We really looked forward to this cruise as our friends and family led us to believe once we went on Oceania we would never go back to Celebrity or Royal Caribbean where we had 25plus cruises. They told us of the elegance of service and the ambiance we would find and the excellent meals, etc. Apparently Norwegian cruise lines bought them since our friends told us of this.

Our experience was off to a bad start from the beginning. We were concierge level and supposed to have priority luggage service to find our luggage at our room when we arrived there. Three calls to stewards and desk later (we arrived at the room before noon) brought the luggage to us at 5:30pm. Also at concierge level we were entitled to 500 free internet minutes. The day after arrival I tried to log on and was told we were not entitled. The concierge on the ship was of little use as he had no authority and had to keep emailing his home office as to how to proceed. Three(3) calls to the states to our travel agent and three (3) days later, we received unlimited internet service. Our travel agent was enraged at them as they book a large amount of Oceania cruises.

This gave us a bad start but we tried to make the best. Cabins very clean, ship elegant, specialty restaurants exceptional. Even the entertainment which we were told would be mediocre at best was very enjoyable much to our surprise. I did expect the kind of service we have enjoyed on Celebrity and Royal but did not find. Service was adequate but not exceptional except from the cruise director and the specialty restaurants. We met unhappy previous cruisers on the ship who have traveled Oceania many times prior to Norwegian's purchase who cancelled future already booked trips on Oceania due to the decline in service. Read more