Riviera Venice to Istanbul to Athens

[Emperor Norton]

Before I start this I should mention that apparently I've been very spoiled foodwise. Living in the SF/Napa area I have a lot of excellent restaurants from which to choose. When it comes to food and service I have very high standards. I realize a cruise won't provide a French Laundry like experience, but was expecting these cruises to provide a level of quality and service that I am used to receiving back home. And the standard disclaimer - food is highly subjective.:cool:

 

This trip starts off in San Francisco, at the Buena Vista Cafe. While they don't actually claim to have invented Irish Coffee they do in my opinion make one of the best. I like to start trips off here with a pint of Guinness and an Irish coffee to ward off any wee beasties.

 

After flying from San Francisco to Atlanta

I hopped another plane for the final leg to Venice. Once in Venice it was nice and bright, and sunny and HOT outside. First thing to do is grab a vaporetto and head to the hotel

After being told check in would have to wait a few hours I went to the concierge lounge to try to rest (I can't sleep on planes). When I looked out the window what should I see but

I went back to my and waited for check in.

[Emperor Norton]

It was interesting to see the window in my room. No bars on windows to keep children, drunks or the like in the room. There was however something I hadn't seen before, a mosquito warning and in the desk a mosquito plug in and tablets?

The view from the lounge near the hotel roof was quite nice

 

After a nice

The lights started to go down

With a Goodnight to the Spirit and Riviera it was time for an attempt at shut-eye

 

*Sadly my new for this trip card reader decided to eat most of my Venice images

[TERRIER1]

How are the mosquitos walking out and about?

[Emperor Norton]

The next morning it was time to grab another vaporetto and head over to the cruise terminal. The taxi just happened to dock right next to

Throughout the trip every time I saw a Seabourn ship it would be the closest to the port which jives with my previous Seabourn cruise. A nice little perk, sometimes.

 

We shared the cruise terminal with an MSC ship, an RCCI ship, a Carnival ship and the Seabourn Odyssey. It was a flat walk to the correct cruise terminal (our luggage was taken directly from the vaporetto to the ship). However the entrance nearest the vaporetto walkway was closed (boo). After entering the terminal and riding the escalator up I saw the check in lines (ok there weren't any lines at this point - we were early for Penthouse check in and had gotten there ahead of the massive group from the hotel:D) but it was interesting to note that there were different lines based on you cabin level. We were able to check in early and proceed directly aboard the ship.

 

Unlike other lines there is no champagne (or prosecco) welcome with an escort to your room (or lounge). Instead white gloved emplyees point the way to the central elevator bank. You take the elevators up to deck 12 (thus bypassing the sweet sweet air conditioning available on the lower floors) and are directed to the aft of the ship where the Terrace Cafe (buffet) and Waves Grill await. Waves Grill is outside and has one glass wall acting like a solarium. HOT. It was here that the first flaw was noticed. I ordered a burger rare and it came out shoe leather (for the remaining 3 weeks they never could cook a burger to the requested temperature). Sitting out in the heat with my carry-on wasn't doing much for me so I decided to wander around. Eventually penthouses were made available (on both legs the Owners/Vista suites were ready right on time - penthouse and below not so much) and I moved into the comfort of an air conditioned room. Before entering the room I was shocked to discover that Oceanias luggage delivery policy was different than any other line I've been on. They drop your bags outside your room and leave them there (I saw this on both segments). Very strange.

 

The first thing I noticed in the room were the I guess (un)welcome canapes. These looked dried out, jumbled around and generally worse for the wear.

 

Otherwise however, the room looked quite nice

 

After examining the included TV (someone left it to super zoomed in mode - also input ports covered over) and laptop (useless - dumbed down to a mere web appliance - unless you tweak it a bit) it was time to break out my super computer (er a 10+ year old WinXP laptop powered by coal)

[Emperor Norton]

How are the mosquitos walking out and about?

 

I only really felt them after the sun had set.

[Emperor Norton]

After unpacking everything it was time to explore the ship. I was situated at the very front (this was my next, next door neighbor)

 

My other next door neighbor:

 

From wandering earlier I'd found this shaded area with a fan

 

I decided to stick with the more climate controlled areas of the ship for the time being.

 

Some artwork from the elevator landings:

[Emperor Norton]

I found the concierge (or was it executive?) lounge which depending upon time of day offered various things to nibble on. It always had soda and water and the espresso machine as well as tea.

