X vs Oceania

[SusieV]

We're interested in giving it a try one of these days. What are the main differences between the lines? Is any alcohol included on Oceania? How is the casino? Do they have specialty dining?

[seatraveler24]

We're interested in giving it a try one of these days. What are the main differences between the lines? Is any alcohol included on Oceania? How is the casino? Do they have specialty dining?

We've cruised both lines and actually prefer Celebrity. Alcohol was not complimentary on Oceania. The casino was rarely busy. My husband and I would have like to play blackjack but didn't want to be the only ones playing. We enjoy the interaction with others. We're in our 40's and Oceania was a bit too sedate for us, even though their service was excellent.

[Christine Frances]

Azamara, which has the same R ships, has gratuities plus wine with lunch and dinner included.

[tcook052]

While I haven't sailed on Oceania I have researched it a bit and the main differences to me are:

 

Oceania is a luxury line whereas CEL is more premium

Oceania pricing looks higher but they include more so it all balances out in the end depending upon of course how much you drink and cost of extras like shore ex. on CEL

Smaller 700 passenger ships doing more "exotic" destinations more easily reached by small vessels. Some port calls are overnight or feature longer stays with later departures

Country club dress policy, no formal wear required

open seating restaurants with no additional charges

 

I'm curious to try Oceania but not right now and will enjoy the quality and service CEL offers.

[XTEACH281]

Oceania has no surcharge for their specialty restaurants (2 on R class) and (4 on the Marina) , and you can bring on moderate amounts of wine, beer and hard liquor legally for consumption in your cabin ...also no children programs on Oceania ....

[jjeffjb]

I've cruised 9 times on Oceania and it is my favorite line by far. The food is excellent, the service is top-notch and the country club casual dress is to my liking. I also enojoy X, HAL and Princess. But, Oceania is a cut above. It's also priced that way.

[kelmac]

We're interested in giving it a try one of these days. What are the main differences between the lines? Is any alcohol included on Oceania? How is the casino? Do they have specialty dining?

 

Oceania is a very different experience! The ships are very small 30,000 tons (one ship at 55,000 tons) and they are designed to make a port stop every day. Slow cruising speeds. Alcohol is not free; casino is very small; two alternative restaurants are free, but limited in the number of visits you can make. Country Club casual every night on Oceania!

 

Below is a head to head comparison: (Mac-O-Meter is on)

 

Dining room food -- Oceania 9.8 -- Celebrity 9.0 -- This is a strong point for Oceania; they have the best MDR food we have experienced.

 

Dining room service -- Oceania 9.4 -- Celebrity 9.1 -- Open seating, but they will honor requests (we had the same table, same time, each evening with the same wait staff) Both lines have excellent service in the MDR, if fact, all of our wait staff on the Regatta were ex-Celebrity workers.

 

Alternative restaurants -- Oceania 9.5 -- Celebrity 9.5 -- Both lines excel in this area. Big plus for Oceania is the lack of a service charge in their alternative restaurants.

 

Cabins -- Oceania 8.8 -- Celebrity 9.2 -- Newer ships translates into better cabins. Remember three of the Oceania ships are former Renaissance Cruise ships from 1998 -- 2001. Their Marina is brand new and I hear it's really nice.

 

Entertainment -- Oceania 7.6 -- Celebrity 8.8 -- You better plan on keeping yourself entertained on an Oceania cruise. The large ships of Celebrity are much better in this department.

 

Itineraries -- Oceania 9.6 -- Celebrity 7.9 -- Not Celebrity's strong point. Some of Oceania's are beyond wonderful.

 

Over all service -- Oceania 9.5 -- Celebrity 9.1 -- Small ships have an inherent advantage here. The number of service personnel, per cruiser, is higher on Oceania.

 

For the most part, you will spend twice as much per day on an Oceania cruise compared to Celebrity, so "bang for the buck", Celebrity wins hands down. We thought Oceania was a bit better than Azamara (Celebrity's head to head competitor in the small ship area). Both lines have a very restrictive smoking policy!

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[Infi]

Dining room service -- Oceania 9.4 -- Celebrity 9.1 -- Open seating, but they will honor requests (we had the same table, same time, each evening with the same wait staff) Both lines have excellent service in the MDR, if fact, all of our wait staff on the Regatta were ex-Celebrity workers.

 

Kelmac, thanks for this great, thorough comparison. Is it true that there's no fixed seating on Oceania, period? I thought it was Azamara that only offered open seating, but it's entirely possible I have them confused.

[kelmac]

Kelmac, thanks for this great, thorough comparison. Is it true that there's no fixed seating on Oceania, period? I thought it was Azamara that only offered open seating, but it's entirely possible I have them confused.

