a seat for evening shows...showroom is too small for a 1 per nite show. r ships have a smaller buffet, and that means less wandering around, and less pax. also, dining staff in all venues were very accomodating. Polo grill: just excellent in every way. try the lobster mac n cheese. could eat just that for entire meal. \

 

Going back on O, but insignia on 01 jul, right after atw cruise ends. Hope everything is up to O quality, after such a long voyage. IMO, riv and marina are not worth the extra per diem cost compared to R ships.

 

Have been very loyal to Rccl and X, but decided to try O in 2016. very happy i did.

 

I will get to compare X with O, because am booked on summitt for canada/ne in sept. I don't like the extra charges on X, that are included on O. When you compare costs/value: you pay more on O, but you get more. not just consumables, but nicer environment for the over 50 crowd.

 

thanks for reading.

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  • 2 months later...

My DH and I are also considering the Insignia August 2019 cruise to Bermuda- we were just bumped off the Summit as we were told that ship has been chartered. We typically like a Sky Suite on the summit and wonder how we would do in either CC or Penthouse 3 on the Insignia. A few questions, is Alcohol, Wiifi and gratuities included in the regular fare? We live in NY and do not need airfare- We are in our early 60's and would we enjoy the insignia? Any advantage in booking with a TA?

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My DH and I are also considering the Insignia August 2019 cruise to Bermuda- we were just bumped off the Summit as we were told that ship has been chartered. We typically like a Sky Suite on the summit and wonder how we would do in either CC or Penthouse 3 on the Insignia. A few questions, is Alcohol, Wiifi and gratuities included in the regular fare? We live in NY and do not need airfare- We are in our early 60's and would we enjoy the insignia? Any advantage in booking with a TA?

What is the sq footage of a sky suite? Compare that with the cabin sizes on Insignia

 

The ship will be 1/3 the size of the Summit so take that into consideration also

WiFi is free for everyone

You can seek out a TA that offers PPG

 

But no alcohol is not included

 

You could take the O Life perk for the House select drink package which is wine/beer & lunch & dinner then upgrade to the Prestige package (most drinks all day any time) for $20 pdpp once onboard

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What is the sq footage of a sky suite? Compare that with the cabin sizes on Insignia

 

The ship will be 1/3 the size of the Summit so take that into consideration also

WiFi is free for everyone

You can seek out a TA that offers PPG

 

But no alcohol is not included

 

You could take the O Life perk for the House select drink package which is wine/beer & lunch & dinner then upgrade to the Prestige package (most drinks all day any time) for $20 pdpp once onboard

 

I believe the square footage of a sky suite is 255 square feet- I though the olife perk include air- we would definitely want the Prestige package as we enjoy cocktails. We drink a little wine and no beer. The CC staterooms are 195 square feet- It just seems that the price is high for the penthouse suites on Oceania-so I really would be leaning towards a cc stateroom- but we want to have storage and room to walk around.

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We are in our early 60's and would we enjoy the insignia? Any advantage in booking with a TA?

We’re same age and love O. Relaxed, unpretentious atmosphere, quiet, few announcements, great food, service, coffee, no crowds.

 

Regarding a TA, ours always significantly sweetens the offer by typically including prepaid gratuities, additional OBC and a post cruise rebate.

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We’re same age and love O. Relaxed, unpretentious atmosphere, quiet, few announcements, great food, service, coffee, no crowds.

 

Regarding a TA, ours always significantly sweetens the offer by typically including prepaid gratuities, additional OBC and a post cruise rebate.

 

Do you sail in a CC cabin, suite or other? Txs

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