REGATTA REVIEW – Feb 26 – March 8

This was our first time on Oceania. I have several clients that sail Oceania frequently and they just love it, so thought it was time to check it out for myself. We sailed from Miami to Vrigin Gorda, St. Barts, Antigua, La Romana and St. Kitts, not necessarily in that order, a 10 night sailing.

EMBARKATION

We arrived at the pier around 11:00. We were in a PH category and our tickets said that we could board at 11, with suites ready by 1:00. They opened the doors right at 11, but there was a large group of Travel Agents going onboard for an inspection and luncheon, and they had to get them thru security and all first, so the check in did not actually begin until about 11:30 or so. There were chairs, restrooms and such and passengers just sat and started talking to each other. Around 11:30 they opened up the check in lines, there were two lines dedicated to suites, two to concierge level, and about 4 for category B and below, although check in for B and below was not until 1 or 2:00. ( I think though, that if any of those passengers were there, they actually checked them in and let them board.) We were onboard in about 30 minutes. We just wandered around a bit, decided to check and see if we could leave our carry on’s in our cabin, which was open so we did and headed up to the luncheon in The Terrace Café. Nice lunch, lots of variety and certainly something for everyone from pizza to a carved roast beef. Promptly at 1:00 they announced that all suites and concierge rooms were available, so after finishing lunch we headed back to the cabin. Our first piece of luggage arrived within 5 minutes and by the time we had it unpacked, the rest was there. Our Butler came in with champagne, and took our alternate dining requests, we finished unpacking and then headed up to the spa to make a couple of reservations and then we just wandered around familiarizing ourselves with the ship. Spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing until it was time for cocktails.

CABINS

We had a Penthouse cabin. It was very spacious, nice seating area with two chairs, table and sofa, vanity table and chair, refrigerator, smallish bathroom, but adequate with a tub/shower combination, one sink and plenty of storage space. The room had a safe and several good sized closets, and a nice size verandah with two chairs, both with foot rests and a table. The “tranquility bed” was absolutely fantastic and very comfortable. Our room stewardess and assistant took very good care of the room, and they were quick and efficient, in most cases had the room done by the time we’d get back from breakfast. The Butler kept our ice replenished, traded out the welcome champagne for a white wine, and brought us the extras we asked for, limes, wine glasses, extra glasses, etc. (they did not have a real bar set up like RSSC does or Crystal, there were just two glasses and an ice bucket on a tray, but as I said when we asked for more glasses and such, they were brought promptly and kept replenished through out the cruise). There were several cabins open for inspection by the TA’s so we snuck into one of the Owner’s suites a few cabins down from us, very very nice, very large and a fantastic wrap around deck (and they hadn’t yet changed over to the new fabrics and décor), also looked into a concierge room that looked out over the aft, they are a bit smaller, but with the larger deck on the aft facing ones they seemed a bit bigger. I think for anyone who needs more space, a Penthouse is the least you should consider.

DINING

We had planned to eat at the Terrace Café the first night, since the ship didn’t leave until 11:00, we thought it would be nice looking at the harbor and skyline of Miami, however, unlike the warm and balmy night before, it was actually fairly cold and windy, so we decided to go to the Main Dining Room. After cocktails in Martini’s, which became our favorite bar, we headed to the dining room, and were immediately escorted to a table, and before we even sat down, two other couples were also brought to that table, so we immediately met two other couples. They seem to do that quite well, fill up tables quickly so that the first ones there don’t have to wait to get served, and everyone’s food comes at once. The food was quite good, hot when it arrived and well presented, and overall, we have no complaints with the food and in fact were quite impressed. One thing I did notice though, was that it doesn’t appear you can do special orders –one night, I asked if I could special order filet of sole for the next night, and the Maitre d’ said “no they didn’t do that, but it was my lucky night because that was on the menu that night”. They do have some regular items on the menu each night, steak, chicken and salmon, so if you didn’t like the regular offerings you could order one of those (they also had a spa offering, and a vegetarian offering) and you were welcome to mix and match as much as you like.

We ate in Polo Grill twice and other than the first night when Frank’s rib eye was overdone and not very flavorful, the food was wonderful and the atmosphere and service were very nice. We did order the onion rings the first time, and I have to agree with everyone at our table that they were very greasy and kind of soggy – but my steak was great, the Caesar salad was good and fresh, the pork chops I had the second time were cooked just as I asked.