 

Both Oceania and Azamara have open seating, country club casual, and very, very limited smoking areas. Celebrity was trying to match Oceania, step by step, when the originated Azamara. They are close, but Oceania may have the MOST loyal customer base in the cruise industry! There is really little difference between Azamara and Oceania -- perhaps the food on Oceania is still a cut above??? We would love to try both again soon!!:)

 

Kel

[Fblack]

Except for the new Marina, Oceania has some of the smallest cabins around. All those old Ren ships have tiny cabins. And as I recall, they quote the footage of their cabins INCLUDING the balcony.

[Bridge Maven]

I personally have a problem paying more for an Oceania cruise because their ships do not have spacious cabins. One thing that appeals to me about Regent is that their smallest cabins are comparable to sky suites on Celebrity.

[Denny01]

We'd like to try a Luxury cruise, and have compared Azamara and Oceania. I agree the main plus of the Luxury Lines are the smaller ships which means more interesting ports of call.

 

But, I would not agree with the inferences that since Oceania includes more in their pricing (including Airfare for many of their cruises and gratuities, and some - not all - tours), that it balances out. Not by a longshot from my calculations. Cruisecritic ran a blog/article on how Luxury cruising isn't 'that expensive' becaue of the enclusives, but it just doesn't wash that close. Even working with a TA finding a few discounts, it would cost well over $16,000 for a 12N Oceania Med cruise (balcony, not a suite) and would cost about $9,000-$11,000 for a comparible Celebrity cruise...now a few of the Oceania ports were more interesting because they weren't the big city/common Med ports of the Celebrity/Princess/etc ships, but there were a number of common ports that Oceania called on also.

 

So, make sure you are comparing Apples-Apples when you are comparing costs. Oceania may well be worth it, but it isn't even near 'a wash' or balances out, at least the way we cruise.

 

Looking forward to trying a Luxury cruise, but I have talk us into not cruising two times on Celebrity to equal a single Luxury cruise.

 

Den

[Denny01]

In reference to my own post about is a Luxury Cruise worth two Celebrity cruises, I was thinking of that commercial where the guys were 'pricing' everything in hambugers. 'Boy, If I bought that, it would equal 10 hambugers!'. I thought it was neat, so now I measure everything in what it would equal in cruising.....'boy, if I replaced my old Honda CRV with a new one, that would equal 8 cruises!'.

 

Helps me keep things in perspective!

 

Denny

[Bruin Steve]

We're interested in giving it a try one of these days. What are the main differences between the lines? Is any alcohol included on Oceania? How is the casino? Do they have specialty dining?

 

Okay, first, I am an "Elite" Captains Club member on Celebrity and also a repeat guest on Oceania...The last two summers (my "BIG" annual vacation), we did a Med/Egypt/Israel cruise on Oceania in 2009 and a Baltic on Celebrity in 2010...My next three cruises are Oceania Marina to Europe this Summer and then Celebrity to Aus/NZ over Christmas/New Years and to Iceland and the Norwegian Fjords next summer...

 

As you might tell from that, I am a big fan of both lines...

 

Here are the main differences:

1) Ship size: Most of Celebrity's ships fall into two classes...The 91,000 gross ton, 1,950 passenger M-Class and the 122,000 gross ton, 2,850 passenger S-Class. Oceania has two different sized ships: The 30,000 gross ton, 686 passenger R-Ships and the new Marina and upcoming Riviera--66,000 gross tons and 1250 passengers. As you can tell, Oceania's ships are considerably smaller. There are trade-offs to this. With fewer people, the ships are far quieter. The venues are smaller. The variety of onboard activities are less. OTOH, the smaller size makes it possible to visit some smaller and more unique ports. The atmosphere is a little more laid back.

 

2) Open Seating Dining: Celebrity has "traditional" dining with assigned tables and seating times, for the most part. Oceania is all open seating--you show up to the Main Dining Room and are seated when you arrive. I don't like Open Seating on large, more crowded ships...there is an incentive to move you through and often you have to wait for a table. But, on Oceania, with a small ship and an ample sized dining room, it works well. And it is ideal for unusual itineraries where your times in each port varies.

 

3) Attire: Celebrity is still fairly traditional and has those "Formal Nights". Oceania is casual (What they call "Country Club Casual"--which is always open for interpretation). It is okay to just dress casually every night.

 

4) Children: Oceania has no kids' or teens' program and so it attracts very few families with children. Due to this, plus cost plus length of most cruises, the demographics tend to be a bit older. I have seen it claimed that the average age on Oceania is 55, but, I'm in my 50s and I usually feel like I'm one of the younger folks onboard. I'd guess 60s is pretty standard, though, with any ship, there are a wide array of ages.

