Review of Riviera TA April 2015

[Travelcat2]

Gerry, really enjoyed reading your great review. Did not know that you were celebrating your 50th anniversary -- that is so special and wonderful. :)

[Hambagahle]

Thank you all for your kind comments. It truly was a lovely cruise made lovelier by so many friends from CC who were on board. Again - a BIG thanks to LuAnn for arranging the M&G, the lunch and the iPad session to name but a few...

 

Re-reading my review I think the one area that Oceania falls short of Regent (and Ken and I were discussing this at lunch today in some depth) is the Guest Lecturers. Since providing a cabin and an airfare and perhaps a small stipend is not a major cost I really do not understand this. "Dr Don Klein" who lectured on our cruise was dismal to say the best about him. Surely this could be improved? Otherwise I have to say that I am so happy with Oceania it is going to take a big "something" to get me back to Regent. But since we don't cruise often this will not be a major threat to Regent's bottom line!!

 

As for the "Patch" - for seasickness. I asked my doctor to give me those and he said "no way" - they are banned in Switzerland because of side effects. Maybe the same that you listed Paul?? he said I could get them in Italy, OTC and though it is only an hour's drive I just took what he prescribed (which I didn't use anyway) and sea bands (ditto!).

 

DaisyUK - I am green with envy to think that in about 2 weeks you will be in the Owners Suite on Riviera. Enjoy every single moment!! (And count the hangers!! - I still can't believe Ken did that!!)

 

Thanks again all of you! Happy sailing... Gerry

[ginabab]

Great review Thx for posting

[MVPinBoynton]

Thank you all for your kind comments. It truly was a lovely cruise made lovelier by so many friends from CC who were on board. Again - a BIG thanks to LuAnn for arranging the M&G, the lunch and the iPad session to name but a few...

 

Re-reading my review I think the one area that Oceania falls short of Regent (and Ken and I were discussing this at lunch today in some depth) is the Guest Lecturers. Since providing a cabin and an airfare and perhaps a small stipend is not a major cost I really do not understand this. "Dr Don Klein" who lectured on our cruise was dismal to say the best about him. Surely this could be improved? Otherwise I have to say that I am so happy with Oceania it is going to take a big "something" to get me back to Regent. But since we don't cruise often this will not be a major threat to Regent's bottom line!!

 

As for the "Patch" - for seasickness. I asked my doctor to give me those and he said "no way" - they are banned in Switzerland because of side effects. Maybe the same that you listed Paul?? he said I could get them in Italy, OTC and though it is only an hour's drive I just took what he prescribed (which I didn't use anyway) and sea bands (ditto!).

 

DaisyUK - I am green with envy to think that in about 2 weeks you will be in the Owners Suite on Riviera. Enjoy every single moment!! (And count the hangers!! - I still can't believe Ken did that!!)

 

Thanks again all of you! Happy sailing... Gerry

 

Sorry about your enrichment speakers. We had two excellent ones on our China/Japan cruise on Nautica. Dr. John Freedman and Dr. Michael Boll did just an outstanding job. Much better than I expected. Hopefully you have better luck with speakers on your next O cruise.

[JPR]

We have really enjoyed the cooking classes on Riviera and Marina with Chef Kelly and another instructor, and therefore we signed up for 3 classes on the June 1 Riviera cruise. So we're quite concerned that the new instructor is apparently deficient. Does anyone know if she is continuing on Riviera?

[Caroldoll]

Try Stugeron. You can buy it there in Switzerland over the counter. Absolutely no side effects, no dry mouth, no drowsiness. It keeps Joe from seasickness, even when we were caught at sea in Hurricane Sandy.

 

I agree with your doctor. The patch has Formaldehyde. Joe almost passed out from it. Try picking up a 6' 6" guy! I almost didn't get him to bed. Some people are lucky, but I don't want to be pickled alive! LOL.

 

Going to be in the OS on Marina next week. It is our 33rd and my birthday as well!

[Ron&Sue]

We have really enjoyed the cooking classes on Riviera and Marina with Chef Kelly and another instructor, and therefore we signed up for 3 classes on the June 1 Riviera cruise. So we're quite concerned that the new instructor is apparently deficient. Does anyone know if she is continuing on Riviera?

