Insignia Review Northern Crossing July 1-19, 2016

My husband and I were on the Insignia July 1-19 for the Northern Crossing trip from Miami to Reykjavik. Overall, what a wonderful cruise; we really enjoyed the ship, several sea days, the ports and, most especially, staying in Reykjavik for a few days after disembarking.

But this is about the ship. We had sailed previously on the Marina (three weeks around South America in 2013). We also have sailed on Regent's Voyager three times and previous to that on Holland America and Costa a few times. The Insignia was very well maintained; I didn't see any torn or stained carpet in the public areas; the ship gleamed every day from continuous thorough cleanings. Staff we encountered were not only unfailingly polite but, in most instances, also very warm and genuine in wanted to assure your positive experience and providing you a great trip.

We stayed in a Vista Suite, Cabin 7004, at the front of the ship. We were directly below the bridge so heard almost nothing except an occasional footstep. The suite has 1 and 1/2 baths which is a particular reason why we chose it--no fighting in the morning for space! The bedroom did not have a walk in closet; instead it had wall units around two walls which provided more than adequate space both hanging and drawers. There was also a desk in the bedroom and two small bedside tables (just enough to hold our cell phones at night). The living room had a large piece of furniture which was a bar and storage space for glasses, napkins, menus and a small refrigerator. There was also a small dining table with four chairs, a sofabed, two chairs, two side tables and a coffee table. More than enough room! Our balcony extended across the front and had enough room for two loungers and a table with four chairs. We really liked this suite.

We had wonderful room attendants. Victoria and Nilesh provided superb service promptly and efficiently. They were never too busy to stop and chat for a few minutes. I think they had eyes in the back of their heads because when we left the cabin in the morning for breakfast the room would be thoroughly cleaned by the time we got back. They were just amazing. Mishra, our butler, was also incredibly service oriented. He never failed to give us more information about what was going on in the ship than I would have imagined he would know. He knew about the laundry routine for cleaning our clothes, he knew the weather forecast and would recommend how to dress when we were going out for excursions, he would tell us about the menus in the dining room, the specials that evening in the Terrace--he was just incredible and so very, very kind.

We used the balcony quite a bit in spite of getting the headwinds and a bit of "jostling" on afternoon on our way out of Halifax. There were several days/nights when the furniture on the balcony was tied down due to wind. However, there were other times when we could stand/sit on the balcony despite the wind and feel perfectly safe that we weren't going to get blown overboard.

Dining on board was delightful. We found the food very good to excellent (with one exception which I will get to shortly). There was plenty of choice regardless of the venue and we felt all dining rooms were well staffed and service was of very high caliber as well. Our favorite dining room was the Grand Dining Room. I know this flies in the face of many Oceania regulars but our experience was that there was plenty of choice every day we ate there, the service was excellent, the ambiance was elegant and classy and the overall experience was truly one of grand dining. My husband defines me as high maintenance as I usually ask for some change to my meal from how it is described on the menu. For example, at lunch one day, I asked for the Nicoise salad if I could have it with grilled chicken instead of tuna or salmon (which were the choices listed). No problem. Many times I would ask to have the starch deleted and add a second vegetable--no problem. Mercy, the hostess in the GDR, did an outstanding job. I think she remembered everyone's name by day three of the cruise! Walter, the waiter we had most frequently, remembered our desires after only the second time. The food was always well prepared, hot when it was supposed to be hot, room temperature if it was supposed to be so and my, did it taste good!

I do not enjoy the Terrace Dining Room at all. The food is usually not at the appropriate temperature, the choices to me were uninteresting and uninspiring in general, the grill which many rave about provided about the toughest steak I have ever had and the most dried out lobster tail I ever experienced. I hated the experience of trying to find a table. I found numerous other guests pushy and demanding from the staff unlike any other bar or restaurant on the ship, and the overall experience for me in the Terrace was very "Golden Corral" level of dining and I do not mean that as a compliment. Give me the level of service and food preparation in the GDR; I think we ate only three times in the Terrace Dining Room during the entire trip.

My criticism of the Terrace does not extend to the Waves Grill. We loved their sandwiches when that was our mood and the warmth and courtesies delivered by all of the staff whose daily job was the Waves Grill.

