A Lighter Side to a Cruise Review: Riviera 02/02-02/12/17

Hi y'all Redneck Bob hear !

Me and the Mrs just completed a 10 day cruise on the beautiful and elegant Riviera thru the Caribbean last month. It was our best cruise ever !. The service was outstanding and the food was excellent. Hear goes my review.

My opinions are mine only and may not be someone else's or something like that.

Embarkation: best ever on Riviera. Boat was docked at Terminal B instead of J at port of Miami. Did not have to wait until your cabin status was called like suites first, then conceige and finally us. Just walked in and checked in and proceeded to ship.

Cabin: Great as always

Crew and Staff: Oustanding; in fact saw a lot of crew we sailed with before, like the Hotel Director Dominic Nicole. Great person. We first sailed with him on our first Oceania cruise four years ago and had not seen him since. When we boarded the boat, Domonic came up to us and said something like "Bonsewer Mr and Mrs Redneck Bob" or maybe he said Welcome Back Mr and Mrs N... Anyway we had not seen him in 4 years and he remembered our names. I asked him what we did wrong 4 years ago for him to remember us.:)

Food: Excellent but I have several things to talk about that I don't understand with Oceania.

1. Oceania must have a low salt diet menu or they are just plain rationing salt. Those salt shakers at the Terrace Grill have this one small hole that only allows each grain of salt comes out one grain at a time.

2. Oceania must still be rationing pancake batter based on the size of the pancakes at the Terrace Grill

3. I decided to try their waffles this cruise. Now that was an expereince. The waffles looked like they came from my local Piggly Wiggly Supermarket from the frozen food section with a brand name of Mrs. Butterworth. The waffles would be an embarrassment to my local Waffle House. And then Oceania had put this yellow creamy stuff into all the squares on the waffles. I asked what was that and the server replies, Custard. I be dogged. I said just give me 10 pieces of bacon instead.

4.At the Waves Grill the Kobe Burger is still be served even though he retired.

One more thing that was interesting. One night while dining for dinner at the Terrace Grill there were these two ladies next to us that were pretty upset about something. I asked them if I could help. They replied that they had been waiting for 15 minutes for their bottle of wine. Well I guess it must have been something special so I asked what kind of wine was it and they replied "SHARK".. I said I never heard of it and they said it was Greg Norman brand; the professional golfer. To try and cheer them up I used my charm and asked them:

Did the wine come with a handicap.

Is the wine for swingers only

Can you get hooked on the wine and is it a slice of life

Well they chuckled a little bit and finally the wine came. I said it must have been in the Shark Tank :)

Ports of Call: we visited Tortola, Antigua, Barbados, St Barths and St Lucia; all excellent. We did mostly beach tours. The only thing strange was in Barbados. While waiting for going on the tour in the Showroom, the shore excursion person announced that it was raining in Barbados and we would delay the tour 10 minutes if you would like to take an umbrella. I said are you kidding me; we are going to the beach to swim and we need an umbrella. Well lots of people went back to their cabins to get an umbrella even though each lounge chair at the beach had a huge umbella.

Well that's all for now. Great time !

I'm Redneck Bob and I see it like I tell it, I mean tell it like I see it

Thanks for this. I love your cents of you more.

Thanks for your review. Glad you had a great cruise. Also funny review. :D

Hey Redneck Bob. As a fellow redneck I enjoyed your reviews on the HAL board. (we spoke of grits and sweet tea) So HAL dropped their Barcelona to Venice cruise for 2017 and I switched to O. I'll be on Riviera in September for my first time on O. I had to get a title loan on the dualie to pay for it but it's only money. Seriously I've been a Neptune dweller on HAL and I'm doing the Riviera cruse in a PH. It'll be interesting to compare. I'm sure the food will be better but it will be hard to beat the friendly staff on HAL.

Hey Redneck Bob. As a fellow redneck I enjoyed your reviews on the HAL board. (we spoke of grits and sweet tea) So HAL dropped their Barcelona to Venice cruise for 2017 and I switched to O. I'll be on Riviera in September for my first time on O. I had to get a title loan on the dualie to pay for it but it's only money. Seriously I've been a Neptune dweller on HAL and I'm doing the Riviera cruse in a PH. It'll be interesting to compare. I'm sure the food will be better but it will be hard to beat the friendly staff on HAL.

Hi 106f,

Thanks for the reply. I didn't think I would get any response.

We were also HAL frequent flyers until discovered Oceania 4 years ago. You are correct about friendly HAL staff but so are Oceania staff.

And the food is excellent, at least to us. The four speciality restaurants are all 5 star ! In stead of dining in the MDR for dinner we dine at there Lido Restaurant called the Terrace Cafe. Every night they serve lobster tails, crab legs or claws, salmon, lamb chops, jumbo grilled shrimp.

On our first Oceania cruise I tried to order grits for breakfast and a French server asked me "What are Gets" ? Well you no where that went.

As far as nightly entertainment nothing special and I mean nothing special.

Have fun on your cruise

Hi 106f,

 

Thanks for the reply. I didn't think I would get any response.

 

We were also HAL frequent flyers until discovered Oceania 4 years ago. You are correct about friendly HAL staff but so are Oceania staff.

