Our previous cruises were all on Carnival ships, so the elegance and 'dignity' of the Riviera was a very pleasant change, as was the smaller ship with fewer guests. We noticed no loss of pleasant attendance by a reduced number of crew (from the larger ships). The four specialty dining venues at no extra charge were lovely, although we did not know to make reservations BEFORE the cruise and therefore could not visit them all. The bed and bedding were luxurious and the veranda we had divine. I spent a lot of time trying to master the WiFi and a laptop computer, and so the width of the room became narrowed between me in the chair and the coffee table and couch. Not a real problem, just an irritation as I spent much longer trying to use the internet than should have been needed. Chalk that one up to user error. Even though I had told our charge card company that we would be travelling, I was unable to log into my account to look at transactions made during the trip. This was very frustrating, as we thought we had been cheated by one merchant and could not find out. The company wanted us to call them because of possibly fraudulent login attempts (mine), but we had no phone. We only attended one of the evening musical productions, and that one badly needed more thought. . . There were so many amenities available, but with a new mooring every day there was little time to explore them. The shore excursions were rather expensive, and I was especially watchful because I have difficulty walking -- one 'easy' one had us walking on cobblestones, uphill, for a good 15 minutes, which is nothing to a younger person but very difficult for me. The ports, especially Corfu and Kotor, Montenegro were delightful, picturesque, and well worth all the money I spent in the shops. Service was spectacular and I would recommend this line to anyone wanting classy, luxurious cruising. Read Less

I planned this trip for my husband's birthday and did a lot of research in advance. The newly refurbished Sirena is beautifully equipped. Its layout makes sense and there are surprises tucked on every deck -music - refreshments - relaxation. There were some hiccups with communication - many of the employees speak limited English but they are efficient and friendly. Our cabin lacked nothing and we thoroughly enjoyed our room service coffee on the balcony ever morning. The food was just so - so. Not as good as expected and there were limited choices. If you want a specialty restaurant you need to book well in advance. The excursions were well done - again some problem with language skills and on one occasion we paid 3 times the normal price for a special tour that turned out to be identical to the one for the regular price. Plenty of information and access available for those wishing to go it alone on-shore. The entertainers sang their hearts out and a lot was done with limited space and resources. Lots of fun activities. Wonderful salt-water pool and large gym and spa. Relaxed environment. Nice people without the stuffiness. Read Less

