We found a deal on the Insignia for a TA that is of interest to us. It is 2 for 1 with free air. Barbados to Marseille, March 30th and we have a few questions for those that have been on Oceania already.

Has anybody ever done a TA cruise on Oceania? How was it? Any trouble with seasickness?

I see that the ships are about 30,000 tons but have about 680 people onboard. Did you ever feel crowded? Any problems getting a chair by the pool, a table at the restaurants, or a seat in the theatre?

If we use their air but want to stay over a couple of extra days in Provence and don't want to use their hotel package, is it possible and what is the addional charge?

How do they compare to Silversea and RSSC?

We know that the tips and beverages are not included, but do they provide any complimentary beverages such as bottled water and sodas? Also, how reasonable are their wine and beverage prices?

We are looking at one of the balcony staterooms. Is there enough room in the cabins? What about balcony size? Is it worth the extra expense to upgrade to the concierge level?

What things do you like best about Oceania and what things do you like the least?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cruisinsince75:

you wrote (in part as I deleted those q's that I don't have answer for)...
We have not done TA cruise on O or R ships when they were Renaissance but have taken now including our cruises w/ O -16 cruises on these ships..I think it depends on where you are TA to and from..and time of year.


"I see that the ships are about 30,000 tons but have about 680 people onboard. Did you ever feel crowded? "

Never.. same as Radisson

"Any problems getting a chair by the pool?"

not really.. but just like every other ship when it's a gorgeous day and folks leave all their "stuff" on the chaises and go have lunch somewhere ( and never come back)..time to move their stuff

"a table at the restaurants?"

no problem there.. specialty restaurants are by reservation.. main dining room sometimes takes a few minutes depending on what time you are going to eat , say if everyone shows up at same time and you request just a table for 2 or something like that can be short wait..

" or a seat in the theatre?"

they don't have a "movie theater" but if you are referring to their show lounge never a problem with seating..unless you show up really late..


"If we use their air but want to stay over a couple of extra days in Provence and don't want to use their hotel package, is it possible and what is the addional charge?"

They require you to pay a deviation fee for changing the airfare to your requested flights
(you pick- times, date and airline).. if they can arrange the flight and all at the same cost to them as the original air tickets cost them then they do not charge you any additional ..if your requested dates and times ( and/or airline) flight costs more they will tell you and you can decide if you want to book the flights and pay that extra cost whatever they tell you it is.
The deviation fee "was" $50.00 per person I am assuming it is still the same and I believe if you ask them to check on deviating flights is not refundable if you change your mind about doing that. They usually have a pretty good aircredit if you just want to book your own flights which you might check on.. sometimes it works out in your favor that way. Where in Provence are you staying? We just got back and stayed at some amazing hotels.

"How do they compare to Silversea and RSSC?"

Never been on Silversea( next one!) but as far as Radisson in size basically the same.. as far as Prettier Oceania wins. Standard balcony cabins about the same in size although the bathroom and closet areas on Radisson larger.

"We know that the tips and beverages are not included, but do they provide any complimentary beverages such as bottled water and sodas?"

nope- just cappachino <sp?>

"Also, how reasonable are their wine and beverage prices?"

They seem to have revamped their wine lists so they do have reasonably priced wines now.. they were pretty pricey but they got complaints.
their cocktails run from about $6.50 to $9.50
beer around $3.75 I think.. ( don't really drink it too often so don't recall)..
they allow you to bring all the booze you want on the ship for in cabin consumption .. if you want a bottle of your ( brought on) wine opened at dinner $20.00 corkage


"We are looking at one of the balcony staterooms. Is there enough room in the cabins?"

Depends what you want to do in there


"What about balcony size? Is it worth the extra expense to upgrade to the concierge level?"

Balcony size in standard has room for the 2 chairs and small table. I am pretty sure but can't remember how big balcony was on Radisson but I think it is the same size..the concierge level and the other category ( on O)are the
same size cabins but w/ concierge you get perks.. check their website because I think they keep adding things..like extra reservations at the specialty restaurants .. early boarding etc.


"What things do you like best about Oceania"

ships are the prettiest at sea.. food is spectacular

"and what things do you like the least? "

internet access slow.. and pricey!

If you have any other q's just ask away!

Thanks Claudia. I know you are our resident Oceania expert.

Good to know about the bringing of liquor and wines onboard. We love our champagne, but that could get really expensive real fast. I read the post over on CC with regards to bringing alchohol onboard and loved your response.

