Oceania Dining

[anamarieus]

I am very interested to know what everyone thinks of Oceania's Food venues and the Toscana and Polo restaurants. I would love to hear about the Waves Pool Grill, the grand dining room, Polo, Toscana, Room Service, Tapas, Desserts, Canapes, etc.

 

I would love to read honest, detailed, thoughtout reviews of the food - Good and Bad. Thank you!

[Jane110]

We think that the food on Oceania is wonderful in all the restaurants and we don't feel that the specialty restaurants have better food than the Grand Dining Room, just different. To be honest, you can always get a steak for plain grilled fish in the GDR, so Polo isn't that big a draw for us.

 

The tapas bar is great too and is located where they have the breakfast and lunch near the pool. They dress up the tables and chairs with nice linens and make some wonderful paella's and tapas.

 

We don't generally go to afternoon tea because it's simply too much food for us to have a snack at 4:00 and then dinner at 8:00, but if you do get there, the scones are some of the best I've ever had. Better than in London, IMO.

Also never had canapes sent to our room, again because of just not wanting food before dinner. Dinners are multi coursed. We've had the canape's at some of the onboard parties and they're pretty good. Nothing to "write home about", but fine.

 

The burgers and panini served poolside are fantastic.

 

Desserts are wonderful. Everyday by the pool there's a stand that serves wonderful homemade ice cream. My only regret is that they don't have their fantastic chocolate mint chip everyday. We were on the inaugural cruise and the italian restaurant had a chocolate lasagne that was "to die for", unfortunately, they took that off the menu. :(

 

The only room service we've ever ordered is breakfast. The only negative comment is that they don't mark the regular coffee from the decaf - the delivery person points it out to you. Makes me nervous that they could make a mistake and DH absolutely cannot have caffeine, so I feel like we always take a bit of a gamble there.

 

Breakfast and lunch up at Horizons, by the pool is a good buffet with a nice variety. I never had lunch in the GDR but I hear it's very good.

[meow!]

I agree with Jane110, Oceania's food is good. It may be like Celebrity eight years ago (most lines have declined in food in the last decade). It has perhaps even more (published) variety than Silversea (you can pre-order your favourites on Silversea what is not on the menu), and except for (sevruga) caviar and foie gras (which can be ordered liberally on Silversea for free, but only on specific occasions on Oceania), the two are comparable.

 

The poolside grill on Oceania is very good, you can have fried halibut as well as a lot of other stuff (on Silversea you can only have hot dogs, hamburgers and salad at their poolside grill), and we often ate there in the afternoon when we returnd from shore say at 2 p.m. during our Mediterranean cruise aboard the Regatta in April last year.

 

The Tappas buffet at dinner gained popularity as the voyage went on. People got to know it had just about everything that you could pick on your own and there was usually lots of tables available. You get the freedom of a buffet, eating at your own pace and don't have to wait for service.

 

One other point most people don't mention, but we appreciate is that at the breakfast and lunch buffet, most of the time, you select the items you want, and an attendant will put it on your plate for you. This way, passengers don't have to all touch the utensils, therefore lessening "cross contamination" among fellow passengers, and substantially raising sanitory standards (colds, flus and Norwalk viruses spread via such contacts). We really appreciate this feature, but it can be practical only on Oceania's relatively small ships, and would be difficult on a megaliner.

 

In this day and age of high blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol, it is not the amount of food (large sized portions) that is wanted, but rather the quality and sanitation (those who want to eat more can always order more servings for free, or several dishes for variety). In such aspects, at least by our experience, Oceania has done well. Besides, the dining room staff are mostly jovial, and fellow passengers tend to be folksy. Hope this helps.

[LHT28]

I have to agree with the others ... the food was great

 

I don't think hubby missed afternoon tea...that was the highlight of his trip! LOL

The food was excellent...I never had a bad meal.

The desserts ...well what can I say ..bring back the chocolate lasagna:)

 

The pool grill... we had Panni, Veg bugers and regular burgers... the best

The capucino is very good also

 

i am surprised I only gained 3 pounds on a 12 day cruise :D

[ARTGRL]

We found the venues for food to be varied and excellent, each different in their own way. Having said that, we found the Grand dining room to be surprisingly consistently excellent, and there was something nice about having the same table with the same waiters, who knew what you like, once you found a table you like! We always seemed to be the last ones in and out, so certain tables were available I guess from earlier diners.........The Tapas bar was a good alternative for a more casual dinner, but I could be confusing it with another ship.....who can remember anymore? I guess the food is as good as the chef onboard, but certainly presentation and variety on the Insignia were first rate. I forgot, lunches are the best, either by the grill or the buffet- fabulous hamburgers! We will all roll off the boat at the end of the trip and we can't wait!

