First Oceania Cruise...21 Days on Regatta...No Thanks...Back to Celebrity

[judi666]

On 4/24/2024 at 2:52 PM, ORV said:

Are you still on board? Saw a lady last night that looked just like your picture. 

No, I debarked on Sat. April 20. 

[90scruzer]

3 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

Trust me, if I'm served food from Oceania and Celebrity, I will know the difference even if blindfolded. We had friends with us on our last O cruise who sailed exclusively on Celebrity for over 20 years, they noticed the difference from day 1. 

while everyone is different, I would tend to agree with you.   We've only managed to sail on HAL and Princess (and Oceania) post Covid, so not exhaustive by any means, but I would say only the specialty dining on HAL was close to Oceania.  I cannot think of anything on our princess sailing that was comparable.   Just had too high expectations on our first go around.

Edited April 26 by 90scruzer
clarify

[judi666]

10 hours ago, TRLD said:

Except that there are 2 other of us from the same cruise with similar comments as well as indications in posts from a person on the next cruise.

Yes, I only debarked on Sat 4-20.  So I guess those of us who have commented are not to be believed? I wrote several follow-ups on 2 threads. It wasn’t the worst cruise, I ever took.

But the value just wasn’t there. It’s an opinion, not something that needs to be defended.  People were basically calling me a liar, when I posted the wine by the glass list from the menus on the ship. I really don’t understand. Aren’t these boards here to help people decide what cruise might be best for them, not to defend something you haven’t experienced yourself? 

[judi666]

8 hours ago, REDSTRIPETYPE said:

So here I am back after being "slagged" for not engaging in all the nonsense and therefore apparently having no credibility.

 

So here are my thoughts now after having read thru all the various comments and by the way I wont be responding again because its not enjoyable.

 

1) Doesn't have to be Red Stripe, I like all kinds of beer and loved that they had local Tahitian beer...Hinano...it was great! (look at that a positive comment)

2) Interesting that I got criticized for saying European accent. I did that to not appear racially motivated especially with the war in Europe.

3) Very happy to see that the people who did comment about the male singer not only agreed but were far more critical the I was. ( hit the nail on the head there!)

4) Funny that most people on these boards think that its mostly complainers and that our opinion should therefore be taken with a grain of salt...if you don't want honest, forthright info then get off the board.

5) My intention was not to say that Celebrity is better or that people should "jump ship" (ha ha) from Oceania, but just to say that the alleged luxury and food experience wasn't enough for us personally to return to Oceania.

6) Incredible the stuff that people choose to slag, like my comment about the early pool chair hogs at 0615...what does the time of sunrise have to do  with that...I didn't make it up it happened!

7) And for the rest  of you naysayers...remember I started with all the good things...I guess my analogy would be this...if you thing that the enormous amount of money you pay for airline business class is worth it than go with Oceania...and although comparing Celebrity with Oceania is like comparing apples and oranges (both fruits but very different) we choose the Celebrity fruit because we can go on two Celebrity cruises for the price of one Oceania cruise.

OVER AND OUT!

 

 

I’m amazed at the nasty, negative comments I received on my “Live from Regatta” thread. I have been a CC member for a couple of decades and never imagined getting the awful, demeaning comments I got. I was careful to point out the good things and say my opinions were subjective from the POV of being an older person, who doesn’t eat many of the meat dishes in the restaurant.etc etc.

 

We have been on 3 cruises post covid and I have felt none of the lines are living up to the pre Covid standards. So much so, I think it might be better for us to concentrate on land based vacations. Once again that is my personal opinion. 

[TRLD]

5 minutes ago, judi666 said:

I’m amazed at the nasty, negative comments I received on my “Live from Regatta” thread. I have been a CC member for a couple of decades and never imagined getting the awful, demeaning comments I got. I was careful to point out the good things and say my opinions were subjective from the POV of being an older person, who doesn’t eat many of the meat dishes in the restaurant.etc etc.

 

We have been on 3 cruises post covid and I have felt none of the lines are living up to the pre Covid standards. So much so, I think it might be better for us to concentrate on land based vacations. Once again that is my personal opinion. 

Right after restart all.of the lines had issues. They were short staffed, a lot of new crew with training issues, supply chains were a mess with a number of previous vendors out of business.

 

Things are now running much better on the various lines we have been on. Staffing seems back to normal, crew training seem to be back, supply chains seem to be reestablished. In most cases things, except for intentional changes, seem to be very similar to 2019.

 

There are changes, but pretty much in line with what one would expect during any 5 year period before Covid.

 

 For us the decision to not book with Oceania is not because of any perceived service or quality issues, but more that  their product offering is not what we prefer.

