Oceania is overrated! After two Oceania cruises I'm happy to go back to Celebrity

i just don't think Oceania delivers that better a product to justify the increased cost

Are their staterooms better and larger? In your opinions how about their staff service and their restaurants (food selections)?

We did one O cruise - on one of the older ships - on those, cabins much below X. Food in main O MDR is a step or two above, service too, but it may come with a side of snobbery as can be found thruout the ship IMO. So even tho food is quite important to me, no way I'm paying the price for an O cruise in the future.

OP (stipmom):

With all due respect, your one-sentence observation is not very helpful.

How about giving some details to support your opinion.

thanks.

I would think itinerary is worth a lot and looking at similar itineraries on Celebrity vs. Oceania there is usually no comparison. Celebrity is cutting back on ports. I can't compare food.

i just don't think Oceania delivers that better a product to justify the increased cost

The more I cruise, the more I hear that exact statement from others.

OP (stipmom):

 

With all due respect, your one-sentence observation is not very helpful.

 

How about giving some details to support your opinion.

 

thanks.

i just don't think Oceania delivers that better a product to justify the increased cost

I agree... please share more to help us understand.

I’ve been contemplating an O cruise for some time and would love to hear from other’s current views as they contrast any pros and cons.

Walter

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well I did an Oceania cruise last year and loved it. Yes it was expensive - so maybe apples and oranges in comparison - but we loved that all the specialty dining restaurants were included in the price (yes higher prices)...and the food was amazing in each restaurant - got better each one we tried. The Asian restaurant Red Ginger was phenomenal. We did feel the MDR was not as great as the specialty restaurants, but the service in all was fantastic.

We also liked that the cabins were bigger than the typical Celebrity ones we have sailed (Reflection and Connie). The bathrooms were excellent and loved the shower.

We did not feel any snobbery at all - everyone was warm and welcoming - we found lots of people to talk to and enjoy the time with - pool side and for trivia, HH, etc.

We also like that the WiFi was included and the drinks (though I think we had a drink package from our TA) -

Was NOT happy with their included air - but part of that was my own fault as I failed to review the itinerary carefully and could have made a change if I had done so earlier.

I also liked that since everything was basically "included" there was no upsell for anything! No would you like to upgrade to the premium drink package, etc. No obvious selling of things, no constant bothering you for photos......

I'm sailing on the Eclipse in a few days and an anxious to compare. Would I sail Oceania again? Yes, but it would depend on the itinerary and the pricing as it is very pricey.

We have done 2 cruises on Oceania, both on the Marina - Baltic in 2013, Mediterranean thus past May. We really like Celebrity - have cruised on Infinity around Cape Horn, Summit to Bermuda, Equiniox to Caribbean. Have Ireland/Iceland on Silhouette in Aug and Canada/NE on Summit in 2019.

(We tend to choose by itinerary.)

There is really no comparison. Cabins, food, service, excursions wonderful on our Marina cruises. Entertainment pretry good - no worse than on most ships. It is our favorite ship. We book Olife without airfare which Includes shore excursions (4 each on the cruise we just took) and unlimited internet. Non-alc beverages and specialty restaurants are included. So price difference is not so major. And our itinerary was fabulous.

Forgot to mention we were on the Oceania Riviera and it was a Mediterranean cruise out of Rome.

Our friends who were with us on Oceania - just got off a Silhouette cruise of the mediterranean - while they had a good time, they were disappointed in the food in the MDR and said overall they enjoyed Oceania much better.

25 sailings on =X=, 5 on O

Yes, the price is higher, as it should be. Can think of absolutely nothing on Celebrity that is better than Oceania. Food, service, inclusions, itineraries. Well traveled pax, for sure, but never have experienced the level of "snobbery" that we have encountered in Michael's and Luminae.

Still sail both and will continue to do so.

i just don't think Oceania delivers that better a product to justify the increased cost

We have done 3 Oceania cruises, all in suites. I also agree it is overrated. If you have a suite on celebrity the food is much better, the dining room for suites is outstanding, and the cabins are larger. Would not go again, as we are totally happy with the celebrity suite life, and get a lot more for our money

We did one cruise on Oceania a few years ago, from Bangkok to Rome via the Suez Canal. We booked it for the itinerary, which was wonderful.

