Elite on Princess

[LuAnn]

On 2/9/2023 at 7:31 PM, mauibabes said:

@LuAnn

If someone wanted to nit pick Marina to death, it could be done.  She is not perfect but she is not ready to be scrapped. We saw work being done every day maintaining the ship in great condition.  I watched a painter with a fine detail brush touching up scratches on woodwork in Horizons and elsewhere.  We saw painters touching up railings because there is a lot of wooden railings on Marina. We saw a spot of rust on a veranda but nothing of any substance.  I think people have tried to figure out when she will go into dry dock for her major face list but that is an Oceania decision, not ours. We are passengers, not O Executives so we will wait for the official decision. 
We have not seen the updated Riviera yet but I am sure she is spectacular and we would love to see Marina in the same condition and that day will come. Our next cruises will be on Vista and we are quite excited about that experience. Marina will not be Vista or Allura but she will continue to be a classy lady. Just enjoy your Oceania experience on Marina. 
Mauibabes

Thanks!! I'm sure I will!! I was on her very first T/A when FDR was onboard for the run from MIA up to NYC before the crossing.  It was so exciting to see the new "style" of ship at that point.  We've been on Marina and Riviera a number of times since then. I think we're both on the Panama Canal transit on Vista in October?...Super excited for that cruise as well. 

[mauibabes]

Fantastic LuAnn, that PC transit will be a great trip. We are on board with a bunch of our Oceania family and we know that is always great. 
We did the Marina Feb. 2011, San Francisco to Miami but missed doing the Riviera Inaugural when the ship builders went on strike in Italy. We will do the May 13 Founders Cruise and try to make up for that Riviera miss. 🤪👍🛳️

Mauibabes

[RD64]

Did I miss something? What  does your Elite status on Princess have to do with an Oceania cruise? Bragging rights?

[AMHuntFerry]

...

Edited February 12, 2023 by AMHuntFerry
can't delete..waste of energy

[mauibabes]

Perhaps my cut and paste message got mixed up, sorry as I had been writing about some complaining about Marina.  Have no idea how it got on an Elite Princess blog. 
Actually the Elite P poster has no worries or concerns about cruising on Oceania, just book and sail and you will understand there is no comparison. You have died and gone to heaven and you did not even have to book a Suite. 
Mauibabes and sorry LuAnn for the mix up

[oskidunker]

20 hours ago, RD64 said:

Did I miss something? What  does your Elite status on Princess have to do with an Oceania cruise? Bragging rights?

The point being that after loving the Princess for 25 cruises he was so unhappy with the new normal he switched to Oceania. I have done the same. It is hard to give up your beloved cruise line until you realize they are no longer a special experience.

[juniper berries]

Hi Thanks everyone for yyour postive feedback. This makes it easier to jump ship.

So now the fun part is the planning of the next cruise and deciding where  in the world to go.

Thanks again and happy cruising.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[wookie78]

We too have been loyal Princess cruisers for a long time. We recently we decided to try Oceania this past January as we had been steadily upgrading to suites on Princess to get some of the amenities. 

We stayed in a concierge level 3 verandah and were happy with the cabin.  It is smaller than a Princess balcony cabin but the bathroom more than makes up for the smaller room.  The shower size and the added cabinets were wonderful additions.  On Princess you have to upgrade to get a shower that size!

As for the food Oceania beats Princess hands down.  I had lobster of some sort almost everyday.

Being able to order room service at any time and from the Main Dining Room was a plus.

Barristas coffee bar is similar to International Cafe but with smaller food options.   Light snacks as opposed to the wonderful soups and sandwiches in the IC. Nice that it is all included not an upcharge.

The entertainment on O was not to my liking.  They try very hard but I felt like it was like high school musicals as compared to the big production shows on the larger Princess ships.  But I did not mind missing the shows as we sometimes enjoyed the quiet decks outside.  The pool and deck areas were not crowded from our perspective(Princess deck).  We always found chairs in the shade or sun.  They cover their deck loungers with thick cushions and then cover them with terry cloth covers that are changed out whenever needed.  They also seem to keep up with chair hogs and move their stuff if left too long. On our cruise in January there was a lot older crowd then we are used to on Princess.  We are in our 60's and felt very young!  But everyone was having a good time and it did not bother us. It was so nice not to have photographers everywhere. Nice to not have art auction people trying to get you to an auction with "free" champagne.  

If have any more questions please feel free to ask.

[oskidunker]

There are no Formal nights on Oceania although there were a few men in Sports Coats. I will bribing one next time but not necessary. 

[DENIE]

We too "jumped ship" from Celebrity.  Although we had no gripes with Celebrity, we tried Oceania after speaking with several friends.  It just feels right, and we may not look back.  As a "test", we travelled with a few friends on a HAL Mexican Rivierea cruise this past December, and really were reminded of everything we loved about Oceania in June 2022 (Riviera).

[oskidunker]

Food is supposed to have improved on Hal. What was your experience?

