Age ranges onboard Oceania

[suec12]

I pretty much ditto what the other posters are saying but I was also going to suggest you might want to consider Celebrity - we enjoyed our cruises on their ships but they are not as upscale (or expensive) as Oceania (but more so than the RCCL product). And they have also gone the mega-ship route. For my next trip I looked at Oceania and Celebrity - even tho I loved my Oceania cruise I would not rule out going Celebrity again esp. if I liked the itinerary and the price was right. Even tho it was nice to be on the smaller Oceania ship, at several of the ports the mega-ships were there and so we really did not benefit from fewer passengers - we could get off the ship quicker tho! I think Celebrity is now going to open seating so there would be the opportunity to enjoy dining with a variety of other passengers.

[~Fianna]

I pretty much ditto what the other posters are saying but I was also going to suggest you might want to consider Celebrity - we enjoyed our cruises on their ships but they are not as upscale (or expensive) as Oceania (but more so than the RCCL product). And they have also gone the mega-ship route. For my next trip I looked at Oceania and Celebrity - even tho I loved my Oceania cruise I would not rule out going Celebrity again esp. if I liked the itinerary and the price was right. Even tho it was nice to be on the smaller Oceania ship, at several of the ports the mega-ships were there and so we really did not benefit from fewer passengers - we could get off the ship quicker tho! I think Celebrity is now going to open seating so there would be the opportunity to enjoy dining with a variety of other passengers.

 

I like the idea of smaller... I know that Celebrity is nicer than RCCL, but we really didn't enjoy the mega-liner atmosphere and I wasn't thrilled by either the service or the condition of the ship, which would make me really hesitant to spend money with that parent company again.

 

Being herded around like cattle, plus the constant announcements were just unpleasant.

 

Also, the wine list just doesn't compare between any of the more upscale lines and the mass-market lines. And the fact that we can bring on and enjoy wines we buy in port is just awesome.

[jpalbny]

Which iteneraries have you done? Any particular favorites?

 

we have done 4 Med cruises:

 

May 2006 Rome-Sorrento-Amalfi/Positano-Livorno-Portofino-Nice-Marseilles-Sete-Mallorca-Barcelona

 

April 2007 Athens-Kusadasi-Delos-Mykonos-Aghios Nicolaos-Santorini-Sarande-Kotor-Dubrovnik-Venice

 

Nov 2007 Athens-Kusdasi-Heraklion-Valletta-Messina-Naples-Ajaccio-Livorno-Rome

 

Nov 2008 Barcelona-Rome-Naples-Palermo-La Goulette-Tangiers-Seville/Cadiz-Lisbon

 

And Jan 2008 Sydney-Melbourne-Hobart-Milford Sound-Dunedin-Christchurch-Wellington-Napier-Tauranga-Auckland

 

It's really tough to pick a favorite Med itinerary as every place is different, and I haven't found a perfect itinerary yet. Some favorites:

 

We rented a car in Crete (Heraklion) and drove all over the island by ourselves and loved it. We are not fond of Naples at all, but instead we bought ferry tickets to Capri and walked the island all day before returning. We have done that twice and it may be one of the highlights of those cruises. Sicily (Taormina, Messina) is gorgeous, once you get out of the city. Lisbon was very enjoyable and easily explorable in 2 days. Livorno is within range of Florence and Pisa; once you get past the street merchants in Pisa it's really nice.

 

Kusdasi is pretty and the archeological sites (Ephesus et al) are really interesting but the port itself is a bit touristy for our taste. Valletta (Malta) was pretty but expensive. Sarande (Albania) is not very developed and I could have skipped that stop.

 

The Australia/NZ trip was phenomenal.

[Nancipants]

My husband and I (30 and 28, respectively) just returned from a Baltic cruise and were by far the youngest paying customers. It didn't really bother us, though.