Below the neck line, creature comforts are good. The cabin was spacious, well furnished and with an excellent bathroom, all extremely comfortable. The food was also some of the best cruise food we have experienced; there is a main restaurant, a buffet restaurant, plus 4 other speciality restaurants (no extra charge) and all of them had excellent offerings. The ship is very quiet and vibration-free. There is a very good gymnasium and a nice library, and there is a variety of pleasant bars and other spaces. So the basic needs of food and shelter are attended to in luxury. Above the neck line, I started to think that various issues contained a common thread about how the ship treats its customers. The Cruise Director made PA announcements in a formal monotone which has something of the estate agent and station announcer about it. Doubtless well-intentioned, but a far cry from the chatty, witty and informal announcements of the English Captain on our first cruise quite some years ago. The restaurant service was plentiful (lots of waiters) but seemed to be scripted, too many formulaic comments of the “have a nice day” variety. And the service can become intrusive, with waiters repeatedly interrupting table conversations. We arrived (by prior arrangement) on the second day of docking at Venice. The Reception gave us a room key and a number. No directions, no offer to carry cases. We discovered the ship had brought forward its departure time by 2 hours: no attempt had been made to contact us. In fact, reception denied that the departure had been changed, although several couples we met had booked trips ashore with local companies and had been seriously inconvenienced. The ship's excursions set new levels of stratospheric pricing. For example, docked at Livorno, “Pisa on your Own' was priced at $ 129 – basically a coach trip to drop you in a car park in central Pisa. The actual cost of a return journey to Pisa is 1.20 Euros each way bus fare to Livorno station, plus 7.50 Euros return train fare. So less than 10 Euros return or 9 dollars. The ship thus charges 14 times the public transport cost. The “Historic Pisa” excursion is the coach trip, plus a ticket to 3 monuments (not including the campanile) and costs $ 179. That's an extra 50 dollars for a ticket which anyone can buy for 8 Euros at the ticket office just behind the campanile. There is little real service for the 'independent” traveller who is not buying the ship's excursions. On two occasions, the ship announced that landings by Tender would not be possible, and docked 30 miles up the coast. Although it was easily possible to get to the original destinations in under an hour, no-one at “Destination Services” took the trouble to spend 10 minutes on the internet and post up the train times....... let alone organise a shuttle bus to the train station. Local Tourist representatives came on board with some photocopy maps of the town, but perhaps it would have undermined the ships trips to give out any information indicating that passengers could travel around on shore by other means !! The ship's disembarkation information at Monte Carlo made very heavy weather about taxi prices and waiting times for transfer to Nice airport. It recommended the ship's own transfer bus for 100 dollars each. But it failed to mention that an easy 10 to 15 minutes walk from the ship, there is an express bus direct to the airport for 20 Euros. Prices for beer, wine etc were about double normal UK prices. There was no draught ale on the ship. Bottled beer cost £7.70 per pint. (ie a 355 ml bottle for 7.67 dollars). The cheapest wine was 47 dollars per bottle. (£30.60). These prices are expressed as 6.50 dollars and 40 dollars plus a compulsory 18% service charge. As the charge is compulsory, I found it irritating:- is the intention to lull the customer with the lower “headline” figure ? Or do they think that I am not adept enough to work it out ? The best solution was often to buy wine ashore and pay the corkage charge. This was stated to be $20 per bottle in the cabin handbook, However the restaurant staff insisted on charging $25 even with the printed word in front of them. This ability to flatly contradict a customer against your own printed literature was certainly a novelty. Most people we spoke to thought that entertainments on the ship were lacklustre across the range. The “dance” group had a completely inadequate vocalist and should not have been selected for this role. There were many fewer crew “shows” than on other ships. On the last night of the cruise, there was no event, and no party......... merely a showing of “Jurassic Park”. One might be forgiven for musing “We've had your on-board spend, so now just go to bed whilst we unload the suitcases” So overall, the ship's relations with its customers appeared to lack enthusiasm or transparency, and any sense of espirit. In summary, if you require good food and a comfortable environment, this ship provides it. And if you simply want to take photographs of foreign places without getting outside the bubble and you are happy to pay maybe 1500 dollars for a collection of tours which could be achieved for 200 dollars you will have no problem. On the other hand, if you hope for more from a cruise than merely good towels and posh food, if you cannot put aside your basic sense of value for money, and if you think that a ship has some duty to “play straight” and assist its travellers (albeit with a reasonable mark-up) then there are aspects of this experience which you may find profoundly irritating. Read Less

If the "O" stands for "O" zero value, "O"zero taste(foods),"O" zero crusie experience than they got that right. They also have an "F" rating with the BBB, (which I wish I had checked before, not after I took my first & last cruise with them), a mistake learned going forward. The "F" stands for, Failed!Failing! Falling short! and in fact Failure to respond to my BBB complaint as well. Also a first time ever for me, filing such a claim with any company. Oceania really don't seem to care, which goes to their attitude on board as well.The well being of their passengers are not their priority. It is a corporate decision to just ignore the BBB complaint (they have lots of complaints filed, check it out before booking). Please Save your $, they are not even close to being a high end, luxury cruiseline.Clueless is more like it. There are a few others to select from that deserve your hard earned $$$$$$$$$$$'s The food is pretty but tasteless. Even in their specialty restaurants. Got food posioning at Jacques, their french restaurant. Couldn't chew the prime rib at their famous chop house. I don't think even the cow it came from could have chewed it. How do you screw up a prime rib from your best steak house. The afternoon teas had pastry that tasted like cardboard. Restaurant hours not condusive with port calls, so most closed when you got back on board only to have the grill serving the same few selections daily. The entertainment was so bad that I actually felt sorry for them. I mean cringe worthy bad. No lectures, or movies or other choices but very bad shows. They do offer cooking classes that you have to pay ( as if their fees aren't high enough) for and a free art class. The ports were in areas where there was nothing to do if you didn't go on a tour that took you at least an hour away. Also the local guides lied about important information that could have caused great harm, and did not have the passengers best interest. This crusie was paradise from hell and has nothing to do with expectations not met, as was told to me from their representative. This is all about their failing to provide a cruise experience worth celebrating, as we have had on so many other ships. I can't state this any more clearly, if I can save one perosn from cruising on Oceania, they will Thank me. Read Less

