Is Sirena As Bad As They Say ?

[curtdesilets]

Why do you feel that you need to apologize for doing what 99.9 % of posters do----

We have done 125 cruises and feel BLESSED that we had the resources and the health to do that!

You should be PROUD of your accomplishments!

 

Our friends cannot understand why our ONLY vacation is a CRUISE vacation.

 

I think a lot of us here on Cruise Critic understand. - :)

[Hawaiidan]

Our friends cannot understand why our ONLY vacation is a CRUISE vacation.

 

I think a lot of us here on Cruise Critic understand. - :)

 

Aside from the pure asthetic value of traveling on the sea in a atmosphere of ambiance and tranquility surrounded by wonderful stimulating people, Where else can you have such experiences, cuisine and friendship free from the travails of life and lands.....

 

No other travel form I have found has such value in what you get for your $

Well you could sleep in your car, eat at burger king and save.... but how could you get to Tahiti from New Zealand or The Hubbard glacier from Juneau? or watch the dawn break over Bora Bora.... only on a cruise

[Mura]

We love cruising for the obvious benefits that we all appreciate here -- interesting itineraries (okay, you'll see more of a port of call on a land tour but this gives you a taste and you can always return for a longer visit if you wish) ... no need to pack and repack every day or two ... excellent food and super comfortable beds (at least on Oceania) ... and so on.

 

But we have friends who would never cruise even if it were free ... many of them are younger than we are, but others are not.

 

And of course people who tend to get seasick at the mere THOUGHT of being on a ship (or boat) ... well it's understandable why they would avoid a cruise!

 

To each his own!

 

Mura

[Andiamo5]

We

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Classiccruiser777]

Looks just like the other R ships (and I'm glad O acquired her):

 

[Mura]

Ditto. We just left Sirena on Tuesday morning (10/22/16) and she is as lovely as all the other "R"ships ... of which we've been on ALL. The only Oceania ship left to try is Riviera, but so far we haven't found the right itinerary for her.

 

We were spoiled by being in a VS but that was my birthday present to myself ...

 

Sometimes some slow service in the GDR, especially when we were a table for 8 on my birthday. This wasn't a problem when we were at a table for 2 or 4.

 

Plenty of bran muffins on board (which DH insists on every morning) which was NOT the case with Nautica in June. But that was an exception to our prior experience on other ships.

 

Relax, the ship is lovely.

 

Mura

[Hawaiidan]

The ship is so bad that I can wait to sail on her for 21 days... so I can revel in all the supposed awfulness.

 

As a point of interest, on my last cruise, last month, I ran into what you would call a "complainers affinity group" It was almost theater as each tried to out do the other with how bad things were. on the cruise. They did agree that everything was awful, the entire staff should be fired, every meal was awful and the ship was in such need of repair it should be sunk.

 

Now dear reader, might you suppose that when not sailing these same group members might take to delight deriding a ship in their sights? Ya' think!

 

The "Princess and the Pea" society is alive and well

[Snidjud]

I am currently on the Sirena; 10-day New York to New York. In spite of having to miss Bermuda due to weather, our experience onboard is very positive. The ship is beautiful, the crew friendly and competent and the food outstanding!

[Mura]

I find it ironic that we were in Bermuda on Sirena two days after the hurricane hit (October 16th) and had gorgeous weather. We had rough seas the day before arriving in Bermuda, but once there it was perfection. And yet YOU missed Bermuda because of weather ... and we didn't.

 

Mura

[Hawaiidan]

I find it ironic that we were in Bermuda on Sirena two days after the hurricane hit (October 16th) and had gorgeous weather. We had rough seas the day before arriving in Bermuda, but once there it was perfection. And yet YOU missed Bermuda because of weather ... and we didn't.

 

Mura

 

We missed Bermuda too in Sept and diverted to Nassau ....

 

So after pondering how to deal with that loss we decided the best way was to book another cruise that included Bermuda..

 

Seemed the simplest logical way to make up for the loss.

 

This same logic could be well applied to any cruise where you miss a port or something.... Get back on the ship when its headed to where ever.!!!

[bisabella]

The ship is so bad that I can wait to sail on her for 21 days... so I can revel in all the supposed awfulness.

 

As a point of interest, on my last cruise, last month, I ran into what you would call a "complainers affinity group" It was almost theater as each tried to out do the other with how bad things were. on the cruise. They did agree that everything was awful, the entire staff should be fired, every meal was awful and the ship was in such need of repair it should be sunk.

 

Now dear reader, might you suppose that when not sailing these same group members might take to delight deriding a ship in their sights? Ya' think!

