This was a cruise that we had booked for 2020 and then 2021. We finally got to do it in 2022. Prior to our cruise we did a 10 day tour of Tuscany all on our own. That's another story. We ended up in Venice where the cruise was supposed to start. We found out a couple of months before that the cruise would start in Trieste instead. Oceania said that they would provide a bus to take everyone to Trieste as long as we could get to the Venice airport. We took a water taxi to the airport and tried to find the Oceania rep. Couldn't find her. She was not where Oceania said she would be. We walked around for almost 30 minutes, finally ending up at the arrivals terminal where we found a rep. She checked us off and a porter took our luggage along with the luggage of everyone else. Then we waited and waited for more than 45 minutes before they showed us to the bus. Everyone was hot and thirsty but they didn't even give us water for the bus ride. At Trieste, we all got off the bus and walked up a flight of stairs to stand in line to check in. Then back on the bus to be driven to the ship. Once we were on the ship, everything was as expected.

Our cabin was clean and well stocked. Our cabin stewardess, Melissa, was fantastic. she was always smiling. We had 3 pieces of luggage which all came at separate times, the last didn't come until the ship was about to leave. We ate the 1st night at Jacques and the food and service was 5 star. We even ate there the last night of our 10 night cruise. There were only 500 passengers and the ship felt empty. The 2nd night in the main dining room, it was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. I'm not kidding. The food at the specialty restaurants was always good. We always ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch and great food too. We ate there one night for dinner and had the best rib eye ever. It was cooked perfectly. The only problem at the buffet was the constant attention from the staff. They would all stand around and watch you. Once you finished your plate, they were there within 3 seconds to clear it.

The main dining room food was OK, sometimes really good and sometimes just OK. Except for one night I had the sirloin, I asked for medium rare and it came a little more than medium. When I cut into it, it was very dry too. I send it back. Ten minutes later I still did not have my dinner and just told them to forget it. Read more