[zalusky]

The trick is not to be loyal.  Try them all.  Make the cruise lines will try harder!  If they know you will put up with all the cost cutting thats on us!

[oskidunker]

2 hours ago, zalusky said:

The trick is not to be loyal.  Try them all.  Make the cruise lines will try harder!  If they know you will put up with all the cost cutting thats on us!

Thats how I feel.

[DENIE]

10 hours ago, oskidunker said:

Food is supposed to have improved on Hal. What was your experience?

The food in the specialty dining was quite good, almost as good as Oceania.  But the MDR (food and experience) left a lot to be desired.  Example - a shrimp cocktail appetizer was served with warm shrimp, and the sauce was more of a creamy kind, not cocktail. Entrees were just "ok", but not nearly the variety we had on the Riviera.  They also charge extra for some entrees.  Service-wise, they were understaffed.  Our party of 10 one night were seated at a table that had not yet been set from the previous party and waited 30 minutes to have anyone stop by (this even after someone flagged down the maitre de).  The the waitstaff fault as they were hustling, but...

[oskidunker]

34 minutes ago, DENIE said:

The food in the specialty dining was quite good, almost as good as Oceania.  But the MDR (food and experience) left a lot to be desired.  Example - a shrimp cocktail appetizer was served with warm shrimp, and the sauce was more of a creamy kind, not cocktail. Entrees were just "ok", but not nearly the variety we had on the Riviera.  They also charge extra for some entrees.  Service-wise, they were understaffed.  Our party of 10 one night were seated at a table that had not yet been set from the previous party and waited 30 minutes to have anyone stop by (this even after someone flagged down the maitre de).  The the waitstaff fault as they were hustling, but...

Thanks. 

[oskidunker]

1 hour ago, oskidunker said:

Thanks. 

Given that, I wont try Holland. Will stick with Oceania and maybe Viking if my March cruise goes ok. 

[DENIE]

6 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

Given that, I wont try Holland. Will stick with Oceania and maybe Viking if my March cruise goes ok. 

I get that! On HAL, if you don't mind specialty dining every night, you are fine.  🙂

 

Main Dining on Oceania is far above.  We loved it on the Riviera.

Edited February 14, 2023 by DENIE

[oskidunker]

Heres the thing. We love formal nights and fixed dining. Both gone from most cruiselines.  They have funneled everyone into anytime on the mega ships because they could not  serve everyone in two seatings . Some demand, I suppose.if the  food gets dumbed down along with the service then Ill stop cruising . Yes,the ports are important but I need the rest.

 

it will be interesting to see if the  dumbed down cruiselines get the bookings in 2024 as they are getting this year do to pent up demand. Seasoned cruisers and first timers may say enough.some want a party  ship they choose Carnival or mega  BpNorwegian ships. Not everyone wants that. 

Edited February 14, 2023 by oskidunker

[1985rz1]

39 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

Heres the thing. We love formal nights and fixed dining.

This is not Oceania.

[oskidunker]

10 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

This is not Oceania.

Thats ok. Its still my first choice at this time. 

[jondfk]

I'll reply too, a long time Princess loyalist, Elite for a few years.  Most recently booking nothing less that CC and when possible full suites.  

 

We gave Oceania a try for the first time just about a year ago.  What motivated us was the sale of the Pacific Princess on which we had two bookings.  While we've loved Princess and undoubtedly will sail again given their heavy presence on the west coast we've seen service decline and ship size increase.  The final straw was our unfortunate luck sailing on the February 2020 cruise to Hawaii that landed us in quarantine for a totally of 22 days (8 on the ship, 14 at Travis).

 

We sailed in a PH2 on Regatta in last April, the same cabin on Pacific Princess would have been a CC mini.  It was clear from the first moments that we had wandered into an upgraded environment.  A butler to look after our small needs and serve breakfast most days in the room, nothing like this exists on Princess.  A request for "special" soft drinks in the mini-bar, no big deal (mostly) and refreshed as often as needed, sometimes more than once in a day, again, nothing like this exists on Princess.  The list goes on and on.

 

Food and dining.  Quality of food was good everywhere on the ship.  We were less impressed with service in the specialties, but this was because service in the MDR was quite excellent, the specialties could not hope to greatly surpass.  We never failed to secure a table for 2 in the MDR when we asked for one.  Terrace cafe had excellent food but we found a good deal of jostling and pushing in the very small space - this we solved by going in just a bit later - by 30 minutes after opening the starving hoards had been sated and the experience greatly improved, in this regard, the large buffets on the Royal class ships of Princess were clearly ahead (in terms of access, not food quality).  Being such a small ship crew members very quickly remembered your preferences, especially bar staff who were quick to deliver excellent service.

 

Our boarding experience in Papeete was probably one of the worst in memory.  No organization whatsoever many steps duplicated again and again (6 passport checks, 3 credit card scans, 4 covid doc checks).  Sailing with Princess around the same time was a breeze by comparison.  The onboard experience following boarding was little better way too many people for the limited capacity of Terrace cafe and rooms made available far too late to get folk out of the hot humid air.

