4/27/05 Insignia Review, Athens to Rome

[ventura43]

Home from our cruse and ready to go back tomorrow! Here are my impressions of our trip:

 

PRE CRUISE

 

Arrived in Athens two days early and very glad we did. It took me a full day to shake the jet lag and I would not have wanted to go directly to the ship from the airport. In any case, the airline "misplaced" one of my bags and the extra time in Athens allowed me to get the bag back before we sailed. We booked the pre cruise hotel thru Oceania and stayed at the Intercontinental. Nice, clean hotel but a bit of a distance from everything we wanted to see. There was a Metro station about 0.3 miles away but we ended up using the tram which was only about 1 1/2 blocks away. It was cheap, clean, and easy to use. We felt very safe on both the Metro & tram and even rode them late at night. The transfers from the airport were smooth and the only hassle was my lost bag.

 

We did a lot of sightseeing and exploring on our own in Athens. We also booked a "dinner theatre" tour thru Oceania for the last night. They bussed us to a restaurant near the port. The food was so-so but the entertainment was fun and varied.

 

EMBARKATION

 

We arrived at the ship about noon and boarded immediately. Our stateroom was ready within about 20 minutes. We had upgraded from A2 to PH1 right before we left and I was glad we did. The extra space was nice as was the larger bathroom & veranda.

 

CREW

 

Outstanding crew. Our butler, Irik, was a gem. Whatever we wanted or needed he made happen. Joanna, the room stewardess, was always smiling and was flexible about doing the room according to our schedule. We had super service in all of the restaurants. The only place I didn't feel like we got top notch service was the concierge, destination services, and the front desk. We planned to leave the ship a day early for extra time in Rome and tried to get them to help us make arrangements but they all kind of passed the buck. Destinations said the concierge could help us with travel arrangements to Rome, the Concierge said try the Front Desk, and the Front Desk said it wasn't their job. I started asking about this the day we embarked and probably asked one of the above every other day how we could make transportation arrangements. As it ended up we took the train to Rome and our butler, Irik, helped us off the boat with our luggage.

 

FOOD

 

Overall the food was excellent. We had wonderful meals in both Polo & Toscana and ate twice in each. We also ate in the Grand Dining Room twice and enjoyed both of those meals. My husband loved Tapas on the Terrace but that's where we ate all our breakfasts so I was tired of it. It was great for breakfast but had a cafeteria feel to it for dinner. We didn't order room service but Irik told us we could have anything on ANY of the menus served in our room if we wanted. Portions were reasonable. Desserts were good, especially the creme brulee.

 

ITINERARY

 

This is the reason we chose this trip & this ship. The itinerary was exactly what we wanted. Our port of calls are listed below and I'd be happy to answer any questions about any of the ports we visited. We generally explored on our own and used one private tour and one ship's tour. Here's where we went:

 

Mykonos explored on our own w/ motor scooters

Rhodes explored on our own and rented a car for Lindos

Santorini explored on our own w/ motor scooters

Malta rented a taxi for the AM, walked around on our own in the PM

Sicily took ship's tour to Mt Etna and had a great lunch in the port town

Sorrento took the train to Pompeii on our own

Amalfi (Naples) we diverted to Naples but Drive Amalfi picked us up in Naples for our all day tour of the Amalfi coast. More on this in a minute...

Civitivecchia own our own for transport to Rome

Rome We did all this on our own.

 

 

DRIVE AMALFI

 

I had booked a day's tour of the Amalfi Coast with Salvatore months before our cruise. He was personally booked but assured us we would enjoy Adriano. He was right. This tour was the highlight of our cruise.

