We're Baaaahk: Cruise Review, Insignia Adriatic Interlude April 28-May10

[Sweeterpea]

Hello Everyone!

I can see flyiad has already posted her review of our April 28 to May 10 cruise on the Insignia, Rome to Venice already, good work! We are trying to get over jetlag, and came home on Sunday and are missing Oceania already. I just wanted to thank everyone here on the boards for answering my questions over the past year, and encouraging our decision to book Oceania for our first cruise. We are hooked and are seriously considering the Istanbul to Venice cruise next spring.

 

About us: late 30's early 40's, Canadian professionals. I was worried about the age factor and did feel a bit young at times because of the age demographic of the ship, but everyone was friendly, always greeting us as we passed them on the ship. I was very impressed with how friendly and chatty most people were throughout the whole cruise.

 

EMBARKATION: We stayed in Florence for 5 days before the cruise, mostly due to the fact that the ship would be in Livorno on a Monday and the things we wanted to see in Florence would be closed. Also, Florence was too important to me to do in one day, so we planned Livorno as a rest day. This would work to our advantage, which I will elaborate on later. We booked private transportation from Florence to port, and stopped for some siteseeing in Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio.

 

We found embarkation confused and stressful. We arrived at the ship about 4:30 pm, and the crowd was very sparse. A rude Italian porter was trying to rush us through, even though we were the only ones who arrived at that time! He was yelling to see our tickets, so I showed him our cruise documents. No, he insisted, where were the tickets? Uh oh ... I thought. I told him these were our tickets – and he insisted they were not. I began to have a bad feeling. This went back and forth for a while, until he got very exasperated and radioed for someone from the registration desk to come out.

 

An Italian woman came out of the registration area and asked to see our tickets. Again, the shown documents were turned down and I was getting very worried. She became rude; "Let me see your tickets!" she said, and started grabbing at our Oceania portfolios. What they were looking for were our LUGGAGE TAGS, to our total relief. I wanted to complain as this was a very stressful situation that could have been easily solved if someone had a better command of english. However, we decided to put the incident behind us and board the ship. Registration progressed without any further problems, and the friendly staff behind the counter made up for it.

 

Officers were lined at the gangway and warmly greeted us as we boarded. We could not believe that after planning for a year, our moment had come.

 

THE CABIN: We decided to go all the way or stay home and booked a PH3 ( no. 8056); we are homebodies at heart and enjoy relaxing in our room, so the room issue is important to us. We got a chance to view a A category and an inside cabin, and I think I would have killed my husband after one week in one of those, but that’s just personal choice and preference. After obsessing for a year looking at our cabin online for year, we were shocked at how spacious our cabin was. It truly feels like some of the 500 square foot rooms we have stayed in at hotels. A large bottle of expensive champagne was found chilling in our room, and a nice card congratulating us on our anniversary.

 

Space is used very well, though we do feel the tv is set awkwardly in a wall to the left of the bed. It makes watching it rather tricky for the person lying on the left side of the bed. There are a tremendous amount of shelves and drawers, plus plenty of hangers and closet space, much more than enough for us. A disadvantage, as I could see it would be easy to leave something behind, taking into account all the nooks and crannies. The bed was so comfortable we are considering buying one – firm base with a pillow top. We found the down pillows to be too soft; the sheets were very high end. A nice touch was a length of vinyl-backed sailcloth on the bed to protect it from suitcases placed on it for unpacking.

 

The balcony we found to be just big enough for the two of us to stretch out and put our legs up, plus have a small table for drinks/food. It is on the small side, but much bigger than I imagined, we found it quite comfortable, and especially nice to relax on when we were anchored off beautiful ports such as Amalfi.

 

The bathroom was indeed small, but very efficient, complete with a tub slightly smaller than we have at home. Plenty of hot water, and shower pressure was adequate. To split hairs, I found it puzzling that there was a bit of mildew on the caulking here and there as the ship was refurbished last year, but not a big deal. I suspect it was probably from high humidity levels.

 

The only problem with the bathroom we encountered was a slight foul odor at times when we were in some ports, something that had to do with the settling of the sewage tank we were told (I am very sensitive to odors) We solved this by always keeping the toilet lid closed. At one port, early in the morning, I noticed brown sludgy water. Alarmed, we rang our butler who told us not to worry as sometimes there is a problem with the reverse osmosis tanks and the water looks ugly but is safe. Later in the morning, this was solved. Again, lots of nooks and crannies available for storage. Generous bottles of subtle Caswell-Massey sea-scented products were given in the bathroom, with full bars of the soap.

