Help with Small Ship Apprehension.

[CTCruiser76]

A little background, we are in our upper 40’s and have been loyal to Royal/Celebrity cruisers for a number of years, but based on recent cruise experiences, we are ‘looking around’ at other cruise lines for summer 2025.

We would like to go to Bermuda, but due to work obligations, we cannot go until June or after. While searching other lines, I found Oceania travels to Bermuda in July of 2025.

 

The O ship that travels to Bermuda is the Insignia. It holds around 670 passengers which seems VERY small from what we are used too. We are concerned that this ship will be very boring for us, even though we are not ‘party animals’ by any means. Also, the room sizes seem very small. We tend to spend a lot of time in our room/balcony reading and relaxing and the concierge class staterooms are around 200 sqft with a very small bathroom and shower.

 

We are considering a PH room, but its 3k more than the deal we can get on the Concierge level room. We are not sure if the room size justifies the 3k upcharge?

 

Current O line cruisers, can you help us decide if we should take a chance on this small ship and get out of our ‘comfort zone’?

 

Tell us why O and its small ship experience is superior to the larger mainstream cruise ships. 

 

Thanks!!

[MEFIowa]

Spent 10 nights on Sirena 11/2021 (B2 cabin) in the E. Caribbean, after spending 10 nights on the larger Riviera 12/2021 (A4 cabin, concierge) in the W. Caribbean. (We also spent 20 nights on Riviera in the Med 10-11/2023 but will be back on Sirena for 22 nights in the Baltic 9-10/2024. We cruise for ports and excursions, so the ship isn't quite that important to us. We're in our late 50s....

 

- That $3000 increase in price to a PH is significantly MORE than we paid for either of our first two cruises ($2099 Riviera and $2249 Sirena). I can't imagine paying that much more as long as you get a veranda cabin.

 

- Bermuda is its own rather unique cruise, not too port/excursion intensive. That means the ship itself is a lot more important than it will be on a port-intensive cruise. The R-class ships have small showers for their G-A cabins. And only 2 specialty restaurants. The night life will be tame and the entertainment relatively simple. The food is fantastic. The pool is tiny, more for walking around than swimming. You'll meet a wide variety of well informed interesting people.

 

Only you can tell what interests you. We couldn't imagine a cruise to Bermuda, but if we did, we'd want to be on the larger O-class ships for the 4 specialty restaurants, bigger pool, concierge lounge & therapy pool (Riviera only).

[Redtravel]

I am elite plus on Celebrity.  Each time we sailed on X, there were changes.  Most were not good.  They kept cutting services and increasing cabins.  The crowding was the big reason that we stopped sailing on X.  Oceania ships are spacious. It’s unusual to find anything crowded.  Oceania has great service, excellent food with no extra charge for specialty restaurants, and can visit ports that the big ships cannot.  Insignia can sail into Hamilton and St. George in Bermuda.  We have stayed in the standard and concierge cabins.  They are compact, but comfortable.  The penthouse suites are bigger.  With penthouse, you get priority restaurant reservations over other cabin categories . Concierge gets priority over standard balcony.  Only you can decide if you want to get a suite.  Enjoy your cruise. Bermuda is beautiful.

[Snaefell3]

Our thoughts from sailing on Regatta  (applicable to Insignia, Sirena, and Nautica)

• Non-suite, non-solo cabins are all the same size, but big enough for us.

• The shower is *just*barely* big enough for us.

• The commode is tucked into a corner *almost* big enough for us.

• The food is better than Princess/Holland America/etc, and as good as RSSC.

• Entertainment is primarily conversation with your fellow pax.

• We had fun with the "scavenger hunt" - here's a chunk of a painting, go find it.

• Concierge gave better chance of 6:30 2tops in the specialties, and that was it.

• Dealing with 600 fellow pax on (dis)embarkation beats dealing with 6000.

