Anybody been on the newly refurbishes Regatta. Please tell all. Thanks Anubis. PS Thinking of the Baltic & Russia in June

Luxury Lady has a comparison of Oceania and Radisson/Silversea here.

I think she might be the only member on this board who has cruise on Oceania. The rest of us can't get past the non open seating for dinner :)

Is that the one in Tahiti? If so, there is a review on the "Review" section by Glenda/luxlady. Not much stuff other than that on this board. Have you tried the cc Oceana boards?

Olivia, we just did it again! Posted at the same time, same thoughts. (Look at the Welcome LorraineB post, too)

I think Claudia (mermaid signature Claudia) is on an Oceania right now, Barcelona to Venice. Which ship, I don't know. She has been on Oceania before so can fill you in upon her return.

We took the Regatta last fall from Barcelona to Venice. The ship is quite nice. The things we DID like were the open-seating dining and lack of formal nights. However we felt the food was overwhelmingly mediocre, and the excursions terribly overpriced. Even in their two 'specialty' restaurants, we never had a meal we'd choose to repeat. We also prefer an all-inclusive style. On Regatta you sign a chit every time you drink a Coke. Tips are automatically added to your cabin bill (you can modify the amounts if you like). This was better than assembling cash at the end of the trip, but I'd still prefer they be included. It was obvious that they were still working out some kinks, but that was to be expected with a new line. I can't say we'll never go back, but it would have to be a truly wonderful itinerary that we couldn't find on Radisson or Silversea.

GrayWolf, I think it is a tough find to get someone away from RSSC to another line 1) because there is no nickel-diming like on Oceana and other ships 2)because of the pricing. Silversea is a great alternative, but pricing is so much higher that unless you get a really great itinerary for the price, it just doesn't seem worth it!. That being said, I found one on Silversea in March, but it was a deal that came up just a couple of months before the cruise, with a great discount, bringing it into the RSSC price range on a discounted cruise. I think every cruise line does its own thing for discounting, and Silversea must do it sooner to the time of sailing, as I have noticed from their website. They are both wonderful lines.

jhp:

I agree with you about Silversea. I had heard about some "great deals" on Silversea now, so I investigated further. I found the choices of itinerary and/or timing on these "super specials" to be far too limited for us. Each "special" was flawed in one way or another (or both) for us. On the other hand, presently available Radisson specials seem more varied and not confined to itineraries that either sail at inconvenient times (i.e. right before Christmas) or appear to have a "cobbled together" list of ports of call.

Thanks,
Richard :) :) :)

Dolebludger, with the high prices I see for 2005, I will be surprised if they don't come out with the specials at a later date after their marketing specials for 2004 have had time to sell.