We ate twice at Toscana and twice at Polo. We actually had reservations for one additional time at each (because we were in a suite and due to the length of the cruise we had the opportunity for three reservations in each specialty restaurant). We ended up cancelling the last two reservations of the six because we enjoyed the GDR so much. There was nothing wrong with either Toscana or Polo; we thought the quality of the food was very, very good. However, we received the same level of attention and quality of food with more choice in the GDR.

We both really love sea days because the opportunity to enjoy the ship is so special on sea days. By the way, once we got north of New York City (July 6 onto July 19) the weather became much cooler (it was heat indexes of over 100 degrees in Cape Canaveral, Charleston and New York). From Bar Harbor on we wore sweaters and slacks every day for excursions or on sea days; it was quite refreshing!

Anyway, back to the sea days. Oceania doesn't offer a lot of activities and the schedule doesn't vary much on the sea days. Having said that, we did Bingo every sea day and I actually won $80 one day. Then my husband always went to the Blackjack and Texas Hold 'Em Tournaments every day; he didn't play he just enjoyed watching and talking with the folks. I went to some of the enrichment lectures--Joseph Campbell did an outstanding job and we both had massages and haircuts on the ship. We were pleased with the quality of the spa services. I am a voracious reader so I found the library quickly and loved the room. There was plenty of choice among the books offered. We also attended a couple of cooking demonstrations and really enjoyed the humor of the executive chef (and, of course, the recipes).

So what didn't we like about the ship? Having sailed first on Marina, we missed the cooking classes and the greater choice of specialty restaurants that one has on the larger ships. We were in an Oceania suite on the Marina and liked that size and décor much better than the décor on Insignia; the décor on Insignia was too fussy for me. Given the weather on this cruise, we couldn't enjoy the decks very much. We did know that was likely going into this cruise so this is certainly not a fault of Oceania or the ship, just an observation. On the days when we could use the decks it was hard to find loungers.

We also were supposed to have a dedicated tablet (IPad like electronic) in our cabin for our use. Although the equipment was there we were unable to use it because Oceania had not updated the software to make them usable--this we got from the Computer Room guru on the ship. I thought this was very tawdry and cheap of Oceania to use in their marketing when they knew the tablets were unusable! How can they be so elegant in the classiness of their ships, the quality of the food, the outstanding training they provide to staff and be so cheap as to pretend they are offering this great advantage to us and then just refuse to update it to make it usable--unbelievable! I should mention here that Internet was not available many days due to the lack of satellite access-not an Oceania problem or responsibility. Contrast this with how they handled a cancelled excursion which we received "free" due to the OLife offer of five "free" excursions. When it was cancelled, Oceania made an adjustment in our shipboard account to add back $100 credit. Now that was classy!

We had the Prestige Drink Package and I disliked having to show my card every time I wanted a drink. I get why Oceania does this--I just don't like it and find it cumbersome.

You can see that my dislikes are far smaller than my likes. I still really enjoy Oceania and would choose it again for another cruise. I loved the itinerary and enjoyed all of the Canadian ports as well as the three Greenland ports and Iceland. Who knew I would find Greenland so charming and Iceland so spectacular?! I loved the cool weather.

If you have finally read this far I am amazed as this is probably way too much detail. Thanks to all of you who provided me with such fun reading over the last three years and helped me plan a great trip on Oceania.

Nice job on the review Thanks

thanks for sharing your thoughts & opinions on the cruise

Would love to see Greenland & Iceland someday

I agree about the the GDR we prefer it to the Terrace

Thank you so much for taking the time to post this thoughtful review...we found it quite helpful as we'll be in 7004 next month. (Also chosen for the extra half-bath!) Glad to hear that you were able to get good use of the balcony for the most part...that is a shame about the tablet. Wasn't planning on bringing mine on this trip...think that I'll call Oceania on Monday and ask if they'll have an updated one available for us by September.

Your favorable impressions of the GDR were encouraging, too...the concept of the Terrace sounds lovely but we do prefer being shown to a table rather than having to scout one out.

