Oceana - Marina, anyone have any views?

I am interested in the Celitic Kingdoms voyage from Southampton 4 August 2019. I couldn't find a roll call for this. I have no experience of either the ship or the line, so I am interested in what others who have cruised with them think of Marina and the Oceana experience. We have travelled with CMV, Princess, Fred Oulsen and HAL on the smaller ships (up to 1200).

Everything about O surpasses the lines you mentioned: Food, service, ambiance, entertainment and lectures, and fellow passengers.

A quick search on this forum will bring up masses of information about the on board experience ;)

Everything about O surpasses the lines you mentioned: Food, service, ambiance, entertainment and lectures, and fellow passengers.

agree 95% except for the entertainment.

We sailed Concierge level on the Marina and loved everything about the ship, the crew, and the food. Only let-down were the 'free' specialty restaurants that were noisy, crowded, and virtually nothing more than miniaturized MDRs. The guest speakers and their programs were outstanding during the Atlantic crossing. Getting on and off the ship were some of the smoothest operations experienced in any of our ocean cruises. Highly recommend them, IMHO.

The Asian, French, Italian and steak specialty restaurants are included in the cruise fare, so are all non-alcoholic drinks. I don't remember the specialty restaurants being noisy at all and their menu is different from the main dining room.

Only let-down were the 'free' specialty restaurants that were noisy, crowded, and virtually nothing more than miniaturized MDRs.

 

 

This is the first time that I have ever heard, or read, anyone say this. :o

Are you certain that you were sailing on Oceania?

Oceania has never disappointed us and Marina is our favorite ship.

We love the specialty restaurants. The variety of dining options is most impressive.

I, too, was surprised at the categorization of the specialty restaurants on Marina as been noisy, crowded and miniature MDRs. And we aren't particular fans of the specialty restaurants although we do like Jacques a lot. They CAN be crowded, yes, especially if a large percentage of the passengers on a particular cruise think they are being short-changed if they can't be in a specialty restaurant every night.. But I haven't found them to be loud and they don't strike me at all as a "miniature MDR".

 

Mura

+1

 

Sent from my SM-G900T using Forums mobile app

+2, I agree with Mura. The Marina is my favorite ship by far.

 

As for the Specialties, we all have our favorites but as a long time O cruiser, I think it’s Long pass time to change up the menus in the Specialties! On longer R ship cruises, we don’t use all our allotted reservations because the menu in those two restaurants have become boring. The wife far prefers the MDR to Polo Grill.

 

We have a SE Asia cruise coming up soon with about 4 overnights in ports. We will probably eat local authentic food, in town, each of those nights instead of same old same old repeat menus on board.

Never experienced noisy speciality restaurants either on O ships or R ships although I would say that we don't see much point in the Polo restaurant as the menu also appears in the MDR. However, we do like to go there as it is just a bit more special!!

 

To compare mass market ships with Oceania is not possible, it is like comparing apples with oranges.

....although I would say that we don't see much point in the Polo restaurant as the menu also appears in the MDR.

 

Really?????

This is the menu for Polo:

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/Documents/Menus/1709/Polo-Grill-Dinner-Menu-RClass.pdf

While an occasional item from that menu may appear on the MDR menu it is not the same menu in MDR as in Polo.

I wish it were the same as then I wouldn't have to worry about getting extra (or any) reservations for Polo - just go to the MDR for the same menu :D

Thank you very much to those who have replied. The overall consensus seems to be that it may be a bit more expensive than the cheapo brands, but if you can afford it, then it is worth paying that bit more for a holiday that can be remembered.

 

We enjoy cruising and have been doing up to four cruises a year. Maybe it is time to cut back on number and move up market a bit. I would try Silver Sea but they don't do many A to A cruises. If you stitch back to backs together A-B, B-C, C-D, D-A you can get back to where your car is parked, but it becomes eye-watering expensive. (we choose not to fly because of the airport nonsense.)

 

I just have a concern on the wine package, but otherwise I am hooked. I posted another question on that, so I'll go and see if anyone has replied. Thank you again to all for your helpful comments.

Silverseas is by far my favorite cruise line. However you can not beat the itineraries that Oceania offers. That is why we have and are going to be cruising with them in February.

 

We were just on the Marina in a concierge category cabin. I had a hot breakfast delivered to the cabin on every in port tour day.

 

I am not fond of the fact that we have to deal with a drink package or bring our own wine onboard. Such a hassle.

 

Whereas, Silverseas includes liquor and wine and gratuity. And the staff always called us by name, even the cruise director.

