Cruise critic reviews

We have given thoughts to booking the voyage from Los Angeles to Rome in 2017 but are concerned at the poor reviews that are being posted by many repeat cruisers with Oceania.

Whilst none have criticised the service or crew most relate to food and other issues.

My question is does Oceania represent Value for Money given the rating and higher cost for their cruises?

Advice would be welcome.

We have recently taken a cruise on Marina with friends who are foodies and have never cruised with Oceania. It was also a more expensive cruise on a per diem basis than their norm so we were a little concerned as to whether they would like it and also consider it good value.

Since their return they haven't stopped raving about it. They thought the food was the best they had had at sea,the service excellent and the bed divine.

Whether you will think the same is a personal matter and the only way you will ever know is to try it!

A very difficult question as it depends on what your values are. For me the value lies in the size of the ship and the quality and availability of public space. The quality of the soft goods on the ship and the size and quality of the basic staterooms. I am speaking about the Riviera. I believe if you expect the best food at sea you are setting yourself up to be let down, that said I felt it was very good, especially like the Terrace Cafe. It presents a fair value to me, give it a try!

simply yes... remember its more popular to sound cool if you complain. I have taken 4 cruises longest Tahiti to New York 34 days on Marina. NOTHING to complain about did it inaB3 cabin 7008 the best value on the ship

Lets put it this way , no matter which ship, each cruise with Oceaian gets better and better. For that matter I have booked 4 more cruises because of the value and exceptional experience in food, ambiance, fellow passengers and ship design...

In my opinion I wont waste my money on trying to get what is standard on Oceania with any other line.....a fools errand to try.

I agree. The food is generally very good, but you must remember you're still on a ship serving from 700 to 1,250 people 3 meals a day in multiple venues, plus snacks, not a 5-star restaurant on land serving one meal a day to a couple hundred customers.

The "feel" of the ship is what makes it worth the price difference for me. The quality of service and product is simply better than the mass market lines, and I appreciate the lack of 'nickel & diming' on O. I find the intimate size of the ships to encourage more interaction among passengers. And I've found the folks who cruise Oceania to be generally wonderful! They tend to skew older than the mass market lines, and definitely more affluent, but they are also typically well travelled, adventurous and outgoing.

If your friends are avid cruisers, they will probably like Oceania. Will it become their 'go to' cruise line? Only they can decide.

What! Someone posted a bad review about Oceania? I almost find that hard to believe.

I've had good food and not so good food on every cruise I've been on but I don't cruise for the food. Maybe one dish isn't the best so I get something else.

I think Oceania is the best and I'm sure there are many more that will agree with me.

I find that CC folks are passionate about their cruise lines. Pick any one on the forums or reviews, and you will see varied reviews from folks due to many factors...also remember CC members are only maybe 1% (if that) of total cruisers on that particular line. I find that reading some reviews are a source of pure entertainment, and are widely exaggerated, as I have seen some reviews from folks on the same cruise(s) we were on, with wildly different opinions on their experience. Expectations may or may not be met, food origin may differ, in some cases entire crews are different, and they try to compare one year or cruise to another....it's very difficult, as others have said to maintain a consistent product when you are traveling across varied oceans, with different Chefs, food, staff, etc, however I feel that Oceania does a very good job in keeping up the consistency. Is it perfect, no, and if someone has the expectation that it will be perfect every time, they really need to understand the demands of a cruise ship. IMHO, Oceania food is above the standards set by mass market lines, and yea, have we had a meal that possibly fell below the norm, yup...did we whine and moan and complain to all that listened, nope....because we take in the entire experience on our cruises...and tend to be more relaxed about mistakes, than if we had gone to a 5 star restaurant in the states, that does ONLY 1 or 2 menus vs...daily changes, and variances. We enjoy the flexibility on Oceania and the product, and will continue to cruise with them, minor mistakes and all, because we feel we are getting the most bang for our buck for Our style of cruising. Please take the wildly high and low reviews with a grain of salt, not one cruiseline is perfect (that we have found in our 25 years of cruising).