However ... although the ship was beautiful, we found it to be small & boring, with not enough different things to do (although Trivia was The Best We've Ever Had). We did like all of the inclusions (gratuities, drinks, specialty restaurants, airfare, etc). We found the service generally to be over-the-top & intrusive. We liked some of the food some of the time, but found much of it to be too fancy-fied up for our tastes.

We were in one of the penthouse suites, and Mr Chew could not stand up in the shower. He is 6'4" I am 5'6" and when I washed my hair my arms would hit the ceiling. Not too much fun for 35 days. Cabin was great, lots of space and storage, nice balcony, nice linens, etc.

While we did meet some wonderful people, there was also many, many people with a very strong sense of superiority over everyone else ... people more interested in impressing everyone and one-upping everyone than in just having fun and enjoying the cruise ... And Country Club Casual! I don't know what country was meant, but I've never seen so many people with old, stained & wrinkled clothing everywhere, all the time.

As I said, we did meet some wonderful people and had a wonderful cruise. Would sail on Oceania again if they had another perfect itinerary at the right time at the right price ... just not on that ship.

We've been on 10+ cruises with Celebrity, 2 cruises on Royal and one on Oceania. We loved the food on Oceania. Specialty restaurants very good and breakfast great (fresh berries!). I loved the pool area (it wasnt crowded at all!) Entertainment was boring and not much people watching because most of the people went to bed after the show. I like to dress up and felt out of place with nice dresses for dinner.

If the price is right I would cruise on Oceania again because of the food and pool area but think Celebrity is usually better value for me.

We've done two cruises with Oceania. The first on the Regatta up the Amazon River was definitely the best cruise we have ever been on. Itinerary goes without saying - absolutely fabulous. The food, cabin, public areas, crew, guest speakers, entertainment etc were wonderful. We definitely didn't encounter any snobbery. Everyone was very friendly and we are still in touch with people we met on that cruise. The second cruise, a trans-Atlantic on Marina, had all the pluses of the Regatta but the people, on the whole, tended to be older and less inclined to socialise but were still friendly (definitely not snobbish) and we had some vey interesting conversations as they came from various backgrounds and were generally well-travelled. We have been on the Celebrity Reflection on part of its maiden voyage and although we enjoyed it and it was a beautiful new ship we were put-off by all the "nickle and diming" and being pestered to buy photos, drink packages etc. The food was also not as good as Oceania. I guess really you get what you pay for.

Interesting, that on this thread the issue of cost has not been discussed. Cost is a huge factor when comparing cruise lines. I have checked out cruises on O as well as Azamara. Prices were way out of line with cruise lines like Celebrity, Princess, RCI and NCL.

Interesting, that on this thread the issue of cost has not been discussed. Cost is a huge factor when comparing cruise lines. I have checked out cruises on O as well as Azamara. Prices were way out of line with cruise lines like Celebrity, Princess, RCI and NCL.

Lots on this thread mention pricing. No, prices are not the same as mainstream lines but neither is the experience. And there are lots of lines even more costly than O. It is where you find the best cost/experience ratio for you. For some, that's =X=, for others O and for some, like us, both.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Forums mobile app

Not sure how many ships O has now but just be aware, on the older ones, the cabins and baths compare sadly with most of the X fleet. I'd love to sail on one of the new O ships but just can't pay the prices they are asking.

Never found any snobbery. In fact, we met a couple from Australia on one of ou O shore excursions. We have kept in touch and they decided to book the Ireland/Iceland cruise we are taking in Aug on the Silhouette.

Have little interest in mingling with officers but did speak to the CD a number of times and he was friendly (and also very funny).

. We've cruised on both lines and agree that Regent and Oceania prices have gone up substantially since their acquisition by NCL. Obviously comments on this thread are opinions of what's important to them. Regarding price, there is a difference between luxury, near luxury and mass market lines. If you want activities, chair hogs & entertainment you would prefer larger ships. If you want better service and food you would prefer smaller, more luxurious lines. Itineraries are important to us. Once that's determined we compare prices and then make our decision. IMHO, O and X are not comparable, but neither would be bad cruises.

Bottom line, we are all fortunate to be able to discuss experiences on cruise lines.

I believe that Celebrity and Oceania are in different cruising segments with different philosophies driving very different product offerings and pricing including economies of scale which always factor into pricing.

Cruised Celebrity from 2001 to 2015 and have a Oceania cruise this past September. I would say both lines provide a very good product in their segment, but, they are not generally comparable as they are by design very different products with different target markets.