We have been loyal Oceania travellers having completed 8 cruises on their three smaller ships Oceania did not send our documents to us, when enquiries were made they said we hadn't paid in full They had been paid totally in February. We could not make reservations in specialty restaurants for same mixup. Also free wifi package had to be asked for as we also we're not given this benefit although entitled. We looked forward to sailing on Insignia again especially having the new upgrade. The common areas looked refreshed, such as pool furniture, paintwork and curtains but the money must have been spent on the infrastructure and mechanics. On second last day of this cruise we found the pool emptied but full of all the furniture which had occurred during the night by crew. Arrived in Venice that morning to have huge crane and team of workers using very noisy machinery take over the ninth level. There had been no apologies or information to the passengers. The other thing we found different to previous sailings was there were quite a few families with very young children needing pushers and high hairs in the public areas. The school age children were all enjoying the pool and took over the spas, even though the signs say "no children under age " in spas. This was not enforced. Another thing not enforced, as promoted by Oceania, was the dress code. Tee shirts and shorts in MDR, Bathers with flimsy wraps in terrace cafe. The waves bar is for all casual diners! OVERALL VERY DISAPPOINTING!   Read Less

We had an overall nice experience with Oceania Marina , although we did find there were certain areas fell below our expectations. .Embarkation and Disembarkation were much quicker and smoother than our previous experience with the larger cruiseships. Upon checking at noon we were told our cabin number as we booked a guaranteed cabin verandah) and it wouldnt be ready until 3 pm , this was a bit late compared to our last experience with Celebrity and Princess. Also since no stateroom number was printed on the luggage tag provided by Oceania , it turned out that our luggage only arrived in full by 430pm , whereas it were sitting outside our cabin with Celebrity and Princess after we had checked in in noon time. Also normally you will get to meet your maid on embarkation day who would show up to greet you, but not on Oceania. Nevertheless we understood it was extremely busy hours for housekeeping staff. Our stateroom was generally better than the other two cruise lines we tried before , given all were balcony cabin.Facilities in the room were same as what we learned in Oceania website such as heavenly plush bedding , spacious bathroom and mini bar filled with free soft drinks and soda water Prior to joining this cruise my expectation is service level from Oceania will be higher than my previous experience with the larger cruiseship , however this was not the case from our encounter with personnels on Reception Desk , Destination Desk or Dining Reservation Desk. Somehow the staff were simply there to answer your question but you wouldnt feel their willngness to help at all. For example when we tried to make reservation on specialty dining , it was a totally frustrating experience as like many other fellow passengers we tried to book a few times and everytime we were turned down ,the reason given by the Dining Reservation Desk was some others guests had not signed up to try ,however throughout the cruise I also overheard many fellow passenger were not happy with this booking system, I actually had sympathy with the Dining Reservation Desk fellow as it was not easy to deal with so many upset faces everyday. While in Grand Dining Room and Terrace Cafe food quality was definitely the best we had so far, nevertheless except a few , most servicing staff failed to show their passion and barely had smile on their faces, this fell short of the kind of sevice standard one expect in any other 4.5 star or above cruiseship . Also while most review had a high rating for Jacques and Red Ginger, we found both the ambience /decor of restaurant and food presentation not quite as good as the other specailty restaurants in our previous cruises. Polo Grill was good , Tuscany was okay. One particular criticism I had on this cruise was the shuttle arrangement in Dubronik. We went back to the pick up point to line up 3 hours before boarding time, however unlike another cruise line no designated person were there to maintain the order. Meanwhile shuttle buses from other cruiseship (Cunard)arrrived one after another, their fellow passengers were assisted by designated person to board the bus. we had waited for over 30 minutes and still no bus arrived , the line was not a line anymore as more fellow passengers arrived and joined the queue randomly, finally when bus arrived after 40 minutes or so, people started to rush in front and it became a complete chaos, pushing and yelling were seen and it was not nice. We thought this could be avoided if Oceania had been more proactive in maintaining a good shuttle service. A lot of comments on Oceania excursion fare had been published, We didnt know how well those excursion got sold as we did most excursion on our own ,most cruise line made money on excursion so if one wanted to save money he had to do his homework. Nevertheless quite a few fellow passengers we talked to expressed the excursion fares were too expensive. Similary ,last cruise we disembarked in Venice we compared the coach transfer charges to airport between the two cruse lines, there was a significant difference in which one would have to pay a lot more on Oceania term. Once again one had to do his homework. Finally ,We were particularly pleased with disembarkation as Oceania had deployed quite a few staff to assist guests in the luggage area as well as outside the cruise terminal.   Read Less