The ship is the destination. Even though we’re back in the Caribbean for the umpteenth time, we’re on Oceania’s Riviera, which is new to us. It has 1200 and some guests and around 800 crew. In the past we have primarily cruised on what are known as the the Renaissance “R” ships. There were 5 ships in the fleet, virtually identical and imaginatively named R-1, R-2, R-3, etc. We took our first cruise on the R-5 in a veranda cabin and spent 28 days in the Mediterranean for something like $3,000. The itinerary was something out of a dream and the ship was luxury itself. Not surprisingly the company went bankrupt not too long after and the ships were sold and renamed. That’s how we became so enamored of cruising. We stuck to the original R ships over the next 17 years because of the size: a capacity of 690 guests and something like 400 crew and staff. Not so small as to be beyond our price range and not so large as to be lost in the crowd and elbowed in the buffet line. A couple of cruises with Celebrity and Holland, on bigger ships were busts.

The Riviera and her sister ship Marina each have four specialty restaurants. The executive chef is Jacques Pepin and if he is responsible ultimately for the cuisine, he has a well-earned claim to his fame. The first night we ate at Jacques—crab with blood orange wrapped in lettuce appetizer and lobster thermidor entree. Excellent. Food is super important on a cruise and it sure is nice when your dinner surpasses expectations on the very first night. The next night we ate at Red Ginger, an Asian restaurant with an very good reputation and a menu to match. Of course, after a few nights of eating like Victorian royalty food becomes less of an obsession. When we ate at Polo, the steak restaurant, I had lobster bisque which I didn’t eat because it was way too salty and sliced beefsteak tomatoes. It’s hard not to be tempted by lobster and filet but sometimes you just have to stop before gluttony takes over.

Oceania’s reputation is well deserved. “Too salty” is about the worst thing I can say about the food. The wine is overpriced at about $13 a glass after the gratuity has been added. But they have twice a day twofers as well as exorbitantly priced liquor packages. The first option works out okay for most people and the second for those who tend to drink really copious amounts of booze. There must be computer programs to pinpoint which price points end up with the biggest margin, but there are a lot of variables to the equation. For instance, how does shipboard credit effect how much someone is willing to pay for a glass of wine? Oceania is generous with the shipboard credits and it isn’t too rigid when it comes to bringing alcohol on board, and sensibly so. If someone has cruised on an O-ship eight or ten times (not at all unusual) spending many tens of thousands of dollars, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to tick him off by confiscating a $12 bottle of wine. There goes your repeat business. Read more