This was our second Oceania Cruise, our second cruise ever, the first one being a Mediterranean Cruise in 2013 with Oceania also. We had such a good experience we wanted to do another cruise with Oceania and compare. We wanted easy travel and relaxation. We absolutely loved our cruise. This was a 10 day voyage leaving from Miami on Feb 12, 2014 and called Caribbean Hideaways. We started with 2 days of sailing The Atlantic Ocean to get to our first port of the trip. They were 1. Tortola, British Virgin Islands. 2. St John's, Antigua. 3. Bridgetown, Barbados 4. Castries, St Lucia. 5. Gustavia, St Barts. Then there was 2 days sailing back to Miami.

We did not use Oceania's air arrangements. We made our own arrangements and arrived a day early to avoid any possible problems with weather or mechanical delays. We stayed the night at the Marriott Stanton South Beach Hotel which was a short taxi drive to the cruise port terminal. We arrived at the cruise terminal and they started the embarkation process around 11:00 am. Our cabin was on the Concierge Level, room 10075. It was a very easy and quick process. We boarded the ship and they directed us to lunch at the Terrace Cafe. The lunch buffet was beautifully presented and delicious with many options to choose from. We sat outside and enjoyed our view of the Miami skyline. We then went to the pool area until our bags arrived at our room which was around 3:00 pm. We enjoyed all of the Specialty Restaurants and shared our table with others as a way to meet people. We also enjoyed our breakfast at the Terrace Cafe every morning, and a couple of times for dinner. great food and sitting outside is lovely in the morning. The staff at the Barista Coffee Bar were terrific and made great coffee's. We also enjoyed the Main Dining Room for dinner several times. Always good food and service seemed slow in the morning. We had lunch several times at the Wave's Cafe, usually a smaller selection of food but good and friendly staff. We did the La Reserve Dinner on Valentine's Night. It was fun and people were more dressed up for the night. We did the Exploration Menu and the food was delicious and there was plenty of wine. The staff looked like they were having fun also, very friendly and informative.

The only shore excursion we did thru Oceania was the Tortula, British Virgin Island Bath Excursion. Usually we book our own excursions but the times with the ferry to the Bath's didn't work out so we went with the ship excursion. It was well organized, crowded on the ferry but plenty of free time to enjoy the water and beach. The Rum punch at the end was not very good, tasted like watered down Kool-Aid. The rest of the excursions we booked on our own or did taxi tours on the island. Read more