 

But like I said above, itinerary is most important to us and Oceania would certainly be our second pick anyway.

To early for most Roll Calls. Typically, private tours can’t be booked more than 12 months out. Watch the Roll Call around 8/1 and things will start to pick up, if it does at all.

Thanks for the additional posts. Interesting points. If we book, and I am almost decided, I'll start a roll call.

Really?????

This is the menu for Polo:

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/Documents/Menus/1709/Polo-Grill-Dinner-Menu-RClass.pdf

While an occasional item from that menu may appear on the MDR menu it is not the same menu in MDR as in Polo.

I wish it were the same as then I wouldn't have to worry about getting extra (or any) reservations for Polo - just go to the MDR for the same menu :D

Sorry should have put it differently..... You can get a good steak or lobster in the MDR. (Not every night of course). However, I do agree it is nice to go to Polo just for the different special atmosphere.

We are itinerary driven in our cruising and our ninth Oceania cruise last May on Marina from Barcelona to Southampton was our best one yet. Why? In addition to a fabulous itinerary which included an overnight in Bordeaux, 1/2 day of rain total, calm seas, all four OLife tours (our very first ship tours ever!) excellent, two great private tours with nice people from our roll call, food and service overall onboard were the best we ever experienced on Oceania.

 

Of course, some of that may be attributable to the fact that the man in charge of dining for all Oceania had shown up without notice for the entire cruise. We met him in the MDR when on the second night we dined there, I was trying to figure out why a gentlemen in a business suit and no ID pin once again was hanging out near the doors to the kitchen not far from our table.

 

We had not sailed on Marina since June 2011, soon after its inaugural sailing, and we were very impressed with all but the entertainment. We usually enjoy the musical theater ensemble shows, but the themes were really dated, from the 1950’s, too old even for us in our mid-60’s to enjoy.

This is the first time that I have ever heard, or read, anyone say this. :o

Are you certain that you were sailing on Oceania?

 

This was not our experience on Marina or Riveria either. Red Ginger was AMAZING on both. Our favorite.

Sorry should have put it differently..... You can get a good steak or lobster in the MDR. (Not every night of course). However, I do agree it is nice to go to Polo just for the different special atmosphere.

 

Except for the fact that the food has been so bad the last three times we have been in Polo.

I'm very glad that I can't say the same! After 15 cruises I won't say that all meals were perfect but I also don't recall real disasters. On our recent cruises we've had wonderful meals there, whether ordered into our room or actually dining there. But no kitchen is perfect ... however, three bad meals in a row would turn me off as well.

 

I should add that we aren't big fans of the specialty restaurants (other than Jacques), as regulars will know from past posts of mine. Jacques is our favorite, Polo next, Toscana next, and then -- sorry Red Ginger fans -- RG. (While we aren't fans of Asian fusion menus, we've never had a bad meal there either.)

 

So far we've been on every ship but Riviera ... which we will be on in May.

 

Mura

Back to the original question...Oceania Marina is far superior to HAL or Princess, although probably quite a bit more expensive. And while it is true that the entertainment on the Marina is not impressive, it's no worse than the boring cruise ship fare on Princess or HAL. The food on Oceania is so far superior to the mass market lines that it will make your head spin. Also service on Oceania is close to perfect, while service on Princess & HAL is hit-and-miss. The Marina is a beautiful classy ship, something you could never say about a Princess or HAL ship...the best you can say about those ships is that they may be well-maintained, but never beautifully designed.

Oceania Marina is far superior to HAL or Princess

 

We used to rate HAL above Princess but found HAL service went down although Princess remained about the same. It may have changed since but HAL do very few UK to UK cruises now, so we don't use them. Others on CC think that HAL are a top line, but after our last two experiences with them would rather not risk it. It is good to see that Oceania are so highly rated. I don't mind paying more if I get top service.

 

entertainment on the Marina is not impressive

That isn't a concern for us, we rarely attend. We do like good enrichment speakers though,

 

The food on Oceania is so far superior to the mass market lines

Another plus for us.

 

The Marina is a beautiful classy ship, something you could never say about a Princess or HAL ship.

Looking at the deck plan it struck me as rather plain with a sandwich of services (2 decks), accommodation (5 decks) and services (3 decks). Perhaps the decor adds to it. The Prinsendam we would describe as Elegant, the R class (and Oceania has 4) Comfortable, and the Marco Polo Interesting. We do like a ship with style, where each deck is different.

It's a great ship, entertainment (?) not so.