I wanted to provide an overview of our experience on our first Oceania cruise on the Insignia. We went as a group of 11 people (three families), all which have experienced cruising many times before. In the past, our continued favorite has been Radisson but since they sold their ship for the Med this past year, we decided to try Oceania. Here are my thoughts and impressions (and comparisons in some cases to other lines). Note that I’m brutally honest, so if you wanted a “everything is perfect” review, then you should skip mine. My intent always in providing feedback on this board (as well as to Oceania directly on board) is to provide an honest picture of the good and the bad so the line can improve and that future passengers are made aware of potential trouble spots. So please don’t misconstrue my negative comments in the wrong way.

Overall, I would sail Oceania again, but only if Radisson was not going to the same places that I wanted to go. Oceania has a great price point and great itineraries, and they have figured out that people in general do not want to fly from the US to Europe for a 7 day cruise given the jet lag recoup, etc. A 10 or 11 or 12 day cruise is perfect for that. When you start getting into 14 days, these become much more limiting to anyone who is still working as getting that amount of time off is sometimes difficult. Case in point, the cruise before the one we were on, a friend of mine sailed and it was 14 days. At 48, she was the youngest person on the ship. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but just a point to be made.

Ship
The Insignia is a beautiful ship. They really have done a fine job in decorating. The library is very inviting as well as many of the public rooms. Our only comment here was that all the rooms have low ceilings so I felt a little claustrophobic. This includes the main show theater and atrium. Even other small ships I have been on have more of a tiered show theater and a bigger atrium that makes the ship feel larger than it is. Not a big point, but an observation.

There is a laundry on board that uses tokens that cost 1.50 each and are purchased at the reception desk. 6 washers and dryers, and the ship’s special soap is added at the push of a button (they prefer you use there soap vs. your own). Bring dryer sheets. On board dry cleaning was efficient and well done, but note that standard service is pick-up before 9am and return the next day after 5pm. If you want it the same day, there is a 50% surcharge.

On at sea days, they put a note in the daily newsletter that you are not allowed to save chairs by the pool. Problem is they don’t enforce it. I got up at 7:45 at our at sea day and every chair had a book on it. It was like someone raided the library that morning and put out books on each lounge. At that time, 6 people were at the pool, and there was literally not one chaise lounge to be had. When I asked the cruise director, he said he would make an announcement, but never did. When we asked some of the staff working the area (cleaning up, etc.) they said they would never touch someone else’s stuff even though they were told they should. Clearly this area is a breakdown in communication on policy.

Food and Food Service
We found the Polo grill to be some of the best food we have had at sea on any line. The service was exceptional here and the variety and quality was excellent. On the other hand, we found the Toscana grill to be a disappointment. The food was mediocre (stringy lobster) and the service was not as good (rushed, argumentative, everything asked for seemed like a big deal). We ate at both alternative restaurants twice with identical results.

The main dining room was a bit better in the food area than Toscana, but the service was in general, not as good. This comment on service requires further explanation. I spent two sessions with the Maitre d’ letting him know of the issues encountered and I found him to be very appreciative of the feedback and I did see some improvement over the course of the cruise. But still, more work needed to be done. The service can best be described as argumentative vs. accommodative. Here are some examples. Oceania apparently has a policy (no one has mentioned this on the board!) that they don’t take special requests. Supposedly, Oceania has done studies that show that taking special requests for meals, a different sauce than what is offered (i.e., béarnaise sauce with a steak that isn’t being offered in the main dining room that night) ends up taking away from other’s dining experiences. This is very different than what I have experienced on other lines like Radisson. As such, and not knowing of their unwritten “policy”, whenever you ask for something “different” there is a lot of under the breadth comments that are made by the waiter about being able to “convince the chef” that they would do this for you. Once I asked for extra sauce with my main course that was already included, explaining that I really like sauces. The response from the waiter was, “I heard you the first time”! What a shock this was (and ironically, she did not provide me with extra sauce despite her outburst!). I of course brought this to the attention of the Maitre d’.

Another example was at the Tapas on the Terrace (which, don’t be fooled, sounded really cool like a little Tapas Bar in Spain, but was actually just the breakfast and lunch buffet turned into a dinner buffet). We ate here one night (as we couldn’t get into Polo or Toscana and the selections on the main dining room were very poor for us) and were disappointed. The example of the poor service was when I was walking out of the buffet and was asked to move over as a waiter was carrying some dishes back to be cleaned. On Radisson and every other line, the passenger is king and everyone always steps aside for you, with a smile and a hello.