We have given thoughts to booking the voyage from Los Angeles to Rome in 2017 but are concerned at the poor reviews that are being posted by many repeat cruisers with Oceania.

 

Whilst none have criticised the service or crew most relate to food and other issues.

 

My question is does Oceania represent Value for Money given the rating and higher cost for their cruises?

 

Advice would be welcome.

When, due to retirement from all-time-consuming professional lives, we returned to occasional cruising, we did a lot of "best bang for the buck" research (including top TA input).

Mostly inclusive (w/airfare as well) and with extremely restrictive smoking policies, no hordes, well educated passenger demographic, good TA OBC and favorable net daily cost, etc, Oceania rose to the top of the list.

As for food (with the understanding that we have lived [and dine out often] in SF and NY), I would compare O's overall food to restaurants rated 2.5 stars by the SF Chronicle - actually a very good rating here.

If I had to fault any particular O food thing, it would be the Prestige Package wine-by-the-glass selections where there are far better varietal choices available for purchase by O at the same wholesale price point.

Nonetheless, whatever your food inclinations, you will find quite nice meals on O -far better than the Olive Garden/Appleby's fare folks report on "better" mass market lines like Celebrity, HAL, Princess.

Food is subjective we are not foodies we just enjoy well prepared food with quality ingredients

We have had good & not so good dishes on Oceania but overall it is good

We just got off a HAL cruise & I can tell you there is no comparison

it is the little things that O does that make a big difference & we are will to pay the extra for O

Having to pay for cappucchinos on HAL was a turn off & the quality of the food was mediocre

we had the "always available " dishes the same selection on O

Salmon, chicken or steak

The salmon on HAL was grilled not poached I prefer the grilled but it was overcooked & dry

we both tried the chicken ..it tasted like it was soaked in strong chicken broth to give it flavour ..O's chicken it rotisserie style

did not even bother to try the steak

The desserts were flavourless on HAL, even most of the ice cream choices had very little flavour

rooms were not made up until late afternoon on O they are done before noon at the latest

soap /shampoo come in a dispenser on the wall on HAL

It is the little things that make O special for us

YMMV

Reviews

after reading a few some people clearly did not do their homework to see if Oceania was for them

clearly people have different expectations/wants/ needs in a cruise line

do your research & see what one works for you

We have really great memories of the ports and beautiful harbors where only the vintage Oceania ships fit

We have recently taken a cruise on Marina with friends who are foodies and have never cruised with Oceania. It was also a more expensive cruise on a per diem basis than their norm so we were a little concerned as to whether they would like it and also consider it good value.

 

Since their return they haven't stopped raving about it. They thought the food was the best they had had at sea,the service excellent and the bed divine.

 

Whether you will think the same is a personal matter and the only way you will ever know is to try it!

Agree with you 100% :):):)

.

 

"The "feel" of the ship is what makes it worth the price difference for me. The quality of service and product is simply better than the mass market lines, and I appreciate the lack of 'nickel & diming' on O. I find the intimate size of the ships to encourage more interaction among passengers. And I've found the folks who cruise Oceania to be generally wonderful! They tend to skew older than the mass market lines, and definitely more affluent, but they are also typically well travelled, adventurous and outgoing."

 

Exactly right! I've met so many fellow passengers who love to travel snd so easy to engage in conversation.

 

Harry

We have given thoughts to booking the voyage from Los Angeles to Rome in 2017 but are concerned at the poor reviews that are being posted by many repeat cruisers with Oceania.

Whilst none have criticised the service or crew most relate to food and other issues.

My question is does Oceania represent Value for Money given the rating and higher cost for their cruises?

Advice would be welcome.

Value for money. It depends. I usually use the pp per night cost as a gauge. Some cruises over the Xmas holidays, Oceania does not represent a good value for mid to high end, where you might find Silversea or Crystal a better deal.

We once paid over $450 pp/night for an RCI cruise, where we could have paid the same for a similar itinerary on Crystal.

