Sirena

How does the 18 year old Sirena compare to the newer oceania ships as far as restaurants and entertainment (shows)?

She is 1/2 the size of the O class ships & not as modern looking

more like an old country home with the dark panelling

She has 2 specialty restaurants compared to 4 on the O class ships

a few photos of the ship at

http://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/sirena-1030/

compare to Riviera

http://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/riviera-607/

How does the 18 year old Sirena compare to the newer oceania ships as far as restaurants and entertainment (shows)?

The newer Oceania ships are literally (66000 versus 33000 tons) twice the size of Sirena and her sisters. The differences have more to do with their disparate size than their ages.

Sirena has two specialty restaurants rather than the four which are found on the O class ships.

There is a single nightly show at 9:30pm in the Main Lounge of all Oceania ships; the shows on the smaller ships have similar running times, but feature smaller casts. Production values are identical, otherwise.

Just a slight addition.

Sirena is the one of the R ships that actually has 3 specialty restaurants (sort of). She has the Red Ginger and Tuscan Steak. The latter is a combination (as in "the best of") from Polo and Toscana that are on the other R ships. She also offers Jacques' bistro items at lunch in the MDR that the other R ships do not.

She was totally refurbished recently when she came over from Princess and looks great.

We are booked on her next year and are excited about the Tuscan Steak menu .... great idea.

We loved Sirena, the refit refurbishing was beautifully done and I had little to nothing to complain about while on board.

We really liked Tuscan steak and the Jacques casual bistro lunch daily in the GDR. We rarely splurge on calories at lunch but made an exception on this ship for the Jacques option.

There are those who like the Tuscan Steak option and those who don't. We are among the latter mainly because too few of our favorites remain on the menu. Since we weren't particularly good fans of Red Ginger, we'd have preferred the restaurants to stay as they were.

But no one asked us ... and we'd probably have been in the minority even if they had.

Mura

Agree with Mura. We are currently on Sirena and have dined 3 times in Tuscan so far. The menu options are quite limited with nothing from Toscana that we like and number of Polo favorites gone. Quality is good but the ruduced number of sides are smaller.

Service is excellent, chairs are comfortable and the decor is fine. We just miss the Polo menu.

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Agree with Mura. We are currently on Sirena and have dined 3 times in Tuscan so far. The menu options are quite limited with nothing from Toscana that we like and number of Polo favorites gone. Quality is good but the ruduced number of sides are smaller.

 

Service is excellent, chairs are comfortable and the decor is fine. We just miss the Polo menu.

 

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What is missing? The menu is limited but still looks very adequate. Have you been to Red Ginger?

The menu looks very good with some unique dishes.

Thanks

What is missing? The menu is limited but still looks very adequate.

Thanks

My favorite dish from Toscana is missing - their version of a Wiener Schnitzel (Breaded veal cutlet)) is no longer on the menu of Tuscan Steak.

St Paul Girl,

The original Toscana and Polo menus were both very extensive -- at least two pages each, not including dessert. The new combined menu is one page total as I recall.

Forgive me if my memory from October is a bit faulty. But MUCH was missing.

That doesn't mean that people who didn't encounter the original restaurants won't enjoy the current rendition. But many of us who DID encounter the original menus are disappointed with this result.

But I freely admit to being a person who often doesn't like change... at least with menus!

Mura

We prefer the new Tuscan steak to polo Toscana. But we don't like red ginger so we are left with one specialty. But in a suite we can order in so not a big deal

Btw. If u ask in advance they will make u something from the old menu It had been done on this cruise

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My favorite dish from Toscana is missing - their version of a Wiener Schnitzel (Breaded veal cutlet)) is no longer on the menu of Tuscan Steak.

I think you mean a version of "cotoletta di vitello impanata" Done right, it is significantly different from schnitzel.

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How does the 18 year old Sirena compare to the newer oceania ships as far as restaurants and entertainment (shows)?

$30 million redo bought more than a facelift.

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I think you mean a version of "cotoletta di vitello impanata" Done right, it is significantly different from schnitzel.

 

 

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If they are not twins then they are half brothers :D

http://kolarsky.com/family/cookbook/wiener_schnitzel.htm

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotoletta

Other than the bone-in, I see very little difference.

Please explain how is it significantly different from the schnitzel.

FWIW - this is copied from Oceania (I am referring to the second, thinly pounded version):

Costate di Vitello a Modo Tuo

Bone-In Milk-Fed Veal Chop prepared in your choice of style:

Grilled to perfection and topped with Sautéed Piedmonte Wild Porcini Mushroom Sauce

Pounded thin, lightly breaded and sautéed in Lemon-Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil Vinaigrette,crowned with Trio of Diced Roma Tomatoes, Radicchio and Arugula

They do not call it Cotoletta di Vitello Impanata but Costate di Vitello. I do not speak Italian but it's close enough for me.

Also, I get it without the salad on top of it - making it even more like a schnitzel :D

If they are not twins then they are half brothers :D

http://kolarsky.com/family/cookbook/wiener_schnitzel.htm

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotoletta

Other than the bone-in, I see very little difference.

Please explain how is it significantly different from the schnitzel.

 

FWIW - this is copied from Oceania (I am referring to the second, thinly pounded version):

 

Costate di Vitello a Modo Tuo

Bone-In Milk-Fed Veal Chop prepared in your choice of style:

Grilled to perfection and topped with Sautéed Piedmonte Wild Porcini Mushroom Sauce

Pounded thin, lightly breaded and sautéed in Lemon-Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil Vinaigrette,crowned with Trio of Diced Roma Tomatoes, Radicchio and Arugula

 

They do not call it Cotoletta di Vitello Impanata but Costate di Vitello. I do not speak Italian but it's close enough for me.

Also, I get it without the salad on top of it - making it even more like a schnitzel :D

Firstly, costate are ribs or a bone-in rib steak. Cotolette are boneless filets (often scalloped) cut from a leg of veal (think veal parmigiana or piccata).

At first glance, schnitzel may look like cotolette. But that's where the similarity ends. Schnitzel is fried in vegetable oil and coated in plain breadcrumbs. For either Costate or Cotoletta di Vitello (made at home), we would differ from O's infused olive oil frying by using a 50/50 mix of clarified butter and olive oil. Vegetable oil and olive oil are vastly different in taste. Even olive oils alone are vastly different (the olive of l cart in Toscana).

Another difference of the Italian dishes from schnitzel is that the seasoning of the breadcrumbs would be distinctly Italian including oregano, flat leaf parsley, red pepper (to taste) and a few other herbs/spices depending on the region of origin.

BTW, traditional German schnitzel (not the wiener/veal variety) is pork.

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We were not fans of Red Ginger on the O-class ships, but it became our favorite on Sirena. The room itself is beautiful on Sirena, but dark and cavernous (IMHO) on the O ships. The windows on Sirena help and the decor is gorgeous. Service was wonderful on all our Sirena visits and food was excellent.

Looked forward to Tuscan Steak, but we also did not enjoy the new limited menu. Not really the "best of both" in our opinion. We were also very disappointed in the Terrace Cafe. Service and food were both lacking. But we last cruised on Sirena in Sep-2016 so hopefully this has been corrected by now,

We ate in red ginger this evening. Love the duck and watermelon salad. You can keep the rest. Just don't care for it

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