R Class or Riviera Class

[rollie]

We're thinking about taking our first Oceania cruise.  We are experienced cruisers, with 40 done, mostly with Celebrity.  We like the Riviera with the extra restaurants, and just wondering why people would prefer the R Class over the Riviera Class.

 

Rollie

[Noxequifans]

Many find the R ships more intimate and less crowded. But O is O and a great experience with either.

[Belfastman]

1 hour ago, rollie said:

We're thinking about taking our first Oceania cruise.  We are experienced cruisers, with 40 done, mostly with Celebrity.  We like the Riviera with the extra restaurants, and just wondering why people would prefer the R Class over the Riviera Class.

 

Rollie

I prefer the O class ships (Riviera and Marina) which are much more spacious. The cabins are bigger and bathrooms larger than the R class. There are more restaurants to choose from and a better layout in my opinion.

[pinotlover]

The only reason we cruise is to travel and see new places that may be more difficult to do so via land trips.

 

The only reason we sail on R ships is the itineraries offered to smaller ports and typically not doable by the larger ships.

 

If the itineraries were identical, we would always sail on the O Class ships. Sadly, that is rarely the case. There are currently only two O Class ships offering a limited itinerary. We are grateful we got to do Australia/NZ and later the FP on the Marina before she was taken off those routes that are now only served by R ships.

[LHT28]

IMO  we like both class of ships  we will go for the itinerary 

we can  adjust to the cabin size on the R ships  depends on your needs

 

enjoy whatever cruise you choose

[Flatbush Flyer]

46 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

The only reason we cruise is to travel and see new places that may be more difficult to do so via land trips.

 

The only reason we sail on R ships is the itineraries offered to smaller ports and typically not doable by the larger ships.

 

If the itineraries were identical, we would always sail on the O Class ships. Sadly, that is rarely the case. There are currently only two O Class ships offering a limited itinerary. We are grateful we got to do Australia/NZ and later the FP on the Marina before she was taken off those routes that are now only served by R ships.

Though we prefer the “intimacy” of the R ships (even on long cruises), we do enjoy the occasional O ship trip because of the added dining (including LaReserve), cooking school, etc. 

And, as Pinot points out, most often it is the itineraries associated with O or R that will dictate our choice of ship.

[Andee]

Although the larger cabins in every category on the O ships are nice, we very much prefer the public areas on the R ships, as well as the smaller size of the ships.

[Redtravel]

I like both.  My spouse doesn’t like R ships.  The cabins are small, but nicely furnished. The bathrooms are tiny.  The shower is absurdly small.  On Riviera or Marina, cabins are spacious. The regular cabins are larger than suites on many ships. The bathrooms are also spacious with separate shower/tub and additional walk-in shower.  Given a choice, go on Riviera or Marina. The ships are gorgeous.  They have more specialty restaurants which are amazing. 

[deadzone1003]

For us, it is always the itinerary.  I prefer the O class over the R class ships only because of its added dining options if itinerary were similiar and prices were close.  If you have your sights set on more than 1 Oceania cruises, you may want to do the R class trip first.  It seems that more people ***** about Oceania after taking the O-class first and then become disappointed with their 2nd Oceania cruise on a R-class ship.  It would be the same if you took a Solstice-class ship first on Celebrity and then taking a Millinenium-class ship next.  But, if you want to take more exotic itineraries or very long cruises, it is more likely that you will end up on a R-class ship.

[pinotlover]

I was really looking forward to the new Allura Class ship in 2022.  😢

 

Well, maybe by 2025. 🤞. Then it will probably only be A and/or O for us.

Edited January 14, 2021 by pinotlover

[deadzone1003]

My apologies to all for my poor choice of word for entry #9.  This is the first time I have been censored because of an inappropriate use of a word.  I have been censored before when the moderators thought the discussion got too heated or too off-topic, generally the thread got deleted or a few days discussion for everyone was chopped off.  My apology to the moderator as I thought the word that I chose pretty much was the most accurate verb I could chose for my opinion since I wasn't using that word as a noun.  

[Flatbush Flyer]

59 minutes ago, deadzone1003 said:

For us, it is always the itinerary.  I prefer the O class over the R class ships only because of its added dining options if itinerary were similiar and prices were close.  If you have your sights set on more than 1 Oceania cruises, you may want to do the R class trip first.  It seems that more people ***** about Oceania after taking the O-class first and then become disappointed with their 2nd Oceania cruise on a R-class ship.  It would be the same if you took a Solstice-class ship first on Celebrity and then taking a Millinenium-class ship next.  But, if you want to take more exotic itineraries or very long cruises, it is more likely that you will end up on a R-class ship.

Weird (IMO). Our first O ship was Regatta and it was a perfect fit for our travel profile. When we later tried our first O ship trip, we did enjoy the extra ship features (dining et al.). But, DW and I agreed: “too big and too many people.”

