Thinking of trying the new Oceania ship, Vista. Talk me out of it?

[asnaleah]

We very much enjoy our cruises on Celebrity and are fortunate enough to sail in suites. Luminae has been a game changer and I hate to think about missing it, however, the new Oceania ship, Vista, has a great Panama Canal itinerary. If you’ve sailed on both lines, please share your advice. Many thanks!

[Host Jazzbeau]

I won't talk you out of it – we sailed on Riviera this past January in a PH and found every. single. thing. better than our last cruise on Celebrity [Edge in a Sky Suite].  Ship is classier.  Felt roomier.  Food is better [Oceania claims the 'finest cuisine at sea' and I agree].  And O's new A-class will be even better, but there's no need to pay the premium this first season as the O-class is nearly the same.  [We are also fans of older ships, so O's R-class are also high on our list.  But then, if we ever sail Celebrity again it will be M-class in a CS.]

[Georgia_Peaches]

My parents are Princess cruisers or nothing. Try as I may to convince them to try something new, they just won’t budge. I say if you’re interested in Oceania, then go for it!  Don’t let anyone talk you out of trying something new!

[mom says]

If you are interested in the itinerary, then why not try Oceania, if only once? There's nothing to stop you from going back to Celebrity on subsequent cruises. Or from expanding your horizons and trying even more lines with interesting itineraries. I like steak. But I don't want it every day. I like the Caribbean, but it's not the only area I want to travel to... See where I'm going with this?

 

Sorry, but there's no way I would try to talk you out of trying something new that may turn out to be a new favorite.

[prmssk]

In my opinion, restricting your loyalty to just one line likely means you are missing out on other great experiences.  (Oceania is on our list to try someday.)

[cruzzzinma]

Go for it. We love Oceania. We had cruises cancelled during the pandemic, like everyone else, and have only sailed Oceania once. Everyone we met graduated from Celebrity, Holland America or Princess.

[miched]

Why should I talk you out of it?  
 

If you want to do it go for it.  I am not a rep for Celebrity and don’t  get paid anything for you sailing on them. 
 

I think many on this forum are looking at alternative cruise lines as Celebrity is getting too expensive  and not producing a premium product 

 

We have recently sailed on Celebrity.  The service is great as it is on every cruise line but the quality has gone down.  The premium beverage package is a joke as many wines, liquors, and beers that were listed in that weren’t available.  The reason was supply issue.   The supply issue is that Celebrity doesn’t want to supply it.   I have no problem finding any of that stuff at the local liquor stores, and they have plenty of it.  

The entertainment is very poor.  I have seen better at the local high school and the  amateur community theater.  

 

Happy crusing 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Georgia_Peaches]

10 minutes ago, miched said:

The supply issue is that Celebrity doesn’t want to supply it.

Well said. 

[islabahia]

I say go for it with Oceania!  We are in touch with both Oceania and Regent and in fact have a hold on a suite on Vista.  

[mac_tlc]

We are also eyeing the PC itinerary in early 2025 on the Vista. Looks intriguing.

 

mac_tlc

[tfred]

We sailed Oceania a few years ago on Riviera.  Very enjoyable

 

O has very good food in every category.  MDR is excellent.  Specialties are as well.  They also had an afternoon tea that was superb. That ship was dated and needed an overhaul - Vista is new so that wouldn't be a problem.  Service was comparable to X

 

The minus was that the evening entertainment was the food.  Casino was under utilized. Shows were lackluster really due to the size of the theatre.  If you want that nightly pizazz then you may be disappointed .  There won't be "Rockumentary" or an "ABBA sailout Party" on O.  In general, X ships are more lively so take that into account 

[terrydtx]

We are like the OP, we love the Retreat and Luminae on Celebrity and have 4 cruises booked in 2023 and 2024 in Sky Suites.  However, we want to do a cruise around South America in Dec 2024 or Jan-Feb 2025 and Oceania has a very similar itinerary to Celebrity on the Marina for 2 more days than X with more ports.  We can book an upper-level Veranda cabin on the Marina with 2 more days for about the price of a SS on the Equinox, so we are seriously thinking of trying O. We are also looking at O for a Boston to Montreal cruise in Sept 2024 with more days and ports than X. My only problem with this cruise it is on one of Oceania's older ships Insignia, which I believe was built in the 1990's.  We have good friends who were very loyal X cruisers but after they tried O for the first time, they will only book O now. 

Edited December 31, 2022 by terrydtx

[Ken the cruiser]

We've sailed with O quite a few times in the past, both on their R and O class ships. If you're looking for a more "cozy" experience, I highly recommend you give them a try. However, if you like to blend into the crowd when you're on a cruise, that might be a little difficult as their ships range from 660-1200 passenger capacities. We also always enjoyed going to their enrichment lectures on sea days and eating meals out under the stars up at the Terrace Cafe, as they used to serve mostly the same items up at their evening buffet that they were offering on their evening GDR menu. Not sure if they still do that though.

