Fresh off the Insignia as an Oceania "newbie"

All,

I am one day post the sailing from NYC to the New England/Canada coast line and then on to Bermuda and back. It was our first voyage on the Oceania line, having been on Regent, and in the Owner's Suites level on two RCL voyages. I wanted to share our thoughts this morning as DH and I were so very impressed with the Oceania experience! From embarkation to disembarkation, the service and efficiency was so impressive, but not overbearing or obsequious. The Insignia staff was warm, friendly, attentive and speedy. We absolutely loved the passenger size, and never were bothered by crowds in any venue, including the pool area on sea days!

The food was all it is touted to be, although we did think the service in the MDR was somewhat slow. The choices were broad for all meals, and I felt like any special requests would have been delivered to any venue, including your room. We were particularly impressed that they opened the dining rooms early on disembarkation day, and offered the same, cheery breakfast they did on all of the prior days.

Speaking of disembarkation, I wanted to note too that we asked to be one of the first ones off the ship as we had an earlier flight out of Laguardia. We walked off the ship at 7:32am, and were AT OUR GATE IN LAGUARDIA at 8:30am, leaving us 3 hours until our flight. Unbelievable!

Some of the posts here mention the rough seas from Bermuda to NY. Indeed, we did have a couple of rough sea days. I tend to be prone to seasickness (grew up in FL and spent many a bad day on the ocean), and did have to take a Bonine on two days, which helped with the queasy feeling. The staff was also prepared, and when I mentioned that I was a little queasy, they offered diet ginger ale (my request), ginger candy and sliced green apples (their suggestions).

We did opt to upgrade to the penthouse level, as I had read the bathrooms were smaller on the lower levels. Our room was lovely, and very efficiently laid out. Although our bathroom was smaller than any I had experienced before, the water pressure was fine, and the space was laid out well. They cleaned it twice a day, and we had no issues whatsoever. The cabin was silent at night, with nary a rattle or other noise heard from the upper decks.

My hat is off to the Insignia crew and Oceania in general, and we did book another cruise while on board. We were able to totally relax and disengage, which was amazing.

Thank you for taking the time to review your experience.

Glad that your introduction to Oceania was a pleasant one - may it continue that way in the future.

...We were able to totally relax and disengage, which was amazing.

We were on the cruise before yours, those were our goals and we were so happy we were able to!

Glad you enjoyed the cruise!

Thanks for the thoughtful review.

Was your cabin midship, forward, or aft?

Thank you for the review, Verokaren. It's exciting to read because I'll be on the Insignia in just 4 weeks.

...we did book another cruise while on board. We were able to totally relax and disengage, which was amazing.

Another Oceania convert. :cool: Glad you enjoyed it as much as we do.

We were on the same cruise in July and had similar positive impressions. Thanks for your review.

Thanks for your review, V

Ira

Glas you enjoyed your first but not last cruise with Oceania. We are on Insignia this Monday.

Thanks for the thoughtful review.

Was your cabin midship, forward, or aft?

We were on the port side, more aft, in cabin 8048. Extremely quiet and great butler!

We were also on the same cruise (8/14 - 8/24) and couldn’t agree more. My second Oceania cruise and we were not disappointed. Found plenty to do on the sea days (even the rockin’ and rollin’ day) and enjoyed our PH1 cabin (forward, 8011 and 8016). As noted, employees are delightful, food absolutely delicious. We heard lots of complaints about slow service, but going to the GDR a bit earlier (before 7) avoided the crush. And, really, what’s wrong with relaxing over a meal? We dubbed the cruise ‘lobster every day’ and that it was. At Waves Grill, order the surf and turf sandwich-hold the bread. Perfect sized lunch!

Some of the more unusual food items—caviar twice (appetizers), guinea hen, octopus carpaccio, green paypaya/mango salad, beet/goat cheese appetizer, delicious and spicy lamb curry, chicken tikka salad, apricot sorbet. I’m not a dessert-eater but don’t miss the key lime pie.

Ashoke and Ismail were our butlers, Mary and Jay our cabin attendants. Fantastic service!

It's always good to hear happy reports after so many seem to be concerned about negative reports.

We DID have a few MINOR problems on our May 2018 Riviera cruise (Monte Carlo to Venice) but they were easily handled and not big problems. Is it that some people who are new to Oceania read one negative review (about any ship or the ship they will be one) and then get worried?

If so, I can understand their concerns! If you haven't sailed on a line before it can be difficult translating complaints and understanding how valid they might be.

Still, I expect my April cruise on Marina (NY-Southampton) will be as wonderful as our previous cruise in 2014 on this itinerary ... although many of the ports will be different!

Mura

We were also on the same cruise (8/14 - 8/24) and couldn’t agree more. My second Oceania cruise and we were not disappointed. Found plenty to do on the sea days (even the rockin’ and rollin’ day) and enjoyed our PH1 cabin (forward, 8011 and 8016). As noted, employees are delightful, food absolutely delicious. We heard lots of complaints about slow service, but going to the GDR a bit earlier (before 7) avoided the crush. And, really, what’s wrong with relaxing over a meal? We dubbed the cruise ‘lobster every day’ and that it was. At Waves Grill, order the surf and turf sandwich-hold the bread. Perfect sized lunch!

Some of the more unusual food items—caviar twice (appetizers), guinea hen, octopus carpaccio, green paypaya/mango salad, beet/goat cheese appetizer, delicious and spicy lamb curry, chicken tikka salad, apricot sorbet. I’m not a dessert-eater but don’t miss the key lime pie.

