What makes Oceania special? We want to try it.

Greetings, Pomcoach, from South Beach. DH and I have taken over 50 cruises. If it floats, we have probably sailed on it. Now, Oceania and Regent are our favorite lines. Our last two voyages were on Regent's Explorer. The next one is our seventh on Oceania, and our third on Riviera, a gorgeous ship with very enjoyable specialty restaurants. I really appreciate Frank Del Rio's taste in art. One of my favorite paintings is on Riviera outside the Library, The cascading books are extremely amusing.

For us, the best thing about both of our favorite lines is the ambiance and charm of the accommodations. The ambiance has a great deal to do with the staff and crew. So far, we have enjoyed many of our cruises so much we book our next one on board. Our current cruise encompasses a special day for us and is an engaging itinerary. The only way to find out if Oceania or any cruise line is a good fit for you is to try it. This line has many port intensive itineraries. For us that is fine. However, we have no problem staying on board once in a while,

Have fun finding out about Oceania. Join the Roll Call for your cruise and Bon Voyage.

Mary

Thank you so much Classiccruiser777!:D Sounds wonderful so far! The prices seem higher than what we've done so far. But we want great food and nicer treatment, so we are willing to pay more. We also have always had a balcony, so are spoiled in that regard.

You can ask for the ‘free’ flights to be removed therefore reducing the price and book your own cheaper.

Book an inside or ocean view cabin. Sun loungers on deck 5 and pool area are very comfortable and available.

Oceania’s cruises are port intensive, maybe making a balcony less important,

Speciality restaurants are free.

Speciality coffees, soft drinks, virgin cocktails, smoothies, well anything non alcoholic are free.

Food is excellent especially the sea food.

Small ships means no queues,

Food in buffet is served up by Oceania staff.

Steak, lobster, king prawns are cooked to order in the buffet at night,

No formal nights,

Seating in all public areas are comfortable,

No hard sell,

Amazing staff,

The best beds at sea.

Dine in GDR at whatever time suits you.

I could go on and on. IMO the only downside is the entertainment but the people you meet onboard make up for it. The staff do not rush you to finish meal so they can set up for next mealtime, even if it’s 10-11pm!

Go for it you won’t regret it.

• 
   
  
• Excellent food
   
  
• Quiet, refined atmosphere
   
  
• No “nickel and diming”
   
  
• Outstanding beds
   
  
• Smaller ships that look like ships
   
  
• Fewer passengers, no crowds
   
  
• Excellent, friendly service
   
  
• No extra charges for specialty restaurants
   
  

All of the above

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To add to the list of "likes"

-The String Quartet: so civilized

-Afternoon Tea: lovely china, white glove service, splendid offerings, every day!

-Accommodating policy that allows guests to bring wine, beer, and liquor on board for consumption in staterooms. Corkage fee in all dining venues. We especially appreciate this in the Mediterranean when we like to bring on French and Italian wines.

-Baristas: Illy coffees at no charge!

-Ongoing crew/staff training & safety drills: 3 times on a recent 10 day cruise services were suspended for crew safety drills, usually less than an hour. One afternoon I witnessed crew members in the lifeboats going through a simulated evacuation. It was not a casual walk through, everyone was very serious and engaged.

But most of all we must agree with kohl57 about the meticulous maintenance. Oceania is relentless with cleaning, washing, repairing and replacing. It isn't mentioned often probably because it is most evident when it isn't done. We have stayed in Marriotts and Hyatts that were worn out, tired, and never as clean as any of the Oceania ships we have sailed.

There are more things to like. I'm sure others will add to the list.

Katie

I agree with many of the things others have mentioned. There’s just so much to love about Oceania compared to the other cruise lines.

I especially agree about the ship maintenance! Having just disembarked Insignia you’d be hard pressed to tell that she’s a 20 year old ship. We’ve sailed ships that were less than a year old that have looked and felt as if they were Insignia’s age!

It took me a while to convince DH to try Oceania, 3 days into his first Oceania cruise, “Now I get it!”

I agree with just about all of above.

I like that there are a variety of price points for cruises - from budget inside cabins to large suites. No one knows and most don't care how swanky your accommodation is.

Also we like share tables (NOT set dining) and love meeting interesting people from all over the world with a wealth of travel experience and of life experience.

