ak1004

@Sthrngary you nailed it as usual! Our cruising philosophy is simple: select the best itinerary at the best and reasonable price at the best possible ship. Meaning, the itinerary always comes first, and then we find the compromise between the price and the ship. My assessment of Regent was exactly the same as yours: not worth the price. We love Oceania, but we have zero loyalty to any line. We were booked on Vista Mediterranean Cruise for 2024. Then we saw a better itinerary on SS for only $100 CAD/day more. Considering all inclusions, SS was actually slightly cheaper. It was a no brainer to switch. SS includes all excursions, but we might still take private tours in some of the ports. I don't care that I already paid for the ship tours. I don't care that I will be paying for other people's drinks and don't drink. You know why? Because the alternative is going back to Celebrity and paying $5 for each bottle of water and each espresso and cappuccino. Not going to happen. So if you want to sail on a premium or luxury line, you will always pay for some thing that you won't use. This is just the reality. As @pinotlover mentioned, Get over it! Lets not waste our time on pointless complaints about SM. It is what it is. If you find a better deal on another line, go for it. Choice is always good.

I agree with you 100% regarding the cabin size on R ships. We don't pay to much attention to cabin sizes, but 165' is definitely below our comfort zone.

Yes I believe the longer the cruise the higher the cancellation fee.

PH on the R ships is a very poor value in my opinion. I usually compare OV on O ships with OV on SB, and they are cheaper. Yes they are smaller but 240 sqft to me is more than adequate.

O cancellation fee is $150 as far as I know. SB has more inclusions, but it’s typically also more expensive. except for inclusions and cabin sizes, how would you compare them in terms of food, service etc?

You got a very good price for SB. On the Canadian website it’s much higher. Till May a lot can change and Israel should be back in the itineraries. But in any case SB cruise has an excellent price. I was never on SB but it should be a step up compared to O, with more inclusions.

SB is usually significantly more expensive, would you mind to share the itineraries where SB cost is similar to O?

I'm following the SS board, and guess what? SS also cancels ports on a regular basis. Somehow, nobody on SS aboard thinks that they do it on purpose and question the captain..

Thank you. What about the public areas other than the dining venues? I'm not talking about shorts or jeans, but specifically jackets? I assume nobody will turn you down from the show without a jacket?

We are on the Dawn in December in the Caribbean, 10 nights. I assume this is still enforced even on the Caribbean sailings? Also, on formal nights, I know some dining venues allow no jackets - what about other public areas, like bars, the shows etc?

Posts like this are exactly the reason why people should take the reviews with a grain of salt. We never experienced anything close to what was described in this post (except for WiFi that definitely needs improvement). No hot water?? Seriously??

So.. I just did a small exercise and compared Oceania reviews to some other lines. So O is not in a bad shape - but just tells you to take those reviews with a grain of salt..

As we all know, food is very subjective. We sailed on the Riviera 3 times, last time this May, and one time on the Regatta. To us food was very consistent every single time (which is not necessarily true for some other areas). Last time we sailed with friends who are Celebrity refugees and they agreed with us. but then again, I don’t expect everyone to agree.

Exactly my thoughts. I don't know what kind of expectations people have, but we always found the food on O outstanding. In fact, personally I like O food better than old Crystal and SS (haven't been on the new Crystal yet and don't have plans to go).

I have to agree with you Hank. The cabin size is very low on our priorities list, but cabins and especially showers on the R ships are below our minimal comfort level. I would sail on one of those ships only if there was some really unique itinerary (which so far I have not seen).

I couldn't say it better. Not everything can be put into a spreadsheet..

We were on The Riviera in May. Service was exceptional . No request was refused. Very prompt responses at all venues during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Excellent food in all venues. The gap between the MDR and the specialty restaurants was very small. Not all meals were perfect, but we never had a bad meal. We especially enjoyed the Polo and Jacques. Activities still very limited. Entertainment: fair. No surprises here. Not a big deal because we aim to spend most of the time in ports. Internet is still very unstable. I was getting 3-5 MB speed some days and under 1 MB other days. Slight improvement compared to previous sailings, but still not enough. Ship excursions: they used to fill only 25-30 people in buses, now they squeeze around 40. We were not happy. $200 USD for Bordeaux tour which was essentially a bus trip, with almost no explanation and 3 hours on your own. Going forward, we will try to book private tours. This was our third Oceania cruise after Covid, and we did not notice any significant changes for worse, except for excursions. Our friends who were Celebrity loyalists for 30 years were very impressed as well. Overall we enjoyed the cruise very much (despite few port cancellations which were beyond Oceania control). We love the relaxed atmosphere, relaxed dress code and excellent service and food.

Eating at 6:30 is a bit late for us too, but if on the ship, we go to afternoon tea and have some snacks/sandwiches. On SS the dining venues open at 7pm, so it's even worse, but same solution worked there.

I think it depends on your definition of classism. To me classism is when suites have a separate area on the ship which other guests cannot access. Or separate restaurant or pool. Being able to board or access the rooms 1-2 hours earlier is not classism to me. And FYI, on Silversea which is considered much more luxury than O you can board at 2pm and rooms are ready around 4pm. Sadly, I agree with you about the showers. This is why we prefer the O class ships, that also offer more dining options. As for value - this is also kind of subjective, but I tried to price an itinerary on Celebrity similar to what we recently booked on Vista. Starting prices look attractive, that those prices exclude port charges, internet, drinks and excursions, and are for non refundable deposit. When you add all the extras, the price becomes very similar to O (higher in some cases). So to me, O offers a pretty good value.

Yes, I remember you told me. This is Canada/NE, right? How are the ports in Canada? We are doing a similar itinerary next year on SB.

This sounds fun! We looked at Explora, but all their European sailings start around $700 USD per night. Cannot justify paying that kind of money when I can book SB under $500.

Are tenders always operated on the starboard side?

We were on SS last December. While I would definitely consider it a step up, for me it was not a huge step up, but a small one, not necessarily worth the extra money. Cabins are definitely much nicer, but the food and service were comparable. We are booked now on 3 Oceania, 2 SS and 1 SB cruises. Choice is good. SS and SB have some occasional good deals that bring their prices close to O, but in general, I probably would not pay 30% more (which is a typical premium in fares compared to O).

@Sthrngaryyou summarized it very well as usual. I really disliked the idea of paying $5 each time I have a simple bottle of water or order a cappuccino. But in addition, we also disliked constant lines, crowds, crowded pools, loud music and more. Our friends who were loyal Celebrity customers for over 20 years, sailed with us on O and booked 3 more. They said it’s a different league.

Is it different couple decks above in the same location? Do you hear the noise even with the door closed? I’m sensitive to noise too, just wondering why I never had any issues with OV on the Riviera.