Live from the Vista - March 27 (Miami) to May 1 (Trieste)

[EJL2023]

I love the Ember to Applebees comparisons.  First, to make that comparison they must eat frequently and recently at Applebees to make such a comparison.  Secondly, if they eat that often at Applebees to make such a comparison why would I really entertain their perspective on anything food related because fine culinary options would not seem to be their thing.   So…..they obvious think they are perfecting their stand up comedy routine. (Not) or they just like making stuff up (quite possible).  Just my opinion. And I Know…l.cheerleader comments quite possibly incoming.  Funny that is the go to if you have a different opinion. 

Edited April 7 by EJL2023

[Waltershipman]

50 minutes ago, Acrusa said:

Best fish and chips I have ever eaten 

when I read sea bass I was amazed .The 2nd night I had the rib steak fantastic We went to Ember expected not much but was pleasantly surprised .

Still miss Jacques 

We totally enjoyed Embers as well

[MEFIowa]

10 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

I love the Ember to Applebees comparisons.  First, to make that comparison they must eat frequently and recently at Applebees to make such a comparison.  Secondly, if they eat that often at Applebees to make such a comparison why would I really entertain their perspective on anything food related because fine culinary options would not seem to be their thing.   So…..they obvious think they are perfecting their stand up comedy routine. (Not) or they just like making stuff up (quite possible).  Just my opinion. And I Know…l.cheerleader comments quite possibly incoming.  Funny that is the go to if you have a different opinion. 

Guess you don't read O's own material or take it seriously? What is a "classic American dish"? That people from around the world are dying to eat that they can't already get in the GDR, TC, and the other specialty restaurants? Since they replaced Jacques with Ember. Which is the issue. They did NOT add Ember with Jacques. No, they cut costs, including tablecloths, with Ember. BUT maybe at least kids can color with crayons on the tables waiting for hotdogs and mac & cheese?

 

From O on dining in general:

 

"CULINARY MASTERPIECES It’s the finest at sea because we select only the best ingredients and the most talented chefs from around the globe. From Castilla-La Mancha saffron to French flour custom-milled to our specifications, our artisanal ingredients echo the dedication poured into every dish. In galleys evoking those in Michelin-starred restaurants, our gifted chefs create absolute culinary masterpieces. Come aboard and savor cuisine renowned as the finest at sea."

 

THEN in the section on Ember laugh at the photograph of Ember on the website with the tablecloths (which aren't there!) saying this:

 

"EMBER Elegant American Traditions

When the fuel of classic American dishes meets the fire of culinary masters in a sophisticated setting reminiscent of a Napa or Sonoma tasting room, Ember is the glorious result."

 

Nothing says SOPHISTICATION like a lack of tablecloths, though, of course, O made sure that isn't how the tables are picture.

 

Compare to this for Jacques:

 

"JACQUES

A Passion for French Cuisine

Exquisitely decorated with heirloom antiques, pickled wood furnishings and art from Jacques Pépin’s personal collection, Jacques was modeled after a Parisian bistro. Comfortable and eclectic, the ambiance is pure French, as is the cosmopolitan yet wonderfully embraceable cuisine.

 

Get it, the JOKE is on us! American rubes who'll fall for anything? And pay more to do it?

[basor]

It is quite clear that "food" is very subjective and so what one person loves another person hates - look at all of the Jacques is the best restaurant at sea to ate once at Jacques and canceled our other reservation.  I believe that people expressing their "first hand" impressions of the meal and atmosphere when they ate at a particular food venue valuable for me to set my expectations.  My "first hand" impressions are just that, my opinion and no more right or wrong than anyone else's.  Someone, who has never eaten at a  particular dining venue or even been on the ship, opinions are not useful at all. 

