This was our first cruise on Oceania. We chose this ship because of the itinerary, and for that reason it was excellent. At 70, we were probably about average in age, if not on the younger side - there were very few passengers under 50. Dress was generally on the casual side of "country club casual", with women better dressed than men. The ship is well presented, but some maintenance issues persist - we had to call maintenance twice to fix a noisy rattle on the balcony that spoiled our sleep, and we were locked out of our room at one point because our door lock needed to be "reprogrammed". The food quality and service was superior to other (20+) cruises we've been on and we were able to dine in the excellent specialty restaurants several extra times (our formal allotment was only four) by making same-day reservations. Food was not perfect - we sent some some dishes back to the kitchen because they were too salty, too tough or just cold. Our cabin was clean and neat, but layout was not well designed for storage. Housekeeping staff was excellent, but we had some issues - personal items left behind by a previous passenger and some stains on linens. All staff was uniformly welcoming and efficient. Shore excursions were marred by language issues and a lack of radio/audio devices - some guides were hard to understand and we just couldn't hear them in large groups and noisy areas. We found this very surprising from an upscale cruise line. One Oceania excursion was only half completed (because of a disabled participant who shouldn't have been allowed to take an "strenuous activity" excursion and held everyone back) and we were disappointed to receive only token compensation when we asked for an adjustment. We, and many other experienced cruisers, had arranged three independent excursions at both lower cost and better quality.

Despite the observations listed above, we had a very enjoyable cruise, and we will likely cruise with Oceania again.