Nautica Review

5.0 / 5.0
399 reviews

Oceania does not measure up to their puffery

Review for Africa Cruise on Nautica
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7notrump7
10+ Cruises • Age 80s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Jan 2019
Cabin: Inside

We chose this cruise for its itinerary, and that was great. But arriving late 6 times at ports caused problems on tours (never Oceania's fault). Oceania claims to have "the finest cuisine at sea"--NOT TRUE! There were many problems with the cuisine. The coffee does not taste like coffee; we tried every conceivable way to get a good cup of coffee, but it would not happen; it tasted burnt and was strong and bitter. We switched to cappuccinos or lattes and they were palatable. Pizza crust was so hard you could not cut it or chew it; many very tough cuts of meat--lamb rack twice, leg of lamb, rib-eye steak in Polo Grill--all were so tough one could not chew them. The desserts were always similar--an excellent cheese cake every night, several mouses that varied but always mouse, a tartlet of some sort. We prefer eating our dinner in the dining room, but service there was so slow we ended up most times in the Terrace Cafe. Both of these venues are very crowded with each table almost touching adjacent tables.

The cabin is advertised as having down pillows; they were not down but feather. The Blue Book says we have a spacious shower--it was the smallest we have ever had on any cruise ship, and we have cruised over 400 days. This ship is old and tired; it is due for refit in 2020, and certainly needs that!

The entertainment was usually excellent. Activities on board were the usual as on any other line. We took 4 Oceania Shore Excursions. Two were good, and two were not. All of their shore excursions are about 3 times the price of private ones that also have a smaller group, so usually that is what we did.

Cabin Review

Inside

Cabin F

Cabin was as expected, except for NO DOWN pillow as advertised in the Blue Book. And the "spacious shower stall" turned out to be the smallest ever!

Port Reviews

Cape Town

Table Mountain, coast drive to Cape Point and Lighthouse, Lunch at Simon's Town and penguins.

Port Elizabeth

Addo Elephant Park with Alan Tours--FANTASTIC!

Richards Bay

Oceania Tour to Zulu Croc Reptile Park--over one hour to get there and then only snakes in cages, a long boring lecture, and watch crocs in enclosures. Very poor

Phuket

Arrived 5 hours late, so no tours available.

Langkawi

Wonderful experience.

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