We took a turn away from Cuba-Our first Oceania cruise experience-7/11/19

[clo]

On 7/22/2019 at 10:07 AM, Guindalf said:

The server hadn't even heard of drawn butter when we asked fore it!

A picky little thing but being into food I'll point out that "drawn butter" isn't a real thing.

 

What is the difference between drawn butter and clarified butter?

"Drawn butter" is an ambiguous term. Depending on which chef you ask, it can mean plain melted butter or "clarified" butter: pure butterfat separated from the milk solids and water. Each option has its advantages: Plain melted butter has more flavor, making it a good dipping sauce for seafood.Mar 29, 2019

3 Ways to Make Drawn Butter - wikiHow

 

https://m.wikihow.com/Make-Drawn-Butter

 

But sorry about the rest of the snafus.  Did the "bars aren't open" correct itself?  That seems pretty stupid.  Well, unless you were having breakfast at like 7 🙂

[Guindalf]

Drawn butter IS a thing and a term that is well known in the UK (where I'm from)! I have NEVER had a problem asking for it before this cruise.

 

As for the 'bars aren't open'' issue, breakfast was never taken before 8AM, but according to the Currents paper, no bar was open before 9AM. It was resolved by not asking again until we were seated near Waves bar later in the morning!
 

I have never been refused or charged for a Bloody Mary with breakfast on NCL or X and I'll bet dollars to donuts it won't hapen next month on Eclipse in Alaska.

 

 

 

 

[lourdest]

On 7/21/2019 at 3:59 PM, Bxianesq said:

We really enjoyed meeting some of our fellow passengers on Oceania-we have also had good experiences on HAL-but our Oceania cruise had a really nice group of people.  Enjoyed meeting those people that we got to talk with at the Meet and Greet on departure day.  

 

Thank you Beth for putting together our meet and greet and the collection of school supplies for the children of Honduras. It was a pleasure meeting you, John, Donna, Ken and Lisa (@Go-Bucks who I followed during her RTW adventure).  

 

I am planning on doing a review of our first Oceania trip but I will say that we had a great time.

Was everything perfect, no, but neither was our previous 15 cruises.  Our preferred cruise line is Celebrity.  

 

I had booked an Oceania cruise for June 2020 (Rome to Barcelona) for our 40th wedding anniversary.   I chose Oceania over Celebrity because of the amazing itinerary.  With the cancellation of the Cuba stops and fantastic prices it made it possible for us to to see if Oceania would be a good fit for us before going on our big trip in 2020 and possibly in 2021. 

 

We thought that Oceania was superior to Celebrity in the food, beverage and service department.  Oceania took food to the next level.  To quote my husband, “the food does not taste mass produced, it tastes fresh”.  We usually don’t eat dinner at the buffet, but Oceania’s Terrace Café was so good that we ate there 4 times and 3 times in the specialty restaurants.  We never made it to the GDR.

 

The issue with the delayed embarkation (due to Coast Guard inspection) has happened to us 2 previous times on Celebrity.  Both times in Celebrity it happened when Reflection docked in Miami after it cross the Atlantic. I am starting to see a pattern of longer inspections times when a ship returns to a major US port after being in Europe for the season.  Just an observation on my part. 

 

After our cruise, we feel that Oceania is a good fit for us and has the potential to became our preferred cruise line. One of the reason that I was interested in trying Oceania was their itineraries and how they stay in some port much later, until 10-11pm, in the Mediterranean.   We are really looking forward to our next adventure on June 6^th.  Can’t wait to experience Portofino, Cinque Terre (close by), Corsica, Sardinia, Monte Carlo, Ibiza and all the other amazing ports. 

 

Lourdes and Rene

 

 

 

[Bxianesq]

Thanks for your amazing donations, Lourdes and Rene-it was great to meet you as well-and you had a gorgeous cabin!