I am a travel agent and frequent traveler. We have cruised Oceana many times but now it appears the ”bean-counters” are in control. There were noticeable differences in overall food and services from previous cruises.
This was a 27 day cruise and offered $1600 in shipboard credit for our basic balcony cabin. It’s easy to offer lots of OBC when everything is already overpriced to start with. (Nickels and Dimes)
For the food service, there was little change in selections, but the food quality was noticeably reduced, especially in the Specialty Restaurants where the service was still great, but the food was not nearly as good. On arrival home, we had a steak that was far superior in taste and tenderness than any we had in 4 visits to the Tuscan Grill. Oceana is no longer the leader in shipboard Cuisine. Meals are now average at best.
The cost of the land tours is outrageous. In Corfu we docked next to a Holland America Ship, and much to my surprise I was logged on to their shipboard WIFI. I found the Holland America tours almost identical to Oceana in description, hours, and group size, except every Oceana tour was a minimum of 45% and up to 55% (actually $55 to $180) more expensive per person. That’s about $225 more per port for a couple. (Nickels and Dimes).
Martini's Bar had excellent service, but drinks were short, and expensive. Standard pre-dinner drinks for two were about $25, not appropriate for captive customers on a ship. (Nickels and Dimes)
I’ll probably start suggesting Azamara or Viking Sea to my customers.