Returning to Cruising-Oceania's Marina

[frqttrvlr09]

After taking a 2 year break from cruising aside from a 2 week river trip in Europe in May, and doing some lengthy ground travel overseas instead (e.g.Mongolia, Tanzania,China, etc), I am considering taking a 10 day cruise on Marina from Stockholm to Copenhagen (with separate, significant ground and fjords travel on both ends). My most recent cruise experiences prior to my temporary cruise-break included 2 back to back Mediterranean cruises (Valencia to Venice) and 3 back to back cruises (Istanbul to Honk Kong) on Oceania "R" ships, and 3 back to back trips on Regent's Mariner (RT Ft.Lauderdale/Around South America, etc.). Marina had not yet made her maiden voyage when I "retired". I have tried to get up to date on Cruise Critic on opinions of Marina. I am leery of her size, primarily, and wondered if it impacted getting on and off the ship at ports. I have seen photos of the concierge suites and above, but because I would be travelling alone I will get hit with the single supplement, which makes them too expensive, so I would be in a veranda stateroom. For a little more money I can do the same or similar trip though completely port intensive, on Silversea's Silver Whisper. I was generally pleased with Oceania (service, food, few or no kids, restrictive smoking, library) and planned my own or joined private shore excursions because of the cost of and my disappointment with theirs. Someone who has cruised Marina offer their overall opinion on the ship and particularly if size is an issue? I am just imagining 1200 or so people converging on a port at the same time.

[Mura]

The only time we had a problem leaving Marina (last October) was at a tender port. For those of us not using ship's tours, we had a lengthy wait. Other than that, no problems at all. (OTOH, trying to leave a 2300 passenger NCL ship was a nightmare.)

 

Yes, it's a bigger ship but it isn't THAT big. JMO, of course.

 

We particularly liked the extra dining choices, and Terrace Cafe is quite spectacular on Marina. Many or our fellow passengers only dined there!

 

I would encourage you to consider trying Marina out. We have a very slight preference to the "R" ships over all ... but really enjoyed our time on Marina and would be happy to sail on her again. For us, it's more a question of itinerary than the ship itself.

 

Mura

[LHT28]

I found Marina was very much like the R-ship's except you have to walk a bit further to get to the different venues

No problem with disembarking in the ports but then again we were not "first off" type people

 

I found we did not bump into people we knew as much on Marina as we did on the smaller ships

Marina has a lot of plusses & a few minuses for us but we enjoyed both ship sizes

 

Lyn