Regent vs Oceania

There has been some comments regarding Regent and Oceania so I thought I would add mine. Please remember that this is my opinion and therefore subjective.

We just got off the Riviera yesterday. We did 10 days Eastern Caribbean from Miami to Miami. So, once again this is my opinion.

Embarkation: No fuss. It only took a few minutes. No bubbly as in Regent.

Cabin: We had a Concierge level cabin and I found it too small compared to Regent. I missed the walk-in closet since this closet was small. The shower was tiny even for me (I'm 5'2, 106 lbs). My husband is 6'2 and his head hit the shower head since it was in the middle of the shower.

Food: Oceania prides itself on having the best food. I disagree. I was disappointed with food in the Grand Dining Room. I find food and menus in Compass Rose much better. I thought Jacques had better food than Signatures. I also enjoyed the menu at Jacques more. I had surf and turf at Polo Grill. It was the smallest lobster tail I've ever seen (only a couple of bites). Lobster tails in Terrace restaurant were better. My filet mignon was only four ounces and I had to send it back because it was overcooked. My husband ordered the NY strip and it was a thin steak. The food in Toscana was good but not better (in my opinion) than Sette Mare. The menu had too many entrees in my opinion. Red Ginger was very good. Menus in the Terrace were good and plentiful. More choices than Veranda. I did not enjoy that I couldn't serve myself (not even grab a yoghurt). I missed not having shrimp and crab legs as Regent does. The Terrace food at night was very good including lobster tails. The steaks were skinny. I don't like buffets at night so we only ate there once. So all in all I didn't find their food "out of this world" or "the best in the industry". Again, food is very subjective.

Service: The service was outstanding (although not better than Regent's), however, most servers seemed hurried and didn't take the time to chat. We only got to know a few servers.

Entertainment: mediocre. The Jean Ryan singers and dancers were good. We had a guitar player in San Juan who was excellent. I didn't like the layout of the theater. No balcony or tables between the seats.

Alcohol: I hated having to show my sea card every time I ordered a drink even with the drink package. I found the wine and alcohol very expensive.

Tours: We only took one tour and it was pricey. I have to admit I enjoy the all inclusive concept of Regent including the tours.

Would I cruise again with Oceania? Only in the Caribbean. Their prices have gone up and after crunching numbers I know it would be as expensive as Regent. Again, we enjoy cruising with Regent. Sometimes I felt we were knickel and dimed and even had to pay for machines in laundry room. We liked having a lap top in our cabin. I saw no use for Concierge lounge. If we were to cruise with Oceania again, I'll book a penthouse. The Concierge cabin was too small for my taste. Again, this is very subjective since is only my opinion. That said, I'll take Regent over Oceania all the time.

THank you for the comparison - Well done!

Forevertravel - Thanks so much for taking the time, and putting in the thought, to post your comparison of O & R. I would welcome reading many more of those kinds of posts on here (between O & R). Like you, I think I've gotten used to the "Regent format" and for me it would be hard to go to another cruise line that wasn't similarly/closely (all-inclusive). I also like the larger staterooms that Regent offers as "standard" (without having to totally "bust the budget" to find a similar size on other brands). Best Regards.

My experience with Oceania was very different. And I shall be sailing on Oceania again in April, trans-Atlantic. I do hope that the food standards have not gone down because my recollections are that the food in all restaurants (except Toscana) was far superior to any meals I had had on Regent. And I was not at all unhappy with Regent's food... in fact I thought it was very good and sometimes excellent. If the food on Oceania is as forevertravel indicates I shall not be happy at all... But then TravelCat2 was on Riviera in December (I think) and she reported the food to be just great. So I live in hope!

So - more news later.

forevertravel: I agree with almost 100% your observations of Oceania. While we really love the food in Jacques and the other specialty restaurants, overall, the food on Regent is better (yes -- food is subjective and I am stating our opinion only). Being in a Vista Suite, we were able to dine in the specialty restaurants every night. Had we been in a regular cabin, we would have been most unhappy to dine in the MDR or Terrace Café most nights.

Your comment about the Concierge Lounge was right on. The same can be said for the Executive Lounge. Both of these "exclusive" lounges pale in comparison to the Coffee Connection on Regent.

For us, the design and detail of the Riviera is far and above anything we have seen previously. Just having the opportunity to sail on such a magnificent ship was a treat (one that we had to repeat).

The food quality HAS NOT GONE DOWN. I was sick the entire cruise, but I tasted some of my husband's and it was delicious. I am unable to enjoy eating on Regent because they use too much salt. Not so on Riviera. You will not be disappointed.

Forevertravel, I also agree with almost all your observations. The Riviera is a visually beautiful ship for sure, but I prefer Regent otherwise. On Regent, we are perfectly happy eating in CR if we don't have a specialty restaurant reservation. The Main Dining Room on Riviera was just mediocre--almost like an afterthought behind all the specialty restaurants.

