Oceania Christmas Cruise
Paul
Regatta.
Upon boarding in Miami, we saw many familiar faces. It turned out that,
like us, many passengers on this voyage had sailed Crystal, Seabourn and/or
Silversea and were personally invited to try Oceania by Joe Watters and
Frank Del Rio (Chairman and President of Oceania). Both were aboard with
their families. I have known Joe from his days at Princess and Crystal and
had breakfast with him a few times. Most evenings Joe and Frank would "hold
court" at the Martini bar. There, pencils and tablets in hand, they would
ply us all with alcohol and pick our brains about what we though of Oceania
writing down our comments, concerns and suggestions.
Generally, everyone enjoyed the cruise. Here is a brief summary of what we
(the passengers) thought. Please remember, these ratings are based upon
comparisons to the standards we expect for ultra luxury lines, not the
mainstream lines.
Cabins: Suites A minus, Standard cabins B minus. We all agreed that the
beds were the most comfortable we had ever experienced afloat. The Suites
were fine with all the amenities one expects (butler service, etc.).
Standard sized cabins were about the same as Crystal, but must smaller than
those on Silversea or Seabourn. All accommodations were nicely furnished
and well appointed with the usual things we expect (fine linens, towels,
fragrances, toiletries, robes, slippers, etc.).
Dining: A. Oceania certainly delivered here. We all thought the ambiance
and cuisine in all 4 restaurants (Grand Dining Room, Toscana, Polo Grill and
Tapas) was uniformly excellent. Dining in the 4 open seating restaurants
was commensurate with the best we had ever experienced afloat.
Entertainment: B An orchestra, a string quartet, a guest lecturer and a
small ensemble called Black Tie (you've seen them before if you have sailed
Cunard or Silversea). That was it. None of the has-been or wanna-be
production shows, jugglers, comedians, magicians or singers found on the
mainstream lines (we were all pleased with this). Some nights we watched
first run movies, some nights the ensemble or cruise staff entertained and a
few nights there was nothing in the main lounge except dancing to the
orchestra.
High Tea: A Done right in the spirit of Royal Viking or the old Cunard.
Promptly at 16:00 every day. White gloved service, bone china, a string
quartet and finger sandwiches, scones and goodies.
Itinerary: A We spent 12 days meandering among the smaller islands of the
Lesser Antilles and tendering most of the time. Stopping at 7 islands, we
played tag with the Silversea Whisper and Seabourn Pride, but saw NO
mainstream cruise ships.
Ship: B plus Reminiscent of the Royal Viking, Cunard and Norwegian American
with a mid-sized yet intimate ship (600 passengers), nicely laid out and
furnished.
Service: C Although the staff is European and they try hard, they just
haven't had enough time together to learn to work as a team anticipating
passengers desires and providing the polished service we expect. Also, the
communication among the various ships departments was not automatic and
seamless causing us all a few minor inconveniences (they were quickly
resolved.). This just takes time.
Our big concern is will Oceania make it. What is their niche? We all gave
them a 50/50 chance.
Generally, the Silversea/Seabourn crowd said the product was not yet up to
their standards. The Crystal folks said that, excepting the service,
Oceania was a better product.
We'll see.
Paul
Robert Bob Edwards
October. I absolutely disagree that Oceania is better than Crystal in
any respect and others on our cruise who had sailed on Crystal felt the
same way.
Maybe entertainment is not important to some but we were particularly
disappointed in the lack of evening entertainment. The casino was a
poor alternative. It was subpar on its own merits and couldn't hold a
candle to the Caesers Palace casinos on Crystal ships.
I agree that the food in the restaurants was very good but the lunch
buffet was just OK and there were no special buffets like Crystal ships
have.
In defense of Oceania we all felt that it was a good product for the
price. We paid about half of what we would have paid for a Crystal
cruise. I would sail on the Regatta again.
Paul
Oceania is not targeting people like you.
Most people that cruise the ultra luxury lines are perfectly capable of
entertaining themselves -- they don't need large ships with lots of people.