All in all, your comments have made us look forward to our Insignia sailing even more eagerly...cleanliness, good service and flexibility of food preparation are top priorities for me and you've reinforced that O does that well!

that is a shame about the tablet. Wasn't planning on bringing mine on this trip...!

not sure about the tablets but the provided laptops in other Cabins are basically useless

you can only read your mail or look up stuff on the web

I prefer my own netbook it also has my passwords & favourite pages already there so no need to try to remember them all;)

YMMV

Very well written and thought out review. I also appreciate the fact that it is very objective.

Thank you for that.

Agree with Lyn - your own tablet/laptop is the way to go as the provided hardware has very limited functionality (even when up to date).

An excellent report. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience.

Appreciate the input...basically I'm just hoping for either a working laptop or tablet in the suite to be able to check e-mail on. Except for that necessity, we'd actually planned on taking a vacation from being so connected!!! (Seriously, other than e-mail and browsing, prefer not to use passwords or do transactions on wifi to avoid security issues.)

Will still check with Oceania that there will be either an updated tablet and/or laptop provided.

Have a good weekend all!

Thank you this report on Insignia. We will be on her in the OS for SA mid Oct. (yes 2 bathrooms are very nice) and happy to hear all is well.

We were spoiled in the VS on Regatta (sister ship) and for a longer cruise prefer the extra space.

Our favorite place to dine is the Terrace Cafe as we prefer to dine outside when possible. I did find however, when on Regatta for Alaska (cooler temps) that it can seem a bit more crowded when the weather is chilly and dining outside is not a possibility.

On sea days when the temps were chilly it was a very enjoyable experience having lunch in the GDR. Have never had dinner in GDR yet, but we will be on for 21 days so it is time we tried it.

I love the smaller R ships, but my favorite is Riviera and agree there is more to do on the larger ship.

Very nice review... I enjoyed your comments. Were they any families on this cruise?

Except for that necessity, we'd actually planned on taking a vacation from being so connected!!! (Seriously, other than e-mail and browsing, prefer not to use passwords or do transactions on wifi to avoid security issues.)

 

Would you not need a password to get into your online mail account ??

Worse case ..use the computer room ;)

Thank you for an excellent review. I read every word. Very much appropriate for me -- I returned 2 weeks ago from a Greenland/Iceland/Canada cruise on Holland America's Rotterdam and my next cruise is Singapore to Abu Dhabi on Insignia in April 2017 as a segment of the World Cruise. New ports and new to a segment WC but have been on R-ships at least 8 times and so I guess they are my favorites -- little but comfy and able to slip in where the big ships can't go. Thanks. I am looking forward to more time on Insignia though I had a great time on Rotterdam too.

Thank you so much for your detailed review. We are considering the Northern Crossing cruise in 2017 and your thoughts are very helpful.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Very nice review... I enjoyed your comments. Were they any families on this cruise?

We saw some teenagers, maybe five, probably sixteen or older. I don't remember seeing any younger children than that.

To Haskinskj...

Thank you so very much for the time you took to post your informative review.

We were also on Insignia this year (Sydney to Papeete) for almost all of May and our feelings were almost identical to yours regarding Insignia. Our favorite dining venue is also GDR (especially for breakfast and lunch when possible). We only visit Terrace when we get back late from touring or we don't have time for room service. While the service in Terrace is the typical level of excellence from crew, it is the competition for a table, general atmosphere of coise, activity, etc. Plus, we like our hot food hot --- and our cold food cold. But good that Terrace is there, for sure. And so many passengers have it as their favorite.

Our cabin was well forward on Deck 7 as well, and we experienced more 'jostling' going from Sydney to NZ than we experienced on any of our other 8 cruises with Oceania. It does make a difference to be lower and more midship or aft. However, the motion was good for sleeping. We also enjoyed having Nilesh for a cabin attendant. He was paired with Andrei who had been on the entire World Cruise. Andrei left Insignia in Miami to be home for his daughter's birthday on July 4. The service in our corner of Deck 7 was excellent with those two.

We are going to be taking the Rekjavik to NYC sailing on Insignia July 26, 2017. We had been wondering if the three stops in Greenland were going to be worth it, but it sounds like you enjoyed all three. We are feeling a bit better about the itinerary after your review, knowing we have similar opinions.

Again, thank you so much for preparing your post :) And, enjoy your next cruise!

Thank you for the review.

-haskinskj

We just disembark the Insignia in Dover this morning after en 11 day Baltic cruise from Stockholm.

