You both have wonderful balanced perspectives, which I appreciate. Your experiences mirror mine on Viking. On a recent trans Atlantic there were some slight yet noticeable service issues. When I politely brought this to the hotel general managers attention, he was warmly receptive & took immediate action. Shipboard senior officers being visible, approachable, & effective are the standard of high quality hospitality industry. It's the little details that make a difference.
We'll be on her in October, our first time on O. Thank you for this fair review. The cabin bathrooms remind me of an older Princes ship we were on. I had to shave my legs in the sink while sitting on the toilet due to the lack of room in the shower. I'm a small woman, too!
Regatta was our first O cruise May of 2023, then another in August '23, again March '24, and one planned for later this year. we got hooked! the entertainment is their weakest point in my book.
Thanks again for this nice informative video kiddo's !!! We sailed on Princess's Pacific Princess (another R class ship which has now been bought by Azamara I think) -- and the Pacific P. had an exquisite library !!! With many days at sea, we spent a lot of mornings having coffee and enjoying the space, layout and gorgeous painted skylight that expanded the entire space ! Can you comment on the library on the Regatta ? Many thanks !!! Marcia
Ha! It's been a while since someone called us "kiddos"! :-) We really like the library on the Regatta. While the Oceania Marina's library has that cozy feeling with small little sub-rooms, the Regatta's has an open feeling with windows and is really comfortable. It doesn't have the painted skylight that you referenced. If you want to see what it looks like, we have a ship tour that includes the library: ruclips.net/video/W6t8wn-fZRg/видео.html Thanks for watching and for the kind words.
We are big fans of Viking Ocean but are considering a repositioning cruise with Oceania in the future. I think it will be a good fit for us as the quality and experience seems familiar to our Viking cruises. We prefer smaller ships and like getting to know the entertainment staff through the daily activities.
Yes. We actually have already been on the Vista on a transatlantic since this cruise-those videos should be coming out soonish-and have 2 other cruises booked on similar R-class ships. As we said, something seemed to be off with this cruise. Our cruise on the Vista put all of our concerns about the line to bed. Thanks for watching.
We are so sorry we overlooked your post. The difference between our room (a deluxe window) and the balcony was an addition of a balcony. The rooms are pretty much the same from what we saw. Our oceanview room was about 165 square feet while a balcony is 216 square feet, but that includes the space for the balcony. So from what we could tell, the living area within the cabin was about the same. Above that, you have the concierge balconies which give you a few benefits such as earlier embarkation. Again, all of these rooms have the tiny bathroom. We had a concierge balcony on the Marina and we didn't think it was enough to do it again unless the price differential was negligible.
Oceana Regatta is the identical ship to those of the Azamara fleet. Their pricing structure (like that of Viking) makes no sense. They’re older ship with relatively smaller state rooms yet they charge hefty prices. You get so much less than you do on Azamara, I wouldn’t choose to cruise on them. Atlas & Explora are excellent options with newer smaller ships similarly priced. Viking ships hold Almost 1,000 passengers, only include alcohol during meals, do not include gratuities, and charge an arm & a leg.
We haven't sailed on Azamara (yet), but friends of ours have and loved their cruises on the line. However, we were under the impression (perhaps erroneously) that the fares on Azamara and Oceania were rather comparable. We were very close--reservations were even held--to doing a series of B2Bs on Azamara that went from Miami-Miami circumnavigating the whole of the South American continent. But backed out when we learned that unlike most other lines there was no discount on doing B2Bs and that specialty dining was an additional fee. We've done one Viking ocean cruise (so far), and with the exception of that one cruise's food, thought it actually had a great deal of value--especially when you figure in the included thermal spa--which we thought was the best at sea--and included excursions. Where we do agree with you is Explora and Atlas. Our Antarctica trip on the Atlas World Navigator was amazing. We are still putting together our review on that trip and are having difficulty beyond the Wifi package on coming up with our 3 downs. We will be on the World Navigator again in October going around the southern portion of South America. Atlas might be our favorite cruise line. We also enjoyed the Explora 1--review on that is also in the works--and thought that it has the potential of being a real contender in the luxury segment of cruising. We do worry that when the ship begins to sail at full capacity whether some of the venues are big enough to handle additional guests. We are booked on the Explora 2 this upcoming January. Anyway, thank you so much for not only watching, but being passionate enough to provide your thoughts. We'll have to give another look at Azamara.
Thank you for your very forthright review of your Oceania cruise. My spouse and I have been looking at booking an Oceania cruise, but your review has put us-or at least me-off the idea. I don’t know whether that’s what you intended, but a cramped cabin, a rusting ship with stored equipment on deck, a disappointing-to-terrible culinary experience, aside from hamburgers(!), and overpriced lackluster excursions, sound like a recipe for misery to me. We’re now looking at Viking or Silversea for better quality. Thank you again.
