Confessions of a Cruise Virgin - Oceania Riviera March 16 2017 - April 9 2017

March 15 2017 - Confessions of a Cruise Virgin - Oceania Riviera March 16 2017 - April 9 2017

This is my first cruise ever after avoiding them all these years. Dear friends told us about taking a relocation cruise last year and it sounded ideal as we travel to France every year or two. So we signed up for the relocation cruise on Riviera Oceania leaving Miami March 26 and arriving Barcelona April 9. If that wasn’t enough, we later added another leg, March 16 - March 26, same ship, same stateroom doing Caribbean Islands that we had not before visited.

Now why have we avoided cruises? Because I am extremely afraid of seasickness having had a terrible experience on our honeymoon going by boat to Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica. Perhaps sitting up on the sundeck of a 40’ boat with a gallon of rum punches contributed. Nevertheless I took the plunge and I have read all the posts on Cruise Critic and elsewhere. I have packed the following: 2 Relief Bands with 4 extra batteries, 100 tablets of Bonine, 18 Transderm Patches, many, many Gravol (Canadian for Dramamine), and 2 different varieties of ginger candies - I am trusting that I can get the green apples and soda crackers on the ship. Wish me luck!

Having digested all the CC posts, asked every question and watching hoards of Youtube videos. I think we are prepared. We arrived in Miami the day before, have our case of wine from Total Wine and More, purchased magnets, hooks, clips, hangers laundry bags, shoe organizers (enough to fill one carry on suitcase!). I will let you know what we actually use….

I am a foodie so hence the choice of Oceania. I will try to keep this ongoing live report of our experiences as up to date as possible with my thoughts as a first timer - a virgin.

We are staying in the Hyatt Airport East in Miami tonight as it was a relatively cheap option ($240 cdn). Returning our rental car at the airport, we took an Uber car to Bayside where we had a wonderful ceviche at Pollos & Jarras accompanied by a glass of Joel Gott Cabernet that we knew and liked. In the tapas mood we walked to Niu Kitchen where we shared Spanish Cheese Trio (3 Spanish cheeses), Paleta Iberica de bellota (wonderful Spanish ham), Coca (escalivada (Catalonian grilled vegetables)),tuna belly, anchovies, romesco (red pepper sauce),and black olives, and pan con tomate (tomato puré on toasted bread. Spanish red wine for Sandra and IPA’s for me. If I can figure out how to get pictures from my phone to this thread I will try to post food pictures.

Tomorrow we Uber to Port of Miami and try to sneak aboard before our appointed 12 noon time. We will punch our cards to go on our lanyards (I know - a rookie move), tour the ship, unpack, have a lobster/Kobe beef burger and a milkshake, try to get a sail away table at Horizons, attempt to book an extra specialty restaurant for Thursday night, unpack with our complimentary champagne, go to the Meet and Greet at Waves, attend the muster and relax. Whew - tired already.

Have a great cruise

Try not to think of being seasick just pretend you are in a land resort ;)

I get sick on the Toronto island ferry but fine on the cruise ships :confused:

Enjoy

Lyn

Have a great cruise and let us know how it goes.

Bonine is wonderful but has to be taken early to be effective.

As a foodie, think about booking La Reserve.

Pollos & Jarras - Miami Florida

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Ceviche

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Greetings

I awoke this morning to watch Riviera return into Port Miami. She is sitting there awaiting your arrival :). Try not to eat all the lobster sammies, my SO will be trying to break her lobster eating record when we join the ship on the Miami-Barcelona leg in 10 days.

Enjoy the warn Caribbean days and have a great cruise.

Good Sailing

Tom

Our view this morning is not quite the same as Tom's. I threw open the blinds of our room to see a beautiful sunny day warming the construction of the La Quinta Inn next door.

Yesterday we received notification of a sell-up from our A1 Concierge to a PH for total of $800. We didn't have to worry if that was a good deal as it was snapped up by the time we responded. It was for our first leg (Caribbean 10 day) only.

We have booked a Prive dinner with 8 other Hereto unknown CC friends via the roll call. As well we are booked in for the Reserve dining, Connisseur menu. Looking forward to both those events.

Any hints on posting photos directly from an iPhone to CC?

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I seem to recall reading that it's easier to post pictures from Tapatalk but have no first hand experience.

Thanks Paul. I will check into that.

For anyone boarding the Riviera today, March 16 - the Riviera is at Terminal B, not Terminal J.

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Thanks Paul. I will check into that.

For anyone boarding the Riviera today, March 16 - the Riviera is at Terminal B, not Terminal J.

 

 

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Greetings

Seven Seas Explorer is at J. Not sure which terminal Riviera will use when she returns. Seven Seas Explorer will be back the same day and there will be a total of 7 ships in port. Terminal B is Getaway's normal berth and she will be there on the 26th.

