Tried Oceania once, but not again

We just exited a ten day Caribbean cruise aboard the Riviera. We are avid cruisers, and have done at least 15 cruises aboard Celebrity in the last 4-5 years. I had sailed on Regent a half dozen times before that.

The Riviera was as beautiful as we expected. The condition of the stateroom was nice, the room itself only about 10% larger than Celebrity which is smaller than I expected for the money. We had sailed on Seabourn eight months ago and their staterooms are significantly larger The Oceania closet doors were difficult to use and to access clothing. I preferred the walkin closets on Regent and Seabourn.

The stateroom attendant didn't introduce herself until the third day, and never asked our preferences.

The passengers on Oceania are older on average than the other lines I've been on, at least on this cruise . I would estimate that 80% of the ship was over 75 yo.

We had decided to try Oceania after hearing about the food. This is the area that we were most disappointed. The food is heavy, red meat centered and very traditional and old fashioned.

I live in LA and consider myself a " foodie " and I was expecting more flavor and technique. Except for La Reserve ( which was very good ) it's absent on Oceania. The menu descriptions are overly flowery almost to the point of being comedic. Jacque's is something out of the 1970's, and like Red Ginger, the food is a caricature of common american versions of the respective French and Asian dishes. I had the duck confit dish and the John Dory in Jacque's ..both were heavy on butter and light on flavor. The fennel in the latter was soggy to the point of being inedible. More butter doesn't make the flavorless have flavor.

The red curry chicken in Red Ginger is poorly executed as well. Anybody that eats and likes Thai food would be disappointed. The lauded lobster is frozen, and except for the specialty restaurants, warm water. I had the Lobster with tagliatelle in Toscana and it was tough and not edible.

The Terrace buffet is pretty much along the same lines. The prepared salads weren't great and given there isn't self service the salad bar is difficult to navigate. The food itself is heavy dinner style food served during the day....sliced roasts, mashed potatoes , polenta ...sauce etc.

Vegetable preparations with flair or respect are almost non existent. Overcooked steamed or butter sautéed mixed vegis is boring.

Some items weren't prepared properly, like the fish and chips...they didn't have tarter sauce. Waves burgers with missing or wrong preparations etc

The best thing on Oceania is there everyday roast chicken. They describe it differently in the various restaurants, but the staff confided that it's the same chicken.

The extra cost of the alcohol was the final deal killer for us. The beverage package adds an extra $60 per night per person. The wines by the glass aren't very good. It's the same list throughout the ship and in all of the restaurants. I was surprised that they don't offer different wines in the Italian and French restaurants. I guess they want to sell wine by the bottle.

I could go on, but I thought I'd share this review for other cruisers who may be trying to decide between lines like, Celebrity, Seabourn , Oceania etc..

For us it's Seabourn or a suite on Celebrity

Too bad you had a horrible time. Live and learn, I guess.

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Thanks for reporting back.

We keep thinking of trying Oceania so reading the opinions of others is important to us.

LuLu

Thank you for taking the time to post your experiences.

Sorry that you were disappointed but glad that you have other options.

I have sailed on Seabourn, Regent and Celebrity - I like the food (and just about everything else) on Oceania best.

Just goes to show you - to each their own and fortunately for all of us, we have lots of choices.

We are signed up for a cruise on Riviera in July and I sure hope that much of what you write is exaggerated or bad luck on your part. We were on Celebrity this past summer and I was very disappointed in the food. Having been on a previous cruise with X, I expected a step up from mass market. However, I found that their buffet was equivalent to Howard Johnson's, and even their specialty restaurant, Murano, was a big giant leap downward from our 2003 cruise. The food service was spotty, with overworked staff ignoring us and the seating arrangements were awful. We tried to do open seating, but we wanted to sit with some other people and that proved impossible. Half the time as I started to order, the waiter tried to direct me to anther entree - turned out he was right, he knew how bad the regular entrees were. Room service was even worse, even in the Royal Suite! We decided to try O because it gets great reviews on food.

I see from your picture that you are young, so I doubt the avg age of 75 yo by your account is accurate. Besides that should not be a factor anyway. I am 67 and I'll put my activity level up against yours any day. I run 5 k and lift circuit weights everyday, then play tennis, golf, hike or paddle board! Then in the evenings, I like to eat out, listen to great local music and dance - and not necessarily ballroom.

