Riviera March 6 to March 16, Mini Review

We just got back from the Riviera cruise in the Caribbean. Here is a collection of random thoughts about that cruise. We had a great time although the seas were a little rough for the first half of our cruise.

In no particular order…

Embarkation and debarkation were simply amazing. No waiting on either end. No more than 15 minutes for either operation. With “only” 1250 people to contend with they really breeze you right thru.

We found the bed to be magnificent. Enough so that my wife is considering purchasing one for our home. Oceania offers details on purchasing these… they are not cheap.

It’s nice to have a bathtub, so much easier to have the extra room when showering.

I just have to say this: I mentioned the seas were a little rough the first part of the cruise.

I can’t tell you how impressed I am with “older” guests we had on this cruise. As you may know, the average age of guests on Oceania probably is significantly higher than most other cruise lines, and we certainly had our share on this cruise. I’ll bet that many guests on this cruise are somewhat “mobility challenged” on shore. Please, I’m not knocking anyone here. My point is: These “mobility challenged” cruisers are WARRIORS! These folks must be hard core cruise addicts. They just never missed a beat. I bow to your passion and skill!

The food is so subjective it’s hardly worth mentioning here but we found the vast majority of our meals to be far better than the only other cruise food we have enjoyed… RCI. There were lots of “hits” and few “misses”.

The time it takes to get thru a meal in the main dining room, for dinner, is way too long, in our estimation. We tried 3 times and each time it took 2 to 2 ½ hours. (We had no such trouble for breakfast and lunch.) We got to the dining room 6:30 each time, we got our appetizers and soups and salads quickly enough and then waited 45 minutes for the main dish. They told us it’s because “everyone showed up at the same time. Well, I think they’ve been doing this long enough to know when “everyone” shows up and maybe be prepared for it. However… no worries. We ended up going to the Terrace Cafe or the specialty restaurants and had excellent meals with no wait time, except at Toscana.

At Toscana we got the same excuse, that everyone showed up at the same time, 6:00.

So with this as the background, let me discus the specialty restaurants. When we booked the specialty restaurants online we were only able to get very late times. As we like to eat dinner as early as possible we were very disappointed. As our restaurants were booked for later in the cruise I took a chance and went to the reservation desk (on the second day) and asked if we could possibly get any earlier times for any of the restaurants. To my very pleasant surprise they were able to get us seated, all four of us, at all four restaurants at 6:00! What a great way to treat the customer!

Here’s where it gets a little strange, to me. We noticed that all four restaurants were only 50 to 60 percent filled for most of the time we were there. I guess that explains how they were able to get us in at 6:00. With the amount of talk about making reservations early on the message boards I was under the impression it would be somewhat difficult to get into these restaurants at or near a time you desired.

So… our last specialty restaurant was on day 7 of our 10 day cruise. We enjoyed Red Ginger the most (HINT… GET THE SEA BASS) I went to the reservation desk to see if we could get into Red Ginger again, knowing the room is only half full at 6:00 I was hoping this could be done. I was told I would have to go on a wait list and they would let me know. I mentioned this should probably be no problem because the room is so empty at 6.00. After a little conversation the man told me the room is only half full because the specialty restaurants use very small galleys. He said they can only serve 30 tables at a time. Anything beyond that and the service slows down to the point that customers complain. That certainly explains the empty tables.

So the moral of the (dining) story is: If you’re unhappy with the late time you’ll likely get when booking, it is certainly worth asking for an earlier time… you might just get it!

On to things not dining related.

The lounge chairs are much like the beds, the best!

The “entertainment” is a little weak. I know that’s subjective but we weren’t impressed.

Every single employee on the ship, that we had contact with, are extremely pleasant, almost to the extreme. Look, I enjoy good customer service as much as the next guy but sometimes all the smiles and “yes sirs” becomes a little creepy.. just a little. ;) We saw, on more than one occasion, “guests” treating the employees just horribly. I guess some people just like being treated like a king or queen a little too much.

I’ll stop here (yeah!)

I’m sure there’s much more to talk about. If anyone has any questions I’ll try to answer on anything we experienced… however we didn’t “do it all” so there will probably be a lot I won’t be able to comment on.

All in all, a great cruise. We made some new friends, had a blast and can’t wait to cruise with Oceania again!

Thanks so much for your review! We board on the 26th and I can't wait!

Donna

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts. Glad you enjoyed your first Oceania cruise.

