Rare fb0075 Posted December 18, 2011 #1 Share Posted December 18, 2011 How BADDDD is it? after 98 cruises, we are booked for the RIO to Barcelona T/A--- Our first O cruise== We enjoy the enyertainment onboard--dont care for Strings and such but enjoy shows and dance music== really concerned that 16 days might be too long!! THANKS FRANK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted December 18, 2011 #2 Share Posted December 18, 2011 We enjoy the enyertainment onboard--dont care for Strings and such but enjoy shows and dance music== THANKS FRANK You might be disappointed then Depends on the ship what the shows will be like ..the Oceania Class ship has more production numbers compared to the R-ships They do have string quartets during tea time & early evening but if you do not like that type of music just avoid those areas Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted December 18, 2011 #3 Share Posted December 18, 2011 How BADDDD is it? after 98 cruises, we are booked for the RIO to Barcelona T/A--- Our first O cruise== We enjoy the enyertainment onboard--dont care for Strings and such but enjoy shows and dance music== really concerned that 16 days might be too long!! THANKS FRANK If you are cruising for the entertainment, you are DEFiNiTELY on the wrong cruise line. Try Carnival, Disney or RCI (Oasis). :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted December 19, 2011 #4 Share Posted December 19, 2011 The entertainment is as bad as the food is good. I find it unbearably painful. There are many other ways to enjoy an O cruise. If you expect nothing in terms of entertainment you will not be disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitraveler Posted December 19, 2011 #5 Share Posted December 19, 2011 This is Insignia's last voyage as an Oceania ship. It is been sent out for 2 years on a charter and being renamed. My guess is there will be some unusual events on this voyage, would not do it to sample Oceania but as a goodbye cruise for an old friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchestrapal Posted December 19, 2011 #6 Share Posted December 19, 2011 The entertainment is as bad as the food is good. I find it unbearably painful. . Agreed, why would you choose Oceania if you want great entertainment?:confused: It's the one area where they really fall short. Thankfully it something we can do without.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted December 19, 2011 #7 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I suppose it is a question of just how important the entertainment is to you ... Do you want to see a fantastic show every night? Do you just want to see a few? Is it a way to pass time? Do you have a port intensive itinerary (because that can make a difference). We aren't wild about the entertainment on Oceania cruises but we DO go to a few shows each time. Sometimes we're pleased, sometimes not. But we're more likely than many to be less than pleased simply because we are classically-oriented. The typical glitzy show doesn't hold much interest to us. Excellent solo performers DO. So I am not sure any of us can give you a perfect answer as to whether you should cancel or not. We tend to go into dinner relatively late when we have the choice (around 8pm) which means that by the time we get out of the restaurant, we have missed the show anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love.II.Cruise Posted December 19, 2011 #8 Share Posted December 19, 2011 We've heard that the Entertainment on Oceania IS the food. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian_uk Posted December 19, 2011 #9 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Take a can of paint and watch it dry .......... far more entertaining Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crowpro Posted December 19, 2011 #10 Share Posted December 19, 2011 We were on Regatta for 24days last spring and the entertainment was very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribbeansun Posted December 19, 2011 #11 Share Posted December 19, 2011 The strings are about the best entertainment they have, the rest frankly are terrible and DW and I won't consider O for anything other than port intensive cruises. A T/A would be out of the question. How BADDDD is it? after 98 cruises, we are booked for the RIO to Barcelona T/A--- Our first O cruise== We enjoy the enyertainment onboard--dont care for Strings and such but enjoy shows and dance music== really concerned that 16 days might be too long!! THANKS FRANK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare fb0075 Posted December 19, 2011 Author #12 Share Posted December 19, 2011 THANKS this has been my impression of O for a long time--we enjoyed the "R" ships when they first came out but since they went bankrupt, we have stayed with Celebrity and Holland which seemed to fit us better-- Several T/A friends insisted we try this when the original deal came out over a year ago before the announced "charter" as a test but as today is "final payment" deadline. I am leaning toward cancelling-- The "charter" has concerned me for awhile --- not knowing how that will be handled is disturbing--BUT all in all--its just a matter of how it fits "US" Thanks again FRANK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribbeansun Posted December 19, 2011 #13 Share Posted December 19, 2011 IMO your TA friends aren't doing you a favour. For your first time on O with your stated desire for entertainment you'd be further ahead to try them out on an itinerary that was port intensive where you may learn that you don't need that much entertainment which is where again IMO O excels. Our routine is something like this - have breakfast around 8am, 9-4 touring, change and refresh, 5-6pm happy hour, 7-9 pm diner, 9-11 Martini's for a couple after diner drinks and maybe a couple hands of blackjack before retiring to our room to read for a hour or so. Rinse and repeat ;) THANKS this has been my impression of O for a long time--we enjoyed the "R" ships when they first came out but since they went bankrupt, we have stayed with Celebrity and Holland which seemed to fit us better-- Several T/A friends insisted we try this when the original deal came out over a year ago before the announced "charter" as a test but as today is "final payment" deadline. I am leaning toward cancelling-- The "charter" has concerned me for awhile --- not knowing how that will be handled is disturbing--BUT all in all--its just a matter of how it fits "US" Thanks again FRANK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted December 19, 2011 #14 Share Posted December 19, 2011 It is a personal taste All the entertainment is not bad just some of it ;) We do not like the production shows done by the CD & Staff but do enjoy the single performers ( most of the time) I would not base my cruise on the entertainment Everyone has different likes & dislikes People have done 20+ cruise on Oceania so they must be doing something right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare fb0075 Posted December 19, 2011 Author #15 Share Posted December 19, 2011 one last question-- movies do they show any at night? how many are on the TV? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loum140 Posted December 19, 2011 #16 Share Posted December 19, 2011 one last question-- movies do they show any at night? how many are on the TV? thanks Can only speak to the R class ships: There are 3 movie channels which show 3 movies each per day at various times, round the clock. Start times and schedules are in your stateroom. They range from new movies to classics. And there are more than 600 DVD titles you may borrow to view in your stateroom. There are also movies at night in the Lounge and occasionally in the afternoon - popcorn provided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare fb0075 Posted December 19, 2011 Author #17 Share Posted December 19, 2011 So their are dvds in the room? we are in a1--concierge class Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted December 19, 2011 #18 Share Posted December 19, 2011 So their are dvds in the room?we are in a1--concierge class You must go to reception for the DVD but they do provide a list of titles in the Cabin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floridiana Posted December 19, 2011 #19 Share Posted December 19, 2011 We've heard that the Entertainment on Oceania IS the food. :) The cooking shows on our Regatta cruise were every entertaining. Their French chef is TV worthy. I also liked the comedians and thought the magician was fun because he involved the audience and showed us how to do some tricks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floridiana Posted December 19, 2011 #20 Share Posted December 19, 2011 By the way, Insignia is online as Columbus 2 for Hapag Lloyd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capecodder2 Posted December 20, 2011 #21 Share Posted December 20, 2011 LHT28 is so right, it is all in the eyes & ears of the beholder. We really enjoy the CD & staff singing/dancing shows. I don't like the majority of the comedians and no magicians/ juggling, etc., for me. We have enjoyed most of the solo musicians. As also has been said, on port intensive cruises, we don't see a lot of the shows unless something "grabs" us. It is just not the main focus of the cruise. Happy sailing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baldercash Posted December 23, 2011 #22 Share Posted December 23, 2011 fb0075 (Frank) you have just concerns about the entertainment, if you spend time on this board you will come to the conclusion that it is just bad. Yes what determines good entertainment is subjective however general concensus is that it sucks and often embarassingly so. I sailed O from Buenos Aires to Barcelona this April, 19 days and the entertainment was brutal. There is no justification for it, O is a supposed upscale line that charges premium prices. We over nighted in Recife, instead of bringing on some local talent with a Brazilian flair they had a 50's party on deck. The standard defence is it doesn't matter it's all about the food so who cares. That's like joining a top golf coarse, paying premium fees and saying you don't care that the food in the club house sucks and the change rooms are decrepit as you only joined because of the greens! You mentioned you like dance music, if you like to dance you will be doing it by yourself. They have a live combo every night and then a DJ. We went every night and danced, sadly we were often the only couple on the dance floor, I think at one evening it may have maxed out at five couples. One evening the DJ asked us if it would be okay to shut it down as we were the only couple. We laughed about it and bragged to our friends back home how we closed the place down. Problem was it was only 11:00pm. If you like to gamble there is not much action in the casino, I signed up to play Texas holdem and they couldn't get enough players to hold a game over 18 days! The gym is small which is to be expected the trainer was very good but the equipment is dated and was very limited and not of good quality even when it was new. You wonder about the TV, well yes you can schedule your day so you can catch the start of a movie or go get a DVD from the front desk. Trust me it is a far cry from movies on demand and wifi in your room like on a Solstice class X ship and it won't be on a 40 inch LED tv either. The tapas buffet falls far short in my opinion of the buffet on a Solstice class as well. Yes the food in the MDR is very good but over 14 evenings we did send three entries back to the kitchen and wait service was a little erratic. We enjoyed the food in Blu the Aqua class dinning room on X better and thought the service was far superior. Without question the breakfast in Blu was far superior to anything on O. The fine dinning venues were good, we found them to be similar to Azamara. However they do not hold a candle to the fine dinning offered on Millenium class X ships, true it can cost over $100.00 a couple to fine dine on X but that starts with a champagne cocktail, paired wines with each coarse and a fine sherry as an aperitif. Doing that 4 times on a 14 day cruise would be cheaper then sailing O. But then it would be just about the food wouldn't it? I am retired and I don't need to vacation but I recently took my 87 year old mother on the Freedom of the Sea's. It was just me and her, the wife would have nothing to do with traveling with my mother. We had a great time. She loved the stage shows and we were both in awe over the ice show. She didn't rock climb or use the surf machine but she enjoyed watching me do them and when I finished we sat and watched the young people do them and we laughed. She enjoyed getting dressed up and being escorted by me in my Tux to the Captains party or to the Diamond members club or a show. Come to think of it my wife enjoys that as well! We do the same when we go out for fine dinning, a show or party when at home. But to each their own, we used to love sailing the Zenith and Horizon back in the day. We have enjoyed 2 trips on Azamara but our trip on O ............ My only question did you keep the booking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted December 23, 2011 #23 Share Posted December 23, 2011 I guess it's the Freedom of the Seas for you from now on. For me, you couldn't pay me enough to go on it :). No single cruise line/ship can please everyone - that goes without saying. It's nice to have all those choices - to each his/her own and that way everyone can be happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baldercash Posted December 23, 2011 #24 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Actually we are booked on a Star Clipper cruise next I have wanted to do that for a long time, no big production shows on it though and a R class ship will seem big! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulchili Posted December 23, 2011 #25 Share Posted December 23, 2011 Actually we are booked on a Star Clipper cruise next I have wanted to do that for a long time, no big production shows on it though and a R class ship will seem big!Cheers Enjoy your cruise. Do you know what the food will be like? I've always wondered about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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