This was my first cruise with Oceania Cruise Lines. I have sailed with Carnival and Princess in the past. I was so impressed by first, the information provided by Oceania concerning our embarkation, the excursions available, the personalized "Cruise Vacation Guide" and the telephone assistance that I received concerning my choice of excursions. My second good impression was the organized and efficient method of checking us on board the ship. My experience with Princess had been a crazy-making experience. Oceania has the check-in procedure running very smoothly. My third good impression was the beautiful cabin which I will review in a later review. And by my fourth good impression, the quality of the service that was provided to us, Oceania has won my future cruising preferences. O, and don't forget the bottle of wine in our cabin. Nice touch, Oceania.

I greatly appreciated the "Country Club Casual" atmosphere of the dining experiences. I have traveled with formal attire in the past and hate the amount of packing required for the formal wear that is worn on only 1 or 2 occasions. The restaurants were all very good with a few stellar experiences. We had reservations at Toscana for our first night on board the ship. What a fabulous choice! The food was very good Italian food, but the service was exceptional. Our waitstaff definitely exceeded our expectations. (Oceania Riviera, if you are reading this review, our waitress was "Sara." Give her a bonus because she was so attentive to us. She explained to us the menu and what to expect with each of the menu items, helped us to decide which to choose and then insisted that I order a dessert even though I didn't think I had any more appetite. The Tiramisu and the Crème Brûlée were outstanding.

The organization to disembark the ship before each excursion was very helpful for us. Instead of everyone having to queue up and wait for long periods of time, we all convened in the theater a few minutes before each excursion. Then our excursion reservation cards were exchanged for numbered bus passes. And finally, each bus was called in consecutive order and we moved through the security check very easily with no delays. I will comment on excursions separately. Read more