[mauibabes]

First, read all the Oceania advertisements and descriptions of what they cater to with their product and demographics. You are in your 40’s so can you cruise with your “Parents” and their friends? If so, then go and ENJOY. 
We started sailing O at 60 after a half dozen Princess and Celebrity cruises on 2,000-3,000 passenger ships. We quickly saw that the 670 and then 1200 passenger ships of Oceania were definitely what we were looking for. We never looked back and convinced our travel buddies that they needed to step up their game; enjoy a beautiful ship, great service and really wonderful food. Along the way we met so many great people aboard and started growing our “Oceania family”. 
Certainly $3k is a 💰 but that is your decision. You book the level that YOU WILL BE COMFORTABLE WITH, and don’t get caught up in bargain basement rooms with bargain basement pricing. Oceania has Sales and you can get some excellent prices but they are targeting specific sailings that are not selling out. Normally O will tell you they offer the lowest pricing when the cruise itineraries are released and your Bermuda trip was released long ago. There are many DIY shoppers on the Board and they can offer their insights which are quite valid and valuable.  
 

While we have been on R and O and A Class ships, we find we definitely enjoy the O Class ships, Riviera and Marina and their itineraries. We have sailed thru your Bermuda and Caribbean island ports and do not find them particularly appealing. Sometimes you just have to go through some islands to get to where you really want to go, it is a tough life on an O ship.  
 

So you mention July 2025, if I threw in my $0.02, I would consider Alaska as Riviera will be taking over Regatta’s Alaska Season in 2025 and that will afford you the 1200 Pax ship, 4 GREAT Specialty restaurants and a beautiful part of North America to see and not just an island with heat and humidity and other possible benefits. Oh, and you get a 291 sq. ft. Veranda stateroom or if you opted for that Penthouse, 420 sq. ft. Stateroom with a Butler. Choices, Choices. 
Whatever you do, try it, you might just like it. Without being All Inclusive Luxury level, you do get an elevated level of cruising for comparable pricing, especially if you catch a Sale. 
Mauibabes. 

[oskidunker]

I loved The Sierena, an Rclass chip.  Blew Princess away. Ill take a-small bathroom instead if a bigger room on a mega ship. Space in the room is nice, more space in the public areas is more important. Waiting in line for everything on Princess is bad. Poor food on mega ships is bad 

[ak1004]

3 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

I loved The Sierena, an Rclass chip.  Blew Princess away. Ill take a-small bathroom instead if a bigger room on a mega ship. Space in the room is nice, more space in the public areas is more important. Waiting in line for everything on Princess is bad. Poor food on mega ships is bad 

 

I agree about small cabin and bathroom instead of bigger room on a mega ship. But I still prefer a bigger room on a newer O ship. I could never understand why people would pay basically the same price (sometimes more) for a 175 sqft cabin on a older ship with fewer dining options compared to 240 sqft cabin on a newer ship. I'm familiar with the argument that smaller ships can go to ports that larger ships cannot, but I found very itineraries where this was really the case, and usually it's maybe 1 port per 10 nights itinerary. 

[oskidunker]

We will see how I like theVista. 

[CTCruiser76]

Thanks for everyone that has responded so far.....we are going sleep on it tonight and watch more YouTube videos tomorrow on our day off. 

As far as trying other larger ships with Oceania, that is/was sort of our thought process for 2026, if we liked 'this' cruise/CruiseLine, then we would look for a different sailing on the Vista or another 1200 passenger ship in 2026 on Oceania. 

 

My DW had her mind set on Bermuda next year and typically 7 nights is about our limit for vacation days with work/dog sitting etc...so we are looking at 5 Nights on RCCL Liberty or 7 nights on Celebrity Silhouette or this 7 night on Oceania Insignia. 

 

[CurlerRob]

3 hours ago, CTCruiser76 said:

Thanks for everyone that has responded so far.....we are going sleep on it tonight and watch more YouTube videos tomorrow on our day off. 

