2SeaAll

I have no specific details or knowledge to add to the conversation. However, I do recall that an Oceania official commenting on the substitution of Ember for Jacques many months ago did state that there was a corporate decision to maintain multiple points of differentiation between ship classes that drove the Ember decision. As my wife and I very much enjoy Jaques, it gives us further reason to select Riviera/Marina when all other factors point towards that selection. BTW, we sailed Vista several months ago and gave Aquamar Kitchen glowing accolades in our review; it is definitely a positive addition.

As others have stated, Ember was never open for lunch during sea days and we have no expectation of seeing it opening.in the future. Regarding Toscana we liked it very much, with probably our best meal of the cruise being in Toscana. Although we have not been longtime Toscana cheerleaders, we now view Toscana very favorably when and if (and only if) you are very careful with your menu choices. In our early Oceania sailing days we considered Toscana a 'meh" choice and viewed it as a gimmicky restaurant with a lot of "show" (expansive Olive Oil cart with a too long recitation, and a good but showy cheese wheel presentation); however, the "show" aspects have been moderated, and they have gotten back to the fundamentals of service and food preparation. In addition to the oft-published Toscana menu recommendations we found two outstanding recent additions: 1. a tomato and burrata salad presented in a vertical stack rather than horizontally on a salad plate, and 2 a "godmother" pasta dish with grilled prawns [the ship's godmother has a lemon cream pasta recipe that is over-the-top outstanding even though my first reaction upon seeing the menu description was to be grossed-out - don't know whether this and a companion dish will be exclusive to Vista]. Some pax love Toscana and others don't like it at all - I've been in both camps and accordingly I would recommend that you give it a try! Happy sailing!!

My wife and I were on the recent Montreal>Miami cruise, booked in a PH stateroom. Given the limited publicly available perspectives for Vista, we would like to contribute to this forum by sharing our thoughts regarding the positives and the shortcomings of our experience, as well as sharing a few thoughts for improvements previously shared with Oceania. Due to the subjective nature of our assessments and the variability of ship/port provided services, we fully expect that others on our cruise or other Vista cruises may offer a different perspective or may have had different experiences onboard. Also note that we did not have Simply More and that this program went into effect two days after our sailing. Bottom Line: Vista is a generational improvement that exceeded our expectations. The cruise was an absolute delight. OVERALL · Design aesthetics excellent overall: pleasing color palette, updated styles, and materials; design aesthetics created an atmosphere of restrained elegance, tranquility, sophistication and contemporary feel. · Except for Red Ginger, the redesign of dining rooms enhanced the dining experience and seemingly facilitated more efficient service. · Mechanicals worked well throughout, except one elevator was repeatedly out of service. · Wi-Fi marginally improved, but the Spain-based Starlink server is annoying and, on occasion, made for an inconvenient browsing experience (typically linked to Spain-based websites when looking for USA based websites, even with VPN connected); better results achieved by linking to search target through Apps. IMPROVEMENTS · Dining room design, particularly Polo Grill, Grand Dining Room, and Terrace Café · Vista Lounge – more comfortable, better sight lines, improved acoustics, and more technologically advanced stage and effects; trade-off is somewhat limited capacity for fully-booked cruise. With one show per night, it seemed to skew dining surge to earlier times and single level design made extreme crowding the rule for popular guest entertainers. · Very good guest entertainers · Terrific Cruise Director (Ray) and Future Cruises Ambassador · Addition of The Bakery · Evolution of Barista Café [Note: Oceania is transitioning away from Illy brand and to its own, proprietary coffee beans roasted “in-house”] · Aquamar Café is an outstanding addition. · Computer center greatly expanded and enhanced · Enrichment Lectures seemed upgraded and more relevant. · Pool-area seating, sunshade, and innovative integration of pool proximity seating made for a much more pleasant experience with less “chair-hogging.” · Aquamar Spa Concierge area at front of ship is much improved · Bathroom in PH staterooms · Although skeptical pre-cruise, we did not miss the walk-in closet and grew to view the hybrid closet in our Ph stateroom as a positive improvement [need to open/butterfly suitcases to store under bed]. DISAPPOINTMENTS · Ice cream – subpar texture and flavor – needs a good, branded premium ice cream rather than an in-house Oceania-prepared alternative. · Red Ginger design aesthetics are cold/sterile/antiseptic and not experience-enhancing; needs some color and design/decoration features consistent with Asia without resorting to kitsch – big negative change from Marina/Riviera · Limited TV channel selection and access to post-season MLB games and NFL football; American sports interests not well accommodated either in-room on TV, and/or alternatively in bars/theatres SUGGESTIONS · Port Days: 1. Display gangway info on elevator screens; 2. Include the street addresse (and/or monument markers) for docked pier to in Currents to preclude situations such as our experience in Quebec City where 2 taxi drivers did not know (and could not find) the location of our Pier by pier #. · Aqua di Parma toiletries were very nice, but exceptionally hard to use, especially in the shower o Needs flip top rather than screw top o Label lettering for shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel could not be read without strong reading glass or a magnifying glass · Open Aquamar Café for dinner on limited basis, if possible (may require Aquamar expansion) · Correct annoying reflection of TV screen on lacquer material of closet exterior wall perpendicular to TV in PH design when viewed from bed · While we were pre-disposed to dislike Ember because it dislodged Jacques, we nonetheless really enjoyed Ember, subject to the following: o Must pro-actively ask for “slow-down” or you will be rushed through the meal - normal-ish pacing should be the default o Noise level can be high and should be corrected structurally – carefully choose table and do not necessarily accept “assigned” table. o Classic American/Regional dishes are not always correctly prepared. A prime example is the Lobster Roll which when prepared properly, according to New England recipes, is a grilled roll (with or without a small amount of butter for grilling), pulled, unadorned lobster with spices, and a very small amount of mayonnaise. The Ember version was served on a proper (but not grilled) cold roll , and the lobster was a lobster salad with a significant amount of mayonnaise – a very ill-conceived attempt to replicate a regional classic - even though high quality ingredients were used - only to be spoiled by poor preparation. Those booked on future Vista (and Allura) sailings are in for a treat!!

