DENIE

I would concur. We were on the Riviera in 9100 a few weeks ago. It was about 6 rooms removed from the aft elevators. We never heard anything in the hallways, or noise from the elevators. It was a longer walk to the Concierge lounge for lattes, but no big deal.

Absolutely! We totally agree! I did bring a sport coat which I wore about 3 nights out of 10. For our next cruise on the new Vista (round-trip Miami to the Eastern Caribbean), I will only be bringing polos and nice button-down shirts and leave the coat at home! 😃

We had recently sailed Celebrity (mostly). Just completed our first Oceania Mediterranean cruise (on the Riviera) in June. We had no issues at all with the evening offerings. Often went from the 9:30 p.m. show to Martini's lounge to hear the pianist/singer. Was perfect for us. Didn't need any really big production shows.

We had a concierge veranda on our June Riviera cruise. Two beds pushed together with a topper that took the seam away. It was at least a very solid queen. We had no issues.

On our last cruise (different cruise line) we had the option to purchase "insurance" through the tour operator. We had travel insurance for the cruise itself and our flights but purchased these options from the tour operator as a "just in case". Thankfully we were able to make all of our tours. Because we did not need to use the coverage from the tour operator, one of them (Tours by Locals) gave us a credit for future tours.

Thanks for your review! We will be on the Koningsdam in December (first HAL cruise since 2010 but have tried a variety of other lines). Eager to experience HAL again - this was pre-"music walk" days. Agree with other comments regarding excursions. We have done a mixture of more private tours as well as ship tours. It kind of depends on the excursion and amount of time away from the ship. We have been bolder in recent years with full day private excursions as long as there are guarantees about getting to next port (but would have to be a reasonable expectation that the next port is not too far away). Professional tour operators do not want a reputation for making people late. We have always been good getting back to the ship 1.5-2 hours before sail away.

Our prior TA recommended Allianz, but our new TA recommends Travelex. Haven't needed either of them, but for our last cruise Travelex did seem very comprehensive.

Our flight segments for our 6/15 Rome-Barcelona cruise segments were Phoenix-London-Rome, and then Barcelona-London-Rome all on British Airways. We survived, although had a bag delayed and sent to our hotel in Rome (thank goodness we followed our rule of flying in 2 days in advance). Not sure I would chance that now. Extreme crowds and short-staff in London (I know London has always had issues), as well as Barcelona. Sadly, while I live in Phoenix and want to support our international service, I would probably do as others have said and fly to an east coast hub city (we use American Airlines/British Airways) and fly direct to the final destination.

Glad you found that info. I would agree with others, Privee would be a better experience with other friends. So many other dining options. I agree with others who have suggested the La Reserve Dinners. We loved the one we did!

Yes, it was in use at every port on Riviera 6/15 to 6/25 Rome to Barcelona. Was kind of cool. I took off my hat and had very sweaty appearance, but it did not fool facial recognition. As others have said, you have to show your World card to in the ports themselves.

RollWave, Yes, you definitely need to try Oceania. Mauibabes (and others) were so helpful in their answers and provided such good advice. We had no complaints about Celebrity, but we really gravitated to the all-inclusive dining in specialty restaurants (plus additional reservations if space is available), smaller venues, no lines, no photographers or studio, more personalized service, smaller but better buffet with grilled to order meats. So many fewer passengers, etc.

My apologies, I tried to research prior threads. We are on a 7-night Mexican Riviera cruise this December on Koningsdam, and I noticed both of these beverage packages. As part of our booking, we receive the Signature beverage package, which I understand covers alcoholic beverages up to $11, and a cumulative 15 drinks (water, soda, premium coffee, alcohol) per day. My wife and I enjoy wine and are considering whether we should add on the Elite Signature Beverage Package, which I understand covers alcoholic beverages up to $15. I did some searches and tried to find bar/restaurant beverage menus but was not successful. There must be one out there...is anyone able to direct me to that?

We considered this category when we booked our Vista January 2024 Caribbean cruise. Because we are travelling with my wifes sister, we decided the additional balcony space would be well used. But, if just the 2 of us, we would give a serious look!