[lcand1923]

The burgers at the poolside grill are some of the best! There is an ice cream cart next to the grill with some excellent ice cream.

 

We do not generally frequent buffet lines, but Oceania's are different. Servers put the food on your plate. You do not have a tray - just an oversized plate. We went to the buffet for breafast each morning and visited Tapas most nights for dinner.

 

For breakfast - omelets can be made to order. The French Toast is good. The Pain du Chocolate is great!

 

Tapas for dinner had an excellent variety of food. They would make Caesar Salad to order. The buffet always included a good variety of seafood. It usually had chicken and some sort of roast meat.

 

The paella varied - some time it was good, other times it was just OK. We did not like the sangria.

 

The desert buffet was excellent. They had that excellent ice cream.

 

Toscana was excellent! The chocolate lasagna was to die for - I hope they put it back on the menu.

 

We were not overly impressed with Polo. The beef was OK, but the beef at Tapas was just as good. The only thing that was praise worthy was the aspargus.

 

We had one meal at the Grand Dining Room. Everything was good.

 

We never visited the afternoon tea. We did not use room service.

[digby]

We thought the food on the Insignia was the best of any ship we have been on. We ate twice at each specialty restaurant and thought both were wonderful. The beef in Polo was as good as one gets at the top steakhouses in NYC, Chicago, and San Francisco.

[jfb128]

Digby

 

Sorry to disagree with you but Polo Grill does not come close to the top steak houses in NYC, Chicago, San Francisco or even my current home town of Los Angeles. It is good and better than the run of the mill but the beef is not prime.

 

Having said that the other three restaurants are very good. Our favorite remains the Grand Dining Room and most items at Toscana were very good.

[digby]

Digby

 

Sorry to disagree with you but Polo Grill does not come close to the top steak houses in NYC, Chicago, San Francisco or even my current home town of Los Angeles. It is good and better than the run of the mill but the beef is not prime.

 

IYO! You may have more educated taste buds, but we thought it was great and we do know steaks. (We have had many GREAT steaks that were not prime.)

[digby]

"Sorry to disagree with you but Polo Grill does not come close to the top steak houses in NYC, Chicago, San Francisco or even my current home town of Los Angeles. It is good and better than the run of the mill but the beef is not prime."

 

You may have more educated taste buds, but we thought they were great, and we do know steaks. (We have had many GREAT steaks that were not prime.) Just a case of personal taste!

[doree]

Sorry.........we are on a cruise ship.....not in a city!!!!! IMO........no comparison and I dont know how you can!!!!!!!!

[cdncruiselover]

We've just returned from a cruise on the Regatta (Barcelona to Stockholm) and we have to say the dining experience was wonderful. The main dining room was elegant and very much like fine dining in a grand hotel and the open seating was so nice!

 

The buffet was sometimes hard to find a table as we seemed to always hit it at a busy time but for most meals we preferred the dining room or a burger on the deck.

 

Having the options of the Polo Grill (steaks and seafood) or the Toscana (Italian) was such a treat and unlike many cruise lines we were not charged extra. We were allowed to linger and take our time and enjoy the wide rnage of wines. The Toscana was our favourite and we were able to eat there 3 evenings. I think we managed at least 2 if not 3 in the Polo Grill. (17 day cruise)

 

DEFINATELY THE BEST FOOD WE'VE FOUND ON ANY CRUISE LINE.

[What A Market]

well, i think you can make comparisons to food quality on land vs sea, but you sure need to make sure that's the point you're making. that said, the finest land-based restaurants can beat, hands down, a cruise line every day. in part i think this is a result of the freshness factor on land.

 

we were on regatta for two weeks last summer. i agree with the posters here who say this is the best cruise dining experience they've had. i was particularly impressed with the food in the grand dining room. odd though, at times the occassional sense of "snootyness" made its presense felt. perhaps as a result of travelling with my two teenagers. it was an odd sensation though, particularly on a cruise line. note this never occured in the specialty venues, only the grand dining room. i'm curious if anyone else has ever had the same experience on oceania.