One thing to consider on the Specialty restaurants, the reason half of the room is empty at 6pm is that there will be others coming in at 630, 7, 730 8 etc. If they filled the place up at 6 there would be nowhere for the ensuing groups to sit. The soonest the first group would be out is around 8-8:30.

Thanks for posting this review. It is totally understandable given your previous cruising experience IMO. As to some of those guests who were treating employees in ways you and I would never do, perhaps it was the feeling of entitlement some people allow themselves and which is obviously undeserved.

We are looking forward to our first Riviera sailing next year after having used many other lines over the past 37 years and your review has pretty much confirmed what I've long-suspected.

Thank you for your review. I enjoyed reading it.

We have had the same experience with the 50/60% full specialty restaurants. The one hour spread between dining times dictates the occupancy.

We just got back from the Riviera cruise in the Caribbean. Here is a collection of random thoughts about that cruise. We had a great time although the seas were a little rough for the first half of our cruise.

 

 

 

In no particular order…

 

 

Embarkation and debarkation were simply amazing. No waiting on either end. No more than 15 minutes for either operation. With “only” 1250 people to contend with they really breeze you right thru.

 

 

We found the bed to be magnificent. Enough so that my wife is considering purchasing one for our home. Oceania offers details on purchasing these… they are not cheap.

 

 

It’s nice to have a bathtub, so much easier to have the extra room when showering.

 

 

I just have to say this: I mentioned the seas were a little rough the first part of the cruise.

I can’t tell you how impressed I am with “older” guests we had on this cruise. As you may know, the average age of guests on Oceania probably is significantly higher than most other cruise lines, and we certainly had our share on this cruise. I’ll bet that many guests on this cruise are somewhat “mobility challenged” on shore. Please, I’m not knocking anyone here. My point is: These “mobility challenged” cruisers are WARRIORS! These folks must be hard core cruise addicts. They just never missed a beat. I bow to your passion and skill!

 

 

The food is so subjective it’s hardly worth mentioning here but we found the vast majority of our meals to be far better than the only other cruise food we have enjoyed… RCI. There were lots of “hits” and few “misses”.

 

 

The time it takes to get thru a meal in the main dining room, for dinner, is way too long, in our estimation. We tried 3 times and each time it took 2 to 2 ½ hours. (We had no such trouble for breakfast and lunch.) We got to the dining room 6:30 each time, we got our appetizers and soups and salads quickly enough and then waited 45 minutes for the main dish. They told us it’s because “everyone showed up at the same time. Well, I think they’ve been doing this long enough to know when “everyone” shows up and maybe be prepared for it. However… no worries. We ended up going to the Terrace Cafe or the specialty restaurants and had excellent meals with no wait time, except at Toscana.

 

 

At Toscana we got the same excuse, that everyone showed up at the same time, 6:00.

So with this as the background, let me discus the specialty restaurants. When we booked the specialty restaurants online we were only able to get very late times. As we like to eat dinner as early as possible we were very disappointed. As our restaurants were booked for later in the cruise I took a chance and went to the reservation desk (on the second day) and asked if we could possibly get any earlier times for any of the restaurants. To my very pleasant surprise they were able to get us seated, all four of us, at all four restaurants at 6:00! What a great way to treat the customer!

 

 

 

Here’s where it gets a little strange, to me. We noticed that all four restaurants were only 50 to 60 percent filled for most of the time we were there. I guess that explains how they were able to get us in at 6:00. With the amount of talk about making reservations early on the message boards I was under the impression it would be somewhat difficult to get into these restaurants at or near a time you desired.

 

 

So… our last specialty restaurant was on day 7 of our 10 day cruise. We enjoyed Red Ginger the most (HINT… GET THE SEA BASS) I went to the reservation desk to see if we could get into Red Ginger again, knowing the room is only half full at 6:00 I was hoping this could be done. I was told I would have to go on a wait list and they would let me know. I mentioned this should probably be no problem because the room is so empty at 6.00. After a little conversation the man told me the room is only half full because the specialty restaurants use very small galleys. He said they can only serve 30 tables at a time. Anything beyond that and the service slows down to the point that customers complain. That certainly explains the empty tables.

 

 

So the moral of the (dining) story is: If you’re unhappy with the late time you’ll likely get when booking, it is certainly worth asking for an earlier time… you might just get it!

 

 

On to things not dining related.

 

 

The lounge chairs are much like the beds, the best!

