Marina Review
Wonderful second visit on Marina, third Oceania cruise overall!
Rating by category
Additional details
We chose this cruise for it's Spain-intensive itinerary and no at sea days. This turned out to be a mixed blessing, as we did private tours (Spain Day Tours, which we greatly recommend). All of the tours involved van/bus rides of 1-2 hours, and quite a bit of walking, so we were pretty tired and had no at sea days to recuperate and just enjoy the pool, spa, or the rest of the ship.
This was our third Oceania cruise overall, and this time it was just me and my wife (no kid or parents). Even though we tend to keep to ourselves, we met a lot of amazing people during this cruise. At the specialty restaurants, we were required to share tables in order to get an earlier dining time. All of the people we met were modestly to wildly successful, loved to travel, and were a delight to spend an evening with!
If you are this type of person, and aren't hypercritical about your room, food, etc. you are going to have a wonderful time on Oceania Marina. Just sit back and let it happen!
Cabin Review
Verandah Stateroom
Excellent cabin. Didn't hear a peep from Deck 6, ever. Only negative is that a lifeboat is directly below our balcony but it isn't bothersome, and I only noticed it if I was standing right on the edge of the balcony. It certainly doesn't impede the view. It's far enough from the props that vibration isn't noticeable except during maneuvering. I was going to book one of the rooms farther aft with the extended balcony, but I didn't want passengers from the above deck to be able to look down onto our balcony.
Port Reviews
Lisbon
Pre-cruise we took a train from Lisbon to Sintra and walked. Everywhere. 10 miles. Beautiful place.
Seville
Did Spain Day tours for all excursions. We went into old town area near the Cathedral.
Palma de Mallorca (Majorca)
My favorite port. Mallorca was my favorite of the larger cities, Valldemossa was yet another MUST SEE.
Barcelona
Park Guell was overrated but Sagrada Familia was my favorite attraction on the cruise. We bought our entry tickets four weeks prior. We bought the tower access; I didn't think the price was worth it but my wife liked it. You can't see the inside of the church from the tower tour.
Marseille
Saw Aix en Provence, Cassis, and Marseille
Monaco (Monte Carlo)
We disembarked in Monte Carlo and hired a driver to show us around Monaco for two hours in a Tesla. Then she drove us to Eze where we spent the day and evening before flying home from Nice the following day. Eze is glorious.
Alicante
Guadalest was another MUST SEE.
Malaga
Ronda (A MUST SEE) and Mijas