As far as trying other larger ships with Oceania, that is/was sort of our thought process for 2026, if we liked 'this' cruise/CruiseLine, then we would look for a different sailing on the Vista or another 1200 passenger ship in 2026 on Oceania. 

 

My DW had her mind set on Bermuda next year and typically 7 nights is about our limit for vacation days with work/dog sitting etc...so we are looking at 5 Nights on RCCL Liberty or 7 nights on Celebrity Silhouette or this 7 night on Oceania Insignia. 

 

 

If you are set on Bermuda (an excellent spot), you may find this review useful, written after our first O sail on Insignia in 2022. As always, just one couple's opinion. 🍺🥌

 

 

[CTCruiser76]

@CurlerRob thank you VERY much for posting this link! Up until page 3, there was a very good discussion, then it shifted to O vs Viking....LOL - but anyways......based on you and MANY others, the bathroom may be a 100% deal breaker for us with Concierge class. 

 

I am not a small guy.....6'3" therefor I may struggle with the shower and even possibly the toilet just based on my long legs alone.

 

The upcharge of 3k to a PH suite, seems a little steep for a 7-day cruise, so we may be back to the Celerity Silhouette.  

Edited February 19 by CTCruiser76

[Joywrk]

Celebrity is big and will only go to the Dockyard. You will have to bus or ferry to get to Hamilton or St George. I would choose Oceania for that convenience and the food, unless you do a suite on Celebrity and get the special dining room

[Snaefell3]

52 minutes ago, CTCruiser76 said:

I am not a small guy.....6'3" therefor I may struggle with the shower and even possibly the toilet just based on my long legs alone.

Uhmmm.   How to say this?   It's a matter of width, not length.  😉

[ak1004]

54 minutes ago, CTCruiser76 said:

@CurlerRob thank you VERY much for posting this link! Up until page 3, there was a very good discussion, then it shifted to O vs Viking....LOL - but anyways......based on you and MANY others, the bathroom may be a 100% deal breaker for us with Concierge class. 

 

I am not a small guy.....6'3" therefor I may struggle with the shower and even possibly the toilet just based on my long legs alone.

 

The upcharge of 3k to a PH suite, seems a little steep for a 7-day cruise, so we may be back to the Celerity Silhouette.  

Why not to try one of the newer ships? The cabins are 240 sqft, very spacious bathrooms etc. Trust me once you try O, you won’t go back to Celebrity.

[Harters]

16 hours ago, CTCruiser76 said:

As far as trying other larger ships with Oceania,

We have sailed on the smaller Nautica and the larger Marina (and are due to sail on Vista). We enjoyed Nautica but prefer the greater feeling of space and the extra speciality restaurants of the larger ship. The mega cruise ships don't appeal to us.

[Woodrowst]

19 hours ago, CTCruiser76 said:

A little background, we are in our upper 40’s and have been loyal to Royal/Celebrity cruisers for a number of years, but based on recent cruise experiences, we are ‘looking around’ at other cruise lines for summer 2025.

We would like to go to Bermuda, but due to work obligations, we cannot go until June or after. While searching other lines, I found Oceania travels to Bermuda in July of 2025.

 

The O ship that travels to Bermuda is the Insignia. It holds around 670 passengers which seems VERY small from what we are used too. We are concerned that this ship will be very boring for us, even though we are not ‘party animals’ by any means. Also, the room sizes seem very small. We tend to spend a lot of time in our room/balcony reading and relaxing and the concierge class staterooms are around 200 sqft with a very small bathroom and shower.

 

We are considering a PH room, but its 3k more than the deal we can get on the Concierge level room. We are not sure if the room size justifies the 3k upcharge?

 

Current O line cruisers, can you help us decide if we should take a chance on this small ship and get out of our ‘comfort zone’?

 

Tell us why O and its small ship experience is superior to the larger mainstream cruise ships. 

