Rare mexicobob Posted April 23, 2023 #1 Share Posted April 23, 2023 This post was recognized by LauraS! "Thank you for sharing your review with everyone at Cruise Critic. Please consider submitting it to the site for publication as well: Click: Write a Review." mexicobob was awarded the badge 'Great Review' We were on the April 7 to April 14 cruise on The Riviera from Civitavecchia to Trieste. Our 8th cruise but first on Oceania. We were in cabin 10022, a PH2. Had a great cruise and were totally blown away by the quality of food and service. Outstanding. The Terrace Grill was the most surprising as was not expecting such great food and service in the "buffet" area. Never made it to the main dining room. The specialty restaurants were all good. Room service breakfast was always good and delivered exactly to the minute when requested. Thought the ship was in great shape and saw no problems from the recent dry dock. We had no complaints about anything. Had a great time. Appreciate the advice and questions answered on this board. Helped make the cruise more enjoyable. Will be glad to try and answer any questions. A warning about the port in Trieste...........very small. After you collect your luggage with few porters, you are literally put out on the street. In our case a cold, windy, rainy street. We had arranged a private transfer to Venice but had to wait over an hour for them to arrive at the requested time. Assumed there would be a place for us to wait if we got off the ship early. WRONG. There is no place to go. Make sure when you get off the ship your mode of transportation is waiting. There were plenty of taxis waiting but we had already prepaid for the private transfer. Again, a sincere thanks to all that have answered questions and provided advice over the past year while I planned this cruise. 10 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEFIowa Posted April 23, 2023 #2 Share Posted April 23, 2023 9 hours ago, mexicobob said: ... Had a great cruise and were totally blown away by the quality of food and service. Outstanding. The Terrace Grill was the most surprising as was not expecting such great food and service in the "buffet" area. Never made it to the main dining room. The specialty restaurants were all good. Room service breakfast was always good and delivered exactly to the minute when requested.... That was our exact experience on Riviera 12/2021, our very first cruise ever. And then booked Sirena for 11/2022. And over our 20 nights we've yet to eat at the GDR. We always eat under the stars in the TC, unless we're at a specialty restaurant. Love the grilled items! Doubt we'll make the GDR over our 20 nights on Riviera Oct-Nov '23. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ORV Posted April 23, 2023 #3 Share Posted April 23, 2023 MM-hmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyskie Posted April 23, 2023 #4 Share Posted April 23, 2023 Thank You! We'll be on in September - our first time too. Glad to hear a good report 😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppie55 Posted April 23, 2023 #5 Share Posted April 23, 2023 Thank you so much for your positive review! We will be on the Riviera on June 1st also our first cruise with Oceania. Now I’m even more excited! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruisingxpert Posted April 23, 2023 #6 Share Posted April 23, 2023 11 hours ago, mexicobob said: The Terrace Grill was the most surprising as was not expecting such great food and service in the "buffet" area. Never made it to the main dining room. I think your reaction is typical of passengers who have sailed on other lines. I wouldn't eat dinner in the buffets on any other line but I often eat dinner at the Terrace Buffet rather than the GDR. I will be on my 20th O cruise next month. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruisingxpert Posted April 23, 2023 #7 Share Posted April 23, 2023 Question to @mexicobob Did you have an in person Muster or have they gone back to Virtual? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonthomas Posted April 23, 2023 #8 Share Posted April 23, 2023 Our experience on the Riviera in Jan was the same. Too bad R is gone to the east. We are in Alaska and West coast in the fall and then the Marina in Nov. As long as the food is as good as it has been, I will be happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osandomir Posted April 23, 2023 #9 Share Posted April 23, 2023 3 hours ago, MEFIowa said: That was our exact experience on Riviera 12/2021, our very first cruise ever. And then booked Sirena for 11/2022. And over our 20 nights we've yet to eat at the GDR. We always eat under the stars in the TC, unless we're at a specialty restaurant. Love the grilled items! Doubt we'll make the GDR over our 20 nights on Riviera Oct-Nov '23. On Sirena now. GDR menu and food quality is much better than the specialty restaurants. Tuscan Steak is the major disappointment. Over 14 cruises we’ve tried them all. First time breakfast in the GDR almost every morning too. Food in the buffet is definitely good…but for each is