Penguins Galore But . . . Bundle UP!!!!

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 75

Review summary

I will always recommend the Oceania ships as I believe they are the finest "small ships" in the industry, but our recent trip was a terrible disappointment. We did South America in January -- thought it was summer in the southern hemisphere. The cruise line did not at all prepare us for the freezing weather and the very rough seas. We were on the ship for 18 days and only able to go into ports six times due to the conditions of the seas. I wrote to Oceania when we arrived home with some suggestions for this particular itenarary ~ First, aside from the weather and rough seas, our major disappointment was that there were virtually no Chilean or Argentinean wines on board. We were in the wine country of South America and could not even buy the wines from that region to sample. I suggested two things to Oceania -- either make this cruise a Food & Wine Trip, stopping in Chile and Argentina cities to visit the vineyards and have gourmet chefs on board for a major culinary experience, OR make this trip a true Nature Trip -- telling passengers in advance that they will be around glaciers and see penguins -- obviously, that would indicate COLD WEATHER -- we did not anticipate freezing temps. Let people know that the seas may prevent docking at some of the ports of call and that the weather is going to be very cold so be prepared to do things on board that do not include being outside on the decks. Also, passengers should be told in advance that the casino on board will be closed for 3/4 of the trip since you are not allow to gamble in Chilean waters -- we were do disappointed that we could only visit the casino like four or five days out of the 18 days of the trip.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Pros: Love the ship ~ love the crew ~ thought we would love the destinations . . .

Cons: We were very, very un-prepared for the "freezing weather" and very, very rough seas.

Recommends Insignia? Yes!