We have been the guests of Oceania for 5 cruises. We have always been impressed by their attention to detail and overall quality. Not so with this most recent cruise. It started with having incorrect information on where to board the ship, and ended with a most disappointing evening at Polo Grill. According to our Oceania paperwork, we were to depart from the Port of San Juan. We were dropped there by our taxi, and had we not been quick on our feet, we would have incurred an additional cab fare, as in fact we were to depart from the Pan American Pier. News to us, as that was not clarified in our paperwork.

We were expecting to meet our steward/stewardess during our first 24 hours so that we would know who to contact if need be. Well, she never did introduce herself, and we didn't sign for expected shipboard credit until day 5. We called housekeeping 3 different times, never getting a call back when we were in need of beach towels for the following day. We finally had to go to reception and complain, thereby getting the needed towels right before our excursion. Our printed itinerary noted that one our port docking time was 12 noon and depart time was 8 PM. We reserved our tour time accordingly, Needless to say we were surprised when the night before we were informed at the nightly entertainment that our docking time would be 8AM with departure at 5PM. We had to scramble, overnight, to rearrange our tour time of Granada.

The last evening on board was to have an entertainment/happy hour in the Insignia Lounge. The entertainment was superb, but the "Happy Hour" didn't happen. There were 2 waiters working the entire floor, and though we asked each of them to come take our drink orders, it never happened. Poor planning on the ship's part to accommodate a very large crowd. In all fairness, we did complain to the cruise director and he did try to accommodate us, but the entertainment was over and we were on our way to Polo Grill so we declined the late offer. And finally, our last evening at sea was to be at the Polo Grill. We had been looking forward to this for the entire cruise, not to mention our buildup to 4 traveling partners new to the Oceania experience. The meal, beginning to end, was less than satisfactory. It stared with our waiter saying he would be back to take our order when we had not yet even received the menu. Appetizers sat on a tray side table for over 10 minutes before being served. The filets were not of the usual quality. It appeared that we sat forever between courses, as they had only one waitress and assistant for the front half of the dining room. The dining started a little before 6:30, and we were not leaving the restaurant until after 9:10. This was not by our choice, but rather by the timelessness of service. Read more