Considering Oceania - What Should I Know?

[Ariyel]

Hi Oceania Cruisers,

 

I've cruised before on Carnival and HAL, and have an upcoming cruise on Celebrity scheduled.  I'm not a complete new cruiser, but not a terribly experienced one either.

 

A winery we belong to has put out some info on a group sailing on Riviera in July 2020 that looks great and we're looking into booking.

 

What should I know about Oceania?  Are there any particularly helpful introduction threads or information I can check out?

 

Thanks for your help!

[Flatbush Flyer]

The best suggestion anyone can give you is to search/read some of the zillion threads on CC regarding "new to Oceania."

What I can tell you is that you should expect far better food and service than what you are used to on your current collection of cruise ships. And the single most important advice I can give you is to not touch the food (which will be served to you by galley staff) in the Terrace Café.

[jo-b]

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

The best suggestion anyone can give you is to search/read some of the zillion threads on CC regarding "new to Oceania."

What I can tell you is that you should expect far better food and service than what you are used to on your current collection of cruise ships. And the single most important advice I can give you is to not touch the food (which will be served to you by galley staff) in the Terrace Café.

 

I'm assuming you mean "don't touch" literally rather than as avoid it because it's awful 😀

 

To the OP;  the ship will be smaller than you are used to, a more elegant decor than glitzy and has recently had a revamp.

 Beds super, beautiful bedding, bathrooms spacious. Food is great and the  alternative dining is excellent and included, available to book places ahead of time between 45-90 days dependant on cabin (although your wine club group may prebook for you as a group) 

Excursions expensive but agin they may be included in your group offer. 

Quizzes great fun

Can't speak as to the entertainment we rarely go. 

 

 

[Classiccruiser777]

Afternoon tea in Horizons is like no other. 😋

[dogs4fun]

Oceania is more upscale than Carnival or Hal. We have enjoyed our cruises on the Marina - great food, nice staterooms and excellent service.

[Sny]

I don't know if it's the same group; but we've been on two Oceania cruises where there was a group of wine lovers with  organizers, a married couple our of California.  They really seemed to have their act together and everyone appeared to be having a wonderful time.  My husband and I had conversations with the couple in charge and were very impressed by them.

As for Oceania, it's hard to put into words the experience - sophisticated, yet relaxed.  You can be as social as you wish, or comfortable going it alone.  It's easy to get a table for two in all the restaurants; so you will not be forced to share.  

Service is top grade. As someone mentioned above, the beds and bedding are amazing!

[LHT28]

Oceania  is not like  those you have sailed before

some good points so me maybe not so good

They are smaller ships less people & less to do (depending on your interests)

I would read  up on their website things that are offered  &  then if you have specific questions   then ask 

It would be a lengthy list of things  some of which may be of no interest to you

do not  set your expectations too high  or you will be disappointed

JMO

[KatieBelle]

Hello Ariyel,

 

A couple of things that might be of particular interest to you, although the wine host may have already enlightened the group.  Oceania allows passengers to bring 6 bottles of wine/spirits on board.  And additional quantities can be brought on at each additional port.  You are welcome to consume these in your stateroom or balcony.  You may also bring wines to any dining venue and pay the corkage fee.  Any wine not consumed in that venue can be called for at anytime, at any other venue.  We recently traveled through the Mediterranean with 2 other couples.  We stocked up on magnums of very nice but relatively inexpensive Italian wines.  We most certainly came out ahead even with the $25 corkage fee.  Also had some memorable happy hours on the veranda, supplementing with the room service (included) international cheese plate or the smoked salmon.  

 

There is a private dining room, Privee, that accommodates up to 10 guests.  At $250 for the entire evening it is indeed a place for a special event to share with friends, etc. at a very nominal fee.

 

There is also La Reserve.  This is a 7 course dinner with wine pairings limited to 24 guests.  Another exceptional experience.  Look through the Oceania website to view the menus.  La Reserve is not available  every night. This venue and Privee are the only 2 dining venues with an additional charge.  All other restaurants, Baristas, bottled water, soft drinks, mixers are included.

 

There are other little touches that others have already mentioned.  One of my favorites is the string quartet that plays at afternoon tea and evenings in the Grand Bar. 

 

It would seem to me that oenophiles could have a very nice experience on an Oceania ship.  Hope you give it a try and let us know what you think.

 

-Katie

 

 

 

 

[pinotlover]

If it is Food & Wine Trails, you will find them to be exceptional. Their shore excursions, though expensive, are incredible and worth every penny paid. Far superior to anything offered by Oceania. Oceania should try to duplicate some of those tours on non F& WT sailings! You will additionally have great private receptions, wine classes, and a group wine dinner probably in the Polo Grill. Mark and his bunch do an outstanding job for you along with the host winery. If not F&WT, I can’t speak from experience. 

