Cunard and Oceania Comparison

[Mareblu]

33 minutes ago, NE John said:

I too remember that discussion as my Southern Italian DW operated the Illy machine with ease. She may have used a few choice words in her Neapolitan dialect though…

A terrified Triestino machine would have understood and obeyed😂

[Solent Richard]

On 3/8/2024 at 10:05 PM, GT38 said:

  I have sailed with Oceania several times.  I am considering sailing next year on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth in the Britannia Club Balcony category.  How does the food and service compare?

 

I too have sailed on Oceania several times and many more on Cunard with at least three Cunard occasions being at Britannia Club.

 

Unless you can extend your budget to the Grills I defiantly would say that you are not going to have the 'food' experience on Cunard that you experience on Oceania. Service of course is on a par for both lines.

 

And do remember, your speciality dining on Oceania has no  extra charge.

 

 

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Edited March 11 by Solent Richard

[QuestionEverything]

Great topic.

Oceania and Cunard are our favorite lines.

We sail veranda on both - my comments are at that level of comparison.

 

In Common To Both

Treated like adults with a brain

Assume you can make use of your time without the cruise line in your face

Limited Vegas atmosphere

Promenade decks that maximize linkage to the ocean

Tradition like high tea, yes!

Nice, comfortable staterooms

Destination focus, yes!

 

Oceania

All one class, that is an essential for us. 

Very good food provided to everyone - better than Britannia level indeed

The best staff who are genuine

More unique destinations thank Cunard, the Cunard ships are a bit bigger overall

Negatives versus Cunard - arrogant on board and corporate staff, reputation for high amount of disturbed port access, recently gone inclusive which we hate

 

Cunard

The best history, yes indeed

More customized experience - buy what you want or not want, this is what we prefer

Slightly bigger vessels, so more venues

Negatives versus Oceania - more class focused, would say less good food in non Grill category, staff more formal and less personal

__________________________

Love them both.

 

[exlondoner]

What does veranda mean on Cunard? Britannia Balcony?

 

And this is clearly a losing battle, but it’s not high tea (at least on Cunard) but afternoon tea.

[Windsurfboy]

I think this proves you can't make a general comparison of Oceania vs Cunard. Cunard is not one uniform experience. 

 

The OP question was Oceania vs Brittania  Club which is a valid question

 

So you have 4 comparisons

 

Oceania  vs Brittania 

Oceania vs BC

Oceania vs PG 

Oceania vs  QG.

 

You might get a different answer for each.

 

Whilst say Oceania  vs Saga is one question 

Oceania vs P&O is one question.

Oceania vs MSC must be two (Yacht club,   and standard)

Edited March 11 by Windsurfboy

[D&N]

This is a High Tea menu, from a venue in Scotland where we would go for a dance evening with friends several years ago. It is served between 5pm and 7pm with a more extensive dinner being served between 7pm and 9pm. The price of the main course included all the items listed below. It was particularly attractive to the group we visited with as the meal was generally finished by the time the musician(s) started playing music for dancing.

 

[exlondoner]

That is a pretty grand high tea. But it is along the lines of what we had at my grandmother’s when I was small. Perhaps ham and salad, or kippers, with bread and butter, and a cake. With tea to drink, or in my case milk.

[WantedOnVoyage]

2 hours ago, QuestionEverything said:

reputation for high amount of disturbed port access,

 

Sorry.... can you clarify what you mean by this??

[Victoria2]

36 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

That is a pretty grand high tea. But it is along the lines of what we had at my grandmother’s when I was small. Perhaps ham and salad, or kippers, with bread and butter, and a cake. With tea to drink, or in my case milk.

At my grandmother's too and  if we were very [un]lucky, tinned strawberries and carnation milk.

 

Ugh!

[exlondoner]

6 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

At my grandmother's too and  if we were very [un]lucky, tinned strawberries and carnation milk.

 

Ugh!

Now tinned strawberries are something I’ve never knowingly had, at grandmother’s or anywhere. Mind you, I used to adore bananas and carnation.

[QuestionEverything]

17 hours ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

 

Sorry.... can you clarify what you mean by this??

Greetings!

Oceania has a reputation of missing ports, shortening port stays at a greater volume than any other cruise line. In fact, for 2023 going forward, Oceania announced they were shortening each port by a minimum of 1 hr each for the "environment"...........

There is a thread on the Oceania boards about this and another on NCL which references Oceania.

Plenty of debate, as there should be, and there is no "volumetrics" from some "official" source, but there is a very long history of posts and reviews on the Oceania thread about this topic.

The cheerleaders, as all cheerleaders do, try to minimize this.

[godfreyb]

20 hours ago, exlondoner said:

What does veranda mean on Cunard? Britannia Balcony?

 

And this is clearly a losing battle, but it’s not high tea (at least on Cunard) but afternoon tea.

I intend to keep up the battle, but here in the US the astonished looks you get when pointing out what afternoon tea is and what high tea is, mean the battle is going to be endless!

[WantedOnVoyage]

10 hours ago, QuestionEverything said:

Greetings!

Oceania has a reputation of missing ports, shortening port stays at a greater volume than any other cruise line. In fact, for 2023 going forward, Oceania announced they were shortening each port by a minimum of 1 hr each for the "environment"...........

There is a thread on the Oceania boards about this and another on NCL which references Oceania.

Plenty of debate, as there should be, and there is no "volumetrics" from some "official" source, but there is a very long history of posts and reviews on the Oceania thread about this topic.

The cheerleaders, as all cheerleaders do, try to minimize this.

Thanks.... whenever I hear "for the environment" the gag reflex kicks in. My opinion of Oceania just dropped a couple of notches. 

Edited March 12 by WantedOnVoyage

[QuestionEverything]

32 minutes ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

Thanks.... whenever I hear "for the environment" the gag reflex kicks in. My opinion of Oceania just dropped a couple of notches. 

And yes indeed, it is a total scam of course. Just an excuse to screw the consumer of course, but then there are the cheerleaders on each board that work very hard to minimize their corporate bosses from getting negative press.

For the environment, bull.

You are very smart indeed.

[rmsEtruria]

12 hours ago, godfreyb said:

I intend to keep up the battle, but here in the US the astonished looks you get when pointing out what afternoon tea is and what high tea is, mean the battle is going to be endless!

True. But the battle against ignorance, in all its manifestations, is a battle worth fighting—even in the face of certain defeat.