 

The concierge desk as well as the magazine wall

 

Some of the sandwiches available in the lounge & Baristas:

 

Back up to the pool deck again

[Emperor Norton]

From the pool deck I went up to 14 where I found Baristas

 

And the machines that run it

 

Near Baristas was the game room which I later learned also functioned as a book swap

 

There was also the computer lab

 

Also near here were Polo Grill

 

And Toscana

[Emperor Norton]

Going back down to deck 12 I found La Reserve where I was to have the best two meals of the cruise.

 

After a brief stopover at Waves Bar (Service wise the other end of the universe from the Grill - yes that's a good thing) it was time to explore the lower public areas

 

This must be the Grand Chandelier

 

That sat above the Grand Staircase

 

Then onto the design failure that is Martinis. This bar is divided into three sections, the first has the bar and seating the second has a passageway and piano, the third just has seating. As you could expect, service on the far side is slow. What you wouldn't expect is the problem this design causes for the nightly trivia. People wandering through will just yell out answers.

This is the bar 1/3

[Emperor Norton]

The central portion of Martinis aka the freeway

 

The piano, also used on occasion for name that tune

 

The 1/3 the furthest from the bar, aka hinterlands

 

While on the subject of bars lets talk about whether or not having alcohol included makes a product luxury or not. I won't say it's the be all end all, but after this cruise I've come to the conclusion that yes Virginia having alcohol included is luxury. "You could buy the all inclusive package" you say. I did - and that's what really formed my opinion. There's nothing as luxurious as waiting 40 minutes to track down a wine steward, give them your card and then wait for its return. Or perhaps hitting the servers shifts so wrong that in a single game of trivia your card has to be swiped three different times.

 

Suggestion: Code part of your POS system to allow tabs to remain open and associated with a card and table #. That way servers can take your card with the first order, open a tab, return your card with the first drink and never need to touch your card again. As the system should track by employee number, servers would still get credit for what they sold so shift changes shouldn't inconvenience the passenger. Unlike the current method which at times is one step above signing a chit per drink.

 

Moving past Martinis you'll come across the ships casino

[Emperor Norton]

After a bit of artwork

 

I came across a long hallway

 

That lead to another bar

 

By day it looked like a normal bar

But at night...

 

 

After wandering down the "wrong" hallway

 

I wound up

[Emperor Norton]

I'd found the Grand Dining Room

 

And its massive chandelier

 

After trying these couches on for size it was time to look around a bit more

 

I saw the paneling on the central elevator shaft

 

On the way up to Horizons

 

And then down to the Boutiques

 

Before heading off to change for dinner

[Emperor Norton]

Dinner - The GDR looks nice, however traffic patterns and how to get from A to B can get confusing, especially when people sit very far out from the table.

 

The meal tonight started off with quite possibly the worst Caesar salad I've ever had. The dressing was bland glop missing any characteristic Caesar taste. After more time on the ship I found out that their "prepared" tableside descriptor wasn't quite up to snuff. When a Caesar salad is prepared tableside the first item prepared should be the dressing. On this ship the dressing is some pre-made stuff.

 

This was followed by

Let's just say plating in the GDR was a yet to be acquired skill.

 

For an entree I had a spongiform veal oscar with less than fresh crab (nb: the seafood on the first segment didn't taste too fresh, the second segment it had improved)

 

Server knowledge could've used some help - they didn't know if their salmon was fresh or farmed.

 

Dessert was IMO the best course and I think comparatively so good I inhaled it.

[sfvoyage]

To the OP: it seems your large photos are covering part of your text, at least in the beginning of this thread. Can you reduce the size of your photos?

[Emperor Norton]

After dinner it was time for more wandering. The pool deck looks very different at night

I was hoping for a watershow from this:

The electric blue O logo

[Emperor Norton]

To the OP: it seems your large photos are covering part of your text, at least in the beginning of this thread. Can you reduce the size of your photos?

 

Sorry, the edit window has passed :(

 

Can you post a screenshot of what you're seeing?

[Emperor Norton]

Down to Martinis to sample a...

Manhattan:p

 

So the bar that looked like a normal bar by day turns into this at night:

 

The over the top seats that must have taken the hides of several naga

[Emperor Norton]

A brief trip up to the pool deck where it's drizzling and I see this:

 

While its there during the day, it really pops at night. On the night of a deck party it's interesting to watch it attract people like moths to a flame.;)

[Emperor Norton]

The next day started with breakfast in the GDR (a decidedly pokey affair, though faster than the Compass Rose on Regent Voyager). Out of the four eggs we ordered runny three came hard boiled and the forth arrived with a chunky flow.

