Riviera Live - Lisbon to Rome

[LHT28]

Actually I've mentioned this a few times here. I was pretty much treated the same in an Ocean View as I was in an Oceania Suite. With the exception of the perks that come with the upper room.

 

I do believe it's all about the butler though, we had a butler in a PH that made our trip much more enjoyable than our butler in the OC.

 

I have never had a butler & always have been treated well from all the staff from the pool guys to the waitstaff & Maitre'd

 

Enjoy going back to the ships & seeing familiar faces from previous cruises

[durante]

Kekilia, you are on the Jacques Pepin Signature cruise, have you had any sightings of him yet on the ship?

[kekilia]

Kekilia, you are on the Jacques Pepin Signature cruise, have you had any sightings of him yet on the ship?

 

No, although there have been opportunities, we have had a very busy first few days. On our sea day, we explored the ship and exercised in the fitness center. I watched some TV on treadmill that featured Jacques, but no sightings. Tonight is the Captains cocktail party which we may attend and maybe see him.

 

I am about to post more pics.

[kazu]

Just wanted to say thank you for taking the time and $ to do your live thread and share your experiences with us.

 

Really enjoying following along and glad you got to Alhambra. It's fabulous.

 

Your dinner sounds wonderful!

 

thanks again :)

[Lane412000]

Kekilia, you are on the Jacques Pepin Signature cruise, have you had any sightings of him yet on the ship?

 

Kekilia - he is probably in the OC Suite next door to you

[kazu]

Kekilia, do you recall which pier (1 or 2) you docked at in Malaga at the Cruise Terminal please? thanks.

[kekilia]

Day 3 - Cartagena

This is a small port town with not much to see. We spent some time driving around the town and in the afternoon went to the shopping center (not really the tourist shops). Few of the shop owners spoke English and I had to manage with some very rusty Spanish. Everyone, however, was friendly and helpful and it was a lot of fun going into a small grocery store to get shavers and on to find a place that sold men's dress socks (which I had forgotten to pack!). It was quite an adventure since I didn't remember the spanish for socks. I manage to stumble out, Por favor, quiero por los hombres ....then point to my socks. Ah ha, they respond, socks! Then they send me down an alley, turn right, etc.,etc. Finally we find a store that has dress socks. It was so much fun! This is the kind of thing I love about traveling, getting into the real authentic parts of the town and relating with the people. You truly get a feel for a place. I'll never forget Cartagena.

 

This night we had La Reserve and so I splurged and went to the Canyon Ranch Spa for a shampoo and blow dry and swept up in the moment, I also got a makeup application. It took longer to do the makeup than the hair. Like most women, I would never allow someone else to apply my makeup, but I just threw caution to the wind and went with it. It was wonderful and I felt very pampered and much like a celebrity. This to me is also a cruise type of thing, along with the rest of the pampering.

 

La Reserve is an experience that is unique to Oceania and I think it is more than worth the cost. The initial seating of eight outside the venue for a champagne warm up allow one to get to know your fellow diners. The presentation of staff of which there are plenty and the explanation of the food and separate explanation of the wine with every course makes for a truly elevated dining experience. I did not find that there was too much food, although I did not eat the foie gras. Also, I recommend not eating those portions which are too large as you can end up uncomfortable for the last course. The wine was good and plentiful, so again caution is needed. Nevertheless, I still ended up slightly past the tipsy stage! And what a bonus as we hit it off with two couples traveling together and made plans to meet again for cocktails.

 

I am still attempting to upload pictures, but have found difficulty doing so the past two days.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[kekilia]

First, pictures of Day 2 - sea day

 

 

 

This was the meet and greet in the Davis' OS

 

 

 

This is the artists loft

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited July 15, 2015 by Host Kat >^..^<
Repositioned such LARGE photos since they make post waaay too wide for most screens.

[kekilia]

It looks like a picture got dropped from the sequence in my last post. Pictures are of the ship in various places, the Casino Bar, the Artists Loft and some fun candid shots of spots I like on the ship.

 

BTW, gym picture is a stranger. I took it just to show the equipment. Never looked at the shoes, but I will say that since I forgot my workout wear, I had to run with Bermuda shorts!

[kekilia]

Here are some pictures of our day in Malaga. Actually, it is the tour to Granada and the Alhambra which has already been mentioned.

 

And after this wonderful day, a spectacular meal at Red Ginger

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited July 15, 2015 by Host Kat >^..^<
Repositioned such LARGE photos since they make post waaay too wide for most screens.

[Queen of DaNile]

Thanks for sharing lovely photos....and the sea bass. Envious.

[kekilia]

Thanks for sharing lovely photos....and the sea bass. Envious.

 

Thank you for the comment. I apologize for not being able to post my review with pictures embedded like Stan & Jim. Uploads are slow to say the least and sometimes I can't get a picture to include at all. So, I go ahead and do the review, as much for me to keep track of it all, with photos to follow whenever I get the chance. First priority has to be our excursions, parties and dinners, but I try in between to update this post.:D

[kazu]

Add me to another one that is enjoying the review and the pics :)

 

Sorry to hear you are having difficulty getting the pics up. I know how frustrating that can be.

[Floridiana]

Lovely photos and you are looking good!

On my screen, the photos are so huge that they go beyond the actual window. I have to scroll left and right and up and down to see them. Could their size be the reason for the slow upload on your side?

[kekilia]

Lovely photos and you are looking good!

On my screen, the photos are so huge that they go beyond the actual window. I have to scroll left and right and up and down to see them. Could their size be the reason for the slow upload on your side?

