What makes Oceania special? We want to try it.

[JimandStan]

Oceania attracts educated, well traveled people who are smart enough to have done their research and sophisticated enough to know that one must pay for quality. Most are friendly, but you will also notice a marked reluctance to intrude.

 

Organized activities are kept to a minimum, as are announcements, so the pace is quite relaxed except on Port Days when the majority sightsee with a vengeance. A large percentage plan private shore excursions, and Oceania Roll Calls tend to be chock a block with offers to share.

 

Age, as on every Cruise Line, varies widely depending on location and length of cruise. Longer voyages require more time and money and thus attract an older clientele. Warmer climate cruises skew more casual, dresswise.

Overall, the atmosphere is elegant, low key and polished. I would compare it very favorably with what Holland America was offering pre 1974.

[ShipShapely]

No nickel and diming

Easy on off no lines

Extremely good sanitation when it comes to food handling at buffets. No passengers can touch the food. They serve everything.

Super comfortable beds and spacious cabins.

Specialty and main dining room awesome Toscanos is perfection.

 

Cons: Figuring out cost of excursions with the different packages they have is very confusing. I wish they offered an all inclusive higher end tour package like they do on Uniworld or Tauck tours. Tauck is the best. No one else comes close in that department but there cruise options very limited.

[ano]

No nickel and diming

Cons: Figuring out cost of excursions with the different packages they have is very confusing. I wish they offered an all inclusive higher end tour package like they do on Uniworld or Tauck tours. Tauck is the best. No one else comes close in that department but there cruise options very limited.

 

I am with you with that. After we got a bit discussed with the big cruise companies we took two land tours, Globus and OAT. It was nice to have excursions included. Viking claims to give you at least one free at each location, which is nice, even if its a simple excursion.

[iandjm]

As an example of how opinions differ. We like those eight ports in ten day cruises. Actually, only one sea day is fine with us on that short a cruise. We cruise to visit the world. If we wanted to just sit around taking it easy, we do that far less expensively , and more elegantly, in a Four Seasons or spg resort where great golf is an option.

 

People that don’t want , or are to tired to get off the ship while in port have the option of remaining aboard. Many do this exact thing, so why complain about the number of port stops?

 

Same here. I love lots of ports. I just do not aim to spend every minute of the port stop ashore :)

[Ken the cruiser]

What is the average age of the passengers?

According to the Nautica GM on a 20 day northern European cruise we just got off on Sunday, the average age was 64.

[Issyalex]

We are recently retired and also looking for something different than the mass-market ships. Been on probably 20 cruises on the regular lines. Our problem seems to be we started cruising maybe 20 years ago, and things are VERY different today. So we are looking at Oceania, Viking, and maybe Crystal. Were looking for nice ship and food, no nickel and dimming, friendly guests and crew.

 

So our biggest question really is "atmosphere" and it hasn't been mentioned much. What we DON'T want is stuffy, clickish, elitist, borish passengers, that are continually complaining about everything. So how does Oceania rate there? What is the average age of the passengers?

 

 

 

Atmosphere is relaxed and very unstuffy. I didn’t hear anyone complaining about the ship, food, service etc. Anyone we spoke to were very nice and deffo not boring nor boasting.

 

Oceania’s age is over 50’s. We’ve only been one one Oceania cruise but have cruised 20 times mainly with celebrity, and are on Oceania Insignia on 3rd sept. Our first cruise, 2 yrs ago, was to celebrate my 60th and hubbys 50th birthdays and we didn’t too young/old.

 

 

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[Hawaiidan]

Internet dictionaries define it as:

 

"real, genuine, actual, true, bona fide"

 

What is aloof or arrogant about that?

 

Everything as it is used in context

[edgee]

Oceania attracts educated, well traveled people who are smart enough to have done their research and sophisticated enough to know that one must pay for quality. Most are friendly, but you will also notice a marked reluctance to intrude.

 

Organized activities are kept to a minimum, as are announcements, so the pace is quite relaxed except on Port Days when the majority sightsee with a vengeance. A large percentage plan private shore excursions, and Oceania Roll Calls tend to be chock a block with offers to share.

 

Age, as on every Cruise Line, varies widely depending on location and length of cruise. Longer voyages require more time and money and thus attract an older clientele. Warmer climate cruises skew more casual, dresswise.

Overall, the atmosphere is elegant, low key and polished. I would compare it very favorably with what Holland America was offering pre 1974.

 

Well stated except for the minimum announcements part. Depending on cruise director announcements on Oceania can be repetitive and disturb the serenity of an other wise peaceful elegant yet fun cruise experience.

[StanandJim]

Well stated except for the minimum announcements part. Depending on cruise director announcements on Oceania can be repetitive and disturb the serenity of an other wise peaceful elegant yet fun cruise experience.

We are so darned spoiled...

I wonder if we should not be required to visit a mass market ship every so often, in order to appreciate, in this case, how few announcements there are in comparison.

[The A Train]

Sorry Jim, but, there are at least 2 CD's on "O" that do a complete litany, twice a day, reciting all that's in the daily program, most particularly on sea days, about 9AM and just after the Captain's update at Noon.

 

 

 

And, always a special announcement before Bingo.....not much different than Princess. And Cunard makes almost NONE!

[Mura]

Not denying they exist but they haven't been on our cruises ...

 

 

Most recently was Riviera in May, prior to that was Marina in November 2017. Plus, if we're in our room we don't hear them.

[Paulchili]

Sorry Jim, but, there are at least 2 CD's on "O" that do a complete litany, twice a day, reciting all that's in the daily program, most particularly on sea days, about 9AM and just after the Captain's update at Noon.