I hasten to add that you don't have to share - there are two-tops available if you choose to dine alone. But the maitre d' in the Grand Dining Room will ask (or get to know that you like to) meet new people.

You mentioned you like verandas. Us too and with the latest inclusion of 3 free bags of laundry (20 pieces max per bag) per leg for concierge and above cabins, we now only book an A cabin. Also, one other thing not mentioned are the Loyalty Program perks. If you find you like O, as we have, you will find they have some pretty good ones, especially once you make Silver.

 

Cons

Lack of proper spa

Lack of open space on older ships

Riviera & Marina: no promenade deck, no observation deck

Rudimentary entertainment

Overpriced

Overrated

 

Note: "Oceania" is a confusing term. Oceania is actually two different products: the large ships (Riviera & Marina) and the rest of the fleet.

I'm curious what you mean by lack of proper spa. Oceania ships have a full-service spa and offer all services including massages, facials, hair, manicures, pedicures.

Just to add to what has already been said here, some of my favorite things about Oceania is the quiet atmosphere, no prearranged dining times in the GDR, and no photographers.

I'm curious what you mean by lack of proper spa. Oceania ships have a full-service spa and offer all services including massages, facials, hair, manicures, pedicures.

I was wondering about that also :confused:

I am not the Spa sort at home but we have gone on the ships to use up OBC

Yes forgot about the no photographers & art Auctions o one pushing the drink of the day or other drinks

To be clear, the mass market lines have trained the cruising public to use amenity comparisons to compare cruises. On paper this gives an enormous advantage to those mammoth floating shoeboxes which ferry multiple thousands per voyage. On these limping leviathans, for ascending additional fees, one may opt to have their toenails buffed while waiting in line for the wave runner.

After all of that glitter confetti blows away, most people are looking for solidly comfortable accommodations, a quality dining experience, convivial fellow passengers and interesting itineraries. Oceania triumphs in all of these categories.

What is often missed, however, because it is difficult to quantify, is the camaraderie and additional ambience of sailing on a ship with fewer than 650 shipmates.

An experience which is swiftly fading into the past.....don't miss it.

To be clear, the mass market lines have trained the cruising public to use amenity comparisons to compare cruises. On paper this gives an enormous advantage to those mammoth floating shoeboxes which ferry multiple thousands per voyage. On these limping leviathans, for ascending additional fees, one may opt to have their toenails buffed while waiting in line for the wave runner.

After all of that glitter confetti blows away, most people are looking for solidly comfortable accommodations, a quality dining experience, convivial fellow passengers and interesting itineraries. Oceania triumphs in all of these categories.

 

What is often missed, however, because it is difficult to quantify, is the camaraderie and additional ambience of sailing on a ship with fewer than 650 shipmates.

An experience which is swiftly fading into the past.....don't miss it.

Yes!

Frances

As an example of how opinions differ. We like those eight ports in ten day cruises. Actually, only one sea day is fine with us on that short a cruise. We cruise to visit the world. If we wanted to just sit around taking it easy, we do that far less expensively , and more elegantly, in a Four Seasons or spg resort where great golf is an option.

 

 

 

People that don’t want , or are to tired to get off the ship while in port have the option of remaining aboard. Many do this exact thing, so why complain about the number of port stops?

To each his own. I far prefer sea days on a ship. I cruise for the ship experience and find that a brief stay in a port does not give the true country experience. We do land based trips for that.

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Here is a consideration... someone said the cruise was "over priced" For what you get it is a bargain when you take into consideration the whole package, passengers, demeanor, ambiance,service,cuisine.

Over priced compared to what Carnival or RCCL??? By the time you shell out all the nickels and dimes in these floating pocket-mines your spending almost as much or more. AND I havent even factored in being on a or in a floating ant farm as one of the many thousands of other ants.

