We chose this cruise because we had not been to several of the the port stops before. We were disappointed in the food. We live in Houston, dine out frequently, and expected the food to be better. My steak in the Polo was over cooked, not impressed at all. The Red Ginger was a real disappointment. Did not care for it at all. Much better Asian in Houston. We really liked Jacques and Toscana. As for the main dining room, it just wasn’t as good as we expected. We stayed in a concierge level cabin. We were impressed with the room, bathroom and the cabin steward. Probably the best in our 20 cruises. Loved the linens, towels, toiletries and room layout. We did not take the ships excursions. I thought they were really expensive. Our group of 4 hired a private guide in ports for the same per person price as the least expensive tour offered by the boat. We also heard several people say they were disappointed in the tours. We loved every excursion but we arranged it ourselves. The staff was excellent. The Gym was great. Did not use the spa. We only had one sea day. We bought the drink package and the bar service was very good. Venice. We took the large water taxi to Piazza San Marco. Bought ticket for round trip right outside the cruise ship. Venice was very crowded. We walked around and took a gondola ride through canals and rode by the Rialto bridge. Back to ship. Watched as we sailed away from Venice listening to Andrea Bocelli. Dinner at Polo Restaurant. - Dubrovnik, Croatia. Arrived at 1:30 pm. Found taxi driver outside the port who drove us around the outskirts of town and up the mountain for a panoramic view of Dubrovnik. Then to visit Fort Imperial which houses a museum of the Croatian war of Independence in and a short film about the war. I hope hunk it was 50 euros. Then he dropped us at the town of Dubrovnik where many scenes of Game of Thrones were filmed. Walked around town and took a taxi Back to the ship. Drinks in the piano bar and dinner in Grande dining room. - Kotor, Montenegro. Met at the port by Nikolai with Mont Travelers at 8:30. He drove us for an overview of Boka Bay where our ship was docked and took a boat ride to see the Our Lady of the Rocks. Then we went to see the town of Perast which is on the water with beautiful sea views. We drove back to Kotor and visited a fish market to see all the different seafood from Kotor. Followed by a drive to view Jaz Beach and a walking tour of the old town of Budva. Drove back to Kotor for a walking tour. The tour was awesome. 280 euros for 4 people. Nikolai was fabulous and a very safe driver. Dinner in Grande dining room. cruised around Italy - Malta. Did a Small group tour Simply Malta with 12 people from the ship we arranged through cruise critic roll call. A drive to the south of the island of Malta to see the Blue Grotto. The grotto and neighboring system of sea caves are home to brilliant phosphorescent marine life. The boat ride showed us the incredible beauty of this natural wonder. It was wonderful. Then we traveled through the Girgenti valley and on to the west coast seeing the Dingli cliffs. We drove to Rabat for a walking tour of Rabat and the old town Mdina, once the capital of Malta until Valleta was built. Mdina was where scenes from season one of Game of Thrones was filmed. Back to Valletta, Malta. We got back on board and Dinner in Toscana - Italian. - Sicily where we could see Mt Etna in distance. We got a taxi at the port to drive us to Taormina. I think it was 25 euros. Our driver told us it looked like fireworks coming out of it at night. We walked around town. Then we found a taxi driver in town named Vincenzo Franco (+39 338 850 1413) who drove us to scenic view points around the outskirts of Taormina and back to the ship. He was awesome and I would call him and arrange for him to drive me if I go again. Dinner in Grande dining room. - Amalfi. Picked up at the port by for a full day tour of the Amalfi coast by Sorrento Top Driver, Di Coppola Antonino +39 3392207065. He drove us along the Amalfi Coast stopping for pictures and on to Positano. Parked while we shopped and walked around the town. Then drove us back to Amalfi and on to Ravello for lunch overlooking the sea. Back to ship. Really great day with Tonino. Dinner in Jacques - French. -Rome. Picked up at the dock at by Enrico with Rome in limo. A full day of seeing the sights of Rome. First stop for coffee and pastries then to a hill with a great view overlooking Rome. Next a walk through Trastevere where we went into a church during a Sunday service. On to the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Piazza Navona (where the Italian Air Force flew over leaving a trail of red, white and green smoke because it was a national holiday, saw the Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, Pantheon. Enrico