Pre-Cruise comparison of Oceania Regatta - Vista Suite to Celebrity Millennium Royal Suite

[Jim_Iain]

We will be taking our first Oceania cruise in about 1 month.   As such most of the information I'm gathering is from details I've accumulated and some of which I've read on CruiseCritics and FB groups.

 

First of all I wanted to say I understand that Oceania and Celebrity are totally different but that is the main reason we have booked this cruise.   We also understand that Regatta is the smallest and oldest ships in the Oceania fleet.   We actually booked Vista in an Owner's Suite for next year but wanted to try out Oceania -

 

For those that don't know us, we are Jim and Iain (Scottish version of Ian).  We are a male couple from the heart of Silicon Valley, CA.  We have been together for 38 years and are addicted to cruising.   For the past 24 years we have sailed exclusively in Upper Suites on Celebrity.   Times have changed and we have decided to explore other cruise lines.  This year we have booked 2 Oceania, 1 SilverSea, 1 Regent Silver Seas and 2 Cunard cruises.  

 

The purpose of this tread is share my per-cruise knowledge of Oceania.   Of course, my perception could be totally off base and opened  to correction and advice.

 

 

 

 

 

[asnaleah]

watching closely!

[Jim_Iain]

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

7 minutes ago, asnaleah said:

watching closely!

Thanks -- please feel free to ask questions.   If I don't know I'm sure someone here will be able to jump in and help out.

[mhdesno2]

Thank you for doing this comparison review. I really love your objective writing style and gorgeous pictures. I will follow along. We have been on many Celebrity cruises, including Millennium, but only on 2 Oceania so far (Riviera and Vista). We do have a couple Oceania cruises booked for 2025 on the bigger Marina and Vista. I will be very interested in your opinion of a smaller ship as we have hesitated to book them.

[elmsliebev]

Really interested in this. We are cruising on Regatta end of October. Not been on Celebrity but have had several cruises on Cunard, most recently on Queen Anne in June. The smallest ship I've been on is the Marella (Thomson) Calypso at around 700pax. Loved her and went through the Corinth Canal on her. Following your trip closely! 

[cluso]

Counting the days until this cruise with you and Iain.  Flying to Vancouver 11 September.

Thank you for starting this thread.  We have been on the R ships when they were Renaissance, Azamara, and the Tahitian Princess.  ☺️

[Jim_Iain]

12 hours ago, mhdesno2 said:

Thank you for doing this comparison review. I really love your objective writing style and gorgeous pictures. I will follow along. We have been on many Celebrity cruises, including Millennium, but only on 2 Oceania so far (Riviera and Vista). We do have a couple Oceania cruises booked for 2025 on the bigger Marina and Vista. I will be very interested in your opinion of a smaller ship as we have hesitated to book them.

 

Thanks --- the good news is this isn't our first Small Ship cruise.   Last year as a teaser we booked a cruise on Ponant.   The ship had 132 cabins so was about 1/2 the size of Regatta.  We had a wonderful time.   It definitely was different but in a good way.

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, elmsliebev said:

Really interested in this. We are cruising on Regatta end of October. Not been on Celebrity but have had several cruises on Cunard, most recently on Queen Anne in June. The smallest ship I've been on is the Marella (Thomson) Calypso at around 700pax. Loved her and went through the Corinth Canal on her. Following your trip closely! 

 

Thanks.... Our first Cunard will be a QM2 crossing in October ---Decided to try it out instead of flying to meet a TransPacific on Celebrity. 

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, cluso said:

Counting the days until this cruise with you and Iain.  Flying to Vancouver 11 September.

Thank you for starting this thread.  We have been on the R ships when they were Renaissance, Azamara, and the Tahitian Princess.  ☺️

 

Rather unusual for us but will not be flying in until day of the cruise.   It is only a shot 2 hour flight from San Francisco for us.   

[Jim_Iain]

For this cruise we chose the Vista Suite.    We contemplated the Owner's suite which is a little larger but preferred the Forward Facing Cabin as oppose to the Aft Facing.  I have read some of the disadvantages are that the winds can be heavy facing forward and they have to tie down the furniture nightly.    I've also read you are required to keep your curtains pulled at night because the room is right under the bridge.   Neither of these warning really affect us.    We usually don't use our veranda for long time.     I did think it would be incredible for the inland passage way and Glacier.    I guess we will all find out these warnings affect our use of the cabin.

One thing I noticed and will probably be a negative is their is no door between the Bedroom and Living Room.    That is one of the main reason I have always enjoyed Celebrity's upper suites.  

 

 

 

 

Edited August 12 by Jim_Iain

[SATaxman]

The "full size" are actually Litres, not 750s. After 2 weeks, we "gifted our leftovers to 4 friends who were staying on another 3 weeks. There is a list of options to select before you board, or your butler can find what you want. We loved it.

 

[elmsliebev]

34 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Thanks.... Our first Cunard will be a QM2 crossing in October ---Decided to try it out instead of flying to meet a TransPacific on Celebrity. 

much better thn flying. I loved Queen Anne but QM2 is my most favourite ship of all.