Nor do they waste time watching 3rd rate entertainment or smoking, drinking
and giving away money to casinos (note that the casinos on Silversea and
Seabourn are even smaller than the one on Oceania).
Oceania is targeting discriminating passengers (the old Royal Viking,
Cunard, Norwegian American, Royal, etc. crowd). These people frequent New
York, L.A., Las Vegas and London theatres and understand what quality
entertainment is. They recognize that mainstream cruise ship entertainment
is as bad as it gets. After all, cruise ship entertainers are not there for
the lifestyle, fame or even the money. They ride the ships week after week
because they can't make it anywhere else. Forget New York, Vegas or even
off Broadway, these folks can't even make it in Branson. Sadly, they are
forever doomed to cruise ships, theme parks and maybe a local dinner
theatre.
As for your assertion that Crystal cruisers stated that Crystal is better in
all respects, all I can say is that is not what we heard.
The Crystal people on the Regatta Christmas cruise (I admit, most of us were
there by invitation), liked the more intimate ship, the freedom of open seat
dining in all restaurants, thought the food quality, preparation and
presentation was better than on Crystal, and the less regimented and more
relaxed atmosphere. Indeed many complained about the newest Crystal ship
saying it was too large and that increasing the number of passengers to over
1,000 pushes it toward the mainstream.
To me it's simply a numbers game -- fewer passengers equals a better the
cruise experience. On Oceania, the staff serves 500+ guests. On Crystal
1,000+. On Silversea 300-400+ and on Seabourn 200+. The fewer the number
of guests, the more personal attention each receives.
Nobody is saying Crystal is a bad product. For people that want canned
cruise ship entertainment, like to spend hours in the casino, don't mind the
inconvenience of assigned 2-seat dining, like large ships with lots going on
and many passengers, then Crystal is the best of the lot.
Some of us however, don't cruise to watch shows or gamble.
Paul
"Robert "Bob" Edwards" <bo...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:7753-3FFD...@storefull-3137.bay.webtv.net...
Linda Coffman
I was on the previous Regatta sailing (12/9-12/21) and couldn't agree with
you more! I made it a point to listen to the comments of fellow passengers
and the vast majority were thrilled with the Oceania on board experience.
The ones who turned up their noses and made snotty comments were
overwhelmingly Crystal past-passengers.
Bob's final comment is quite telling... "In defense of Oceania we all felt
that it was a good product for the price. We paid about half of what we
would have paid for a Crystal cruise. I would sail on the Regatta again."
That says it all.
Linda
-----
CruiseDiva.com
http://cruisediva.com
"Paul" <car...@hotmail.com> wrote...
Robert Bob Edwards
Of course I don't expect entertainment like I have found in Vegas, New
York, London et al but I like the production shows on Crystal. The
music is enjoyable and I appreciate the enthusiasm of the singers and
dancers. Apparently I'm not alone because the showroom on Crystal is
always full for production shows. I have sailed on Cunard, Seabourn and
Royal Viking and they all had entertainment every evening.
I did like the size of the Regatta and enjoyed the open seating but the
Symphony is not so much larger and has more facilities. I like the
Bistro and the Avenue Saloon and I enjoy an occasional movie in the
movie theater. BTW, I asked the pianist in the Martini Bar to play a
special song for a lady and he refused because his time was up and
wouldn't stay a few minutes longer. That would never happen on
Crystal.
I wrote to your friend, Joe Watters, about my feelings about the Regatta
and never got a reply. I guess I'll have to toady up to him on the
ship.
Paul
I don't know that I would characterize all Crystal passengers as snotty (but
I agree many are). The ones I spoke to enjoyed the Oceania product because
of the smaller ship, less regimentation, slower pace, open seat dining and
itinerary. They certainly intend to try them again and when the service
comes up to the level of Crystal (give it time), they may switch.
I am not surprised at Bob's comments or condescending attitude. Notice how
the first thing he does is brag about the number of Crystal cruises he has
been on. To me that was the indicator or his personality (look how
important I am I've been on 13 Crystal cruises).