 

Thanks!!

It is a quieter experience and that quietude is valued by those on board.  So if you value non-stop entertainment then an Oceania R class ship is not for you.  Here is my handy-dandy (absurdly reductionist) test:  Can you thoroughly enjoy sitting within 15 feet of and listening to a string quartet?  If the answer is no, that may also indicate that an Oceania R ship is not for you.  But if the answer is yes, why not give it a try? That is really the only way you are going to find out and it may expand your travel horizons. 

 

[MEFIowa]

17 minutes ago, Woodrowst said:

... Here is my handy-dandy (absurdly reductionist) test:  Can you thoroughly enjoy sitting within 15 feet of and listening to a string quartet?....

 

Though neither my wife nor I enjoy the string quartet, yet we both love cruising on Sirena & Riviera.

 

I did chuckle thinking about the chairs on Riviera on deck 6 where the quartet often plays, that after the refurbishment were too small for my 6'2" body. More useful for elementary school children. A form over function miss. (We were on Riviera 12/2021 and 10-11/2023.)

[cruisemom42]

2 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

Though neither my wife nor I enjoy the string quartet, yet we both love cruising on Sirena & Riviera.

 

I did chuckle thinking about the chairs on Riviera on deck 6 where the quartet often plays, that after the refurbishment were too small for my 6'2" body. More useful for elementary school children. A form over function miss. (We were on Riviera 12/2021 and 10-11/2023.)

 

I assume you mean Deck 5, not Deck 6?

 

Insignia still has delightfully comfortable chairs there -- supportive yet solid and high enough that tall people don't have to fold and unfold themselves... It has been one of my favorite places to read.

 

Is that going to change? 😧

[LouChamp]

21 hours ago, CTCruiser76 said:

A little background, we are in our upper 40’s and have been loyal to Royal/Celebrity cruisers for a number of years, but based on recent cruise experiences, we are ‘looking around’ at other cruise lines for summer 2025.

We would like to go to Bermuda, but due to work obligations, we cannot go until June or after. While searching other lines, I found Oceania travels to Bermuda in July of 2025.

 

The O ship that travels to Bermuda is the Insignia. It holds around 670 passengers which seems VERY small from what we are used too. We are concerned that this ship will be very boring for us, even though we are not ‘party animals’ by any means. Also, the room sizes seem very small. We tend to spend a lot of time in our room/balcony reading and relaxing and the concierge class staterooms are around 200 sqft with a very small bathroom and shower.

 

We are considering a PH room, but its 3k more than the deal we can get on the Concierge level room. We are not sure if the room size justifies the 3k upcharge?

 

Current O line cruisers, can you help us decide if we should take a chance on this small ship and get out of our ‘comfort zone’?

 

Tell us why O and its small ship experience is superior to the larger mainstream cruise ships. 

 

Thanks!!

Aloha. We have been blessed to cruise since 1971. My first cruise was the Olympia at 16k tons! I believe we have all been spoiled. Keep in mind the France Norway QE2 Sovereign of the Seas were considered huge during their years. We sailed on a sister to the Nautica and I will tell you I prefer the smaller ships. We sailed regularly to Bermuda when you could dock on Front Street so the bottom line is in

my opinion you will enjoy. Please keep us posted!

[AMHuntFerry]

4 hours ago, CTCruiser76 said:

@CurlerRob thank you VERY much for posting this link! Up until page 3, there was a very good discussion, then it shifted to O vs Viking....LOL - but anyways......based on you and MANY others, the bathroom may be a 100% deal breaker for us with Concierge class. 

 

I am not a small guy.....6'3" therefor I may struggle with the shower and even possibly the toilet just based on my long legs alone.

 

The upcharge of 3k to a PH suite, seems a little steep for a 7-day cruise, so we may be back to the Celerity Silhouette.  