 

The "Princess and the Pea" society is alive and well

Some people are just not happy unless they complain. As I write this sitting at my desk in work, one of my co-workers is complaining because the mailman, after asking how to spell the co-worker's name, confused a "c" with a "z". Wow, isn't that terrible - how did the mailman ever get his job!!

[findacruise]

Makes me think someone should start a thread titled Sirena is BETTER than everyone says! We are looking forward to our 34 day circumnavigation of Australia on her. Even thought she isn't so "bad" that we made our final payment. Guess we're "stuck" now! :D

[Paulchili]

Makes me think someone should start a thread titled Sirena is BETTER than everyone says! We are looking forward to our 34 day circumnavigation of Australia on her. Even thought she isn't so "bad" that we made our final payment. Guess we're "stuck" now! :D

 

J,

I am sure that you will enjoy this great itinerary. Several of our friends will be on this cruise.

BTW - is your Seabourn from AKL to SYD on the Encore? If so, we will be following you from SYD to SIN.

Please let me know what you think of her (as well as any tips :)) - Paulpepper at Comcast dot net

TIA

Paul

Edited October 26, 2016 by Paulchili

[curtdesilets]

The ship is so bad that I can wait to sail on her for 21 days... so I can revel in all the supposed awfulness.

 

As a point of interest, on my last cruise, last month, I ran into what you would call a "complainers affinity group" It was almost theater as each tried to out do the other with how bad things were. on the cruise. They did agree that everything was awful, the entire staff should be fired, every meal was awful and the ship was in such need of repair it should be sunk.

 

Now dear reader, might you suppose that when not sailing these same group members might take to delight deriding a ship in their sights? Ya' think!

 

The "Princess and the Pea" society is alive and well

 

I am sure now that Sirena will be as GOOD as we have come to expect.

I suppose I used some reverse logic in the title of my post. :) - OP.

 

The Complainers group you mentioned is interesting. Oceania, and for the most part, all cruise line staff work as hard as they can to please us. Humm? It's amazing not more things go wrong, IMHO. The more close to perfection a cruise experience becomes (i.e. Oceania), the more a handful of pea princesses(or princes) try to uncover anything, however minuscule, might be lacking. Humm?

 

Reminds me of a time when I was skiing with a bunch of young lawyers, many moons ago. I had rented a large condo @ Mammoth Mountain, and some of my friends dropped out last minute. A lawyer on my softball team said he could fill our condo with some lawyer buddies of his, to share the expenses. For 4 days, we had to endure these young lawyers arguing every point, for the sake of argument, or to hone in on their arguing skills or something. It was by far the most irritating vacation I had ever been on! :eek: For the sake of argument, I just like to enjoy my vacation peacefully.

[Hawaiidan]

That reguardless of the ship, the line from Carnival to Regent from Costa to Seabourn, From RCCL to Crystal....... You hear the same complaints no matter how things really are... Its amazing and funny too. It also gives one pause to consider as they say " it aint the arrow but the indian"

[findacruise]

J,

I am sure that you will enjoy this great itinerary. Several of our friends will be on this cruise.

BTW - is your Seabourn from AKL to SYD on the Encore? If so, we will be following you from SYD to SIN.

Please let me know what you think of her (as well as any tips :)) - Paulpepper at Comcast dot net

TIA

Paul

Yes, we will be on Encore. Couldn't resist when we saw she dovetailed perfectly into the Sirena cruise. I wrote your email in my cruise folder. Will gladly share my impressions of Encore while on board, but they do have a no tipping policy. :D

[Paulchili]

......but they do have a no tipping policy. :D

 

I won't tell them if you won't :D

Thanks - enjoy both of them.

[UAL_FlyGal]

I am currently on the Sirena; 10-day New York to New York. In spite of having to miss Bermuda due to weather, our experience onboard is very positive. The ship is beautiful, the crew friendly and competent and the food outstanding!

 

We were on the same cruise and I absolutely agree w/ you!! Although we froze our buns off @ the new ports The Sirena is now our favorite ship. EVER!! The crew was EXCEPTIONAL. The ship was GORGEOUS and the food was BEYOND BELIEF!! We never thought we would find a ship better than Seabourn Legend. Sirena NAILED IT!!

[nyfeds]

We just returned from the same cruise UAL FlyGal was on.

 

I will not get into a lengthy discussion/debate on this forum. However, we found Sirena to to riddled with service issues (predominantly in Terrace Cafe and afternoon tea), as well as the MDR. There is a great need for training of staff. So much lax service and lack of team coordination. Left hand did not know what the right hand was doing most of the time. Officers were pretty much nowhere to be found throughout the day. Our itinerary changed due to storms at sea and after the announcement was made, our Captain was the "Invisible Man" rather than making himself accessible and available. Our Cruise Director, Cory, was pretty dismal. Not terribly engaging. Officers were not involved nor engaging, as we have experienced on both Regent and Celebrity. Many crew members appeared unhappy.

