We took in a 12 day cruise from Miami to Miami, and explored several Caribbean islands, with two sea days on either end. Exploring Miami If you're new to cruising from Miami, I would recommend arriving a few days early and spending the time to take in the city. I can imagine that summer is pretty hot, but in December it was balmy. Highlights included South Beach, downtown, a harbour cruise and the visit to the Everglades. We stayed downtown, but the port is easy to get to, so any decent hotel should not be an issue. Embarkation Is easy and painless. All told, it probably took less than 10 minutes. It does help to arrive early, even if your stateroom is only accessible later in the day, as this enables you to avoid the crowds. It's easy to see that Miami knows how to handle cruise crowds. About Riviera This is our second Oceania cruise, with the first being on Riviera's sister, the Marina. We like the upmarket yet casual atmosphere, the food, as well as the gym/spa. Oceania does not cater for children, but does not forbid them. There were no children on our cruise, however. While the vessel remains upmarket (but not luxurious), Riviera is shown a few signs of wear and tear. Most of the loungers on the private spa terrace were broken, and it's clear that some of the bar stools have been scratched and not repaired over the years. Look beyond this, and you will most certainly have an amazing experience. Dining One tours with Oceania for, among other things, the food. There are three restaurants for breakfast and lunch, and an additional 5 for dinner (if one includes La Reserve.) During a cruise, you should definitely make an effort to dine at each of the speciality restaurants. During this cruise, our favourites were Toscana while Jacques and Red Ginger are a close second tie. Polo Grill is also superb and difficult to fault, but if one has to make a choice... Sadly, the Grand Dining Room did not live up to expectations on this cruise. We dined here twice for breakfast, and while the setting is grand indeed, the service falls short. Dinner at the Grand Dining Room remains exceptional, however. If you do it only once, afternoon tea is a must. It's a lovely setting in Horizons with the quartet playing. One feels very sophisticated. If you like a glass of wine with your meal, or a cocktail around the pool, it's worth taking the beverage package. It makes the surprise at the end of the cruise a little less unknown! Entertainment On this cruise, Oceania treated us to a few outside entertainers. Both were exceptional, while the standard crew are also very good. In addition, make time for the string quartet playing in the evenings near the casino. Service For the most part, service is very good. We had a butler, being in a penthouse suite, and this eases logistics somewhat. Waiters are extremely attentive in all the establishments. Sometimes, however, we found ourselves straining as it's clear that English is not their first language. Sommeliers are generally good, but sometimes are a little scarce during lunch in the Terrace Cafe aft. Cabin This was our first time in a Penthouse Suite. It's recommended for two reasons - the ability to dine in-suite from one of the speciality restaurants as well as the large walk-in closet. We specifically chose a cabin that was below the 12th floor cabins, and not the sun deck, and are grateful we did. Read Less

This was the best cruise we have taken. Met many enjoyable people. Great service and food. The food in Red Ginger was some of the best we have experienced. We are experienced cruisers and had not been that pleased with Oceania up to this point. Only booked to be with some friends who for health reasons could not make the cruise. Meet a delightful couple from CT, thru Cruise Critic, that we played bridge with every sea day (Marble Mike). Our butler treated u to dinner in our suite one evening capturing the best dish's from all the venues. The only disappoint was cancellation of the Canary Islands due to weather. Seeing the destruction caused by weather there makes us glad the Captain made that decision. Always be sure to get the full liquor package. Much to our amassment, Oceania allows liquor/wine to be brought on board. Highly recommend this ship and crew. Read Less