 

THE STAFF: Our excellent butler was Gustav who is very old school and refused to call us anything other than by Mr.& Mrs., and at first we found this overly formal as we are casual, easy-going people, but got used to it. His assistant Iljo was fantastic and it’s quite apparent he will also make an excellent butler when his training is done. Our stewardess was Julia and her assistant was Htoo (pronounced Too) who were always happy and smiling no matter what the situation, even when the whole ship was seasick. The cabin was always spotless, neat and tidy when they were done with it each morning and evening turndown.

 

The ship staff were impressive; on the whole, happy and couldn’t do enough for you, always greeting you and friendly. Some of them even recognized us after a while, which was nice, and remembered things we liked, such as my husband’s obsession with the lemonade. I found some of the eastern European staff to be a bit abrupt, but it’s obvious that they have your best interests at heart, it’s just the way they are.

 

THE SHIP PUBLIC AREAS: I found the reception area and grand staircase a teeny bit dated looking and overdone, but that’s just me. Otherwise, I found all public areas to be extremely clean and tidy – I noticed that even in the mornings they have a guy going around fluffing pillows and sofa cushions! The areas are all beautifully decorated, think of a more formal Ralph Lauren look. The pool is small, but hardly anyone was using it, and both hot tubs were well-used. The jets are very loud, and people tended to shout over them, so keep that in mind and don’t talk about anything personal in the hot tubs, as I could tell by bemused expressions all around me that people were following the conversations there.

 

The library was one of my favorite areas, quiet and comfortable with an excellent selection of books.

 

THE LAUNDRY ROOM: Ah yes! The laundry ... Our day in Livorno was our scheduled laundry day. As I had planned and hoped, the ship became very quiet as everyone left that morning for their time in Florence or other destinations. I did some things in the sink and sent my husband to the laundry room as he is a large guy and would have a better authority than me in the laundry room if things got ugly. He found everyone pleasant and had no problem doing the laundry.

 

The dynamics can be weird in there, as I experienced this going down to iron a pair of pants later that day. People seated stared intently at me as I used the ironing board (unoccupied). "Hi, how are you" I asked one lady finally. "Fine" she answered and kept staring; she started to make me feel uncomfortable. They continued to stare. More feeling of being uncomfortable. Finally I said, "My husband was just here". "Oh!" they gushed, "Yes! He’s so sweet for doing laundry" The ice was broken.

 

Someone later told me that when you go in, people are wondering what your intentions are and if you are going to steal their machine, etc., hence the staring. Just plain weird, but we will put up with it, seeing to do a load is $3.50 US and the ship charges that to clean one pair of pants.

 

THE COMPUTER ROOM: I used my shipboard credit to purchase an internet package as I don’t drink and couldn’t think of what else to use it for (not a big fan of spa treatments). The internet was much speedier as I had thought, as I was expecting the worst reading postings on cruise critic. In fact, it was only a bit slower than the DSL we have at home. Very slow when we are at sea. For longer e-mails, I stretched my minutes by making Word documents, then copying and pasting for e-mails. If you wish to copy your pics to CD, they have a card reader so you don’t need to bring your cable. The staff were fantastic, I noticed they were very kind and patient with newbies.

 

THE FOOD: Being foodies, we wondered if the food would meet our high and picky expectations. The food quality was phenomenal, and in Toscana and Polo, as good as some expensive restaurants we have eaten at in NYC and San Francisco. The buffets in the Terrace Cafe and Tapas were very high quality, on par with some of the five star hotel buffets in Las Vegas. I was disappointed with the Asian theme buffet, overall, the food was poorly done.

 

My least favorite restaurant was The Grand Dining Room – food quality swung widly, and other passengers told me they thought the same. Our favorite restaurant was Toscana, favorite dishes the osso bucco, the roast chicken (melted in your mouth) and the Volcano of spaghetti – spaghetti with tomato sauce and melted mozzarella, we miss them greatly. The gnocchi were a disappointment as well as the lasagne – both were mushy.

 

I really got into Afternoon Tea, and went about 4 times. The quality of the goodies rivals the afternoon tea I have had at the St. Regis in New York, and the Imprezza String Quartet was excellent. What the say about the scones is all true, extremely yummy.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: our nightlife usually consists of a remote, so I really can’t comment on the entertainment. Rob Wheatley was our cruise director, and seemed nice enough. We got strangely addicted to his Daily Program Show, watching it faithfully every day at around 6:00 am. Matt Noblin was one of our entertainers and we went to one of his pre dinner cabaret shows, complete with tap dancing. We were quite impressed, he has a good voice, as well as Jacqui Besaw another girl on the entertainment team. My husband, who loves documentaries, gave the scheduled tv nature documentaries, mostly by the BBC, high marks. I watched a couple of PBS shows that were quite interesting. CNN and Fox by sattelite was available and kept us up to date about news back home. We used the ping pong table a couple of times; for extra fun, try it when the boat is rocking.