 

We will be on Riviera in two weeks, I will update you on the cooking classes as well as the culinary tours. Let me know if their is anything in particular that you want me to follow up on. Sue

[JPR]

Thanks very much, Ron & Sue. We just would like to know which chef is doing the cooking classes for the June 1 Rome to Rome cruise.We're signed up for the Jacques Pepin and Pizza Making classes. I called Oceania and they were only able to tell me that Chef Kelly is doing the July 7 cruise. Hoping she will have started her annual tenure on Riviera by June 1...

Edited April 27, 2015 by JPR

[LHT28]

What Chef should we avoid cooking with ?

[LHT28]

Going to be in the OS on Marina next week. It is our 33rd and my birthday as well!

 

Happy Birthday

Edited April 28, 2015 by LHT28

[Caroldoll]

I really appreciate it!

[Honeymooner2006]

Congratulations on 50 years!!

 

I remembered you from the Regent boards and I am glad that you liked Oceania after Regent. We will be taking our first Oceania cruise shortly and while I understand there are some differences, I am happy to hear that you had a good experience for the second time.

 

How funny you should mention an Apérol spritz. I looked on the bar menu the Priesmans' posted for it and was a little disappointed that they did not have it. I hope that your feedback is carried out to all the ships. I heard a great feature story on Monocle Radio about the how the new-ish owner of the brand went about making Aperol popular. It was very interesting. I tried to find it for you, but I'm not having any luck.

[JPR]

LHT28:

 

Read the first post: "I took two cooking classes and had planned to take four but cancelled the last two because I found the classes to be badly organised and not sufficiently « hands on ». The teacher – Noëlle Barille – tried to do too many dishes for the time allotted and so did a lot of pre-preparation leaving the class to do very very little with the dish in question. Given the excellent set-up of the Culinary Centre I think this was a shame. They should focus on two or three things and let students work all the way through them."

 

The right way that Chef Kelly pioneered with these courses...

[LHT28]

LHT28:

 

Read the first post: "I took two cooking classes and had planned to take four but cancelled the last two because I found the classes to be badly organised and not sufficiently « hands on ». The teacher – Noëlle Barille – tried to do too many dishes for the time allotted and so did a lot of pre-preparation leaving the class to do very very little with the dish in question.

 

Thanks

I thought that meant the Chef tried to make to much in the time but maybe that is the way the classes are set up

Or the teacher was bad on instruction

In the past we have not had time to do the classes

I have read others posted the ingredients are chopped or ready to use to save time

I did not take it that the classes were like a culinary school where you learn techniques that I think would require more than 1.5 hrs

 

Will see how our classes go

 

Lyn

[JPR]

That is basically true, though we did do some slicing and dicing ourselves. But our classes with Chef Kelly were nevertheless quite enjoyable. Best was a kind of scavenger hunt in Corfu where we were each given 5 Euros to buy the best we could find of one ingredient, then returned to the Marina to have the class.

[LHT28]

That is basically true, though we did do some slicing and dicing ourselves. But our classes with Chef Kelly were nevertheless quite enjoyable. Best was a kind of scavenger hunt in Corfu where we were each given 5 Euros to buy the best we could find of one ingredient, then returned to the Marina to have the class.

 

Was that one of the Culinary shore excursions or just the regular cooking class??

[JPR]

It was a Culinary Shore Excursion that was combined with a cooking class.

[brian_uk]

I must say I was thoroughly enjoying your review until I came upon the following

 

"Gibraltar – we had not visited it before and I would be thrilled never to see the place again. It is very scruffy and if you do not like apes and do not trust cable cars run by the British (!) nor do you like tunnels there is not a huge amount to do there anyway. We walked into town from the ship and after a 30-minute walk which was noisy (traffic) and smelly (diesel engines) we turned and went back on board. Why this port is on any itinerary is beyond me. Malaga and Cadiz are so much nicer and so much cleaner. Personally I think the British should return it to Spain so the Spanish could spruce it up!!

 

I am curious as to your experience of Cable Cars run by the British and secondly why you think the Brits should hand back Gibraltar which has been democratically run for a very long time.