We were pretty well set to do our Lisbon to Genoa cruise on Silversea for April, but I saw this. $1899 for a balcony stateroom including airfare for 11 days. Sounds like an excellent deal and we have wanted to try a TA cruise anyways. If you back out the airfare, your per diem is under $100 per day.

One last question. How hard is it to get reservations at Toscana or Polo Grille and what is the best way to ensure a place?

If we decide on this, we will check with you on where to stay in Provence.

Looking forward to seeing you next week at Mimosa. I am sure that we will have more questions for you.

Thanks again for your help.

Don,

You might want to look at hte RSSC Cruise, WAVE. June 9-19th on Voyager. It's from Monte Carlo to Dover and has some nice ports. It was a special and we have a nice small group going. We have free air too and with the tips and wine, might be a better value.

The price for deviation on Oceania is now $75 per person..and non refundable once they get you flights..all in all the Trans-Atlantic is a fabulous value for the dollar..I am doing the TA in November of 06 on Regatta
Jan

Hi Don,
Re: the reservations at restaurants:
every cabin is guaranteed so many ( not sure how many it is ( changes)
reservations at the specialty restaurants so it isn't a problem..you can either call at the times that someone is there to book them ( they give you times in the daily cabin info/paper) or go in person.. if you have concierge class and above I believe ( but things seem to change alot there so maybe Jan or Susan know the answer to this for sure)..you get more reservations and if you have butler he can make the reservations for you too.Many people go when they get on the ship, as
they ususally have maitre 'd at a certain spot making reseys in the afternoon when you board..

( if you have a
special nights when you for sure want a certain restaurant that is a good idea) other than that
same routine
as most other ships w/ specialty restaurants
and P.S. GREAT deal on the price for that length cruise you guys found.

The last I read on the CC board was that for standard cabins, it was 1 reservation for each specialty restaurant. Suites can reserve more (I believe it was twice at each). Nevertheless, many people commented that since the menu didn't change much, once was usually enough for the specialty restaurants.

Haven't sailed Oceania yet (was hoping to do so ;) ) but my biggest annoyance before sailing them is the soft drink/bottled water policy. Oddly enough (or maybe not so odd to some others as well), this is my biggest hang up with this line. Given the premium over mainstream lines, this is one area where they should look at including in the cruise fare, IMHO. I can deal with paying for my own alcoholic beverages - but given how cheap soda and bottled water are, this seems a little silly.

Masaki

I'm with you, Masaki, paying for bottled water gets me down. Bad enough having to pay a fairly hefty rate for a bottle of wine at dinner. The idea of schlepping cans of tonic and bottles of water unto a luxury cruise has never appealed to me.

Looking at the veranda level staterooms, at 215 square feet, does that include the balcony perchance? If so, that's smaller than the PG, the smallest rooms in the Radisson fleet, if not, then they aren't much bigger than the PG.

I have also gotten an overall impression from various posts that there is somewhat of a class system on Oceania--that passengers with higher cabins are treated better than lower. Is there any truth to this?

We started running a comparison just to see what our actual cost would be in comparison to the Silversea or Seabourn crossings during the same time frame and they all come out about the same.

Oceania cruise only rate (after B&K discount and figuring about $800 credit for air) $1044 on 11 day cruise 215 sq ft cabin = $95 per diem

plus other per day charges on Oceania
gratuities = $11.50
4 drinks = $36
4 bottled waters or sodas = $11
bottle of wine (split) with dinner = $21
bottle of champagne in the evening (split) = $26

Actual per diem about $200 per day on Oceania.

Silversea 14 day crossing. $2601 (after B&K discount) = $185 per diem (a little weighted because we get the Venetian discount and the onboard discount)

Seabourn 12 day crossing. $2373 (after B&K discount) = $197 per diem

Wendy,

The 215 sq. feet is including the balcony.

Maria, so it's only about 160-165 sq ft inside?

Captains' cocktail party free drinks
Savings $36.00
and
$200.00 per diem
- 36.00
_________
$164.00 O wins! lol

Yikes, so really to compare apples to apples, you'd have to compare a bottom-level H cabin on Voyager, at 356 square feet including balcony to a 322 sq. ft Penthouse suite on Oceania, right? If you care about your cabin at all. Not the end of the world, I've not been on Voyager yet, but am sure looking forward to that extra room. Can't imagine a room much smaller than the PG standard stateroom.