[90scruzer]

4 hours ago, judi666 said:

I’m amazed at the nasty, negative comments I received on my “Live from Regatta” thread. I have been a CC member for a couple of decades and never imagined getting the awful, demeaning comments I got. I was careful to point out the good things and say my opinions were subjective from the POV of being an older person, who doesn’t eat many of the meat dishes in the restaurant.etc etc.

 

We have been on 3 cruises post covid and I have felt none of the lines are living up to the pre Covid standards. So much so, I think it might be better for us to concentrate on land based vacations. Once again that is my personal opinion. 

your post made me go read at least part of your thread and I admit (not having sailed O since early 2023) that I'm a bit miffed about simplyMore.   I had assumed it was possible to add (or remove, however you see it).   We don't drink -- or more accurately, I have a very narrow pallet and it's nothing that they are going to ever have on a cruise ship.   It's why we don't buy things like princess plus either.   The value prop is just not there.   Oh Dios mio!    I suppose it won't impact our choice to sail Oceania if the itinerary and timing are there, but it may encourage us to choose another line in the (rarer for me as I'm not retired) case of overlapping itinerary options.     

[Hokapontas]

On 4/22/2024 at 12:40 PM, TRLD said:

There were 200 first timers on the 21 day cruise out of the 600 on board.

 

I suspect that many are one and done. The first timers included  those coming up from the adult mass market lines (HAL, Princess, Celebrity) as well as those that normally sail higher end lines such as Regent, Crystal, Seabourn and Silver Sea.

 

The itinerary is what attracted many to try Oceania starting in French Polynesia and ending in LA.

 

For me the issue was extreme lack of variation. The sea day schedule pretty much the same with the 3 music options, string quartet, show band and piano player doing basically the same routines each day. Mostly playing background music for tea, happy hour, etc. Little variation  little change in what was being played, little interaction with passengers. Basically playing their curated list.

 

In many ways a waste of live music  They could use canned music for background on some days and then have a concert type show with the freed up time where they could be more interactive with the audience on both type of music and maybe even requests.

 

If you take away the grill to order lobster, and steaks, as well as the sushi, the food did really not seem any better than food available on other lines, including HAL  Celebrity, and Princess, with less variation. Basically in talking with the Chef the menus are also curated by HQ and must be followed exactly as HQ indicates.

 

The pool area was mostly full. But not so much by people saving seats and not being there, but instead by people that basically spent all day there when weather allowed. The number one activity seemed to be sleeping on the lounges near the pool 

 

I have been on some sedate cruises in the past, but this cruise was more sedated.

You have just described the problem with Simply More... It encourages new cruisers that like all-inclusiveness, and it comes up short. 

Why upset the regular cruisers, I wonder? The ones that are happy with the quiet days, and choosing whether to have shipboard credit or drinks package? 

Some don't mind the sedateness, they make their own fun and enjoy the cruise. No need at all for pool activities and "art" auctions. 

I do also hate pool lounge hogs!! 

[dock]

@REDSTRIPETYPE@TRLD, thank you for your posts. 
 

@judi666, I went back and read your review as well. Appreciate your comments. 

The  few rude responses were not surprising to me at all.

 

We are trying O in a few months and I like reading the different opinions out there. 
 

The O regulars love their chosen line and that’s great but for us newbies it’s good to have different viewpoints. 
 

We are not expecting Fine Dining but do hope it’s as good as SD on Edge class. 
We expect Chair hogs, less entertainment options than on X and an older demographic. But hopefully no one who chooses an excursion thats beyond their capabilities. 

It’s a port intensive cruise so I’m sure it will all work out. We’re going for the ports and not so much the ship. 

 

 

 

 

 

[TRLD]

3 hours ago, Hokapontas said:

You have just described the problem with Simply More... It encourages new cruisers that like all-inclusiveness, and it comes up short. 

Why upset the regular cruisers, I wonder? The ones that are happy with the quiet days, and choosing whether to have shipboard credit or drinks package? 

Some don't mind the sedateness, they make their own fun and enjoy the cruise. No need at all for pool activities and "art" auctions. 

I do also hate pool lounge hogs!! 

As far as I see in this thread no one was asking for pool activities or art auctions. Though the funny thing is they did have a fair one sea day with such contests as how to put a pillow in a pillow case, the color game with ping pong balls and glasses of different colors, corn hole  etc.. They also did passengers vs officers in corn hole one afternoon so I guess they already have the pool games.

 

A bit of variance in the daily schedule, maybe using the live music for a concert format instead of the exact same background music  for tea and happy hour would on the other hand provide for a more interesting routine.

