Riviera Live! March 8 from a food lover and O newbie

[kjbacon]

After all the planning and waiting, we have arrived in South Beach for 2 days before embarkation. We had lunch at Oliver’s Bistro, one block from the car charging station. Food and service were great. My fried goat cheese salad was served with a raspberry vinaigrette, delicious.

Jack’s fried chicken BLT was also fabulous.

 

After lunch, we went to the 17th Street Covid mobile testing center where we had pre registered. Free parking lot across the street. Efficient operation, happy to recommend. Both of our instant tests were negative 😁👍 yay!

 

South Beach is easily the people watching capital of the world. The ambience is electric, busy, and beautiful. The people here are absolutely gorgeous and they know it. We have a ways to go to fit in lol!

 

Edited March 6, 2022 by kjbacon

[jonthomas]

We are on the March 18th sailing.

 

Looking forward to all your posts.

 

We are foodies too and now only cruise O because of it. 

 

 

[jonthomas]

Wish we were there with you now.

[SummerStar57]

Thank you for sharing your cruise. We are on the TA next year.

if you could, we would love pictures of the daily schedule for the sea days.

Have a super time! 😀

[jonthomas]

Yes we are on the TA this year, leaving march 18, 17 days, Mia to Barcelona. 

 

All packed ready to go, still have a wait of two weeks. Some commotion over needing an application into Bermuda, with extra cost. Lets hope by the time 2023 rolls around, we wont have too many forms and restrictions  to worry about.

 

Really looking forward to all your posts.

[kjbacon]

Summer, I’ll be happy to post the daily schedules for sea days.

 

We are staying at the Hotel Gabriel on 7th Street in the heart of South Beach. There are many pros and cons here but for us moving forward, it’s a no. The noisy atmosphere of SB is enough without the hotel DJ blasting techno music nonstop.

 

Dinner in Dalia was very good. The atmosphere and service were excellent while the food was good = very good overall. We loved the people watching from the lovely front porch and if we saw one Lamborghini and Rolls Royce drive by, we saw a dozen.

 

Appetizers were Fried Haloumi and Tuna Tartare.

 

 

Main courses were Mediterranean Fried Chicken and Lobster Pasta. The sauce in the cup with the chicken is harissa, not ketchup!

 

 

The weather report is perfect and we have a full day of fun ahead of us!

 

[loriva]

Looking forward to your reports and impressions, Karen.  Have a great cruise!

 

[Aloha 1]

As you have been on Regent, I am curious how you will compare Oceania to R. We've done both lines and have formed our own opinions but it will be nice to hear what you think. And by all means go to the Terrace once for dinner. Casual attire (shorts), grilled lobster tails, lamb chops, a pasta station, etc.

[kjbacon]

1 hour ago, Aloha 1 said:

As you have been on Regent, I am curious how you will compare Oceania to R. We've done both lines and have formed our own opinions but it will be nice to hear what you think. And by all means go to the Terrace once for dinner. Casual attire (shorts), grilled lobster tails, lamb chops, a pasta station, etc.

We must compare notes!! Thank you for the Terrace suggestion. Grilled lobster tails sound delicious!

[kjbacon]

Just had a fabulous lunch at Serena Rooftop. We will definitely return for the beautiful atmosphere, excellent service, and outstanding food. The hostess was the weak link but then again, who cares!?!

 

We shared small plates of Oysters Serena with spinach, cilantro, and grilled citrus, Chicken Quesadillas done with homemade blue corn tortillas, and picadillo sopes done with stone ground masa tart shells.

 

 

Don’t miss this place if you are in the area.

 

6 hours ago, loriva said:

Looking forward to your reports and impressions, Karen.  Have a great cruise!

 

Thanks, Lori 😊 see you soon!

[kjbacon]

And so it begins!

 

We arrived at the port early, on the ship by 11:15, and shortly after were in cabin. Embarkation was unnecessarily chaotic and in our opinion, very poorly planned. So, first (friendly) Regent (from now on R) to Oceania (from now on O) comparison goes to Regent.

