No but My husband & I are going to Norway next year for a surprise for his 60th Birthday. Would love to hear about it.Is that the name of the ship or the company? We are going with P&O on the Oceana
We sailed on Oceania when it was Renaissance Cruise Line. We loved it--smaller ship 640 passengers. We sailed from Istanbul to Athens. Service was supberb! Dining was elegant! Would love to do it again.
I am seriously considering booking a Meditteranean Cruise aboard Oceania next year. I saw one of their iteneraries that I love! Please provide more info on Oceania. Is it a good cruise line? How does it compare to other lines you have been on? Please give me all the info you have on it. Thanks in advance.
We have loved our Oceania Insignia cruises. The ship is very intimate when compared to all the main cruise line vessels (like HAL, Celebrity, NCL, RCL, MSC, etc.) With the smaller ships, the crew have fewer passengers to care for, and they are so attentive, getting to know you and your habits.
The best reason to sail is that the ship is small enough to go into ports the bigger ships can't. The small ports aren't crowded, and we never had to tender anywhere. I noticed that the Insignia stays in port a lot longer than most ships typically do, too. A lot of times you can return to port after dinner and see a bit of the local area at night, which is not too common on the mainline cruise lines.
The shore excursions are expensive, but they are very much worth what you pay for them. No groups are larger than 24, for starters. In fact, we never had one with more than 16 on it. Oceania seems to make agreements with large tourist attractions so that their tours can bypass the main entrance lines. For example, we went to the Uffizi by way of a side door, not the main door where hundreds upon hundreds of people waited in long lines of an hour or more. We were able to see a lot more of it in about the same amount of shore time as passengers on larger ships. We just spent more of our time in the museum rather than in a line, or being herded onto and off of buses.
The food is excellent, and wine is included with your meals. I like that there are staff offering hot nibbles from trays in the bars while having cocktails, too.
We have been fortunate finding two for one specials with special air fare deals. This is the way to go!
Thanks for the reply. I put the cruise out to cruise compete and have had 1 response so far. The cruise we are looking at is a 10 cruise from Barcelona to Athens next April. They have a 2 for 1 with free air but I actually think the discount rates are cheaper than the special. Anyway, we are also considering MSC and Princess. Most of it will be driven by itenaray and if we can get an excellent deal. Thanks for your help.
April is a fabulous time to go! It isn't too hot, nor too crowded, provided you don't book during the Easter week holiday. Easter is a far larger and more important holiday in Europe than Christmas, and it can be a madhouse then. The upside is that there are many pastries, candies and other food that are made only during Easter, so you would have a wonderful opportunity to sample these holiday treats.
All of the cheaper cabins were booked already for the April cruise! I am an unhappy camper for waiting and not booking this thing earlier. It looks like we are going to shoot for the same itinerary for August. here is the cruise:
We just got off the Regatta (Oceania) and there was one 2-3 year old child on this cruise. Average age on this cruise was about 70+. The last Regatta cruise two years ago was about 65 average age...........Not really for children. Nothing for them to do on the ship.................Oceania is great otherwise. baffles
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Has anyone sailed Oceania?
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