 

5) Entertainment: Entertainment on Celebrity is clearly better, for the most part, since they have the facilities (a dedicated showroom with all of the sound, lighting and backstage facilities). The Oceania R-Ships have no dedicated showroom...they use a cocktail lounge, so, productions are pretty simple and the entertainment has been known to be a bit amateurish. Whereas Celebrity has a dedicated staff of professional entertainers onboard, Oceania, with smaller crew numbers, has the Cruise Director's Assistants double as singers/entertainers....of course, some of them CAN be pretty good...Hopefully, this improves on the new ships as they DO have a dedicated showroom...

 

The rest is pretty much similar...Pricing tends, from our experience, when compared "apples to apples", to run about 15% higher on Oceania (you need to figure in the variations on pricing--account for the "Free Air" or air credit, include fees and taxes, etc.)...Oceania also tends to have a greater gap between inside to oceanview to balcony.

 

The Specialty Restaurants on Oceania are at no additional charge. You will pay for alcohol on either line. I believe, IIRC, that Oceania has started including soft drinks.

 

Cabins are nice on both ships...

 

We prefer the food on Oceania, but the food on Celebrity is pretty good as well...I have no problem enjoying my meals on either. I find the service on Celebrity a bit better due to the traditional seating assignments and quickly familiar wait staff...but service is pretty good on Oceania as well...

 

Due to the average age of passengers, Oceania ships tend to quiet down fairly early...Usually, into the evening, after dinner and show are over, the casino is about the only venue with any activity...

 

The Casino on Oceania (R-ships, at least) is pretty small and lacks some of the usual games...but it's all relative to the size of the ship.

 

Azamara, BTW, is pretty close to Oceania in most respects.

 

The history is this: There used to be a cruise line called "Renaissance"...They owned 8 basically identical ships--the "R-Ships"...They went bankrupt in 2001...The ships were then sold to different cruise lines (some detoured a couple of times on their way to their current owners). Oceania was started by Frank Del Rio, a former Renaissance executive, and they bought thre of the ships--now renamed the Oceania Regatta, Insignia and Nautica (The Marina and Riviera are "Newbuilds"). Princess acquired three of the ships and renamed them the Pacific Princess, the Royal Princess and the Ocean (was "Tahitian") Princess. The last two were chartered to European line Pulmantur...but, in 2007, aquired by Royal Caribbean/Celebrity. Originally, Celebrity intended to add these to the Celebrity fleet...then they got into negotiations to possibly acquire Oceania with the intent of adding these two to that fleet. That deal fell through. While they were doing their due diligence on Oceania, they decided to, basically, copy most of the operation (open seating, no formal nights, etc.) and apply it to those two ships and create a new line--Azamara...naming the ships the Azamara Quest and Azamara Journey...

 

So, basically, Azamara is a copy of Oceania--with a few different tweaks--same ships, same basic concepts...

 

For us, I slightly prefer Celebrity...but we choose our cruises based largely on itinerary...and we know we will enjoy either line...So, when I see a great itinerary on Oceania and it fits our schedule, I grab it...If one worked for us on Azamara, I would consider that as well...

 

If you think you might like Oceania, go ahead and give it a try...Hope this helps...

[tcook052]

FWIW just for interest last night I priced out Oceania vs. Celebrity and found what was a fairly close match for product and itinerary: Oceania came to approx $15,000 for a 21 day Panama Canal sailing San Francisco to New York 9th Sept on Regatta in a moderate balcony cabin including air & taxes for a couple while Celebrity's 17 day Infinity sailing 26th Sept. Seattle to Fort Lauderdale in C1 with approx. air from my hometown was just under $10,000. That Celebrity total of course doesn't include shore excursions, specialty restaurant costs or bottled water/sodas as Oceania does so that amount could add as much as $500-$1000 to the Celebrity total for a couple making the overall difference $4000 or $2000 each for a true luxury cruise line on a itinerary that's 4 days longer.

 

Now I won't pretend this price comparison holds up on all sailings all the time but it does illustrate how the cruise lines compare for pricing. The fact there is a difference to me comes down to one being a luxury and the other a premium cruise product and wouldn't you expect the luxury item to be a little more?

 

Is Oceania worth the difference? Surely to some but that decision is up to each of us and we make those kind of brand choices daily whether it's Lexus over Ford or Four Seasons over Westin hotels. Just my input on the matter. :)

[We're The Groupnors]

We are also looking into Oceania, though we haven't cruised with them yet. One of the draws for us is that all non-alcoholic beverages are included (DH does not drink alcohol), as are all the specialty restaurants (2 on the older ships, and 4 on the new Marina and soon to be launched Riviera). While the Marina and Riviera are smaller than the current X ships they are about the same size that most ships were when we began cruising, so they'd be big enough for us.