stopped to let us out, wait for us and drive to the next stop. Giving us lots of info as we went. Dropped us off at a small restaurant for great lunch. Toured the Catacombe Di San Callisto of and dropped us back at ship about 5. We had spent a few days in Rome on another trip so we didn’t plan on going to the Vatican. Seafood extravaganza in the Waves. -Tuscany. Picked up at the port of Livorno by Alessandro Cammilli. www.alessandrocammilli.com Drove for about an hour to San Gimignano where we toured the town and had gelato and coffee at outside cafe. Drove to Castelllina in Chianti, Greve in Chianti and the Chianti countryside of Tuscany. Stopped for lunch in Lamole at a restaurant on an outdoor terrace on the top of a hill with wonderful views of wine country. We stopped by a WWII memorial and cemetery where 4400 American soldiers were buried. Then drove to see the leaning tower of Pisa and back to the ship about 5. Dinner in Toscana - Italian. - Monte Carlo. Took a small train around town to see the sights. Then took the bus along the Mediterranean Sea to Nice and back by train to Monaco. This was the only thing we wish we had done differently. We would get off the bus at the stop BEFORE Nice it was too big and not very appealing. The town before nice looked beautiful and easy to navigate. Can’t remember the name. Dinner in Grande dining room. -Toulon, France. Took a small train from the port around Toulon. Got off in town. Took the bus to Mt Faron and a cable car to the top of the mountain. Dinner in Red Ginger - Asian. Stayed three nights in Barcelona. Read Less

This was our first Oceania cruise after having travelled with Carnival, Princess and Royal Caribbean previously. We had been to a couple of Oceania events where they spoke highly about their food and said it was the best at sea. The food on our cruise was not as good as they claimed. Some cuts of meat were very fatty, almost inedible (even at Jaques and the Polo grill) . A pad-thai in the main dining room was horrible and some ice creams had so little flavour, we couldn't tell what they were supposed to be. On the other hand, some food was really good and we loved the Illy Crema at Baristas. There is a well equipped gym, a free sauna and steam room and a jogging track. Art classes and craft sessions were very enjoyable. There is a well stocked library and there are free self-serve laundries with washing, drying and ironing facilities. As we found with other first time Oceania cruisers, we all overpacked formal clothing and didn't bring enough casual clothes. Except for dining rooms at dinner time, t-shirts (or polo shirts) and shorts or jeans were all that were required. Some entertainment was really good. The ships' singers and dancers were good and the magician was very entertaining. The service on the ship was great, there were staff everywhere and they were very helpful and friendly. Most of our shore excursions were fine. They were all Oceania tours. The only problem was that not enough time was allocated to look around museums or visit other attractions. We may go on another Oceania cruise in the future. Maybe we will wait to see what their new Allura class ships will be like. Read Less

We chose this cruise ship because of itinerary, ship size,and recommendation from our travel agent - we experienced such attention to detail by the well trained staff - great food with so many different food, restaurant and seating choices - my husband and I were glad that we could sit at tables for two at all of the ship restaurants - (our first cruise on a much bigger Royal Carribbean ship placed us at a table with 4 other couples of their choosing resulting in two of the couples not getting along and making the daily dining times dreadful instead of delightful.)Oceania assigned us a cabin towards the back of the ship which was right below the ship's smoking lounge - our cabin and balcony which we had to pay extra for filled with smoke each time we opened our sliding door -we are not smokers and were not told about the issue ahead of time even though the ship's staff that we asked were well aware- rooms by the smoking lounge should be given to smokers only - we suffered for 3 days with this issue before we submitted a written complaint upon which the executive concierge moved us to a new suite as well as giving us ship credit to use. Lucky for us a guest didn't show up on the sold out cruise or we would have been stuck in that room The excursions were wonderful well organized with experienced entertaining tour guides. The embarkation and disembarkation were easy smooth and quick unlike the Royal Carribbean cruise where we stood in line for hours. The ship entertainment seemed great but needed to offer an earlier show time instead of( the too late for us) 9:30PM due to all of the early excursion times. Our biggest complaint deals with the extremely unfriendly concierge who acted like we were bothering him even if we had a simple question - the same thing happened with a girl at the reservation desk and a girl at the reception desk - these three employees obviously don't like or take pride in their job and do not represent the rest of the extremely friendly anxious to help with absolutely any request staff of the ship. We will definitely go on a cruise with Oceania again Read Less