 

And the food is excellent, at least to us. The four speciality restaurants are all 5 star ! In stead of dining in the MDR for dinner we dine at there Lido Restaurant called the Terrace Cafe. Every night they serve lobster tails, crab legs or claws, salmon, lamb chops, jumbo grilled shrimp.

 

On our first Oceania cruise I tried to order grits for breakfast and a French server asked me "What are Gets" ? Well you no where that went.

 

As far as nightly entertainment nothing special and I mean nothing special.

 

Have fun on your cruise

Well sometimes you can get Polenta, which is close.

Well sometimes you can get Polenta, which is close.

My personnel preference is grits only. Never tried Polenta and probably won't.

I also like grits since I was raised in the South.

When is your next cruise Bob?

I also like grits since I was raised in the South.

 

When is your next cruise Bob?

grits? that white runny stuff? Not for me. I was raised in Brooklyn. But each to his own. The food on O is great whatever you order. Happy eating.

grits? that white runny stuff? Not for me. I was raised in Brooklyn. But each to his own. The food on O is great whatever you order. Happy eating.

White runny stuff is not garlic cheese grits with Gulfport bay shrimp and Ponchartrain sauce. :D No wonder you don't like them. LOL.

grits? that white runny stuff? Not for me. I was raised in Brooklyn. But each to his own. The food on O is great whatever you order. Happy eating.

My Dad was also raised in Brooklyn and loved grits. Must have grown up on the South Side :)

White runny stuff is not garlic cheese grits with Gulfport bay shrimp and Ponchartrain sauce. :D No wonder you don't like them. LOL.

Too Shay!

I find the best grits have that same consistency as the stuff you use to lay brick or block: mortar.

Too Shay!

 

I find the best grits have that same consistency as the stuff you use to lay brick or block: mortar.

I'm shocked that teeth aren't an issue :confused:

Are you sure that you are a red neck?

Thank you, Bob, for the delightful report! We're sailing on Riviera, our first on Oceania, next month. I love grits, too! Born in Birmingham and lived in Alabama for 50+ years.

Thank you, Bob, for the delightful report! We're sailing on Riviera, our first on Oceania, next month. I love grits, too! Born in Birmingham and lived in Alabama for 50+ years.

Thanks TravelNLesa,

We were almost neighbors. Grew up in small town just south of Birmingham

Having lived in the south my entire life, I can definitively say that grits and polenta are not the same thing at all. Polenta is what we called cornmeal mush growing up and is made from corn meal. Grits are made from the "grit" of the corn which is the little nub where the corn kernel attaches to the cob, most visible when one is making hominy. I have never encountered grits on a cruise ship which is unfortunate. (They were my go to breakfast when I was a surgical resident and was going to have to stand in surgery all day as they stick with you.) You cannot make grits from cornmeal.

Tulsa is part of the South? Okay.

I live along the same line and don't consider this the South, but TN & MS where I grew up is.

I'm sure you're right technically, but grits and polenta still remind me of each other in flavor and consistency.

I personally have never been a huge fan of either. I had a ton of grits growing up with ham and Red Eye gravy. I've had the shrimp, cheese and grits in the Gulf area of AL and find this my favorite way to eat them.

Thanks for the review. My kind of reviewing as well. We are taking our first Oceania Riviera this June, in the Meditteranean. We are not big cruisers, so really looking forward to this, as it fits in nicely with our 7 week Europe trip.

Thanks again, and I hope you find your grits soon.:)

Thanks for the review. My kind of reviewing as well. We are taking our first Oceania Riviera this June, in the Meditteranean. We are not big cruisers, so really looking forward to this, as it fits in nicely with our 7 week Europe trip.

Thanks again, and I hope you find your grits soon.:)

Thanks. The Riviera is our favorite boat. Hope y'all like it.

Don't know about finding grits on Oceania but I know they won't run out of lobster tails. :)

Tulsa is part of the South? Okay.

 

I live along the same line and don't consider this the South, but TN & MS where I grew up is.

 

I'm sure you're right technically, but grits and polenta still remind me of each other in flavor and consistency.

 

I personally have never been a huge fan of either. I had a ton of grits growing up with ham and Red Eye gravy. I've had the shrimp, cheese and grits in the Gulf area of AL and find this my favorite way to eat them.

Actually grew up in Arkansas which is where I learned to love grits. I did my residency at UAMS in Little Rock, but the hospital where I practice now has grits in the doctor's cafeteria every day to sustain us through surgery!

Actually grew up in Arkansas which is where I learned to love grits. I did my residency at UAMS in Little Rock, but the hospital where I practice now has grits in the doctor's cafeteria every day to sustain us through surgery!

That's a "grity" comment :)

Question I saw on Jeopardy yesterday;

"This is known as Italian Grits"

Answer-- What is Polenta Alex?

Maybe it's time to start a grits roll call or something like that. I only know redneckbob through the boards but we have definitely had grits for breakfast on HAL. Hal's gradual cutbacks in food quality brought me to O but I would cruise HAL again for the right itinerary.

White runny stuff is not garlic cheese grits with Gulfport bay shrimp and Ponchartrain sauce. :D No wonder you don't like them. LOL.

Sure sounds like I would like to try your stuff. Probably would be pretty good. :):)

Question I saw on Jeopardy yesterday;

 

"This is known as Italian Grits"

 

Answer-- What is Polenta Alex?

What does Alex know?

That's why the answer was Italian Grits; only to be eaten in Italy ;)