Ashoke and Ismail were our butlers, Mary and Jay our cabin attendants. Fantastic service!

You are making me hungry. :-)

I am looking forward to our cruise this December.

Kathleen

We were also on the same cruise (8/14 - 8/24) and couldn’t agree more. My second Oceania cruise and we were not disappointed. Found plenty to do on the sea days (even the rockin’ and rollin’ day) and enjoyed our PH1 cabin (forward, 8011 and 8016). As noted, employees are delightful, food absolutely delicious. We heard lots of complaints about slow service, but going to the GDR a bit earlier (before 7) avoided the crush. And, really, what’s wrong with relaxing over a meal? We dubbed the cruise ‘lobster every day’ and that it was. At Waves Grill, order the surf and turf sandwich-hold the bread. Perfect sized lunch!

 

Some of the more unusual food items—caviar twice (appetizers), guinea hen, octopus carpaccio, green paypaya/mango salad, beet/goat cheese appetizer, delicious and spicy lamb curry, chicken tikka salad, apricot sorbet. I’m not a dessert-eater but don’t miss the key lime pie.

 

Ashoke and Ismail were our butlers, Mary and Jay our cabin attendants. Fantastic service!

We were on the 8/4 cruise. We too had Ashoke as our butler and Mary and Jay as cabin attendants. Along with Marius at the Terrace, they helped to make our cruise so enjoyable we booked onboard for next year!

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We were also on the same cruise (8/14 - 8/24) and couldn’t agree more. My second Oceania cruise and we were not disappointed. Found plenty to do on the sea days (even the rockin’ and rollin’ day) and enjoyed our PH1 cabin (forward, 8011 and 8016). As noted, employees are delightful, food absolutely delicious. We heard lots of complaints about slow service, but going to the GDR a bit earlier (before 7) avoided the crush. And, really, what’s wrong with relaxing over a meal? We dubbed the cruise ‘lobster every day’ and that it was. At Waves Grill, order the surf and turf sandwich-hold the bread. Perfect sized lunch!

Some of the more unusual food items—caviar twice (appetizers), guinea hen, octopus carpaccio, green paypaya/mango salad, beet/goat cheese appetizer, delicious and spicy lamb curry, chicken tikka salad, apricot sorbet. I’m not a dessert-eater but don’t miss the key lime pie.

Ashoke and Ismail were our butlers, Mary and Jay our cabin attendants. Fantastic service!

Ismail is a FANTASTIC butler!! We felt like he was family by halfway through our cruise. He always was a step or two ahead of us. :D:D:D:D:) We have another cruise in November on Insignia and are hopeful that he's still on board and is assigned to our cabin.

Sounds like you had a great cruise.

All,

 

 

My hat is off to the Insignia crew and Oceania in general, and we did book another cruise while on board. We were able to totally relax and disengage, which was amazing.

I am very appreciative of this review because we are in the process of deciding whether or not to book an Oceania cruise. But, unfortunately you do not compare anything with the other cruise lines you have used. Was the food that much better? Was that MDR service that much slower?

So you disembarked early. Was that harder or easier to do on those other lines?

Was the entertainment better? Were the accommodations noticeably better and were they worth the extra money you paid?

Please, I respect and am grateful for your review but more direct comparisons would have been helpful

I can say the food on Oceania is/was far better than on Holland and also better than Cunard. On Oceania lobster is available every day, unlimited fresh berries are always available at breakfast in the Terrace Cafe and there are no up charges for the specialty restaurants.The beds and linens are also much better on Oceania.

A big plus for us is the smaller size of the ships, less crowds and more ports off the beaten path.

Entertainment isn’t important to us but we’ve attended some good lectures, cooking demonstrations and a few evening shows.

I will also chime back in to give more specific examples compared to other cruise lines I have experienced. The food was MUCH better than Regent, or the Coastal Kitchen of RCL, i.e. fresh sushi, fresh cut fruit at every meal, interesting, well seasoned sides and salads, a fresh roasted turkey and suckling pig, and almost any meat you can imagine freshly grilled.

The bedding and linens were much higher quality. Room service seemed more thorough. I also loved the "free" room service, and enjoyed my coffee being delivered to my room first thing in the morning.

The Entertainment? Who cares! There was some very nice classical music provided by the quartet, and we enjoyed the piano music, although wished there was more of that. The comedian was funny enough, and we enjoyed the trivia games immensely.

I had read on these boards how "crazy" embarkation could be at 11:00am, but we showed up there nonetheless, and were promptly guided on the ship with no line whatsoever. We had to disembark early, and that was simply amazing. Just guided off outside, where we waited for maybe two minutes for the ship to clear and passengers to be allowed off. Oh, and that was after enjoying a full, fabulous breakfast buffet while cruising into Manhattan.

Hope this helps!

I am very appreciative of this review because we are in the process of deciding whether or not to book an Oceania cruise. But, unfortunately you do not compare anything with the other cruise lines you have used. Was the food that much better? Was that MDR service that much slower?

 

 

So you disembarked early. Was that harder or easier to do on those other lines?

 

Was the entertainment better? Were the accommodations noticeably better and were they worth the extra money you paid?

 

Please, I respect and am grateful for your review but more direct comparisons would have been helpful

Sometimes take a big chance and try it yourself without having to ask so many others opinion..

They told you how they felt just believe them..

Jancruz1