This I a review of our Mayan Mystique cruise on Oceania Riviera that departed Miami on January 14th and returned January 24th. This was my 4th cruise with Oceania. I admit to being a fan but that also makes me extra critical at times. I have previously cruised on Carnival, Star Clippers and Celebrity. This is a very lengthy review so if you do not want to read through the whole text (and I can understand that) I’ll give a short summary first…

Riviera is a beautiful ship, well designed and built with very high quality materials. She has many big ship amenities and mostly succeeds in giving guests a personable small ship feel and service. Every public room and deck is gorgeous and so is the art you find throughout the ship. Walking around the ship is a pleasure. The layout is very similar to the smaller R-Class ships so everything feels familiar. Food is good to excellent and so is most of the service. Excursions and the Spa services are expensive and if you do a little research you can get a much better tour for half the price.

Our ‘Penthouse Suite’ was gorgeous and more beautiful and spacious than many 4-star hotel rooms. Our stateroom attendants did their work perfectly fine, but either where either very economical with replenishing bath products or forgot to replace them on a regular basis. Our butler was very friendly but we barely used his services. The butler can be a nice perk but not for us. We are among the youngest guests on board and can pack, unpack and manage extra reservations and appointments ourselves. Read more