Cabin Review

The Penthouse Suite is roomy and very elegant. All the colors, fixtures, finishings from wall panels to flooring and furniture are first class. The air-conditioning works perfectly fine and silent. You can even control the direction of the airflow. I like the touchscreen with various options but would have liked to have more options to control the lighting and mood in the suite and to turn announcements on or off.

I do think the designers could have utilized the space better. We visited a regular Veranda Stateroom, and the Penthouse Suite is essentially a slightly larger version of that room with some extra furniture and different wall panels. I would have loved to be able to close the curtains between the sleeping and living area. Seabourn has this and I think it works well, especially when somebody is awake early in the morning. It makes the room feel bigger and closing of a part is just a great feature. On Riviera and Marina, the Penthouse Suites had a faux curtain between living and sleeping area, that made it look larger. More importantly they had a proper walk-in closet. On Vista the designers choose for two big glossy grey closets with a big empty space in the middle. A lot of wasted space that could have been used so much better. Not a fan of this layout at all.

The bathroom is beautiful and bright, and I love the tiles, smart lighted mirrors that double as a night light and double sinks, but it felt smallish for a suite. The shower is good and temperature and pressure excellent. I do miss the bathtub. For me with busy work schedules it’s a luxury I don’t get to use at home often. I love to take a relaxing bath on vacation. Seabourn has a fantastic layout for the bathrooms in standard Veranda Staterooms with double sinks, a large shower, and a separate bathtub. I know Riviera already removed most bathtubs because many people prefer a large shower, but such a roomy suite could have had both easily. It also makes for a bigger difference between a standard veranda stateroom and the entry level suite. The closet and drawer spaces take up too much room. You can easily pack for a world cruise. The Penthouse Suite has so many drawers. One could even say a few too many. The suite has a very firm sofa and 4 big chairs. 1 adjacent to the sofa with a very nice mirror and small table in between. There is a nice marble dining table with 2 chairs but due to a useless row of drawers behind the table it partly blocks the door to the balcony. The table itself blocks the row of drawers so you can’t open them without moving the heavy table so it’s a very strange design choice. Maybe nice on paper but not useful at all. I’m curious how many guests use the drawers tucked away behind the dining table. All the chairs and the position of the table make the space look a little cluttered. On the positive side there is enough furniture to sit on.

I would have chosen a warmer color for the LED-lighting for the room. It’s very cool white/blue and you can’t dim the lights to make it softer. The balcony light is so bright that it doesn’t do anything nice at night. Better keep them off and enjoy the world go by in darkness. The reading lights are so bright you can use them to read and light up the entire ship. Did I mention it would be nice to have dimmers? The beds are very comfortable, and linens are soft and crisp. I want to take them home. Oceania beds and bedding are the best.

I don’t understand the bar set-up in the room. There is a very nice cabinet with glass doors and lights behind them, but it doesn’t hold anything behind those glass doors. Something like glassware, cutlery, plates, cocktail shaker, napkins, wine opener or anything useful to make a drink or maybe some nice books? Now it’s just empty. I’m curious what the idea behind that lighted cabinet is? The veranda of the Vista Penthouse Suite has very nice and comfortable chairs, but a lounger or at least an ottoman would have been a nice touch for a suite. For such an expensive cabin the difference between the standard veranda stateroom and penthouse suite should be bigger. Should we sail on Oceania Vista again I think I would be just as happy in a standard veranda stateroom with extended balcony.