Our experience was very similar to yours, GDR was fantastic, the food and the service was very professional and the hostess Mercy was absolutely amazing, it was the best GDR experience on our 3 Oceania cruises.

I also agree with you regarding Teracce Cafe that in comparison with the GDR feels very messy and stressful.

The ship is in wonderful condition and the crew did an amazing work.

So glad to hear the wonderful vibes of Insignia continue! Your description of the Terrace Cafe compared to the Grand Dining Room mirror my experience very closely. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for your post, Winter Gate...so glad to hear you enjoyed the ship and crew...and the MDR!!!

My husband and I were on the Insignia July 1-19 for the Northern Crossing trip from Miami to Reykjavik. Overall, what a wonderful cruise; we really enjoyed the ship, several sea days, the ports and, most especially, staying in Reykjavik for a few days after disembarking.

 

But this is about the ship. We had sailed previously on the Marina (three weeks around South America in 2013). We also have sailed on Regent's Voyager three times and previous to that on Holland America and Costa a few times. The Insignia was very well maintained; I didn't see any torn or stained carpet in the public areas; the ship gleamed every day from continuous thorough cleanings. Staff we encountered were not only unfailingly polite but, in most instances, also very warm and genuine in wanted to assure your positive experience and providing you a great trip.

 

We stayed in a Vista Suite, Cabin 7004, at the front of the ship. We were directly below the bridge so heard almost nothing except an occasional footstep. The suite has 1 and 1/2 baths which is a particular reason why we chose it--no fighting in the morning for space! The bedroom did not have a walk in closet; instead it had wall units around two walls which provided more than adequate space both hanging and drawers. There was also a desk in the bedroom and two small bedside tables (just enough to hold our cell phones at night). The living room had a large piece of furniture which was a bar and storage space for glasses, napkins, menus and a small refrigerator. There was also a small dining table with four chairs, a sofabed, two chairs, two side tables and a coffee table. More than enough room! Our balcony extended across the front and had enough room for two loungers and a table with four chairs. We really liked this suite.

 

We had wonderful room attendants. Victoria and Nilesh provided superb service promptly and efficiently. They were never too busy to stop and chat for a few minutes. I think they had eyes in the back of their heads because when we left the cabin in the morning for breakfast the room would be thoroughly cleaned by the time we got back. They were just amazing. Mishra, our butler, was also incredibly service oriented. He never failed to give us more information about what was going on in the ship than I would have imagined he would know. He knew about the laundry routine for cleaning our clothes, he knew the weather forecast and would recommend how to dress when we were going out for excursions, he would tell us about the menus in the dining room, the specials that evening in the Terrace--he was just incredible and so very, very kind.

 

We used the balcony quite a bit in spite of getting the headwinds and a bit of "jostling" on afternoon on our way out of Halifax. There were several days/nights when the furniture on the balcony was tied down due to wind. However, there were other times when we could stand/sit on the balcony despite the wind and feel perfectly safe that we weren't going to get blown overboard.

 

Dining on board was delightful. We found the food very good to excellent (with one exception which I will get to shortly). There was plenty of choice regardless of the venue and we felt all dining rooms were well staffed and service was of very high caliber as well. Our favorite dining room was the Grand Dining Room. I know this flies in the face of many Oceania regulars but our experience was that there was plenty of choice every day we ate there, the service was excellent, the ambiance was elegant and classy and the overall experience was truly one of grand dining. My husband defines me as high maintenance as I usually ask for some change to my meal from how it is described on the menu. For example, at lunch one day, I asked for the Nicoise salad if I could have it with grilled chicken instead of tuna or salmon (which were the choices listed). No problem. Many times I would ask to have the starch deleted and add a second vegetable--no problem. Mercy, the hostess in the GDR, did an outstanding job. I think she remembered everyone's name by day three of the cruise! Walter, the waiter we had most frequently, remembered our desires after only the second time. The food was always well prepared, hot when it was supposed to be hot, room temperature if it was supposed to be so and my, did it taste good!

