R and O ships

[janecambridge]

Being new to Oceania,first cruise with them in August,please could you explain what R and O ships are? It is coming up alot on various threads.

Many thanks.

[hypercafe]

The R ships are ex Renaissance Line's sister ships that were built in the late 90's. They have been refurbed and, from what I read, in excellent shape. They are small with 650 Passengers. The O ships are new builds for Oceania around 4 years old. They are larger with 1250 passengers.

[PaulMCO]

R - former Renaissance now - Nautica, Insignia, Regatta and Sirena

O - new built for Oceania specifically Marina and Riviera

[hondorner]

Interestingly, while other cruise line's ships of the same class like NCL Jewel class or Celebrity Millennium class may not be identical, all of the "R" ships are virtually identical, or become so after all go through dry dock refurbishments. For example, Sirena will have several differences this year, but they will be added to the others during subsequent drydocks.

 

The "O" ships are also nearly identical. Marina was first, and some improvements were made when Riviera was constructed. Most have been duplicated in Marina, but there are a few which would be nearly impossible to retrofit -- for example, the ceilings in Polo and Toscana are about 10" higher on Riviera than they are on Marina. I defy anyone to tell the difference by observation alone...:D Also, the Ocean View cabins on Marina have bars across the glass wall while Rivera does not.

Edited February 17, 2016 by hondorner

[janecambridge]

Thank you very much.

When I first started looking on here,I thought R was Regent and O was Oceania!!

😧After a while it became obvious this was not the case..

So thank you all for clearing that up.

[Mura]

I guess it doesn't help that many of us DO refer to Oceania as "O" ... but regulars can tell when we are referring to the ships or to the cruise line. I don't think I've seen anyone refer to Regent as "R" but it certainly could have happened since there are some Regent people posting here.

 

Perhaps this is a good hint that we should all take the time to write out Oceania or Regent. The "R" ships have been known by that term for so long that I doubt that can change!

 

Mura

[sitraveler]

The posting on this thread was Don's last.

 

RIP.

[Mura]

I know I'm not the first to say this but we are going to miss his contributions terribly.

 

Mura

[janecambridge]

RIP Don.coundolescenses to all his family and friends and everyone on cruise critic who will miss him so much...

[TravelerThom]

The now defunct Renaissance Cruise Line from 1998 to 2000 launched a class of eight ships named (with great imagination) R One through R Eight. These ships are still generally referred to as "R ships" no matter who owns them.

 

Current names for these ships (in order from R One to R Eight) are:

Oceania Insignia

Oceania Regatta

Pacific Princess

Oceania Sirena

Oceania Nautica

Azamara Journey

Azamara Quest

P&O Adonia

 

Thom

[Mura]

Just a nitpick but it was R1 through R8 - no written out numbers. They did have a couple of small ships towards the end which used roman numerals rather than arabic.

 

As an example, when we had a bridge tour of Regatta in 2005 there was a chart on the wall for the R2 dating from when the ship had been launched.

 

Mura

[TravelerThom]

Just a nitpick but it was R1 through R8 - no written out numbers. They did have a couple of small ships towards the end which used roman numerals rather than arabic.

 

As an example, when we had a bridge tour of Regatta in 2005 there was a chart on the wall for the R2 dating from when the ship had been launched.

 

Mura

Thanks Mura. That what I was thinking, but http://www.cruise-ships.com/renaissance-cruises/ listed them with it spelled out - I think that source is incorrect. Renaissance I through VIII appear to have been launched 1989 to 1992. III is now sailing as Silverseas' Silver Galapagos.