Many thanks for the prompt and extremely helpful responses to my inquiry. Clearly "mediocre" is the operative word for the Iceland Air experience, with the principal trade-offs being price, and convenience (in some circumstances), taken together with the brevity of the East Coast U.S.>Iceland flight. Once all my cost and timing factors are determined (including home>JFK commute times) a clear path will be defined. It was somewhat encouraging to me that nobody came forth with horror stories of mishandling of checked luggage by Iceland Air; issues regarding seat comfort/food/service are consistent with the consensus of available reviews. Hope to meet many of you on future voyages. Thanks again.

Flight advice would be most appreciated based upon experience flying into Iceland. We currently are on waitlist for cabin on Symphony doing Iceland circumnavigation around Iceland in 2024 - can’t wait to sail Crystal again. Preliminary thinking had been to book Iceland Air in Saga Class from EWR or BWI with included “stopover” in Iceland for duration of cruise, then continue with air leg to Rome to celebrate our anniversary over several days, then board a Rome to Lisbon cruise we have booked; easy and very cost efficient plan for airfare. However, reviews of Iceland Air - particularly checked baggage experience - has given us great pause. We would be traveling heavy on baggage due to the trip duration and weather variations necessitating lots of clothing. If we cross off Iceland Air our limited options include either Delta or Emirates from JFK - comfortable, but much more expensive options for East Coast US>Iceland>Rome. Comments, thoughts, benefits of first-hand experience appreciated. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

We were on Explorer in April (Tokyo>Yokohama); I agree with previous comments and observations with the exception that electronics connectivity is clearly a product of circa 2014 architectural design. The few USB connectors are only USB-A (no USB-C)/limited # of 110V receptacles; bedside 110V receptacles under night table drawer etc. I commented on post-cruise review as GM had told me he was unaware of any plans to update in-cabin electronics/connectivity in drydock. I mentioned to him that Oceania Riviera connectivity update from late 2022 drydock provides a good example for Regent to follow. Hoping my nudge will be enough for RSSC to avoid missed opportunity.

Thank you. I've obviously missed this one on our Oceania cruise prior to Riviera, February 2023.

If anyone can post a photo of the "new" [curtrent?] Martinis Bar drink menu i would be very appreciative. There are drinks on this menu that are not available elsewhere on the ship. As a point of reference, the menu I am seeking has a drink named "4 Stripes" or similar [as I can best remember from a February Riviera cruise]; I'm most interested in the content description for that drink and one other cocktail on that menu. Thank you.

Food allergies, preferences, + dietary restrictions are stored in the passenger profile and accessible to wait staff and kitchen via Cabin #. Also, owned wine bottles are stored by cabin # in the wine cellar, so Sommelier needs your cabin # to access opened bottles (whether purchased onboard or brought onboard with corkage fee paid). Also helps catch potential missed reservations (or reservation not being kept).

We are considering choosing the Olife House Select alcoholic beverage package option for one of our upcoming Caribbean cruises - then upgrading to the Premium Select Package. In the past we have sailed Oceania sans alcoholic beverage packages. Does anyone know if the Premium Package wine list is upgraded from the House Select Package wine list?? This will be an experiment for us, as it will be our first Silver status cruise with prepaid gratuities; we will also have the Shareholder OBC benefit. The shore excursions in the Caribbean are not compelling, so the premium beverage package may be our best alternative use of OBC. We have previously brought favorite bottles on board and paid corkage; we know that in any case Oceania wine list bottles will be inferior to our curated selection, but expect to enjoy full bar included access. Absent this choice we will take cash and default to Spa/Gift Shop to burn our OBC. Thanks for any insights you can provide..

Aknay T, can you give us any more info on the Covid situation. We are supposed to go on RIV on 5/17 and I am having angst about the situation. How do they handle tenders? Are they crowded as usual? What about tours? Do they limit the size? Any insight into how Oceania is keeping guests safe would be very much appreciated. THX so much. 2seaall