Oceania Insignia

[captainbirdseye]

We are interested in a cruise on Oceania Insignia Singapore to Shanghai in March 2016. Has anyone done a similar trip and/or been on the Insignia?

 

I have been unable to find out where the ship docks in the various ports - despite ringing Oceania to ask the question. The only information they could give me was re Bangkok (Klong Toey).

 

The ports are:-

 

Singapore

Ko Samui

Sihanoukville

Saigon

Hanoi

Sanya

Xiamen

Hong Kong

Shanghai

 

Also has anyone been on the ship?

 

Any information would be gratefully received. Thank you.

[cbb]

A great reference we use is

 

whatsinport.com

 

not only does it show where Insignia will dock but provides a map showing where that is in relation to the town, other ships, etc.

 

I've been on Insignia many times and am preparing to be on her for 6 months on an around the world 2016. We love her.

 

She is a small ship so will be able to dock near center city in many locations that the larger ships cannot.

[captainbirdseye]

Thank you very much. I will have a look at "what's in port". The ship must be nice if you are going to he on it for 6 months. I have read a few negative comments but they have tended to be about really weird stuff, like not having particular type of food and hence give the ship a negative review! Thanks again.

[Pet Nit Noy]

Thank you very much. I will have a look at "what's in port". The ship must be nice if you are going to he on it for 6 months. I have read a few negative comments but they have tended to be about really weird stuff, like not having particular type of food and hence give the ship a negative review! Thanks again.

 

When you choose to sail on Oceania, especially on the smaller R ships, you really have to know what the experience will be and what it won't be. We were just on a cruise on Nautica and ran into a first time Oceania cruiser who complained bitterly that the casino was small and dead and the entertainment was not much of anything. (She didn't complain about the early-to-bed small crowds in Horizons, but that was the cruise director's running joke through the cruise.)

 

The complainer had been booked onto a back to back cruise -- the one prior to ours and ours -- by a travel agent. I didn't bother telling her what I really thought of her complaints, but privately I wondered about her travel agent and her own decision-making skills. Five minutes research on the internet would have told alerted her to the conditions that ultimately disappointed her.

 

In contrast, I was almost completely pleased with the same cruise. Oceania did not disappoint. It delivered on all it strengths: Service. Food. Ability to dock close to the port. Absence of photographers/art auctions/etc. And the areas where it is historically weak/modest -- enrichment lectures/entertainment -- things were as expected.

 

My only disappointments were the port calls of Klaipeda and Gdansk, for two very different reasons. Klaipeda because there was so little to see/do yet it was an eleven-hour port call. (An at sea day would have been more welcome!) And Gdansk because it was a port of unexpected charm yet the port call was a mere half-day visit with a clock that began running at 7:00 AM. (We got off the ship somewhat after 8:00 AM and were proud to have gotten off and going that early.)

 

I've looked at the map of Scandinavia/Baltic countries, trying to figure out an itinerary that would maximize Gdansk and minimize/eliminate Kleipeda. The June 13, 2016 cruise is almost a clone of our cruise, and I'd recommend the following changes: After exiting the Kiel Canal, sail to Gdansk instead of Stockholm, sail to Stockholm next eliminating Klaipeda entirely, follow the remainder of the itinerary as currently planned. Now I really don't know if what I've proposed is feasible based on Nautica's cruising speed, but I sure hope the powers-that-be in the itinerary department would take another look at the inclusion of Klaipeda.

Edited August 2, 2015 by Pet Nit Noy

[LHT28]

The ship is small so rooms will be small as well

Yes some of the reviews are too funny reading the complaints

 

I would look for photos of the R-ships it will give a good idea of what to expect

I find the Preisman's do a excellent job of showing the ship off have a look at their website ..it is the Regatta but it will be the same as Insignia

http://www.thepreismans.com/bermuda_regatta_page1.htm

 

Some love the R-ships but if you are use to main stream line you may find then limiting

 

As for ports the Harbour master has the final word ;)

[zoncom]

Look under Oceania Insignia Roll calls(esp. World cruises and Member Reviews plus past posts on this forum).Ship calls at some diverse commercial ports. My cab driver got lost finding Shanghai one in middle of night in April.Sometimes a shuttle, sometimes not.WC is a real adventure.

