We chose this cruise to compare to Azamara Club Cruises, another 6-star line. But Azamara wins hands down for the quality of its staff, staff training, cleanliness on the ship, quality of food, etc. Riviera’s design is that it’s cafe is on Deck 14, which looks out onto the pool deck, crescent-shaped, so quite small, whereas the library next door is huge by comparison. The night’s entertainment means there’s only the one show, scheduled at 9.45 p.m. The theatre is quite drab compared to the rest of the ship. On the plus side, our cabin was quite spacious and the size of the bathroom was good. In the main, staff were pleasant but not as friendly as on other cruise ships. Seemed ‘surprised’ when you said ‘hello’, and were unsure as to how to respond. The speciality restaurants served good quality food, and the Terrace Cafe too, but the food was not outstanding by any means. They served mashed potatoes as slop! In the evening, large areas of the ship seemed to be devoid of music. No cosy lounges only long ‘corridors’ of furniture. Wouldn’t recognise the Captain if I fell over him! Definitely would not choose Oceania again and have unsubscribed from future mailings.

Ports included Sicily (why?) and Cephalonia (only one step up from Sicily), Split (Croatia),Kotor (Montenegro), Koper (Slovenia) especially nice, Venice was as mad as ever!