We chose this cruise because we haven’t been to the Canary Is., and were looking forward to visiting. As explained earlier, we still haven’t visited them.. The Captain Did the right thing by avoiding the 70ft waves that hit Tenerife. The Company did the wrong thing by not crediting our accounts or offering some compensation for the missed ports and fuel savings. it was also wrong to not totally reimburse passengers for the price of booked tours. Embarkation and disembarkation were handled efficiently. We will not let Oceania book our airfare again. this was their second chance. this time we travelled for 21 hours joining the ship in Barcelona from Phoenix. we actually enjoyed the 8 sea days with no schedules to keep or ABC tours to take. did a bus tour on our own in Malaga, a very lovely town. entertainment on board was to our liking. Yes, the production company is young. But, unlike some, the singers can indeed dance, and the dancers also can sing. a few flat notes here and there. If you want Broadway caliber, those BIG ships or Broadway are the Place for you. all on board staff, except one front desk guy seems to be happy doing their jobs and were very kind. We did meet two women who enjoyed soaking In their tubs. Most of us wish the showers had taken the place of those tubs which just took up valuable space. How small? well, If you dropped your soap you had to open the door to be able to bend down and retrieve it. Hubby says this is the best food at sea, Regent is right there in the running too.we enjoyed all the specialty restaurants. Food at Jacques, as you may guess, is very rich. the main dining room offers a fine selection each meal as well as the waves grill and the big buffet. the special brunch buffet featured all the ice carvings and specialty desserts, and beautiful fruit and.vegie displays. Read Less

We chose Oceania because of their heavily advertised claim that they offered some of the best food on the high seas. We chose the Riviera because the itinerary promised a trans-Atlantic crossing out of Barcelona where we wished to spend some extra days. And the price was right for a veranda cabin. The cruise didn't wholly live up to our hopes. But it was nonetheless an enjoyable experience. The ship itself is very handsome, though suffering a few signs of damage (scratches, bumps, stains here and there). The grand dining room is particularly pleasant, colourful, open, and airy. The cabin was large and attractive, with plenty of room to store a travel wheelchair. Moving around the ship with that wheelchair was very easy because many of the doors are automatic. Staff were friendly and helpful and efficient: cabin steward, waiters, reception desk. The captain was old-style, largely absent and not very communicative. The cruise director, by contrast, was a bit too present – on the television and on the speaker, often telling us what you could read in the daily paper. We didn’t attend most of the entertainment: the dancers were energetic and skilful, the singers unfortunately loud but unimpressive, and the classical quartet unaccountably lacking harmony. Nor did we find the so-called enrichment lecture topics sufficiently interesting to warrant going. What was the idea? Lectures on forensic science on a cruise? And we avoided the few excursions as too pricey. Not a problem: we entertained ourselves on the ship and in the ports. By the way, wifi (for one device at a time) might be included in O'Life but it is terrible even when close to land or a city. Worst I’ve experienced lately. But it is free and the email eventually does come in – well, usually. One of the reasons we chose the Riviera was the fact it promised two stops in the Canaries. That didn’t happen. The prospect of bad weather led the ship authorities to cancel both. So we lost some of the Spain we were looking forward to. Reading the reviews, it seems Oceania has a bad habit of cancelling ports. Disappointing. It is possible we would have made the crossing with Azamara (going at the same time) except it had less Spanish ports in theory. Worth keeping in mind that Oceania's itinerary isn’t a solid promise. And no compensation for their failure to deliver. The cruise did offer other activities: bridge lessons, culinary classes, art classes, assorted games. None of these we sampled. There was some seriously over-priced “private dining,” that wasn’t private at all because you sat at a common table,or so it seemed. Didn’t do that either. Never tried the exercise room but my wife had success twice with the hair services at the Canyon Ranch Spa. One minor plus: a good, free dvd library (by contrast, disappeared from the Azamara Quest anyway). Now as to the food. Three of the specialty restaurants were truly excellent. Unquestionably the most outstanding was Red Ginger, the Asian restaurant: the food delicious and plentiful, novel, varied, and interestingly spiced – the duck and watermelon salad as well as the sea bass were stellar. I found Red Ginger the best specialty restaurant (compared to Azamara, Crystal, Princess, and Holland America) I’ve enjoyed in the past five years. Jacques (French) and Toscana (Italian) were almost as impressive: a fine bouillabaisse and a marvellous dover sole at the first, some superb lamb and a tasty seafood linguine at the second. The one specialty restaurant that was a bit weak (though the crab cakes were fine) was the steakhouse, Polo Grill: I’ve had far tastier ribeye on Azamara's Prime C. The food in the other venues was generally good