We wanted to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary with a special trip. After exploring other options, we found ourselves gravitating towards Oceania for the smaller ships and excellent cuisine. The itinerary for this cruise had some out of the ordinary ports, like Zadar (Croatia), Kotor (Montenegro) and Palermo (Sicily/Italy) and those sold us on this particular cruise. Were we to do it again, we would have added a few days on our own in both Venice and Barcelona (embarkation and disembarkation ports).
This ship is magnificent and impeccably maintained. We were given a last minute upgrade to one of the Vista Suites - unbelievable!!!! It was a deal too good to pass up and we totally enjoyed our HUGE suite, with 24 hour butler service, and nearly 1500 sq. ft. (including immense veranda at the bow of the ship).
Dining options are great, with four distinctly different specialty restaurants PLUS a Grand Dining Room and several more casual venues. Service was outstanding in all restaurants and the food was always good quality. Oceania is definitely the cruise line for "foodies." To that point, they have a Culinary Center, where we took three classes from a fabulous teacher who trained and worked with Jacques Pepin. Culinary classes were limited to 24 participants, with the instructor and three assistants. Learned a lot!!!
Awesome suite - has large living/dining area with wetbar and mini-fridge. Bath and 3/4 - master has double vanity, shower and whirlpool tub. 3/4 bath has shower. Separate exercise room. Large bedroom with oversized kingsize bed and walk-in closet. Verandah/deck is immense with hot tub, TV, table and chairs and chaise lounges. Our butler, Binoy, was marvelous. By Day 3, he was anticipating our needs. Housekeeping twice a day. What's not to like?
We explored on our own, using the Vaporetta and People Mover
Glad we were there in November, and not the busy summer season. Was crowded enough for us.
Was raining; so we decided to skip the shore excursion we had signed up for and get organized for the rest of the trip
Car Museum and a taxi ride on the Formula 1 race course.
cruise ended in Barcelona