 

We were scheduled to tender in to Amalfi but weather forced the ship to divert to Naples. Salvatore had stayed in touch thru e mail and in fact I got an email from him that we would probably be diverted before the ship informed us. He assured us Adriano would pick us up in Naples. Good thing because Oceania cancelled all the ship's tours to the Amalfi Coast. This was the only overcast day we had but it was still a great experience. We ended up with 8 people on the tour ( I kept e mailing Salvatore to add more and there was no problem). Adriano picked us up in a large VW van. It was a tight squeeze for 8 plus driver but nobody really complained. Adriano made frequent stops for photo opportunities and gave us a lot of background info. We were also treated to recipes and song! (Adriano loves to cook & sing) I really felt we probably saw more than the ship's tours because we could go places in the car that the buses couldn't go. We had lunch in a charming little town called Pantone that included lots of lemoncello & meloncello. The food was good and we could order what we wanted. For the most part we decided to share "family style". Adriano got us back to the ship in plenty of time and overall I would say this was my favorite day of the trip. You can reach Drive Amalfi at *****

 

OVERALL

 

Great time, great ship, great people. We completely enjoyed ourselves, but we're also pretty easy to please. In my mind there is no sense in ruining your day over minor inconveniences. We would book Oceania again and plan to do so.

 

Please feel free to ask any questions.

 

Judi

[Hapster22]

Ventura,

 

Thanks for the review. As you might have read, we just got off the Regatta the other day, too. The one thing after reading your post that is really worrying me now is that you, too, went to Naples instead of Amalfi. I'm thinking of booking another Oceania cruise to the Greek isles next year, but now I'm a bit concerned about them changing/deleting ports on the proposed itinerary I'm looking at. You say that it was overcast and that's the reason they switched to Naples? Ours was "too much wind for the tenders" which turned out to be BS. Do you remember the date of your Naples docking?

 

Thanks.....

 

Hap

[Hapster22]

Or I suppose the better question to ask here is:

 

Has anyone sailed on an Oceania cruise that was advertised to tender in Amalfi and ACTUALLY TENDERED IN AMALFI????

[jfb128]

Yes our cruise in September of last year actually tendered in Amalfi . Salvatore met our party of 3 couples for a delightful day. We were on another cruise line years ago that had weather issues and we wound up in Naples. However, that occurred in the spring(May) and the time we made it was in late summer(September).

[ventura43]

You say that it was overcast and that's the reason they switched to Naples? Ours was "too much wind for the tenders" which turned out to be BS. Do you remember the date of your Naples docking?

We were scheduled to anchor at Amalfi on May 5th. I believe you were scheduled for May 4th? We were in Sorrento on May 4th and it was quite windy that day. They made the decision to change our port about mid afternoo that day. Apparently the anchorage at Amalfi is exposed to the south and if the wind is anywhere from southeast to southwest it makes for a difficult anchorage. Salvatore told us that repositioning to Naples occured 4 times last year for Oceania with all of them being in the Spring.

 

I would consider just booking a private tour at that time and make sure your driver can pick you up at either place. There were many disappointed people on Insignia because the ship cancelled all f its Amalfi tours. We were glad we had arrangements in place.

 

 

 

[Queen of Adventure]

Thanks for the review! I am considering an Oceania cruise and wondering if there sugar free or no sugar added desserts available (type 1 diabetes:p )

 

Thanks,

Ahnalira

[shipcruise]

Tendering can be difficult and dangerous in rough weather. I am sure that the intention was to tender in. One time we were tendering in and in the course of the day they actually had to move the ship in order to safely board. We are boaters ourselves and understand how quickly conditions can change. Even some smaller swells can be difficult to tender in. Book your cruise, no cruise can guarentee ports. Look how often cruise lines have to bypass their out islands in the Carribean because of conditions.

[1stCruiseKatie]

Thanks for the review! I am considering an Oceania cruise and wondering if there sugar free or no sugar added desserts available (type 1 diabetes:p )

 

Thanks,

Ahnalira

 

I was on the April 15 Istanbul to Athens aboard the Insignia. Every day there was one sugar free ice cream at the Waves Grill and in the Grand Dining Room there was always on sugar free dessert available. I only tried a few, but all were delicious. Cathy

[gemini g]