One needs to consider that whatever price you pay now will always be better than one in the future Here is an example why it is always better to cruise NOW than later : In 2001 I took a cruise Sydney to LA 36 days in a Regent ship Mariner with no air. for 2 it cost $17,800 in PH Today that same cruise would cost ,$88,000.00 PH

Waiting , for any reason is costly. What you might think of today is expensive by yesterdays comparisons will be be down right cheap in the future... even a year or so!! It used to be that $1000 a month salary was top dog... now you need $ 10,000 for the same purchase power

Time and inflation wait for no man

Hello sunlover12,

 

A proper spa on a cruise ship:

 

Ron

Interesting

I think the Riviera have side jets though

They do have some turbulent water in the T pool :evilsmile:

Hello sunlover12,

 

A proper spa on a cruise ship:

 

Ron

Thank you for the information on the hydro massage. MY experiences with spas on ships have been quite different depending on the cruise line. I have been in the spa on one of the mass market cruise lines and I've been in Oceania's spa. It's a world of difference. The mass market line's spa can be crowded and noisy and not entirely relaxing. Oceania's spa has always been quiet and soothing for ME.

Hello sunlover12,

 

A proper spa on a cruise ship:

 

Ron

For those of you who haven't watched the video in the link, only three ships are mentioned as having a proper spa with all the amenities that someone named Cruise Admiral -- spa expertise not stated -- defines: NCL Getaway (3969), HAL Nieuw Amsterdam (2106), and HAL Eurodam (2104). The numbers in parentheses represent the passenger capacity of each ship.

Thanks but no thanks! I'll happily trade a much smaller passenger capacity for a proper spa with powerful-enough shoulder water jets, side jets, and metal beds in bubbles. I've stuck to an easy, quantifiable measure like passenger capacity without considering important-to-me intangibles or subjective differences like cuisine.

I've booked my first Oceana cruise a year from this December. I have a lot of onboard credit. Can we use it for gratuities or service charges or whatever they call it?

I've booked my first Oceana cruise a year from this December. I have a lot of onboard credit. Can we use it for gratuities or service charges or whatever they call it?

Yes....for sure.

Great! Thank you. What about the casino?

Great! Thank you. What about the casino?

Only if it's refundable.

For those of you who haven't watched the video in the link, only three ships are mentioned as having a proper spa with all the amenities that someone named Cruise Admiral -- spa expertise not stated -- defines: NCL Getaway (3969), HAL Nieuw Amsterdam (2106), and HAL Eurodam (2104). The numbers in parentheses represent the passenger capacity of each ship.

 

Thanks but no thanks! I'll happily trade a much smaller passenger capacity for a proper spa with powerful-enough shoulder water jets, side jets, and metal beds in bubbles. I've stuck to an easy, quantifiable measure like passenger capacity without considering important-to-me intangibles or subjective differences like cuisine.

WHAT the heck is a" Proper" anything.....Sounds rather aloof and arrogant sitting in judgement over everyone and thing.

A most irritating term.

Dan;

As in properly prepared duck, or properly prepared steamed lobster? No such thing!

How about proper attire? No such thing, just aloofness!

I believe a lot of things can be proper or totally improper.

I'll add a couple more points:

1. Open dining - you pick the time every day and pick who you sit with;

2. They act on negative feedback, and the mid-cruise survey has led to "next day" changes; and,

3. The people who work for Oceania are happy and they want guests to be happy. We've been on over a dozen Oceania cruises on different ships, but wee keep bumping into crew members we've seen before.

WHAT the heck is a" Proper" anything.....Sounds rather aloof and arrogant sitting in judgement over everyone and thing. A most irritating term.

Internet dictionaries define it as:

"real, genuine, actual, true, bona fide"

What is aloof or arrogant about that?

For those of you who haven't watched the video in the link, only three ships are mentioned as having a proper spa....NCL Getaway (3969), HAL Nieuw Amsterdam (2106), and HAL Eurodam (2104).

Actually, this is incorrect. The Regal Princess and Royal Princess ships have large hydrotherapy pools in the area of the spa called The Enclave. I had thought about getting a table massage but the different water jets (similar to the ones shown in the video) gave such a great "massage" that I didn't need one. And the water was very, very warm which added to the relaxation.

We are recently retired and also looking for something different than the mass-market ships. Been on probably 20 cruises on the regular lines. Our problem seems to be we started cruising maybe 20 years ago, and things are VERY different today. So we are looking at Oceania, Viking, and maybe Crystal. Were looking for nice ship and food, no nickel and dimming, friendly guests and crew.

So our biggest question really is "atmosphere" and it hasn't been mentioned much. What we DON'T want is stuffy, clickish, elitist, borish passengers, that are continually complaining about everything. So how does Oceania rate there? What is the average age of the passengers?