BTW, all proteins onboard ship are frozen - lobster, steak, etc., - on every cruise line. Frozen doesn't equate to flavorless. I buy Costco prime steaks and always freeze them. As for heavy food, every restaurant in the known Universe uses too much butter. Answer, be specific about how you would like your preparation, it is all cooked to order if you wish. Finally, true "foodies" don't eat at the buffet!

To each his own. If you felt Oceania wasn't worth the price (and that certainly seems to be the case!), then, no, you shouldn't try again.

I happen to disagree but we all have the right to have our own opinions.

Enjoy your future cruises elsewhere. (No cruiseline is perfect for everyone.)

Mura

I find that the food varies a lot between cruises. I have had cruises when the food was outstanding, good, acceptable and bordering on mediocre. All on Oceania. It all depends who's in the kitchen!

In spite of that, we still like O and have our 10th booked.

Mo

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If anyone wants to see the menus along with a great number of images of actual appetizers, entrees and desserts, I highly recommend the website, the preismans.com, who took the time to document in wonderfully clear and bright photos of the ship, the menus and the food itself. I learned so much from their sharing, readers may find it useful, too.

Really appreciate the time you took to give the comprehensive review. First I should say that we are not Oceania cheerleaders but do appreciate a lot of what they have to offer. Our cruise line of choice is Regent. I find myself agreeing with some of what you posted and disagreeing with other points.

It does not seem fair to compare Oceania to Regent or Seabourn as they are luxury cruise lines and Oceania is not. It is certainly not surprising that your experiences on board luxury cruise lines were better than on Oceania. We have not sailed on Celebrity so cannot comment on that other than we would not sail on Celebrity for a variety of reasons.

While I typically do not concern myself with the age of the passengers, we have noticed that the age skews considerably higher on Caribbean cruises and lower on shorter cruisers - particularly in the Med. and Alaska. It is a good point to bring up as some people prefer to sail with younger passengers.

We were confused by Red Ginger until it was explained to us on our last cruise (December, 2014) that Red Ginger is Southeast Asian - specifically Vietnamese and Cambodian. So, when anyone tries to compare it to Thai, Chinese or Japanese, the review will generally be negative. IMO, Red Ginger would be the top restaurant on Oceania if they either specialized in one style of Asian food or perfected specific dishes from different areas of Asia and made it known that the particular dish is "Thai", "Vietnamese", etc.

Agree with you regarding the wines on the included list. On the other hand, the $60/day per person is worth it if you drink top shelf drinks (other than wine). Mixed drinks on Oceania can be extremely expensive. They do not just charge for the drink itself but for each alcoholic ingredient it contains. So, if you have a Long Island Iced Tea, you are charged for each shot of alcohol (I believe there are four) when you include Triple Sec) and, if you select a top shelf brand, that is also added on. I "accidentally" ordered a double Long Island thinking that there would be a total of 2 ounces of alcohol (alcohol is strictly measured on Oceania). The bartender was new and poured 2 ounces of each premium alcohol which not only made it undrinkable, but would have cost of $100 (we had the package so it did not cost extra -- it was simply a waste of alcohol).

Your comments on food were very interesting. I was raised in L.A. and am therefore familiar with the food offerings there. While not a "foodie", we do enjoy food very much. I do not care for French food but love food in Jacques. Not sure what this means but it is interesting (at least to me:-) Quick comment about the fish and chips....... I agree!!!

Although we prefer Regent, we returned to Oceania for two reasons: 1) The service was amazing and 2) The Riviera is the most beautiful ship we have sailed on and their large suites are amazing. We would never want to sail on a large ship (like Celebrity) where there are special areas for people that want to be in a suite so that they can be treated differently than if they sailed in a lower suite.

In any case, did enjoy your review and would love to why you prefer Seabourn to Regent. Thanks:)

Oh MY!

First, let me say thank you for having the courage to post your honest opinion here. We have sailed many lines.....Princess, HAL, NCL, RCL, most recently many X sailings and two Azamara sailings and we are booked for our first Oceania cruise......but now? I am kind of worried!

Your description of food quality worries me. I was hoping for better than what you describe! Especially the lobster! I understand that it is frozen, but warm water? Is it not Maine lobster, or at the very least, cold water? Warm water lobster is not what I was expecting! And salads are a staple for me for lunch....yours is not the first complaint I have read recently about salads at lunch! My DH will be happy with meats, etc., but I tend to like lighter, cleaner preparations without heavy, creamy or buttery sauces! I hope I am not disappointed! Worried :eek:

re size of cabin compared to X....What type of cabin did you book?