You are welcome! I expect to post a similar review of our 2024 cruise in the Caribbean on the Vista

As a famed journalist once often said...."the rest of the story...." I wrote what I did because my review was of the Oceania Riviera, and not the trials or tribulations of getting to/from our cruise, which had nothing to do with Oceania (we booked our own flights) First, we are not experienced international (Europe) cruisers, but knew from research to allow time, now more than ever. With that we needed every moment of transfer in London to make it to our Rome flight. But we planned for that. We did not plan for British Airways to forget to transfer one of our 2 bags to Rome, but it did arrive to our hotel the night before embarkation. Then, on our return trip, we needed every minute to get from check in to our gate in Barcelona for our London flight. We also did not prepare (how could we?) that we sat on the tarmac at Heathrow for our return flight to Phoenix for 4 hours while police and medics were called aboard to remove passengers in business class (yes!!). Would we do this again? In a heartbeat. The cruise was an amazing experience, and we could not have been happier. We were just braced for anything that could have happened. Fortunately, nothing happened that was within Oceania's scope. I agree with Host Jazzbeau....perhaps time to stop reading Cruise Critic.

Plus 2

In June we did Phoenix-London-Rome, and then Barcelona-London-Phoenix for our Riviera Rome-Barcelona cruise. It was chaotic to say the least. We needed every minute of our London layover to make it from terminal 3 to terminal 5 (didn't stop at the bathroom or for any food/drink). And then British Airways left one of our bags in London - fortunately it caught up to us in Rome at our hotel, but only because we arrived 2 days before the cruise. On the return trip, we needed every minute to check in at El Prat in Barcelona to make our flight to London - our boarding group was being called as we got to the gate (no bathroom or food/drink there either). It looks like that is going to be the norm. We are going on another cruise (not Oceania, unfortunately) in December (round-trip from San Diego). Will be HAPPY to drive to the port for that one!

Fun post, thanks! Getting ready to go here on a January 2024 cruise. It's a long way off, but will be here before we know it!

Hi all, As Host Jazzbeau suggested, I am posting the link to my review. I hope this is the right way to do this. https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=688752

Thanks trk_koa! It is the one that includes the food, entertainment, etc. Will be sure to confirm limits before buying and taking back. We did something like this on a 2010 HAL cruise, and I believe we brought 3 small bottles back. But, times do change...

Thanks for the clarification. We are on the Koningsdam Mexican Riviera in December 2022, and we love to taste tequila in Puerto Vallarta. In fact, we have a $100 HAL shore excursion with our package, and plan to use it on a day that includes tequila tasting in Puerto Vallarta. Our plans were to purchase 2 or 3 bottles (assuming we enjoy it) and take home. It sounds like we surrender it when we get back on board (totally fine with that, as we are not purchasing to drink on board) and will get it shortly before disembarkation. We are driving to San Diego and parking a car, so have an easy means to transport back to Arizona. No flights on this trip.

We just got off the Riviera (Rome-Barcelona) on 6/25. If I understand correctly, there were about 800 passengers on board. Not sure how many staff. Although this was our first Oceania cruises (numerous cruises on other lines), we did not sense any service lacking. Bar staff was attentive an often anticipated another round of drinks. Meal times seemed appropriate (but leisurely, as we like them). There were no long lines for anything. We were very pleased with the staff and service.

Moving forward, I think we will too!

Oh, yeah, that would be a problem! We were on the June 15 Rome-Barcelona sailing on the Riviera, with I understand about 800 passengers. This should be about 64% capacity. While great to have the service and attention, it has to really be hurting the bottom line.

We've always done DIY flights, as I have heard some of these stories even before Covid. Prefer to have some control over that. That said, we did DIY flights for our June Riviera sailing Rome to Barcelona, arriving in Rome 2 days before the cruise (2 nights hotel). It doesn't help when airlines shorten the connections after you have booked (British Airways chopped 30 minutes layover time off our Phoenix-London segment). Not to mention every one of those flights the week before departed late (I was monitoring). Our flight was late, and then there was a plane sitting at our gate, so we held on the tarmac. We needed every minute to get from terminal 3 to terminal 5 due to shortages in security, etc. No bathroom stops, no food/beverage stops, and fast-paced walk. Thank goodness our return from Barcelona-London-Phoenix was OK. However, in these times, it figures that Business Class passengers on our London-Phoenix segment got into a scuffle during the boarding process (ON THE PLANE!), so we ended up spending 4 hours on the tarmac due to sorting the mess out (another story). At least we were on the homebound leg of our trip. BOTTOM LINE: Flying is still an adventure, the airports are crowded, and just about anything can happen! DIY or book through Oceania, it could still be an adventure! 😛