Paul
"Linda Coffman" <lindac...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:T4adnYivnYl...@comcast.com...
Linda Coffman
> I don't know that I would characterize all Crystal passengers as snotty
(but
> I agree many are). The ones I spoke to enjoyed the Oceania product
because
> of the smaller ship, less regimentation, slower pace, open seat dining and
> itinerary. They certainly intend to try them again and when the service
> comes up to the level of Crystal (give it time), they may switch.
Paul, I didn't mean to imply that ALL Crystal past-passengers are snotty.
Just the ones that I ran across who prefaced their comments with, "Crystal
would never do THIS (or THAT)." Loudly, I might add. I didn't hear Silversea
past-passengers, or even HAL or Celebrity alumni making gauche remarks.
I agree that the dining room service on Regatta left something to be desired
as far as timing is concerned. They'll iron that out as the wait staff
matures in their positions. By and large, they tried hard and service
improved as the cruise progressed. When it was a bit slow, the food was
certainly worth waiting for. And we must remember that Europeans dine more
leisurely than we Americans do. Personally, I thought the servers around
Waves Grill and in the Terrace went far beyond what I expected. At Waves,
they would often come over the moment we sat down to fill our water glasses
and take our order, even though our impression was that we should place our
own at the grill!
E.k.R.
blows Crystal out of the water anyway! :)
Crystal reminds me a lot of Royal Viking, another line which when in
existence was *notorious* for it's whining and complaining passengers. They
were loyal though!
Ernie
"Linda Coffman" <lindac...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:I7-dncGkn7q...@comcast.com...
Robert Bob Edwards
I regret that I sounded condescending when I mentioned that I had been
on 13 Crystal cruises. That certainly was not my intent. I mentioned
that only to show that I had a valid basis for comparison.
In your last post you commented on the grill on the Regatta. Surely you
can't believe that it's the equal of Crystal's grill or of Crystal's ice
cream bar.
It occurs to me that many of us were comparing the Regatta to Crystal
because we had such high expectations due to Joe Watters' association
with Oceania and the way Oceania touts the luxuriousness of their
cruises.
I must emphasize that we enjoyed our cruise. Once they iron out the
glitches associated with a new ship and crew (and hopefully provide more
evening entertainment) Oceania will be a very good product for the
price. If the itinerary was interesting I would opt for Oceania over
Crystal because of the cost differential. JMHO.
Tam
In my humble opinion $$$ can make or break the selection of the cruise line we choose. It is nice to learn all we can from first hand experiences. Thanks for yours.
--
jtam...@yahoo.com
all messages scanned with Norton Antivirus 2003
"Robert "Bob" Edwards" <bo...@webtv.net> wrote in message news:12070-3F...@storefull-3136.bay.webtv.net...
brenda
> Of course not from Silversea passengers Linda, they know that Silversea
> blows Crystal out of the water anyway! :)
So, so true! Very different attitude & guests - sortof old money (SS)
vs Nouveau Riche (Crystal) - not that I'm either, unfortunately... but
feel Silversea well worth saving for & was not as impressed with
Crystal.
Paul
When Royal Viking went under, all the cry babies moved to Crystal.
And I agree both Silversea AND Seabourn blow Crystal out of the water, but
as I said, it's easier to care for 300 passengers than it is for 1,000.
"E.k.R." <eroll...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:VgALb.2282$v16....@bignews5.bellsouth.net...
Paul
As I said, Oceania is not for people seeking a lot of entertainment.
Oceania (and I) believe if you want entertainment and gambling, go to Vegas
not on a cruise.
I agree that Joe oversold the product -- principally on the service end.
(and the grill) Remember though, both Crystal and Silversea had a few rough
edges when they started.
The question is, when Oceania raises their tariffs after the first year,
will the people still book.
Paul
"Robert "Bob" Edwards" <bo...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:12070-3F...@storefull-3136.bay.webtv.net...