When we first heard about a hundred eighty days world cruise we were both excited and almost incredulous that such a cruise did exist. My wife wanted an owners’ suite and even this was with more than one year in advance they were all booked. Nevertheless, we put ourselves on the waiting list and eventually we got the accommodation she wanted.

We had never cruised on Oceania but we heard good things about the line. The rumors turned to be true, as we found everything that you would expect on a cruise ship, top notch. In our opinion the food was the best from any cruise line we sailed with (including Regent, Cristal, Holland America, Cunard). The staff was excellent – it was almost like they had the power to anticipate your wishes. Insignia is a smaller ship but it does not feel small. Nevertheless, the stage is not large enough to accommodate a cast and that was the only part of the entertainment that was missing. The shows were not different from any other cruise line - in the same tier - because after all the entertainers are taken from a common pool.

But being a smaller ship Insignia had the advantage of going into several ports that would not accommodate larger ships. The tours were well organized. We were surprised not to find in the shore excursion brochure that we got before the cruise any overland tours. The tour existed as we found out only when we got on board. By then some were sold out but we did not encounter a problem with the overland tours we wanted. It is also worth mentioning that booking on the specialty restaurants is the first thing that you should do if you plan to have dinner there because it fills quite fast. Read more