First timers Oceania-

[HELENROSE]

We are looking into a cruise on the Insignia. We have never sailed on Oceania nor heard good or bad things about the line. Any and all comments would be greatly appriciated.

[LHT28]

Not sure what you are looking for but...

if you read through the forum here you will find all the answers you seek!

 

 

Enjoy the cruise.

[mike35]

Oceania fills a unique niche in the cruise market, and it is our favorite cruise line. It caters to well-traveled, mature, fun-loving passengers. Among its many plusses:

 

**Size - 684 passengers!

**Cuisine - really the best afloat. Two wonderful alternate dining venues - Polo Lounge for prime beef, seafood, lamb; Toscana for outstanding Italian fare; neither charge a cover charge.

**Very few children, as there are no dedicated children's facilities or programs

**Decor - like stepping back several decades

**Dress code - upscale country club casual throughout - no formal nights!

**Crew - Wonderfully efficient and friendly - from the captain on down

**Itineraries - Many unique ports of call

 

Of course there are many more plusses, plus a few (IMHO) negatives:

**Internet charges (95 cents/minute)

**Low key (but enjoyable) entertainment

**Stateroom size (except in the suites)

 

Some past passengers have complained about such things as drink charges, corkage fees, etc., but we don't find these to be out of line.

 

Hope this helps - I can almost guarantee that once you've sailed "O", you will join its many afficionados.

 

Mike

[HAL2]

Oceania fills a unique niche in the cruise market, and it is our favorite cruise line. It caters to well-traveled, mature, fun-loving passengers. Among its many plusses:

 

**Size - 684 passengers!

**Cuisine - really the best afloat. Two wonderful alternate dining venues - Polo Lounge for prime beef, seafood, lamb; Toscana for outstanding Italian fare; neither charge a cover charge.

**Very few children, as there are no dedicated children's facilities or programs

**Decor - like stepping back several decades

**Dress code - upscale country club casual throughout - no formal nights!

**Crew - Wonderfully efficient and friendly - from the captain on down

**Itineraries - Many unique ports of call

 

Of course there are many more plusses, plus a few (IMHO) negatives:

**Internet charges (95 cents/minute)

**Low key (but enjoyable) entertainment

**Stateroom size (except in the suites)

 

Some past passengers have complained about such things as drink charges, corkage fees, etc., but we don't find these to be out of line.

 

Hope this helps - I can almost guarantee that once you've sailed "O", you will join its many afficionados.

 

Mike

 

Mike, it was for these same positive reasons (plusses) that I chose Oceania for our next cruise in early 2007. And I like someone that tells it like-it-is.

Regards,

Hal

[HELENROSE]

Thanks for your honest opinion for and against. I have looked further into this and found out the ship is only 30,277 tonage. The cruise we were thinking of taking is a Transatlantic, I don't know how I would like a small ship going from Rio de Janeiro to Barcelona Spain. We LOVE small ships, (smallest was 95 passengers, but in Alaska) but this may be a little to small for such a trip.

[Karen Lynn]

Very insightful..

Any idea of the Internet package pricing?

Thanks:)

[nparmelee]

For internet packages, I think we paid $80 for 100 minutes and they had other packages as well.

[Fblack]

I am considering my first Oceania cruise too. I am comparing it to the HAL Prinsendam and the new Royal Princess.

 

Two thiongs I ahve ehard about Oceania are very expensive shore excursions transfers. Also, all the photographers quit a while ago. Personally, I don't mind the photographers.

 

I also just heard that their included air fare shown on their web site does not include over $300 of taxes and fees.

[Liv4cruzin]

FBlack writes: "....Also, all the photographers quit a while ago. Personally, I don't mind the photographers...."

 

I don't know how long ago you consider "a while"; but there were photographers onboard when we cruised in June.

[jfb128]

The photographers were not on board Insignia when we were on the reunion cruise that departed Dover on June 26th. You cruise with Oceania for the port intensive itineraries, the wonderful food, nicely appointed ships, friendly crew and great service. We feel you get a great value from Oceania and whether there are photographers on board or not does not enter the equation for our selection of an Oceania cruise.

[CruiserMom]

We received $900+ back each on our Sept. 30, Rome-Athens cruise. I can't remember specifically, but it was between $900 & $1000. It seemed reasonable to me.

[NAS-KARR]

DW and myself will most likely book a Insignia cruise in 08, mainly because of the itinerary. Now if that same itinerary were offered by HAL and/or the X line I would still pick O.