for lunch and dinner. If the steakhouse failed, the steaks in the buffet (Terrace Café) and the dining room were tasty. The caesar salad everywhere was a pleasure. The room service menu had decent lunch offerings, especially gravlax and a fine cheese plate as well as a novelty (for me) the Lombardy salad and an excellent small steak. The Waves Grill (outside, casual) had the standard fare: burgers, hot dogs (the Mexican a standout), salad makings, etc. Some of the dishes in the buffet restaurant were very good (e.g. the Thanksgiving turkey), most were enjoyable, but there were occasional failures like the paella (bland and mushy). Strangely enough, the appetizers and the soups and the bread seemed the most exciting offerings in the main dining room. The entrees were ok but not memorable – and occasionally poor (e.g. tough lamb, bland fish). Desserts everywhere weren’t outstanding, although the assorted crème brules were very enjoyable, as was the varied cheese plate (far better than on Azamara, but best on Crystal). The weakest dining was at breakfast. The room service only offered a basic, and to my mind substandard (blah breads, fruit bits) , continental menu. The eggs prepared in the buffet and the dining room were never exciting. The bacon didn’t appeal, the sweet breads (danishes etc) were uninteresting but for one fruity semi-muffin (and only occasionally available), the flaccid bagels a shame. But I did try some breakfast fish and lamb chops in the dining room – both were very good, as was the carved ham at a brunch. Also the buffet had tasty smoked salmon and various herring dishes that were welcome. Service in the dining room at breakfast seemed slow, slower than on other occasions. Coffee was only ok. Nothing special in the restaurants. Overly mild from the coffee place Baristas (though some people might prefer such). Better in short on Azamara and Crystal. Wine could be a problem, depending on the time, place, and the wine steward. We had the House Select plan which meant wine by the glass at lunch and dinner. If you had a good wine steward, like Milos, then fine: he always watched to ensure his clients were well served. If you had a rushed or negligent wine steward, then you would go dry during the course of the meal. Oceania needs to hire more wine stewards, train them better, and find more of the quality of Milos. In any case the wine offerings were acceptable but not so good for our tastes (Chilean, Argentine, Spanish reds, German whites) as on Azamara, Princess, and Holland America, and especially on Crystal. In all the cruise was delicious. It does often offer good and varied food, and some of the dishes are just superb. But on the whole Crystal does it better, if at a much higher cost. And Azamara, the more comparable cruise line in price and service, has roughly the same ‘score,’ much good and some not, when it comes to food. However I think Azamara offers even more on ambience, service, entertainment, and excursions. We would likely take another Oceania if the price and itinerary were especially appealing. But we have no plans to do so soon. We’re off on other cruise lines. Read Less

My partner and I are frequent cruisers - 6 in 12 months including Regent (1), Celebrity (2), Viking River (2) and Oceania (1 and done!) We specifically chose the Barcelona to Miami transatlantic crossing for its more numerous stops (6) and especially those in Canary Islands. The second night on board, we were informed by captain that due to weather system they had been monitoring for days /weeks ahead expected to hit Tenerife we would divert to Gibraltar post Malaga, Spain...implying we would stop in Gibraltar which we are NOT doing. (We were not given any advance notice of weather before embarkation although Florida head office had been monitoring with Captain for days/ weeks out...). We are now stuck on board this ship for 8 days straight and have been told there will be no accommodation financially for TWO missed ports although the cruise line is saving significantly in not making these stops! We were also told by several frequent Oceania cruisers that they have been previously accomodated for missed ports in Bermuda (for example). Why not this cruise?..... The excursions we are now out are being credited back at 2/3 value with Oceania keeping the 1/3. Because this apparently happens often, we are told this is the “policy and there is nothing anyone on board can do about it. It’s the way it is”. I suggest any future cruisers either avoid taking the “OLife 8 free excursions or go for a $400 pp shipboard credit instead. This will give most maximum hard value should “Florida” head office decide to change cruise course and not accomodate passengers. We were asked to surrender our passports last night for stamping by Spanish Officials today. When we went to retreive them this evening, we were first told after sailing