We chose this cruise line and ship due to its small size (approx 650 passengers) and having gone on an extended and enjoyable cruise last year with them to New Zealand and Australia. This year's cruise from Honolulu to Miami was unfortunately very unpleasant. I am writing this review to voice my and my wife's extreme disappointment concerning the above Regatta cruise which we recently completed. It started off on a sour note when we were forced at the last minute to delay our stateroom boarding by over four hours due to a medical issue suffered on the previous excursion in which over four passengers had come down with the norovirus. This required the entire boat to be continuously disinfected for the first seven days of our cruse. Although it did not affect any of our Hawaii destinations it certainly affected the level of on board service which was extremely slow and at times disorganized. We understand the necessity for the precautions which had to be taken to ensure there was not another outbreak but it still was a irritating issue to deal with. However this is not the reason for this review. Our main complaint had to do with an issue which occurred after leaving the Hawaiian islands. During our sea cruise towards San Diego a passenger became ill which necessitated the ship being turned around and returned to Hawaii so the passenger could be air lifted to a medical facility. This caused an eventual 26 hour delay and some major changes to our remaining itinerary. As a result two of our remaining nine port calls were cancelled (Cabo San Lucas Puerto Quetzal) and a third (Corinto) was reduced in time from the nine hours to five. Two private tours we had booked had to be cancelled and others rearranged. The itinerary changes also added two additional sea cruising days (going from 11 to 13) to an already onerous amount. So basically of the nine remaining port calls we lost two entirely and half of a third. Needless to say we are very unhappy about all this lost time and disruption to our trip due to the illness of one passenger. We understand the situation was possibly life threatening and the necessity to get the passenger medical attention. However because of all the port cancellations and disruptions this caused we felt at the very least we should be entitled to some compensation. We discussed the matter with the Regatta on board executive concierge who was attentive but basically said if we had any complaints we should notify Oceania guest relations and gave us the email address. We knew the cruise line could change itineraries at its discretion, however we felt this went way beyond a minor inconvenience and certainly was not an act of god. This was our second long cruise with Oceania (we attended last year's 23 day Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia which we greatly enjoyed) and strongly felt we should have been at least partially compensated financially for all the lost time due to one passenger's illness. This complaint was sent to the Oceania guest relations email while we were still on the cruise and after seven days and having received no response we sent a copy of the email to Robert Binder, the CEO of Oceania. Within 24 hours we received a reply from guest relations which basically said no compensation and referred us to the fine print in the cruise contract about changing itineraries. It is sad to think it required a letter to the CEO in order to get guest relations attention and the courtesy of a response. What was sadder and inexcusable was the total indifference of Oceania to our complaints. For a company that touts its world class cruising experience its customers relations staff was woefully indifferent to passenger complaints. We more than likely will not be cruising with them again. As far as the onboard experience was concerned we have the following comments: Cabin - room service staff was excellent - maintenance staff was not. Our air conditioning was mostly inoperative the first four days of the cruise before finally being fixed on the third attempt on the fifth day. Dining - service in the beginning was very slow probably due to the sanitation precautions that were being taken due to norovirus outbreak on previous cruise. After first seven days and discontinuance of constant disinfecting, service was very good. Food for the most part was very good to excellent especially in the speciality dining rooms. Activities: very poor selection of activities unless you like bingo, line dancing and gambling. Fortunately the onboard lecturers were very good and knowledgeable. entertainment: was typical cruise ship caliber - nothing special. Read Less

