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Oceania sits between its two sibling lines — the higher-end Regent Seven Seas and family-friendly Norwegian — when it comes to ship size and prices. I woke up to gray skies as Oceania Vista pulled into the port of Naples, Italy. Determined to reverse my weather luck, I went to deck 12 for a Morning Sunrise smoothie at Aquamar Kitchen. Some combination of the restaurant’s white-tile backsplash and baby-blue accents and the tropical smoothie brightened my mood.
Horrible horrible customer service with…
Expert Review of Oceania Allura cruise ship - CruiseCritic.co.uk
Expert Review of Oceania Allura cruise ship.
Posted: Wed, 12 Jul 2023 15:36:32 GMT [source]
We arrived shortly after noon and waited about 25 minutes in the lounge while suite and concierge guests were provided preferential embarkation. Upon boarding, we were a little surprised there was no one to show us to our quarters (something we’ve appreciated on most other luxe lines), but the cabin was easy to find, and luggage was delivered well before cast-off. This allowed time to explore the ship at leisure, and Riviera’s public area lived up to all expectations. This is a handsomely designed vessel with generous public spaces and a bevy of fine art. We’d rank the art collection alone as the best we’ve seen at sea—mostly early- and mid-20th century paintings from Cuban and other Latin American artists, with a few provocative, edgy pieces mixed in for good measure. Have waited a long time for a middle east cruise and booked it when it became available.
T+L's Review of Oceania Cruises' Vista
It’s the first Oceania vessel where every room has a balcony, and it launched with Starlink (yes, the Elon Musk Wi-Fi), which was strong enough for me to take a Zoom call in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea with my camera on. The current OLife promotion runs through June 30 and includes round-trip airfare and transfers, plus your choice of four shore excursions, a beverage package or $400 onboard credit per cabin. Starting in July, the line will offer a set of included perks, without the need to choose, but the actual inclusions may change during promotional periods. The cruise line is at its best on longer itineraries, 10 nights and up; look for plenty of overnights and a minimum of sea days on many sailings. The line's culinary tours are not to be missed if you are interested in the interplay of food and culture, and appreciate small-sized tour groups. For a ship of its size, Oceania's Vista offers an astonishing 12 different dining options onboard, including three all-new venues for the line.
Carry-on drinks policy
The ship brings aboard artists-in-residence to provide tutoring in their particular areas of expertise, in a class setting equipped with the tools and supplies for guests to create their own artworks. The artist on our particular cruise was undeniably talented and pleasant to interact with, but his classes leaned toward collage, with varying results. There was no charge for the classes, and they were packed on the days we peeked in.
Waves Grill
Affiliated with Wine Spectator magazine, La Reserve has three different menus, each offering seven courses matched with seven wines. Two of the menus are priced $95 per person, plus 18-percent gratuity; the Connoisseur Menu (starring Kobe beef sous vide and Brittany blue lobster) is $165 plus gratuity. With a maximum of 24 guests each evening we’d strongly recommend booking before boarding (at least two of the nights filled weeks ahead of embarkation). For lunch, the hot buffet station included such fare as grilled king clip fillet with vegetable aioli, veal scaloppini saltimbocca, and the grill had various meats cooked to order.
There are four specialty restaurants on Riviera, open for dinner only, though we found the dining a little more uneven here. Still, with menus ranging from French to Asian, Italian to steakhouse, the variety was pleasing, and there’s no add-on fee for dining at these venues (as is common on mainstream cruise lines). The ne plus ultra was La Reserve, a small dining room used several nights each cruise for intimate wine-pairing meals with a surcharge. Tastefully appointed with a generous use of dark walnut wood hues, our Veranda cabin was slightly larger than a typical balcony cabin on a mainstream cruise line (more on that below).
Sirena Food no better than ok. Staff great.
Vista is an elegant mid-size cruise ship that's the perfect home base for travelers who appreciate dining variety, enjoy interesting cocktails and fine wines and wish to explore the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Get your daytime caffeine fix with Illy espresso, macchiatos, cremas and more, including coffees spiked with booze. After 6 p.m., you'll find an Italian-influenced list of aperitifs and digestifs (amaretto, Campari, limoncello), as well as wines and cocktails (such as an Aperol spritz or negroni).