 

Afternoon tea was a real letdown. No WOW factor whatsoever. More a dessert buffet.

 

Sirena is in need of repair and refreshing, despite it's remodel, which we felt was slapped together rather than well thought out and executed. Sirena did not have the look or feel of a new and refreshed ship, IMHO.

 

We really enjoyed the cuisine on Oceania. We also enjoyed our dining experiences in both Tuscan Steak and Red Ginger.

 

We are going to consider Sirena and our experiences on her to be the exception and not the rule for Oceania and give Oceania one more try on another ship. Sirena and it's crew have a lot of work ahead of them, IMHO. This was our first O experience and we were quite disappointed in Sirena.

 

Denise

Edited October 31, 2016 by nyfeds

[LHT28]

well there you go so many different opinions/experiences on the same sailing ;)

 

Denise too bad it was not the experience you expected

Maybe the Marina or Riviera would be a better choice if you sail on O again

[nyfeds]

Thanks, Lyn. We will definitely consider Riviera or Marina. We did a place holder deposit for a future cruise while on-board.

 

Yes, we each have our own thoughts, opinions and experiences. We met so many seasoned O cruisers on this sailing and the vast majority of those we spoke with felt Sirena missed the mark in a number of areas and is in need of correction and training.

 

On the upside, we did have wonderful room attendants and some servers (Dragan in the MDR, Andrea in Tuscan Steak) and a great sommelier, Ritchie who is the bomb! We also met some really lovely fellow passengers and had a great time sharing some tours as well as some meals together.

 

We went into this cruise with an open mind, after reading so many negative reviews. We are not high maintenance people, but expect a certain service level, as well as senior officer interaction and engagement. Sirena faltered and we disembarked disappointed that our first O cruise was not what we entirely hoped for. Better luck next time :)

[LHT28]

We are not high maintenance people, but expect a certain service level, as well as senior officer interaction and engagement. :)

Well do not expect too much interaction with the senior staff on Oceania

 

Some are more chatty than others but we never expect to be their best friend :D

[nyfeds]

No expectations to be anyone's best friend when it comes to officers and crew. :) Never expected that on Regent, nor Celebrity. I did not expect it on O :) But, there was so little, if any, interaction on Sirena.

[ORV]

Thanks, Lyn. We will definitely consider Riviera or Marina. We did a place holder deposit for a future cruise while on-board.

 

Yes, we each have our own thoughts, opinions and experiences. We met so many seasoned O cruisers on this sailing and the vast majority of those we spoke with felt Sirena missed the mark in a number of areas and is in need of correction and training.

 

On the upside, we did have wonderful room attendants and some servers (Dragan in the MDR, Andrea in Tuscan Steak) and a great sommelier, Ritchie who is the bomb! We also met some really lovely fellow passengers and had a great time sharing some tours as well as some meals together.

 

We went into this cruise with an open mind, after reading so many negative reviews. We are not high maintenance people, but expect a certain service level, as well as senior officer interaction and engagement. Sirena faltered and we disembarked disappointed that our first O cruise was not what we entirely hoped for. Better luck next time :)

 

I'm not defending Oceania, but it's pretty well documented here that the officers aren't really the social butterflies that they are on other cruise lines. Actually most of them I've encountered on Oceania seem uncomfortable speaking publicly or interacting with guests.

 

If you are looking for senior officer engagement and interaction like many report on Azamara then you will continue to be disappointed if you sail Oceania again. It's just not the culture on Oceania.

 

On service issues there's no excuse, there just needs to be more training.

[Paulchili]

I'm not defending Oceania, but it's pretty well documented here that the officers aren't really the social butterflies that they are on other cruise lines. Actually most of them I've encountered on Oceania seem uncomfortable speaking publicly or interacting with guests.

 

If you are looking for senior officer engagement and interaction like many report on Azamara then you will continue to be disappointed if you sail Oceania again. It's just not the culture on Oceania.

 

On service issues there's no excuse, there just needs to be more training.

 

Agree with all.

Exception are some GMs (and some CDs) interacting with some frequent cruisers that they know from past cruises and host them at luncheons - they are treated as "old friends".

But in general, officers are invisible and do not interact with passengers.

I am surprised about the disappointing afternoon tea - IME it always used to be great.

We will be on Sirena in Dec - I hope things are as I expect them from the past cruises, but we'll see.

Edited October 31, 2016 by Paulchili