Thank you for your kind words. If we had only had this one experience with Oceania and had heard similar things from other travelers we might have had your same reservations. But as we noted in our review, we do believe that this was a one-off. We have previously sailed on the Marina and later on the Vista (videos still to come). On both of those cruises we had completely different experiences. In fact we have two more cruises booked with the line. How we would take our reviews-as we note in our video-is that these are observations of two people on 1 cruise. As such they are a single data point to add to your consideration. If this observation tends to be replicated by other travelers, then you have a trend and might act accordingly. If it stands alone amongst other reviews-then It represents a “one off” and we’d chalk it up to bad luck. We offer our reviews to provide that one point for consideration and not a summary judgement. This also is how we think of our reviews which tend to be much more positive. Hopefully this puts our review in perspective with the intent in which we intended. With that said, we enjoyed our Viking cruise and have a video of that experience. Although we have not been on Silversea. Thanks again for watching and hope you find the cruise that best fits you.
We haven’t sailed HAL yet. We are currently in the Oceania Sirena and are pleased to say that so far, the ship is in great shape and the food is at the level that it should be. Thanks for watching!
Ha! We are not sure we can explain, but we'll tell you what we know. When we first sailed on Oceania, we thought the same thing. All we know is that all of the cruise directors, captains, and any other crew on board all pronounce it "Oceana". Go figure. But thanks for watching. We are on the Insignia later this year, we'll ask the cruise director why and see what they say!
You both have wonderful balanced perspectives, which I appreciate. Your experiences mirror mine on Viking. On a recent trans Atlantic there were some slight yet noticeable service issues. When I politely brought this to the hotel general managers attention, he was warmly receptive & took immediate action. Shipboard senior officers being visible, approachable, & effective are the standard of high quality hospitality industry. It's the little details that make a difference.
Thank you so very much. We are pleased to hear that viewers like yourselves notice our efforts to provide balanced reviews. It means a lot to us.
We'll be on her in October, our first time on O. Thank you for this fair review. The cabin bathrooms remind me of an older Princes ship we were on. I had to shave my legs in the sink while sitting on the toilet due to the lack of room in the shower. I'm a small woman, too!
Have fun! We love the size and layout of the ship. Enjoy!
Regatta was our first O cruise May of 2023, then another in August '23, again March '24, and one planned for later this year. we got hooked! the entertainment is their weakest point in my book.
We love the ship-better with a/c 😎. We have two of the Regatta’s sister ships (Insignia and Sirena) booked in December. Thanks for watching!
Thanks again for this nice informative video kiddo's !!! We sailed on Princess's Pacific Princess (another R class ship which has now been bought by Azamara I think) -- and the Pacific P. had an exquisite library !!! With many days at sea, we spent a lot of mornings having coffee and enjoying the space, layout and gorgeous painted skylight that expanded the entire space ! Can you comment on the library on the Regatta ? Many thanks !!! Marcia
Ha! It's been a while since someone called us "kiddos"! :-)
We really like the library on the Regatta. While the Oceania Marina's library has that cozy feeling with small little sub-rooms, the Regatta's has an open feeling with windows and is really comfortable. It doesn't have the painted skylight that you referenced. If you want to see what it looks like, we have a ship tour that includes the library: ruclips.net/video/W6t8wn-fZRg/видео.html
Thanks for watching and for the kind words.
We are big fans of Viking Ocean but are considering a repositioning cruise with Oceania in the future. I think it will be a good fit for us as the quality and experience seems familiar to our Viking cruises. We prefer smaller ships and like getting to know the entertainment staff through the daily activities.
We enjoyed our Viking Sky cruise and look forward to sailing with them again. We did like the small size of this ship however. Thanks for watching!
Good fair objective review. Would you go again? We went on Marina ship to s America.
Yes. We actually have already been on the Vista on a transatlantic since this cruise-those videos should be coming out soonish-and have 2 other cruises booked on similar R-class ships. As we said, something seemed to be off with this cruise. Our cruise on the Vista put all of our concerns about the line to bed. Thanks for watching.
What is the difference between stateroom & next level
We are so sorry we overlooked your post.
The difference between our room (a deluxe window) and the balcony was an addition of a balcony. The rooms are pretty much the same from what we saw. Our oceanview room was about 165 square feet while a balcony is 216 square feet, but that includes the space for the balcony. So from what we could tell, the living area within the cabin was about the same. Above that, you have the concierge balconies which give you a few benefits such as earlier embarkation. Again, all of these rooms have the tiny bathroom. We had a concierge balcony on the Marina and we didn't think it was enough to do it again unless the price differential was negligible.
