We just returned from this cruise and I wanted to make sure I posted a review because it was such a wonderful experience. My husband and I cruised with Oceania last year on the Nautica Athens to Istanbul cruise and loved it. We booked the Lisbon to Rome tour while on board last year (nice discount!) and upgraded from a concierge level veranda to a penthouse 3. Based on our great experiences with Oceania, we booked another cruise for next year - Stockholm to London in Sept, 2013.

Will break the review into several sections:

Ship: The Riviera is a new ship (launched May, 2012). Oceania took great pains to ensure the ship felt as comfortable as their smaller ships - Nautica and Regatta. While it carries double the passengers, it still had the feel of the Nautica and the deck plans are almost identical in placement of the various restaurants etc. Thankfully, the pool is larger than the Nautica and the addition of the Thassalotherapy Pool was very welcome (especially after a hard day of port activities). Wish the boutique was open more often or they offered general items for sale somewhere else. My husband and I were both sick with a stomach flu and then a cold while on board and we needed medicine, however, the medicine is sold in the boutique which was closed most of the time. Read more