A Long Time Princess Cruiser Tries Oceania

[Ken the cruiser]

BTW sorry @azbirdmom for rambling on about some of our more memorable negative experiences with Oceania. Up until now, I’ve been holding those examples back after reading various threads over the years explaining how wonderful someone’s Oceania cruise was, as I didn’t want to diminish the joy they had when talking about their experiences, as O is a fine cruise line. I guess after reading your review as well as some of the others on this thread, I felt it was time. 😁

[azbirdmom]

10 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

BTW sorry @azbirdmom for rambling on about some of our more memorable negative experiences with Oceania. Up until now, I’ve been holding those examples back after reading various threads over the years explaining how wonderful someone’s Oceania cruise was, as I didn’t want to diminish the joy they had when talking about their experiences, as O is a fine cruise line. I guess after reading your review as well as some of the others on this thread, I felt it was time. 😁

 

No need to apologize!  This thread title pertained to a Princess cruiser sailing on Oceania and your additions are entirely on topic.

 

I'm getting more of a sense about how inflexible O management is by your examples and also I've read more recent reviews today that oddly didn't show when I looked before.  My official review was published and I clicked on the link in the CC email - there they were right below mine.

 

A couple of the reviews mentioned something I didn't say in my write-up as I had heard about it on the ship but not from crew so I wasn't sure if it was accurate.  Two cruises before ours the ship missed 4 out of 6 ports (or 5 out of 7 port days) due to weather.  I can't even imagine that happening as this is one of those bucket list type itineraries (at least for us).  O gave everyone a $250 FCC, that's it.  Sounds like a lot of those will go unused!

 

[Cruise Raider]

Thank you for the very fair and balanced review.  We absolute love Princess cruises as they have quite a few ships to choose from on the west coast, namely our home port of San Francisco.  They also fit within our travel budget as they oftentimes have had solo fares, deep discounts when booking onboard, OBC promotions, etc.  I do see a lot of those specials going by the wayside as they are filling their ships without so many giveaways.  But, I still find great value in what we receive and am so glad to her that @HaveDogWillTravel will still cruise on Princess out of SF.  
I also pretty much love the constant entertainment, activities, food options, service, the medallion app, etc. 

While I’ve been tempted to try Oceania, for their nonsmoking policies alone, this really isn’t the first time I’ve heard the food is just not all that spectacular.  I’m not much of a foodie so, I’m not sure that would really bother me but dinner at 6:30 PM and the show being at 9:30 PM really just doesn’t work at all for either me or my DH.  
I really appreciate hearing your perspectives .. 

 

 

 

[azbirdmom]

1 minute ago, Cruise Raider said:

While I’ve been tempted to try Oceania, for their nonsmoking policies alone, this really isn’t the first time I’ve heard the food is just not all that spectacular.  I’m not much of a foodie so, I’m not sure that would really bother me but dinner at 6:30 PM and the show being at 9:30 PM really just doesn’t work at all for either me or my DH.  
I really appreciate hearing your perspectives .. 

 

You're welcome!  One thing I didn't mention was about smoking.  When we first boarded there was a strong smell of smoke in our hallway.  We were very near the forward elevator / stairway and it turns out that there were two smoking areas above that.  The first was a small area in the corner of the pool deck one deck above.  And the second was a glassed in area of the Horizons lounge that was two decks above.  The smoke didn't seem to be as noticeable in the hallway after embarkation day but there was always at least a whiff of it when we used that stairwell.  Although that was our closest stairwell we tended to just go aft to use that one instead to avoid the smoke. 

[Anubi]

Thanks for the review, especially the dining hints.  We normally cruise Princess but Oceania Vista has the best itinerary for Norway 2025 so we booked that.  

[Cruise Raider]

2 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

 

You're welcome!  One thing I didn't mention was about smoking.  When we first boarded there was a strong smell of smoke in our hallway.  We were very near the forward elevator / stairway and it turns out that there were two smoking areas above that.  The first was a small area in the corner of the pool deck one deck above.  And the second was a glassed in area of the Horizons lounge that was two decks above.  The smoke didn't seem to be as noticeable in the hallway after embarkation day but there was always at least a whiff of it when we used that stairwell.  Although that was our closest stairwell we tended to just go aft to use that one instead to avoid the smoke. 

I thought Oceania was completely nonsmoking.  Hmmm?  

[azbirdmom]

45 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

I thought Oceania was completely nonsmoking.  Hmmm?  

 

Nope!  At least the Nautica wasn't.  I believe those two areas I mentioned were the only places that smoking was allowed.  Glad I wasn't on the starboard side as we may have experienced whiffs of smoke on our balcony and that would have made me very, very sad.

