Oceania vs. other cruise lines

[hmorrow]

Loving reading everyones cruising experiences!  It really is our favorite way to travel...

[CruisinShips]

Interesting comments, mauibabes, thank you. We have done two land tours with them and thoroughly enjoyed both.  The first was their American Canyonlands tour.  While the accommodations at the parks were below normal standards, the ability to actually stay in the parks was an amazing experience. There is no other way to wake up at sunrise and step out of your room and walk about 50 years to the southern rim of the Grand Canyon.

 

The second was their Canada's Capital Cities and Niagara Falls tour last October, and that too was excellent with a small group of 22 people and we enjoyed them thoroughly.  For those who don't know, you travel between stops in a bus, and when you arrive at each hotel, they hand you a room key and your luggage is delivered to (and picked up from) your room.  It's a good blend of scheduled and free time in each stop.  The negative for some is the time on a bus.  It does in some ways rival a cruise with the transportation aspect being handled by other for you.  The hotels are typically among the best in an area, and most meals at local restaurants are included.

[schmerl]

1 hour ago, CruisinShips said:

Has anyone here tried Tauck for a land tour or a river cruise?  We have been on two of their land tours...pretty first class and a decent alternative to a cruise when seeing sites more inland.

 

Yes. We did the Canyonland tour with Tauck and loved it.

We also did Israel and Jordan with Tauck and that was fantastic!!!

[sunlover12]

18 hours ago, Rainbow3fe said:

I hear you if you lare comfortable with so many people. But were the pool decks noisy? Did the buffet look like a Cafeteria? 

There is a suites only sun deck with a bar and small pool that is quiet and comfortable. We didn't go down to the main pool. The buffet has been redesigned to multiple stations instead of one long line.  We ate there twice and it didn't feel crowded or cafeteria-like. 

[Tarwood3]

We have had a bit of a different cruise history than most.  We only did land tours until about 2014.  We had traveled to around 70 countries by that time (over 100 now).  My partner always wanted to do a cruise but the big ship cruising I saw advertised on tv didn’t appeal to me… too many people and kids.  But one day, while reading a travel magazine, I saw an ad for Silversea…it seemed to tick all the boxes so I took a leap of faith and booked a 7 day.  We were hooked!  I really loved waking up somewhere new every morning, loved unpacking once and not having to schlep luggage all over Europe, Asia Africa etc.  in multiple hotels, trains planes and automobiles ! 

 

Our first 3 cruises were all on Silversea when I decided I wanted to see what other lines might feel like. Our next one was RC…never again…family reunions, bachelor parties, tons of kids, awkward conversations at huge shared table dinner etc…it all felt trashy to us.  Then we found Celebrity which we really loved…we are Elite Plus on them…but now that the Suites have gotten the same price as luxury lines…no way.  After a couple cruises on X where it took over an hour to get off the ship at a port…the line literally wrapped around teh whole ship…I just couldn’t do it again.  

 

We have since been on Holland America, Seabourn, Regent , Azamara, Oceania, Paul Gauguin, Crystal. 

 

As others have said, we book based on who has the best itinerary for us, for the destination we are interested in and time of year. Then based on ship…we love all the new bells and whistles.  We had Vista booked but were canceled when they pushed the inaugural back a month.   

 

We booked Oceania because we heard the food was amazing… and we liked the size of the ships and that it was a bit more casual than SS ..we got tired of packing so many dinner jackets.  

 

Our last O cruise was on Sirena and the average age was probably the oldest we have ever had on our 30 or so cruises…. We are in our 50s and while we don’t normally get hung up on the age thing…most seemed older than our parents …it was a very dull 14 day cruise and the entertainment was geared to stuff even my mom would find boring.  

 

While we do like the product O offers…we do need a bit more liveliness…but we will continue to book O ( have 2 more booked)    Our next cruise is on HAL…very much looking forward to it…have another Neptune Suite booked (very large aft suite) and our last HAL cruise had amazing food and was a nice sized ship with more things to do.  

 

BTW…our most fav ship:  Seabourn Venture. (Expedition ship we did to Antarctica) Gorgeous!