Sirena- gosh!

[Petoonya]

Have read such horrible feedback on Sirena that I wasn't even considering. But throwing it out there. Anyone sail recently? My experience with Oceania is with all of the R class ships, and nothing but love for them all. Great deal on the Sirena for Tahiti-Hawaii May 2017, but was holding out for Insignia May 2018. Any thoughts?

[nvgal]

I was on the first sailing of Sirena and while work was still being done, she was beautiful. In fact, I am booked on the May sailing out of Pateete. That will be #19 on O. I love all the ships, but am fonder of the smaller ones.

[Petoonya]

NV- the one out of Papeete is also the one I'm looking at. Have enjoyed the R ships but have been presented with an offer that's hard to refuse for 2017 Sirena. Maybe we'll get to meet- thanks for your input and glad you enjoyed Sirena.

[Petoonya]

Heck, just booked May, 2017.

[Mura]

We're boarding Sirena on October 4th. Will be happy to let you know what we think! I find it hard to believe that it will be much different from any of the "R" ships on Oceania.

 

Mura

[SanDiegoscrappy]

We were on Sirena in mid-July with ports in Spain and Portugal. We've cruised with Silversea, MSC Yacht Club and full suites on HAL and RCI so were curious to see where Sirena landed. We were in a Concierge veranda. The staff and service were excellent and attentive. All the dining venues extremely enjoyable in terms of food and setting. Really liked Jacques Bistro for a "dinner" experience at lunch. We really felt the higher staff to guest ratio and the ship never felt crowded, no lines.

 

Not quite sure of the real benefits of concierge level recognizing that there is no concierge lounge on her (higher priority for reservations but not much else.) Overall I think the value is there ...good overall service and experience but not quite the 'luxury' brand prices. Enjoy your Sirena experience!

[Dutch Explorers]

Please bear in mind that most negative reviews were due to the cancelled ports in Egypt and had nothing to do with the ship itself.

Other negatives were poor entertainment and the shore excursions but both are known facts and should not surprise any passenger.

 

I would go on Sirena in a heartbeat!

Edited August 30, 2016 by Dutch Explorers

[LHT28]

Some reviewers have never been on an R ship before so the small cabins & especially the bathrooms are a shock to some

 

Yes there are some reports of the fittings not up to O standards but I will bet they are working on getting it done on the fly

Sounds like Princess let the ship go so more time was need to repair & upgrade the ship than the drydock had time for & as always once your try to fix one thing several others thing need to be done at the same time

I know that is how it works with home renos ;)

Edited August 30, 2016 by LHT28

[Petoonya]

Many thanks to everyone, especially SanDiegosScrappy (love your name!). Feel much more comfortable about Sirena- small baths are fine with me as long as the experience is still O. And the little off things never bother me. As you say LHT28 O will be working on them in short order. Thanks everyone!

[LaCroisiereS'amuse]

Reading between the lines on most of the poor CC member reviews you can tell that the posters and/or their travel agents hadn't done their homework before moving from other lines.

[SanDiegoscrappy]

You are most welcome, Petoonya. I like your picture. Scrappy was our most beloved Pointer who has gone over the Rainbow Bridge prematurely.

 

I think you are approaching this cruise as we did - focusing on the experience. From the many posts here, Oceania does unique itineraries and they certainly delivered on our cruise. Tuscan Steak is also a new concept on her (combination of the Polo and Tuscan) and truly offered the best of a steakhouse and northern Italian. Afternoon tea was also above par with delicious scones and clotted cream (some cruise lines' teas have neither).

 

Have a great time and do report back.

[tunaman2011]

Greetings

 

We are seasoned cruisers with our previous favorite line being Celebrity. We were on Sirena in June/July. We had a wonderful experience. Maybe it's because we were comparing everything to Celebrity but we would jump back on Sirena in a microsec.

 

The food was outstanding and the service was top rate. It is a small ship and doesn't have the bells and whistles that the larger Celebrity ships have, but we knew that going in. I will agree that the shows were limited, but the one's they had were professional and good. And we never book cruises based on the shows anyway. If we cruised for shows we would be on the mega-mega ships where they can afford to have a large entertainment crew.

 

They were still "upgrading" the ship. While we were in Barcelona they changed out all of the bed frames.

 

We like Sirena so much that we already have 2 more Oceania cruises booked, one on Sirena and one on Riviera. We also have a Viking Ocean, a Azamara, a NCL and a Celebrity booked - we cruise alot. So one should consider if the negatives reported in the reviews are either overstated or are of thing that don't really matter to you.

