The Around the World Oceania Cruise was wonderful. We met several great new friends and saw marvelous sights all over the world.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Problem-free
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
The buffet was surprisingly wonderful. Egg dishes, including eggs benedict and French toast for breakfast. Theme offerings for dinner depending on the port (e.g. African specialities, Vietnamese, Thai), and sushi available several nights per week withn steak and lobster tails available daily. And the quality was excellent. We loved the specialty restaurants, Toscana and Polo Grill and the elegant Grand Dining Room was the go-to place for group dinners and celebrations.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
I went to port-intensive lectures regularly. Also loved the team trivia every afternoon and did miniature golf, shuffle board and bean bag throw. The gym emptied out in the late aftrenoon so that's when i went a few times per week.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The in-house entertainment team was wonderful. Outside entertainers varied from fair to very good. I liked all the outside singers and a few of the comedians and dance acts. I did not like the magicians.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The staff was uniformly wonderful. We had a butler who anticipated our needs and provided tailored personal service for the entire 180 days.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship is old and needs another updating. In particular the air conditioning systems do not work consistently. We had only a minor problem in our cabin and never complained about it. But friends had a major problem with the cabin too cold or too warm and the staff was unable to fix it. But overall we love Oceania's small ships. There was always plenty of room in the bars and restaurants and around the pool and I could always find gym time.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We loved our penthouse. It was the size of a large hotel room, large enough so thast ZI enjoyed spending time in the cabin just reading or watching a movie on the TV. And sitting on the large veranda was a pleasure when the weather cooperated. We had friends over for hors d'oeuvres at least once a week provided by our butler.
Ship tip
Book a penthouse if you can afford to. It makes for a very pleasurable experience.
Pretty port town. Volcanoes in the distance. Excursion to Colima and Comala. Colorful town square. Museum of minimal interest. On to a Nuatl architectural site 1500 years old.
The only thing to do in Manta is to go to the neighboring town Montecristo and buy a Panama hat. We didn;'t want to buy a hat so took a short walk around Manta.
Very cute. Smelled of fish. Center for salmon fishing. Excursion to Puerto Varas and Frutillar. Volcano visible across the lake. Gorgeous. Frutillar is town settled by German immigrants with Bavarian storefronts.
Views of glaciers. We took an excellent excursion to "the end of the world" and loved it. Snow-capped mountains all over. On border with Chile which can be seen across the lake. Ushuaia is the southernmost town in the world.
The Drake Passage is rough crossing. Apparently we had a rather smooth crossing but it was still one of the roughest spots in the 180 days. I was not sea sick but many others were so be prepared since you must cross it to get to Antarctica.
Lovely. We took a van to see the penguins and we did see a few penguins but our friends who took a tour went to better viewing spots and showed us spectacular photos. Stanley is small and charming.
Santos was not attractive but has nice beaches which we did not see. Took a bus tour to Sao Paulo. Not a fan of Brazil. Sao Paulo also not beautiful. Lots of grafitti and it is a dangerous place. People sleeping all over on the streets. The Ipiranga Park and Museum were quite nice.
Once again not a fan of Brazil. In the port area a short walk away is an aquarium that has free entry for senior citizens. The view of the harbor from the ship is superb. But Brazil is dangerous and hot.
First day we took a walk in the port area t6o the upper town to see the colonial buildings. Of some interest. The second day we took a tour to see a large church and drive along the coast with large sand beadches.
The museums in West Africa are of minimal interest. Monument to African Renaissance is worth seeing. Lots of poor people and poor construction. No sense of how neighborhoods work. It all seems a jumble.
Took a tour. Went to the fetish market. It was certainly different but only needed 5 minutes to get the point. Ramshackle housing structures everywhere.
We were told that the Tourist Authority cautioned tourists not to walk around because it was too dangerous. We took a bus tour and were impressed with the size and the nice neighborhoods. It seemed much more of a major city than Capetown.
Did not like Mumbai. Too hot. Too polluted. Too many people everywhere. Went to the Elephanta Caves. The best part was the boat ride to the island where the caves are located.
There is no city of Goa. It is the name of the state. Took a tour to Old Goa which was worthwhile. Took a tour of and had lunch at Oliveira House. Delightful.
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