Sorry that I read CC reviews about Sirena

[Mura]

That is what I was going to suggest, Lyn.  But I can understand if they would rather go to a bar.

 

Maybe they can talk to TPTB on the ship, explaining that the ship doesn't have their favorite tipple.  Would it be okay to bring their glass to another venue?

 

Most likely the answer would be no ... but it couldn't hurt to ask.  At least they wouldn't be trying to cheat the system!

 

For us, since we do NOT go to the bars (unless someone else invites us! -- okay, that's mainly because rarely drinks alcohol -- I'm happy to bring on my own vodka or bourbon and drink in our cabin.

 

And might such a request (especially if they aren't the only ones to make the request) induce O to "up" the quality of the provided liquors?

 

Just asking ... I suppose I'm in dreamland to make such a request!

[LHT28]

I guess if they are cutting back on the Brands of  bar drinks  they might as well do away with the beverage packages  & just charge per drink like they used to 🙄

[Mura]

Question.  In this discussion of what brands people prefer, are we talking about what is available on the package or what is available if you are buying the drink?  I am aware that certain premium brands are NOT available on the package, but I thought that most brands available on the ship are.  Am I wrong?

 

Since we have never gotten a package, when I order Wild Turkey by the glass I don't have a problem getting it ...  I"m not into premium scotches (since I don't like ANY scotch) so I'm not sure where bourbon lovers would place W-T but I happen to like it.

 

Just curious.

[Paulchili]

1 minute ago, Mura said:

Question.  In this discussion of what brands people prefer, are we talking about what is available on the package or what is available if you are buying the drink?  I am aware that certain premium brands are NOT available on the package, but I thought that most brands available on the ship are.  Am I wrong?

That was my thought as well

[LHT28]

some posts  were saying the  brands  were cut back   so bar stock

I saw some menus on Mike Preismans blog  & compared  one from his Sept  cruise to  ones from previous years

looks like the selection is pared down  ..just like the GDR menus

 I am not  a big drinker   & DH will take  a bottle of Scotch or Cognac for the cabin  for a night cap

 

[Paulchili]

3 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

some posts  were saying the  brands  were cut back   so bar stock

I saw some menus on Mike Preismans blog  & compared  one from his Sept  cruise to  ones from previous years

looks like the selection is pared down  ..just like the GDR menus

That doesn’t sound like a smart move - alcohol usually makes money for businesses.

I can see downgrading the regular drinks package brands but if you charge for premium or charge per drink you should offer premium brands as people are paying extra for that.

[StanandJim]

15 minutes ago, Mura said:

Question.  In this discussion of what brands people prefer, are we talking about what is available on the package or what is available if you are buying the drink?  I am aware that certain premium brands are NOT available on the package, but I thought that most brands available on the ship are.  Am I wrong?

 

Only the very tip top shelf brands are excluded from the Package (I use the singular word here because only the Prestige Package includes liquor).  Think Louis XIII cognac and similar-

 

As to fewer selections of Rum and such being carried, I'm given to believe that this is less a cost cutting measure than an indication that in the Cocktail World at the moment,  Vodka is the big noise.  The Cosmopolitan, for example, is  ubiquitous. 

 

The  buyers buy what sells-

 

[LHT28]

you can compare the menus  on Mike's page

2019 & 2016 

less selections  package or not

https://www.thepreismans.com/riviera16_menus.htm#main_bar

https://www.thepreismans.com/marina19_menus.htm#Bar

 

[ORV]

9 hours ago, StanandJim said:

Only the very tip top shelf brands are excluded from the Package (I use the singular word here because only the Prestige Package includes liquor).  Think Louis XIII cognac and similar-

 

As to fewer selections of Rum and such being carried, I'm given to believe that this is less a cost cutting measure than an indication that in the Cocktail World at the moment,  Vodka is the big noise.  The Cosmopolitan, for example, is  ubiquitous. 

 

The  buyers buy what sells-

 

Or at the very least the person or persons in charge of what Oceania stocks onboard lean very hard toward vodka. Actually that mindset is about 10 years ago. I will agree that flavored vodkas are quite the rage these day. The liquor stores definitely have a lot of shelf space devoted to the flavors. 

 

I've said this before, and I'll say it here again, Oceania's alcohol offerings pale in comparison with what Celebrity has on their package. It's sad really. This can't really be disputed when you look at what Celebrity offers. Of course you have to go on Celebrity to get it. 

 

All things considered I'd much rather sail on Oceania, the drink package is not the determining factor for me. But I do hate to see the down grading that is happening with it over the past couple of years. Case in point, it used to be Schramsburg sparkling was a standard for years on the wine by the glass menu as well as Montaudon. Sadly they have both disappeared from the by the glass menu. 

[ORV]

7 hours ago, LHT28 said:

you can compare the menus  on Mike's page

2019 & 2016 

less selections  package or not

https://www.thepreismans.com/riviera16_menus.htm#main_bar

https://www.thepreismans.com/marina19_menus.htm#Bar

 

And since that menu from Mike's menu page on the Sept 21019 Marina cruise(which we were on with him) the offerings have declined even more. We were on Riviera in Dec and other items were not available. Sorry but I don't take pictures of the menus so don't have a copy. 

Edited February 23, 2020 by ORV

[LHT28]

58 minutes ago, ORV said:

And since that menu from Mike's menu page on the Sept 21019 Marina cruise(which we were on with him) the offerings have declined even more. We were on Riviera in Dec and other items were not available. Sorry but I don't take pictures of the menus so don't have a copy. 

That it  too bad Orv

They seem to be going  too much to the left  coast thinking 

Getting too healthy for me  LOL

[tripperva]

Getting back to the original post, does someone have some nice things to say ?

