Oceania Insignia 21 May Barcelona-Lisbon

[Kiwifruit]

My partner and I have just booked on this cruise and we were wondering if there any other family booked on this cruise.

 

We are in our 30's and travelling from Australia. While we have been on many cruises this will be our first on Oceania and we are curious to know what our fellow passengers will be like in terms of age and nationality etc. Also curious to hear from any other gay cruisers that have sailed on Oceania and how they found it.

 

Thanks,

 

D&D

[ralf]

Hi D&D,

 

We just booked as you this cruise. We're really looking forward to see all the beautifull places that are planned on this itinery and are somewhat curious about the ship as this will be our first oceania cruise. ( But I did some homework :-) and think this ship will meet our expectations ).

 

Johan and I are 40 and 36 ( sadly I will turn to 37 during the cruise ;-) ), living in the dutct speaking part of Belgium.

 

We'll be arriving one day earlier in Barcelona for a pre-cruise night and we'll also spend one post cruise night in Lisbon, so we'lll be 2 weeks away from home.

 

I think I'll be doing some homework on the ports in the coming weeks because we like to visit cities on our own ( when it's cpossible and if we're feeling comfortable about it regarding distances to the port and time schedules of the means of transport ).

 

I wish it was already 20/5 ;-)

 

kind regards,

ralf

[Kiwifruit]

Hi Ralf,

 

Welcome onboard !! Good to see that you will be on the same cruise as us celebrating your birthday. Don't worry, 37 is not too bad, we have already been there ;-) Which port will you be in for your birthday?

 

We live in Melbourne, Australia so it is a very long flight for us to get to Barcelona (27hours- via Hong Kong and London). We have planned to spend 4 days driving around Catalonia and the Pyrenees before joining the cruise to give us time to get over the jet lag. We will then spend two nights in Lisbon after the cruise.

 

Like you we are curious about Oceania as we have not cruised this line before. From the research that we have done it sounds very good and we are particularly looking forward to trying the food which is supposed to be something Oceania excels at. We also like to explore cities on our own when its possible as we don't like to herded around on tour buses. We have done a bit of research and have visited a few of the ports previously and this looks like it is a good cruise to do ports on your own. For us a lot of the enjoyment is derived from doing research beforehand.

 

From what I have read, I suspect that we may be amongst some of the youngest people on board (we are late 30s) as Oceania seems to attract an older clientele. This does not really worry us as we can get on well with most people and a lot of time will be spent ashore in any event.

 

Have you done many cruises before? and if so, what are your favourite cruise lines?

 

Look forward to meeting you both.

 

David & Dougal

[ralf]

hi david and dougal ,

 

It looks we're having the same idea about travelling ;-)

 

and yes, I believe that your trip in the mountains of spain will prove quite spectacular !

 

we were already some years ago 3 nights in barcelona, hence why we're limiting ourselves to one night ( but we'll be arriving from brussels in barcelona early in the morning at 09.00 am so we'll have all saturday and a part of sunday to re-explore this fascinating city ( of gaudi ).

 

we already did some cruises in the past and i think you could say that we try to do one cruise a year as it's a nice way to see a lot of places without (un)packing every day . ( we were in cuba last month and the one week tour was quite exhausing but at the same time very rewarding on the cities/places we saw ( vinales cienfuegos trinidad santa clara ) followed with a 3 night stay in havana and finally 4 nights of tranquillity on the shores of varadero ).

 

we were very prviliged to experience the following cruises

13 night cruise venice-athens ( greek islands ) on the seabourn spirit ( 2001 )

13 night cruise ft lauderdale-san diego ( panama canal ) on the celebrity's infinity (2002 )

14 night cruise round trip ft lauderdale ( caribbean ) on the seabourn pride ( 2002 )

7 night cruise barcelona-nice ( french riviera ) on the seabourn legend ( 2003 )

7 night cruise nice-rome ( italy ) on the seabourn legend ( 2003 )

13 night cruise round trip southampton ( canary islands ) on the QE2 ( 2005 )

 

and we loved all these ships. naturally there are big differences between seabourn celebrity and cunard, but we found that taking into account the price/quality factor that all 3 companies prooved to be excellent.

 

and now jippie !!! the insignia in may :-)

the ports of sorrento amalfi valetta la goulette casablanca are completely new to us and we're very happy having booked this cruise

 

i think we'll do most things on our own. the only thing we're hesitating about is rome . I saw that there are quite some trains from chivitavecchia to rome, but at the same time there is a distance of about 80 kms and most important you never know if the iatalian railway men will go on strike unexpectedly ...