 

For those following the earlier port discussions, Martinique has been replaced by St Kitts.

 

Our suite is absolutely gorgeous and our butler is excellent. We enjoy large suites and we love this one. We need another day or two to decide. So far, one of us is leaning one way and the other, the other!

 

As for the butler, we have been truly spoiled by Regent but Bosco has already blown us away and the nod goes to O.

 

About to enjoy our first meal, more later!!

 

Edited March 8, 2022 by kjbacon

[cruisingxpert]

20 minutes ago, kjbacon said:

And so it begins!

 

We arrived at the port early, on the ship by 11:15, and shortly after were in cabin. Embarkation was unnecessarily chaotic and in our opinion, very poorly planned. So, first (friendly) Regent (from now on R) to Oceania (from now on O) comparison goes to Regent.

 

For those following the earlier port discussions, Martinique has been replaced by St Kitts.

 

Our suite is absolutely gorgeous and our butler is excellent. We enjoy large suites and we love this one. We need another day or two to decide. So far, one of us is leaning one way and the other, the other!

 

As for the butler, we have been truly spoiled by Regent but Bosco has already blown us away and the nod goes to O.

 

About to enjoy our first meal, more later!!

 

Bosco is a super hero imo

[Aloha 1]

Which Suite are you in?

[jonthomas]

Enjoy!!!

[golfguyhhi]

Bosco is an excellent Butler!!!!  He took such great care of us on a Trans-Atlantic (Owners Suite, same as you), and sought us out on a subsequent cruise when we were on a different deck (Owners Suite --only cabins we book anymore) to say Hello and ask how we were.

In my experience, O puts only their best Butlers in the Owners Suites.

Who knows, we may see him again in April when we do 21 days in the OS in the Med.

By the way, it looks like you are having one heck of a super cocktail party.  Well Done!!

[cruisingxpert]

6 minutes ago, golfguyhhi said:

By the way, it looks like you are having one heck of a super cocktail party.  Well Done!!

That was a picture I added when he said Bosco was his Butler.  And it was a great cocktail party😊

I don't think @kjbacon has had a chance to do one yet.  Early days.  Hope they love it as much as I do.

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

Here you are, thanks to PTZ's port of Miami webcam!  Have a wonderful cruise.  I'm jealous, but my "ride" is coming later.

[kjbacon]

26 minutes ago, golfguyhhi said:

Bosco is an excellent Butler!!!!  He took such great care of us on a Trans-Atlantic (Owners Suite, same as you), and sought us out on a subsequent cruise when we were on a different deck (Owners Suite --only cabins we book anymore) to say Hello and ask how we were.

In my experience, O puts only their best Butlers in the Owners Suites.

Who knows, we may see him again in April when we do 21 days in the OS in the Med.

By the way, it looks like you are having one heck of a super cocktail party.  Well Done!!

That cocktail party picture was posted by cruisingexpert, can’t take the credit!!

 

Our first lunch was served in our suite and it was very good. We had a California roll, Thai Red Curry Chicken, and Hangar Steak.

 

 

We have been looking around the ship and it’s beautiful. We love the artwork, breast forward though it might be 😁, so for art we are going with O.

 

Loved the spa, especially the spa pool deck and easily give O the best spa pool deck. We will be spending a great deal of time there.

 

And the biggest negative so far is the smoking lounge outside of Horizons Bar. The smoking setup overwhelmingly goes to R.

 

Tonight, we are having dinner in Jacques and I feel like I’ve been waiting years … because I have been waiting years to have dinner in Jacques. Soooo excited!

 

 

[jonthomas]

We will be on the Riviera in 10 days. 

 

Alas in a lowly balcony.

 

Love all the food choices. 

 

Have done O before, so hope things are as good as we remember them.

[HiFi43]

We agree, Bosco is great, he is the head Butler. Oceania has many great Butlers. We are getting on Marina a week from Saturday and are wondering who our Butler will be. I have a picture of him at my birthday party on the last Marina cruise before the pandemic.