Oceania used to be really good and I suspect it still is.

[LHT28]

31 minutes ago, tripperva said:

Getting back to the original post, does someone have some nice things to say ?

Oceania used to be really good and I suspect it still is.

We  like them   still  

Yes they have changed over the years  but there is no perfect line

The  ships sail  with 50-80%  repeat cruisers  so they must be  doing something right

 We tried Crystal  recently  but  we will stick with Oceania  until they  change too much 

for now they suit us just fine

 

Not sure what  comments you are looking for ?

 

 

 

[GeorgesGal]

I'll let you know what I think of Sirena when I return from my March 18 cruise on April 1!  With this cruise I will now have sailed on all of O's fleet.  And yes, I still have an affinity to the O class rather than the R, but we chose our cruises by itinerary, not ship.

 

Donna

[DaveandDiane]

On 2/13/2020 at 12:31 PM, doowopbob said:

    We just got off Sirena 3 days ago.  We have cruised on the R ships 5 times and the O ships 3.  This is the last time we will go on the R class.  The food was basically good accept as others have mentioned the dinner menu in the mdr is limited.  You have 6 choices other than the always available salmon, chicken and steak.  One night 3 of the choices were vegetarian including a black bean burger (burger for dinner !!).  One night in the Tuscan Grill my wife said her veal tasted like shoe leather. Other than that though our meals in the specialties were very good.

    Our biggest problem with the Sirena were the pool chairs hogs and the lack of action against them.  The first sea day we went down at 10am and couldn't get a chair which was understandable.  The second sea day we went down at 9am and managed to snag 2 chairs.  The last sea day we were determined to get better chairs so we went down at 8am to find that there were no chairs available.  Every chair had hats and books on them and no one occupying any of them.  Even though Sirena has a written policy to remove items from any chair that is unoccupied for 30 minutes this was not done unless someone complained which often led to a confrontation when those chair hogs returned an hour later claiming they were only gone 15 minutes.  We than went out on deck 5 to see if we could get any chairs there.  They were all occupied also but there was plenty of room for additional chairs (you could easily put 50 more chairs out there).  There were actually people sitting on the deck itself.  We went to the concierge to request they put additional chairs out only to find out there were no more on the ship.  He went out and saw for himself that people were sitting on the deck and said he would notify the head office as this was unacceptable.  
    As long as you don't expect to sit around the pool during your cruise you should have a good time. We are going back to Seabourn.

We were on the Sirena Feb 1-11 and had a wonderful time. We ate at almost all the venues and always found something to our liking. We went to the buffet one night for dinner and were amazed at the grilling station. I think I ate more lobster in 10 days then I have in the last 10 years!

We are pool/sun people, but I don't like to be crowded. The first day we discovered deck 11, and got chairs overlooking the pool (2 decks above). We loved it there, and never had a hard time finding a chair. Most days we got there between 10:30 and 11:30 and didn't have a problem. I agree that there needs to be something done about the chair hogs, but we didn't let them affect us.

[clo]

18 minutes ago, DaveandDiane said:

I think I ate more lobster in 10 days then I have in the last 10 years!

LOL. We were on Marina in December and Bob pretty much admitted that he MIGHT have OD'd on lobster. And it was so darn good.

[ORV]

On a 26 day cruise we had a few years ago my wife had lobster on 24 of those days at different restaurants. 

[DaveandDiane]

54 minutes ago, ORV said:

On a 26 day cruise we had a few years ago my wife had lobster on 24 of those days at different restaurants. 

Yumm!

[Mura]

These complaints about chair hogs do seem to vary from ship to ship, and I would add from crew to crew. For the record, we don't go poolside so we don't have an axe to grind.

 

But I would not be pleased with people who "mark their territory" and rarely return either!  How selfish!

 

It does depend on the ship management to make sure these abuses do not happen.  Riviera on a recent Caribbean cruise seems to have risen to what would be expected.

 

 

[clo]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

On a 26 day cruise we had a few years ago my wife had lobster on 24 of those days at different restaurants. 

That made Bob feel better 🙂 And it's not just that it's lobster but good lobster that's cooked well. We have a casino in Reno that has AYCE lobster on a certain night but it's not worth the price.

[clo]

7 minutes ago, Mura said:

These complaints about chair hogs do seem to vary from ship to ship, and I would add from crew to crew. For the record, we don't go poolside so we don't have an axe to grind.

 

But I would not be pleased with people who "mark their territory" and rarely return either!  How selfish!

 

It does depend on the ship management to make sure these abuses do not happen.  Riviera on a recent Caribbean cruise seems to have risen to what would be expected.

 

 

And if it's not being dealt with then it's up to affected pax to speak up to mgmt.

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

On a 26 day cruise we had a few years ago my wife had lobster on 24 of those days at different restaurants. 

Just want to point out that on our Crystal cruise in 21 days I could only find lobster twice and NO foie gras, not even once  - not my kind of luxury cruise line.

[clo]

1 minute ago, Paulchili said:

I could only find lobster twice and NO foie gras,

Well, now THAT'S deal breaker 🙂 FYI I have a large whole lobe in my freezer!

[Paulchili]

1 minute ago, clo said:

Well, now THAT'S deal breaker 🙂 FYI I have a large whole lobe in my freezer!

I am on my way 😀

[clo]

1 minute ago, Paulchili said:

I am on my way 😀

LOL. The problem is that I bought it frozen when in Seattle and need to cut it in half. I'm guessing my local butcher won't do it but I do know a chef here in town. Or you could come up and we'd have a foie orgy.