 

finally i believe that my birthday will be in la goulette ( 28 may )

 

kind regards,

ralf & johan

[Kiwifruit]

Hi Ralf and Johan,

 

You sound very similar to us in your approach as we try to take at least one cruise a year. As you you say its nice and relaxing only having to unpack once as the scenery unfolds before you allowing you to visit different places.

 

Like yourselves, we have been on a number of cruiselines including Seabourn, Celebrity and Windstar and we have enjoyed them all for different reasons. They all have their strengths and their weaknesses and we are really looking forward to trying out Oceania.

 

With regard Rome, we plan to do this on our own. Its very easy to get there from Civitavecchia with direct trains to either San Piedro (for the Vatican) or Termini and its actually far quicker to get there than by coach which often get held up in traffic. Once in Rome its relatively easy to get between sights as their subway system is quite good. I guess Italy being Italy its always possible there may be strikes but we will worry about that if it happens as I don't imagine it would be too difficult to find a taxi and someone to share it with.

 

Tunis is a nice place to spend your birthday. We spent three days there a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it but with the limited time the cruise spends there we are planning just to visit the old Medina and the seaside town of Sidi Bou Said, both of which are relatively close to the port.

 

Amalfi is also great and very easy to do on your own with regular ferries and buses to Positana, Ravello etc if you want to explore further afield. If you have any questions about Tunis or Amalfi just let us know.

 

It sounds like Cuba was great. I would love to visit there but just have to convince Dougal so you will have to tell him how good it is when we meet ;-)

 

How is the weather in Brussels? Its already Saturday morning here and the weather is predicted to be hot (31C) so it may be a day for the beach. Look forward to hearing from you.

 

Cheers,

 

D&D

[ralf]

hi david and dougal,

 

we envy you :-) sunny 31° beach ...

here in Belgium ( monday 16h30 ) it's about 2° C , cold miserable weather ...

 

i went tot the library for some travel guides about the countries we'll be visiting and did some internet research and on first sight i think we'll do everything on our own

i think we'll do in

rome: vatican musea

sorrento: capri

amalfi:positano

malta:valetta

tunis:the white village and carthago

casablanca: mosque + old city

gibraltar: not much :-)

in the coming weeks we'll be narrowing the topics

 

if you want, you may email me on dhoogheralf@yahoo.com

 

kind regards,

ralf

[Kiwifruit]

Hi Ralf,

 

Its quite nice to have our seasons reversed from the Northern hemisphere, it means that we get to escape our winter when we are on the cruise ;-) The bad part about being so far is that our flight to Barcelona takes 27 hours ;-(.

 

You have pretty much planned to do the same things as us.

 

In Rome we plan to visit the Vatican first so as to miss the crowds then just wander around the sights, find a nice cafe for lunch and do some people watching.

 

In Sorrento we think in the morning we will take ferry to Naples as we have visited Capri and Pompeii before. If we have time in the afternoon we may take ferry from Naples to Capri before heading back to Sorrento.

 

In Amalfi we will take ferry to Positano then get a bus to Ravello for lunch. If we have time we would also like to do one of the coastal walks.

 

In Malta we will just stay in Valletta.

 

In Tunis we will probably got to the Medina and Sidi Bou Said (white village). We visited Carthage last time and it was very good but not the type of place you would go back to. Dougal is also hoping to visit one of the traditional hammans.

 

In Gibraltar, doesn't seem like there is a great deal to do but we will probably go up the rock and have a bit of a wander around the town.

 

In Casablanca, we are still undecided on whether to take train to Rabat which is one of the ancient cities just a short distance away or whether to stay in Casablanca to see Mosque and Medina.

 

We leave in 10 weeks from today but it still seems a long time to wait. Once I have a holiday booked I get impatient but its good to have something to look forward to ;-).

 

Have you ever visited Australia? Although I have visited Europe many times I have only passed through Belgium briefly when I got a ferry from Ostend one time. Which part of Belgium do you live in?

 

Regards,

 

D&D

[ralf]

hi david and dougal,

 

27 hours' flight ... we don't envy you :-)

 

we'll be taking saturday the 20th the flight of 7.00 am in brussels and arrive in barcelona at 09.00 am ( 25 hours less compared to you )

 

we live in antwerp ( in the dutch speaking part of belgium ). so our native language is dutch,but we also speak some french, german and english ( johan also speaks some italian ). it's always handy as one speaks some languages.