This was our third Oceania cruise, and although we rated this “very good”, we did pass along to Oceania several criticisms, which we hope will be considered “constructive”. The good – Sirena is nicely restored, well maintained and the staff is very good. There were some instances of poor service, but these are rare. The not good - bathrooms in cabins below penthouse level are too small. Dining - Grand Dining Room was most consistent (selections & preparations) and service was excellent. But the Terrace restaurant was just mediocre; okay for breakfast but other meals were inconsistent. It is too informal; cafeteria style for dinner. Compared to the outstanding dining on Marina last year, Sirena’s is a bit short on preparation and diversity. Primary dissatisfaction - severe overcharges for excursions and alcohol. A reasonable price might actually generate more sales and profit as well as sending customers a better message. Example: Alhambra & Granada private tour (16 people) ran $110 pp; the ship’s tour was $319 pp. This type of overcharge causes cruisers to spend lots of personal time to research and book private tours, and is a great inconvenience. For alcohol, two martinis cost $26+ with an included 18% service charge, and that's at Happy Hour! Overall, we would probably sail Oceania in the future, especially with certain policy and/or pricing changes. Read Less

We booked this cruise because of the ports and Jacques Pepin would be on board. We upgraded to a marvelous Owners suite--8th floor. I didn't like we were on the 8th floor at first, but once in suite, it was glorious and contrary to other reports, we got lots of sun on the balcony (we were in an oceania suite on prior cruise and never got sun...so it depends on how the ship is sailing). Food was always good...service in Jacques was rushed, Toscana very slow and Polo right on the mark. We ate in our room several times and Butler always did a great job. Service: Cabin service was always good. Our butler was very good. We were alerted by another CC person that there was a virus on the previous cruise. When we boarded there was no sign of the virus OTHER THAN the endless TV "ads" about washing hands and singing happy birthday twice. There were also announcements about how important it was to have a clean ship. Needless to say, even though, (and I applaud the Staff) we weren't at a high level of sickness, the Captain was always one step ahead of protocol to prevent further spreading. It didn't work! I got sick on day 3--24 hour virus as did at least 6 other people I knew from CC. It took me two bounces to get attention from the infirmary and got a great nurse to come to my room with nausea pills and tylenol for my fever. Here is my BIG issue: When I wanted to speak to the GM and applaud the efforts of the crew in trying to keep one step ahead (as well as point out some of the areas that could be improved), the front desk wanted to know if I had an appt, then would not give me an appt and asked if I could speak to the Cruise director...and eventually got the assistant cruise director. REALLY? Each and every time on previous cruises, when I wanted to speak to the GM, I GOT TO THE GM! I am only a 7th time cruiser and I was in the Owners suite, but that made no never mind. This is the second cruise in 1 year that got a virus. CLEARLY there is a problem with Oceania protocol, even though I do applaud their efforts for going above and beyond. For example, on Riviera last year, they NEVER enclosed the buffet with saran as they did on the Marina to prevent folks from trying to touch things. I STILL THINK OCEANIA DOESN'T GET IT. AND the GUESTS don't get it. When the Cruise Director refused to pas the mike around during a wonderful event with Jacques, the guests booed the concept. REALLY? They wanted to pass germs around? Unfortunately the CD didn't handle it well as he did not tell Jacques in advance how he would handle the Q/A and even Jacques made fun of the arrangement. The CD should have made a direct comment about the safety of the passengers but instead just said this was CDC protocol (like who cares or understands)..... Bottom LINE...I am going to try a different cruise line before I return to Oceania...I am very disappointed. Read Less