Oceania vs SS : my regatta review

[bobolz]

Just got back from a week long cruise on Oceania regatta and wanted to share my opinions/ experience of the ship/cruise line vs Silversea for those that are interested in seeing a comparison.

 

It was 19 years ago when we last cruised on the Regatta which was our first Oceania ship. I would have to say that Oceania did a wonderful job refurbishing this ship, so if all the other R size ships received  similar overhauls over last few years I would consider  them as well , but only for short cruises like the one we just took. The reason? The staterooms, bathrooms especially , are very small.

 

With that said, here is my  reviews and comparison between the 2 lines and the ships.

 

 

 

Rooms: as stated , Oceania’s  standard balcony rooms are at least 100+  sq ft smaller than both SS smaller  (whisper/shadow) and larger (Muse style ships) . It’s a noticeable difference and although as small as Oceania R class rooms are, O.’s rooms actually have very good storage space except for possibly  longer voyages since the closet space is limited . Beds on both lines I felt were quite comfortable, but hands down, SS staterooms are nicer due to overall size including walk in closet and much larger bathrooms with both shower and bath.

 

Service: I would say SS has the edge on this overall. Although  I really don’t find it necessary to have a butler ( which all SS staterooms have) I would say that the stateroom staff on both O and SS were equally good.  on  regatta, they always had our room cleaned before we got back from breakfast and always greeted us with a smile as did most of our SS attendants. This regatta cruise they really stood out vs  maybe 1 or 2 of our 5 SS cruises.

 

.The service in the restaurants was a step above on SS, especially at the buffet. I found the regatta staff at the waves grill and the buffets rather hit or miss, the Waves grill service was probably their weakest staff, some did seem inattentive or inexperienced, others were average to very good. SS restaurant staff was better IMO, some more outstanding than others, some average, but overall better than O. Where Oceania far exceeded expectations was providing  distilled water to our room for my husband’s medical needs ( he flushes his sinuses daily to avoid sinus infections) O provided him a gallon of distilled water that was sealed and labeled as such, versus relying on our SS butler to provide us with refills of our in room carafe that was deemed to be distilled water. All I know is the last 2 times on SS , my husband suffered some of his sinus infection symptoms and all we could do was hope that the water that was replenished was in fact distilled from SS. We had no issues with the labeled water from O.

 

Food: I would say the food was better on SS. The  menu selection and presentation seemed better on SS, the buffet items on O were sometimes cold/Luke warm , but overall O was fine, I only had one meal I was disappointed with.

 

However, Oceania beats SS on the variety of Included dining  (dinner) venues. On this smaller R ships, there are 4 options and they are all indoors in case of inclement weather. The GDR and  buffet where no reservations are  required and the reservation required  toscana and Polo grill (Steak /seafood) . The only downside to the O reservation required restaurants, you can only reserve 1 night in each prior to sailing, with higher $ suites getting first priority booking . On a 7 day cruise, this made no difference, on longer cruises may be a potential problem.

 

For SS , the  included dinner venue options increase based on the size of the ship, but for the equivalent size vessels to the Regatta (whisper and Shadow) only  3 included restaurants and one of them is an outside venue which is not ideal in colder climates. Also there is no casual buffet, when you feel like something quick. The larger Muse class ships (the dawn) have the Salt and Blue note(?) restaurants and arts cafe for quick bites and Scannapoli(sp?) for pizza, but that is outside.

 

Overall design and public spaces: Os regatta is a step above the smaller SS ships , but the Dawn has Dolce vita which is very nice. The SS ships have a much more muted decor versus  stylish / colorful O decor. Although the track on O regatta beats SS since there is very little wind  (due to physical design)  that blocks the wind that whips around the front  of the  SS ship while at sea.

 

Overall value: On this particular Regatta price we received a great deal which included their  Olife package which allows you to select  the extras options you prefer. We took the OBC which covered our gratuities and occasional drinks and we still did not spend it all, so made some nice purchases on board. On this particular cruise (CA coast) this was all we needed.

 

SS includes, gratuities, all drinks, all shore excursions (1 a day) , Wi-Fi ( which included 1 device per person, while O only included 1 device at a time per cabin which was inconvenient) and they offer , so far,  a very reasonable BC air add on . We are not big drinkers so included drinks is not necessary, but is nice not to have to worry about being charged . There was also a good  selection of included excursions on SS, but depending on the itinerary, we may not take advantage.

 

O is now offering a ‘Simply More’ package ( that replaces the OLife) that you can opt out of , I believe, but does not seem as comprehensive as SS included package. That may be where O loses its value for me.

 

In the end I would travel on either line , but I would consider the itinerary and overall value when making my decision . Any questions, I will do my best to answer.

 

 

[1985rz1]

41 minutes ago, bobolz said:

O is now offering a ‘Simply More’ package ( that replaces the OLife) that you can opt out of , I believe,

Unfortunately, you can only opt out of the air.  The options are Simply More with Air and Simply More without Air.

[bobolz]

14 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

Unfortunately, you can only opt out of the air.  The options are Simply More with Air and Simply More without Air.

Thanks for the info. Well that may throw Oceania out of the running vs SS, depending on the itinerary and pricing. If overall price is similar to SS, SS will have the edge most likely, since I won’t have to worry about what is included. Especially since gratuities would not be included with O,  as well as drinks outside of lunch and dinner times and O only offers excursion credit, not 1 excursion per day. 