 

I would encourage you to order their DVD. It gives great interior tours of the ships, and talks a lot about the included services. Supposedly, Oceania has the highest per meal cost of any cruieline (higher even than the very premium lines), and from what friends have told us the extra money shines through in the quality of the food.

 

In our price comparisons we would likely not book Oceania for a one week Caribbean cruise, but with some shore excurions included, it makes sense for us price-wise on some of the longer European itineraries.

 

Good luck with your choice.

[Denny01]

Steve - great writeup! That helps us a good deal, and puts a lot into perspective.

 

Den

[TLCOhio]

Super great summaries by both Bruin Steve and kelmac. We are getting ready for our first on Celebrity with the Solstice after doing smaller ships. Lots of plus and minus, pro-con factors to consider. It does boil down BOTH to "bang for your buck" and what routings fit your personal needs and travel interest. Lots of good factors to consider. Fortunately, we've got options and choices. This will be our fourth cruise, each time with a different line. Have loved all of them!!

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

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http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[cruzmaven]

In our price comparisons we would likely not book Oceania for a one week Caribbean cruise' date=' but with some shore excurions included, it makes sense for us price-wise on some of the longer European itineraries.[/quote']

 

Just so no one is confused, I don't think Oceania includes any shore excursions in their pricing. Their sister line, Regent includes excursions, not Oceania.

[cpgrneyes]

For a loyal Celebrity cruiser, I'd strongly suggest checking out Azamara. Your elite status will be honored on Azamara, and their loyalty program has great perks such as laundry, free internet minutes, etc.

 

Azamara's prices have increased since their rebranding a year ago, but they include all non-alcoholic drinks including coffee drinks, free-flowing wine at lunch and dinner, and all gratuities. I've found their prices consistently lower than Oceania's.

 

Having never sailed Oceania, I can only repeat what many who have sailed both say. The food may be a notch higher on Oceania, but the crew and overall feeling is warmer on Azamara.

 

The smaller ship experience works for us - we dislike formal nights, and the ease of getting on and off a ship with fewer than 700 pax compared to the long lines of bigger ships makes things more carefree.

[Denny01]

.....Azamara's prices have increased since their rebranding a year ago, but they include all non-alcoholic drinks including coffee drinks, free-flowing wine at lunch and dinner, and all gratuities.....

.

 

Soooo, if I extend Lunch from 11am to 4pm and start dinner about 5pm until 9pm, I can drink free wine all that time?? Wow, what a great setup! Of course I'd weigh 400#, but what the heck, I'd be drinking Free!

 

I know, we should be over at the Oceania and Azamara forums to discuss some of this, but just couldn't let that one go.

 

Den

[Cruise Junky]

Susie, not sure if you were planning on bringing your son or not, but if you are, I don't think I'd recommend Oceania. No kids club, nothing to do, no one to play with and other guests that aren't expecting kids.

[3418ahl]

There are many extensive reviews up here already, however, I must say that having been on all three lines in the past year, we prefer Azamara. We did not like being limited to one seating at each specialty restaurant on Oceania. Since there are no gratuities on Azamara, we prefer going to the specialty restaurant at $15 pp as many times as we like. The food on both is fairly equal, certainly above Celebrity. The staff on Azamara is WAY above the rest. Also, the free shuttles provided in every port by Azamara made things much easier.

[nedward]

We're interested in giving it a try one of these days. What are the main differences between the lines? Is any alcohol included on Oceania? How is the casino? Do they have specialty dining?

 

No formal attire required, thank goodness!!!! :D

 

Rgds, Ned

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Oceania is nice but small. I was 41 when I sailed on Regatta and I was probably one of the youngest by far and this was a Caribbean cruise. I have been told that the other itineraries have even fewer young people.

 

What I did like... the pool was never really crowded and the pool chairs were cushiony and wonderful. The pool was small but again- I was one of maybe three people in it.

 

I love the food... best I have had on any cruise

 

Loved that it was never formal but everyone did dress nicely.

 

The stream room in the gym bathroom was fantastic and I was usually the only one in there.

 

The cabins are no bigger than Celebrity and the comforters made it kind of hot- so I'd give an edge to Celebrity for cabin function.

 

The casino was really small and uncrowded but my sisters and husband gamble- so there were people at the blackjack table.

 

It was great being able to quickly disembark and embark... no real lines.

 

I loved the library and spent lots of time there.

 

Cons..

 

Shows were pretty dull

 

There was zero nightlife

 

I felt alot of movement in the specialty restaurants to the point where I was nauseated

 

We did not enjoy our spa treatments and the spa employees seemed bored and miserable.