Wandra, The cabin is 165 square feet but layed out so well as to be very spacious feeling..There are some cabins without balconies that are larger..
Stu and I bring water..and sodas on board for our convenience so that cuts out $121 for 11 days, we also bring wine on board so we can have our drink on the veranda before dinner
Seriously, people worry about only having one dinner in the specialty restaurants and there is usually space toward the end of the trip to get in again..the menu in the specialty only changes about once a year..so you always have the same choices..
Jan

Don,

As Jan writes above the answer is unfortunately yes!

Don,

I did the same math comparing Celebrity with RSSC adding tips and bottles of wine and water on a Carribbean itinerary.

To be fair, I had to compare a Junior Suite on the Celebrity Cruise and figure out the per diem using square feet as well. We too ended up bringing soda and water aboard that cruise because I could not justify paying $5.00 for a liter of water for the convenience. Once we did the math, I figured that if the fare came within a few hundred dollars per person, I was staying with RSSC unless there was a timing and/or itinerary factor that made the other cruise more appealing.

I enjoyed the specialty restaurants and even though the menu doesn't change, there were a number of options I enjoyed. While you are only permitted one reservation per restaurant, we would ask early in the morning if space was available and we were actually confirmed several times in each restaurant.

I don't know that Concierge level and above is treated better, but they definitely are given first option on dinner reservations. I was not concierge level however and still ate at both the restaurants more than once and had a table for two each time.

I also am like Jan and brought bottled water, sodas, and liquor onboard and didn't have much of an onboard bill at all.

The liquor doesn't bother me, but the thought of lugging bottled water, mixers and beer onto a luxury cruise does not appeal to me at all. Other than that, it sounds very nice, and I agree that the itineraries look very appealing--it will be interesting to see what they do with the new ships!

Wendy,
I admit lugging beverages is not ideal, but we just bought a little in each port and never had much to carry and it beat the alternative.

Unfortunately the cruise we were looking at was a Transatlantic which would have required a whole lot of lugging in Barbados when we boarded! :eek:

The liquor was reasonable in Barbados and the terminal had lots for sale as well as cokes and bottled water. So you wouldn't have far to go to buy things. The center of town would be too far to have to bring it back to the ship. Ironically the first time I saw an Oceania ship was in Barbados several years ago when I was on a Radisson ship.

The cruise we were thinking about started in Beijing. I wouldn't have the slightest idea where to go in Beijing to stock up on bottled water and soda before the cruise. :D

Masaki

Probably WalMart!!!!!!!!

Betty, I am rolling on the floor laughing!!

Susan is correct..when we drop our luggage off for the crossing in November 06..we will go to a local market and pick up all we need for the next 10 days..its really easy and Oceania is wonderful about letting you bring drinks on board.
Jan

Betty you are a riot!

It seems to me that in every port we have ever been at on every cruise ship, there was some type of store at or near where we docked.
Since we usually arrange a driver in ports we just have him take us to a store before the end of the tour.. no biggie.
If we want water or sodas or something else..
The idea of schlepping 7up and water around the world does not appeal to me and have never had to carry that.. wine another story. Carry it gladly!

Masaki,
If my memory serves me correctly there is not a store directly at the port, however, there is a major shopping area not too far. A cab would be preferable to walking, however.

Betty - hahahaha!! :D I can't believe that you found that picture!

Susan - I was half kidding with my reply - but that is very good to know for future reference. ;)

Masaki

Masaki,
If you come into Bejing the airport, it is about a 2 hour drive to the port. If you are arranging your own transfer you would have plenty of opportunity along the way to pick up a supply. Yes, Betty love the picture. Wonder what Sam Walton would think of it.

Don't know what ol' Sam would think but Walmart is putting about 20 stores in China. When a friend did a land tour to China last year, she got tired of being served chicken feet at most restaurants. So she & others on her tour would go into various Walmart's & stock up on crackers, cookies, etc just to fill up. She said their guide could tell every restaurant, don't bring out any feet. But they were always placed in a prominent spot on the table.

We saw video clips of Chinese shopping in a Walmart on the news the other night. It was up in the province where the chemical spill was, they were all buying cases of bottled water!

maybe they were planning an Oceania cruise? :app: :app:

LOL Claudia! <img border="0" alt="[vhappy]" title="" src="graemlins/icon_vhappy.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[vhappy]" title="" src="graemlins/icon_vhappy.gif" />