[CintiPam]

5 hours ago, kjbacon said:

 

 

We have been looking around the ship and it’s beautiful. We love the artwork, breast forward though it might be 😁, so for art we are going with O.

 

In the olden days (pre-April 2020), you could take a DIY audio art tour using a numbered map you could obtain from Reception on Deck 5 and your smartphone. Riviera in particular has a lot of art by Cuban artists, including Wilfredo Lam in the Grand Bar as well as some Picasso and Miro in and around the adjacent Casino Bar on Deck 6. I assume the entire tour, including map, now is available to download onto your smartphone.

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 minutes ago, CintiPam said:

In the olden days (pre-April 2020), you could take a DIY audio art tour using a numbered map you could obtain from Reception on Deck 5 and your smartphone. Riviera in particular has a lot of art by Cuban artists, including Wilfredo Lam in the Grand Bar as well as some Picasso and Miro in and around the adjacent Casino Bar on Deck 6. I assume the entire tour, including map, now is available to download onto your smartphone.

DW spent half the cruise [it seemed...] going around the ship studying every piece of artwork and signage, trying to complete the art scavenger hunt.  She finally found the last one – and when she turned it in they didn't even look at her form, just gave her the O point.  [Not unlike most of the Covid tests we have been forced to take since September, which nobody ever looked at...]

[Jancruz]

3 hours ago, CintiPam said:

In the olden days (pre-April 2020), you could take a DIY audio art tour using a numbered map you could obtain from Reception on Deck 5 and your smartphone. Riviera in particular has a lot of art by Cuban artists, including Wilfredo Lam in the Grand Bar as well as some Picasso and Miro in and around the adjacent Casino Bar on Deck 6. I assume the entire tour, including map, now is available to download onto your smartphone.

As an aside ...Frank DelRio and Bob Binder chose the art on the Marina and Riviera..I love all the glass pieces..

I remember when Stu and I were on Regatta about three months after the Inaugural  the GM told me if Mr. DelRio brings on one more piece of Waterford we will sink...he loves to shop!!!

Jancruz1

[kjbacon]

The art tour is right up our alley and I will definitely look into that today. Thank you all for that info.

 

Let’s get right to the burning question of how I rate Jacques. We enjoyed our meal very much but it was shy of outstanding. Service was excellent and the atmosphere was lovely. Am I being picky? Yes. When the claim is the best, then you have to be the best. And as a retired chef who was a French major in college, I’m all the pickier.
 

When the server placed the amuse bouche in front of us, I was taken back. An amuse bouche by definition is one special bite. One. Not two! And not communal.

We were each served two on one plate 😳the eggplant tart was only good and the cheese ball was only fair. This dish, again by definition, should stun. All in all, a complete fail and not a good way to set the tone … and indeed the whole point of the amuse bouche.

 

Appetizers were a molten goat cheese tart, which was my best dish of the meal and seared foie gras that Jack said was excellent. Both beautifully plated.

 

 

The French bread was perfectly prepared and was too darn delicious dunked in the goat cheese. Talk about a best bite!

 

Our soup course was also very good with the chilled pea vichyssoise and the baked onion.

 

 

Our main courses were the Lobster Thermidor, side of Ratatouille and the Filet with Foie Gras. All very good. Another miss of the meal was the Parmesan crisp that was soggy.

 

 

 

Desserts were mixed. Jack had the Pistachio Crème Brûlée that was amazing and I had the Apple Tart that was only good and (in the French manor) the apples should be carefully arranged, these weren’t.

 

 

By contrast, here is a picture of the Apple Tart from Chartreuse on Regent.

 

Ok, that was my extremely picky review of Jacques!

 

Today is a sea day and dinner tonight is Polo Grill.

[kjbacon]

On 3/6/2022 at 4:43 PM, SummerStar57 said:

Thank you for sharing your cruise. We are on the TA next year.

if you could, we would love pictures of the daily schedule for the sea days.

Have a super time! 😀

Our first sea day:

 

 

 

 

I hope I got them in the right order!