 

The Riveria is a great ship with all the accommodations already mentioned.

[warburg]

Greetings, Ariyel, from South Beach. Oceania's vessels are smaller than the floating small towns that are are fashionable  today. So, for openers, you will sometimes visit ports off the beaten path. You will also sail into hot spots and moor at a dock instead of tendering in. You will do this, while enjoying the features that make O unique. To misquote Mark Twain, the only way you can find  out if you like this sort of thing is to try this sort of thing. The sort of thing we like is the Dom Perignon Dinner.  An extremely interesting menu is served in La Reserve accompanied by three fabulous champagnes.

 

We discovered Oceania in 2004 when we sailed Insignia from Venice to Athens for 14 blissful days. Gone were the traditional tortures endemic on cruise ships, constant announcements about bingo, travel lectures, spa sales, boutique sales, gym classes, and more. And if you like photographs, photographers seemingly everywhere. Gone also were the conventional included dining venues with pretty good food, only excellent food if you paid more. On Insignia, food  was excellent everywhere, and reservations only restaurants were included. It is still that way today.  Ariyel,  have fun checking things out for yourself.

Mary

Edited June 9, 2019 by warburg
error

[Ariyel]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

If it is Food & Wine Trails, you will find them to be exceptional. Their shore excursions, though expensive, are incredible and worth every penny paid. Far superior to anything offered by Oceania. Oceania should try to duplicate some of those tours on non F& WT sailings! You will additionally have great private receptions, wine classes, and a group wine dinner probably in the Polo Grill. Mark and his bunch do an outstanding job for you along with the host winery. If not F&WT, I can’t speak from experience. 

 

The Riveria is a great ship with all the accommodations already mentioned.

 

This is great info, thank you!  I'm not sure if it's a Food & Wine Trails trip - how can I tell for sure?  The cruise is the "Wineries & Wonders" - Barcelona to Rome July 9-16, 2020.

 

I did find a website with a similar name that seems to have a lot of different vineyard/cruise connections.  That lists The Hess Collection as being on a sponsor? connection? to this cruise.  That's not our winery that sent out the information and invitation, funnily enough.

 

I do see when looking through the excursions on Oceania's website there is a red FW button/label for some excursions.  Not available in all ports.  It looks like there is one in Provence (Food & Wine Trails: the Wines & Gardens of Chateau Val Joanis(MRS-007)).  And one in Florence (Food & Wine Trails:suvereto & Super Tuscan Estate, Tua Rita (LRN-011).  The other port stops don't have any excursions under that label.

 

That actually brings me to another question - if booking with OLife Choice and choosing the shore excursions perk - is it good for any excursion offered through Oceania or only certain ones?

[Ariyel]

14 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

The best suggestion anyone can give you is to search/read some of the zillion threads on CC regarding "new to Oceania."

What I can tell you is that you should expect far better food and service than what you are used to on your current collection of cruise ships. And the single most important advice I can give you is to not touch the food (which will be served to you by galley staff) in the Terrace Café.

 

Thanks - I definitely like to research in advance.  I skimmed through the last several pages of topics before posting, but I'll put together a few searches to find older helpful threads too.  Thank you!  And thanks for the tip about not getting off on the wrong foot (fingers?) in Terrace Cafe!

[Ariyel]

9 hours ago, Classiccruiser777 said:

Afternoon tea in Horizons is like no other. 😋

 

Yum, I love tea!

[Ariyel]

2 hours ago, KatieBelle said:

Hello Ariyel,

 

A couple of things that might be of particular interest to you, although the wine host may have already enlightened the group.  Oceania allows passengers to bring 6 bottles of wine/spirits on board.  And additional quantities can be brought on at each additional port.  You are welcome to consume these in your stateroom or balcony.  You may also bring wines to any dining venue and pay the corkage fee.  Any wine not consumed in that venue can be called for at anytime, at any other venue.  We recently traveled through the Mediterranean with 2 other couples.  We stocked up on magnums of very nice but relatively inexpensive Italian wines.  We most certainly came out ahead even with the $25 corkage fee.  Also had some memorable happy hours on the veranda, supplementing with the room service (included) international cheese plate or the smoked salmon.  

 

There is a private dining room, Privee, that accommodates up to 10 guests.  At $250 for the entire evening it is indeed a place for a special event to share with friends, etc. at a very nominal fee.

 

There is also La Reserve.  This is a 7 course dinner with wine pairings limited to 24 guests.  Another exceptional experience.  Look through the Oceania website to view the menus.  La Reserve is not available  every night. This venue and Privee are the only 2 dining venues with an additional charge.  All other restaurants, Baristas, bottled water, soft drinks, mixers are included.