[Cruise Raider]

5 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Nope!  At least the Nautica wasn't.  I believe those two areas I mentioned were the only places that smoking was allowed.  Glad I wasn't on the starboard side as we may have experienced whiffs of smoke on our balcony and that would have made me very, very sad.

Especially after paying a premium for that line.  I won’t say I will never try Oceania but that was one of the main reasons I would have given it a chance, so it’s now unlikely!  
 

[azbirdmom]

4 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Especially after paying a premium for that line.  I won’t say I will never try Oceania but that was one of the main reasons I would have given it a chance, so it’s now unlikely!  
 

 

And it appears this is the case fleetwide - just copied this from the O website:

 

[Cruise Raider]

46 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

And it appears this is the case fleetwide - just copied this from the O website:

 

Oh, just where I like smoke, near the food and beverage areas.  😆 

Thank you for the info, though!  

[rebeccac]

As far as I know, Viking is the only line that is completely non-smoking.  

[Astro Flyer]

On 3/3/2024 at 3:48 PM, azbirdmom said:

I just submitted this review of our recent cruise on the Oceania Nautica and thought others might be interested in reading my comparisons with Princess.  In short French Polynesia was a wow, the O experience more eh....

Thanks for your review & we had some of the same opinions as you. Although thankfully some of our experiences on our Regatta 7-day CA Coastal cruise were better than yours on Nautica.
 

I’d like the GDR to open earlier than 6:30 & when arriving when it opened we were immediately seated & quickly served which might not be the same experience when arriving later. We greatly enjoyed their steakhouse & Italian restaurants which as you know are complimentary (number of times is based on cabin category & maybe length of cruise) and based upon availability can dine there more often. Taste is subjective but to me these 3 dining options had much better food than on Princess. That was our first O cruise so don’t know if there has been a decline or not but we enjoyed the food more than on Princess.

 

To me, Waves Grill food was far superior to Princess’ pool deck grill…steak & lobster and Reuben sandwiches were a couple of our favorites. We only ate at Terrace Cafe a few times but it was nice to have grilled steaks & lobster available.

 

We booked a standard fare in an oceanview cabin but rarely spent time in there. Instead we enjoyed a covered area reclining on a well padded lounger for 2 on the pool deck…it was quiet & out of the elements. We only went to one performance but our type of cruising requires little entertainment & activities…mostly relaxation, good food & being on the beautiful sea.

 

We never sailed on the popular Pacific Princess (same type of R-class ship as on O & Azamara) but Regatta was renovated just before the pandemic & we enjoyed their decor…it was casual elegance which previously was a Princess advertising slogan.

 

We greatly enjoyed our first O experience & have booked 15 days on Sirena in November from NYC to MIA. That was also booked with a standard fare (includes taxes & fees) which includes the things we use…specialty dining, internet, non-alcoholic drinks (canned sodas & all coffee) and shakes/malts, smoothies & ice cream on deck. They allow unlimited spirits, beer & wine to be brought onboard to be consumed in cabin or to pay $25 corkage for a bottle of wine in a dining room. With twice nightly BOGO drink offers that was a good option. Although our TA sponsored a cocktail party for her group & with the Captain’s cocktail party there were enough mixed drinks for us.

 

All of these things work well for our style of cruising however that is not what others will desire…it’s good to have options. Unfortunately they have eliminated their standard fares to be replaced by Simply MORE with the only option being with or without airfare (EZair is much, much better!). Basically they are forcing passengers to buy their tours (SM OBC is for tours only) and their beer/wine at lunch & dinner program. Thus unless they reinstate standard fares our next O cruise might be our last one which would be disappointing for us.

 

Next month we’ll be on Discovery again which will be our first Princess cruise since Discovery’s first 2 cruises 2 years ago. Hopefully our experience will be as good as previously but after 500 days on Princess we’re experiencing a few more cruise lines.

 

Julie, my thoughts are merely to show our experiences. We’ll never sail on a luxury line but for us O was a premium experience. Maybe one day we’ll sail on one of their 1,200 passenger ships which good friends enjoy even more by having more options.

 

Any day at sea is great…just some days are better than other days. 😊

 

Edited March 6 by Astro Flyer

[azbirdmom]

1 hour ago, Astro Flyer said:

Any day at sea is great…just some days are better than other days. 😊

 

 

You are absolutely right about that Frank!  And the experience can definitely vary from ship to ship too.  We don't regret taking this cruise as we had the time of our lives in French Polynesia.  It just fell a bit short of our expectations given the price tag.

[Skai]

We absolutely enjoyed our only voyage on Oceania to Bermuda.

 

The R-Class ships hold a special place in our hearts after a memorable trip on the (previous)Royal Princess in French Polynesia.

 

'Small-ship cruising' is a distinct difference in cruising experience vs. larger-pax vessels.