[Woofa]

This sounds a very reasonable review and we thank you for posting.  Overall I think that many here would agree that if you can find a similarly priced itinerary on SS, a luxury line, you should certainly think about it.  This is the second comparison in a short time of O to a luxury line (the other being SB.). I would think both lines would be better compared to sister line Regent, the true luxury level line.  I am glad that in these reviews, O at least warrants comparison.  

The real question of course is price.  When I have looked in the past I have not felt O prices across the board to be in the same ballpark with any of the luxury lines. Of course so much depends upon itinerary, room selection, your decided inclusions, etc. certainly, I have no doubt that you can sail O for quite a bit less under the right circumstances, even including new SM prices.

Good luck wherever you sail.

[ak1004]

Great review @bobolz we share most of your observations, although I think O larger ships would be a better comparison to SS or SB because of the cabins. The gap in the cabin size between R ships and SS/SB is too large to consider them close competitors. That said, when comparing the Riviera which we experienced 3 times with SS or Crystal (we haven't sailed on SB yet), my personal opinion is that they "luxury" lines are a step up, but a very small one, and as others mentioned, worth considering only if the price gap is small. I definitely would not pay 30-40% more for SS (which is usually the case).

[Trbd4739]

Thank you very much for this!

[Croooser]

Excellent report. Thanks for taking the time and effort required. Appreciate it.

[bobolz]

10 hours ago, ak1004 said:

Great review @bobolz we share most of your observations, although I think O larger ships would be a better comparison to SS or SB because of the cabins. The gap in the cabin size between R ships and SS/SB is too large to consider them close competitors. That said, when comparing the Riviera which we experienced 3 times with SS or Crystal (we haven't sailed on SB yet), my personal opinion is that they "luxury" lines are a step up, but a very small one, and as others mentioned, worth considering only if the price gap is small. I definitely would not pay 30-40% more for SS (which is usually the case).

Thanks AK , yes I remember why we stopped sailing on the R ships. The Marina rooms were larger, but don’t believe they were as big as SS smaller ships, definitely not as big as the Dawn. Either way, I will definitely calculate the value before any further bookings. I used to think O was cheaper than SS, but the few times I compared similar itineraries, the price was almost equal, but more was included with SS. The BC air alone, knocked SS out of the running, SS total price w air almost a

ways beat O. I also don’t like that O doesn’t book until 75days out, unless I believe you pay deviation fee upfront. If no overseas flights are required, SS and O become more competitive.

Edited October 17, 2023 by bobolz

[taiwan_girl]

23 hours ago, bobolz said:

...O only offers excursion credit, not 1 excursion per day. 

I think I would like this better than 1 excursion per day.  We have a Dec cruise coming up with Viking and there are a couple of ports where we are skipping the offered excursions and are going to explore on our own.  It may have been nice to have the credit to pick a certain excursion we wanted, even if the price was higher than we otherwise would pay.

[bobolz]

4 minutes ago, taiwan_girl said:

I think I would like this better than 1 excursion per day.  We have a Dec cruise coming up with Viking and there are a couple of ports where we are skipping the offered excursions and are going to explore on our own.  It may have been nice to have the credit to pick a certain excursion we wanted, even if the price was higher than we otherwise would pay.

Thanks. I agree, I don’t necessarily take 1 in each port, it all depends on the port, but the excursion prices I saw for O would have yielded probably  no more than 3 decent excursions for an entire cruise, so any cruise  longer than 10 days, that would result in more out of pocket expenses. 

[ak1004]

3 hours ago, bobolz said:

Thanks AK , yes I remember why we stopped sailing on the R ships. The Marina rooms were larger, but don’t believe they were as big as SS smaller ships, definitely not as big as the Dawn. Either way, I will definitely calculate the value before any further bookings. I used to think O was cheaper than SS, but the few times I compared similar itineraries, the price was almost equal, but more was included with SS. The BC air alone, knocked SS out of the running, SS total price w air almost a

ways beat O. I also don’t like that O doesn’t book until 75days out, unless I believe you pay deviation fee upfront. If no overseas flights are required, SS and O become more competitive.

 

R ships OV/veranda are around 170 sqft, O ships 240 sqft and SS newer and larger ships are around 305 sqft. R ship cabins are slightly below our comfort zone, but 240 sqft on the O ships are perfectly fine. While SS cabins are definitely nicer, this is not a deciding factor for us.

 

We almost always take air credit or book p2p with SS and take cruise only on O. I was able to book 3 cruises on SS that were priced almost the same as O, but as a general rule, I found SS significantly more expensive, even when you account for all inclusions. But I guess it also depends on the region, cabin category, cruise length etc. I would be glad to be proven wrong.

 

2 hours ago, bobolz said:

Thanks. I agree, I don’t necessarily take 1 in each port, it all depends on the port, but the excursion prices I saw for O would have yielded probably  no more than 3 decent excursions for an entire cruise, so any cruise  longer than 10 days, that would result in more out of pocket expenses. 

 

You are absolutely correct. So on a 10 night cruise, you get $400 credit per person, you are probably looking at extra $500-600 per person for excursions if you take ships excursions. On the other hand, it also allows more flexibility, as you can always take a mix or ship excursions and private tours, while on SS you already paid for 1 tour in each port, so I assume most people would use the ship excursions.

Edited October 18, 2023 by ak1004

[rbtan]

One should remember that SS is considered "True Luxury", while O is considered "High Premium". Overall prices will reflect that. Perhaps the closest thing to O would be Viking. Azamara used to be, but has diminished in quality as of late.