Good Sailing

Tom

My best advice would be to relax and take it easy. If you try to do everything it will all be a blur and you'll be worn out. Enjoy the things you do and realize there is only so many hours in a day.

That was a good upsell price, no wonder it was gone. Hope you enjoy the milkshakes, I personally don't, but love the ice creams on board.

Despite that boat ride to Dunn's River Falls you forget that you actually made it to the TOP of that thing which is no small feat. Every time we have cruised we have seen the scope patches behind the ear, the bracelets on the wrists, and all those other "preventitives" and I assume all of them work since none of these people ever seem to be hanging over the railing. Perhaps they are "polite" and rush back to their cabin to let it all hang out.

I bet you will have a wonderful cruise and don't even think about "overthinking" it. Let it take over your mind and keep us posted about how it went and goes.

@Robjame, just like you, we were cruise virgins and booked our first cruise ever on Riviera, in December 2015. After 2 days onboard we told each other that we were spoiled for life. We had an absolutely wonderful 3 weeks on board and were very sad to leave. We had only one day with lots of wind, from Cancun to Grand Cayman but had no problem at all with seasickness.

I wish you a wonderful cruise and hope you will enjoy it as much as we did our first cruise. I'm green with envy!;)

OK, I admit it: I am watching this thread closely from my home here on the beach. You left yesterday and hoping that today or soon, one or the other, we'll be hearing that everything in terms of embarkation, the "drill" and the meal last night (and this morning, etc.) went well; you ended up throwing all those seasick remedies back into your carry-on, and that you are LOVING this:p.

Tell us it is true!!!

March 16

We arrived at Terminal B, Port of Miami at 10:20. The Uber car from the Airport are was less than $15.

At that time, there were few other travellers at the luggage drop off where our things (2 suitcases, 2 carryons and a case of 12 bottles of wine) were taken from the trunk and loaded on a baggage cart with assurances that the next time we would see them would be in our cabin.

About 50 people were standing around the preloading area. One of the officials announced that although they were planned to open at 10 am, clearing the ship was taking longer to clear than expected. At 10:50 the security check began, followed by a health questionnaire. Dedicated lines for each class of passenger were set up and no one questioned anyone who had arrived prior to their assigned boarding time. The numbers in each line were about the same. An official did make sure that the PH and above lines were served more quickly. After having passports examined and credit cards validated we walked through to the gangplank. Our passports were kept.

We were on the ship by 11:10 so the entire process took less than 20 minutes once begun. Crew met us and directed us to Terrace where a wonderful buffet was awaiting. Turkey and roast beef carving stations as well as about every other imaginable food item was beautifully displayed. Servers serve you and wait staff carry your plates to tables. We sat outside by the railing and watched dock workers using fork lifts to load luggage, food and cases upon cases of drinks.

We began exploring the ship after lunch arriving at our Concierge stateroom at 1:30. Our four bags were waiting outside the door but not our case of wine. Visions of being summoned to a naughty room or being told it had been misplaced and the contents suitably disposed of, sprang to mind.

We commenced unpacking to the accompaniment of our complimentary bottle of champagne. I checked outside the door several time and at about 3:30 the missing case of wine appeared in pristine condition. A phone call followed at about 4 pm checking that everything was in order. The person at the other end asked if there was anything else whereupon I asked if there were any sittings available at any of the 4 specialty restaurants, above our allocated reservations. We scored a 6 o’clock sitting at Jacques.

We attended the CC Meet & Greet near waves at 4:30. Only 3 other couples were there and after introductions we simply chatted until 5:10 when it was time for our 5:15 muster in the casino bar area. This consisted of a lot of sitting around until a 5 minute life vest demo and mandatory safety instruction went on, releasing us at 5:50.

After changing for dinner we appeared at Jacques at 6:15. They had no reservation for us and the maitre d’ searched and finally apologized profusely telling us the problem was theirs and not ours. We were seated at a prime window location.

I took a bottle of Pomerol and a bottle of Pouilly Fuisse to dinner. The red ws opened and allowed to breathe. The sommelier gave us some background on Pomerol region and tasted it, describing his reaction to the wine.

Two simple amuse bouche were followed by our appetizer choices, The crab salad wrapped in a lettuce leaf for Sandy and the warm foie gras for me. We ordered sparkling water which is our normal choice. Great that Oceania provides this at no additional charge. Sandy had sole very lightly coated and served in a lemon/caper sauce, filleted at the table. Meanwhile I opted for my favourite Bouillabasie. Both came piping hot which was a concern after reading CC comments about food temperature. The fish soup was delicious with good size chunks of fish and seafood. A plate of delices followed the main which was strange to us as usually these come after the dessert course. These were a selection of indifferent madeleines. Crepe suzettes were on the menu and Sandy indulged while I sampled the six French cheeses.

