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Quebec City

This was our second cruise with Oceania, although we are frequent cruisers. This cruise did not disappoint. 

The staff were excellent, extremely friendly yet professional. It is lovely when they remember your name and I marvel at their ability to learn new names every few weeks!

The ship was spotlessly clean and had plenty of seating and pool chairs all the time so there was no sense of overcrowding even on sea days

We had an Oceania Suite which was fabulous, a great space, with excellent amenities. There was a bar setup included with 6 bottles of wine or spirits. Ice and water were replenished twice a day. There was also an minibar. Our butler was very attentive. The media room was our favourite spot in the suite. The toiletries are Bulgari and are gorgeous. It would have been lovely to have a table and chairs to be able to eat on the balcony.

We loved the restaurants on board with the exception of the buffet - too busy. The main dining room was great for lunch or breakfast and was very quiet. It had the best service of all the restaurants. We enjoyed all the speciality restaurants many times, with Chez Jacques our favourite. We found the food to be excellent overall with a fabulous choice of high quality ingredients always available.

We didn’t see any of the entertainment or use the bars or casino. The library was a lovely spot to relax and the selection of books was pretty good.

Our itinerary was Lima to Miami. Embarkation was chaotic - we were loaded .onto buses to drive us into the port and it took over an hour to get in - not Oceania’s fault. Unrest in Peru meant our first stop in Salaverry was cancelled and we had an extra night at the next stop in Ecuador. We spent the first 3 nights in very unattractive commercial ports. The ports en route were varied - some were great - Panama City and Costa Rica. Others were very commercial tourist stops that were not our thing. We booked this cruise as we particularly wanted to go through the Panama Canal which was the highlight.

We did a couple of excursions - a dolphin experience in Mexico which was badly organised, having to wait almost an hour while the group filled up with people from another cruise ship (never seen mixed excursions like that, particularly having young kids from another ship joining our mostly elderly group). We arrived with our waterproof cameras only to be told we could only have their photographer and pay a fortune for the privilege - a bit of a rip off. 

 Oceania is not for children as it has no facilities for them, which we like, as there are plenty of family cruises available elsewhere. 

We felt totally relaxed and spoilt and that’s why we will return to Oceania again!

Looking for a three-fer: Machu Picchu, Panama Canal, and Chichen Itza, BUT

1. Turmoil in Peru - no Pre cruise visits

2. Canal - cool; bucket list, but poor excursions

3. Railroad repairs blocking roads, no Big Mayan event.

1 of 3 done.

Cabin and floor crew - outstanding - 10 floor

Dining - good specialties, fair grand dining room; Terrace - just no.

Food availability limited - short hours, early closing - no food from 1600 to 1830 anywhere, or overnight except limited room service menu.

Menu - fair but repetitive. Bring your own salsa - ask for peanut butter; breakfast no variety. 

Executive lounge - someone please burn/toss the automatic coffee/cappuccino/espresso machine - constant error messages and no one seems to care

Big issue destination planning - I accept long bus rides to unique sites, but poor guides, language issues, bus variability just angers passengers, demeans the native cultural sites, and leaves everyone wondering just what were they thinking in doing this cruise. The delay in clarifying changes is inexcusable - and with the trust issues they engendered, I have no idea how and when they knew what would be missing. Missing three ports on the Miami to Lima previous cruise was a clear marker for problems as well.

Caveat - some prior Oceania cruisers have said this is an unusual circumstance, post-Covid, third world, etc... don't judge the line by this cruise...others are appalled and made it clear they would be considering other options for travel.

Missed opportunities and misinformation

I would like to highlight the positives first for this trip on Marina, from Lima to NYC.

I am gluten-free. I told Roger, the Specialty Diet Coordinator that I pick cruises based on food and desserts. He introduced me to Pastry Chef Bruno, who then made sure I got a different dessert every day, to my liking. Everyone one of them was an art of work. Felt very pampered. The Terrace Cafe chef Viktor was also super nice and patient. He walked me through the food, and made me special dishes when asked. Yes, I am looking for Marina future cruises, see if I can enjoy the service of those 3 again.

On a whole. (1) They seem to have centralized the operation so one gets same stuff in the Cafe and the Main Dining Room. A lot of people now prefer the Cafe (more choices, less time). (2) They changed some of the Specialty Restaurants’ menu. Red Ginger used to be the draw to sail on Marina. Now Favorite dishes are gone. The same with Jacques. No more incentive. (3) Wave Grill is still a major draw! Ate their food a lot. Very nice and accommodating staff.

Deeno, who cleaned our room, was super too. Did everything we asked for, even chasing down our missing survey last minute. Now, he knew how to use persuasion and gentle touch. 

We stayed in a Concierge Veranda. No butler service, only gave us access to the Lounge. Concierge service was only available 8am-12, 4-8 pm, when we were mostly out or having dinner. How about longer hours? “The Concierge got to sleep some time!” was the answer. For a company bragging about service, that is down right bad. Add another person is my answer.