their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEFIowa Posted April 23, 2023 #10 Share Posted April 23, 2023 17 minutes ago, osandomir said: On Sirena now. GDR menu and food quality is much better than the specialty restaurants. Tuscan Steak is the major disappointment. Over 14 cruises we’ve tried them all. First time breakfast in the GDR almost every morning too. Food in the buffet is definitely good…but for each is their own. We did 10 nights on Sirena in 11/2022. No GDR for us. Always the TC instead. Eat under the stars. Prefer Waves for breakfast. We cruise for excursions, so I'm eating breakfast when Waves opens and we're off the ship as early as we can for ports and excursions. Sirena has just 2 specialty restaurants. Wife doesn't like Asian (Red Ginger) so we ate twice in the Tuscan Steak twice (which we both enjoyed). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osandomir Posted April 23, 2023 #11 Share Posted April 23, 2023 (edited) 23 minutes ago, MEFIowa said: We did 10 nights on Sirena in 11/2022. No GDR for us. Always the TC instead. Eat under the stars. Prefer Waves for breakfast. We cruise for excursions, so I'm eating breakfast when Waves opens and we're off the ship as early as we can for ports and excursions. Sirena has just 2 specialty restaurants. Wife doesn't like Asian (Red Ginger) so we ate twice in the Tuscan Steak twice (which we both enjoyed). Great that you’ve found the way to cruise that suit you best. For me “dining under the stars” reminds the time we went camping when we were obviously younger. We don’t enjoy serving the food for ourselves on vacation anymore. One of the reasons we choose to cruise on the Oceania ships. And we also prefer to be active and like to explore the ports. So we can enjoy both the ship and the land. Edited April 23, 2023 by osandomir Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEFIowa Posted April 23, 2023 #12 Share Posted April 23, 2023 27 minutes ago, osandomir said: ... We don’t enjoy serving the food for ourselves on vacation anymore.... Yes, to each their own. We just find that sitting around waiting and waiting and waiting is hardly the way we want to eat. Wait, eat, wait, eat, wait, eat, wait, eat. While we did enjoy the food in Tuscan Steak, the service times weren't the best (the 2nd visit with the later time, 1930, was the worst of the two, as opposed to the 1830 time for the 1st). And I've heard little positive about the waits and service in the GDR. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted April 23, 2023 #13 Share Posted April 23, 2023 1 hour ago, osandomir said: Great that you’ve found the way to cruise that suit you best. For me “dining under the stars” reminds the time we went camping when we were obviously younger. I agree we like being served at the table & not jumping up/down to get the next course 😉 not much fun eating outside in the cooler weather either 😲 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mexicobob Posted April 24, 2023 Author #14 Share Posted April 24, 2023 11 hours ago, cruisingxpert said: Question to @mexicobob Did you have an in person Muster or have they gone back to Virtual? We were requested to watch a safety video at home before we boarded. After stepping on the ship we were escorted by a crew member to our muster station. The person there scanned our boarding passes, and I think, pointed to a life jacket and that was it. We were the only passengers present. Took 20 seconds. After arriving to our cabin we had to watch a 6 minute safety video on the TV (or at least have it on) before the TV would do anything else. No way to bypass this. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kindley Posted April 24, 2023 #15 Share Posted April 24, 2023 About to board her today for the first time in Barcelona! Happy to hear you had such a wonderful time😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvmovielover Posted April 24, 2023 #16 Share Posted April 24, 2023 Our first O cruise many years ago was in the South Pacific. We had good weather the whole time and ate many meals in Terrace (though only some "under the stars"). None of our cruises since have been just right weather wise to make Terrace the choice it was on that cruise-too windy, too cold, etc. Still when the weather is right and you can beat the crowds, it is the best dining venue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEFIowa Posted April 24, 2023 #17 Share Posted April 24, 2023 2 hours ago, tvmovielover said: ... None of our cruises since have been just right weather wise to make Terrace the choice it was on that cruise--too windy, too cold, etc.... Not sure where and when you're cruising, but if you're always cruising and can't enjoy dinner under the stars at the TC, you're either going to some unusual places or traveling at the most off-peak times. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tvmovielover Posted April 24, 2023 #18 Share Posted April 24, 2023 (edited) Did you read my whole post? We are not always cruising nor are we the cheapskates you imply only able to cruise at the most off-peak times. I was remembering a favorite cruise and saying at the end that "TC" was the best venue when conditions were right. Edited April 24, 2023 by tvmovielover Previous post annoyed me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEFIowa Posted April 24, 2023 #19 Share Posted April 24, 2023 16 minutes ago, tvmovielover said: Did you read my whole post? We are not always cruising nor are we the cheapskates you imply only able to cruise at the most off-peak times. I was remembering a favorite cruise and saying at the end that "TC" was the best venue when conditions were right. I quoted your exact words: "None of our cruises since have been just right weather wise to make Terrace the choice it was on that cruise-too windy, too cold, etc." You wrote NONE. None means none. Means not a one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MnDAL Posted May 7, 2023 #20 Share Posted May 7, 2023 On 4/22/2023 at 10:02 PM, mexicobob said: A warning about the port in Trieste...........very small. After you collect your luggage with few porters, you are literally put out on the street. In our case a cold, windy, rainy street. We had arranged a private transfer to Venice but had to wait over an hour for them to arrive at the requested time. Assumed there would be a place for us to wait if we got off the ship early. WRONG. There is no place to go. Make sure when you get off the ship your mode of transportation is waiting. There were plenty of taxis waiting but we had already prepaid for the private transfer. GREAT input. Will be in Trieste in October. To set transfers....about how long was the debarkation process from your assigned (or selected) time to being "kicked to the curb"? Is there an obvious pickup point for private transfers? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare YoPhilly Posted May 7, 2023 #21 Share Posted May 7, 2023 Sometimes I cringe when I read snarky comments. What purpose do they serve? There is so much great information on these boards. Thanks, mexicobob, for the review. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mexicobob Posted May 8, 2023 Author #22 Share Posted May 8, 2023 7 hours ago, MnDAL said: GREAT input. Will be in Trieste in October. To set transfers....about how long was the debarkation process from your assigned (or selected) time to being "kicked to the curb"? Is there an obvious pickup point for private transfers? The debarkation process was a piece of cake. Basically, just walked off the ship. We left the ship about an hour AFTER our assigned time. We were in zone 3, I assume because we were in a Penthouse Suite. There were still a few people leaving the ship after us. There is a very obvious pickup point for private transfers, taxis, etc. Very close to the dock. This is a very small port so no problem there at all. Probably the smallest, and easiest port I have ever been to. Just no place to wait inside. Next time I would request a transfer about an hour after debarkation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doghouse2 Posted May 9, 2023 #23 Share Posted May 9, 2023 I’ll add my 2 cents to the comment about Trieste disembarkation. We were on the same cruise as original poster but sailed from Miami to Trieste. The ship side went smoothly as noted. Baggage pickup fairly easy as a young women asked if we wanted help, found our luggage and brought it to us. Luggage was roped off so you could not get it yourself. Then things got a little more difficult. I ask for a porter and young woman told somewhere else and we were told to wait. No porter, no luggage trolleys. Finally managed to snag two trolleys and used them to take luggage up and down a couple/three loading dock “driveways” to awaiting transportation. If you don’t have much luggage or don’t have any mobility limitations to push luggage trolleys then it’s fairly easy but I would guess for some it might be a chore. Comparing this to Barcelona, Civitavecchia, Lisbon I’d say it was a bit more difficult. They are flat with carts or porters more available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alibaba1 Posted May 11, 2023 #24 Share Posted May 11, 2023 On 4/23/2023 at 9:41 AM, Guest said: Thank you so much for your positive review! We will be on the Riviera on June 1st also our first cruise with Oceania. Now I’m even more excited! Take a peek at this review, complete with photos and menus. Get a big cup of coffee or glass of wine and enjoy! We'll be on the Vista in Dec 2023 and Feb 2024. Love the Oceania line; hope that you will too. Enjoy! https://www.thepreismans.com/riviera_mayan.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted May 11, 2023 #25 Share Posted May 11, 2023 1 hour ago, alibaba1 said: Take a peek at this review, complete with photos and menus. Get a big cup of coffee or glass of wine and enjoy! We'll be on the Vista in Dec 2023 and Feb 2024. Love the Oceania line; hope that you will too. Enjoy! https://www.thepreismans.com/riviera_mayan.htm The Riviera will be even nicer now since her makeover Mike does a great job taking photos of everything 😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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