 

 

[TRLD]

49 minutes ago, dock said:

@REDSTRIPETYPE@TRLD, thank you for your posts. 
 

@judi666, I went back and read your review as well. Appreciate your comments. 

The  few rude responses were not surprising to me at all.

 

We are trying O in a few months and I like reading the different opinions out there. 
 

The O regulars love their chosen line and that’s great but for us newbies it’s good to have different viewpoints. 
 

We are not expecting Fine Dining but do hope it’s as good as SD on Edge class. 
We expect Chair hogs, less entertainment options than on X and an older demographic. But hopefully no one who chooses an excursion thats beyond their capabilities. 

It’s a port intensive cruise so I’m sure it will all work out. We’re going for the ports and not so much the ship. 

 

 

 

 

 

From what I saw the dining is (depending upon one's tastes) probably a bit better than on Celebrity.  Cannot say for sure only been on 1 Solstice class ship in the past 12 months. Though we did run into a couple of dishes that suffered from poor execution and not cooked correctly (poorly cut Salmon not done in the thick end, very rare pork medallions). The Terrace Cafe did provide a good alternative with the grill to order steak and lobster each night.

 

We found the specialty venues on Regatta to be a bit underwhelming and canceled our later reservations.

 

The biggest issue with the food is kind of like our issue with the music, not much variation from one day to the next. It's like going to the same restaurant everyday where all of the  menu items have been generated by the same chef, with a similar style. Good for a few days, not so.much for 21 days.

 

The description I use for the food is the same as the music over curated.

 

If you like it great. For us it was the ground hog day movie at sea. Each day a repeat of the one before.

Edited April 26 by TRLD

[pinotlover]

17 hours ago, TRLD said:

Yep. We found the food to be pretty much along the same lines as on many other lines.  Had some good meals on board, also had one of the worst meals we ever had on board. My wife got an oddly cut piece of salmon. Much thicker on one end than the other. The thin end properly cooked the thick end dramatically under cooked. In my case that night it was pork medallions. While te in thing with pork these days is to cook it medium rare with some pink, this was very rare, with blood under each piece  OK for steak  not so much for pork. A case of kitchen execution, not quality of recipe. 

 

But really if you put a group of people in a dining room and served them dishes from the GDR/MDR in a blind taste test with meals from other lines I doubt that one could tell the difference. The placebo effect applied to food.

We do blind wine tastings regularly. The results can be both amusing and staggering. An easy way to discover who still has a palate and a sense of taste. A large number of the elderly learn ( if they didn’t already realize) theirs is long gone. 
 

I often do blind taste tests at the start of some of my beginner wine classes. You’d be amazed at the number of people that can’t identify blackberry juice from blueberry juice; or strawberry from cranberry. A lot of people are scared of actual blind tests because of what they quickly reveal.

[TRLD]

4 hours ago, Hokapontas said:

You have just described the problem with Simply More... It encourages new cruisers that like all-inclusiveness, and it comes up short. 

Why upset the regular cruisers, I wonder? The ones that are happy with the quiet days, and choosing whether to have shipboard credit or drinks package? 

Some don't mind the sedateness, they make their own fun and enjoy the cruise. No need at all for pool activities and "art" auctions. 

I do also hate pool lounge hogs!! 

 Simply More puts Oceania base fare more in line with the inclusions on Viking. Wine and beer with meals and some included excursions.  I suspect that Viking may be more of a competitive concern as their number of ships continues to grow.

[Vineyard View]

10 hours ago, TRLD said:

 Simply More puts Oceania base fare more in line with the inclusions on Viking. Wine and beer with meals and some included excursions.  I suspect that Viking may be more of a competitive concern as their number of ships continues to grow.

We’ve sailed them several times pre-C. Since start up, their prices pp/pd are higher than SB and other ‘luxury’ lines. Their one included excursion per port is sold heavily. We don’t do excursions, so started looking around. Ended up at SB last year, currently looking at a few lines for next - itinerary and time of year are important. Will be interested to see how Viking’s IPO will affect the product. 
Regarding food. I don’t expect Michelin - on any ship. I would expect a difference between Carnival etc and Oceania - or premium/luxury lines. It’s a huge selling point of O, so it should be better - but not Michelin. 

[Sojourner02]

We have sailed on Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Oceania.

 

Already have been on the Vista.  We are returning to the Vista in July.  A wonderful experience.

We were in Concierge and it was great.  We booked the PH for the July trip.

 

Once you sailed  on the bigger O ships, like us, we will never return to the smaller ships.

Much too claustrophobic for us.

 

The entertainment on all the O ships have been mediocre.  It's not that important to us.

 

We will never return to Celebrity or Royal Caribbean.  Too many people.