[Floridiana]

Curious now, I read the reviews. Wow, they had to walk 100ft on uneven terrain, what a bummer. 100 more passengers than the ship can hold? Seriously? None of the ports were good except Cartagena? :rolleyes:

 

I haven't been on Insignia but 4 weeks on her sister Regatta. The set-up is the same. If you love large hotel ships, the under 700 passenger ships are small and boring. I love the Riviera, but at my first dinner I shared the table with a woman who complained about everything including the delicious food and the clothes of the other passengers.

[Mura]

I think if I were dining with strangers that I'd refrain from making negative comments ... at least if that's all I had to say! Was she complaining about the attire in the restaurants or just in general???

 

It certainly is sad when all you can say is something negative. I don't care WHERE you are.

 

Here is another vote for the smaller ships but the warnings are correct: don't expect to find what you would find on a 3,000 passenger ship because you won't.

 

While I agree with Lyn that the rooms are smaller than on larger ships, that isn't true of the top suites. The Owner's and Vista suites are very commodious and the Penthouse suites are comfortable if not overly large. They are large enough for us.

 

The bathrooms in the lower down suites are -- shall we say -- cosy!

 

Mura

 

 

Mura

[captainbirdseye]

We have only been on 3 cruises - twice with Celebrity, once with Cunard. All big ships. We particularly enjoyed Celebrity. But we wouldn't try and compare them with a ship the size of the Insignia.

 

To be honest, if we get good food and service, some decent ports, and the opportunity to chat with other people, we are happy. We are not really bothered about the shows and that type of thing. So hopefully we'll be OK on a small ship!

[orchestrapal]

We have only been on 3 cruises - twice with Celebrity, once with Cunard. All big ships. We particularly enjoyed Celebrity. But we wouldn't try and compare them with a ship the size of the Insignia.

 

To be honest, if we get good food and service, some decent ports, and the opportunity to chat with other people, we are happy. We are not really bothered about the shows and that type of thing. So hopefully we'll be OK on a small ship!

 

Sounds like you will be very happy on O as well. Enjoy the differences and please report back to CC.

[LHT28]

While I agree with Lyn that the rooms are smaller than on larger ships, that isn't true of the top suites. The Owner's and Vista suites are very commodious and the Penthouse suites are comfortable if not overly large. They are large enough for us.

 

The bathrooms in the lower down suites are -- shall we say -- cosy!

 

Mura

 

 

Mura

 

I guess because we do not sail in the top suites I just assume a lot of people sail in the balcony cabins

:o

I know one should not assume everyone sails in the same cat of cabin as I do

If people want information on the top suites I leave that to those that have been there, done that

 

Since the OP had not mentioned the cabin Cat I can only guess what they are cabin cat they are sailing in

[Mura]

And I don't assume people sail in PH and above either. But I believe (as you seem to have) that OP didn't specify room category. So I thought the differences between top and middle could be clarified.

 

My guess would be (due to availability of rooms) that more sail below PH than PH and above.

 

Whatever your room category, most of us here enjoy Oceania. (And that doesn't mean we think it is absolutely perfect in all respects.)

 

Mura

[cbb]

captainbirdseye: since this is a segment of RTW16 I can give you the information we have. We have researched the entire trip and have ~500 pages of information!