 

Brian

[LaCroisiereS'amuse]

Can't wait to read the OPs experiences of the Port Vell cable car in Barcelona......It's renowned for breaking down.... ;)

[G&G]

We followed your wonderful reports throughout your cruise and thank you for those as well as this very well organized review.

 

 

We were also on Regatta in Bermuda last April for the terrible storm. It was bad enough that we cancelled several future cruises. It will take a while to want to cruise again.

 

 

WOW. Must be something about the Regatta. We were sailing on the Regatta in late Oct/early Nov 2014 when leaving Bermuda hit 30 foot seas and 70 knot winds for 24 hours. I was in the Library awaiting to dine at Toscano when while looking out the window toward the front of the ship, we hit a huge wave and the spray from the wave hit the windows at the Library :eek: !

[Hambagahle]

I must say I was thoroughly enjoying your review until I came upon the following

 

"Gibraltar – we had not visited it before and I would be thrilled never to see the place again. It is very scruffy and if you do not like apes and do not trust cable cars run by the British (!) nor do you like tunnels there is not a huge amount to do there anyway. We walked into town from the ship and after a 30-minute walk which was noisy (traffic) and smelly (diesel engines) we turned and went back on board. Why this port is on any itinerary is beyond me. Malaga and Cadiz are so much nicer and so much cleaner. Personally I think the British should return it to Spain so the Spanish could spruce it up!!

 

I am curious as to your experience of Cable Cars run by the British and secondly why you think the Brits should hand back Gibraltar which has been democratically run for a very long time.

 

Brian

 

Sorry Brian - I thought I had replied to your questions but now see I did not.

 

Any téléphérique takes a lot of maintenance, regular checks etc. I am very sceptical about this being done as it should be by the people in Gibraltar because we hear a lot on the news here in Switzerland about lack of maintenance causing problems on trains in the UK. And I didn't want to take a téléphérique that might not be properly looked after... but cheer up! I don't take Italian ones either!!

 

As for Gibraltar - my comment was that if Gibraltar was handed back to Spain the Spanish would clean it up. It is pretty "grotty" as you say in the UK. Malaga by contrast is really clean and attractive. So are Cadiz, Seville and Granada. The government of Gibraltar needs to make more of an effort - even the lady in the tourist office at the dock found it hard to drag herself away from a private phone call (we heard every word...on both sides!) to answer a very simple question from us.

 

Not all British colonies are this way - we were in Bermuda (have been there many many times in fact) - and it was sparkling clean. Absolutely lovely in fact.

[LonnyLee]

Thank you so much for a well-written and well-informed review, Hambagahle.

We are doing our first cruise next month, aboard Riviera, and it is reviews like this that help us to know what to expect and what to look for.

You've given us some great information and we are now even more excited about our upcoming cruise.

[Travelcat2]

Gerry, when we took an excursion from Gibraltar across the border to Spain, it was like going from the U.S. to Tijuana. It is really bad near the border (although there was construction so they may be upgrading the area). We did not notice anything that wasn't nice in Gibraltar but do agree that Malaga is a nicer place to visit (nicer than some other ports we have visited in Spain). IMO there are good and not so good parts in every country.

[PS Caledonia]

Just a quick comment as to why vessel's stop there.

 

Firstly, after a transatlantic crossing additional Bunkers will be needed.

 

So, when a bunkering barge is alongside, there will always be a smell of heay fuel oil, hence the smell you encountered.

 

The Bunkering industry is a huge money earner for Gib and it makes commerncial sense for vessels of all types to call there as refuelling is cheaper there than accross the Bay in Algeciras, with whom they are in competition. The smell of fuel oil will be just as bad in Alegiciras.

 

Gib also happens to be Duty Free which I am sure must have an impact as would the additional duty on alcohol that Spain imposes on those vessels which call at Spanish ports. (I may be wrong, but don't the alcohol prices on board increase whilst in Spanish waters?)

 

One has to remember that it is a working port and as such, just like any other port, the immediate area will be "grotty". Commercial ports don't run for the benefit of pampered cruise passengers... and no commercial port could ever be described as an attractive place to spend an afternoon ashore...

 

I hope the above is constructive.