 

 

 

The “entertainment” is a little weak. I know that’s subjective but we weren’t impressed.

 

 

Every single employee on the ship, that we had contact with, are extremely pleasant, almost to the extreme. Look, I enjoy good customer service as much as the next guy but sometimes all the smiles and “yes sirs” becomes a little creepy.. just a little. ;) We saw, on more than one occasion, “guests” treating the employees just horribly. I guess some people just like being treated like a king or queen a little too much.

 

 

I’ll stop here (yeah!)

 

 

I’m sure there’s much more to talk about. If anyone has any questions I’ll try to answer on anything we experienced… however we didn’t “do it all” so there will probably be a lot I won’t be able to comment on.

 

 

All in all, a great cruise. We made some new friends, had a blast and can’t wait to cruise with Oceania again!

The ability of the "oldsters" to get around just points to the fact that they are the greatest generation and not the entitled, cupcakes of today.

The ability of the "oldsters" to get around just points to the fact that they are the greatest generation and not the entitled, cupcakes of today.

This would make a great question for a job interview.... i.e.: What sort of cake are you - and why?

Your anticipated answer from somebody from the younger generation is: "I'm a cupcake because i'm entitled." What answer would you provide?

• I'm an Angel Cake because...
  
• I'm a Butterfly cake because...
  
• I'm a Cheesecake because...
  
• I'm a Financier because...
  
• I'm a Mille-Feuille because...
  
• I'm a Muffin because...
  

PS: It is very insightful to look at the generalisations and/or stereotypes somebody chooses to through into a discussion....The OP didn't indicate that the guests treating staff horribly were from the "cupcake" generation.

:D

Ok I am too old to understand all this new language

What the heck is the cupcake generation ??

I feel I am part of the stale pound cake generation ;)

Ok I am too old to understand all this new language

What the heck is the cupcake generation ??

 

I feel I am part of the stale pound cake generation ;)

That's ok, Lyn....I'd probably have to classify myself as a fruitcake:D

This would make a great question for a job interview.... i.e.: What sort of cake are you - and why?

 

Your anticipated answer from somebody from the younger generation is: "I'm a cupcake because i'm entitled." What answer would you provide?

• I'm an Angel Cake because...
  
• I'm a Butterfly cake because...
  
• I'm a Cheesecake because...
  
• I'm a Financier because...
  
• I'm a Mille-Feuille because...
  
• I'm a Muffin because...
  

PS: It is very insightful to look at the generalisations and/or stereotypes somebody chooses to through into a discussion....The OP didn't indicate that the guests treating staff horribly were from the "cupcake" generation.

 

:D

The OP seemed bolstered by the spirit of the oldsters, is all I mean. Yes, it has been noted that Gen X, Gen Y, Millennials and now the "entitled ones" will never be what the oldsters are.JMO

 

 

Here’s where it gets a little strange, to me. We noticed that all four restaurants were only 50 to 60 percent filled for most of the time we were there. I guess that explains how they were able to get us in at 6:00. With the amount of talk about making reservations early on the message boards I was under the impression it would be somewhat difficult to get into these restaurants at or near a time you desired.

 

!

Dining times in the specialty restaurants are staggered so that everyone does not arrive at the same time. So, when the restaurant opens, they seat the amount of people that can easily be accommodated. By the time they have a drink, order and perhaps receive their appetizer, the next group arrives. Eventually the restaurant is full but they arrive in small groups. Hope this makes sense.

As an aside, the generational names have been around for 100+ years - nothing new. Here are the dates for each generation and their name(s):

2000/2001-Present - New Silent Generation or Generation Z

1980-2000 - Millennials or Generation Y

1965-1979 - Generation X

1946-1964 - Baby Boom

1925-1945 - Silent Generation

1900-1924 - G.I. Generation

I think that the "cupcake" generation is a great name but is just made up. On another board, the current generation is lovingly(?) being called "generation snowflake".

The OP seemed bolstered by the spirit of the oldsters, is all I mean. Yes, it has been noted that Gen X, Gen Y, Millennials and now the "entitled ones" will never be what the oldsters are.JMO

"bolstered"? Yes, also inspired. Some of these folks have thirty or more years on me. I truly admire their passion to get out and do the things others would think impossible to do.

Also, very generally speaking, the few times I saw "entitled" behavior it was coming from my generation. I am 58 years old and I'm not sure where that puts me. :o