we could pick up. Tonight, reception employees said they needed to keep them due to immigration law. Couldn’t tell us which country’s law required this and neither could a level up in chain of command.....Florida (head office) told them to do it. A further tip from our first Oceania experience — book your own air fare. We paid premium for business class to Barcelona and were given a three flight routing despite there being direct and single stop options out of our Charlotte, NC home city. No option to confirm or reject- this is it and there is nothing that can be s is sooo different than previous experiences with true luxury cruise lines that seek your feedback, agreement on flight selection. Lastly, when we embarked, our safe did not work - it needed new batteries. On evening two, our veranda stateroom bathroom flooded and the TV remote works if turned upside down, depressed and held for quite some time. Also needed toilet maintenance mid cruise. In terms of excursions, there have been two. The first was a half day. We arrived to Guadeleste too early before museum opening and there were no public facilities on board or in the town. The entire bus (35 persons) got to use a single toilet in a bar! We went to Ronda today. No facilities on board and we stopped at a bar after 1.5 hrs. No lunch included in full day tour from 8:30-4:30. Great guide, driver. The tour cost was $149 pp for two hours there, back and 2 hr walking tour with free time / lunch on our own. Hopefully San Juan and Nassau will go as planned. There are a number of excursion cancellations / updates made once we were on board. Some excursions cancelled or changed. There is a broad range of dining options- Terrace Cafe buffet and grill is best. Service, temperature, variety. We have not been to Grand Dining Room b/c we could not get reasonable dining time - wanted 6:30...only 8:30 available. (Shows start at 9:30; they don’t do two.) Went to specialty restaurant Red Ginger. Everything was very good, but not spicy at all. All staffers were OVERLY concerned we might find something too spicy. We had to ask for chili sauce to spice it up. Toscana, Italian themed specialty restaurant, was not up to par. Our table of six had very little positive to say - food not hot, risotto overcooked, lobster chewy, pasta warm, not hot. Polo Grill (think steakhouse) and Jacques (french) next. One thing to note on specialty restaurants - it is nearly impossible to get a table for two. You get stuck with 2-4 other guests you may or may not have anything in common with. Politics came up at our table last night....We went to reservations desk today to ask for table for two going forward. Standard response received - you can have it if you want to eat at 9 pm....see above comments on times for Grand Dining Room.... Happy hour from 5-6 pm in main lounges with BOGO drinks. We took advantage on several nights. Happy hour often seranaded by piano player with niblles served ranging from nuts, chips, pretzels to cheese cubes, sausage puffs, olives. Enrichment activities vary greatly. There is a big emphasis on bridge plus trivia, mensa, two lecturers - a “dna expert” and naval historian. There are PAID enrichment activities as well - two hour culinary institute cooking classes at $69 per class and also paid (fee unknown) art classes with resident artist ...ie painting Mediterranean landscapes, apple studies, etc.... Fitness center is large with plenty of cardio machine variety, free weights, weight machines. While a range of FREE exercise classes taught by an inflexible instructor. Specifically, he did not want to modify classes to accomodate rough seas prefering to cancel them instead. We did finally convince him and he did modify begrudgingly. Nice outdoor walking tracks...I walked thirty miles so far. The staff on board....results are mixed. Our cabin attendant and Terrace Cafe grill team, wait staff are really fantastic. The reception, excursion, concierge, reservation desks and officers are the most non customer focused lot I have ever come across. The cruise line does not empower their employees to make anything right at the time of the occurence which is really a basic customer service principle and particularly found with real luxury brands. Oceania has a long way to go to realize their aspirations to become a REAL luxury cruise line. Scotty, beam us up, please. Read Less