 

Unfortunately, for personal reasons we no longer cruise with them. One suggestion, though, if you do decide to book a cruise with them, remember to do the math when it comes to the OLife options. 

 

With OLife Choice, enjoy 2 for 1 Cruise Fares, Free Roundtrip Airfare with Airport Transfers* plus one free amenity: up to 8 Shore Excursions, Beverage Package, or up to $800 Shipboard Credit.

 

For example, if you choose the OLife "up to $800 Shipboard Credit", the OBC is nonrefundable. However, if you choose to book your cruise without the OLife option, you will get up to $800 off your booking fare, depending on the length of the cruise.

 

Also, if you choose to book your cruise with the OLife Excursions option, use those "free" ones to prebook the most expensive ones first (up to $199 each). The number of "free" excursions will also go towards the minimum required to get the Your World Collection's 25% discount off the rest of the excursions if you decide to book at least the minimum number of excursions to qualify. Also remember the YWC discount does not apply if you wait and book them onboard.

 

Your World Collection must be reserved prior to sailing. In order to receive maximum pre-cruise savings, you may purchase shore excursions as early as 240 days and up until 8 days prior to your sail date. 

 

These are just some of the "tricks" we learned while cruising with them over 10 times until we stopped at the end of 2018.

 

Luxury Cruise Deals, Special Offers and Amenities - Oceania Cruises

 

 

[RichYak]

10 hours ago, miched said:

I think many on this forum are looking at alternative cruise lines as Celebrity is getting too expensive  and not producing a premium product 

I am one of those. I've been researching other lines as I intend to move on from Celebrity after 2023. Initially, it was just due to insane Retreat pricing and the apparent decline in quality and service. However, recent behavior by X that I guess can't be talked about on CC is the nail in the coffin. Just yesterday, I spent some time reading up on Oceania and the O-Life packages. If I cruise in 2024, it will likely be with Oceania or Seabourn.

[garyl62]

With the recent actions Celebrity has taken (several items, not just the one that keeps getting deleted) it seems this is the right time to begin looking at Oceania and others not under the RCG umbrella.  It's too bad, we were just expanding our sailing schedule and could see many more opportunities in the future.  Oh well, maybe we'll calm down, or as someone else said (if it's true I can't say)  LLP believes for every customer lost another one will come along.  Not the best motto to build a business in my opinion.

 

For now, exploring Oceania seems like a good alternative. Now I just need to find an alternative to Cruise Critic too 😉

Edited December 31, 2022 by garyl62

[MarkWiltonM]

We will be on Vista December 1, 2023. The renderings look beautiful. We sailed on Sirena, one of Oceania's smallest ships, last month and had a terrific time. My partner prefers small ships like Oceania's and Crystal's, and there's no question that a smaller ship has an easier time providing consistent food quality and service. I like the smaller-ship experience as well but sometimes want to be on a relatively larger ship with more variety, and then we gravitate toward Celebrity and sometimes HAL (primarily for HAL's superior buffet). We currently have 3 Oceania cruises and 3 Celebrity cruises booked. 

 

I think most of Oceania's regulars are people who don't need or even want a lot of scheduled activities/entertainment. It's also nice to be on ships where you have more space per person (despite the smaller sizes, Oceania's ships feel roomier). And it's relatively quiet--a plus for some and perhaps a minus for others. One thing's for sure: you never have to scramble to find a lounger by the pool on Oceania, whereas on HAL and Celebrity that can be all but impossible at times. 

 

[prmssk]

For those of you looking to Oceania because of Celebrity’s recent actions, I encourage you to read up on all the bad press NCL and NCLH is getting right now (especially related to crew salaries and crew policies) and the recent appointment of Frank del Rio’s son to President of Oceania.

 

(This is not to say there aren’t a lot of other good reasons to try Oceania.)

[LB_NJ]

14 hours ago, asnaleah said:

We very much enjoy our cruises on Celebrity and are fortunate enough to sail in suites. Luminae has been a game changer and I hate to think about missing it, however, the new Oceania ship, Vista, has a great Panama Canal itinerary. If you’ve sailed on both lines, please share your advice. Many thanks!

Absolutely go, Oceania is great. I like Oceania a lot.

[LGW59]

14 hours ago, asnaleah said:

We very much enjoy our cruises on Celebrity and are fortunate enough to sail in suites. Luminae has been a game changer and I hate to think about missing it, however, the new Oceania ship, Vista, has a great Panama Canal itinerary. If you’ve sailed on both lines, please share your advice. Many thanks!