I also don't like buffets at dinner and not being able to serve myself when making a salad if I do go to a buffet. I am picky I guess because I like to arrange my salad ingredients a certain way. I never could get the servers on Riviera to understand what I was wanting, so I just gave up.

And don't get me started about the closets in the concierge cabins. My fault for booking one as I didn't look at the floor plan closely enough. I guess I just assumed they would be bigger--big mistake.

I would sail on Oceania again given the right itinerary, but my husband won't. He hated being asked for his card every time he wanted a drink, among other things.

I have to say I don't mind - at all - being asked for the card as long as I am not charged any more for the drink!! we get the "package". No signature needed, just the card. then when you want a second glass of wine or whatever they don't (or didn't anyway) ask for the card again. I think that in her posts from her Nov cruise on Riviera Jackie (TC2) said that they just put their cards on the table and that was that.

Rachel, I agree with you. I found the food in Grand Dining room mediocre and the choices were not very good. Like you, I should had checked more closely the size of cabin and I was aghast at closet. Like your husband, I hated signing for everything. I may go on Riviera for another Caribbean cruise but never for Europe or other locations. I know we are spoiled with Regent and will continue to cruise with Regent unless the prices get out of hand (which they are looking at Explorer). I realize Regent is not for everyone and some people prefer Oceania since they don't find the issues I found. We are all lucky to have choices.

Forevertravel

We prefer Marina and Riviera to any of the Regent ships, but only in a Penthouse Suite on either of those two ships. Compass Rose may or may not be superior to the GDR, but the Polo Grill is pretty much equivalent to Prime 7, Jacques is superior to Signatures, Toscana is superior to La Terraza, and there is no equivalent on any Regent ship to Red Ginger or La Reserve.

And then Marina and Riviera also have the advantage with Barista's, the Bon Appetit Culinary Center, the Artists' Loft, the amazing Spa with its large sauna and steam rooms and heated tile chaises, the 18-hole putting course, etc.

We still enjoy the Regent ships for certain itineraries, and you are correct that the basic suites are significantly superior (even the smaller Mariner suites) to those on the two Oceania ships (and for cigar smokers, the Regent ships, er, blow away the Oceania ships), but ship-to-ship the choice is easy for us.

And it is also strange how some people review food while ON a cruise and then have a lapse of memory when reporting about it later... If one followed TravelCat2's thread last Nov/Dec on her Riveria cruise she was raving about the food on board. Now, with the value of hindsight apparently it isn't as good as she thought it was.

Time can change a lot of perspective I suppose...

Time can change a lot of perspective I suppose...

We were told, constantly, at the inception of Oceania that no way no how not ever were they comparable to Regent. Over and over, apples to oranges. I do not understand the never ending O comparisons any more than one would do "Regent vs. Princess", or "Oceania vs. Seadream". It is hard to compare such diverse products. I see a subtle pattern happening and wonder what is coming.

And it is also strange how some people review food while ON a cruise and then have a lapse of memory when reporting about it later... If one followed TravelCat2's thread last Nov/Dec on her Riveria cruise she was raving about the food on board. Now, with the value of hindsight apparently it isn't as good as she thought it was.

 

Time can change a lot of perspective I suppose...

It could be time or it could be some people simply can't remember what they wrote from one minute to the next. For posts from people like that, best to ignore whatever they write as most probably none of that is accurate. Also possibly some people have their own agenda and listening to those sorts is dangerous as well.

And it is also strange how some people review food while ON a cruise and then have a lapse of memory when reporting about it later... If one followed TravelCat2's thread last Nov/Dec on her Riveria cruise she was raving about the food on board. Now, with the value of hindsight apparently it isn't as good as she thought it was.

 

Time can change a lot of perspective I suppose...

My memory is just fine;) And, my perspective really has not changed. On both of our Oceania cruises we felt that the food, overall, was better on Regent. This does not mean that we did not have some wonderful meals on Oceania as we did. As you may recall, I pretty much stopped reviewing food in the Terrace Café as there was little that we found to our taste. We did not have dinner in the MDR as, once again, the food was not to our taste. That left us with the specialty restaurants.

While I did really enjoy the food in Red Ginger, as I reported on my Nov/Dec., our "ranking" of the four specialty restaurants had Red Ginger dropping a couple of notches. The food is good -- just not something you want to repeat very often. Polo was better than it was on our previous cruise as was Toscana (but we still prefer Sette Mari to Toscana). The stand-out dining venue for us is Jacques. There is nothing Regent has that can compare (and we do not care for Signatures).