 

I am sure that is contributing to the problem, but I love those large format pics for their detail. Taken from a Nikon 40D SLR. I will try to resize and see if this helps.

[ronrick1943]

Great report, and super photo's........Thanks for taking the time so those of us that aren't on the ship can enjoy your trip.

Rick

[kekilia]

Lovely photos and you are looking good!

On my screen, the photos are so huge that they go beyond the actual window. I have to scroll left and right and up and down to see them. Could their size be the reason for the slow upload on your side?

 

You are most gracious to compliment me. I so enjoy dressing for dinner. I was worried about this because I had only been on Celebrity where dressing up for dinner was the norm. Yet, I have observed that in all the specialty restaurants, there is a wonderful elevated dress and such diversity! Everything from women in lace with turbans on their head to the little black dress. Hurray for Oceania finding the middle ground here. No photographers, but you can bring your camera and get a nice picture. The wait staff even offer to take a photo of both of you, if you wish.

[kazu]

I am sure that is contributing to the problem, but I love those large format pics for their detail. Taken from a Nikon 40D SLR. I will try to resize and see if this helps.

 

I used to have the same problem with the pics. I don't think you need to re-size (which is time consuming - at least for me).

 

You are using tap a talk, right?

 

Here's what I learned, every time you upload a pic and the link is there, hit the enter button after so that there is a space between each pic. Then they will be all horizontal. It's when there is a pic beside another one (which tap a talk will do automatically unless you space them apart) that causes the wide screen. At least that is what I experienced.

[santrah]

Thanks for taking out time of your holiday to post your lovely review. I do feel however you should not have posted a photo of a stranger without his permission! He may be upset if he sees himself in such an unflattering position. Most posters are careful in taking photos of other guests and posting on this forum. Please bear this in mind so as not to upset anyone, they may not want the world to know where they are or what they are doing!

[Barrheadlass]

I'm enjoying your pics and comments too...and the picture of you was lovely. Thanks for taking us along! It is making me wish I was back on the Riviera.

[kekilia]

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited July 15, 2015 by Host Kat >^..^<
Repositioned such LARGE photos since they make post waaay too wide for most screens.

[kekilia]

 

This and the two pictures posted above are of Cartagena, which was Day 4.

 

Day 5 - Ibiza. Today we stopped at the island of Ibiza in the Balearics Islands off the coast of Spain. Embarkation was quick, there are never any lines. We took our time because it is such a small island, you can see it in just a few hours. We rented a Smart car cabriolet and while it was fun with the top down, it was also very hottie further you got from the water, so we put the top up and let the air conditioning go to the max. We headed across the island, seeing the plajas (beaches) and visiting Sant Jorgi before coming to San Antonio, a smaller port town. Ibiza is another playground for the rich and famous, so we saw a lot of large yachts, but , alas, no sightings of DiCaprio.

 

The most fun was on the way and just outside St. Eularia. We found a small winery, Bodega Cesar. We enjoyed wine tasting by the man who makes the wine and to our surprise, he shared also three cheeses his father makes. Hearing about his family from Italy and how the tradition of wine no cheese making has been handed down was right out of the promotional literature! I recommend hiring a car and getting out of Ibiza, which is crowded with tourists, young people who take the ferry over for all-night parties and tourist traps. Here are some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[paylady]

Enjoying your review, thanks for sharing and keep it coming! :)

[kekilia]

Whew! What a past few days! Since we docked in Barcelona, it has been very port intensive and with full day tours and dinners until 11 pm, I've simply haven't had a minute to catch up on posting the review. I will try my best to review Barcelona, Provence and Monaco, but the internet is so very slow, I may not get to the pictures until tomorrow.

 

Day 6 - Barcelona. We arrived in port at 8am and debarkation was again so very easy, no crowds or lines. Oceania's process for this is organized and smooth on and off. In the smaller terminals, they have only stairs rather than ramps, but if one is disabled, you can go to the lower Deck 4 for accommodation off the ramped crew gangway. My DH can handle going down the stairs, but we use Deck 4 to return. At every point, coming or going there are friendly attendants with chilled or regular room temperature water. By this day, midway through the cruise, a lot of the staff know our names and we get friendly smiles and "Have a good day."

 

We decided to do Barcelona on our own and it was so hot, we thought a taxi to the center of town would be best. We were wrong!! Better to take the shuttle bus which is free and from Columbus monument you can take a taxi or get the metro. The taxi to the Casa Botillo cost us 22€ and was terrible ride. I recommend the hop on hop off bus instead. From the drop off point near Casa Botillo, we walked. The facade, the architecture is amazing and you can see a progression of Gaudi's style mature with each structure. We walked to Casa Mila and it is a grandiose building sprawling in the large intersection. It is also very crowded and not handled well for tourists. We didn't go inside, instead we walked on about a mile or so to Sagrada Familia. I was completely unprepared for the overwhelming beauty of this masterpiece of modern architecture - modern in the sense that most cathedrals here are hundreds of years old.and

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[kekilia]

Did it again. I am using tapatalk and it just dumped the second half of my review.

 

I was extolling the virtues of Red Ginger and it posted in the middle and I lost my review of The dinner. So, what I wanted to say is that it is our favorite of the four specialty restaurants so far. And also that I really didn't expect this from my reading of the menu and pre cruise research. The vegetable tempura, the spring rolls, the miso glazed sea bass, lobster pad Thai, sushi, everything was elevated but not beyond recognizing our traditional favorite.

 

Upon returning to our room sated and tired, we find the lovely turn down service another amenity that pampers us as in a 5 star hotel. I have a drew full of chocolate pillow bites that I will take home to my chocolate loving friends!