[digby]

"at times the occassional sense of "snootyness" made its presense felt."

 

Could you give an example of this. I didn't experience any such behavior, but we didn't have any kids with us.

[What A Market]

the individual (head captain) you checked in with and the head maitre de in the dining room itself seemed to enjoy acting aloof in front of us. mind you, we've had the same experience in some of the top restaurants in the states as well as europe, and always when i have my kids with me. both kids are fluent in three languages and have travelled throughout europe with us and on their own for years. they were much less tolerent of this game when they sensed it was being played. my overall take: these "gentlemen" felt this was the proper attitude for the head wait staff to assume in a fine dining establishment. mostly pretty laughable.

 

interesting side note, the waiter we had on three seperate occasions at polo became so close with us that my teenagers still correspond with him by e-mail.

[fjdelrio]

JFB 128

 

Food tastes are a very personal choice and I respect everyone's opinion. I am delighted to hear that the overwhelming majority of our guests really enjoyed all their meals onboard Regatta and Insignia.

 

But I would like to make it pefectly clear to everyone and in particular to JFB 128, that Oceania Cruises ONLY serves USDA PRIME AGED BEEF in Polo.

 

Frank Del Rio

President and CEO

Oceania Cruises

[mike35]

Thanks for the confirmation, Frank. The beef we relished in Polo on our recent Insignia Istanbul - Athens cruise was as wonderful as anything we've experienced at Ruth's Chris, Smith and Wolensky, Morton's, etc. Coupled with service and presentation, it was a thoroughly outstanding dining experience.

 

One other comment re the food at Tapas. One of the posters seemed to indicate that it had "a bunch of salads", implying that there wasn't a good selection of other items. Nothing could have been further from the truth on our cruise. The selections at Tapas were highly varied, with several delectable entrees ranging from fish to other seafood to various meats, plus soups, terrific side dishes, wonderful appetizers - a real winner for those who wanted a bit more casual and quicker than the other 3 dining venues.

 

Mike

[esther e]

We think the beef in Polo was about the best we've ever had. And the hamburgers on the pool also about the best. We jokingly started judging cruise ships by their poolside hamburgers a few years ago, and it has become an obsession to find good hamburgers! Oceania fills the bill!!!

Esther

[phlewt]

We ate at Polo three times during our 12/17/04 Insignia cruise (we also ate at Toscana three times). The first two times at Polo my steak came out more done than what I ordered (I ordered medium-rare, and it was served medium-well done). The third time I ordered it rare and it was served medium-rare. The meat is very good, and I applaud Frank del Rio and Oceania for using prime beef. On our next cruise I will order my meat rare -- if it is served rare, it shouldn't be too much problem to send it back for a little tune up. :)

 

In my opinion, Toscana is absolutely the best restaurant at sea.

[FinelyCruising]

I need to get on one of these ships! :)

[esther e]

Yes, you do!!!!

Esther

[FinelyCruising]

Just hung up the phone with TA. I am booked!!!! So....what else do I need to know since I am first timer on this line? :)

[sfbear]

The first two times at Polo my steak came out more done than what I ordered (I ordered medium-rare, and it was served medium-well done). The third time I ordered it rare and it was served medium-rare. The meat is very good, and I applaud Frank del Rio and Oceania for using prime beef. On our next cruise I will order my meat rare -- if it is served rare, it shouldn't be too much problem to send it back for a little tune up. :)

 

 

We were on the same South America cruise and interestling experienced the same medium-rare/medium well issue. After the first time I too, as well as the rest of our carnivors began ordering all of our beef rare and it came perfectly. We especially enjoyed the prime rib, not only in Polo (with the biggest serving I have ever seen) but in the Grand Dining Room as well. Friends did a European trip recently on Regatta and raved about Polo as well. Just a reminder, don't forget to have a Shrimp Cocktail (if you are so inclined) in Polo. . . . they are equally as impressive.

 

Rich

[HotlantaCruiser]

Somtimes the mass market cruise lines take liberties with a "tapas" room, and often miss the mark. From what I have read, Oceania actually has Spanish styled tapas.

 

My question is, did they ever offer any Iberian Ham (either sliced, on baguettes, etc).

 

Fell in love with the stuff on our Celebrity cruise that ended in Barcelona last year, and would be ecstatic to learn that it was on the Insignia (BA to Rio for Carnival in '06).