Please join us - Spain to the New World on a new ship - LIVE from Oceania Riviera

[kazu]

the four strings were playing for us as well at the Grand Buffet

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

more of the Grand Buffet

 

 

 

here is the menu that was posted outside the Grand Dining Room in case it is clearer to read.

 

 

[kazu]

For those that are waiting for their first O cruise, here is a sample of the Currents (the daily paper). This is today's Currents - if people want I can try to post them all. Just let me know!

 

 

 

 

 

Like most cruise lines, there is always the infamous insert. This is today's

 

 

[kazu]

On our second sea day we had some fun activity with the Officers challenging the guests. It was fun to watch. I believe I reported on it but neglected to post the pic of our proud officers parading around the guests cheering.

 

Hard to keep track so I do hope these pics aren't a repeat.

 

 

 

 

and here is our General Manager Dominique in the pool (in uniform) tossing the balls back!

 

 

Apparently O normally does another activity on Transatlantics called the "Country Fair" (I think I have that right?). Apparently it will not happen on board because of the G.I. outbreak. I only know this because I was at the reception desk when another O regular asked and reception said no, it was not scheduled for today and would not be.

 

Just some info for regular O cruisers.

[kazu]

Our next specialty dining was Jacques.

 

YUM, YUM, YUM.

 

thumbs up by all four of us.

 

This was the night of DH's birthday and I wanted to choose wisely and Jacques appealed the most so I chose that restaurant to celebrate his birthday. We invited our other taste testers to join us :)

 

I am happy to say that I chose wisely!!!

 

 

even their bread has their signature on it.

 

 

a couple pics of the trouble making taste testers:

 

 

[kazu]

more of Jacques. appetizers.... yummnm

 

 

 

 

 

 

the mussels were a special of the day. a HUGE serving.

 

The escargots were delish with the right utensils :)

[kazu]

more of Jacques ....more, more, more....couldn't get enough of this place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

look at the sea bass. It is really supposed to be shared - but the waiter brought the whole thing for gigianne's DH and put the other 1/2 in the middle of the table for us to share

 

[kazu]

Then it was time for dessert.

 

DH got a BIG surprise....

 

 

 

the cake was chocolate with hazelnut and all kinds of delicious stuff (and I am NOT a chocolate fan). I couldn't help but think of HAL's RuthC. she would have loved it.

 

 

and they even sang to DH.!!! Now DH is a relatively private and doesn't like these fusses but he actually enjoyed this!

 

Then it was time for the after dinner treats with our coffee and tea

 

 

JACQUES ROCKS!!!!! LOVE IT!!!

 

 

 

DH blamed me for the cake and singing. I said NO, I KNOW better!! We thought that the staff had somehow intuitively picked up on the fact that it was his birthday and then the next day we found out.....

THE BUTLER DID IT!!! Our butler had seen my corny birthday decorations and asked Jose whose birthday it was. HE contacted Jacques and let them know.

 

So all the murder mysteries were right - the butler did it. Yay, for our butler as DH had a lot of fun with it.

 

And Jacques is highly recommended by all four taste testers.

Edited November 26, 2015 by kazu

[copvet]

Looks like I will have to pack my "comfort fit" pants. Looking great. Thank you again for the updates & pics.

Wayne & Debbie

[superoma]

What a great review. Love the food porn. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[ger_77]

What a delightful surprise for Jose, especially since he really enjoyed it. Yay for the butler! BTW, your food porn is killing me - the presentations are so beautiful, and if there are any extra mussels or escargots, would you just pack them up and send them my way?

 

PS: We have a -28C wind chill this morning - enjoy your cruise.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

Gerry

[kazu]

What a delightful surprise for Jose, especially since he really enjoyed it. Yay for the butler! BTW, your food porn is killing me - the presentations are so beautiful, and if there are any extra mussels or escargots, would you just pack them up and send them my way?

 

PS: We have a -28C wind chill this morning - enjoy your cruise.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

Gerry

 

I don't even want to think about the weather I will be facing Gerry.

 

Just hope the roads are relatively clear to pick up the terrible trio.

 

But that is a few days away, so I will enjoy the weather here.

 

We are hitting some swells now so we will see how the ride is today. It's fine by me so far :)

[kazu]

Everyone reminds me of high tea. So I went to take a peak and have a bit of an experience.

 

Our 4 girls were there playing again.

 

And they were going around serving or you could go to the main area to get something. Why bother if you are going to be served?

 

Quite nice.

 

 

 

 

 

[PirateShark]

I sure will miss Jacques on my Regatta cruise :( you should ask your wonderful butler to get another reservation there pronto.

[cat shepard]

O should ask your permission to use some of your pictures. My mouth is watering from too much food porn. Thank you again for taking the time to do this!

[kazu]

I sure will miss Jacques on my Regatta cruise :( you should ask your wonderful butler to get another reservation there pronto.

lf all we can get are very late reserves, I plan to ask him for in room dining from Jacques :) I will ask him today. We needed to try it first. Love, love, love it :)

 

I asked the butler how much notice he needed and he said as long as it was before 6 he was happy to do it for us. (we have been pretty low maintenance)

[kazu]

So, this morning one of our roll call members tells me we need to be aboard in Bermuda at 3 instead of the scheduled 5:30 p.m.

