I really wanted my Oceania Riviera cruise experience to be exceptional, albeit I did take its “Finest Cuisine at Sea” with a bit of a marketing over substance approach. Unfortunately, things fell short; and not just a little short.
At the outset, I need to mention that my Reflections articles normally reflect back on the entirety of my travel journey. But I am not doing that here because my experience in Japan was pretty much totally independent of my Oceania Riviera experience. (I don’t feel one should color the other either positively or negatively.)
How many of you have heard me say to be careful about listening to folks on Cruise Critic or elsewhere because they go on one cruise and deem themselves “experts”. Well, I am pretty confident my experience was not the typical Oceania experience in some regards, but enlightening in quite a few. Hence, some of my observations are not going to be consistent fleetwide or even on Oceania Riviera months from now.
Here are my prior articles on my Oceania Riviera cruise experience:
- Oceania Riviera in Japan – Discovering a Premium Experience – Part I
Oceania Riviera in Japan – Discovering a Premium Experience: Getting There & Tokyo Part II
I invested in my Oceania Riviera experience in every way possible to upscale my Oceania Riviera cruise; hopefully showing off Oceania at its best. I paid to upgrade to a suite, paid for the premium beverage package, paid for the faster internet, paid for the La Reserve dining experience, paid for a tour, paid for bottles of premium wines, and paid for a cooking class. But as you will read, most of it was not a good investment.
In fact, I had a client sailing on Oceania’s sister line, Regent Seven Seas, on essentially the same itinerary at the same time, and Regent was thousands of dollars less expensive!
My Oceania pre-cruise experience was – reflecting back – filled with frustrations and disappointments from the outset. That is, in part, due to the category you book affecting your access to pre-cruise options. When I was booked in a Veranda stateroom I could not make dinner reservations or book tours until after Suite and Concierge level guests had access to them. By the time I could book them, virtually all of the tours were sold out (yes, there were waitlists, but I only cleared one), and times and dates for dining were less than optimal (usually the last two seatings).
When I boarded I found my suite to be quite nicely updated, but definitely buffed up with an older design. The marble bathroom was nice but the shower had poor waterflow and the “glasses” by the sink were plastic. The amenities were Bulgari; a nice touch.
My original butler was basically worthless. He called me “Goldring”; not “Eric” or “Mr. Goldring”, and couldn’t get a breakfast order correct. Assistance with a tour was feeble. However, my second butler was perfect!
The biggest problem was that there was no internet in my suite. After three days of being told the issue was with my laptop (you know, the one that has been on how many ships), the internet manager finally came to my suite to find that there was virtually no signal in my suite…and there was no one on board that could fix the problem. I was relegated to sitting in a bar with my laptop to get any real work done.
But even then, as it was eventually explained to me, while Oceania Riviera has Starlink internet, each passenger’s account is so restricted as to the amount of data that can flow (think of a hose that is pinched almost closed), service onboard was the worst I have encountered in years. In fact, when we had to go through immigration onboard in Hiroshima, it was delayed hours because Japanese Immigration couldn’t get enough signal. (The following cruise they did it onshore.)
I also found that all of my dinner reservations had been changed to dining with others (a concept I haven’t dealt with for decades) and having them changed back was incredibly frustrating. This was mostly because I came to find those in charge of dinner reservations just didn’t care; letting the telephone go unanswered and promised resolutions just not happening. Yes, after three days and numerous visits but only after assistance from both Reception and Guest Services were they sorted.
But, as with my suite, that wasn’t the biggest issue. It was the dining experience which, honestly, was the worst I have encountered, possibly ever. While I discounted the “Finest Cuisine at Sea”, the number of literally inedible meals was shocking. Yes, the backbone of Oceania’s culinary team departed en masse, but that was well over a year ago.
While I was disappointed with undercooked pasta and strange preparations (you can read about the specifics in my other articles), my experience at La Reserve was inexcusable. It started with reused menus with pencil erasures changing the vintages of wines…that were sparingly poured (shocking!). Dishes were undercooked to the point of raw. But the one that that really angered me was being served a weird Portobella Mushroom and Black Truffle Risotto (with no black truffles; only truffle dust) and two days later find the same Portobella Risotto in the buffet! Don’t take me for a fool and hit me up for $180 per person for that!
