Late night food & drink (non-alcoholic) on Oceania?

[welshfamily]

Didn’t work in two ways.

First the taste.

Coffee out of a machine is quite tasteless. Not sure what type of coffee it was but it was hard to tell it was coffee at all.

The selection of Tea was excellent. Tea was provided as teabags in a good selection of flavours. Milk ( 3 types) and lemon was also provided.

I am unusual for a Brit. I only drink coffee. Perhaps I was comparing it to the excellent American coffee we were drinking firstly in NewYork and then around New England during our ports of call.

Secondly the machine kept breaking down.

Staff were on hand to fix it and did brew coffee else where and serve it. However the moment the large silver coffee pot appeared so did other cruisers and I failed to get a cup. The barman then had to get more and again many people wanted it. This was in the evening and tells me that others found the lack of coffee a problem.

However we took advantage of the full beverage package and drank other things.

I just feel for a cruise line which advertises ‘the best food at sea’ and Yes the food was good, they have dropped the ball re coffee.

A little thing but one easily rectified.

[LHT28]

I know that this is the Oceania board and relative to them, anything over 2000 passengers is huge, but you really should stop describing them as "mega". I only consider the 5000+ passenger ships to be that large and there are plenty of ships in the 2000-3000 passenger range which most people would not consider mega.

OK Bob mentioned the Horizon it is 3900 pax

to me it is a mega ship

 

YMMV

[Noxequifans]

The Insignia and the other R ships have a capacity of 684 passengers. Small in an industry comparison.

[MisterBill99]

The Insignia and the other R ships have a capacity of 684 passengers. Small in an industry comparison.

Not disagreeing on that, although some people consider 100 people ships "small". The issue for me is what is "mega". If you're calling a 3900 person ship mega, then what is the Oasis class, which holds over 6000 passengers? Personally, I think 2000-2500 is medium size, 3000-5000 is large, and 6000+ is mega.

[Mura]

I do agree with MisterBill. We've mostly sailed on Renaissance, then Oceania since 1999. But we were on the QE2 -- 1750 passengers -- where we didn't feel overwhelmed. Disgorging passengers on shore was always quick and easy.

 

 

OTOH, NCL's GEM with 2300 passengers -- not a huge ship, but perhaps the largest we've sailed on in modern times -- took FOREVER to get passengers onshore, whether for tours or for debarkation.

 

 

I'm not willing to try the true mega ships, but for me that's 3000 and above.

 

 

Mura

[bob brown]

I'll happily sail on anything that floats...:p

Each and every size has its own charms, to me at least...:)

[LHT28]

Not disagreeing on that, although some people consider 100 people ships "small". The issue for me is what is "mega". If you're calling a 3900 person ship mega, then what is the Oasis class, which holds over 6000 passengers? Personally, I think 2000-2500 is medium size, 3000-5000 is large, and 6000+ is mega.

call them what you like & I will call them what I like

 

Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things :rolleyes:

 

Anything more than 1500 pax it too big for us

 

JMO

 

enjoy what every cruise you choose

[MisterBill99]

 

I'm not willing to try the true mega ships, but for me that's 3000 and above.

I was in the middle of writing a post disagreeing with you, but then I looked up Cruise Critic's guidelines for their yearly awards (which are largely useless, but that's another story). They consider anything larger than 2000 passengers as large and Oceania ships are in the small-mid and mid-size categories. Clearly their ranges need to be updated (and probably should have been many years ago)!

 

Nevertheless, given that the Celebrity Solstice class ships are around 3000 passengers and are anything but "mega", I still disagree with using that categorization for anything under 5000 passengers. But I guess it's what you're used to.

 

 

• Large ships: 2,000+ passengers (double occupancy)
  
• Mid-size ships: 1,200 - 1,999 passengers (double occupancy)
  
• Small-mid ships: 400 - 1,199 passengers (double occupancy)
  
• Small ships: 399 or fewer passengers (double occupancy)
  

[ORV]

I do agree with MisterBill. We've mostly sailed on Renaissance, then Oceania since 1999. But we were on the QE2 -- 1750 passengers -- where we didn't feel overwhelmed. Disgorging passengers on shore was always quick and easy.

 

 

OTOH, NCL's GEM with 2300 passengers -- not a huge ship, but perhaps the largest we've sailed on in modern times -- took FOREVER to get passengers onshore, whether for tours or for debarkation.

 

 

I'm not willing to try the true mega ships, but for me that's 3000 and above.

 

 

Mura

 

A friend of mine that has been on multiple Oceania cruises recently took their grand daughter on one of the Behemoths of Royal Caribbean, maybe Allure or Oasis, and he told me it was the quickest embarkation and debarkation of any cruise they've ever been on. Obviously they have the system down.

[bob brown]

A friend of mine that has been on multiple Oceania cruises recently took their grand daughter on one of the Behemoths of Royal Caribbean, maybe Allure or Oasis, and he told me it was the quickest embarkation and debarkation of any cruise they've ever been on. Obviously they have the system down.

One benefit of technology they utilize, is you "check in" online at home...even taking your own photo. If you have done this, you don't have to check in at the pier...you just show your boarding pass, either printed or on your smartphone, pass thru security, and board. Your seapass is waiting for you in your cabin...:cool:

[MisterBill99]

A friend of mine that has been on multiple Oceania cruises recently took their grand daughter on one of the Behemoths of Royal Caribbean, maybe Allure or Oasis, and he told me it was the quickest embarkation and debarkation of any cruise they've ever been on. Obviously they have the system down.

That is a common opinion of those who have sailed on the Oasis class (aka Behemoth of the Seas). The ship is separated into "neighborhoods" and rarely feels as crowded as you'd expect on a 6000+ passenger ship. Same for the 3000 passenger ships like Solstice class on Celebrity, although that's really a mid-sized ship by today's standards.

Edited August 22, 2018 by MisterBill99

[bob brown]

Didn’t work in two ways.

First the taste.

Coffee out of a machine is quite tasteless. Not sure what type of coffee it was but it was hard to tell it was coffee at all.

 

I am unusual for a Brit. I only drink coffee. Perhaps I was comparing it to the excellent American coffee we were drinking firstly in NewYork and then around New England during our ports of call.

Secondly the machine kept breaking down.

Staff were on hand to fix it and did brew coffee else where and serve it. However the moment the large silver coffee pot appeared so did other cruisers and I failed to get a cup. The barman then had to get more and again many people wanted it. This was in the evening and tells me that others found the lack of coffee a problem.

However we took advantage of the full beverage package and drank other things.

I just feel for a cruise line which advertises ‘the best food at sea’ and Yes the food was good, they have dropped the ball re coffee.

A little thing but one easily rectified.

It depends on the machine, how it works, how it is maintained, and how it is supplied.

I have had from poor to excellent coffee, from various machines, on different ships.

The big WMF coffeemat machines in buffet's can deliver a fair cup, considering they can produce hundred's of cups per hour...

The best coffee I have ever had at sea, was in a much smaller version, located in NCL Breakaway's Studio Lounge...

That machined actually ground the beans, and 'french-press' brewed each cup to order, individually. The coffee even had that tell-tale foam when poured. The machine was also capable of making espresso and latte drinks... All delicious...

[Bootman4U]

IMO a better question might be "how many of the passengers are even UP at 11PM?"