 

To the best of our knowledge this is what we've found re docking:

 

Singapore; Singapore Cruise Center; connected to harbor front center

Ko Samui:anchor off Nathorn & tendered in. Town center ~10-15 min walk

Sihanoukville: we're going to angkor wat so didn't research this port

Saigon:sail up Saigon river to port (we'll be arriving by plane from AWat)

Hanoi:HaLong Bay dock (itinerary doesn't say tender, but some have in past)

Sanya:new port . On Phoenix Island (on peninsula from mainland)

Xiamen: International Cruise Centre, AKA Cruise Terminal

Hong Kong: Ocean Terminal (although itinerary lists this as a tender)

Shanghai: Shanghai Inter. Cruise Terminal, close to Bund

 

whatsinport.com has maps that show where these are in relation to city centers, main streets, taxi/bus services.

 

This information is as current as I can get 5 months out! c

Edited August 2, 2015 by cbb

[no fuss travel]

We were on the Nautica but did most of the same ports as you would be going to on this particular cruise. I will try to add comments to the ports below that we called into. I did write a review but in the Forum rather than the ship review area. It would have been written late March/early April this year if you want to hunt for it. (2015) I gave a lot of information about private guides and what we saw on our tours.

 

We are interested in a cruise on Oceania Insignia Singapore to Shanghai in March 2016. Has anyone done a similar trip and/or been on the Insignia?

 

I have been unable to find out where the ship docks in the various ports - despite ringing Oceania to ask the question. The only information they could give me was re Bangkok (Klong Toey).

 

The ports are:-

 

Singapore-- the Nautica (a sister ship to Insignia) docked in town. It was easy to get to from the airport and easy to access the city as public transit was available right at the mall. Sentosa Island is within walking distance.

 

 

Ko Samui-- tender port. We did a private tour that included an elephant ride. One of the highlights of our trip as the tour took us through parts of the jungle.

 

 

Sihanoukville-- Oceania provided a transfer service. The town market is quite fascinating and you will find many taxi drivers that are willing to drive you around to the sites.

 

 

Saigon-- we docked downtown. Since this was an overnighter we toured the Mekong Delta the first day as it is a long drive with the traffic to get there and back. You will enjoy watching people on their scooters as it is amazing what they manage to pack onto those very small scooters. The next day we did a city tour which meant that we had no worries about being back to the ship on time.

 

 

Hanoi-- tender port for us. We did not get to dock near the city. If this is an overnighter, I would recommend staying the night in Hanoi. It was worth it as the drive in is very long and the road at times is a bit iffy.

 

Sanya

Xiamen

Hong Kong-- this one is the luck of the port authorities assignment. We got stuck at the cruise terminal where the old airport was located and you had to take a shuttle to a shopping mall to get anywhere. If you are lucky enough to the dock in Kowloon, you are close to the action and can just walk off the ship.

 

Shanghai-- We were docked across from the Bund, so got to enjoy the night lights from the ship. Short ride into the city, and there were taxis available as well as a shuttle to take you to the Bund.

 

Also has anyone been on the ship? Yes, I have been on the ship. We sailed from Valparaiso to Rio de Janeiro on her. Food was excellent, service attentive without being overbearing, and we like the smaller R ships. We have also sailed on the larger ships of Oceania and enjoy them as well.

 

Any information would be gratefully received. Thank you.

 

Hope this answers some of your questions. The only advice I would give you is to take private tours rather than Oceania's. You get to see more and you don't feel like you are being herded. The people in southeast Asia are so welcoming that we would love to go back to quite a few of the ports, but alas our bucket list has grown so much, that we have to complete that first before we do repeats.:D

[captainbirdseye]

Hello No fuss traveller

 

Thanks very much for the detailed response. It is greatly appreciated and very helpful.

[captainbirdseye]

Thank you very much. This information is very helpful.

[Giacomo 1]

 

I would look for photos of the R-ships it will give a good idea of what to expect

I find the Preisman's do a excellent job of showing the ship off have a look at their website ..it is the Regatta but it will be the same as Insignia

http://www.thepreismans.com/bermuda_regatta_page1.htm

 

Thanks for the link!

 

It does give you a good luck at an R ship.

 

 

 

Some love the R-ships but if you are use to main stream line you may find then limiting.