As usual, the lectures were great! Loved those on Panama Canal.

Oceania was known for their land tours, nice sites, classy, buses only 60-70% full, etc. But on this cruise, not sure if it was because the towns were just developing their tourism, or because of security concerns, some of the tours were down right terrible or lame. Cancelling Norfolk due to weather was really disappointing too. The Destination Staff, instead of being apologetic and accommodating, were pretty defensive in their attitudes.

The sanitation lock down did not help either. Some of the staff members were down right hostile as though we brought them the disaster. Highly recommend that the management teach their staff how to gain the passengers’ cooperation with persuasion rather than enforcement. That is, if the Management knows how themselves.

Amazing Special Diet Restaurant Service

We enjoyed this cruise very much.  We have been on Oceania before, and chose this cruise for the itinerary of Lima to NYC.  It was the middle leg of getting the ship from Tahiti, where it had spent the winter, to Europe, where it will spend the summer.

We love O for the food, and the food was quite good.  The new Dom Perignon events were great (separate charge, but great value for the money).  The wine service has stepped up a bit - the wine stewards seem to have more training & knowledge than they used to (not a high hurdle, but much appreciated).  Service in general was excellent - friendly, effective, welcoming.

The onboard entertainment, a typically cited weak point for O - well, we can't comment, we tend to use dinner as our entertainment.  We did not use any ship's tours; we did appreciate the free shuttles offered in Peru and Ecuador.  The ship's activities were plentiful and interesting; one sea day I actually programmed the events I was interested in into my phone so I didn't miss any, although getting sidetracked or relaxing wouldn't be so bad either...

We ate more times in the specialty restaurants on this cruise than ever before.  A couple hundred people were on since Papeete (so had already had plenty of time to enjoy), the ship wasn't 100% full, and we did get into a code red (GI cases - apparently most likely from street food in South America).  We enjoyed all the restaurants; the steak at Polo continues to be hit-or-miss - my spouse has decided that ordering something other than steak (lobster, veal oscar, etc.) is the way to go - although my ribeye was great.  The main dining room (GDR) and Terrace Cafe were both excellent.

There were a few small items in our room that needed fixing, but were fixed within an hour of mentioning (loose handle on door to veranda; mis-aligned closer on bathroom door).  Our room stewards were top-notch.

The lectures were interesting, with well-selected topics.  The presenter quality was a bit mixed - one quite good, one very knowledgeable but not quite as engaging.

Great itinerary, great time

My spouse and I are experienced cruisers.  On this voyage we sailed from Lima,Peru to NYC via the Panama Canal. The trip was adversely impacted by an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness(probably Norovirus) which can't be blamed on Oceana. However, their response was a disaster. Numerous activities were curtailed or canceled, and venues closed,even those unrelated to food or bathroom services, such as art classes and the library. Non transparent, inadequate explanations and insincere sounding excuses were provided, but no compensation was offered for services not provided as advertised nor for the significant inconveniences incurred. Free laundry service and significant discounts on future cruises come to mind.

Unrelated problems included especially poor service in main bar/cocktail areas and disjointed, amateurish service in main dining room, terrace cafe and terrace grill where food was adequate but certainly not "the best cuisine at sea". Specialty restaurants were better with the exception of Polo which was terrible. Inexcusable shortages of sport drinks, and quality fruits, which looked good but tasted bad, were additional problems. 

 Enrichment program lectures were very poor except for those given by a fellow guest. Invited performers were generally good. The ship's ensemble were enthusiastic but amateurish with the notable exception of the excellent band. 

Embarkation and disembarkation were handled smoothly. Panama Canal and Puerto Limone, Costa Rica and Miami were notable ports of call. Other Central American and Caribbean stops were a waste of time except for the nice beaches. Harvest Caye, Belize and Costa Maya, Mexico were Disneyland replicas without the fun. Unfortunately missed Norfolk, Va because of weather concerns.

All in all, a bad experience.

Expectations and Reality unrelated!

We'd heard great things about the food on Oceania.  Of course we'd also heard there was nothing to do on the ship(quite true).  But let's get back to the selling point -- the food.  Well  maybe it would have been better if they hadn't gotten to the Noro Virus, or as they preferred to describe it, a gastro-intestional virus stiking more than 2% of the passengers.  Because once they got the sickness bye bye to snacks.  Bye bye to carpaccio or raw fish.  Bye bye to medium rare steak.

But even before that, the food in the Grand Dining Room was certainly no better than the food on any other ship.  And the specialty dining rooms never seemed to be available when we tried to book an additional night(you get four.  Some people got another thirteen or so.  We didn't).  We didn't despite being in concierge and on that note, worst concierge ever.

Don't spend the money for that.   I found most of the crew pleasant and accommodating, but the conciergess, Tom and Javier, you know who you are, were a lot of talk and no follow-through.

Also worst embarkation ever.  Twenty-five minutes and the ship cards had the wrong photos on them: the credit card was wrong: the lunch arrived two hours after the ship sailed.  And, oh, yes, because we were in concierge level we had priority delivery.