 

I do not enjoy the Terrace Dining Room at all. The food is usually not at the appropriate temperature, the choices to me were uninteresting and uninspiring in general, the grill which many rave about provided about the toughest steak I have ever had and the most dried out lobster tail I ever experienced. I hated the experience of trying to find a table. I found numerous other guests pushy and demanding from the staff unlike any other bar or restaurant on the ship, and the overall experience for me in the Terrace was very "Golden Corral" level of dining and I do not mean that as a compliment. Give me the level of service and food preparation in the GDR; I think we ate only three times in the Terrace Dining Room during the entire trip.

 

My criticism of the Terrace does not extend to the Waves Grill. We loved their sandwiches when that was our mood and the warmth and courtesies delivered by all of the staff whose daily job was the Waves Grill.

 

We ate twice at Toscana and twice at Polo. We actually had reservations for one additional time at each (because we were in a suite and due to the length of the cruise we had the opportunity for three reservations in each specialty restaurant). We ended up cancelling the last two reservations of the six because we enjoyed the GDR so much. There was nothing wrong with either Toscana or Polo; we thought the quality of the food was very, very good. However, we received the same level of attention and quality of food with more choice in the GDR.

 

We both really love sea days because the opportunity to enjoy the ship is so special on sea days. By the way, once we got north of New York City (July 6 onto July 19) the weather became much cooler (it was heat indexes of over 100 degrees in Cape Canaveral, Charleston and New York). From Bar Harbor on we wore sweaters and slacks every day for excursions or on sea days; it was quite refreshing!

 

Anyway, back to the sea days. Oceania doesn't offer a lot of activities and the schedule doesn't vary much on the sea days. Having said that, we did Bingo every sea day and I actually won $80 one day. Then my husband always went to the Blackjack and Texas Hold 'Em Tournaments every day; he didn't play he just enjoyed watching and talking with the folks. I went to some of the enrichment lectures--Joseph Campbell did an outstanding job and we both had massages and haircuts on the ship. We were pleased with the quality of the spa services. I am a voracious reader so I found the library quickly and loved the room. There was plenty of choice among the books offered. We also attended a couple of cooking demonstrations and really enjoyed the humor of the executive chef (and, of course, the recipes).

 

So what didn't we like about the ship? Having sailed first on Marina, we missed the cooking classes and the greater choice of specialty restaurants that one has on the larger ships. We were in an Oceania suite on the Marina and liked that size and décor much better than the décor on Insignia; the décor on Insignia was too fussy for me. Given the weather on this cruise, we couldn't enjoy the decks very much. We did know that was likely going into this cruise so this is certainly not a fault of Oceania or the ship, just an observation. On the days when we could use the decks it was hard to find loungers.

 

We also were supposed to have a dedicated tablet (IPad like electronic) in our cabin for our use. Although the equipment was there we were unable to use it because Oceania had not updated the software to make them usable--this we got from the Computer Room guru on the ship. I thought this was very tawdry and cheap of Oceania to use in their marketing when they knew the tablets were unusable! How can they be so elegant in the classiness of their ships, the quality of the food, the outstanding training they provide to staff and be so cheap as to pretend they are offering this great advantage to us and then just refuse to update it to make it usable--unbelievable! I should mention here that Internet was not available many days due to the lack of satellite access-not an Oceania problem or responsibility. Contrast this with how they handled a cancelled excursion which we received "free" due to the OLife offer of five "free" excursions. When it was cancelled, Oceania made an adjustment in our shipboard account to add back $100 credit. Now that was classy!

 

We had the Prestige Drink Package and I disliked having to show my card every time I wanted a drink. I get why Oceania does this--I just don't like it and find it cumbersome.

 

You can see that my dislikes are far smaller than my likes. I still really enjoy Oceania and would choose it again for another cruise. I loved the itinerary and enjoyed all of the Canadian ports as well as the three Greenland ports and Iceland. Who knew I would find Greenland so charming and Iceland so spectacular?! I loved the cool weather.

 

If you have finally read this far I am amazed as this is probably way too much detail. Thanks to all of you who provided me with such fun reading over the last three years and helped me plan a great trip on Oceania.

Thanks so much for your detailed and very helpful review. We recently booked this itinerary for July, 2017. I'd like your input on a few specific questions please. My email address is: forshping@astound.net. Please email me if you do not wish to post your email address on Cruise Critic and I will then contact you. Many thanks, in advance.

Enjoyed your review and we also prefer the civility of GDR