As you can see from on future cruises below -- we are not die hard "O" fanatics. In fact just dealing with O customer Service is enough to turn me off (but that is for another thread).

Just give us good food, service, friendly people, good value and a great itinerary and we are happy.

I have also been watching the reviews and I am sorry to say many negative reviews reflected our experience on our last cruise on the Marina – compared to the B2B cruises we did in 2012.

We are foodies and in 2012 we found the food was "good" for a cruise line. On our last cruise we were so disappointed by the inconsistency that "fair" would be a generous grade – same with the service.

I was going to post my review but saw little point when it was covered by the reviews from others.

We enjoyed our cruise holiday but did arrived home thinking we would look for an alternative cruise line. Now the dust has settled and after having a chat with our TA we have decided to give Oceania another go and have put this last cruise experience down to bad luck.

Oceania ticks many more boxes for us when choosing a cruise and looking at the alternatives it still seems to be the best value for money in the small/mid size cruising market. We believe it is worth a second chance and we still recommend them to others.

jakes

try a HAL cruise ..Oceania will look really good even with "fair" food;)

jakes

try a HAL cruise ..Oceania will look really good even with "fair" food;)

Definitely re: HAL -- would never go back.

My TA just finished the NCL Escape = maiden crossing. He raved about the food in the new specialties. Maybe a little FDR magic has rubbed off.

I think Oceania is fabulous, and take any bad reviews or complaints with a grain of salt. I was just on another cruise reviews site and saw criticism for the exact Viking Oceans cruise we just took. One complaint was that the nightlife was too bright. Well, it took my husband all of 2 seconds to find the switch to turn that thing off. Why the person didn't ask his or her cabin steward about the light or look for a switch by the bed I'll never know. The person went on to criticize other things, none of which we experienced on the exact same itinerary. I'm afraid I just don't understand some people. Either my husband and I are extremely easy to please, or others can never be pleased. Of course, some people occasionally review a cruise so completely differently from me that I truly wonder if they're getting paid to bash the competition. It DOES happen, although I'm not saying the people who are posting negative things on Cruise Critic are necessarily doing it for the wrong reasons.

A few people on Cruise Critic complained about so much during the first month of Viking Ocean's operation (April) that we actually set foot on Star in September not expecting it to be anything close to the quality of Oceania. It was a fabulous cruise, fabulous ship, and good quality for the money. I still plan to cruise Oceania because it is fabulous, too, and until I go on an O cruise and the whole experience is bad, I'll continue to do so. No, it's not as cheap as the Celebrity and Princess cruises we've taken over the past 10 years, but just the hard-to value little things like smaller number of people, smaller ships but plenty of space, no waiting for anything, port-intensive itineraries, consistency in food, etc. etc. make it very worthwhile for us. Besides, when you factor in the extras charged by many lines, the cost of Oceania is not much higher, even without considering all those other hard to value things. Just be forewarned, though, that cruising on Oceania will spoil you for many other ships.

My point is not to promote Viking Ocean Cruises but instead to express my opinion that reviewers can easily make it sound like a particular cruise line is not for you. If you're young and prefer a more upbeat vibe, you may not be wowed by the whole O experience. If you're coming from a more luxurious and formal cruise line like Seabourn or Silversea, I suppose you might find Oceania too casual and sloppy. For us, though, it's perfect. There are no formal nights or photographers. The food and service are excellent. We can eat outside, and when we like. I don't think there have been any norovirus incidents, and the served food instead of true buffet lines in World Cafe have probably contributed to that. The ships go everywhere, and with minimum time at sea. They're small but we're never bored. We never feel like we're cruising with 2,000 others. The ships are immaculately clean, even the upper outside areas that look a bit shabby on other cruise line ships. The rooms and bed are great, even the inside cabins. The room stewards are the fastest I've seen on any ship. While it's not essential, it's nice to come back from breakfast at least half the time and find your cabin clean.