[shepherd really]

1 minute ago, basor said:

It is quite clear that "food" is very subjective and so what one person loves another person hates - look at all of the Jacques is the best restaurant at sea to ate once at Jacques and canceled our other reservation.  I believe that people expressing their "first hand" impressions of the meal and atmosphere when they ate at a particular food venue valuable for me to set my expectations.  My "first hand" impressions are just that, my opinion and no more right or wrong than anyone else's.  Someone, who has never eaten at a  particular dining venue or even been on the ship, opinions are not useful at all. 

I ate at Jacques on Marina about five weeks ago.  I also ate at my favorite local French restaurant last week.  There was no comparison.  Jacques was underwhelming, it just seemed tired.  My local place was superior in all the categories that matter to me.  The only thing I liked better about Jacques was when the meal ended, I was not presented with a bill.  

 

 

[Kay S]

3 minutes ago, basor said:

 My "first hand" impressions are just that, my opinion and no more right or wrong than anyone else's.  Someone, who has never eaten at a  particular dining venue or even been on the ship, opinions are not useful at all. 

Exactly.  I'm bemused by the fervor of the discussions here since I haven't yet been on my Oceania cruise.  I just assume  that "best cuisine at sea" is a marketing slogan, and that I will find some things I like and others I don't.  BTW, Dover Sole and Prime Rib are my favorites out here on land, so I am really looking forward to trying the O versions.

[Snaefell3]

4 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

From O on dining in general:

You pay attention to puffery [n: exaggerated praise, especially when used in publicity]?

 

That being said, Ember is Applebee's ...but raised a few notches (check upthread about "mystery fish" vs "sea bass" Fish & Chips).

 

Having had the misfortune to be quarantined and having to order in, but in a PH cabin so it could be from any kitchen on the ship, our answer each evening was "Ember".

[Kay S]

1 minute ago, Snaefell3 said:

 

 

Having had the misfortune to be quarantined and having to order in, but in a PH cabin so it could be from any kitchen on the ship, our answer each evening was "Ember".

The horror that is quarantine!  I was jailed for three days once on a Princess ship (a flu that was preCovid) and I could only order from room service.  You made the best of a terrible situation.  I would have been thrilled with Applebee's fish and chips after one day of Princess room service!  (BTW, the best fish and chips I ever ate was from a little chippy in Leicestershire.)

[iowananny]

The horror that is quarantine!  I was jailed for three days once on a Princess ship (a flu that was preCovid) and I could only order from room service.  You made the best of a terrible situation.  I would have been thrilled with Applebee's fish and chips after one day of Princess room service!  (BTW, the best fish and chips I ever ate was from a little chippy in Leicestershire.)

 

We were jail for 6 days a couple of years ago for covid.  And I didn't even have one symptom.  We were going into Israel and they demanded that you had to be tested before entering.  I'd  just gotten over covid and that could have been the cause of my positive test.  At least my husband coughed a; few times.  We weren't sick but we were bored.  We were in an inside cabin as it was a port intensive cruise (at least for the rest of them).  But they moved us across the hall to a balcony room which was nice.  It was on Nautica so it was a small ship.  We could order from room service or the dining room but after a couple of days I got to know the guys on the phone and we could order from any dining room including specialties.  Wasn't the best cruise ever but we ate good.   We watched a lot of movies and I got to see my husband cry at the end of "The Notebook".  It could have been a lot worse, at least we weren't sick.

 

Best fish and chips I ever had was at the Oslo Radisson airport hotel.  We'd toured all day and the cab driver dropped us off and we were tired.  It must have been fish.  It was so good.  Only thing bad was those stupid mushy peas. I'll never figure those out.  Who wants them?

[Snaefell3]

42 minutes ago, iowananny said:

We weren't sick but we were bored

::nods::  The highlight of the day was dinner delivery.  They wheeled up with a cart, set up one of those folding waiters stands, slid a huge tray over onto it, then played ding-dong-ditch, taking the cart with them.

