Insignia review -- Iceland/Greenland/Canada

[QuestionEverything]

I was also on this voyage. Will do a review shortly.

I have booked another O voyage in 2025 so I am reasonably satisfied with the O product and customers.

Couple of items...

1) The "regulars" were NOT impressed with the food quality, preparation, enhancement. 

I reference the O promotion "best cuisine at sea" that is my only reference folks - the delivery, absolutely not. I have previously posted on my Newbie to O - Mid Cruise Review - like beef cubes in a chocolate mole paste on Mexican night in Terrace total visual turnoff, chicken strips in a broth for chicken stir fry with no enhancements, chicken Kiev with a pre-manufactured chicken roll with a hollow interior, in Polo a small 7oz fillet which was tough and chewy, hot dogs in Terrace that looked cheap (could have used sausages for example).....

I loved the bread OMG, outstanding and the variety of pastries and the great orange juice (other than departing morning which was watered down), the ice cream, the fruit plate etc. Many good items.

2) Customers - the majority of folks were American, white and older, there were 67 Canadians like myself and spouse and 32 Brits. Given the time and location of the cruise this does not surprise me and does not concern me whatsoever. 

3) OMG the dear staff - housekeeping and food service. I can not say enough about the dear folks, so far away from home, I talked to so many and gave them hugs. We are VERY LUCKY to be able to cruise given other people in the world. Excellent smiling service from these dear folks.

Q - where does Oceania find the nasty, disinterested, non consumer focused reception and shore excursion staff? The officers, other than Claudio, the Hotel Manager, were disinterested in the guests.

Good cruising folks!

 

[canadianbear]

@cruisemom42

A very interesting read.  I’ve always appreciated your honest reviews.  Thanks for doing this.  One day we may branch out and try O. 

[Nashna]

Thank you for your excellent review.  You encouraged us to book the New York to Reykjavik segment as an add-on to our Reykjavik Copenhagen July 2024 cruise.  Would you be so kind as to answer a few questions?  Did you go off on your own in Greenland or do ship excursions?  Did you find the library selections adequate?  Did the library selection feature books or guides on the itinerary?  Were you able to spend time on deck?  What was the lowest and highest temperature you experienced on the sailing?  Were there articles of clothing that you found essential for the climate?  What port was the highlight of your voyage?  

 

Your observation on the makeup of the Insignia clientele was the same mix (or lack thereof) that I experienced on Seabourn and Regent.  I'm sure that O. and the rest of the premium cruise lines have prioritized diversion, as expanding their base is the key to their financial success while it makes for a more inclusive clientele.  

[jonthomas]

Prioritizing all the issues that make cruising enjoyable is how cruiselines aim for financial success. Food, itineraries, health and safety issues etc are most important to ALL cruisers.

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, QuestionEverything said:

1) The "regulars" were NOT impressed with the food quality, preparation, enhancement. 

I reference the O promotion "best cuisine at sea"

You spoke to every "regular" on the ship?

 

It's "The Finest Cuisine At Sea" and it's a registered trademark Oceania uses in its advertising. Do you have objective proof that it's false and misleading, because if it's just your subjective opinion you don't have a leg to stand on. For every person with your opinion there may  be two or five or ten who disagree.

 

Even if some of Oceania's food is crappy...and I've certainly had some dishes that were...it doesn't mean the trademarked term is invalid. The food doesn't have to be perfect to satisfy the trademarked claim.

[QuestionEverything]

22 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

You spoke to every "regular" on the ship?

 

It's "The Finest Cuisine At Sea" and it's a registered trademark Oceania uses in its advertising. Do you have objective proof that it's false and misleading, because if it's just your subjective opinion you don't have a leg to stand on. For every person with your opinion there may  be two or five or ten who disagree.

 

Even if some of Oceania's food is crappy...and I've certainly had some dishes that were...it doesn't mean the trademarked term is invalid. The food doesn't have to be perfect to satisfy the trademarked claim.

Is there a reason you are so defensive?

I spoke with many guests aboard the Insignia, that was their analysis. In fact, I did not have to speak to everyone, it was the common refrain all over the ship. Many folks I spoke with indicated they have sailed many times on Regent and find their food superior. I have no information one way or the other as I have not yet sailed Regent.

You use the word "trademarked" - that sounds officious. 

Do you work for Oceania?

[njhorseman]

8 minutes ago, QuestionEverything said:

Is there a reason you are so defensive?

I spoke with many guests aboard the Insignia, that was their analysis. In fact, I did not have to speak to everyone, it was the common refrain all over the ship. Many folks I spoke with indicated they have sailed many times on Regent and find their food superior. I have no information one way or the other as I have not yet sailed Regent.

You use the word "trademarked" - that sounds officious. 

Do you work for Oceania?

I'm not being defensive at all. you're certainly entitled to your opinions but when I see the line "the regulars were not impressed" I lose all belief in the credibility of what follows, to put it mildly.

 

No, I don't work for Oceania, nor do I find their food and service...or anything else about them to be perfect. I certainly don't expect "The Finest Cuisine At Sea" to be anything more than the registered trademark advertising slogan that it is.  Just because BMW advertises itself with the registered trademark "The Ultimate Driving Machine" do you think that is a reflection of absolute truth or has to be?

 

Think about the last four words in the previous paragraph: "or has to be". When you begin to understand that perhaps you'll begin to understand why I mentioned that the words are a registered trademark .

 

Advertising is often full of puffery, and permissibly so. I think intelligent adults commonly understand that fact. If you swallow advertising hook, line and sinker then you might want to think about a line often attributed to P T Barnum.

 

 

[EJL2023]

I personally don’t pay attention to comments about the food anymore. Whether it’s coming from a newbie to O, or even a veteran O cruiser and especially not third party I discussed with seasoned O cruisers on board stuff.  Especially with no context to said conversation.  When you throw in the subjectivity of food, forget it.  I’ll just stick to my own opinion on the quality of the food on Oceania since in reality that is all that really matters.  If some read and decide not to cruise O because of food…..ok…more for me.  If some read and decide to cruise O because of positive food comments….then watch out folks, you may get an elbow in the Terrace Cafe if I’m being cut off on something I really like!!! Just kidding, but thought I’d best add that as you never know on this here internet how people will take the written word. Peace. 

[cbr663]

A wonderful review.  Thank you so much.

 

 

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, Nashna said:

Would you be so kind as to answer a few questions?  Did you go off on your own in Greenland or do ship excursions?  Did you find the library selections adequate?  Did the library selection feature books or guides on the itinerary?  Were you able to spend time on deck?  What was the lowest and highest temperature you experienced on the sailing?  Were there articles of clothing that you found essential for the climate?  What port was the highlight of your voyage?  

 

In four Greenland ports I booked tours in two of them. One of the ports we skipped (Nuuk) -- here I'd booked a whale-watching boat excursion. The other excursion I booked was in Qaqortoq to the Viking ruins at Hvalsey Church, which also involved a short boat ride and a walk to the site. The latter was the most important to me as the main reason for my interest in Greenland is the period of Viking settlement there between around 1000-1500 AD. The other two ports offered enough opportunity simply by walking around the small village area near the port -- there were a couple of museums that included some old buildings that 

had been moved, restored and were full of interesting if somewhat quixotic historic items and memorabilia.

 

Do not depend on making independent arrangements in the Greenland ports. When ships arrive, they tend to suck up all of the available resources locally. I looked for nearly half a year for some kind of independent tour to the Hvalsey Church site but couldn't find anything suitable.

 

The library -- well, a bit of a loaded question for me. I depend mostly on my Kindle for reading material when I travel as I like to have a variety of choices available that often aren't met in the kinds of higgledy-piggledy small libraries on ships. However, I did browse the library on Insignia and there appeared to be quite a large variety of materials from recent novels to biographies and history and yes, some guides.

 

It was a bit cool and windy for me on deck when at sea. On days when we did scenic cruising, I would sit somewhere with a view out and then pop out to take photos when we approached areas of interest. As we moved farther south, there were a couple of days (when in port) when some people were sitting around the pool area and enjoying the sun (which was appreciated after a series of cloudy, showery days).

 

In Iceland and Greenland, the daily highs were in the mid 50's. This crept higher as we moved south. I believe in Bar Harbor, our last port and a sunny day, it may have reached the low 70s. At night the lows got as low as the low 40s in the early part of the cruise.

 

Clothing -- I tried to bring a little of everything, since the weather in that part of the world is hard to predict. Most useful items were my rain shell with hood. It is unlined but on cooler days I would wear a sweater or fleece as a second layer underneath it. Pants that are made of material that dries quickly worked better for me than rain pants. Avoid pants that are heavy when wet like jeans or terry/fleece. My trusty silk underwear was also utilized, especially on the two occasions I was on a small boat on the water. Some said to bring mosquito netting (for the annoying small flies/gnats in Greenland in particular) but I never encountered them. I also recommend a pair of gloves and a scarf of some kind. Be careful with a hat as the wind can be strong -- on one boat tour saw a man's hat sail off into the water.

 

The ports I enjoyed most: the two-plus days I spent in Reykjavik ahead of the cruise were great. The Qaqortoq and St. Anthony stops for the Viking ruins. And Heimaey Island was a surprise -- very pretty island with an interesting story (it's where there was a volcanic eruption in the 1970s that destroyed about half the town).  And they have puffins!  😆🐧

[jonthomas]

We are attracted to O because of the longer itineraries. Other lines hope you will book their shorter ones back to back, so you wind up paying more.

[jonthomas]

And to add to that, the huge air prices make it silly to do short itins.

[hamrag]

3 hours ago, QuestionEverything said:

....Many folks I spoke with indicated they have sailed many times on Regent and find their food superior....

No surprises there, Regent are in the luxury segment whilst Oceania are premium i.e. broadly mid-point between mass and luxury cruiselines! 🤔

[osandomir]

Thank you OP for well balanced review coming from the first time Oceania customer. This is pretty much how we feel about Oceania after many years cruising with them. Including your dining preferences, entertainment and port experiences. We have done a similar cruise in the past but the longer one from London to New York. I also appreciated your posts about cruising prior you even went on this cruise.

 

I have just one comment about Oceania fellow passengers how you described them in your review. I don’t question you about the racial diversity though we have met people from different parts of the world. But with the Oceania longer itineraries and prices of mostly $10,000 upwards it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect many passengers other than upper middle class retirees to partake. Although, we found many interesting people onboard we enjoyed to communicate with, some of them became our friends since we met.

[sunlover12]

I was just on Nautica. This was my 7th O cruise so I guess that makes me a “regular”. Food is highly subjective. I found the food quality and preparation to be very good as always.  No complaints. 
 

It was a 7-day cruise. Barcelona to Valletta. The most apparent difference of this cruise compared to our other O cruises, which were longer, was passenger demographics. There were many first time Oceania cruisers and they were much younger on average than any of the other O cruises I’ve been on.  I am in my late 60’s and I can get around without difficulty.  I felt like one of the old ones onboard.  At the Oceania Club reception, they said that 290 of the 643 onboard were repeat customers. A vast difference from our other O cruises. 
 

If Oceania is trying to attract a younger clientele, looking at the makeup of this particular cruise, they are succeeding. It was a good cruise and we met some wonderful people. I’m glad we were on it. 

[babysteps]

The library has a wide if sometimes random range of books. Yes there are travel guides, but assume the ones for the region you are visiting will be borrowed by the first few folks onboard. Useful for studying your future cruise choices is how I think of it. 

[terrydtx]

Thank you for your honest review, we booked our first O cruise for March 2025 on the Marina after 15 years of cruising with only Celebrity and HAL. We are looking forward to our 2025 cruise and we like the pricing compared to current Celebrity pricing for their suites. We also want longer non-Caribbean cruises with interesting itineraries.

[RICHARD@SEA]

On 9/1/2023 at 11:00 AM, cruisemom42 said:

 

I didn't mean anything other than what I said. It was just an observation and to me seemed a little surreal. I thought it might be a heads up to others on what to expect.

 

I understand the OP's comment...I've lived in NYC / Manhattan for over 40 years & the diversity in population is like nowhere else....

 

Saying that I recently started to look to buy a home in the Hudson Valley.(about 75 miles north of NYC)..the population is a majority of caucasian people who have lived here all their lives...

 

Not good or bad just different from my life in NYC.

 

The population onboard a ship  can determine my choice - as I prefer to travel w more of  an International  crowd .

 

Neither good or bad , just different.

[jonthomas]

and you will get that "international crowd", when you travel internationally. 

[deck chair]

CRUISEMOM42!   Hello and thank you for taking the time to share your experiences and observations.  I am booked on the INSIGNIA for the 40 day cruise from LA to Sydney that departs next January 14.  I was last on the Sirena this past January for 20 days. My first O cruise.  As someone who eats dinner about 8 and enjoys a couple of drinks before going in I was quite dismayed (Along with others) that the piano player in Martinis stopped playing from 7:15 to 10 or so leaving the room dead and lifeless.  The CD Dottie could not fully explain why that was the case.  I am hoping that is not going to be the case on this upcoming long INSIGNIA voyage because if it is I will just stay in my cabin and watch movies until its time for dinner.  I am very interested in what it was like in Martinis on the Insignia during your cruise.   I typically sail on Cunard Line and there is no way they would allow the cocktail lounges go without live music.  Thank you.

Deck Chair.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, deck chair said:

My first O cruise.  As someone who eats dinner about 8 and enjoys a couple of drinks before going in I was quite dismayed (Along with others) that the piano player in Martinis stopped playing from 7:15 to 10 or so leaving the room dead and lifeless. 

 

That is  interesting   in the past  (pre covid) the piano player  would play during those hours  with a break  

the string quartet would play down the hall during  his breaks   so they were not competing 

 

It  will be interesting to see how  it is on our upcoming cruise

[taylortime05]

@cruisemom42, thank you for your thoughtful & detailed review.  We started cruising with our teen children about 10 years ago with Royal Caribbean.  When we were empty nesters we moved to Celebrity.  We enjoyed the ease of visiting different ports without packing and unpacking.  We enjoyed the food and the evening entertainment and meeting other travelers.   We’ve been on about 15 cruises mostly in the Caribbean.  Our kids are grown with babies of their own.  We’re recently retired but still very busy helping with the grand babies which we love.  But we also have so many places to visit that are on our bucket list.  I’m starting to look at other cruise lines for interesting itineraries.   I still busy planning my Europe cruise & Rome visit which you’ve been so helpful with planning.   Other than itinerary and food,  I do enjoy live entertainment in the evening.   Did you enjoy the evening entertainment?  I usually prefer the smaller venues over the large production shows.  

[basor]

30 minutes ago, taylortime05 said:

@cruisemom42, thank you for your thoughtful & detailed review.  We started cruising with our teen children about 10 years ago with Royal Caribbean.  When we were empty nesters we moved to Celebrity.  We enjoyed the ease of visiting different ports without packing and unpacking.  We enjoyed the food and the evening entertainment and meeting other travelers.   We’ve been on about 15 cruises mostly in the Caribbean.  Our kids are grown with babies of their own.  We’re recently retired but still very busy helping with the grand babies which we love.  But we also have so many places to visit that are on our bucket list.  I’m starting to look at other cruise lines for interesting itineraries.   I still busy planning my Europe cruise & Rome visit which you’ve been so helpful with planning.   Other than itinerary and food,  I do enjoy live entertainment in the evening.   Did you enjoy the evening entertainment?  I usually prefer the smaller venues over the large production shows.  

O does not have a vast array of evening entertainment options....there will be a piano player in Martinis pre and post dinner, string quartet playing in the evenings in the atrium, there is 1 evening show, generally around 9:30PM in the lounge/theater and there is late evening up in Horizon with the band, DJ and music for dancing.  The O ships are much smaller than the ships you are used to and  do not have multiple entertainment venues nor a large entertainment staff.  Part of this is due to their intensive port itinerary and so many are in bed early to be up and out early the next morning.

[EJL2023]

49 minutes ago, taylortime05 said:

@cruisemom42, thank you for your thoughtful & detailed review.  We started cruising with our teen children about 10 years ago with Royal Caribbean.  When we were empty nesters we moved to Celebrity.  We enjoyed the ease of visiting different ports without packing and unpacking.  We enjoyed the food and the evening entertainment and meeting other travelers.   We’ve been on about 15 cruises mostly in the Caribbean.  Our kids are grown with babies of their own.  We’re recently retired but still very busy helping with the grand babies which we love.  But we also have so many places to visit that are on our bucket list.  I’m starting to look at other cruise lines for interesting itineraries.   I still busy planning my Europe cruise & Rome visit which you’ve been so helpful with planning.   Other than itinerary and food,  I do enjoy live entertainment in the evening.   Did you enjoy the evening entertainment?  I usually prefer the smaller venues over the large production shows.  

She talked about the evening entertainment some in Post 9. 

[taylortime05]

18 minutes ago, basor said:

O does not have a vast array of evening entertainment options....there will be a piano player in Martinis pre and post dinner, string quartet playing in the evenings in the atrium, there is 1 evening show, generally around 9:30PM in the lounge/theater and there is late evening up in Horizon with the band, DJ and music for dancing.  The O ships are much smaller than the ships you are used to and  do not have multiple entertainment venues nor a large entertainment staff.  Part of this is due to their intensive port itinerary and so many are in bed early to be up and out early the next morning.

Thank you!  We're 60 & 65 and most of the time even on the Caribbean cruises we’re in our cabin by 10-10:30 PM.  We enjoy some of the big production numbers but we really prefer the entertainment in the small venues with a piano or guitar player.   We have a port intensive cruise at the end of the month sailing from Barcelona to Rome.  We only have one sea day and most of the excursions are 8-9 hours.  I think we’ll probably come back exhausted and want to clean up, have dinner and then go to bed.  I’m hoping we have some energy for some evening entertainment but this is not the priority.    I’ve read that some of the smaller ships are able to do more interesting itineraries.  I definitely need to do more research.