 

Good Sailing

Tom

[Petoonya]

Thanks Tom,

I'm sure the sentiment for many is the same....try Oceania after Celebrity and never look back. Did Oceania for the first time several years ago and swore that was the end of long years of Celebrity for us.

I'm sooooo glad to hear you enjoyed Sirena. It's the atmosphere of O I hoped it would have. Sounds like the negative reviews I've read on CC are those who just don't get O. From what you say it's different ship, same O, and they're working on the bugs.

Can't wait! Thanks very much.

[su-arizona]

And excuuuse me, but my first Oceania cruise was on Nautica (loved it). And my first R-class cruise was on the R3 in Tahiti. I did know what to expect. Read my review for the details.

 

What I did not expect: The generally poor food/beverage service. On most Oceania ships, we tend to eat in Terrace Cafe often. Service was very poor in Terrace Cafe. There's been lots of discussion in this forum regarding the health aspects of eliminating the self-service 'buffet'. For this Sirena cruise, the alternative was no service. The line servers often didn't speak English so they didn't understand what you wanted; or they didn't know what to do at their stations; or they simply didn't do anything. And this of course didn't help the food quality either.

 

And beverage service there (and in Waves, and Horizons, and Sirena Lounge) was largely non-existent.

 

When we mentioned this to F&B managers, we were told that new staff was introduced in Terrace Cafe, more experienced staff were in the GDR and the most experienced staff was in the speciality restaurants. This seemed to be mostly true, but I don't think it forgives awful service in Terrace Cafe. We never had this experience before.

 

It's all discussed at length in the review. And it doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the cruise overall - I did. But I know what I expected, and Sirena did not meet my expectations. There's an itinerary I'd really like in the spring - but I won't sail on Sirena again.

[mocrimlaw]

We were on our first Oceania cruise in May on Sirena from Rome to Athens. The only "bad" thing to me was that originally we were supposed to go to Istanbul, but they decided not to go, but that decision seems to have been good one in light of later events. We absolutely loved everything about the ship and the cruise. We loved both specialty restaurants and we enjoyed all the entertainment. We hosted a small meet & greet which Oceania helped me set up and it was great. The seas were too rough to go to Amalfi and some people were upset with that but it was a safety decision which I supported. We met the most wonderful people who I think will be lifelong friends now. We had a Penthouse suite because I wanted the extra room. The butler was great but we really didn't use him at all as e are pretty self sufficient. I can't think of even one thing we didn't like and I am already planning our next Oceania cruise.

[Mura]

Su-Arizona,

 

We haven't been on Sirena yet although we will be in about six weeks time. I understand your disappointment. Maybe I would have agreed with you if had I been on your cruise.

 

But to say you'll never sail on Sirena again I think is somewhat shortsighted. Crew changes occur regularly and just because there were some areas that were lacking on your cruise doesn't mean they will be repeated. You might as well say "I'll never sail on an R ship again".

 

Oceania has been expanding its number of ships -- from two "R" ships now to four "R" ships and two "O" ships. That's a lot more crew they need to staff.

 

Maybe what O needs to do is make sure that all new crew (especially those who are literally new to the line) are properly trained. And not understaffed! The problems you detail might well have happened on any of the ships.

 

Having said that, we aren't leaving Oceania any time soon! I do sympathize with your disappointment.

 

Mura

[mrssbi]

Just got off Sirena last Monday. She is great..............looks great......food and service were excellent. Felt like all the other R ships and didn't notice any problems with the service. They are doing much better with the entertainment. The 4 production shows were packed each time and well received. Alternate entertainment was pretty good (although it will change depending upon sailings). Cruise Director Corey is a hoot and has Horizons jumping most nights. He is very hands on. Wonderful cruise and I'd go back on her in a minute. Enjoy

[nyfeds]

Great to learn you had such a wonderful time. Hoping for the same in October! :)

 

Denise

[Mura]

Denise, it sounds like you may be boarding the day we leave ...

 

Mura

[nyfeds]

Denise, it sounds like you may be boarding the day we leave ...

 

Mura

 

Sad to say, you get off, we get on. Would so enjoy meeting you!

Denise

[Mura]

Next time! (Maybe ....)

 

Have a great cruise.

 

Mura

[nyfeds]

Thank you! You, too! :)

[newbie60]

We were on Sirena for 21 days - Barcelona to Le Havre this summer and absolutely no complaints about service whatsoever.