We also ate in Toscana twice and again the food, service and atmosphere were fantastic. These restaurants by the way, were full every single night of the cruise, so they are obviously very popular. As a suite passenger, we had the option of making two reservations in each restaurant right upfront, and then could request more on a daily basis if we wished. Passengers in category B and below, only get to initially make one reservation

We ate at Tapa’s on the terrace once, and really enjoyed it. It was a nice balmy night out, and its served buffet style, but the food was very good and there was a lot of variety. The sushi was being made right there and it was wonderful (in fact on the last night, two couples we became friendly with and spent a lot of time with, and us all went to Tapa’s just to have sushi before going to dinner).

The breakfast buffets were nice, but basically the same everyday. We didn’t eat breakfast or lunch in the Main Dining room and I don’t know why actually, we just somehow didn’t. The pool grill was very nice, and had a good variety of things, pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, Reuben sandwiches, chicken and steak sandwiches, pannini and a grilled ham and cheese. Lunch buffets were the same as the day we boarded, with a different carved meat everyday, lots of fresh salads and a good variety of hot dishes as well. One day they had a poolside lunch buffet, I think it was Mexican, at some point I had to stop eating both breakfast and lunch, not to mention a beautiful tea every afternoon, plus dinner, so we either had breakfast or lunch, usually lunch. Coffee was not very good, so I started drinking tea in the mornings, although cappuccino at night was fine, I don’t know what it was, it just didn’t taste good and was terribly strong.

ENTERTAINMENT

Very low key in general. The Entertainment Staff consisted of four people, two women, two men, and they did all the “shows” so to speak. They were not bad for a small group, but it certainly was not big production type, no costume changes, etc. The Orchestra was quite good and played often and in various areas of the ship, they had a string quartet, and the Cruise Director or Assistant Cruise Director acted as the DJ for late evening dancing. They did Bingo, trivia, art auctions, had a needlepoint get together, bridge and other card and board games, two wine tastes which we attended and enjoyed, and one evening they had a dance around the pool with the full orchestra playing – lots of fun and well attended. They also had a very good computer class for using Adobe Photo Elements 4.0, which I now wish I had signed up for and gone to, since I have very little clue as to how to use my Elements 4.0 package I recently bought!! The first class was complimentary, but the second and third had a $20.00 charge, which I didn’t think was unreasonable. The CASINO was very small, but certainly very popular and was crowded every night from about 9:30 till maybe midnight, also very popular on sea days. Won some, lost some, generally did ok.

SHORE EXCURSIONS

We actually did not go on any of the Oceania excursions – thought they were a little expensive, and if you signed up online, you had to pay with a credit card instead of like most cruise lines where it is charged to your shipboard account. We did our own thing on each island, took a shuttle to the Baths on Virgin Gorda, took a cab out to a beachside restaurant for fresh grilled fish lunch in Antigua, hired a private driver for an island tour in St. Barts, just walked around in St. Kitts. We enjoyed all the ports and I think the only disappointment was that we were in St. Barts on Sunday, and most everything was closed. A few shops were open in Gustavia, and it looked like several were open out by the airport, and we walked to Shell Beach and then stopped for lunch at a restaurant along the Marina, but it would have been nice to have more open, some of the shops looked wonderful, although I’ve heard they are definitely pricy! I would though get on any ship going to St. Barts – we really loved it and it was our favorite stop.

SPA AND FITNESS CENTER

The Spa was very nice, and I had a hot stone therapy massage that was wonderful. It was easy to get appointments and they were very professional and pleasant. The FITNESS CENTER was well equipped and well used, especially in the mornings. I used the tread mill several times and never had a problem getting one, although I tended to go in the late morning or afternoon. They had a personal trainer onboard, and he seemed to be booked quite often.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS

Overall, we enjoyed Oceania and would definitely cruise on them again. The staff were very friendly, helpful, always smiling and greeting you, and once you knew some of them they remembered your name and used it frequently. The ship was very nice, décor is very pretty, and they haven’t even updated the décor yet, that’s to be done soon. Our cabin was very comfortable and as mentioned above, anything we asked for was taken care of with a smile. We had a little cocktail party in our room one night and the Butler did a great job, made sure we had all the things we needed and brought some snacks. He also managed to merge our Toscana reservation one night with two couples we wanted to dine with, into one reservation for 6, and I don’t think that was easy, as I said the restaurants were full every night. We got friendly with one or two of the bartenders (somehow they always become our best friends) several of the dining waiters and waitresses, the head sommelier, the Hotel Manager, and a couple of others. We met some interesting and very delightful people and spent a lot of time hanging out and dancing with two couples traveling together from San Diego. It was very easy to meet people and most of the passengers were open and friendly and enjoyed meeting others.

EDITING to add: one thing I forgot, is that on Sunday (not embarkation day) they had a wonderful brunch in the Main Dining Room with light jazz music playing, it was delicious with several choices, a sit down and be served type, and I think almost every person on the ship went, the Dining Room was packed!