 

CIAO,

[nparmelee]

In June on the Nautica there was a photographer, but he was not pushy at all and did not seem offended when we declined to have our pictures taken. Oceania is the first line we liked so much we booked a 2nd cruise with them. Princess was OK, Celebrity was better, but Oceania is the best for us so far, Princess and Celebrity would have to have a REALLY good itinerary and not offered by O for us to sail with them again now, the food on O was so much better and we really liked the smaller ship size. My parents just did a SilverSeas cruise and loved it, we're not quite where we can afford that yet to compare. If evening entertainment is a big deal to you, I would say go with the mass market lines. We expected low key entertainment on our cruise, but it was not very good, but that's not a big deal to us though we do hope the entertainment is better next year. I personally think most ship excursions are over priced so we will usually do our own thing or arrange a private tour, and occasionally we will use the ship tours, the one ship tour we did in June was a pretty good tour and we felt it was a good value.

[Jancruz]

No more photographers on board!!

Jan

*****

[Liv4cruzin]

Jan, do you know the reason why? This displeases me for the simple reason that I occasionally liked having my photos processed or downloaded on CD. I know one can do this themselves using the ship's computers; but I preferred to let them do it.

[Liv4cruzin]

Sorry, site was slow in response. Double post.

[mike35]

Jan, do you know the reason why? This displeases me for the simple reason that I occasionally liked having my photos processed or downloaded on CD. I know one can do this themselves using the ship's computers; but I preferred to let them do it.

 

I'm not Jan (obviously), but I'm quite certain it was a strictly business decision. The majority of Oceania passengers aren't "towel animal" people who love photos with pirates, animals, etc. The on-board photographers obviously couldn't realize a decent return on their investment; ergo bye-bye photographers. Personally, we never used them and relied on our own digital photograph "expertise".

 

Mike

[Jancruz]

Actually Mike it is because of digital cameras..so many people are taking their own pictures that it was there was no need for a photographer any more..

Jan

*****

[seafish]

Just off Regatta Baltic 9/12 ... you can use laptops in the internet cafe to download photos and - if you wish photos can be burned to a CD towards the end of the cruise for $15 per CD. Easy to do & the internet cafe people are very helpful. As for Regatta - IMO she is definitely in need of being refurbished ASAP. We had high expectations for an upscale ship but Regatta appears to be a bit worn compared to even TP of the same ship class. Worn -as in deeply scratched/cracked woodwork ... patched balcony furniture ... paint splattered rails, etc. However - the crew, service (except the Butler), restaurants, itinerary, tours, embarktion/disembarktion, information services were outstanding and did exceed our expectations. SeaFish

[LynneM44]

We just got back from a W. Med cruise on the Insignia. Because using their internet is ridiculously expensive (4 times what it is on the Sea Dream), I suggest taking along a flash drive with a big memeory (like 2-3 gigs) and a card reader for the memory card in your camera and you can download your pix free in the ship's library. I downloaded mine onto the flash drive and will burn them on a CD at home. The ship charges $15. to place the CD burner into the computer, even if you want to burn your own CD. IMHO this is ridiculous if you know how to do it yourself. So I used the above work-around.

 

The ship explained that they have no control over the prices charged for i-net usage because they use an outside company. They were helpful in directing me to the library machines so I never used the internet room. For email, we went to 2 internet cafes on land.

 

Oh yes, we had no photographer on board.

 

The entertainment was average to poor, but that's not what we were looking for. We had great ship mates to chat with and a nice casino for entertainment.

 

We loved the ship and will return.

[MaggieS]

Please can anyone tell me if there are lighted, magnified mirrors in the bathrooms of the staterooms, not suites? It's one less thing to lug if possible. Thanks in advance for any responses.

[loftken]

I'm doing a transatlantic on Insignia this Nov. Does anyone have any comments about the quality/variety of TV programming in the cabins? (not that I spend a lot of time watching) I've noticed that there is no separate "theatre" for showing films. Do they ever set up a screen in one of the lounges or are they just shown on the little TV screens in the rooms? I prefer movies on large screens with good sound.

[TransOcean]

I can confirm that the photography department was taken off from ALL Oceania ships, all at different stages of the year. This was a joint decision between the cruise line and the photo concession, and was not due to the event of 'digital cameras'.

[nparmelee]

Maggies, I did not see a maginified or makeupstyle mirror, we were in an A2 cabin. Loftken, the television selection was surprisingly good compared to what we saw on previous cruises. We did not see the same sitcom every time we turned on the box, very current movies too.

[tinaweha]

I don't think there was a lighted makeup mirror when we went on Insignia in the Baltic. We just stay in the inside cabin, though, because I prefer to save money and take more trips each year (and we do Rick Steves Paris, Rome, etc. as well). By the way, I'm 54y/o and I like Oceania. As mentioned before, the excursions are pricey and forget their internet prices, which are rediculous once you see how slow their connection is. My husband is the one who wants to cruise. Personally, I would go to Paris for a month or two each year just to wander and explore. So anyway, Oceania is a good compromise. Nice people. O nickels and dimes you, however. You can order salmon and creme brulee all night long. Nice cafe-like seating on the stern. Cabin people, etc. are not cranky (like holland america). We take O once or twice a year.