 

FITNESS ROOM: We used the gym a few times, and it was suprisingly spacious with new equipment, plus it was very clean and well-maintained. The gym was fairly empty most of the time when we were there.

 

THE PORTS

Bonifacio – Initially, we did not plan to go ashore to Bonifacio, but one of my friends at home insisted and we glad we did. We hiked up the main street and followed a path to a nature preserve, with stunning views of the bay and harbor. Most shops were closed as it was a Sunday, but if you want to get red coral jewellry, get it here as the best prices are in Corsica.

 

Portofino – Try to head out to the hills beyond the main tourist areas as they get very congested. We hiked up to the gorgeous Hotel Splendido, and it was beautiful there. Shops are high end such as Missoni, Chanel or Prada, and everything else is expensive as well. If you face the harbor, go to the gelato shop that has a kiosk to your right. They have a killer Pistachio flavor, and the prices weren’t bad.

 

Olbia – The port was switched at the last minute from Porto Cervo, and Olbia is a disappointment, plus being "shuttled" for 3 minutes to a construction site which was difficult for some of the older passengers to navigate was the icing on the cake. They are trying to improve the port for tourists, but please take care when walking here, there are poor safety standards and basically you can walk into a big hole. Here I would suggest hiring a taxi (they are expensive in Sardegna so try to share) or renting a car and heading out for a tour of the coast and the quaint little town of San Pantaleo.

 

We shared with two other couples and got an approximately 4-hour tour for 190 Euros. Later on, as my husband and I were walking back to the ship, one of the taxi drivers (we had to hire two because of small vehicles) tried to extort us for more money. He had perhaps thought we had not discussed the full price with the other couples as we were in a separate car, and he backed off when he realized we were fully aware of the pricing situation. Just be careful to clearly discuss the price and shake on it.

 

Naples – changed at the last minute from Sorrento due to the fact that Sorrento would be too crowded and tenders would only be scheduled every two hours. We had pre- booked Fabrizio of Amalfi-Drive and he did a fantastic job. Got us to Pompeii very early to beat the crowds, then took us to the Palazzo Reale in Caserta ( Italy’s Versailles ) and the Archeological Museum in Naples. I highly recommend him. Naples is actually quite safe during the day, contrary to what we read in the guidebooks and is fascinating; like NYC on steroids. Just be very aware of your surroundings as pickpocketing and purse snatching are more of an issue than any violent crime. Fabrizio and his friend Vittorio recommended we not walk around at night.

 

Amalfi – we chose stay on board for a day of R and R . The view is absolutely beautiful and one of the highlights of our cruise. The seas were getting rough by that afternoon and we watched the tenders being tossed around like dice on the rough seas.

 

Taormina – cancelled due to rough seas, and instead we spent a rough day at sea; the ship was quiet as many people were seasick. Disappointing as Mt. Etna was erupting and we had booked another private tour that had to be cancelled. Julia and our butler staff were so gracious and concerned about our well being, always checking on us.

 

Corfu – if you want to do shopping, do it here. I found excellent quality Italian leather purses at much better prices than in Florence and they are willing to bargain if you have cash. Prices are very reasonable, and also if not shopping, Corfu is fun to walk around. Things to pick up here are olive wood carvings and utensils, Kumquat liqueur and kumquat products, plus embroidered linens.

 

Kotor – If you can at all, hike to the ancient Fortress of St. Ivan high in the hills, of moderate level, and takes about 1 ½ hours. You will be rewarded with stunning views of the fjord, and this was one of the highlights of our cruise. Please be honest about your abilities, word got to us up the trail that someone was very short of breath and looked like he was in trouble. One of my fellow passengers and I are nurses, and we looked for him on our way down, but perhaps he had recovered or found help as he was not there. Start out early and carry sunscreen, a hat, and plenty of water as the hike gets very hot and there is no place on the trail to buy drinks.

 

Dubrovnik – Hiking the city walls are a must. Again, please be honest about your abilities and again be prepared for a sunny, hot hike, and be aware that there may be no quick access off the wall if needed. My nurse friend Lisa and I came across an older lady with heat exhaustion and had to help her out. If you love ethnic jewellry, this is the place to buy it. A bit pricey, but the workmanship is excellent and you will have a unique piece to take home. They will not bargain too much, and usually take cash, Euros widely accepted; their money is the Kuna. Walking the wall cost approximately 7.50 Euros per person.