[Paulchili]

R ships can take you "downtown" Bangkok and Saigon - both of which would be long transfers with O ships. They can take you to Shanghai up the river and if you're lucky, within steps of the Winter Palace on the Neva in SPB.

[alcpa1]

Rollie,

As a Celebrity cruiser you are probably familiar with Azamara. The R class ships are the sister ships to the 3 Azamara ships. The regular cabins are comfortably tight. The bathrooms are the biggest drawbacks because they are small but if you are itinerary driven then you make do on a comfortable ship with a good layout and the Oceania experience.

With the new pricing structure on Celebrity Oceania is looking better and better.

[rollie]

Thanks everyone for your replies.  alcpa1 hit the nail on the head.  We are loyal Celebrity cruisers, but with their new price structure, we're thinking about a change.  We want to upgrade our cruise experience, so have decided on three cruise lines, Azamara, Viking, and Oceania.  We would like to try one of these cruise lines in the Caribbean first.  That pretty much eliminates Azamara, unless your doing one of their really long cruises.  Oceana has two Caribbean cruise.  We like the Riviera round trip from Miami.  Viking has a nice round trip from San Jaun.  

 

Rollie

[LHT28]

26 minutes ago, rollie said:

Thanks everyone for your replies.  alcpa1 hit the nail on the head.  We are loyal Celebrity cruisers, but with their new price structure, we're thinking about a change.  We want to upgrade our cruise experience, so have decided on three cruise lines, Azamara, Viking, and Oceania.  We would like to try one of these cruise lines in the Caribbean first.  That pretty much eliminates Azamara, unless your doing one of their really long cruises.  Oceana has two Caribbean cruise.  We like the Riviera round trip from Miami.  Viking has a nice round trip from San Jaun.  

 

Rollie

You probably would be happier on one of the larger ships  like Riviera or the Viking ship

The O class ships are probably still smaller than X  & less bells & whistles

 

 

[Rob the Cruiser]

We used to be loyal Celebrity cruisers also. We decided to find a different cruise line when service and the quality of food in Blu declined. That was five years ago.

 

We were concerned that downsizing from Solstice-class or Millennium-class to O-class (Marina) would feel cramped. Far from it. What stood out for us was there is no wasted space in the public areas. For example, on Celebrity, the huge area where the art auctions take place comes to mind. As odd as it may sound, O-class feels larger than Celebrity ships because of the efficient layout of the public areas.

 

Our next cruise was on R-class (Sirena). It didn't feel cramped either. OK, OK...the bathroom in our cabin was tiny. Teeny-tiny. We didn't care. As others have mentioned, it's the itinerary.

 

We prefer O-class because of the additional restaurants but wouldn't hesitate to cruise aboard R-class if the itinerary was attractive.

[pinotlover]

We prefer the O Class hands down over the R Class. We currently have three (3) cruises booked on Oceania. Two on R Class and one on the Marina (O). Itinerary rules.

Edited January 15, 2021 by pinotlover

[marieps]

Having done our first O cruise on Regatta (E+ on =X=), we opted to upgrade to a PH on Sirena for a TA in October.  As others have stated, the R class bathroom is very small, especially the shower.  R class is fine in a suite.  We're also doing Riviera in the Tropics in a year.  No need for a suite there.  It looks like a lovely cabin (A3).  Hoping the casino has more action.  It was dead on Regatta for the Fall '19 TP to Papeete.

[cruisingxpert]

On 1/15/2021 at 9:43 AM, rollie said:

Thanks everyone for your replies.  alcpa1 hit the nail on the head.  We are loyal Celebrity cruisers, but with their new price structure, we're thinking about a change.  We want to upgrade our cruise experience, so have decided on three cruise lines, Azamara, Viking, and Oceania.  We would like to try one of these cruise lines in the Caribbean first.  That pretty much eliminates Azamara, unless your doing one of their really long cruises.  Oceana has two Caribbean cruise.  We like the Riviera round trip from Miami.  Viking has a nice round trip from San Jaun.  

 

Rollie

If Caribbean is what you are considering, check out Sirena in Nov, Dec and March 2022 .  Two unusual one ways on Dec 1st BGI to MIA and Mar 5 MIA to AUA(Aruba)  Sirena has a dedicated Red Ginger restaurant and was renovated again in Nov.  If you google you tube reviews of Sirena cabins and the ship, there are some good videos to see what you will be getting.

[edgee]

2 hours ago, marieps said:

Having done our first O cruise on Regatta (E+ on =X=), we opted to upgrade to a PH on Sirena for a TA in October.  As others have stated, the R class bathroom is very small, especially the shower.  R class is fine in a suite.  We're also doing Riviera in the Tropics in a year.  No need for a suite there.  It looks like a lovely cabin (A3).  Hoping the casino has more action.  It was dead on Regatta for the Fall '19 TP to Papeete.

Casinos on R class are very small. O class casinos are more spacious and odd that configuration is slightly different between Marina and Riviera, but both are fine. Of course, level of "action" will vary with each cruise.