 

Apparently they had something on their bed last night.

 

Since we have a private tour, this is a tad of an issue, but not a big one as I can tell the catamaran we need to return a bit earlier than planned. Our operator had already told me we were leaving at 4:00 despite O's itinerary and we had planned around that.

 

Since I have nothing, I trundle down to reception and Destinations to get the "straight goods". They tell me we have changed and are leaving at 4 but it is all subject to change. I figure all is good and then trundle to Bingo (didn't win BTW).

 

At Bingo I run into some lovely ladies I have gotten to know and I ask them if they had any notice and they tell me yes, it was inside the currents and all aboard is now at 3 pm. We had nothing in our currents nor did several other roll call members I know so after Bingo I trundle down to Reception AGAIN.

 

This time I asked for the insert that was SUPPOSED to be in my currents last night. I get the "huh" look - which Current and say just give me the printout on Bermuda. It was supposed to be in today's Currents which was delivered last night.

 

She prints it off for me and yes, all onboard is now at 3 pm. GRRRR.

 

they need to go in daylight which is understandable in Bermuda with the reefs but it would have been nice if I had gotten either the insert in my Currents or the right answer the first time.

 

End of vent ;)

Edited November 26, 2015 by kazu

[CruisingCleo]

Love your blog! We are already excited to be starting our first cruise on the Rivier on 12/2 but your blog is making us super excited! Only 6 more nights....

Enjoy the remainder of your TA. Are you staying on for the next trip?

[janecambridge]

Thank you for the wonderful photos.We have just returned from Cunard Grills and nothing was a spectacular as the food I see here.

We are on our first Oceania cruise in August and can't wait.Everything looks top notch ( and better than Regent....ssssshhhh)

Will we ever be able to return to another cruise line after experiencing Oceania...?

[kazu]

Love your blog! We are already excited to be starting our first cruise on the Rivier on 12/2 but your blog is making us super excited! Only 6 more nights....

Enjoy the remainder of your TA. Are you staying on for the next trip?

 

 

No, sorry, we are getting off in Miami - heading to Fort Lauderdale & flying home the next day to the cold and the snow - uggher.

[kazu]

Thank you for the wonderful photos.We have just returned from Cunard Grills and nothing was a spectacular as the food I see here.

We are on our first Oceania cruise in August and can't wait.Everything looks top notch ( and better than Regent....ssssshhhh)

Will we ever be able to return to another cruise line after experiencing Oceania...?

 

Just remember, no cruise and no cruise line is perfect. It's impossible.

 

So just don't set your expectations too high and you should have a great time.

[qsuzi]

Following along on this live thread. Very informative.

[RJB]

Is there norovirus on the ship? Reading other thread and it says a bunch of people are sick.

[kazu]

As Orv and I have both reported, we do have a gastro outbreak on board (aka Noro). How many cases I really don't know.

 

Here's the scoop... the laundry is closed (code red move) and the goodies have been removed from the Executive/Concierge Lounge. That move is very strange to me. I have been on ships with Noro in the past and the goodies remained but it was required that they be unavailable to reach for and they were served to the guests. There is a waiter in there all the time from what I have been able to see and a concierge most of the time so I don't get why they don't just pass the goodies to the passengers.

 

Laundry closure in my experience has only been in code red and when they did that they offered a reduced laundry package to passengers. Now the 20 item package is on for $25 (ok, technically $24.95) but it's a fold package which means nothing is on a hanger so of little use to us. Fortunately for me, I did a laundry yesterday morning early before they locked the doors.

 

The casino is still open, the library, the pools and one hot tub. So it's a big mix of protocols.

 

Dh spoke to one passenger today who has been on something like 15 O cruises and she says this is the first time that she has used a sanitizer. HUH????

 

One big difference I saw between my other cruise line and O was that no one was encouraging you to sanitize your hands when you came back from port and boarded, entering dining rooms, etc. In fact, in two ports, DH did not see any sanitizers to use before getting on the gang way. He might have missed them, but that's highly unlikely as he does do this stuff.

 

The emphasis and enforcement on sanitization only happened after the outbreak occurred. In fact the dramatic switch is what clued me in to what was going on.

 

So, I'm not sure what stage we are at. It seems some things are open that would be closed if we were at code red and yet things that would be open are closed if it is only code orange. (I am not sure if O uses those terms or not - but code orange on my other shp defines preventing the spread, code red defines a serious outbreak with more serious protocols).

 

I do not know if they are licking it or not, but all my sympathy to the crew that are feverishly washing down everything in sight. Tables, chairs, walls, elevator walls, buttons, slot machines, etc. They are all working at a frenzy and I hope for their sake that this gets fixed fast

[kazu]

Is there norovirus on the ship? Reading other thread and it says a bunch of people are sick.

 

 

Yes, as reported, there is gasto intestinal illness on baord (aka Noro).

 

I only have heard of 15 cases and the ship is very tight lipped about it so how many for sure I don't know. I do know they are getting into some very heavy protocols which makes me think that there are more than 15 cases, but I could be wrong of course ;)