 

The tray needed to be huge: it had everything from the standard bowl of bread to desert ice cream piled up.  It needed to go sideways to fit through the doorway making it too heavy until you took half the dishes off.  Finding a flat space to set that tray down after filling up everyplace handy with the dishes we'd taken off it was always a puzzle.  🤔

 

Yeah, we ate the desert ice cream first.  😋

 

 

Edited April 7 by Snaefell3
typos

[Iamthesea]

Our food experience on Vista:

 

We had good to excellent dinners in 2 of the 4 specialty restaurants, although I enjoyed my meal choices better than DH did. 

 

Ember was not that wonderful.  We shared the large steak which turned out to be overcooked.  The sides were just so,so.  Our server dropped us and we were about to leave without dessert when the Maitre’d noticed that we had not been waited on.  

 

DH had the filet in Polo and said it was not good.  We also had a group of four women sitting next to us that were all very inebriated.  I found them quite entertaining, while DH found them annoying.  Overall, he did not enjoy that evening.  I had an excellent Rack of Lamb!!!

 

The Red Ginger Sea Bass was good, as always, but the service lacked greatly.  For that reason, I did not enjoy the evening as much.  DH had a little too much wine and had a great time. 🙄 

 

For me, Toscana was outstanding!  We ended up dining with another couple that we met in Martini's.  They were a delight, and we all had a lots of laughs. The service was excellent!   We both had Dover Sole.  DH said that it was not as good as it was in Jacques.

 

We dined in Waves for lunch 4 of the 7 days and had similar experiences with dirty tables, no silverware, slow service, and tableware disturbances.  😁  However, we also had many service people checking to see if we needed anything throughout the meals.   The Aquamar Kitchen was pretty good, but we did not go back after having one lunch there.  We did not care for the Lido set up, at all.  I am a salad girl and found the salad fixings subpar.  Communication also seemed to be a problem when asking for something.  The one plus was ordering fresh cooked salmon to go on my salad. 

 

For breakfast, we dined in the GDR all but one morning.  DH loved the Eggs Benedict while I always chose a fried or poached egg.  No powdered scrambled eggs for me.  We found our breakfast experience very nice.  We asked for fresh squeezed OJ each seating.  The request was met with a little resistance a couple of times, and on the next to last day, the juice was not freshly squeezed.  Perhaps they were having to go up to Waves to get the juice from behind the counter! 😀

 

Now to the GDR dinners and service.  We found both the food and service has diminished.  While the appetizers were mainly good, the main dishes were a great disappointment from our two previous cruises. As someone else mentioned, we felt like we were being pushed through the meal.  Our appetizers were barely eaten before another plate was being served.  Once, before the appetizer dishes were cleared away!  Yet, in the Specialty Restaurants, the service took longer than needed.

Edited April 7 by Iamthesea

[jackdeb]

Looking forward to our TA on Vista next May to see first hand what all the noise is about. Jacques will be missed (still our favourite), but want to see the new offerings as well. If the pizza and burrata is as good as what we had on Riviera last year I will be happy. 

[edgee]

6 minutes ago, jackdeb said:

Looking forward to our TA on Vista next May to see first hand what all the noise is about. Jacques will be missed (still our favourite), but want to see the new offerings as well. If the pizza and burrata is as good as what we had on Riviera last year I will be happy. 

Just bring your ear plugs and white noise machine.The noise bleeding issue between cabins is a damn shame on that ship!

[EJL2023]

10 minutes ago, edgee said:

Just bring your ear plugs and white noise machine.The noise bleeding issue between cabins is a damn shame on that ship!

See post 276 above, perhaps it will be addressed if their source is accurate. 

[clo]

6 hours ago, elmsliebev said:

We're in the UK and when we were in Malaga, Spain last year we had to try 3 different ATMs before we found one that didnt charge a fee for withdrawing money. It never used to be such a problem but it seems to be more common now. 

We have an account with USAA that we especially use when traveling but home also. They're not a "bricks and mortar" bank so they rebate us ATM fees and there are no foreign transaction fees.