Known for their Food?  Tell me another.

We have sailed with Oceania once before which was great, but it was 3 years ago and on Regatta before they were taken over by NCCL and what a difference.  Marina is a beautiful ship, the cabins10062 was  fine, bathroom excellent. Originally we were in cabin 9012 . On arrival the toilet was full of sewage which we flushed and didn't think too much about. However for the next four days we had sewage coming up in the toilet! We complained on the second day and were sent the plumber who was from Eastern Europe. He proceeded to tell my husband that he did not know how to flush the toilet and proceeded to give him a lesson. We were furious. We then complained to reception who put us in touch with Javier Cortes who made all the right noises and eventually moved us to another cabin. Quite a horrible first few days. Other than that we were not offered any other kind of compensation. 

The ship also had Noro virus on board which completely altered everything. The concierge lounge didn't have anything to eat in it, only paper cups, the self service laundry was closed, various food was not available.  The concierge level is a total waste of time. We did not get any benefit from this at all. In Lima there was no priority boarding, the lounge was a room on Deck 9 too small with not much in it. The concierge sitting area in Canyon Spa a to altar waste of time, no room for everyone, no shade and really useless.  Certainly not worth the extra money.

The speciality restaurants are quite good but the main dining room was poor. The menu is limited, one evening there was nothing on the menu we could eat. The food was all cold, the staff were disorganised, the wine waiters fairly useless, they know nothing about the wines they were selling.  There were not enough waiters especially at breakfast so there was a long wait for food. The waves terrace cafe was shambolic. They ran out of food, there was nowhere to sit quite often, the service was poor and it seemed badly run. 

We play bridge and there was hosted bridge on sea days . This also was shambolic, the two directors were disorganised, rather rude and really poor directors. If you are going to have bridge make sure the people running it know what they are doing, these two did not. I went to a cooking class which was excellently run and well thought out. The entertainment is very mediocre. The shows put on by a company that had two lead singers who could not sing! Pretty grim to listen to. The dancing was ok and the best show was on the last day when a singer who impersonated great singers came on. He was fabulous. There was also a female singer early on who was great.  I hated the juggler, really juvenile but the comedians were also very good. The enrichment lecturer was excellent, really knowledgable and her lectures well delivered and prepared. 

The stops were ok, the best being Salvery Peru, Panama Canal, Miami, Port Canaveral, Charleston. We did not do ships tours but those who did complained how expensive they were. We had a nice holiday but not our best and we don't think we would go on Oceania again as it just isn't good enough for us. We like 5 star and this definitely like isn't that any longer.

Lovely Ship but Not All it is Cracked Up to Be

Our 3rd cruise aboard Marina. A beautifully decorated ship. Our penthouse suite 10039 was nicely appointed with more than enough storage (including walk in closet), large bathroom, writing desk and vanity. Thankfully I had my plug adapters with me so I could use both the North American and European style plug outlets (I travel with dual voltage curling irons, computers etc).

The cruise had a nice balance between ports of call and sea days.

Although the crew were hard working and provided good service it was my impression the crew:passenger ratio had decreased and each crew member was serving more people. As a result we often had to wait longer during meal service in the dining rooms and often we would return to our suite and it would not have been made up. Service was good but certainly not over the top as we have been accustomed to on our 7 previous cruises with Oceania. We pay a premium for this service on O and this time not certain if we got that value.

This was the longest cruise we have taken but the cruise where we ate the least number of times in a specialty restaurant. Made my bookings the morning the reservations opened and even then unable to get my preferred dates and time. When on board even the butler unable to get us reservations! Mind you at least half the tables were empty whenever in the restaurants.

Food was good but not as outstanding as on previous cruises.

Although I did not use the fitness center, my husband raved about the Finnish trainer and all the remarks I heard about her from others were superlative.

Enrichment speaker was excellent.

Entertainment not great but certainly improving. The comedians were amusing. Cruise Director not my favourite and she really shouldn't have been interacting with guests while she was still hacking away (even though must have been cleared by the doctor).

I had onboard credits to use up and disappointed shops had almost nothing in my size - only teeny & huge and was virtually no restocking during entire cruise.

Never use Destination Services - tours are a rip off. e.g. 1 tour was priced at 129/pp, I walked 2 blocks and got same tour for $25/pp - need I say any more.

For most of the cruise the ship was operating under Code Red as over 2% aboard were suffering with gastro intestinal problems (Executive Lounge food removed, passenger laundries closed, certain items removed from menus etc). Although we were not sick it did impact some of our enjoyment as we were taking precautions, being less social and not interacting with others, removal of certain services, disembarkation delays, worry, etc. With exception of the obligatory onboard announcements, Oceania has not contacted passengers to offer any thanks or form of compensation for their cooperation and inconvenience.

Don't know whether this degradation is a result of the NCL takeover but Oceania needs to refocus on their core repeat cruisers who are prepared to pay a premium price for that premium level of service.

Good But Not Over the Top as Before

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