My DH and I love to dine in nice restaurants -- try new food and/or food preparations. It is easy for us to rave about a particular meal (and it is unusual for us to dislike a dining venue as much as we dislike the Terrace Café). On Regent, we could dine in Compass Rose every night and be happy. If we get tired of the choices, we simply special order a meal for the following night. At lunch, La Veranda always has a nice salad bar where we can select exactly the amount of each item that we want and not be stuck with trying to explain it to a server (note: for those who do not know, on Oceania, you do not serve yourself in the Terrace Café -- you are served. While more hygienic, it can be a pain in the rear trying to explain your desires to the server)

fizzy, I still believe that Regent and Oceania are apples and oranges in terms of trying to compare them. One could simply look at the subjects that Oceania customers are interested in on Cruise Critic to notice the differences. I did the food thread to show Regent customers exactly what the food on Oceania looked like - how it was presented, etc. Obviously, my "take" on the food could be completely different than someone else's. When I do my "food" thread on the Mariner in April, I suspect that some posters will be surprised to learn what we like or do not like in terms of Regent's food.

For us the bottom line is that Oceania's Riviera is the most beautiful ship we have sailed. The top suites are over the top gorgeous (and functional). The service is equal to Regent. The food is very good but, overall, is not better than Regent. In my book, that "ain't" a bad review.

As to the Terrace Cafe on O, I personally enjoy having my food served to me from the buffet. I feel much safer knowing that the last person touching the serving pieces did not just pick their nose or not wash their hands after using the toilet. I also maintain my health and weight at 110 lbs and love the fresh salads, grilled items, etc. Heavy, sauce laden foods such as those in Jaques would clog my arteries and impact my waistline. To each his own.

Everyone's taste in dining is different. When we were on Regent's Mariner we found food in the MDR (CR) to be poorly presented and rather mediocre. We thought the food on Oceania's Riviera's MDR absolutely lovely, well presented and very tasty. We never eat in the Buffets in the evenings as we prefer to be served and pampered, and to eat slowly. It is difficult to understand why others do not agree, but it was ever thus, no one is wrong, just different. For us, Oceania's dining is the best on the seas. J

Everyone's taste in dining is different. When we were on Regent's Mariner we found food in the MDR (CR) to be poorly presented and rather mediocre. We thought the food on Oceania's Riviera's MDR absolutely lovely, well presented and very tasty. We never eat in the Buffets in the evenings as we prefer to be served and pampered, and to eat slowly. It is difficult to understand why others do not agree, but it was ever thus, no one is wrong, just different. For us, Oceania's dining is the best on the seas. J

I totally agree. And agree with the previous post that having people to serve the buffet is far more agreeable than having hundreds of "sticky fingers" touching the serving spoons..

I have to say that the last Regent cruise we took in 2012 the food was certainly not up to their previous standard. Not in Prime 7 . Not in Signatures and certainly not in CR. We were blown away by Oceania's quality of food, variety of food, presentation - and hygiene. Pas mal du tout! As we say here..

I enjoy your comments about your Regent cruises very much but do not understand why there is so much O reference on this board lately. I would personally much rather see the opinions of people comparing Regent to Seabourn or Silversea as they are supposed to be similar products. Maybe O should be referenced with a more like cruise line like Azamara. Maybe the whole "luxury" term is fading into a blur at this point. The only thing we seem to hear about is Oceania food and the very upper cabins. I see that there is a new thread re: Seabourn that I will be interested in following. I guess everyone has a different opinion of what constitutes luxury and crowds of people don't do it for us.

I enjoy your comments about your Regent cruises very much but do not understand why there is so much O reference on this board lately. I would personally much rather see the opinions of people comparing Regent to Seabourn or Silversea as they are supposed to be similar products. Maybe O should be referenced with a more like cruise line like Azamara. Maybe the whole "luxury" term is fading into a blur at this point. The only thing we seem to hear about is Oceania food and the very upper cabins. I see that there is a new thread re: Seabourn that I will be interested in following. I guess everyone has a different opinion of what constitutes luxury and crowds of people don't do it for us.

Actually, I agree with you but seem to have "bought into" the Oceania discussions - even surprising myself. I do not think that Oceania is luxury and do prefer to see comparisons of the luxury lines you mentioned. As we can see, the discussion about Seabourn and Regent did not bring forth much new information (and I am interested in learning more about Seabourn). I do see a lot of similarities between Regent and Silversea.

I will try to make comparisons between Regent and Silversea in my April "food" thread since that is the only other luxury line that we have sailed on. Since we have sailed on Silversea three times, we have a fairly good idea of what they have to offer.

Thank you for making a very good point!

I enjoy your comments about your Regent cruises very much but do not understand why there is so much O reference on this board lately. I would personally much rather see the opinions of people comparing Regent to Seabourn or Silversea as they are supposed to be similar products. Maybe O should be referenced with a more like cruise line like Azamara. Maybe the whole "luxury" term is fading into a blur at this point. The only thing we seem to hear about is Oceania food and the very upper cabins. I see that there is a new thread re: Seabourn that I will be interested in following. I guess everyone has a different opinion of what constitutes luxury and crowds of people don't do it for us.