This was our first cruise on Oceania. The itinerary hit several of our bucket list locations and we had always wanted to sail on a small ship, so booking was kind of a no-brainer. The prior cruise had been hit with the Norovirus and the first 5 days the crew was working overtime on sanitation (less service for the passengers). We totally understood that and with a 24-day cruise assumed we would have exemplary service many days. Next problem - we were unable to stop at either Cabos San Lucas or Guatemala due to an emergency medical evacuation several hours out of Kauai - the right call by the captain. Unfortunately, we found the service to be lacking throughout the entire cruise. We were never able to get through dinner in less than 2 1/2 hours and twice it was over 3 as the dining room staff at all of the restaurants was exceptionally slow. The only way around this was to eat in the Terrace Cafe and we much prefer a restaurant to a buffet. The service in the pool area and other reading/conversation "nooks" was also very poor. The ship had one server for to cover very large sections. No matter how good, no server can give great service when their section is too large. That said, our stateroom steward and her assistant were absolute gems, the Terrace Cafe also had some "shining stars" and the hostesses and hosts were very good. The food was the best we have ever had aboard any ship. The library and card/game room was exceptionally well stocked. Over all, we enjoyed our cruise tremendously. However, we found the level of service no better than we can get on other lines, the entertainment in the show lounge was sub-par, and the casino was almost non-existent. We will probably never sail Oceania again. The additional cost to cruise with so few passengers is not worth the level of service we found and the lesser entertainment. Read Less

CRUISE FROM HELL !! 1st & last ever on Carnival !!! Our repositioning cruise from Hawaii to Vancouver started off on a bad note and then went downhill! On embarkation, we found that our room's air conditioning was not working. Neither was our room safe. We called the purser's desk to advise them of the problems. The response was that someone would come to help. After waiting two hours, I went to the purser's desk to inquire as to the delay (never waited this long to have a problem solved on RCL). I was told that room was warm due to ships' doors being open to allow other passengers to embark. I asked why the purser's desk area was cool and comfortable even though it was on the same deck as the open doors. I received a blank stare for an answer. I insisted on another room and was told this would be impossible. I stated that I would have to talk to the Captain. Again I received a dumb response. "The Captain has no control over these things. He only navigates the ship" During this fiasco, a steward was sent to our room to correct the safe problem. He told my wife that we should expect more problems with the safe. After my telling the pursers office that I would look up the Captain even if at his welcome aboard party, I was told that they would send someone to look at the AC. or I could get a fan!! First night in Hawaiian port was with NO air conditioning. Next Morning I again went to pursers office and stated that since I had paid by credit card, I would have CC company hold payment from Cruise line as I was not getting what I had paid for. Lo and behold, an engineer was sent to our room and solved the problem by putting in clean filters. Oh yes, our safe was not working again. The steward had to come back and replace batteries in it. We found that most of the furniture on board was in poor condition. Holes, frays and snags in chairs, in lounge areas and dining room made us think Ship was a lot older than the 3 to 4 years of age it really was. Breakfasts and lunches on the Lido deck were well put together. Even though many passengers were extremely inconsiderate of others. The inconsiderate passengers would take over a table in the dining area of the Lido deck and play board games, card games or paint by number while others were walking with food trays trying to find a place to eat. The only saving grace in the main dining room was our waiter and asst waiter! They were friendly, fun and efficient. A shame that the food they had to serve was so poor. Many a night we went to the Lido deck to have pizza after a disastrous meal in the dining room. There were a few children on board with this sailing. They appeared to be having a good time for the most part. However the crew did not follow the regulations the ship itself had posted. The kids were never reminded that running at poolside was not allowed. Nor were they told that they had to be over 18 to use the hot tubs. They even used the hot tubs to practice with their masks and snorkels. All while being observed by the pool staff. Two, possibly three shows in the theater were worth seeing. A few of the so called "Las Vegas Review" shows were comparable to a sixth grade elementary school play. The rest were not up to that quality. The finale of one show went into Gospel singing. This venue is certainly not the time or place for this music. Not everyone was religious enough to appreciate this. Nor is this music really fitted for pure entertainment purposes. The shore excursions were good of course. After all, this is Hawaii. Too bad one could not book a shore excursion online prior to embarkation. Early arrivals to the ship scooped up all the good trips before many others arrived on board. I realize that I may have been a bit hard in this review, but I am only comparing this cruise to our other 14 cruises. We have experienced the best. We would never go back to Carnival. Read Less