New to Oceania Looking for Advice on World Cruise

[chrisruthsmith]

Hello Everyone,

 

Yesterday we received an email detailing the 2023 world cruise and we were very excited by the itinerary. Our agent  has managed to get one of the last cabins and put this on hold until close of business today. So we have just 12 hours to do all our research! (We will only be able to do the  World cruise in 2023 so waiting a couple of years for further trip isn’t an option) 

 

We’re experienced cruisers but have never sailed with Oceania. So I’ve a  few questions: 

 

1. Any info on price and types of excursions? . I’m particularly interested in the more active excursions,.  (Does anyone have any excursion info on any segments of the last world cruise? )
2. Are you limited to how many times you can book the speciality restaurants?  We’ve only managed to get an inside cabin so I’m concerned we  might not get that many opportunities. 
3. How stable is the ship mid ships ( I’ve  only sailed on the much larger Cunard  ships) 

 

My partner is a little concerned with the mixed reviews on cruise critic. There are a couple that rate the food and service as poor and interestingly the ship only gets a 3+ rating in the latest Berlitz cruise guide . Anyone throw any light on this 

 

I know I’ve asked specific questions but all and any information re the world cruise experience on Oceania would be very welcome. 

 

Many thanks

Chris

Edited February 3, 2021 by chrisruthsmith
Typos

[pinotlover]

4 hours ago, chrisruthsmith said:

Hello Everyone,

 

Yesterday we received an email detailing the 2023 world cruise and we were very excited by the itinerary. Our agent  has managed to get one of the last cabins and put this on hold until close of business today. So we have just 12 hours to do all our research! (We will only be able to do the  World cruise in 2023 so waiting a couple of years for further trip isn’t an option) 

 

We’re experienced cruisers but have never sailed with Oceania. So I’ve a  few questions: 

 

1. Any info on price and types of excursions? . I’m particularly interested in the more active excursions,.  (Does anyone have any excursion info on any segments of the last world cruise? )
2. Are you limited to how many times you can book the speciality restaurants?  We’ve only managed to get an inside cabin so I’m concerned we  might not get that many opportunities. 
3. How stable is the ship mid ships ( I’ve  only sailed on the much larger Cunard  ships) 

 

My partner is a little concerned with the mixed reviews on cruise critic. There are a couple that rate the food and service as poor and interestingly the ship only gets a 3+ rating in the latest Berlitz cruise guide . Anyone throw any light on this 

 

I know I’ve asked specific questions but all and any information re the world cruise experience on Oceania would be very welcome. 

 

Many thanks

Chris

1.  “ More Active Excursions “ are generally not the ones included in the OLife Packages. Most generally, not always, they are extra and very expensive not withstanding the 25% discount.

 

2. Friends that did the 2019 ATW, said that when new segmenters came aboard availability of Specialty reservations tightened up. After about 10-12 days they became readily available for all. There is a pecking order in getting the reservations. On a side note, the menu in the Specialties never change. To some this is a blessing, for others not. So after having eaten in each of the two Specialties a couple times per month each for about four (4) months, they tired of them and didn’t pursue eating there anymore . Late in the cruise, the ship generally went looking for passengers to eat there.

 

3. Even in bad weather, we have always found the R ships to be very stable and as comfortable as may be possible, depending upon the severity of the storm.

 

The Berlitz ratings are all inclusive. That means that even if a team is tops in the Ivy League or MAC, those ratings include teams from the SEC and Big Ten. Oceania is a solid premium level cruise line, but those ratings also compare it with the luxury lines that are often far higher priced. Another item hurting Oceania. On some O cruises, the food has been absolutely fabulous. On a couple others, it’s been just OK. The delta between the peaks and the valleys can be substantial. There is not a solid consistency, most particularly at dinner, across the brand. If those doing the ratings only saw the valleys, their ratings would be different from those that saw the peaks.

[Sarnia 432]

This link will take you to the 2022 World cruise, if you click on 'show all ports' you will get a list of all the ports on this cruise.  Although many ports are different there are prices up, which will give you an idea of costs.  
 

if you click on the 'hotels and land' tab, you can see all the overlands, again prices are listed.  For some reason when you open a land excursion, you have to scroll up to see the text, as it opens at the bottom of the page!

 

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/around-the-world-cruises/miami-to-new-york-INS211221H/ports/?sr=%2fcruise-finder%23time_frame%3d2021-12%26ship%3dINS%26sort%3dfeatured%3adesc%26page%3d1%26pageSize%3d10#ports=MIA

[2552phxcrzr]

Hi ... many will respond to your questions in detail, so I'll just invite you to join us on the roll call at this link once you make your decision.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2770541-december-28-2022-atw-2023-mia-sf-sf-sf-and-all-other-versions-segments/

[WholeNewWorld]

DH and I were on the 2018.  We are younger (45 at the time of the cruise) Making us the youngest couple on board.  We had a great time-we did some boat excursions, but mainly I did my own research own trips.  We hopped off the boat for 3 weeks in Africa and New Zealand.  I highly suggest making your own plans when possible.  

We are *hoping* to be on the 2022 ATW -I can't wait to meet new people and see new parts of the world.  

 

 

Edit to add: If you are planing to do any work on sea days-it's almost impossible to have reliable internet.  Have a back up plan.  

Edited February 3, 2021 by WholeNewWorld

[Sea42]

I would suggest, if at all possible, to take a shorter cruise on the ship to see if you like the experience on Oceania. I would recommend that to anyone looking at taking a very long cruise on a line or ship with which they have no experience.

[pinotlover]

11 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

I would suggest, if at all possible, to take a shorter cruise on the ship to see if you like the experience on Oceania. I would recommend that to anyone looking at taking a very long cruise on a line or ship with which they have no experience.

+1, adding doing so in the same class of cabins the longer cruise is contemplated in. Don’t do a PH or Concierge Veranda and project that upon an inside cabin.

[S1drfl]

We were scheduled to take the 2015 ATW and wound up on the 2016 after the former was cancelled due to a fire.  We were in a Veranda Stateroom.  It was our first Oceania cruise, but at that point we'd sailed 280 days on 20 different ships on 9 different lines over the previous 20 years, so felt comfortable at the prospect.  The two best pieces of advice that really helped us with managing expectations:

 

Room size:  Smaller than most of our previous experiences, but adequate.  Ditto the bathroom, especially the shower.

 

Food:  Better quality and more varied than any other we've experienced on a cruise, but definitely not haute cuisine.  No potential Michelin stars, not as good as the better restaurants in our neighborhood.  But definitely good enough to keep us satisfied and not bored for 180 days.

 

Good luck with your decision.

[chrisruthsmith]

Hello,

 

Thanks to everyone for their responses.  Extremely helpful and I'm pleased to say we've booked and  managed to book a balcony cabin which is fantastic as at first we were told there was none available.  We will now sign up for the roll call.

 

Looking through the excursions from AWC 2022,  they are a bit more expensive then what we are used to, but If we book 40 excursions then we should be eligible for the 25% discount.  This still give us enough options to do our own thing in lots of ports.

 

It does feel like its a bit of a risk but compared with the World Cruise we were going to do - the itinerary is just so much more exciting that we're going to take the plunge.  If the food isn't quite as good as promised or the cabin feels a tad cramped we're now prepared for this.

 

Thank you

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by chrisruthsmith

[LHT28]

There  are a couple of threads here from previous RTW cruises  with hints & tips   that may be of interest

Some had reported "live from "  on other blogs 

google  Oceania RTW cruise

maybe Cynthia (CBB) will post a link to their cruise

 Enjoy