Just back from that same 4/27 sailing. I was not as impressed as Ventura, but did get to meet her and her husband at the Yahoo party. Some of the things I differ with are; We were in A2 concierge (not worth the extra money) and our steward was so so. It was the first cruise that the steward never called me by my name, only sir. After keeping abreast of Oceania on these boards I really expected something special. The food for the most part was very good. I also ate in both specialty resturants 2 times. Found the food better then the Grand dining room. However, I did get one of the worst meals I've ever had at Polo. Ordered an end cut Prime Rib (32oz) well done. It came out with more blood then I had ever seen on an end cut. It was loaded with fat and uneatable. Sent it back. I can't say the food was any better than my Akaskan cruise on

Holland America last year, or any other cruise with Princess or Celebrity. One thing for sure the room was smaller, and I always go for the smallest balcony room. Agree with Ventura that Tappas was caferteria style, but did get some good dishes there. Excursions were way overpriced. Just one example; The bus for Rome on your own, taking you into Rome and leaving you and then picking you up at the same place, was $89 a person. The free shuttle to the ports end gave you the same deal for 20 euros ( $26). WE followed the $89 bus in and it dropped us off and picked us up at the same place. I won't get into the overpriced drinks. If anyone has a specific question I will try to answer it. Finally with everything said I enjoyed the cruise and would go Oceania again if they had a cruise I wanted to do. But to go with them just to go with them , no way!

[mike35]

Gemini -- do you mind me asking your cabin number? We were also A2 4/15-4/27 Istanbul to Athens - cabin 7088, and we had the same issue with our steward. He was very efficient, but never really "personalized" with us. I wrote this comment on the mid-cruise comment form, and the next morning I was visited by the head of housekeeping, who seemed genuinely concerned and contrite. Overall, though, we absolutely loved the Insignia, and we're booked on it 1/3/06 for South America.

 

Mike

[ventura43]

I think part of the reason we got such great service was that both our stewardess & butler were Polish as is my husband. In fact, they used the Polish pronunciation of our name and corrected me when I used the Americanized version!

[busia1]

Gemini

 

I also think that $89 is too expensive just to take a passenger in to Rome. The cruise we were on several years ago was only about $49. I can't believe it has gone up that much. You mention a free shuttle and then a 20 euro fee. Was the 20 euro for a train or did you find a bus at the port in Rome?

 

I was hoping the food would be just as good or better than Celebrity but now I am beginning to wonder.

 

Since I'm Polish maybe I'll also get the Polish stewardess and have better service --

[gemini g]

MIKE: We were in 7098 and our friends in 7100 & 7102.

 

BUSIA1: We were going to take the train into Rome. The port supplies you with a free shuttle to the end of the pier. You are suppose to walk to the train station from there. On the shuttle they tell you that a private bus company is ready to leave from where they drop you and that you just missed the train and the next one is in 1 hour. 20 euro sounded like a great deal. When we got to Rome the traffic was so bad it took 2 hours instead of the 1:15 it was suppose to. The train was suppose to take 1 hour. It only took 1 hour and 15 minutes back by bus. Rome was a disaster. Soooooo many people. 4hour wait to get into Vatican Mus. and over 1 hour to get into St. Peters. Hving been there a few times already, we passed.

[busia1]

Gemini

Thanks for the quick response. We have been to Rome several times and I really want to just stay on the ship. However, I know that when we arrive my husband will say "let's go to Rome again." The last time we were on a cruise we decided to go to a Bernini exhibit in Rome and have a nice long lunch at a local restaurant (had dined there on previous visists). This avoided the crowds in the more popular area. No way would I wait an hour to go back into the Vatican. I hate lines. Maybe I can convince my husband to visit some ruins in a town closer to the port.

 

I recently went to Disneyland with my granddaughter. Thought it might be crowded because of the 50th anniversary. Amazingly, there were not any long lines. My kind of day!!

[mike35]

Gemini .. Unless his contract was up, we had the same steward as you, and I agree that he fell short when it came to personal contact. He did a very good job on our cabin, however.

 

Mike

[Dallen47]

Can you tell me a little more about this, how you did it and approximate cost?

 

We are taking the May 2006 cruise and are looking to line up some excursions now.

 

Thanks,

David