 

Venice – We shared a private guide with our friends and I would recommend doing this if you can as Venice can be very confusing as it is quite crowded. The guide got us into a Gondola workshop which was very interesting and took us to a non-touristy restaurant, plus gave us excellent information about Venice that only a local would know. We stayed a few extra days to enjoy the city and if you want to escape the crowds, I would highly recommend taking the 15 minute vaporetto ride to the island of Lido. Big open spaces with cooling gardens and trees, plus great prices on Murano glass. Splurge like we did and have lunch at the Sheraton Les Bains, which has beautiful grounds that you can walk around.

 

DISEMBARKTION: Went quite smoothly, and we were sad to say goodbye to the staff. Some of them were leaving too, after 7 months of working every day, with no days off. Their only time off, we found out, was maybe a few hours each day during quiet times. They work so hard and have our total admiration. We splurged and took a water taxi to our hotel, cost was 70 Euros. I would only recommend taking the water bus if you have one bag and have been to Venice before. Venice is hard enough to navigate without a suitcase.

 

 

If you have reached this point, thanks for wading through this review! If you have any questions, please post or you can privately e-mail me at sweeter_pea@yahoo.com If you would like to see our pictures, which has more port information, please feel free to go

to

[potterhill]

Stunning pictures! Glad you enjoyed your cruise. It is lovely isn't it? And such a letdown to come home to real life...

 

After our first cruise we stopped at a Swiss Chalet in Milton on the way home to London. What a disaster! Terrible service, dirty table, screaming kids (really screaming). Don't think I've been to one since! Anyway, it was a striking contrast after being on Insignia for 2 weeks.

 

Mo

[Sweeterpea]

Thanks Mo! I tell you it was a sad moment when we finally got home exhausted after a 10 1/2 hour flight and realized we couldn't phone Gustav to bring us food :rolleyes: It's nice to be home, but I must say we had an amazing experience on the cruise, we were blown away.

[Jancruz]

TV..Did you know in the PH the TV pulls out and swivels..it is much easier to watch..:-)

Jan

*****

[Sweeterpea]

Jan, we pulled it out, but it would not swivel no matter how hard we tried, as we thought to do that. It wasn't a big deal, as we just snuggled up to watch tv on the other side of the bed ;o) A flat screen above the sofa would be nice.

[Jancruz]

Sorry it didnt swivel..they do... so something was probably wrong with it!

Just printed out your review and read it ..very nice..so glad you had a good time..and so sorry you had rough seas...Have a great day..I finally finished my laundry from my trip!!

Jan

*****

[meow!]

Thank you kindly for your interesting and comprehensive report. Your voyage sounds similar to ours in April, 2004, only that we started in Barcelona. We experienced quite a storm in Corsica, and rough seas from Naples to Corfu, though the weather was nice the rest of our journey. April is a good time, not too hot and not too cold, and not so congested with people. You haven't mentioned any bad weather, so perhaps you have been luckier!

[Imagineer]

...glad to hear you had a good time. For us it was a very good thing we cancelled and re-booked our cruise. Right in the beginning of when we would been travelling to Italy for the cruise you were on, I went into the hospital for emergency surgery to have my gall bladder removed. I'm still in the recovery stages, so the entire trip would have been a disaster if we had gone...

...a good read, I printed it out and will keep both yours and flyiad's for future reference, thanks for letting everyone know how the trip went. I may have some questions for you in the near future regarding certain stops...

 

cheers,

 

the Imagineers

NCL cruise to Alaska on the Norwegian Wind - Aug 27/06, it was great, I'll miss the Wind.

Mediterranean cruise on the Insignia - Apr 28/07 (cancelled, by us)

upcoming Oceania cruise Rome to Venice onboard the Regatta - Apr 13/08.

[digby]

"What they were looking for were our LUGGAGE TAGS, to our total relief."

 

When, I wonder, were you planning to put these on your bags? LOL!

 

"A flat screen above the sofa would be nice."

 

Unless you were sitting on the sofa to watch TV.

[Sweeterpea]

Hi Imagineer! hope you are recovering well :) Ask away any questions as I know you are taking the exact cruise we did.

 

Meow, we had fantastic weather. It rained perhaps one day out of the three weeks we were in Italy, we were so lucky.

 

Digby, this being our very first cruise and not knowing the "protocol" I thought we had to put those on after we registered, to have our luggage delivered to our room. I'll have to make note that luggage tags are called "tickets" from now on ;)

[Isla Gal]

Sweeterpea, Thank you for your review! we are taking the same cruise in Sept 2008!! and now I'm even more excited (if that is possible!) your pictures were amazing you have quite an eye for photography. I saw on your photo site you had been to Zihua-another of my fav places. We just returned from staying on la Ropa a few weeks ago.

[Sweeterpea]

Thanks, Isla Girl, but it's very easy to take good pictures when you have such a beautiful subject. You should be very excited, we are back almost a week and I'm still excited :D .