I think "luxury" is a sliding scale. And also, like food, subjective. When I took my one and only (so far) Oceania cruise I was in an Oceania Suite. Which I loved and which was very very impressive. I also found the food better than anything I had ever been served on Regent. And on our last Regent voyage we were also in what should have been a luxury suite - Seven Seas Aft - but it wasn't. It was in a sorry state of repair (and is poorly designed too) and "RallyDave" who saw it said that his "normal" suite was better - aside from the balcony of course.

Our next cruise is on Riviera. In the Owners Suite. I fully expect this to be the most luxurious cruise we have ever taken. And I am sure that were to to travel in a Queens Grill suite on Cunard I would find that luxurious as well. I do not find normal Regent cabins (called suites but they are not suites) luxurious.

So I think you can find "luxury" on pretty much any line. And I also do not think that including alcohol and excursions creates "luxury". All that does is raise the price high enough to include them...

I think "luxury" is a sliding scale. And also, like food, subjective. When I took my one and only (so far) Oceania cruise I was in an Oceania Suite. Which I loved and which was very very impressive. I also found the food better than anything I had ever been served on Regent. And on our last Regent voyage we were also in what should have been a luxury suite - Seven Seas Aft - but it wasn't. It was in a sorry state of repair (and is poorly designed too) and "RallyDave" who saw it said that his "normal" suite was better - aside from the balcony of course.

 

Our next cruise is on Riviera. In the Owners Suite. I fully expect this to be the most luxurious cruise we have ever taken. And I am sure that were to to travel in a Queens Grill suite on Cunard I would find that luxurious as well. I do not find normal Regent cabins (called suites but they are not suites) luxurious.

 

So I think you can find "luxury" on pretty much any line. And I also do not think that including alcohol and excursions creates "luxury". All that does is raise the price high enough to include them...

I agree with a lot of what you said. The constant use of the word "suite" makes me laugh. I could hang a sheet between my bed and the chair here in the bedroom for separation and call it a "suite". I know the booze factor is a big deal for some on a cruise, I find the AI nature on Regent , SS and Seabourn a plus even though we really drink next to nothing. The idea of "happy hour" special crowds is no different to me than "gold by the inch" sales.

I also think that the passenger makeup of a particular sailing can affect the cruise and even the port of departure. We don't want young OR old brats misbehaving and crew who are afraid to speak up to them. We might want to whoop it up n the dance club some nights/ or not. The lack of crowds with a good size, clean cabin and the wonderful staff is luxury to us. Planning dinner reservations months in advance is of zero interest to us. We have always loved the easy going options on Regent and SS however we are in the camp that totally .dislikes the included excursion thing because it has that "happy hour" frenzy feel to us.....although it has clearly been successful. I do agree with Travelcat2 that we have always been treated the same (that I'm aware of) whether in a regular cabin or a seven seas aft suite. I hope that the feeling of what is luxury to us continues on SS and Regent but I believe that management had better start to keep a closer eye on comments made by the longtime customer base.

Just a comment regarding "touching" utensils on a buffet. If you take a clean napkin to hold the utensil(s), germs are no longer an issue. On Regent, the staff carefully watches the food to insure that cross-contamination does not occur.

Just a comment regarding "touching" utensils on a buffet. If you take a clean napkin to hold the utensil(s), germs are no longer an issue. On Regent, the staff carefully watches the food to insure that cross-contamination does not occur.

I have never seen the staff "watch the food attentively" at la Veranda. Nor have I ever noticed anyone using a clean napkin to hold serving spoons etc. (Or any nearby supply of clean napkins for that matter).

Indeed the staff, in my experience, have watched the food so inattentively that often a dish on the buffet needs replacing (refilling) and sits empty for quite a while. I HAVE seen chefs, from time to time, check for temperature of hot and cold dishes. That is reassuring. For the rest, Jackie, I am afraid you are doing some wishful thinking...

I have to admit when I first encountered the "Oceania way" at the buffets I was baffled. And then I understood - and appreciated it. IMO all cruise lines should do the same.

There are paper napkins right beside the hot plates in Verranda and also outside at the pool grill buffet lunch. I always use a napkin to hold the plate if it is very hot to touch, and have found them on all three ships.

Jean.

Which makes sense (though I don't recall seeing them). However if, every time one wanted to touch a spoon or fork to serve oneself one needed paper napkins that would be a lot of them per meal service. Lot of cloth ones too for that matter.

Maybe buffets should do what the supermarkets in Italy do - ask all customers to wear rubber gloves (disposable and provided) when choosing their fruit and veg. That is very hygienic... can't quite see it though...