 

I'm actually looking forward to the "limitations"!:)

 

I started sailing in the early 90's and my first cruise was on a ship named the Nordic Empress of Royal Caribbean, which held about 1600 passengers. Perfect size, and I still remember that cruise with fondness. But since then, the mainline ships just kept growing and growing and the amount of passengers made any kind of intimacy impossible. And now that I'm a bit older, I don't need all that action. I'll be looking for a little solitude and the chance to actually meet people, which for me has become virtually impossible on the big ships.

 

I'm booked on Nautica, and from everything I've seen and heard, it's just what me and my wife are looking for.:)

Edited August 2, 2015 by Giacomo 1

[Floridiana]

Mura,

She complained that the diners MDR were not dressed up to the standard of her country club. She herself was wearing a casual cotton blouse, decent but not fancy. As to the food, it was not her expected favorite dessert and main dish.

 

Ports:

Shanghai:

Our ship was also docked near the Bund, about 10-15 minutes walking from one end of the Bund. We never entered the new ferry terminal, we walked on the pier.

Xiamen:

We were glad to have a ship excursion with the privilege to bypass hundreds of Chinese tourists waiting in a wide and raggedy line for their ferry to the small island to which we were all headed. We had our own ferry and watched Chinese tourists on totally overcrowded other ferries, some of the passengers sitting on overturned plastic buckets at the edge of their crammed boat. On the way back, huge crowds again waiting. We bypassed them again. It was a Sunday and nice weather.

Hong Kong:

Ocean Terminal is in a modern mall in Kowloon, directly opposite of Hong Kong Island. Our taxi driver had trouble finding a good spot to drop us of. We boarded the ship there.

Edited August 2, 2015 by Floridiana

[SellaVee]

We did the Singapore to Shanghai segment of the first world cruise on Insignia and I wrote about it at length in the two threads below.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2186231

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2202923

 

Hope this helps,

 

Sella

[potterhill]

We were in Sihanoukville a couple years ago. We took a tuk tuk from the transfer point to a beach resort for the day. It was wonderful. Regent was in port the same day and they had a beachside lunch tour there but it was off to the side and we barely saw them.

 

I can't remember what we paid for the day pass I think it was $20. Whether that was pp or per couple I can't recall. It included the use of shaded daybeds, a towel each and a drink each. They gave you a wristband and a guy patrolled pretty regular to make sure only those who paid were there. They had a lovely pool and a great restaurant. The beach was clean.

 

When we came out of the resort our tuk tuk guy came right along. I just remembered he gave us a cell phone to call him on if we wished to leave earlier than our prearranged time.

 

On the way back to the ship we went for a massage. Incredibly inexpensive.

 

It was one of my favourite port days. So relaxing instead of driving and trying to fit in many sites.

 

I can't recall the name of the resort, but there are two and Oceania took a group to the other one. There were quite a few people from the ship there who did as we did.

 

Mo

[brucenuclear]

I so enjoyed your blog. Could you give me the names,email addresses or website of your private tours

 

Thank you again.

[captainbirdseye]

Thank you to everyone who responded to my query re the Insignia and ports on the Singapore to Shanghai trip. The responses have been enormously helpful, particularly all the links. I enjoyed reading SellaVee's blog on a similar cruise. I couldn't find the Vietnam section though. Can you point me in the right direction? I'm a relative "newbie" on Cruise Critic and I'm truly impressed by how helpful everyone is.

 

Thanks again everyone.

[SellaVee]

Thank you to everyone who responded to my query re the Insignia and ports on the Singapore to Shanghai trip. The responses have been enormously helpful, particularly all the links. I enjoyed reading SellaVee's blog on a similar cruise. I couldn't find the Vietnam section though. Can you point me in the right direction? I'm a relative "newbie" on Cruise Critic and I'm truly impressed by how helpful everyone is.

 

Thanks again everyone.

 

Happy to help.

 

If you read pages 5 and 6 of the "Live from Insignia" thread (first link above) you will find lots of information about our experiences in Vietnam.

 

Sella