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Tried Oceania once, but not again

Kevnzworld

By Kevnzworld,
in Oceania Cruises

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Paulchili

Paulchili

Posted
Posted (edited)
Hi Paul

For those of us in the know.

 

How many Seabourn cruises have you been on so far?

 

Enough to know the difference (for me) and probably as many as you have cruised on Oceania :D

There is nothing wrong with Seabourn per se, just not my preference over Oceania (for any number of reasons).

As always, YMMV.

titong - Is this a great answer? :D

Edited by Paulchili
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hondorner

hondorner

Posted
Posted
today is a balmy 43 degrees in s. florida:mad:

 

I'm wearing jeans instead of shorts, long sleeve shirt and sweatshirt, all our windows down and I'm freezing. The wind is from due north at least 30 mph. I've got work to do outside and I can't bear to go out. And this is in sunny Florida! I can't imagine what it's like up north. At least it IS sunny, if the wind would stop it would be bearable.

 

Self pity over.

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ORV "Live from...." Rare

ORV

Posted
Posted
I'm wearing jeans instead of shorts, long sleeve shirt and sweatshirt, all our windows down and I'm freezing. The wind is from due north at least 30 mph. I've got work to do outside and I can't bear to go out. And this is in sunny Florida! I can't imagine what it's like up north. At least it IS sunny, if the wind would stop it would be bearable.

 

Self pity over.

 

Well, we've had it pretty good here in the middle of the country, but last night it got down to about -5 and it's currently 16 outside. Glad I don't have anything to do outside.

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mrstone

mrstone

Posted
Posted (edited)

Just finished reading this looong thread.. im friends with Kevin and i was one of the couples on the cruise just prior to him.. I thought the food was good enough.. far from great.. I had a bigger problem with the fun factor on the ship.. Earlier post someone said they were in there 30s.. Warning.. very low fun factor on this ship!! Not looking for all night parties, but a little liveliness goes a long way.. I wouldnt go back on Oceania!!!

Edited by mrstone
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Paulchili

Paulchili

Posted
Posted
Just finished reading this looong thread.. im friends with Kevin and i was one of the couples on the cruise just prior to him.. I thought the food was good enough.. far from great.. I had a bigger problem with the fun factor on the ship.. Earlier post someone said they were in there 30s.. Warning.. very low fun factor on this ship!! Not looking for all night parties, but a little liveliness goes a long way.. I wouldnt go back on Oceania!!!

 

Though you thought that the food was "far from great", how did it compare to HAL and Celebrity?

On my last Celebrity cruise I often couldn't fall asleep until well after midnight as the music was blaring into my mid-ship cabin from the atrium below.

Obviously, you prefer that while I do not.

The great thing is that we both have choices and can be happy with them. :)

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Christine Frances

Christine Frances

Posted
Posted
Though you thought that the food was "far from great", how did it compare to HAL and Celebrity?

On my last Celebrity cruise I often couldn't fall asleep until well after midnight as the music was blaring into my mid-ship cabin from the atrium below.

Obviously, you prefer that while I do not.

The great thing is that we both have choices and can be happy with them. :)

 

You must have left your door ajar:D That is usually our location an never had a problem. Its not like the cabins are exposed to the Atrium as there is a wall between.

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Paulchili

Paulchili

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Posted (edited)
You must have left your door ajar:D That is usually our location an never had a problem. Its not like the cabins are exposed to the Atrium as there is a wall between.

 

Despite the wall (wall but no doors), closed cabin doors and ear plugs, I could hear every word and every note. :D

The music was good but it should have been performed in one of the numerous "closed" venues rather than in an open air atrium (and if so, then not till midnight). A concert in the open Atrium till 9 or 10 PM is OK but not past that time.

Edited by Paulchili
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maxamize Great Review Rare

maxamize

Posted
Posted
Just finished reading this looong thread.. im friends with Kevin and i was one of the couples on the cruise just prior to him.. I thought the food was good enough.. far from great.. I had a bigger problem with the fun factor on the ship.. Earlier post someone said they were in there 30s.. Warning.. very low fun factor on this ship!! Not looking for all night parties, but a little liveliness goes a long way.. I wouldnt go back on Oceania!!!

 

Well we 33 and 27 loved our cruise on Oceania. We go on vacation to relax and see more of the world. If we want big entertainment or go to club we can do so here in Amsterdam every night of the week.

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Christine Frances

Christine Frances

Posted
Posted (edited)
Despite the wall (wall but no doors), closed cabin doors and ear plugs, I could hear every word and every note. :D

The music was good but it should have been performed in one of the numerous "closed" venues rather than in an open air atrium (and if so, then not till midnight). A concert in the open Atrium till 9 or 10 PM is OK but not past that time.