Oceana Regatta is the identical ship to those of the Azamara fleet. Their pricing structure (like that of Viking) makes no sense. They’re older ship with relatively smaller state rooms yet they charge hefty prices. You get so much less than you do on Azamara, I wouldn’t choose to cruise on them. Atlas & Explora are excellent options with newer smaller ships similarly priced. Viking ships hold
Almost 1,000 passengers, only include alcohol during meals, do not include gratuities, and charge an arm & a leg.
We haven't sailed on Azamara (yet), but friends of ours have and loved their cruises on the line. However, we were under the impression (perhaps erroneously) that the fares on Azamara and Oceania were rather comparable. We were very close--reservations were even held--to doing a series of B2Bs on Azamara that went from Miami-Miami circumnavigating the whole of the South American continent. But backed out when we learned that unlike most other lines there was no discount on doing B2Bs and that specialty dining was an additional fee.
We've done one Viking ocean cruise (so far), and with the exception of that one cruise's food, thought it actually had a great deal of value--especially when you figure in the included thermal spa--which we thought was the best at sea--and included excursions.
Where we do agree with you is Explora and Atlas. Our Antarctica trip on the Atlas World Navigator was amazing. We are still putting together our review on that trip and are having difficulty beyond the Wifi package on coming up with our 3 downs. We will be on the World Navigator again in October going around the southern portion of South America. Atlas might be our favorite cruise line. We also enjoyed the Explora 1--review on that is also in the works--and thought that it has the potential of being a real contender in the luxury segment of cruising. We do worry that when the ship begins to sail at full capacity whether some of the venues are big enough to handle additional guests. We are booked on the Explora 2 this upcoming January.
Anyway, thank you so much for not only watching, but being passionate enough to provide your thoughts. We'll have to give another look at Azamara.
Thank you for your very forthright review of your Oceania cruise. My spouse and I have been looking at booking an Oceania cruise, but your review has put us-or at least me-off the idea. I don’t know whether that’s what you intended, but a cramped cabin, a rusting ship with stored equipment on deck, a disappointing-to-terrible culinary experience, aside from hamburgers(!), and overpriced lackluster excursions, sound like a recipe for misery to me. We’re now looking at Viking or Silversea for better quality. Thank you again.
Thank you for your kind words. If we had only had this one experience with Oceania and had heard similar things from other travelers we might have had your same reservations. But as we noted in our review, we do believe that this was a one-off. We have previously sailed on the Marina and later on the Vista (videos still to come). On both of those cruises we had completely different experiences. In fact we have two more cruises booked with the line.
How we would take our reviews-as we note in our video-is that these are observations of two people on 1 cruise. As such they are a single data point to add to your consideration. If this observation tends to be replicated by other travelers, then you have a trend and might act accordingly. If it stands alone amongst other reviews-then It represents a “one off” and we’d chalk it up to bad luck.
We offer our reviews to provide that one point for consideration and not a summary judgement. This also is how we think of our reviews which tend to be much more positive. Hopefully this puts our review in perspective with the intent in which we intended.
With that said, we enjoyed our Viking cruise and have a video of that experience. Although we have not been on Silversea.
Thanks again for watching and hope you find the cruise that best fits you.
Oceania is not what it was before ncl bought it. They had 3 kinds of fresh berries at breakfast!
Tracey’s happy our current Oceania Sirena cruise has blueberries! Thanks for watching
I hoped you enjoyed Sydney.
We loved Sydney! Although not on this cruise because we had to fly out that morning. But we spent 2 days there during our world cruise!
first time seeing one of your videos. first thought you 2 make a lovely couple
Thanks so much for your kind words. Tracey does what she can to deal with Jan. Thanks for finding us and watching.
Thank you, think I'll just stick to HAL...
We haven’t sailed HAL yet. We are currently in the Oceania Sirena and are pleased to say that so far, the ship is in great shape and the food is at the level that it should be. Thanks for watching!
Quite a disparity in the pronunciation of Oceania. Hardly anyone, except the people at the end of the phone, pronounces the ia at the end.. Explain.
Ha! We are not sure we can explain, but we'll tell you what we know. When we first sailed on Oceania, we thought the same thing. All we know is that all of the cruise directors, captains, and any other crew on board all pronounce it "Oceana". Go figure. But thanks for watching. We are on the Insignia later this year, we'll ask the cruise director why and see what they say!
inside cabin with no air conditioning. ohhh nooo
Yup. As we noted, "not quite right".
@@janandtraceytravels i will be crusing on the konningsdam next sept. inside cabin, i hope it is not hot
We're sure you'll have a great time! Enjoy!