Once on board, you can ask if there's walk-in availability for additional meals. Standard balconies on Vista come with two upright chairs and a round drinks table, but the cushions made the seating comfier than the mesh-and-metal versions you find on many big-ship cruise lines. My cruise did not offer karaoke night, evening trivia and games, or a pool deck party. I missed the two special-guest acts, a pianist and a guitarist, and the song-and-dance performances by the onboard cast failed to impress. The ship didn't offer any secondary shows at night — no comedians or musical acts you came to listen to and not talk over.
Vista itineraries and pricing
Cruises range in length from seven to 90 days, but most are one to three weeks in length. In the evenings, you can find a singer-pianist in Martinis, a string quartet in the Grand Lounge and a band followed by a DJ in Horizons. I heard great things about Vista's Music Station Band, but somehow I was always eating dinner when they were performing. Where Oceania excels in onboard activities are with cooking classes and demos in the Culinary Center and art classes at the Artist Loft. Oceania brings on real chefs and working artists to lead the workshops. Sign up as soon as you get on board because these popular classes fill up quickly.
The Tucson, Arizona-based wellness resort company Canyon Ranch has been operating on cruise ships since 2004, when the brand was brought onboard Queen Mary 2. Since then they have become a competitor to Steiner Leisure, the dominant name in cruise ship spas, currently found on most of the major cruise lines. This wasn’t a bar, per se, but an art-filled corridor that served as another preprandial gathering spot, with potted palms interspersed between chic couches and chairs. The full bar menu was available (drinks were prepared at the adjacent Casino Bar), and waiters were staffed in the evening.
The lunch menu stuck primarily to hot sandwiches and Black Angus burgers. Star offering was the surf and turf sandwich—a couple grilled Florida lobster medallions and slices of filet mignon served on toasted ciabatta. The burgers were available in various formats—the Texan (grilled onions, bacon and BBQ sauce), the Romano (provolone, roasted peppers, pesto on ciabatta), the Maguro (soy and ginger marinated ahi tuna seared rare), etc. Hot dogs, Cajun chicken paillard, grilled mahi mahi and veggie burgers were also on offer. We busted out our piggy bank for the splurge, eagerly anticipating smart service and fine dining. The mostly all-inclusive nature of Oceania sailings makes the pricing and experience simpler, since you won't need to pull out your credit card for every soda or latte.
Inside cabins, the most economical option, are located on decks 8 through 10. Lacking any view, Oceania says they measure a fairly compact 174 square feet, and the bathrooms have a shower stall only, no tub. There are 20 Ocean View cabins, all found at midship on Deck 7 and, with a larger bathroom and floor-to-ceiling window, these represent a significant step up from Inside units. While current demand may be allowing Oceania to boost fares, we feel that there are other cruise lines offering similar itineraries that, for comparable fares or just a few dollars more, may provide discernably better value. And for spendthrifts, it’s not hard to find alternatives offering quality suites and good food and service that sell for quite a bit less than Riviera.
From our corner table, my husband and I took in the glass-and-gold light fixtures and the geometric black aluminum dividers that created cozy seating nooks near the windows. We dug into tuna and salmon sashimi, pork-and-vermicelli spring rolls, and — of course — the famed duck-and-watermelon salad (which lived up to the hype), all paired with a Sonoma chardonnay. The showstopper, though, was the medium-rare bulgogi rib-eye plated on chic, blue-rimmed Tokyo Design Studio ceramic. We capped our night at Martinis — bet you can guess what that bar serves — where a pianist plays every night and the well of Elton John covers and The Botanist gin seemingly never runs dry.
On a warm, sunny day, Oceania's gorgeous resort-style pool deck is the place to be with padded loungers and day beds, a main pool with a wading area around it and a couple of hot tubs. Sporty types should head to the ship's topmost half decks for an outdoor running track, shuffleboard, croquet/bocce, pickleball, mini-golf and a golf-driving cage. I tried a "drip technique" painting class where we decorated glass plates, and it was a far cry from the watercolor or needlepoint classes you might find on other ships.
There was no camera crew on board, plaintively asking for poses. The ship lacks a traditional promenade deck, below the lifeboats. But for the most part, guests will be impressed with the number of features available that aren’t found on smaller luxury ships.
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