Just back from Venice to Rome ten day cruise

[ffnole]

:). Time time Oceania cruisers. Started with Disney and primarily sailed the larger RCL and Princess lines. Fourth cruise in Europe in past five years. Took private port tours throughout so no perspective on Oceania value in that regard.

 

Will keep this high level and hopefully simple to follow. Will try to be very objective in summary thoughts. Arrived in Venice several days before the cruise which was quite enjoyable but still crowded for October. Stayed over this past weekend in Rome...and it was typical crowded as well. Had great weather in both cities and throughout the cruise except for one day in Corfu, a complete wet and windy washout but got out there touring anyway. Missed Montenegro due to the port being closed for high winds. Got involved in a late afternoon wild hail storm in Dubrovnik but our touring for the day had ended. Tendered twice.

 

Overall- Very impressed with food and overall service throughout the cruise and the beautiful Marina. The vast majority of cruise passengers we talked to had a great time. In fact talked to not one soul who had major issues. Rate it 4.7 stars on a five scale/nothing is perfect but this was pretty close. We had a Penthouse 3 suite. High percentage of passengers from the US and very high english speaking population.

 

Positives-

Food- As most everyone has mentioned, the food on this ship is outstanding. Hard to imagine anyone could find reason to complain with the multitude of choices. Terrace Cafe was a jewel for all three meals but a surprise at dinner. How can you top grilled lobster tails, steaks, kabobs and vegies every night. Ate at all four specialty restaurants and loved them all. Beautiful designs, great service and wonderful tastes and preparation. Also thought La Reserve was the highlight of the cruise and worth the $75 upchage. I have paid $500 for two in NY for a five course meal with wine pairings at a great Mario Batali Italian restaurant that was no better. Great value for a terrific three hour evening with interesting people. Main dining room was very good the two times we tried it.

 

Service- With a few minor exceptions (noted below), service from our butler, room attendent and in all the restaurants was excellent. Lots of smiling faces around the ship, including the cruise director. Front desk cashes euros at a reasonable exchange rate (adds to your bill).

 

Ambience- Ship is drop dead beautiful and easy to navigate. I liked the size much better than the 2000+ ships we have been on before. We hit the track and exercise room but not the spa. Took the stairs whenever possible to counter balance all the lobster tails.

 

Country Club Casual- I liked it...no ties which I wear for a living. People dressed well and appropriate for the most part. Very nice well educated and well traveled crowd on the ship.

 

The Beds- best we have had on a cruise ship. Better than home:). The Penthouse 3 was great.

 

Boarding and Departing was a breeze. I like getting off whenever you feel like it...not color code tags with assigned times.

 

Guest Lecturers- Spent time with cameraman extraordinaire (just ask him) Joe Dimaggio in his camera workshop classes. Very interesting guy. Fun times.

 

Culinary School- had a hard time going at 430 with all the day touring but did attend the pizza making class and had a blast. What a great concept.

 

No kids (just one) and very limited smoking areas. For us that was a home run. Like the concept of an all adult cruise with active passengers. We did our Disney time:).

 

Room for Improvement-

Entertainment- no reason to expand on what others have said. Just not a place Oceania puts a lot of money or effort but not missed on a cruise with no sea days. Not surprised after all after the comments here and no big deal imo. People that went to shows seemed to enjoy themselves.

 

Spa- we didn't have much time for the spa anyway with a busy schedule. Prices were double what we have paid on other cruise ships. That was the only observation.

 

Conceirge- on level five was a "grump bag" to most passengers. Actually sort of funny after a while...the guy was at least consistent. How he got that job i have no idea but a change is in order. This was the rare exception to otherwise exceptional service.

 

Penthouse 3 Shower- felt like I was in a car wash albeit a tiny one at that. It worked but could have been better designed. Loved all the storage space in the bathroom.

 

Executive Lounge- has no limited access so anyone can wander in and use it. Attendent was rarely on duty. It was a nice perk but have seen better.

 

Overall I highly recommend Marina and will be cruising it again next August to the Baltics. Had a great time.

[Paulchili]

Great review - thanks for taking the time.

I am glad you had a good cruise. :)

[luv1another4ever]

Thanks for sharing, glad that you had a great time.