We chose this ship and company mainly on the positive reviews , recommendations, and transatlantic crossing itinerary which included stops in the Canary Islands which we had not visited before, and additional sea days which many cruises don't offer. Sadly, the Canary Island stops were cancelled due to a large Atlantic storm which had positioned itself over the area during our scheduled port call. The Captain and company decided to skip this area and continue on to San Juan. This decision was a correct one but another port call in the Carribean or a longer stay in San Juan would have been nice. Instead, we were treated to a very slow 8 day crossing from Malaga Spain to Puerto Rico. We personally did not have any shore excursions for the Canaries but heard from fellow passengers that they were only partially refunded for these planned excursions. The ship itself is very nice, just the right size (medium) with an excellent ratio of passengers to crew. The public rooms were well appointed and very beautiful for the most part with one exception! The Riviera Lounge is just awful and needs a complete makeover. It is old looking with dark and depressing decor and does not compliment any other rooms or public spaces on the ship. The line is very popular with seniors ( above 70 years old) and on this particular cruise about 90 percent of the passengers fell in this category. We are a bit younger and many times felt a bit isolated especially at sharing tables in the dining venues. Otherwise, we found things to do on our own as we had little in common with most of the guests. Due to the upper age range of most of the guests, the ships public elevators were crowded, noisy and sometimes not so clean, especially during peak dining times. We mostly used the stairs. Dining was very good overall (not exceptional) and the choices of places to eat and menus were excellent. Red Ginger was by far the best with quality of food. decor and staff service 5 star all the way. The main dining room was very good too with breakfast the best, but hit and miss quality of food sometimes at dinner. Again, with sharing tables we were not always at ease with our table mates, due to large age differences or topics of discussion. Toscano specialty venue most definitely needs improving. Much better quality Italian food is available in most towns and cities across America. Terrace Cafe and Waves Grill were both excellent with good quality food and good service. The Buffet at terrace cafe was a bit chaotic at peak times with many guests running around into each other. The purchase of alcohol onboard is highly encouraged and the prices are excessive. Beware, if you are going to drink, then the alcohol package will save you some big money. The service on Riviera is exceptional and in my opinion is what it hangs its hat on! The wait staff were all so friendly and accommodating and the room stewards gave five star service each and every day. The international make up of the crew were delightful and my wife and I were able to converse with many of the staff and form short friendly relationships with them. The ships Captain did not seem too friendly to me and I did not see him interacting with other passengers during the cruise, other than a brief reception at the beginning where he introduced his staff and said a little about himself. Seems like he was disinterested overall and just wanted to finish the crossing. Maybe 50 years at sea will do this to you. His daily noontime report was just a boring weather report (nothing more) that anybody could rip and read off the wire. This same info was available on the ships TV channel all the time. The rest of the ship officers were available and friendly with ready smiles. John our cruise director was excellent and the entertainment staff was better than expected. The young production team were awesome, fun and engaging. They had a somewhat difficult task of entertaining so many upper seniors, but they did it!! The comedian acts and Trumpet player were also very good. This cruise could have been a five category but fell a little short of the mark because of the reasons explained above. Read Less

Main reason for this cruise was two fold. First was to do a Transatlantic and Second was to see the Canary Islands. My wife and I agreed that if we did not do the 3 days in Barcelona before the cruise it would have been a great disappointment. Not going to Canary Islands seem to be a fairly constant, if so why not go farther south to another island or a port on the west coast of Africa. Eight sea days are way to many. We found out that three couples have tried this tour three times without success to seeing the Canary Islands. One couple said this was their fourth attempt. I guess they never heard of 3 strikes and your out. The staff and cabin were fantastic. The food excellent but not better then other cruise lines that we have been on. People kept asking us if the food was better on Oceania. We replied that a few dishes we had were but some dishes on other ships were better. I really hated that the staff had to put my salad together. I rather do it myself. Entertainment was average. Would not take children on this cruise because I think they would die of boredom. Found the staff very helpful even for the tours we did not take with Oceania. Debarkation was probably the best we ever had. Read Less