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, elmsliebev said:

much better thn flying. I loved Queen Anne but QM2 is my most favourite ship of all.

What is incredible was the price wasn't much higher than Flying Business Class....

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, SATaxman said:

The "full size" are actually Litres, not 750s. After 2 weeks, we "gifted our leftovers to 4 friends who were staying on another 3 weeks. There is a list of options to select before you board, or your butler can find what you want. We loved it.

 

 

Yikes... I don't drink so 6 Liters is a lot of booze.     I'm guessing Iain will select some Chardonnay.     Are you able to send bottles to the Dining Rooms?

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, elmsliebev said:

much better thn flying. I loved Queen Anne but QM2 is my most favourite ship of all.

 

I'm almost as excited about QM2 as Regatta...

[mhdesno2]

Personally, I'm excited about every cruise I take, no matter the ship, the destination, the stateroom or the length. It's always fun!

[SATaxman]

15 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Yikes... I don't drink so 6 Liters is a lot of booze.     I'm guessing Iain will select some Chardonnay.     Are you able to send bottles to the Dining Rooms?

 

 

You can absolutely select all 6 wines and NO corkage fee if you take it to dining rooms. We were OK with the by the glass selections so we chose all booze!

[Justpackingmybags]

Always happy when I find a @Jim_Iain thread starting! Following along. 

[JDPCruisers]

19 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

We will be taking our first Oceania cruise in about 1 month.   As such most of the information I'm gathering is from details I've accumulated and some of which I've read on CruiseCritics and FB groups.

 

First of all I wanted to say I understand that Oceania and Celebrity are totally different but that is the main reason we have booked this cruise.   We also understand that Regatta is the smallest and oldest ships in the Oceania fleet.   We actually booked Vista in an Owner's Suite for next year but wanted to try out Oceania -

 

For those that don't know us, we are Jim and Iain (Scottish version of Ian).  We are a male couple from the heart of Silicon Valley, CA.  We have been together for 38 years and are addicted to cruising.   For the past 24 years we have sailed exclusively in Upper Suites on Celebrity.   Times have changed and we have decided to explore other cruise lines.  This year we have booked 2 Oceania, 1 SilverSea, 1 Regent Silver Seas and 2 Cunard cruises.  

 

The purpose of this tread is share my per-cruise knowledge of Oceania.   Of course, my perception could be totally off base and opened  to correction and advice.

 

 

 

 

 

Very much looking forward to another helpful review and photos!

[njhorseman]

18 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

 

 

You may want to correct a couple of errors on the last slide in this post.

Assuming the stated number of staterooms and the passenger capacities of both ships are accurate, with 1,109 staterooms Millennium has 3.18 times the number of staterooms and with 2,662 passengers Millennium carries 3.97 times the number of passengers.

[Jim_Iain]

5 hours ago, njhorseman said:

You may want to correct a couple of errors on the last slide in this post.

Assuming the stated number of staterooms and the passenger capacities of both ships are accurate, with 1,109 staterooms Millennium has 3.18 times the number of staterooms and with 2,662 passengers Millennium carries 3.97 times the number of passengers.

Thanks for alerting me.  I will check.   The numbers come direct from CruiseDeckPlans. 

Built in 2000, the Celebrity Cruise Line Celebrity Millennium cruise ship weighs 91K tons and has 1109 staterooms for up to 2662 passengers served by 997 crew.

Built in 1998, the Oceania Cruises Regatta cruise ship weighs 30K tons and has 349 staterooms for up to 803 passengers served by 372 crew.

 

I'll have to gone back and check Passenger count from the Celebrity Fleet Guide -

 

Celebrity Millennium Capacity at 2,218 for Double Occupancy, 3-4 Occupancy add on 375 with a Maximum Legal Capacity 2,593    Thus I can see CruiseDeckPlans site is incorrect.  

 

Oceania Regatta Capacity of 670 for Double Occupancy,   3-4 Occupancy ??  Maximum Legal Capacity

 

Does anyone have the Maximum Legal Capacity of Oceania Regatta.   I'm seeing different numbers on numerous sites?

 

Maybe I should base the comparison  on the Minimum of 2x per cabin??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Correction:  Millennium is 3.31X passenger if I calculated it correctly.

 

Both numbers on passengers

[Jim_Iain]

7 hours ago, mhdesno2 said:

Personally, I'm excited about every cruise I take, no matter the ship, the destination, the stateroom or the length. It's always fun!

Agree.. each cruise is an adventure.  I've never had a bad cruise so far.

 

[Jim_Iain]

7 hours ago, SATaxman said:

You can absolutely select all 6 wines and NO corkage fee if you take it to dining rooms. We were OK with the by the glass selections so we chose all booze!

Iain enjoys Grey Goose and usually can drink a Liter ---- can't imaging him drinking 6.   Maybe we should pack light and bring the extra home.    His choice is usually a nice Chardonnay with dinner.  

[Jim_Iain]

6 hours ago, JDPCruisers said:

Very much looking forward to another helpful review and photos!

The photos may have to wait until I board.... LOL. But I may "borrow some" for the comparison.