[clo]

36 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

Dover Sole.  DH said that it was not as good as it was in Jacques.

Which is the best I've ever had.

[edgee]

Just now, EJL2023 said:

See post 276 above, perhaps it will be addressed if their source is accurate. 

Thanks. I am on Regent Splendor now and reception desk supervisor helped open Vista and spent many months on the ship. (In fact I have met many staff who transfer back and forth between O and Regent.) He told me he is going back to O to help launch Allura.

He said that the noise issue on Vista is one of the priority items they are addressing during construction to make sure it does not repeat on Allura. Hopefully, also for Allura, they will also rectify the bad design issues of the theatre.

[Snaefell3]

1 hour ago, edgee said:

Just bring your ear plugs and white noise machine.The noise bleeding issue between cabins is a damn shame on that ship!

...or not, considering the blissful silence we experienced in 11014 from Mar 16-27.

[basor]

14 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

...or not, considering the blissful silence we experienced in 11014 from Mar 16-27.

+ 1 - no noise in 12004 SEP - NOV 

[edgee]

44 minutes ago, Snaefell3 said:

...or not, considering the blissful silence we experienced in 11014 from Mar 16-27.

Two cruises on Vista. Two bad experiences with neighbors' TVs turned very low still keeping me awake ar night. Staff acknowleges it is a pervasive poblem. IMHO nearly everybody will experience the "thin wall" problem on Vista if they cruise her frequently. It is a matter of luck depending on neighbors..not really what cabin you are in.

[Carnevale]

Can someone on Vista now or recently let me know how food service handled in the Terrace Grill, Waves, Aquamara, and the Bakery? Since COVID we have gone away from wanting to eat where people serve the themselves. Clearly this is just personal preference but we have avoided all self service venues on ships for a long time except for last July when the greatly limited options on an Azamara cruise meant the buffet was often the only option. We saw so many bad food handing examples by our fellow guests that it did nothing to make us feel comfortable again in self service settings.  I am hoping that the food is served by staff. Is that the case on Vista?

[edgee]

14 minutes ago, Carnevale said:

Can someone on Vista now or recently let me know how food service handled in the Terrace Grill, Waves, Aquamara, and the Bakery? Since COVID we have gone away from wanting to eat where people serve the themselves. Clearly this is just personal preference but we have avoided all self service venues on ships for a long time except for last July when the greatly limited options on an Azamara cruise meant the buffet was often the only option. We saw so many bad food handing examples by our fellow guests that it did nothing to make us feel comfortable again in self service settings.  I am hoping that the food is served by staff. Is that the case on Vista?

Yes. Food is served by staff. Of course there are a few examples of locations where guests touch shared  food surfaces, like coffee machines and self service cookie trays in lounges, but O is for the most part a staff served group of ships. I personally have a 180 degree different viewpoint. I am currently on Regent Splendor which has fewer guests on the ship and buffet area is all self served and very efficient. No crowding around areas waiting for staff to make salads etc. Is O any more sanitary due to staff served food? I personally do not believe it is..in fact out of 45 cruises the ONLY experience I have had with a noro virus outbreak was on an Oceania ship. However, many folks feel better with O staff served model..we all have choices in cruising!

[clo]

1 hour ago, edgee said:

Two cruises on Vista. Two bad experiences with neighbors' TVs turned very low still keeping me awake ar night. Staff acknowleges it is a pervasive poblem. IMHO nearly everybody will experience the "thin wall" problem on Vista if they cruise her frequently. It is a matter of luck depending on neighbors..not really what cabin you are in.

Did I read it here or somewhere else that this is going to be a major project.

[chloemonkey]

4 hours ago, basor said:

+ 1 - no noise in 12004 SEP - NOV 

+2....no noise in 10001.......3/9 thru 3/27.

[chloemonkey]

4 hours ago, basor said:

+ 1 - no noise in 12004 SEP - NOV 

+2....no noise in 10001.......3/9 thru 3/27.