Yep, I guess I'm a cheerleader, but once you find something you like, you can't help it!

My comment on food being consistent, creative and over all excellent is somewhat subjective but also has a fair amount of objectivity... By that I mean I have eaten around the world at many of the 3 star Michelins and am serious about everything from ingredients to presentation.

This based on professional training with Cordon Blu inParis, and The Culinary Institute of America in St Helena Greystone.

So as a consumer and a producer I have some experience.... I have on past cruises been invited into the galley to see their operation from the Garde to Line. I can say that every plate is cooked to order...no steam table every component gets produced by grill/sauté/saucier.... for serving such a crowd it is impressive. Personally I would rate the operation to be the top 15 to20% of haute dinner houses in the USA and much of Europe...and Oh yes Australia too..........

Do they fall short on some dishes...yes But I have had a few courses at the French Laundry and Meadow Wood, which didn't work as expected. Chefs are human ..... Just my 2 cents..

My point is not to promote Viking Ocean Cruises but instead to express my opinion that reviewers can easily make it sound like a particular cruise line is not for you. If you're young and prefer a more upbeat vibe, you may not be wowed by the whole O experience. If you're coming from a more luxurious and formal cruise line like Seabourn or Silversea, I suppose you might find Oceania too casual and sloppy. For us, though, it's perfect. There are no formal nights or photographers. The food and service are excellent. We can eat outside, and when we like. I don't think there have been any norovirus incidents, and the served food instead of true buffet lines in World Cafe have probably contributed to that. The ships go everywhere, and with minimum time at sea. They're small but we're never bored. We never feel like we're cruising with 2,000 others. The ships are immaculately clean, even the upper outside areas that look a bit shabby on other cruise line ships. The rooms and bed are great, even the inside cabins. The room stewards are the fastest I've seen on any ship. While it's not essential, it's nice to come back from breakfast at least half the time and find your cabin clean.

This is about as perfect a description of *MY DREAM CRUISELINE* as I can imagine! And I've been on the full range - from spit-shined-white-gloved (and a wee bit haughty) Crystal, to nautically-vibed-yachty Windstar, to long-gowns-but-mediocre-food Celebrity, all the way down to college-kids-barfing-in-the-spa booze-cruises on RCL (nope, won't do THAT again). So now, after reading this description, I'm even more excited about my upcoming cruise on Riviera (if that's even possible). :D

I too have noticed some very odd reviews coming out of cruises where my experience was completely different. On my first Paul Gauguin cruise, we thought it was darn near perfect...for the cruise it was, which is essentially total immersion in French Polynesia. But later I read a couple of reviews from that same cruise in which people literally HATED it! Quite baffling.

I think there are many factors at work, ranging from people not doing their homework so they have appropriate expectations, to the occasional screw-up that ends up ruining the cruise such that they can't see any of the positives, to certain people who, as you pointed out, just can't EVER be made happy. I've encountered those types myself...on a prior cruise, the wife a table mate could not seem to find a SINGLE positive thing to say, about anything. I would shudder to read her review! It was some real food for thought to realize that people like her do write reviews. Puts a little perspective on it. :p

This is about as perfect a description of *MY DREAM CRUISELINE* as I can imagine! And I've been on the full range - from spit-shined-white-gloved (and a wee bit haughty) Crystal, to nautically-vibed-yachty Windstar, to long-gowns-but-mediocre-food Celebrity, all the way down to college-kids-barfing-in-the-spa booze-cruises on RCL (nope, won't do THAT again). So now, after reading this description, I'm even more excited about my upcoming cruise on Riviera (if that's even possible). :D

 

I too have noticed some very odd reviews coming out of cruises where my experience was completely different. On my first Paul Gauguin cruise, we thought it was darn near perfect...for the cruise it was, which is essentially total immersion in French Polynesia. But later I read a couple of reviews from that same cruise in which people literally HATED it! Quite baffling.

