How would you compare Oceania small ships to Silversea?

[tripperva]

The Oceania smaller ships accommodate 684 passengers and the culture is slightly different. But in the search for new itineraries, is this cruise line a good option if you are a Silversea fan?

[jpalbny]

Yes in some ways. We did 5 Oceania cruises before switching over to Silversea, but we'd go with O again if the opportunity presented itself.

 

The biggest difference is that drinks aren't included. I really like not having to sign for everything on SS. O has great specialty restaurants which are included. The MDR on O was really great. Some may say that the food on O is a touch better. It's a toss up for us.

 

The ships are larger than our favorite SS ships which might be a shock to go back to for us. But the passenger mix is great, and we met many friendly, interesting travel companions on our cruises with O.

 

I think you'd find the lines are of similar standards.

[RachelG]

Agree with what the previous poster said. Regent is our preferred cruise line but we have sailed on Silversea extensively and Oceania once, soon to be twice. It is a different experience, but both are fine. We do not like to have to show our room cards to get drinks on Oceania, and when we were on before, the Internet was dreadfully slow, which is a problem if you are paying by the minute which was the only option. The food on Oceania is outstanding, better than Silversea for the most part, but they have the annoying salad bar where you can't serve yourself.

[machotspur]

Agree with what jpalbny and RachelG have said.

 

My wife and I are itinerary driven cruisers and use Silversea, Seabourn and soon Regent to meet this need, with Oceania in fourth place.

 

We believe that the Oceania food is, in our experience, the pick of the bunch and the dress code is what we prefer.

 

The (near) deal breaker is that Oceania is not inclusive and constantly having to sign and reconcile pieces of paper or handover key cards for drinks really takes the edge off of the whole experience for us.

 

However if the itinerary is right for us we would gladly travel with any of the four.

[Silver Spectre]

Agree with the above, lack of inclusive is a deal breaker, and these are some of the older R ships, nice inside but rather crowded in comparison with SS, and finally their suites are smaller even than an SS Vista.

[jollyjones]

Ditto agree with above; also cabins are small and the bathrooms are minuscule.

 

 

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[tripperva]

Thank you for the helpful responses. We mostly search by itinerary and saw that O has some new ports for us. We have 150 days on Regent, 130 days on Silversea and 28 days on Seabourn. The research shows that O has very good restaurants, bars and penthouse suites. It is just a matter of dealing with the culture of signing for every drink, and we don't do that much. Our experience is that all the cruise lines have problems with tours .

[Erica@cruisecritic]

If you're still deciding, this feature might be useful: http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2647

[newlondon]

IMO this is a very interesting question. DW and I have cruised on Nautica, SW, SWh, and Regent V as well as other ships.

I will leave the itinerary out of my evaluation.

Silver Whisper remains our favorite ship; but it is not the best in any category, it is a combination of service, excursions, accommodations, and food.

It must be said that each line has its strengths. O in our opinion has the best food. RSSC has the best penthouses our usual level. In the small ship category we like Nautica for its decor and the evening entertainment in the great hall.

SW is delightful and we had the best CD ever in Colin Brown.

We have spent more time on V than any other ship and love it. If the food were more consistent it could move into first place. The new menus in CR may do it.

We will see next Oct. but SW gets another chance the following Aug.

[PaulMCO]

Regarding the inclusive comments -- you can op for the drink package that eliminates the nickel and diming. With O offering alot of OBC on their current sailings that can pay for the gratuities also.

[RachelG]

The drink package eliminates nickel and dining, but you have the annoying issue of having to show your suite card for every drink which is just not luxury to me.

[duct tape]

How small is "small"?