 

We've sailed twice more with Oceania since, both times on Regatta.  We're hooked and could be called converted if only O would plan more west coast sailings (unfortunately they seem to be moving the opposite direction dropping down of 0-1 west coast sailings before and after the Alaska season when in the past they've typically done 2).  We most recently sailed with Princess to burn down the last of our credits and FCC's, while I'm sure we'll sail again, we have no bookings and purchased no FCC's onboard - for the first time in over a decade.  On the other hand we have two future bookings on O and have 2 FCC's in our account.  We do have future sailings on Seabourn and Viking and likely will choose a favorite once having done so, Oceania though have made a great first, second and third impression which will be hard to top. 

[AMHuntFerry]

6 hours ago, jondfk said:

We've sailed twice more with Oceania since, both times on Regatta.  We're hooked and could be called converted if only O would plan more west coast sailings (unfortunately they seem to be moving the opposite direction dropping down of 0-1 west coast sailings before and after the Alaska season when in the past they've typically done 2).

It looks like Riviera will be taking over the west coast/Alaska runs in 2025. I'm looking forward to the next itinerary release to see what is available.

[KetoCruiser]

On 2/13/2023 at 12:01 AM, wookie78 said:

We too have been loyal Princess cruisers for a long time. We recently we decided to try Oceania this past January as we had been steadily upgrading to suites on Princess to get some of the amenities. 

We stayed in a concierge level 3 verandah and were happy with the cabin.  It is smaller than a Princess balcony cabin but the bathroom more than makes up for the smaller room.  The shower size and the added cabinets were wonderful additions.  On Princess you have to upgrade to get a shower that size!

As for the food Oceania beats Princess hands down.  I had lobster of some sort almost everyday.

Being able to order room service at any time and from the Main Dining Room was a plus.

Barristas coffee bar is similar to International Cafe but with smaller food options.   Light snacks as opposed to the wonderful soups and sandwiches in the IC. Nice that it is all included not an upcharge.

The entertainment on O was not to my liking.  They try very hard but I felt like it was like high school musicals as compared to the big production shows on the larger Princess ships.  But I did not mind missing the shows as we sometimes enjoyed the quiet decks outside.  The pool and deck areas were not crowded from our perspective(Princess deck).  We always found chairs in the shade or sun.  They cover their deck loungers with thick cushions and then cover them with terry cloth covers that are changed out whenever needed.  They also seem to keep up with chair hogs and move their stuff if left too long. On our cruise in January there was a lot older crowd then we are used to on Princess.  We are in our 60's and felt very young!  But everyone was having a good time and it did not bother us. It was so nice not to have photographers everywhere. Nice to not have art auction people trying to get you to an auction with "free" champagne.  

If have any more questions please feel free to ask.

We have just completed our first cruise on Oceania and agree with  many of your remarks where comparing against Princess. We liked the smaller ship  and the quality of food on offer was great, however the service on Oceania Regatta was very poor. One night in the main dining room it took over an hour and half to get our entre.  When it did arrive one of our dinner companions meat was still raw inside.  Food in the buffet was also regularly cold.  

We have travelled extensively with Cunard and  I would say that the quality and service is so much better than we experienced on Oceania.  The ships are beautiful and you don’t have art auctions, instead , you have brilliant insight lecturers . 

 

 

 

 

 

[oskidunker]

6 hours ago, KetoCruiser said:

We have just completed our first cruise on Oceania and agree with  many of your remarks where comparing against Princess. We liked the smaller ship  and the quality of food on offer was great, however the service on Oceania Regatta was very poor. One night in the main dining room it took over an hour and half to get our entre.  When it did arrive one of our dinner companions meat was still raw inside.  Food in the buffet was also regularly cold.  

We have travelled extensively with Cunard and  I would say that the quality and service is so much better than we experienced on Oceania.  The ships are beautiful and you don’t have art auctions, instead , you have brilliant insight lecturers . 

 

Current Cunard reviews are mostly bad. Poorer food and poorly maintained ships. I was going to try Cunard but am now hesitant. Also no enforcement of the dress code. 
 

 

 

 

 

[KetoCruiser]

23 hours ago, oskidunker said:

 

We were on Queen Victoria in November 2022 , then our Oceania cruise in December 2022 and can say that the service was much better on Cunard than Oceania, the ship was well maintained. Cannot say the same for Oceania, Regatta loss power for about 3 hours in the Great Australian bight.  No engines, No air conditioning or lifts. We were in the Toscana and ended up having a choice of bread, soup and salad  for dinner.  Main dining room was operating to limited menu.  
 The quality of the food Oceania provided was excellent however it was poorly prepared and very repetitive.  I found it difficult to find a good selection of vegetables anywhere, they offered 5 ways to have your potatoes and only one vegetable as a side order. Veg was generally steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrot.  The best meal we had was the pop up Indian night in the Terrace cafe, which was much better than the pop up Red Ginger, which was usually cold and tasteless.