More polish is needed by the wait staff in general. In talking with other passengers, the consensus was similar. Food orders were often called out (Who is it that gets the soup? Who gets the salad?) and on occasion served from the wrong side. An overall awakening to the staff of being accommodative vs. argumentative was my recommendation. My experience on other lines like Radisson is that they can’t do enough for you and it really shows. Granted, if you are running a cruise line, you can’t please everyone and have 600 different meals prepared. It is how the staff is trained to answer and make you feel like you are being treated individually and with respect that I still feel is most important. Thankfully, the Maitre d’ was willing to listen and was very appreciative of comments. Three times later on the cruise he asked to speak to me and asked if things were improving. I explained that I was happy to hear that Oceania had won some recent award (they announce it on the ship) for being the third best cruise line (behind Crystal and Radisson) and that I wanted them to do well and continue to improve so that as a passenger, so there would be more options to us frequent cruisers that go for the upper end of the market.

Wine
The wine onboard was a surprise. There were quite a few selections that were very reasonably priced and a nice range of different varietals. The wine staff was excellent. Only comments were the high corkage fee which has been discussed before and that when they were out of a wine, they did not mark the list as such. The first day, the first two wines I had ordered, they were both out of. This is a simple fix: put red stickers over the wines you are out of and when you replenish, peel the stickers off. There is nothing worse than spending the time to figure out a nice wine, only to find they are out of it. There were about 4-6 wines that they were out of for half the cruise prior to replenishing their stock. The wine tasting class was excellent. I would have liked a second class with more upscale wines (with an appropriate higher price) but since we had only one at sea day, it was difficult for them to do.

Entertainment
Frankly, we didn’t experience much of the entertainment provided as the port intensive schedule just doesn’t allow for enough energy after dinner to see a show. I will say that the entertainment in the Martini lounge was very good and the string quartet was very enjoyable. The latter often filled the small atrium with beautiful music regardless what floor you were on. They had several singers from the main troupe that sang in the Martini lounge and again, I thought they were very good. You can enjoy the music while in the casino due its proximity with the Martini lounge.

Activities
It has been stated that there isn’t much of these on Oceania and I would agree. One activity that they did do that for us was a lot of fun was the Team Trivia event. Since we were a larger group, this was a fun way for us to start our evening. The cruise director, Leslie, had the Martini lounge always packed for this event. 20 questions and then the answers but you got to do these as a group. It always started at 4:45 so if you were on an excursion, you had a chance to get back and participate. Nice touch.

The casino was very friendly and not very “tight”. Many people made money but this is always a subjective thing. I found the dealers very nice and helpful.

I was disappointed with one of the tour desk ladies that was handing out tender tickets as she became very rude (again, argumentative vs. accommodative) and raised the issue with adequate response.

In general, I found the tours on Oceania, while expensive, to be well arranged and very well done. We mixed up our trip with some Oceania excursions and some private tours. While the private tours always take more time to set up, with any size group beyond 4, you are usually much better off going private.

Reception and Concierge
The reception staff (Paula in particular) was the best I have experienced at sea. When ever a problem arose and you let them know, they really went out of their way to accommodate you. For example, we had some problems with our a/c in our stateroom on the first day. It took several calls to various departments to correct. Once I called the reception desk, they were all over it. I received periodic calls the next several days, or while I was walking by the reception desk or calling with another question, they would always ask, “and how is your a/c working?” Very, very impressive.

Smoking
One of the best things about Oceania is there smoking policy. This was a real treat to be able to sit on our balcony and not be smoked out by someone on a neighboring balcony and smoking. Similarly and unlike Radisson, only a small portion of the Horizon lounge and a small area by the pool (vs. half these areas on a typical Radisson cruise) were for smokers. As such, we non smokers were not bombarded by smoke. Given how much Europeans often smoke when we were on land, Oceania provided a welcome retreat and I really appreciated it.

Staterooms and Service
Our service here was as good as any at sea. We were very pleased as was all 11 of us traveling. So this was clearly consistent across the board. Your maid carries a pager so when you call, they are paged and they immediately respond. This was a great system that other cruise lines should consider. Response times are only minutes vs longer. The rooms are comfortable and the bed and linens, as others have reported, are some of the best we have had at sea.

There is a very distinct level of service difference on Oceania: Suites and Concierge level, and everyone else. In hind sight, we would have been better off paying the extra 400 dollars per couple to move from a balcony on deck 6 to a concierge level on deck 7 or above. The extra benefits include early boarding (which then allows you to book spa and alternative restaurant reservations before everyone else), two bookings in each of the alternative restaurants (instead of just one), and a refrigerator (with the high price for bottled water and sodas on board, brining your own and keeping them cold is a real plus). There are other perks too like a hand-held hair-dryer (the one provided in the bathroom are useless for anyone with any kind of hair) but we were able to request.

Sorry for the lengthy review. If there are other areas you want to know about, please don’t hesitate to ask.