 

we've never visited australia , a shame because we know australia is a fantastic country: nature architecture sea people ... but one can't see everything on the same time ;-)

and also the long flight is a minus

( last year we spent our holiday in hong kong - bali and already these flights were long enough for us )

 

i also must admit that half the fun for me of going on holiday is the preparation, reading on the stuff and searching for information ;-)

 

kind regards,

ralf

 

PS we'll certainly tell you about our holiday in cuba, but i don't know if you really want to hear our story as it also contains some negative points about cuba. be warned ( as you want to convince your friend ) ! :-)

[Kiwifruit]

Hi Ralf and Johan,

 

We really do envy you being so close to all the tourist spots in Europe, if we take a 2 hour flight from Melbourne it would only get us halfway across Australia ;-). We get used to it though, I spend some time travelling with my job and have already clocked up 65,000 km air travel since Christmas.

 

Australia is well worth a visit, as is New Zealand (where I grew up). It really is a total contrast and because of the distance most Europeans visiting spend 4-6 weeks here. It is amazing to think that we are able to chat with people on the other side of the globe who will be doing the same cruise as us, it really is a global village in which we live, which is getting seven smaller with modern communication and transportation.

 

You are also lucky that you speak so many languages in Europe, most people here speak only English. I speak French and Dougal speaks German but that will not be very helpful with the ports we visit on our cruise ;-)

 

We arrive in Barcelona at 2000h on Weds 17th May and spend the night at airport hotel before picking up hire car the next morning and driving to Montserrat and on to the Pyrenees.

 

Like you, half the fun for me is planning the holiday and having something to look forward to when work becomes a drag and the weather gets cooler.

 

I will write you an email so that you can tell us about Cuba.

 

Cheers,

 

D&D

[ralf]

hi d&d,

 

i think one could speak french in tunis and casablanca, as both have been under french power but i think everybody can go a long way with englisch :-)

 

and it's a deal, i'll be waiting for your email, so i can give you a report about our trip to cuba.

 

kind regards,

ralf

[SingerEsq]

Hi guys .... saw this thread and thought I'd jump in. We did the Lisbon-Barcelona cruise back in 2000 on Renassiance (the R2). Oceania was started when R went out of business with some of the R-class ships.

 

From what I have seen, it appears that Oceania is emulating the Renassiance product line, which I can say we miss very much. The R-class ships are beautiful. Intimate, yet large enough that we could always find someplace on the ship where we literally felt like we were the only people on board and our cruise was fully booked.

 

If you have not been to Lisbon, you will love it. It's a beautiful city and very easy to navigate. We stayed an extra 3 days in Lisbon and in Barcelona, and enjoyed Lisbon slightly more than Barcelona.

 

I would imagine the Oceania clientele is similar to Renaissance, but maybe a bit better well-heeled. We had a wonderful cruise, met very nice people (young--middle-aged) and would consider sailing Oceania just for the accomodations. In fact, we're planning to sail the Tahitian Princess in 2007/08, which is a former R-class ship as well.

 

Have a great time.

 

Steven & Glenn.

[Kiwifruit]

Steven and Glen,

 

Sorry for delayed response but have been away on business and only now read your posting. The size of the boat was certainly one of the attractions for us, intimate yet not too small. I'll let you know how we find Insignia when we return. We are also considering Tahitian Princess either late this year or 2007 so you never know you may see us on board ;-).

 

Ralf and Johan,

 

Looking forward to ctaching up with you both for a martini or two. Its only two weeks until we fly out so we are counting down the days. The last month has been hectic for me with my work travels so I'm really looking forward to relaxing on the cruise.

 

Cheers,

 

D&D

[amusea]

My partner and I have sailed on Regatta twice and really love the ship. Since all three Oceania ships are identical I can safely say that you will have superlative food and service. We also liked the "country club casual". For anyone travelling a long distance it eliminates a lot of luggage. No one abused this dress code and it really makes sense. I would compare the experience to Silversea except for dress code and the fact that the rooms are on the small size except for Penthouse Suites. Also, all liquor and wine was included on Silversea and drinks are expensive on Oceania. But it is great value for the money and exceeds all mass cruise lines. There seem to be some sections of many decks that have slight vibration so I walked the ship and made notes as to where the least vibration took place. This helped when we booked the second cruise. I'd avoid the obstructed view rooms which are small and badly configured. Best are any other accommodations from Deck 6 upward. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.