Here is my take, keep in mind not as a frequent cruiser, but when I do it has been primarily on Celebrity.  Most recently this fall, I did the TA on Edge, in an uppser suite, so had all the benes that come with that.  Quick summary of my cruise, I loved it, the EV was amazing, butler, room steward, Luminae staff amazing, all of them!  Talked to several on the cruise NOT staying in the Retreat, most all thought it was "good" but not "great".  As you already know about what Celebrity offers when staying in the retreat and probably have studied up on OLife, I will tell you why I have recently booked a cruise on Oceania Vista.  My husband and I have been really anxious and wanting to do a Med cruise.  Looking at Celebrity, they can't get into and/or don't go to some of the more exciting, smaller Med ports.  We compared one to an Oceania Med cruise, loved the ports and sailing on the new Vista was enticing.  So cut to the chase:  Two 7 night Med cruises both depart on May 13, 2023, Edge in Sky Suite, so all of the Retreat benes (other than specialty dining) included priced out at $11,300 for the two of us.  Oceania Vista, Founders Cruise, also May 13, Penthouse1 suite, specialty dining included for every suite apparently, we do not drink so not paying for something we will not use.  This priced out at (we have already booked) $7,598.  So for $4,000 less, in what appears to be very similiar suite levels and we will use the $200/pp OBC to pay the tips, we don't spend any other $ on board, it was a very easy decision, esp. after all the feedback we got from others on CC.  Good luck with whatever you decide and keep doing those cost comparisons, we are looking at several other cruises for late 2023 and early 2024, all comparing Celebrity to Oceania, and in EVERY single instance, O has priced out lower, ranging from $1,500 to $5,000+.  

[hawkesbaynz]

I would say give it a go too. We usually sail X in Aqua but occasionally MDR or Sky Suite. Really enjoyed the Oceania Sirena last month although found the entertainment mediocre. Ship had been refurbished and very good. Food was great and we ate in the buffet for dinner a couple of times which we never do elsewhere as a great experience. 

 

Oceania offer better itineraries than X. We are on a three week South America with Antarctica & Falklands on the larger Marina and really excited.
 

The O-Life is confusing. We had the beverage pack on the Sirena and the wine flowed during meals. The upgrade to AI is $20 a day. We have booked all our own tours as Os are expensive. We use air miles.

 

We are trying Princess in June for the Med. Open for other lines too. Can not really afford Oceania for all our cruising needs.

[asnaleah]

Thanks to all for the helpful replies. I will “do the math” for the O Life options. 

We are booked on Eclipse for the repo 12/7/23 and while the ship probably needs some updates, the itinerary looks good to us and we have never been to Peru. So we are looking at Vista for PC Jan, 2025. 
 

Happy New Year to all!

[RichYak]

2 hours ago, prmssk said:

For those of you looking to Oceania because of Celebrity’s recent actions, I encourage you to read up on all the bad press NCL and NCLH is getting right now (especially related to crew salaries and crew policies) and the recent appointment of Frank del Rio’s son to President of Oceania.

 

(This is not to say there aren’t a lot of other good reasons to try Oceania.)

Re: NCL, I didn't see any top level posts on the first couple pages of the NCL CC board. Either not a big deal or CC mods there are curating content as they are here.

 

Re: FDR, I saw one post on Oceania board. Few follow up comments, mostly neutral, a couple positive, none negative. What exactly should be our concern? And why should either of these be as concerning as dishonorable customer service from X?

[PTC DAWG]

I think I would be bored to tears…

[MamaFej]

We did our first small ship cruise in December 2021, and have done four more on three other lines since. We are now hooked on smaller ship cruising. We really enjoy more space per passenger, more personalized service for everyone, not just those in the most expensive cabins, being able to dock "in town" or "closer to the action," etc., etc., etc.

 

We have lots of Celebrity cruises booked in 2023 and early 2024, mostly due to Lift and Shift and Shift and Shift for Aus/NZ/SP  and Asia stuff that had been orginally booked in 2018 and 2019. So far, it looks like those will finally go.

 

Nonethless, we are now looking primarily at the smaller ships for future cruises. X has been making it clear that, if passengers want the quality they are used to, they need to book Retreat Class. The value of the experience on smaller ships is greater, for our preferences, on smaller ships than on X, and often for less or significantly less money. 

 

We had an Oceania cruise booked for 2020, and still want to try them. They have some very intriguing Africa itineraries. I appreciate the advice regarding O-Life. It is, indeed, confusing. 

 

Different strokes for different folks. 

[carefree lady]

We booked Vista, even though we usually sail Celebrity. I wouldn't book the smaller ships that they have. I don't think I'd like a ship with 600 or 700 passengers.