However, as poor as the cuisine was, the waitstaff was excellent. In Jacques, especially, it was true teamwork that was a pleasure to experience and made the dining experience far better than the cuisine. (I am confident the waitstaff was aware of the culinary issues because I was never asked if there was an issue when the plates were removed hardly eaten.)
Similarly, the bar staff also were top-notch. The bartenders made consistently good cocktails, and the servers were solid. (They could have used a few more during peak times!) However, Oceania places unfortunate constraints on both. There is a “pour count” on the spirit bottles, so overpours are not an option. (For example, a scotch on the rocks, is one measure and no more…not premium!) On the other hand, the servers only earn based on the cocktails they sell, so you regularly hear, “Would you like to make that a double?”. (No, I prefer a well-made G&T.)
One big issue is trying to get a glass of champagne, or a cocktail, or even a beer before 3:00 p.m. There is only one bar open: The pool bar…unless the weather is bad (as it was) and then the Horizon bar forward was the only option (though not publicized!)…for 1,200 passengers and no real servers. The only other option is to sit in the buffet or an open restaurant and order a drink there. (Room Service?)
And that brings me to the Premium Beverage Package. Included with an Oceania cruise is the Simply More package which offers you – honestly, just OK – wines and beer at lunch and dinner in the restaurants. If you want something better, you pretty much have to purchase a bottle…but that creates another issue: With the Premium Beverage Package you get a 15% discount on bottles, but then are hit with a 20% gratuity!
Further, combining that with the limitation on relaxing access to alcoholic beverages and balancing them against the cost of the Premium Beverage Package, my recommendation is to save your money and purchase them ala carte…unless you spend your afternoons and evenings seriously drinking.
As for shore excursions, I noticed upon boarding the ship a very long line for the shore excursion desk. I can’t imagine wanting to spend my first moments queued up for over an hour. I used my butler to avoid the line (a mistake because all he did was drop off an order form for a tour the next day), but my issue was resolved late that evening. Unfortunately, I wish it hadn’t, as the shore excursion’s guide could not speak even decent broken English, so we were basically on our own. There were numerous complaints about Oceania’s shore excursions, but I only experienced one.
Overall, I found there were two kinds of staff and crew on the Oceania Riviera: Those that really cared and took pride in their work and those who were just going through the motions, caring little about delivering a quality guest experience. This was not only my observation, but that of quite a few of the caring staff and crew…who felt a bit more appreciated when I complimented them by saying how their approach was refreshing and appreciated.
As for the ship overall, the best I can say is that it appeared to be well-maintained – other than public area furnishings – but dated both in design and decor. I found the dining venues to be a bit more upscale and modern
Whew! That was a lot…especially when I my expectation was that my Oceania Riviera experience was going to be a good one. Oh well.
Now, that said, Oceania has its new Vista (May 2023) and Allure (2025) are more modern ships but with the same 1,200 passengers and 67,000 gross tons. There are no plans for more new ships until 2027 and 2029 which will increase capacity to 1,400 passengers and 86,000 gross tons. By that time the smaller R-Class ships will truly be getting long in the tooth, but I have no idea if Oceania plans on keeping them or shifting its overall capacity to the newer, more environmentally and economically appealing ships.
Reflecting on my Oceania experience, I can say that I feel I should give Oceania a second chance because I honestly can’t believe the Oceania product is as poor as what I experienced. But I also need to moderate my expectations as its pricing structure and the numerous extra charges fit well within its parent company, NCL Holdings’ expressly being “Laser-Focused on Cost Management”. I can’t tell how much that “laser-focus” affected my recent experience, but I do have concerns over what it means into the future from actual high-speed internet access, to food costs, to beverage management, to – most importantly – staff and crew compensation.
And with all of that, I do have to conclude by stating that I have a number of clients who love Oceania Cruises. There has to be a reason that I was cheated out of!