 

The chocolate croissant was nice

 

The eggs Benedict besides being over cooked had a bland Hollandaise :(

 

The hash brown I have a suggestion for - If you're going to shred the potato and then compress it into a puck drain the water from it first - while it will lose some starch it should also cook up crisp rather than soggy.

 

Lunch was a Mexican hot dog (cheese + chili, though 75% cheese) and a Reuben devoid of Thousand Island, also the skimpiest meat serving I'd ever seen in a sandwich (later sandwiches on the ship would follow this trend being 90+% bread to filling)

[Emperor Norton]

The first time I visited a public mens room I noticed that there were no seat protectors. There was a holder for them but no protectors and no box for the protectors. For the next 3+ weeks every time I checked the space was empty. I've never seen that before. I thought once it was an overlook, but 3+ weeks of overlooking it?

 

Video of my discovery (I'd suggest muting the audio) It shows a clean but unstocked stall.

 

On the upside, the public restrooms, especially outside the Riviera lounge were some of the coolest (temperature wise) rooms on the ship.

[Emperor Norton]

What to do after a subpar experience in the Waves Grill (sadly not the last)?

 

Go to Waves bar where the service was excellent. The only issue here were some of the somewhat contradictory rules.

• You can't drink from a glass
  
• You can drink from a glass beer bottle and even take it with you
  
• You can take a Grolsch bottle which is glass, metal and ceramic
  
• They can't fresh squeeze juice into mixed drinks (eg a Margarita)
  
• They CAN use the juice fruit for muddling in Mojitos
  

 

Per one of the bar managers the Bloody Mary mix should taste very close to tomato juice - further they weren't allowed to put fresh grated horseradish into the Bloody Mary mix. I realize the preceding is management side and the bar staff are stuck with those bits of uh silliness.

 

It's fruity tropical drink time!

 

The house Margarita made with their limey simple syrupy mix

 

My Cheat-a-rita (I had them muddle limes as per a Mojito then use that juice + Cointreau to make a Margarita)

 

Then I saw this:

 

I've heard about such sales tactics but don't recall seeing them in person. Bad customer service tale: The bar manager that knows nothing about Bloody Marys almost ran a woman over one day in his rush to get to the bar. The woman had a child in one hand and a deck lounger in the other. Rather than stop to offer assistance he went straight to the bar to berate them for not having the drink of the day sign posted prominently enough for his liking:rolleyes:

[Emperor Norton]

With this view

 

And this gathering

 

It must be sail away time.

 

At some point this had snuck in behind us in port

 

The waterslide looked like fun

 

So long Carnival!

[Emperor Norton]

Who knew, I thought buildings could fly

 

Goodbye empty side of the ship!

 

[Emperor Norton]

Don't mind if I take video of you then try to sell you a DVD:mad:

 

Some chicken pineapple stirfry that I don't recommend

 

And a risotto that went snap, crackle, pop (they seem to greatly undercook their risotto, if you ask for it cooked more they tend to blow the rice out/overcook it)

 

And with that we were away from Venice and on to Koper, Slovenia.

 

Entire Gallery for Venice:

 

A Venice video/sail away video (goes up to 1080)

[freddie]

"Server knowledge could've used some help - they didn't know if their salmon was fresh or farmed."

 

Baychilla - With all due respect (as is always stated before one makes a highly disrespectful comment, of course), wouldn't asking a server whether the salmon was fresh or farmed be somewhat like asking the server whether your eggs were poached or duck? Here is salmon country, we would normally inquire whether the salmon was "wild" (or similar descriptors such as "wild-caught" or "line-caught"), as opposed to "farmed", whereas fresh vs. frozen is an entirely different question and would apply quite equally to wild or farmed fish.

 

Are you merely looking for cute one-liners to go with your (quite good, by the way) photos?

 

"Before I start this I should mention that apparently I've been very spoiled foodwise. Living in the SF/Napa area I have a lot of excellent restaurants from which to choose. When it comes to food and service I have very high standards. I realize a cruise won't provide a French Laundry like experience, but was expecting these cruises to provide a level of quality and service that I am used to receiving back home."

 

As for your beginning comments regarding how spoiled you are with respect to fine dining, have you found anything on any of your cruises that would compare with the FL? If not, then what is your point, precisely or generally?

 

Your comments have been useful in our planning for our first Oceania cruise (particularly the various observations regarding the bars and the liquor plan, subjects which interest us greatly). To this point, we have not decided to ditch the O cruise; but we are all the more intent to keep our next SB cruise (21 days on the Adriatic) on our cruise schedule.

 

Cheers, Fred (who had poached wild-caught, fresh salmon for lunch, with soft-boiled duck eggs - farmed - on the side) ;)