We chose this cruise because it was recommended by a friend who also was traveling with us. It was beyond our expectations. The only complaint we had was the carpet in our cabin either needed replacing or a good shampooing. When we mentioned it, someone came to our door and apologized for the condition of the rug and explained that once this cruise was completed, the entire ship was getting an overhaul. The food for the most part was very good. I think they need to have better entertainment though. We ate in The Grand Dining Room, Jacques, Toscana, The Polo Grill and the Red Ginger. All the meals were delicious. The tours we picked were also pretty good. Our cabin was 10063 and we had concierge service which was exceptional as was our cabin steward I Wayan was also wonderful net our every need. On the whole I would definitely recommend recommend the Oceania Riviera Ship. The staff was wonderful and courteous. There was one problem with disembarkation, Our bus took us to the wrong terminal , he took us to number 2 instead of number one. We had already taken all of our luggage from the bus and then had to put it back on and that was a pain for we got to the airport later than we had expected with not as much time to get something to eat before we had to get on the plane. It probably would have been much better if we had taken a taxi and also less expensive. Read Less

Manly booked this for the itinerary. It was a 12 night - Venice to Barcelona . 11-1-18 to 11-13-18. Excursions were not as described. The stops listed were not accurate. One location did not have the handicrafts village as highlighted. Another town was completely closed on the day we were there. Nothing to see at all! They return you back to the ship 2-3 hours before ship left port. Not enough time given to sights that were available. Big waste of money. The destination desk personnel were useless and could care less. This Cruise line is over rated. Horrible entertainment. It doesn't exist. First time on Oceania and probably the last. Expected more from a so called upper class sailing. This is also not recommended for any one who is handicap. All ports of call and the excursions we were part of would be a real challenge for those who are handicap. The food was very good compared to other Cruise lines. But do NOT touch anything or the food Nazis will repremand you. Sparkling water and soft drinks are all included. As for cocktails, way over priced. Friends were charged $56.00 for 2 drinks in the main dining room because he made the mortal mistake of ordering a " double" rum and coke. He only made that mistake once. The staff were very good and attended to all your needs in the beginning of this itinerary, but slowly declined as the days passed. It seemed as though many have had enough and were anxious to go home, as this was their final voyage for the season. As previously noted the worst was the " Destinations" personnel. They could care less about anything. For your O Life choice, do yourself a favor and use the ship board credit. The free excursions are NOT the way to go! Go with an outside company or explore on your own. It should also be noted that this was not a voyage for families with young children. They would be extremely board due to the lack of entertainment and the ports of call. It's catered towards the adults. For the fees charged on this line, we expected a little more. Read Less

Overall a pretty good experience for our first time on O. A bunch of little things went wrong and we tried not to let it spoil the whole cruise. The ship is easy to get around but could use more elevators aft as they are always busy (that's largely where the food is). Dining ranged from spectacular (La Reserve) to very good (Toscana, Jacques) to surprisingly good (buffet on 12, pool grill) to mediocre (MDR, Polo). Food is subjective but I'm referring to basics here (proper temperature and doneness). Specialty restaurants saw demand far exceed supply--do not expect extra reservations! Service was good from 90% of the staff. The room steward and the food and beverage team were great. The gangway staff were excellent at getting my wheelchair on and off. Sadly when we really needed help from the Concierge on Deck 9 or from reception, they were often rude or aloof. Concierge seemed to only know the word "no". I eventually had to deal with the Purser, who put matters right. Two ports were missed for no good reason--ask the Captain: he laid the blame at HQ's feet. Overall it was a decent set of ports and had we made the two stops in the Canaries it would have been superior. Top tip: if you get sick, don't go to the Medical Centre. They'll take you for everything you have. Embarkation smooth as glass. Disembarkation a bit farcical but that might have been beyond the ship's control. We will cruise O again but will never pay extra for 'Concierge' service, and pray we don't need to deal with Reception. Read Less