Just came upon this thread and you seemed so sincere in your search for information, I thought I would add my opinion.
We did take a TA, but in November and should have known better. November in the North Atlantic can be bad and it was. The weather was horrible. We were in the back of the ship and should have known better so I'm not blaming anyone for our blunders in booking this trip. BUT we have been on rough seas before but I haven't gotten sick until this one. The ship felt like it was rolling. Everything flew off the counters, shelves and glass broke on the carpet from glasses they put in the cabin. The ship actually flooded on the starboard side of deck 7. It really wasn't pleasant. This was on the Regatta, the Lisbon-Miami trip. We booked Congiere Class to get the refrigerator, however that is fully stocked by the ship with things for sale. Not an inch to put our stuff in. We asked to have their stuff removed for the stuff we lugged on. No luck. We took it out and put it in a cabinet and it rocked and rolled until we wrote out a complaint that it was breaking all over the room as it flew out.
So I can't speak for the March trip from Barbados but the November trip from Lisbon was the same the last two years according to someone we met in the laundry room who took both.
The ship is pretty but we just didn't think we'd go back because of some other problems we had. I apologize that this all sounds so negative, but if you really want to know, that is honestly what it was. Liz

Liz,

Could you describe the other problems you had? I wouldn't write off a cruise line due to bad weather( since obviously that's not within the control of management).I'm more interested in finding out if there are other problems that are indeed within their control to solve and they don't.

There were many. Of course we wouldn't blame anyone for bad weather either. It is just that I don't post here much because we haven't cruised the luxury lines and I cannot contribute on the threads here. I do read these boards some though. To let you know, I am comparing to NCL who we cruised until the food seemed to be on a downhill slide and we went off in search of nicer ships. Maybe this is how the industry has gotten but we saw nothing any better than NCL offered us. In many respects NCL was better. The apprehensions in this thread are what we found.
Let me say that one day we were walking through the ship and a couple who was sitting near our path, started a conversation with us. We sat and talked to them. After a while she asked what we thought of the cruise. Not knowing them we kind of looked at each other and paused. She nodded her head like saying no, and said they usually cruise Crystal Line, and they didn't like it at all. I told her we really were trying to figure out how so many things were so different than we heard they would be. She said they would not be coming back. This was not an isolated incident. We got to where we could tell by someone's look what was coming next. Many people we met unfortunately had negative things to say. We will say that we met some of the nicest, well traveled people we've ever met on a cruise and many were first time on Oceania. Many were doing what we were, testing to see how it was.
I'm very sorry to have to say we found so many problems. It is really difficult for me to write this kind of answer. I had searched dilligently before we booked and never found a bad word. I couldn't find anything. Then this. I decided that I would comment where I could to say that people deserve an answer when they ask questions. Maybe everything isn't good, but they should be able to decide for themselves if they should look deeper. Liz

Sorry Liz, I do not understand your answer..what is it that you specifically did not like about the cruise..you never did say what was wrong..you also didnt say why the other couples were not happy..can you be specific so everyone can judge for themselves..what did you read before you got on board that was not what you got??
Thanks,
Jan

Hi Liz, and welcome to LCT!

I am very interested in your experience; this thread has also been very interesting.

I can't imagine lugging water/soda around along with everything else I carry, though. Oceania had better re-think that situation. Jan, maybe you could have a chat with your friend Frank about it. And to refuse to empty a refrigerator simply turns it into one of those tacky mini-bar things like some hotels (and mass-market cruiselines) have.

Hi Liz and I also welcome you to LCT! Like Pam, Jan, and Maria, I'd love to hear more details as to what you felt was bad about your cruise. I've never sailed Oceania but like hearing details about things so I can make up my own mind as to whether it would be a positive or negative to me. Believe me, we don't allow flaming on this board as exists on some other cruise boards so no one will blast you for offering a negative opinion - we just want the information and experiences such as yours would be valuable to many of us who are also considering cruising with Oceania at some point. In particular, I'm interested in what you found was better on NCL compared to Oceania - we've sailed a number of the mainstream cruiselines (Princess, Carnival, and Celebrity) so have some basis for comparison. :)

Masaki

Hi Pam, I started talking about including water and wine with Oceania from the first day the cruise line started..I am afraid it will never happen..not in his plans..but you really dont have to drag water and soda on board..they do sell it..so you can always purchase it..I always have a fridge in my stateroom and I have never had a problem with asking the steward to empty it so I can put my own stuff in..so I am not sure what happened with Liz..I would really like to know..
Jan

Liz,

Sorry, maybe I'm a little slow but I've reread your comments twice and other than the comments about the bad weather and the refrigerator I can't find what happened to you that you are so negative about this cruise line. Since you brought this up I would appreciate some specifics so other people(myself included) can avoid making a mistake boooking this cruiseline( IF it is a mistake).

Thanks,