 

I think there are many factors at work, ranging from people not doing their homework so they have appropriate expectations, to the occasional screw-up that ends up ruining the cruise such that they can't see any of the positives, to certain people who, as you pointed out, just can't EVER be made happy. I've encountered those types myself...on a prior cruise, the wife a table mate could not seem to find a SINGLE positive thing to say, about anything. I would shudder to read her review! It was some real food for thought to realize that people like her do write reviews. Puts a little perspective on it. :p

Well, I wasn't going to mention the mediocre food on Celebrity, but that was one thing that really got me. After cruising almost entirely on O, we decided to take a short Caribbean cruise on Celebrity, just to be warm for a week. The first year was tolerable, but the second year less so. I could put up with people EVERYWHERE because the ship went places I wanted to go. I could put up with the plastic trays and glasses on their buffet line even though they reminded me of my college days. The food, though, was just baffling. The featured entree one night in the main dining room tasted straight out of a box (and we're not talking Stouffers!) while the vegetables were great! I'm not a real foodie, but of course, eating is a major event on cruises whether you want it to be or not, and after two cruises my husband told me, "No more."

One thing I tried to keep in mind when I stepped on Viking Star was, "No, this is not Oceania. Viking will probably do some things differently. Maybe they'll do them worse, maybe better, maybe the same, or maybe just differently. Different, however, is not automatically a bad thing."

Reviews are helpful, but as you say, people need to do their homework, and I'm amazed how many people don't even read a cruise line's web site, especially the FAQs. In a review, I was amazed when one person commented that she wished someone had told her she could make reservations for specialty restaurants on Star before getting on the ship. I know I get a little carried away with cruise planning, but I thought everyone at least read the basics before stepping on a new cruise ship.

Oh well. Everyone's different.

Very grateful that so many of you responded honestly.

As a result we will now confirm our booking. In the past we have been loyal HAL and Princess cruisers with the last being RCI which did not please us. We are Australian and the Oceania Smart casual option is good as we don't have to pack dinner suits etc..

It is the itinery that drives where we travel and Oceania has some interesting voyages in 2016/17.

Our thanks.

We've taken several cruises on the replica steam-powered, paddlewheel riverboat, American Queen. It successfully replicated a Mark Twain era riverboat complete from authentic antiques to masterful replicas; I can't tell the difference. The entire ambiance is American Victorian era; all the photos and brochures make this clear. The theater design was inspired by Ford's Theater and the dining room is a close copy of the J.M White, which operated between 1878 and 1886.

So, I was amused by the review of a guest who thoroughly disliked it, and vowed not to experience again, because it was not modern enough. He stated he liked glass and chrome better. I know he's entitled to his opinion, but c'mon, what the heck did he expect?

Take reviews with a grain of salt, do your research and due diligence, trust yourself and try it for yourself.

Excellent points, Don!

Don't come with too many expectations and then maybe you won't be disappointed ...

We are leaving on 28 November for a cruise on the Marina and we planned to sign up for a cruise on the Insignia while on board. But the Insignia seems to have quite a few recent poor reviews. Anyone have any personal experience? We are now hesitation to lock ourselves in to e 39 days on the Insignia in smaller cabins if the rest of the experience is not up to par.

Michael & Pat

Plano, TX

We are leaving on 28 November for a cruise on the Marina and we planned to sign up for a cruise on the Insignia while on board. But the Insignia seems to have quite a few recent poor reviews. Anyone have any personal experience? We are now hesitation to lock ourselves in to e 39 days on the Insignia in smaller cabins if the rest of the experience is not up to par.

 

Michael & Pat

Plano, TX

I haven't been on Insignia since last year (late August), but it was the same as usual then. I don't think I'd change plans due to some reviews, but 39 days IS a long time, and if I ever take a long cruise like that, I'd want it to be the right one! We love the smaller ships as much as the bigger ships, but maybe some people prefer the bigger ones for longer cruises due to the extra food and other choices. Personally I don't notice the change in room size between the big and small ships, but on a port intensive cruise, I'm not in the room all that much except at night, so room size has never been a big consideration for me.