 

We would never want to sail on a large ship (like Celebrity) where there are special areas for people that want to be in a suite so that they can be treated differently than if they sailed in a lower suite.

Uh, one small dark lounge that no one really ever wanted to go to until it was a special suite lounge.:confused:

They are constructing new dining areas for the suite passengers though.

We just exited a ten day Caribbean cruise aboard the Riviera. We are avid cruisers, and have done at least 15 cruises aboard Celebrity in the last 4-5 years. I had sailed on Regent a half dozen times before that.

The Riviera was as beautiful as we expected. The condition of the stateroom was nice, the room itself only about 10% larger than Celebrity which is smaller than I expected for the money. We had sailed on Seabourn eight months ago and their staterooms are significantly larger The Oceania closet doors were difficult to use and to access clothing. I preferred the walkin closets on Regent and Seabourn.

The stateroom attendant didn't introduce herself until the third day, and never asked our preferences.

The passengers on Oceania are older on average than the other lines I've been on, at least on this cruise . I would estimate that 80% of the ship was over 75 yo.

We had decided to try Oceania after hearing about the food. This is the area that we were most disappointed. The food is heavy, red meat centered and very traditional and old fashioned.

I live in LA and consider myself a " foodie " and I was expecting more flavor and technique. Except for La Reserve ( which was very good ) it's absent on Oceania. The menu descriptions are overly flowery almost to the point of being comedic. Jacque's is something out of the 1970's, and like Red Ginger, the food is a caricature of common american versions of the respective French and Asian dishes. I had the duck confit dish and the John Dory in Jacque's ..both were heavy on butter and light on flavor. The fennel in the latter was soggy to the point of being inedible. More butter doesn't make the flavorless have flavor.

The red curry chicken in Red Ginger is poorly executed as well. Anybody that eats and likes Thai food would be disappointed. The lauded lobster is frozen, and except for the specialty restaurants, warm water. I had the Lobster with tagliatelle in Toscana and it was tough and not edible.

The Terrace buffet is pretty much along the same lines. The prepared salads weren't great and given there isn't self service the salad bar is difficult to navigate. The food itself is heavy dinner style food served during the day....sliced roasts, mashed potatoes , polenta ...sauce etc.

Vegetable preparations with flair or respect are almost non existent. Overcooked steamed or butter sautéed mixed vegis is boring.

Some items weren't prepared properly, like the fish and chips...they didn't have tarter sauce. Waves burgers with missing or wrong preparations etc

The best thing on Oceania is there everyday roast chicken. They describe it differently in the various restaurants, but the staff confided that it's the same chicken.

The extra cost of the alcohol was the final deal killer for us. The beverage package adds an extra $60 per night per person. The wines by the glass aren't very good. It's the same list throughout the ship and in all of the restaurants. I was surprised that they don't offer different wines in the Italian and French restaurants. I guess they want to sell wine by the bottle.

I could go on, but I thought I'd share this review for other cruisers who may be trying to decide between lines like, Celebrity, Seabourn , Oceania etc..

For us it's Seabourn or a suite on Celebrity

I agree with you about the closets.

Thanks for your review. I am always amazed by the vast differences in experiences people have with the same cruise line. The vibe on the ship is very low key & can be less appealing to those who prefer all that a larger ship can offer. We have never experienced anything near what the OP describes & we have sailed on all the Oceania ships. The demographics vary greatly with the itineraries, and food is always subjective. For those who are considering O or are worried about your upcoming cruise, I encourage you to try O and see for yourself.

Oh MY!

 

First, let me say thank you for having the courage to post your honest opinion here. We have sailed many lines.....Princess, HAL, NCL, RCL, most recently many X sailings and two Azamara sailings and we are booked for our first Oceania cruise......but now? I am kind of worried!

 

Your description of food quality worries me. I was hoping for better than what you describe! Especially the lobster! I understand that it is frozen, but warm water? Is it not Maine lobster, or at the very least, cold water? Warm water lobster is not what I was expecting! And salads are a staple for me for lunch....yours is not the first complaint I have read recently about salads at lunch! My DH will be happy with meats, etc., but I tend to like lighter, cleaner preparations without heavy, creamy or buttery sauces! I hope I am not disappointed! Worried :eek:

 

re size of cabin compared to X....What type of cabin did you book?