 

There are other little touches that others have already mentioned.  One of my favorites is the string quartet that plays at afternoon tea and evenings in the Grand Bar. 

 

It would seem to me that oenophiles could have a very nice experience on an Oceania ship.  Hope you give it a try and let us know what you think.

 

-Katie

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you, great info on being able to bring on board more bottles than we're used to.

 

It looks like part of the perks for booking with this group is a Wine Pairing Dinner, which I assume is the La Reserve dinner - so that would be lovely to look forward to.

 

Thank you so much for your helpful reply!

[LHT28]

37 minutes ago, Ariyel said:

That actually brings me to another question - if booking with OLife Choice and choosing the shore excursions perk - is it good for any excursion offered through Oceania or only certain ones?

only the excursions without  any letters after the description are included in the "free" one  so if they have FW. OS. OE. WT . CD  they are not part of the free ones

if you book a certain amount of O excursions  you can receive a discount

[Classiccruiser777]

33 minutes ago, Ariyel said:

That actually brings me to another question - if booking with OLife Choice and choosing the shore excursions perk - is it good for any excursion offered through Oceania or only certain ones?

 

A list of Oceania shore excursions can be seen here: https://www.oceaniacruises.com/shore-excursions/#all

 

Concerning which excursions are available via OLife Choice: "OLife Choice free shore excursions vary by voyage and exclude Oceania Select, Oceania Exclusive, Executive Collection, Food & Wine Trails, Wellness and Culinary Discovery Tours"

[Mura]

Just a word about the amount of wine/liquor you can bring on board at the outset.

 

The official limit is 6 bottles, but that is a CYA kind of statement.  If you don't abuse the policy (that is by drinking too much and becoming obnoxious), there really isn't a limit.  If you do a search on the question you will find plenty of comments from passengers who bring on a case or more.  I've never done so myself, but even when the official limit was 3 bottles, I've brought on 4-5 with no problem.  And you can bring on hard liquor as well.  This is ALL for consumption in your room, not in public spaces.  If you take a bottle of wine to a restaurant, the surcharge comes into play.

 

As Lyn said, not all Oceania tours qualify for the oLife tours.  The price limit last I heard is $199.  So we always shop for the more expensive tours that we would like to take.  Not just any old tour because it's priced between $150-199.  If we can't find eligible tours that make the surcharge for the oLife fare, then we just don't take oLife.  Which isn't a problem for us so we have mostly done private tours in the past, with an occasional ship's tour.

[pinotlover]

If you are not booked with the F&WT group, you can’t go on their tours.

 

We were lucky, we had four (4) available F&WT tours on our ten day cruise. We did three of them. They also had a great pre cruise package available.

 

It should be a fun cruise if two wine groups are aboard! Those groups typically bring a younger and more energetic group of cruisers aboard that isn’t typically seen on other Oceania Cruises. 

Edited June 9, 2019 by pinotlover

[clo]

Because I've not seen this brought up, I'll comment on 'proper attire' and ask to be corrected.  It appears that "country club casual" means for men a Docker-style pant and a nice shirt.  Does that mean either a dress shirt or a golf shirt style (collar)?  I know they say no shorts, jeans, caps, etc.  Nothing more or less casual than that.  Right.  Thanks.  We're booked on our first O cruise in December from Rio to Buenos Aires.

[1985rz1]

34 minutes ago, clo said:

Because I've not seen this brought up, I'll comment on 'proper attire' and ask to be corrected.  It appears that "country club casual" means for men a Docker-style pant and a nice shirt.  Does that mean either a dress shirt or a golf shirt style (collar)?  I know they say no shorts, jeans, caps, etc.  Nothing more or less casual than that.  Right.  Thanks.  We're booked on our first O cruise in December from Rio to Buenos Aires.

Basically, yes.  Although some may quibble over fine details and some may opt to dress up more (sport coat/blazer with or without tie), especially for the specialty restaurants, but it's not required.

Edited June 13, 2019 by 1985rz1

[clo]

15 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

Basically, yes.  Although some may quibble over fine details and some may opt to dress up more (sport coat/blazer with or without tie), especially for the specialty restaurants, but it's not required.

Thanks.  I see from their website that some men have sport coats and that's doable.  With it being summer there at the time he wouldn't be wearing it anytime other than dinner 🙂

[LHT28]

3 minutes ago, clo said:

Thanks.  I see from their website that some men have sport coats and that's doable.  With it being summer there at the time he wouldn't be wearing it anytime other than dinner 🙂

those are paid actors/models 😉

No jacket required