We chose Oceania thinking it would be a step up from HollandAmericaLine, we were very wrong. The cabin, a balcony state room was smaller than the smallest HAL ocean view cabin we have ever had.

The cruise director, David, is past burned out. What passes for activities on this ship is what you would find in a day care centre. It was indoor shuffle board, bean bag toss and putting everyday. Forget anything as adult as flower arranging, art classes, computer classes, etc.

David also has his own take on the daily quiz. He eschews set questions for ones he thinks up himself. This included one question about Adolf Hitler, which he obviously thought was funny, but which upset more than a few Jewish passengers. I guess poor David has been on the ship so long he hadn't heard about the problems encountered by Pewdiepie. David is also the only quiz master I've ever encountered who does not trust teams to mark each other's answers, he has to mark them all. Some people liked his approach, I found it overbearing and certainly not conducive to shipboard fun. Read more