If you are looking for lighter food, there is the Canyon Ranch Spa menu, to start with. You can ask for ANY sauce to be left off or served alongside your meal. Always. And if you note, most of the food that the OP mentions are not red meat at all. He mentions things like John Dory, chicken, fish and chips, etc. And he notes the Maine lobster in the specialty restaurants. (See the sample menus others have noted, and the Preismans' reviews which were cited above). And there is good sushi to be enjoyed always at the Terrace... yum!

Our experience with salads has been excellent. Again, I am NOT ARGUING with the OP. However, DH and I enjoyed the salads in the MDR and in the specialties also. (Worth noting the reason that salads are served to you in the Terrace is to preserve hygiene and prevent Norovirus and other nasty bugs.... worth the sacrifice of a tiny bit of autonomy IMHO). We found the salads fresh and tasty. DH liked the Salad Nicoise, and I favor the Caesar.

It is a teasing issue between my husband and I that I will go for days on an O cruise happily enjoying seafood dishes without noticing the absence of meat in my diet. The seafood has been, to me, just that good! (Again - NOT ARGUING! Just expressing my experience).

This gentleman has had a traumatic cruise with inferior food by his standards. But I think you need to take into account the many, many reviews others have posted which are positive regarding food. Take the larger view! Every person's tastes are different. You will be fine!!!

Donna

I wanted to add the following:

I / we are not " young " , I am 58 yo

We did have a good cruise overall and we didn't have a bad time. We were just expecting to enjoy the food more than we did.

Re: " real foodies don't eat at the buffet ". Well, for lunch it's that or Waves. Seabourn does a pretty good job at it IMO .

I never saw sushi, but I wouldn't eat frozen fish sushi.

Yes you can avoid the heavy sauces, but too many of the dishes depend on them for flavor. I'm not looking to eat spa cuisine, I'm healthy but not n a diet.

I'm not expecting gourmet fare at lunch, just well prepared interesting lunch food akin to what one would expect at any modern big city nice restaurant.

Re: comparable cruiselines.

Oceania cabins are priced in the $1000 per night range including tax, gratuities and beverages.

Seabourn is approximately the same price, with a 300 sq ft cabin and in our opinion, significantly better food.

Celebrity's food is inferior to Oceania's overall, but Blu and the new Celebrity suite restaurant at least serve modern cuisine, and the suites are 350 sq ft

( for the same price )

My point in writing and sharing my opinions is to offer my perspective for others that are trying to find the right cruise home in the $800-1000 per day price category.

Thank you for your review

Not arguing either but I usually have a salad for lunch & they have been fine for me

Everyone has different tastes

If you do not want the heavy sauces some meals come with or want extra veg...

just ask for what you want

I find the staff very accommodating in my experience

not saying you did not have bad food ...I have but for the most part it was good

We have had good meals & bad meals on O ..just depends on who is cooking ;)

I agree ...just go & try O for yourself

Just a note - lunch in the MDR is a bit more formal, has a nice variety offered, and matches the urban restaurant experience you described. They serve there daily.

Never sensed that the sushi was from frozen fish! I lived three years in Japan and have some sushi-cred - am I the only one who experienced it as fresh????

Glad you were able to find some pleasure on board.

My responses re: lighter food were directed at TakeMeWithYou, who was asking about that. I am not arguing with the OPs opinions or experiences. He has the right to his views.

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I am from Hawaii and California. I am very partial to seafood. Everyone who is a regular on O knows only to have sashimi the first three days of a cruise. The Maine lobster in Polo steamed is outstanding in my opinion. Of course all these things are a matter of opinion.

I do not eat sauces, and I know Jacques does have sauce on most of their dishes. Some people are partial to that.

I am not partial to the steak in Polo, but their prime rib is outstanding..in my opinion.

For those who are thinking of Oceania, go with an open mind. We cruise them all...Celebrity, Norwegian, Seabourn, Crystal...and we are partial to the food on Oceania.

As I said, it is all a matter of opinion...try it...you might like it...but then you might not! Go with an open mind.

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Thanks for your review. I am always amazed by the vast differences in experiences people have with the same cruise line. The vibe on the ship is very low key & can be less appealing to those who prefer all that a larger ship can offer. We have never experienced anything near what the OP describes & we have sailed on all the Oceania ships. The demographics vary greatly with the itineraries, and food is always subjective. For those who are considering O or are worried about your upcoming cruise, I encourage you to try O and see for yourself.

+1 - agree totally (bolding and underlining is mine).

There is nothing like trying it for yourself. You may love it, you may hate it but don't just go by someone else's opinion - good or bad. After all, you don't really know these people and you may just love what they hated (or vice versa).