 

 

 

And, always a special announcement before Bingo.....not much different than Princess. And Cunard makes almost NONE!

 

Would you mind naming those 2 CDs?

[edgee]

Would you mind naming those 2 CDs?

 

I will absolutely name two of them: Corey and Dottie get behind the microphone and you would think you are on a Carnival ship. On the other hand Julie is not a frequent "announcer" and David P. is pretty good.

 

I am also a frequent Celebrity cruiser and annoying announcements are non existent on Celebrity.

[Ken the cruiser]

We just finished a 32 day GV where we had one CD, Julie, the first leg, and a different CD, John, on the second leg. On both legs, they would announce on port days when the ship was cleared for folks to go ashore, sometimes quite early. But if you were in your cabin it was pretty hard to hear them. On sea days they would make some morning announcements and then again after the Captain would speak at noon. It was no big deal. If fact it was kind of nice to be reminded what's going on. But, hey, you're on a cruise. It's to be expected.

[ORV]

There is definitely more announcements than there used to be.

[Paulchili]

I will absolutely name two of them: Corey and Dottie get behind the microphone and you would think you are on a Carnival ship. On the other hand Julie is not a frequent "announcer" and David P. is pretty good.

 

I am also a frequent Celebrity cruiser and annoying announcements are non existent on Celebrity.

 

Agree about Dottie; never cruised with Corey.

[Mura]

It's a number of years since we were on a cruise where Dottie was the CD but she NEVER made extreme announcements back then.If she is doing so now -- do you think it is by her choice? That might not be the case.

 

 

Other things have changed over the years. Maybe this has as well.

 

 

It's also a while since we were with Julie, and she did not abuse, that's true. Both she and Dottie remain two of our favorite CDs, and we tend pretty much to ignore them ...

 

 

 

Haven't been with the Corey or David.

 

 

Mura

[Mura]

That may be, Orv, but you still don't hear them in the room. In fact, that's one of my complaints! From the opposite direction ...

 

 

We're usually in a suite and so we spend more time in them than we might if we were in a lower cabin. But rushing to the door to hear an announcement can be a problem in that often enough we don't get the door open in time ... or we don't turn on the TV because usually it isn't on! By the time we get to the right channel, everything is over.

 

 

 

Now, if announcements are rare then we'd be happy to have them piped ion the room. OTOH, if they are frequent ... prolly not!

 

 

No pleasing everyone ...

 

 

Mura

[ORV]

That may be, Orv, but you still don't hear them in the room. In fact, that's one of my complaints! From the opposite direction ...

 

 

We're usually in a suite and so we spend more time in them than we might if we were in a lower cabin. But rushing to the door to hear an announcement can be a problem in that often enough we don't get the door open in time ... or we don't turn on the TV because usually it isn't on! By the time we get to the right channel, everything is over.

 

 

 

Now, if announcements are rare then we'd be happy to have them piped ion the room. OTOH, if they are frequent ... prolly not!

 

 

No pleasing everyone ...

 

 

Mura

 

The only ones that come across in the room are the critical announcements.

[elegantexplorer]

My husband and I tried Oceania 4 years ago ... and we are excited about our 6th cruise with them to the Amazon this fall. Some reasons we love to cruise with Oceania...

-destinations (With exceptional side trips like the Taj Mahal, Safari in Africa)

-the staff is exceptional

-excellent food (and I’m a foodie!)

-attention to details

-small ships with places to hide

-lecturers

-we have met and kept wonderful friends

I don’t think you will be disappointed. It’s a quieter experience than larger ships and no formal nights.

[Mura]

The only ones that come across in the room are the critical announcements.

 

Agreed! But if we are in the room and hear the ding-dong we rush to the door and open it to listen to the announcement. They just haven't been extremely important in our experience. We usually listen a bit and close the door.

 

If the complaints are about announcements piped out in the "open space" then I agree we don't always hear those.

 

Mura

[LHT28]

Usually it is the morning announcement then if people waiting for the ship to be cleared I have heard those & when tendering is open

Captain at Noon followed by the CD

 

Usually that is all but sometime they sneak in an announce for bingo or trivia

 

 

 

Mura I am like you ..by the time I get to the door or get the TV on the right channel it is over

 

I figure if it is an emergency it will be piped into the cabin ;)

 

 

reminds me of one time on another line we were woken up about 3am with an urgent need for blood donors of a specific blood group

 

scared me with a man's voice booming into the cabin but it was an urgent announcement

[Go-Bucks!]

Captain at Noon followed by the CD

 

 

***I do like to hear the noon talk by the Captain....we usually open the door too. It would be nice if there would be a switch in each cabin that would let those non-emergency messages be heard in the cabin.***

 

 

 

reminds me of one time on another line we were woken up about 3am with an urgent need for blood donors of a specific blood group

 

scared me with a man's voice booming into the cabin but it was an urgent announcement

We also awakened to a scary announcement at 5:30am one morning with the Captain announcing that the port side engines were on fire!

[LHT28]

We also awakened to a scary announcement at 5:30am one morning with the Captain announcing that the port side engines were on fire!

On Oceania ??

On any ship that would be scary

[Go-Bucks!]

On Oceania ??

On any ship that would be scary

No, Grand Princess. Yes, the initial announcement was scary but the Captain kept us totally informed through it all. We were almost to Hilo, Hawaii but had to skip it and go to Honolulu. Our electricity was off for 12 hrs. They weren't able to get the port side engines fixed so we limped back to SFO on just the starboard engines. It was still a great cruise with gorgeous weather and smooth seas, and we had an aft full suite with a huge balcony. Princess reimbursed us very generously so not only was that cruise free but we got 2 more cruises free in full suites. :hearteyes: