Live from Insignia - Montreal to Boston, Oct 8-19, 2023

[PinonNoir]

Hello fellow Cruise Critic members, we are on the Oceania Insignia right now, enjoying a beautiful day at sea.  I figured I'd write a little about our experiences so far.  We are on our 3rd day and the cruise has been going quite well!  We have visited Quebec City and Saguenay so far, and will be in Corner Brook, Newfoundland tomorrow.  We are traveling with one other couple.

 

First up, the food has been a marked improvement from our Oceania experience on the Riviera this past July.  We ate at Toscana our first night, an extra reservation for the four of us we were able to make with the help of the Reservation Desk and our Butler.  The Octopus Carpaccio and the Tortelloni Alla Genevese were both excellent.  Interesting that the Carpaccio looked completely different then it did on Riviera, but it was good, so I'm not complaining.  My wife had the Agnello Arrosto (lamb loin) which was just ok.  She wouldn't order it again.

 

The next night we ate at Terrace Cafe, and we were surprised with how good the Sushi was!  We had a few other dishes, but the Sushi was the best part of the meal.

 

Night 3 was in Polo Grill, and I had the "Surf and Turf".  The steak (filet) was good, not great, and the lobster was overcooked, which seems to be the Oceania norm.  The Shrimp Cocktail starter was excellent!  The always perfect Key Lime Pie was just as good as I remember it being on Riviera!  Worth noting, the staff in Toscana would NOT let me order the Key Lime Pie from Polo Grill, unlike Riviera where I had it each time we ate in Toscana.  They share a kitchen, so I don't know why it's such a big deal.

 

The wifi on Insignia is MUCH improved over the "two tin cans with a string" wifi we had on Riviera.  Hell, I couldn't even post this from the ship on Riviera!

 

The crew is all wearing masks....none of them knows why.  Very strange.  There  were two N95 masks in our stateroom upon boarding, which promptly went in the trash.

 

Not that Oceania has had anything to do with it, but upon departing Montreal the weather has been perfect.  Hopefully it stays that way...I don't want to end up missing any ports this time!

 

We have the dreaded John Clelford as our Cruise Director again....how we managed to get him on back to back cruises is beyond me.  Man does he like to hear himself speak!

 

I have been wearing jeans to dinner each night.  I'm still trying to figure out what "casual jeans" are, and until they define it for me, I'm going to wear mine to dinner.  Nobody has said a word or even given me a look of any type.

 

The crowd on this trip seems older than the last trip from London to Reykjavik.  Perhaps it's just proximity to the United States?  It's nice to actually be considered "young" for a change!  Curious, the PA system in the common areas is SUPER LOUD!!!  YOU HAVE TO PLUG YOUR EARS WHEN THEY ARE TALKING!.  Why?  Even the deaf people have hearing aids!

 

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Chris

[PinonNoir]

Dinner tonight in the Grand Dining Room is continuing the trend of excellence on the Insignia!  My wife and I both had the chilled shrimp with cocktail sauce, the Muligatawny Soup (wow!...just add some shrimp and it would be a 10!), and the signature Salmon (grilled...pretty good, just a step below excellent).  They even had the always awesome Key Lime Pie in the GDR!  This was an "at sea" day so the place was packed, but the service was excellent and the dishes came out quickly and at the right temperatures.  We continue to be very impressed!  A huge step up from Riviera....so far.

[Hw4]

I believe this cruise is one of the first under SM. If so, I'm curious as to how the wine service is going under the new system. Are the wines from the lists offered at each dining venue or are they house wines? Are the waiters coming around often enough to refill glasses or take alternative wine choices to go with different courses? Thanks for any info!

[Tranquility Base]

5 hours ago, PinonNoir said:

This was an "at sea" day so the place was packed,

What time did you arrive ?

Was it busier when you first arrived or when you left ?

Thanks.

[PinonNoir]

4 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

What time did you arrive ?

Was it busier when you first arrived or when you left ?

Thanks.

We sat down shortly after 6:30 when they opened. By 7:00 it was nearly full, and by 7:15 it was packed. A couple sat down next to us at 7:15, and despite being packed they were serviced promptly. Everybody was hustling.  It was nice to see. Our dessert showed up within 5 minutes of ordering.

[PinonNoir]

8 hours ago, Hw4 said:

I believe this cruise is one of the first under SM. If so, I'm curious as to how the wine service is going under the new system. Are the wines from the lists offered at each dining venue or are they house wines? Are the waiters coming around often enough to refill glasses or take alternative wine choices to go with different courses? Thanks for any info!

We brought our own wine, so our interaction with the wine steward was minimal. However, there were two stewards (they are not Somms) in our section, and one guy seemed to flitting from table to table constantly. I don't think wine service is slipping, but I'll pay closer attention tonight in Toscana and report back.

[WildWanderers]

Hi PinonNoir,

 

I am enjoying your travelogue.

 

I am intrigued by your comment that the crew members are wearing masks.  If you hear why, please let us know.  We were on the same ship in late August and no crew members wore masks.

 

I too will be interested in hearing how the wine service under SimplyMore plays out.  In August, ship management didn't think it would increase the workload of the sommeliers.  You seem to be making a distinction between wine stewards and sommeliers?

 

I agree that on the Insignia, some of the LOUDspeakers are almost untenable.

 

Cheers,

Greg from the WildWanderers

[PinonNoir]

5 hours ago, WildWanderers said:

Hi PinonNoir,

 

You seem to be making a distinction between wine stewards and sommeliers?

 

Cheers,

Greg from the WildWanderers

A real Sommelier has to undergo extensive training and must have a wide-ranging knowledge of the wine world. They also have to pass a rigorous test combining wine knowledge and wine tasting. 

 

The wine stewards on the ship have minimal wine knowledge outside of the wines they carry onboard.  I have chatted with quite a few of them and it's obvious they aren't real Sommeliers, it's just a title given to them by the ship.

 

If you are curious there is a short series called Somm that follows a group of trainees trying to get their certificate. It's quite good!

[PinonNoir]

We had lunch today at Terrace Cafe, and they were making burgers to order. The beef patty was larger and tasted MUCH better than I experienced at Waves on Riviera.  I'm wondering if sourcing beef (and other proteins) from Canada is just much better than it was in Europe?  That was a damn good burger!  Calamari was also good. 

[WayneLaR]

31 minutes ago, PinonNoir said:

We had lunch today at Terrace Cafe, and they were making burgers to order. The beef patty was larger and tasted MUCH better than I experienced at Waves on Riviera.  I'm wondering if sourcing beef (and other proteins) from Canada is just much better than it was in Europe?  That was a damn good burger!  Calamari was also good. 

Maybe you got lucky and you were served some of our famed Alberta beef!

[PinonNoir]

I'm going to comment on the wifi again.  I have my cell hooked up to the wifi with "Mobile Hotspot" turned on, and my laptop using the Hotspot, and it's working very well!  If you have a plan that includes Mobile Hotspot, you can use the wifi on as many devices as you want.  The only throttling I can see is streaming.  Websites work great!  I wonder if Insignia is now hooked up to Starlink?

 

I've been uploading numerous high-res photos for my travel blog, and they upload quickly.  Videos, not so much.

[ORV]

On 10/11/2023 at 11:45 AM, PinonNoir said:

Curious, the PA system in the common areas is SUPER LOUD!!!  YOU HAVE TO PLUG YOUR EARS WHEN THEY ARE TALKING!.  Why?  

On my Riviera cruise in Jun I mentioned on the mid cruise comment card that the announcements were entirely too loud in pretty much all parts of the ship. Seriously, would blow you right out of your seat. I got a call from the CD(of course while I was at dinner, quite common) explaining why they have to have it that loud. It was almost painful, and when I was young I mixed live bands. 

[PinonNoir]

7 minutes ago, ORV said:

On my Riviera cruise in Jun I mentioned on the mid cruise comment card that the announcements were entirely too loud in pretty much all parts of the ship. Seriously, would blow you right out of your seat. I got a call from the CD(of course while I was at dinner, quite common) explaining why they have to have it that loud. It was almost painful, and when I was young I mixed live bands. 

So why did they have to have it that loud?  I have a sound meter with me and the next time I'm in a common area I'm going to get the db level.  It's ridiculous!

[ORV]

Just now, PinonNoir said:

So why did they have to have it that loud?  I have a sound meter with me and the next time I'm in a common area I'm going to get the db level.  It's ridiculous!

He said it was because there were some areas of the ship that didn't have good speaker coverage. Truly, it just needed the gain on the mic turned down. 

[basor]

18 hours ago, Hw4 said:

I believe this cruise is one of the first under SM. If so, I'm curious as to how the wine service is going under the new system. Are the wines from the lists offered at each dining venue or are they house wines? Are the waiters coming around often enough to refill glasses or take alternative wine choices to go with different courses? Thanks for any info!

We are currently on Vista and have the beverage package and in every venue we have had no issues with ordering any glass of wine from the menu and our glasses have been filled very nicely.  They do not have "house" wines on O....

[PinonNoir]

3 minutes ago, ORV said:

He said it was because there were some areas of the ship that didn't have good speaker coverage. Truly, it just needed the gain on the mic turned down. 

This is stupid.  Fix the areas that don't have good speaker coverage, don't punish the rest of us.  There is this thing called an "in-line volume control" that can be installed in every public space, and they can have individual volume control.  It would cost them less than $10k for the entire ship.  They'll make that on drinks and wine tonight alone!

 

[PinonNoir]

3 minutes ago, basor said:

We are currently on Vista and have the beverage package and in every venue we have had no issues with ordering any glass of wine from the menu and our glasses have been filled very nicely.  They do not have "house" wines on O....

Basor, the Beverage Packages in Currents lists a House Select and a Prestige Select package.  Wouldn't House Select be "house" wines?  Are you saying that Simply More jumps straight to Prestige Select?

[basor]

Just now, PinonNoir said:

Basor, the Beverage Packages in Currents lists a House Select and a Prestige Select package.  Wouldn't House Select be "house" wines?  Are you saying that Simply More jumps straight to Prestige Select?

No - when someone ask about "house" wines, I take that to mean, like on Viking, they have one red, one white and walk around to offer those.   Or in a restaurant, they offer one red or one red that are labeled as the "house" wine.  It does not indicate the vineyard, year, etc.  We have ordered off the wine menu in every venue, any wine that is offered by the glass.  

[PinonNoir]

3 minutes ago, basor said:

No - when someone ask about "house" wines, I take that to mean, like on Viking, they have one red, one white and walk around to offer those.   Or in a restaurant, they offer one red or one red that are labeled as the "house" wine.  It does not indicate the vineyard, year, etc.  We have ordered off the wine menu in every venue, any wine that is offered by the glass.  

Gotcha, thanks for the explanation.

[PinonNoir]

We ate at Toscana tonight.  The Calamari was excellent!  The white bean soup was very good.  I had the Tortelloni Alla Genevese again, and asked for 6 Tortelloni versus the standard 4.  No issues!  It was awesome!  My wife was very happy as well.  Our only complaint was the dessert....we got the sampler and it was blah.  Now if they had brought me the Key Lime Pie!

 

Wifi continues to be excellent!  I keep waiting for the ***** to hit the fan....knock on wood!

Edited October 13, 2023 by PinonNoir

[Gl3nnG4ry]

18 hours ago, PinonNoir said:

I'm going to comment on the wifi again.  I have my cell hooked up to the wifi with "Mobile Hotspot" turned on, and my laptop using the Hotspot, and it's working very well!  If you have a plan that includes Mobile Hotspot, you can use the wifi on as many devices as you want.  The only throttling I can see is streaming.  Websites work great!  I wonder if Insignia is now hooked up to Starlink?

 

I've been uploading numerous high-res photos for my travel blog, and they upload quickly.  Videos, not so much.

Hi, wife and I will be sailing on Insignia in December :)

Wife has been reading chats, excited about the up-coming sailing, saw your post about the wifi and knew I'd be interested. This is why shows that I just signed up, so I could ask a question :D

If I knew I could stream, and therefore, do video calls while on the ship, could cruise more as I could work from the ship ;)

I saw that you posted that streaming is throttling; so not usable at all? Just hick-ups?