Workarounds that I or others have used are:

Open the two shower doors into the shower when it's not in use, effectively making the sink/toilet area larger.

Open the two shower doors into the sink/toilet area when using the shower if it's too confining; there is a floor drain in the sink/toilet area (probably want to shut the door to the room though).

Use the much nicer showers/locker room in the spa (all cabin-levels have access so don't need concierge); if you like to use the sauna/pool/hot tub, this can be part of the routine.

 

Before you write off the bathrooms, search YouTube for "Oceania Regatta Veranda Stateroom". A top result will show you a person of your height in one of the showers. (Can't post link due to CC rules)

Oh, and the shower wand is removable which helps when rinsing hair.

Edited February 19 by AMHuntFerry
wand comment

[CTCruiser76]

3 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

Workarounds that I or others have used are:

Open the two shower doors into the shower when it's not in use, effectively making the sink/toilet area larger.

Open the two shower doors into the sink/toilet area when using the shower if it's too confining; there is a floor drain in the sink/toilet area (probably want to shut the door to the room though).

Use the much nicer showers/locker room in the spa (all cabin-levels have access so don't need concierge); if you like to use the sauna/pool/hot tub, this can be part of the routine.

 

Before you write off the bathrooms, search YouTube for "Oceania Regatta Veranda Stateroom". A top result will show you a person of your height in one of the showers. (Can't post link due to CC rules)

Oh, and the shower wand is removable which helps when rinsing hair.

Thanks for pointing this out!! I missed that the Regatta is basically the same ship and Danny does great room reviews!!  He stepped into the Concierge level shower and shut the doors, so I got a good size aspect and now feel MUCH better. 

 

Call me a O newbie, as I should have known about the Regatta similar size and Danny's walk thru. 

 

More research needed but getting closer to commitment. 

[ORV]

5 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I assume you mean Deck 5, not Deck 6?

 

Insignia still has delightfully comfortable chairs there -- supportive yet solid and high enough that tall people don't have to fold and unfold themselves... It has been one of my favorite places to read.

 

Is that going to change? 😧

I'm pretty sure he's right, on the O Ships Martinis, Grand Bar & Hallway and GDR are on deck 6, starboard. 

[cruisemom42]

3 hours ago, ORV said:

I'm pretty sure he's right, on the O Ships Martinis, Grand Bar & Hallway and GDR are on deck 6, starboard. 

 

Oops, sorry, temporary brain cloudiness made me confuse ships. 😖

[rodan]

On 2/18/2024 at 7:56 PM, CTCruiser76 said:

Thanks for everyone that has responded so far.....we are going sleep on it tonight and watch more YouTube videos tomorrow on our day off. 

As far as trying other larger ships with Oceania, that is/was sort of our thought process for 2026, if we liked 'this' cruise/CruiseLine, then we would look for a different sailing on the Vista or another 1200 passenger ship in 2026 on Oceania. 

 

My DW had her mind set on Bermuda next year and typically 7 nights is about our limit for vacation days with work/dog sitting etc...so we are looking at 5 Nights on RCCL Liberty or 7 nights on Celebrity Silhouette or this 7 night on Oceania Insignia. 

 

The small ships are a more personal experience in that you will see many of the same people several times on a voyage unlike even Celebrity with the Millenium Class ships which are their smallest. You will feel like you are on a ship but in a good way unless you yearn for the ships that feel more like a mall. 

[Redtravel]

I have sailed to Bermuda many times. I have also flown in and stayed on land.  Bermuda is beautiful.  Given a choice, fly in and stay. Cruise is a good option.  Being docked in Hamilton and St. George is the best.  Insignia is small and can fit.  Holland America used to sail Veendam into Hamilton.  Not sure if it still goes there. Celebrity and the other big ships cannot get into Hamilton and St. George.  To accommodate them Dockyard was built. It has no charm.  It’s not where you want to be. If you go to dockyards, you will spend lots of time on the ferries and buses.