[globevest]

Thanks for the report. We were booked on your cruise but changed to the same cruise now scheduled 12 Nov 11 because of friends timing conflicts. Did the Baltic cruise on Marina this past June. I am sure you will enjoy it.

[Dmgmd50]

Enjoyed your review. We were on the same cruise and loved it despite the fact that we missed Kotor, were rained out in Corfu and Dubrovnik, and could not tender in Taormina.

 

From reading the CC boards, we were prepared for horrible entertainment, had low expectations, and were actually pleasantly surprised by some of the shows, especially the "Whitney Houston" show.

 

We were in a verandah cabin and found it to be more than adequate, even with the small shower. (Of course, if I had unlimited money, I would love a penthouse suite.) Enjoyed six dinners in the specialty restaurants and thought they were all excellent. We did not care for the GDR, but we had been warned that it was weak.

[Imagineer]

...nice review, just curious about one item in the review, "Missed Montenegro due to the port being closed for high winds." Did the ship actually enter the fjord leading into Kotor and it was too windy, or did they just announce they couldn't go there? The port of Kotor is at the end of a lengthy fjord, a beautiful journey all on its own. It is unfortunate you couldn't enjoy it...

 

cheers,

 

the Imagineer

[findacruise]

Enjoyed your review and glad you enjoyed yourselves. Thanks for not beating the "dead entertainment or shower horses!" Hope you enjoy your Baltic cruise. Happy cruising.

[wripro]

ffnole,

 

Thanks for the comprehensive review.

 

If you felt like the shower in the PH was small be glad you weren't in a regular cabin.

[Paulchili]

ffnole,

 

Thanks for the comprehensive review.

 

If you felt like the shower in the PH was small be glad you weren't in a regular cabin.

 

Indeed:D

[dalia]

Dmgmd50, How did your transfers in Venice work out?

Did u like the taxi airport transfers or didt wind p booking somebody else?

[ffnole]

We were scheduled to leave Dubrovnik late evening. A front had passed over the area that afternoon with hail and flooding rains and left high winds behind it. We awoke the next morning and to our surprise had not moved. I kept thinking Kotor looks just like Dubrovnik:). The Croatian port authority had closed our port the prior evening and we were not allowed to depart. Once the ports were open around 9am the next morning we had to skip Kotor per the Captain. So never saw the fjords.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the great review!

 

Kirk

[CintiPam]

Thanks for posting your review; thorough and very helpful to future Marina sailors.

[skandls]

Did you fly out the same day as you left the ship? Did you use Oceania transfers? I am looking at 12:55 pm flight from FCO to JFK and would like to know if that is too early.

[ffnole]

We spent the weekend in Rome. However, we exited the ship by 8am and would have been pushed to make a late morning flight (only one direct a day to our hometown). It is doable but all depends on Rome traffic. The airport is close to the coast from Rome and traffic is heavy during the week. You also really need to be there at least 2-2.5 hours before your flight. I would think your 155 flight time would be easy to make. We used a private company that day because we were touring before checking in the hotel late afternoon. Stayed at the St Regis which was convenient to most city sites and beautiful.

[Dmgmd50]

Dmgmd50, How did your transfers in Venice work out?

Did u like the taxi airport transfers or didt wind p booking somebody else?

 

We got a regualr taxi at the Venice airport for the transfer to the ship. I think it was 30 or 40 Euros. No problem at all.

 

We disembarked in Rome. We were the last group to get off (9:00 AM) and were at the airport before 10:30, so we had to wait a while for our flight to 1:20 flight to Frankfurt.

 

As far as missing Kotor went, we woke up in the morning, looked out our verandah and thought all the towns look alike, not realizing that we had never left Dubrovnik! We thought that we had very smooth sailing.

[skandls]

Thanks for the info. We booked our own air and got credit. With the custom fee it would have been more expensive. We are planning to fly in a week early.

[Dmgmd50]

Did you fly out the same day as you left the ship? Did you use Oceania transfers? I am looking at 12:55 pm flight from FCO to JFK and would like to know if that is too early.

 

I originally had booked a private car to pick us up at the pier and transfer us to the airport. However, because there had riots in Rome the week before, I got "cold feet" and decided to book the ship's transfers. As it turned out the car service would have been fine and would have been lamost half the price for the two of us. In either case, you will have no problem getting to the airport in time for your flight.