Have you tried streaming separately from the hotspot?

Curious if you've done any speed tests?

 

Apologies for the number of questions. 

Totally acceptable to say, sorry, on vaca, not doing all that lol.

But if possible, would be curious to know. 

 

Thanks!  

[PinonNoir]

Breakfast today in Terrace Cafe.  Kinda blah.  The Eggs Benedict was pretty bad.  Eggs were cooked to order and done correctly, but the Hollandaise sauce was thin and tasteless.  I may try it once more to see if it improves.  I love Eggs Benedict when done correctly.  My wife got a boiled egg and it was WAY overcooked.  She also got some raspberries and found one with mold on it.  The coffee machine is making crappy Cappuccino...not enough milk and the coffee beans seem sub-standard.  I ended up going down to Barristas to get my second cup of coffee.  I've gotta say the coffee from Baristas, while better than the machines in Terrace Cafe, is nowhere near as good as it was from Baristas on Riviera.

 

The ship was supposed to dock in Charlottetown at 1100 this morning, and I had made my own excursion plans based on this.  The ship ended up docking at 0900.  I'm glad we have more time in Port, but why couldn't this be advised in advance?  I know they knew about it in advance, as they have to arrange for the Pilot, the Tugs and the Linesman in advance.  I used to be a Ship's Agent way back when, so I know how this stuff works.  I could have moved my excursion up instead of having to wait on the ship until 1130!

[PinonNoir]

12 minutes ago, Gl3nnG4ry said:

Hi, wife and I will be sailing on Insignia in December 🙂

Wife has been reading chats, excited about the up-coming sailing, saw your post about the wifi and knew I'd be interested. This is why shows that I just signed up, so I could ask a question 😄

If I knew I could stream, and therefore, do video calls while on the ship, could cruise more as I could work from the ship 😉

I saw that you posted that streaming is throttling; so not usable at all? Just hick-ups?

Have you tried streaming separately from the hotspot?

Curious if you've done any speed tests?

 

Apologies for the number of questions. 

Totally acceptable to say, sorry, on vaca, not doing all that lol.

But if possible, would be curious to know. 

 

Thanks!  

They definitely throttle streaming, as they offer a "streaming package for $9.99/day, per device.  If you have to work, that's a small price to pay.  I'm about to head out on an excursion, but I'm happy to run a speed test later this afternoon!

[Gl3nnG4ry]

7 minutes ago, PinonNoir said:

They definitely throttle streaming, as they offer a "streaming package for $9.99/day, per device.  If you have to work, that's a small price to pay.  I'm about to head out on an excursion, but I'm happy to run a speed test later this afternoon!

Ah, I see. OK, that would be great :)

Enjoy the excursion ;)

[sunlover12]

36 minutes ago, PinonNoir said:

Breakfast today in Terrace Cafe.  Kinda blah.  The Eggs Benedict was pretty bad.  Eggs were cooked to order and done correctly, but the Hollandaise sauce was thin and tasteless.  I may try it once more to see if it improves.  I love Eggs Benedict when done correctly.  My wife got a boiled egg and it was WAY overcooked.  She also got some raspberries and found one with mold on it.  The coffee machine is making crappy Cappuccino...not enough milk and the coffee beans seem sub-standard.  I ended up going down to Barristas to get my second cup of coffee.  I've gotta say the coffee from Baristas, while better than the machines in Terrace Cafe, is nowhere near as good as it was from Baristas on Riviera.

 

I agree with you about the eggs benedict. I've tried it a few times in Terrace Cafe and wasn't impressed so now I just get a croissant and fruit.  The croissants are very good. They don't do scrambled eggs well either. The berries can be hit or miss. Seems to depend on how close to the end of the cruise you are. 

I'll drink one cup of coffee a day so on my next cruise I will make it a point to go to Baristas rather than getting the mediocre coffee in Terrace. I didn't go there at all on my last cruise. 

Thanks.