Oceania is small ship, unique itinerary, high end food and service focused company intent on providing this product to every single passenger on their vessels ie inclusionary. This company generally attracts an experienced cruiser who has already done the mass market itineraries. This is precisely what was provided to me on Oceania Marina. Simply outstanding food and service beyond anything I have ever experienced on a ship. Met a very significant number of new Oceania cruisers on this voyage, all of whom had last cruised on Celebrity or Princess. They were uniformally more than pleased with Oceania.

The price I paid was aligned with the product I received and yes it was a bit, not alot, above a Celebrity aqua/suite product. What I received was simply better than any previous Celebrity voyage, and exactly aligned with my current cruise expectations, so for me, the slightly higher price was acceptable. Other consumers could have a different value for money outcome based on their expectations and actual experience.

I do not believe that Oceania is over rated based on my experience and discussions with many cruisers on the voyage. Individual voyages can have hiccups which can influence a review as well as misaligned/misunderstood/underresearched expectations of a cruiser as well as the pricing of the product at a single moment in time compared against two cruise lines.

Bottom line, we are all fortunate to be able to discuss experiences on cruise lines.

 

I believe that Celebrity and Oceania are in different cruising segments with different philosophies driving very different product offerings and pricing including economies of scale which always factor into pricing.

 

Cruised Celebrity from 2001 to 2015 and have a Oceania cruise this past September. I would say both lines provide a very good product in their segment, but, they are not generally comparable as they are by design very different products with different target markets.

 

Oceania is small ship, unique itinerary, high end food and service focused company intent on providing this product to every single passenger on their vessels ie inclusionary. This company generally attracts an experienced cruiser who has already done the mass market itineraries. This is precisely what was provided to me on Oceania Marina. Simply outstanding food and service beyond anything I have ever experienced on a ship. Met a very significant number of new Oceania cruisers on this voyage, all of whom had last cruised on Celebrity or Princess. They were uniformally more than pleased with Oceania.

 

The price I paid was aligned with the product I received and yes it was a bit, not alot, above a Celebrity aqua/suite product. What I received was simply better than any previous Celebrity voyage, and exactly aligned with my current cruise expectations, so for me, the slightly higher price was acceptable. Other consumers could have a different value for money outcome based on their expectations and actual experience.

 

I do not believe that Oceania is over rated based on my experience and discussions with many cruisers on the voyage. Individual voyages can have hiccups which can influence a review as well as misaligned/misunderstood/underresearched expectations of a cruiser as well as the pricing of the product at a single moment in time compared against two cruise lines.

from the first paragraph to the last...this is an excellent post, and one I agree with totally.

from the first paragraph to the last...this is an excellent post, and one I agree with totally.

I will second that. An excellent post.

My two Oceania cruises were on the Marina down the coast of Spain and Insignia to Cuba After the Marina cruise I cancelled another booked Oceania cruise but kept the Insignia one because I wanted to go to Cuba,

The breakfast and lunch buffets have limited choices. While it's nice to be able to have grilled lobster sandwiches for lunch I had it too many times due to lack of de cn salad or sandwich choices. Dinners on Oceania contain more expensive ingredients so that is a big plus(love the foie gras) but the Coquilles St Jacques dish contained three small scallops on a similarly small slice of potato with a mushroom garnish and they called it an entree.(While you can always get more it was served two hours after we first sat and we would have missed the show which is only one time) A real Insignia plus is the bread. Their baguette is the best I ever had

Ice cream service ends at 4 p.m and does not start again until the buffet at 6:30. Ice cream flavors are limited. Usually only. vanilla chocolate and Strawberry, another flavor that changes and a sugar free. I am a chocolate lover but went for the vanilla and strawberry since the chocolate lacked flavor.

Between five and 6:30 there is no food available except for room service.i feel when you are out for most of the day and come back at 5 p.m. you might like something small to tide you over and room service is not the answer

Service is excellent , except on the pool deck but I have always found great service on Celebrity.

Beds and bedding are great.

While I like the idea of a smaller ship i just don't feel as a cruise itself Oceania is worth the extra money.

Isn't it a wonderful world that there are different cruise lines for us to try ?

While the O.P. wasn't as pleased with Oceania as others. good on them for giving it a try.

I hope their future cruises are more to their liking.