The matter d’ marked our stateroom number on each bottle of wine with the promise that they would follow us to our next dinning venue. This a wonderful service which even after paying the $25 corkage charge, allowed us to bring some great wine choices at a reasonable cost, to dinner. Espressos followed.

The meal took over 2 hours which suits us fine. We wandered up to Horizons for a specialty coffee enjoying the vocalist while fellow passengers danced.

At about 9pm the ship had begun moving around quite a bit. Thank god for the patch. The captain announce that we were returning to Miami as their was a passenger who was very ill. I suspected that he raised the stabilizers (if such a thing is even possible) to increase the speed.

We headed to bed an found out in the morning that the passenger was transferred to a coast guard vessel at about 12 midnight. As a result, the Saturday visit to Turks and Caicos was scrapped and we are proceeding directly to San Juan, with a longer stay being planned. Fine with us as we are just along for the ride and enjoying exploring our new home for the next 24 days.

Impressions of a first timer:

The ship is narrower than I had envisioned from videos, but longer.

There are little periodic shifts caused by white capped seas from the side. Akin to what you experience on a train.

All styles of dress from cut-off jeans to resort casual.

Food is arriving hot.

There are so many crooks, crannies and hide-a-ways. You never feel that there are many on the ship as people hibernate in the small private areas and do their thing.

Staff is very friendly, saying hello to you constantly.

Many organized activities going on during the day.

Yes, they definitely can retract the stabilizers. Glad it is going well for you.

We board next week and I am delighted to hear your experiences. It is our first Oceania cruise. Like the idea of checking the first night for a spare slot for the specialty dining. Enjoy your cruise!

If you get to a port that is not US, buy Stugeron. This is way better than any seasick medication. No drowsiness, no dry mouth. My DH gets seasick looking at a toilet bowl and with Stugeron we have been through a cruise on Hurricane Sandy, one on the Explorer this winter 79 knots and just now 38 knots on the Riviera...no seasickness. Have to take it before you get sick though.

We board next week and I am delighted to hear your experiences. It is our first Oceania cruise. Like the idea of checking the first night for a spare slot for the specialty dining. Enjoy your cruise!

The key to this seems to be flexibility. We did not voice a preference for which restaurant or for time. I had read on CC that on sail away day, there usually are some vacancies.

Things we learned about Oceania:

The ship is loaded with $1.4 million of food.

There is over $500,000 in caviar and foie gras on board.

The Executive chef is putting in his orders for food for the summer cruises of Riviera now. He is trying to predict what the passengers will eat plus 20%.

Oceania has its own flour, grown and milled in France. It was chosen as it is not affected by different humidities. All Oceania ships use this flour so that a baguette is the same on any ship, in any part of the world.

All beef, lamb is US.

There are 3 shifts of bakers working 24 7.

There are 250 people working of food prep, cooking and service.

Tomatoes are ordered as 6x6 which indicates size. It is important that they are all uniform size.

Food. Very interesting. Thank you.

Robjame,

Thank you for your updates - looking forward to reading more.

It sounds like sautéed foie gras is back on the menu at Jacques. If so, that is great news (for me, anyway) as that was absent for a while. Only the pate was on the menu recently and the sautéed foie gras had been absent for some time.

Robjame,

Thank you for your updates - looking forward to reading more.

It sounds like sautéed foie gras is back on the menu at Jacques. If so, that is great news (for me, anyway) as that was absent for a while. Only the pate was on the menu recently and the sautéed foie gras had been absent for some time.

It is on at least two menus that we have seen. Jacques - sautéed foie gras and a cold pate that you describe above. In Polo we had a foie gras (whole piece) and mushrooms en croute. Delicious.

It is on at least two menus that we have seen. Jacques - sautéed foie gras and a cold pate that you describe above. In Polo we had a foie gras (whole piece) and mushrooms en croute. Delicious.

Thank you.

I don't much care for the latter as by the time it's cooked en croute it is too well done and a bit chewey. The one in Jacques is a different story - melts in your mouth :)

Robjame:

I am really enjoying your comments and observations. We will be joining you on Sunday for the T/A and your posts are making it real. :D

It is on at least two menus that we have seen. Jacques - sautéed foie gras and a cold pate that you describe above. In Polo we had a foie gras (whole piece) and mushrooms en croute. Delicious.

Does sound scrumptious! Three more weeks and we will be on the Marina for 31 days. Can't wait to have that great sautéed foie gras once more! Enjoy the rest of your cruise - we will be living it with you!

Donna