Not The Same Marina

Had sailed on Marina Spring 2015, this trip around South America just wasn't the same. We enjoyed ourselves immensely on our 2015 trip and chose the same ship and same cabin (Conciege Veranda) for this holiday journey.

We arrived onboard a day late with 5 hours to spare due to an Argentina transit strike. Granted it was not the normal embarkation procedure but with many of us passengers in the same predicament I didn't think it right for us to have lug our bags all the way up the gangway of Marina with no guidance/assistance whatsoever.

The ship was in the spirit of the holidays, lots of decorations throughout. We got engaged in a trivia group right away and met other CC participants at a meet and greet and met lots of other cruisers during the trip. The package "O-Life Ultimate" was great with drinks, tours, and internet. The "free" tours were about as expected, nothing really memorable and they wouldn't permit you to use a credit towards one of the more exclusive journeys...I believe you should be able to incur an upcharge if you want.

The "Concierge" service was just OK, will have to give that a hard think before doing it again. The room service was superb, but the laptop they give you for use was broken and there were no spares on hand for replacement...I find that hard to believe. Used the Spa deck only once as a good portion of the cruise was in cold weather, that said not a lot of use of the pool area either, just too cold and windy and there is no retractable roof on Marina.

We are not big "foodies" but enjoyed the specialty restaurants and dined in Privee one night for an anniversary celebration. Didn't know much about Privee prior to the trip but it was a remarkable experience. When you walk in you definitely know it is special...the service top notch, the menu from Toscana and Polo, the dessert from another world...WOW! We also ate in the GDR for breakfast and some dinners, Jacqueline always greeted us with a BIG smile.

The entertainment showed a marked improvement since the line was acquired by NCL. If you can eliminate the tribute to Elton John the rest was darn good. The guest performers were very entertaining especially the comic/magician. Really liked his supplemental appearances where he taught you the tricks. Jeff, cruise director, could use a little polish, the get ups and dialogue just weren't what I expect from an Oceania Cruise Line. Saw/heard the Captain very little, a bit more interaction with the passengers would have been welcome, after all it is a mid-sized ship.

Overall the positives greatly outweighed the negatives and plan to sail with Oceania again as its the itineraries that we travel for.