 

Sorry it affected you as most people find it very quiet in their cabins off the atrium. I'm glad that you enjoyed the music tho and hopefully the rest of the cruise:)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2174532

Edited by Christine Frances
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Schmoe38

Schmoe38

Posted
Posted
We just exited a ten day Caribbean cruise aboard the Riviera. We are avid cruisers, and have done at least 15 cruises aboard Celebrity in the last 4-5 years. I had sailed on Regent a half dozen times before that.

The Riviera was as beautiful as we expected. The condition of the stateroom was nice, the room itself only about 10% larger than Celebrity which is smaller than I expected for the money. We had sailed on Seabourn eight months ago and their staterooms are significantly larger The Oceania closet doors were difficult to use and to access clothing. I preferred the walkin closets on Regent and Seabourn.

The stateroom attendant didn't introduce herself until the third day, and never asked our preferences.

The passengers on Oceania are older on average than the other lines I've been on, at least on this cruise . I would estimate that 80% of the ship was over 75 yo.

We had decided to try Oceania after hearing about the food. This is the area that we were most disappointed. The food is heavy, red meat centered and very traditional and old fashioned.

I live in LA and consider myself a " foodie " and I was expecting more flavor and technique. Except for La Reserve ( which was very good ) it's absent on Oceania. The menu descriptions are overly flowery almost to the point of being comedic. Jacque's is something out of the 1970's, and like Red Ginger, the food is a caricature of common american versions of the respective French and Asian dishes. I had the duck confit dish and the John Dory in Jacque's ..both were heavy on butter and light on flavor. The fennel in the latter was soggy to the point of being inedible. More butter doesn't make the flavorless have flavor.

The red curry chicken in Red Ginger is poorly executed as well. Anybody that eats and likes Thai food would be disappointed. The lauded lobster is frozen, and except for the specialty restaurants, warm water. I had the Lobster with tagliatelle in Toscana and it was tough and not edible.

The Terrace buffet is pretty much along the same lines. The prepared salads weren't great and given there isn't self service the salad bar is difficult to navigate. The food itself is heavy dinner style food served during the day....sliced roasts, mashed potatoes , polenta ...sauce etc.

Vegetable preparations with flair or respect are almost non existent. Overcooked steamed or butter sautéed mixed vegis is boring.

Some items weren't prepared properly, like the fish and chips...they didn't have tarter sauce. Waves burgers with missing or wrong preparations etc

The best thing on Oceania is there everyday roast chicken. They describe it differently in the various restaurants, but the staff confided that it's the same chicken.

The extra cost of the alcohol was the final deal killer for us. The beverage package adds an extra $60 per night per person. The wines by the glass aren't very good. It's the same list throughout the ship and in all of the restaurants. I was surprised that they don't offer different wines in the Italian and French restaurants. I guess they want to sell wine by the bottle.

I could go on, but I thought I'd share this review for other cruisers who may be trying to decide between lines like, Celebrity, Seabourn , Oceania etc..

For us it's Seabourn or a suite on Celebrity

 

I have read all of the postings here with great curiosity, as we will be experiencing our first Oceania Cruise in December of this year. We have sailed with Celebrity exclusively since 1998 and we chose this upcoming itinerary for 2 reasons...we liked the ports, but more importantly, we felt Oceania gave us the best alternative experience. When you have sailed exclusively with one provider, you are somewhat hesitant to look elsewhere, but we really wanted and needed to know what else was available. We have traditionally booked Sky Suites and Celebrity Suites so when we began our search, we found that the Penthouse Suites on Oceania came closest to what we wanted in order to fairly evaluate the 2 options, both from an amenities standpoint and a pricing standpoint. I must say that I have seen some changes in the food served on Celebrity but at the end of the day, I still like the overall experience. There will always be little things that we wish were better, but we looked at Seabourn and we also looked at Crystal, and for us, Oceania is a reasonable alternative, and we are really looking forward to the experience. Time will tell whether we continue on our journey with Celebrity or whether we open ourselves to more of what Oceania has to offer. We will know more once we have had the opportunity to compare.

 

Randy

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Mura

Mura

Posted
Posted

Randy, a most reasoned and rationale response. I'm glad to see you aren't being scared off by some negative reviews.

 

I have no way of knowing if you'll end up back on Oceania after your cruise, or you will return to Celebrity. (Any more than you do.) But no line is perfect for everyone. Our TA is close to Oceania, but has sailed on Celebrity and found it to be a very satisfactory experience. I imagine that we would, too ... although we haven't done it yet!

 

Mura

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Paulchili

Paulchili

Posted
Posted

Randy,

There is nothing better or more acurate than deciding for yourselves whether you like a cruise line or not.

Relying on others' experiences and opinions , good or bad, cannot give you a true picture as to whether it will be right for you or not.

I hope your first O experience will be a good one.

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