I wonder if OP will change his opinion in a few months. I remember our first cruise in 2013. We were so hyped about the food after reading "reposado review" we probably set ourselves up to be disappointed.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1663063&highlight=reposado

Like the OP we thought LaReserve was wonderful but the specialty restaurants were a bit of a letdown. When we first got home , our opinion was - nice but probably not worth the money. A few months went by and somehow we were beginning to only remember the good and wanted to try it again. Going on our 6th O cruise next month.

Like many of you have said, it depends on who's cooking. Every cruise we change our mind about our favorite specialty restaurant.

To Toranut - if the sushi is frozen, it sure tastes good.

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That's funny:D

Really appreciate the time you took to give the comprehensive review. First I should say that we are not Oceania cheerleaders but do appreciate a lot of what they have to offer. Our cruise line of choice is Regent. I find myself agreeing with some of what you posted and disagreeing with other points.

 

It does not seem fair to compare Oceania to Regent or Seabourn as they are luxury cruise lines and Oceania is not. It is certainly not surprising that your experiences on board luxury cruise lines were better than on Oceania. We have not sailed on Celebrity so cannot comment on that other than we would not sail on Celebrity for a variety of reasons.

 

While I typically do not concern myself with the age of the passengers, we have noticed that the age skews considerably higher on Caribbean cruises and lower on shorter cruisers - particularly in the Med. and Alaska. It is a good point to bring up as some people prefer to sail with younger passengers.

 

We were confused by Red Ginger until it was explained to us on our last cruise (December, 2014) that Red Ginger is Southeast Asian - specifically Vietnamese and Cambodian. So, when anyone tries to compare it to Thai, Chinese or Japanese, the review will generally be negative. IMO, Red Ginger would be the top restaurant on Oceania if they either specialized in one style of Asian food or perfected specific dishes from different areas of Asia and made it known that the particular dish is "Thai", "Vietnamese", etc.

 

Agree with you regarding the wines on the included list. On the other hand, the $60/day per person is worth it if you drink top shelf drinks (other than wine). Mixed drinks on Oceania can be extremely expensive. They do not just charge for the drink itself but for each alcoholic ingredient it contains. So, if you have a Long Island Iced Tea, you are charged for each shot of alcohol (I believe there are four) when you include Triple Sec) and, if you select a top shelf brand, that is also added on. I "accidentally" ordered a double Long Island thinking that there would be a total of 2 ounces of alcohol (alcohol is strictly measured on Oceania). The bartender was new and poured 2 ounces of each premium alcohol which not only made it undrinkable, but would have cost of $100 (we had the package so it did not cost extra -- it was simply a waste of alcohol).

 

Your comments on food were very interesting. I was raised in L.A. and am therefore familiar with the food offerings there. While not a "foodie", we do enjoy food very much. I do not care for French food but love food in Jacques. Not sure what this means but it is interesting (at least to me:-) Quick comment about the fish and chips....... I agree!!!

 

Although we prefer Regent, we returned to Oceania for two reasons: 1) The service was amazing and 2) The Riviera is the most beautiful ship we have sailed on and their large suites are amazing. We would never want to sail on a large ship (like Celebrity) where there are special areas for people that want to be in a suite so that they can be treated differently than if they sailed in a lower suite.

 

In any case, did enjoy your review and would love to why you prefer Seabourn to Regent. Thanks:)

I think comparing O to Seabourn or Regent is valid. Not because they're in the same ultra luxe tier but because O prices themselves into that tier (eg: an inside stateroom on O for a Miami to BCN TA cruise is 2999 @ 174', a larger room with a view on the Seabourn Legend @ 277' is only 2199 STT to BCN and no need for a beverage package on SB)

I'll add that regardless of what SE Asian culture Red Ginger supposedly comes from IMO it fails. The food was too dumbed down.

I had bland to horrific food on my O cruises (the chicken they served on the first night that had been cooked on a previous cruise was extra special) so I don't think the OP is making things up (also agree that the wine spectator restaurant was very good).

Due to parasites in many fish (particularly salmon), most restaurants freeze fish prior to serving it raw. So, some of the posts here are a little bit off. I eat sashimi on a regular basis and would not salmon unless it were previously frozen (note: special times and temperatures are required in order to kill the parasites).

http://www.pbs.org/food/fresh-tastes/myth-sushi-grade/

http://www.sushifaq.com/sushi-sashimi-info/additional-sushi-information/

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/08/nyregion/sushi-fresh-from-the-deep-the-deep-freeze.html

:cool: