Marina Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We loved our experience on this cruise so much that we booked seven more cruises within a few days of embarking. Sioux Shelton was the onboard ambassador, and we got to know here very well. She is intelligent, funny, and does her job with alacrity. She helped us plan cruises for 2019, and we are looking forward to seeing her again. We live on a small, paradise island in Hawaii so were not as impressed with the islands in French Polynesia as much as the other passengers. No matter where we venture in life, it's always great to come home.

Can't wait for the next cruise. We want to do Christmas again next year.

We chose Oceania for the food and we were not disappointed. The staff and service were highly recommended and were flawless. I would easily tour with them again

The cruise itself was very nice. The medical staff on this cruise were arrogant, and frankly not up to par for any physician or nurse. Their treatment of a passenger with cardiac arrest was sub standard and in my opinion as a nurse, dangerous. For this reason we will never sail on any Oceania cruise again.

Wonderful service, all crew attentive, nothing too much to ask for. Food in the specialty restaurants was amazing, we particularly loved Toscana. However we found the food in the Grand Dining room just ok, and the menu repetitive, so opted for the Polo Grill or Toscana most evenings. Although slightly pricey, the excursions were well run and highly informative. On the whole, a great cruise.

The most beautiful ship with 5 star restaurants!!! We may have been the youngest people cruising but we saw all of the Baltic, Scandinavia, Europe, and Russia! We went to 9 countries in 12 days. The excursions were beautiful as well. I highly recommend this cruise if you want experience old Europe and chill. Not a party cruise!

The Marina was a beautiful ship and our room was spacious and comfortable. We loved having both a bathtub and a seperate shower. There was plenty of storage in our room to unpack our 4 suitcases since we were to be gone 3 weeks. We loved our Veranda especially cruising through the fjords in Norway.  The food was better than other cruise lines we've been on and enjoyed the specialty restaurants.  It was an added bonus to have bottled water and sodas always stocked and available in our refrigerator at no charge.

Unfortuately when we boarded we were told our room would be available in 10 minutes, 21/2 hours later we were able to get into our room. I would not recommend signing up and spending any money out of pocket for tours through Oceania. They same tour was not consistent on the three buses used. We did "Paris on our own" through Oceania. Our bus driver neglected to gas up the bus the night before so we had to stop (which took 30 minutes), then she got lost once we were in Paris so we wasted time driving around in circles for almost 30 minutes, the guide jumped off the bus & ran to another bus to ask where they were supposed to park and drop us off. Our guide never spoke to us about the country or the history of Paris. All the other tours gave us history where we were going. The drive was supposed to take 2 hrs & it took us 4.15 hrs to get to Paris. We were only to have 4 hrs once there but because of getting gas, the driver getting lost and traffic we only had 2.15 hrs in Paris. We were dropped off at a different location so we allowed an extra 15 minutes to find where we needed to get to since we were unsure. Another tour in Kristisnsand by land & sea was a partial waste as well. There were 4 buses for the tour. 2 went directly to Lilisand to explore, shop/or eat first before the boat ride and then 2 buses went and took the boat ride first before going to Lilisand. We were on a bus that took us to the boat first ( boat ride was nice) before going to Lilisand. By the time we arrived in Lilisand it was 4:45 PM. Our guide neglected to share with us that all stores closed at 5 PM. So by the time we went the bathroom and walked to the stores to browse they were closing.  When speaking to Oceania about the Paris fiasco & a complete waste of money and our time. We asked for a refund since we spent 8 hrs driving for 2.30 minutes in the city not what was advertised & they denied it.  We could have enjoyed the ship then could have cared less.so much better to book tours on your own. This is a good ship if you just want it to be your place to sleep and eat. Not much else on board. I would think twice before spending the money for an Oceania cruise except that it went everywhere we wanted to go.

We travel take Oceania cruises whenever we can,15 of our 40 times so far.  We believe thier food is the best at sea and that their service is near the top as well.  This is based on discussions with other experienced cruisers as well as our own experience.  The only problem is that an occasional excursion is below minimum expectations and that most are overpriced but this seems to be normal for cruise excursions in general.

Over all the cruise was OK. The food was very good and had a good variety. The bands, piano player and stringed group were very good. The staff was great. Service was great. The production shows, solo singers and magician were not up to par. Cooking classes were very good as well as the wine pairing seminars. The casino was just OK. 3 to 4 machines were out of service and 3 to 4 continually broke down, but the casino staff were very helpful in all areas. For the most part, docking was in the harbor and we had to be tendered to shore. When docked, the docks were working docks, filled with containers, etc. We were able to take 5 of the 6 shore tours booked. Norfolk Island was canceled due to rough seas. The tours were for the most part, way over valued (expensive). 3 of the 5 tours did not meet advertised expectations, one of which was so bad, they should give us all our money back.

- Moorea Island Highlights - Just OK. Hard to understand the tour guide

- Le Truck Island tour - Bad - should not be called a tour. didn't see much, very few views, couldn't understand the guide

- Pago Pago Eastside and Downtown - Terrible, terrible, terrible. No views, stopped at family craft spot, visited a beach that was nothing but a coral wading area where several people were cut and no entertainment as advertised. Should get our money back.

- Nadi Sightseeing - Good tour, nice views and good stops, good tour guide

- City Sights and harbor cruise - Good tour. Great views of all aspects of the harbor and a very informative bus tour of the city with good stops along the way. Good tour guide.

Great cruise on Oceania. We went from Cape Town to Rio in Nov/Dec of 2015. Added on the free pre-cruise 3 night stay in Cape Town which was a great value!

The cruise met all of our expectations. The ship was very nice, there was plenty to do and the stops were interesting. It helped that the water was glassy smooth all the way across the Atlantic. The specialty restaurants on the ship were outstanding and the main dining room food and buffet food were as good as that on any other cruise we have taken. All in all, a very good value and a great cruise.

This was our 3rd Oceania cruise--what happened to this once wonderful cruise line?  Excursions were not as described: 2 hours shorter than stated; one excursion served food that was QUICKLY COVERED by flies!!!  Free internet was a total joke.  One was fortunate to get online 15 minutes during a 24 hour period.  Food & food staff, as always, was absolutely wonderful.  But otherwise---not such a great value per dollar!  Consider carefully when choosing this cruise line!!

We always enjoy a cruise on an Oceania ship, and this one was are favorites to date.  The Marina is a lovely ship and the crew was great.  Since Oceania offered great values while onboard, we booked our next cruise on the Marina!

Wife fell first night in Barcelona; had hair line hip fracture - not serious enough to cancel cruise but very painful.  Oceania could/would not provide disabled transportation to or from the ship and provided very limited wheel chair assistance on board - a helpful crew member nearly got in trouble for violating Oceania's policy that wheel chairs would be provided for "emergencies" only.  Situation made even worse by terrible (close to non-existent) luggage handling embarking and disembarking and to/from airport - Oceania's response to the on-shore transportation problems was "It's not our problem!"

Injury issues aside, the ship was "tired" and need of updating, and our stateroom was the same and also in need of a lot of cleaning (mold in the shower, dirty furniture, debris on the floor, etc.).

On the upside, the food was better than average, and the crew members (below the reception desk/concierge personnel) were friendly and helpful.

Although, we really enjoyed the cruise, we felt there was something missing.  We had previously cruised on the Regatta on Oceania, and did Monte Carlo to Venice.  That experience led us to pick Oceania again.  This was not as special.  The food was not as good at all.  Maybe I am too picky, but the meals we ate at restaurants on shore in each port were far superior to anything they served on the ship.  Some food was really quite bad.  Plus our experience with the staff on the Regatta was so different and so much better than on the Marina.  The difference was really notable.  The smaller ship, the warm helpful service we experienced, was not on the Marina.  We certainly were served well, but just really ok.  Excuses were made so much, and the staff really didn't know enough to help or explain.

Then when I had my nails done on the last day, and got an outrageous bill, I was really disappointed.  I didn't complain, but it really upset me.

B

From start to finish, SUPERB! Excellent,professional in every way! Would recommend without reservation! CLASSY! The staff make it! Organize your own tours at each port, on board to expensive! You can make your own itinerary .

We recently cruised on the Marina from Santiago to Tahiti.  The cruise was nice, the food was very good, and the service excellent as we would expect from a 5.5 star cruise line.    BUT

We were aware that Oceana’s wine and beverage prices were always higher than other cruise lines and—

Your wine package of “…a personally selected 7 bottle special selection of wines…” for $297.50 ($42.50 per bottle) looked OK.  I did not recognize many of the wines so before purchasing I looked them up on e “Wine Searcher.com” - probably the standard for wine research, reviews pricing and availability.  We wanted all red wines and looked up those we thought we might like.

OUCH – We looked up 12 wines and discovered retail prices ranging from $6 to $14.  The average price of the wines was $9.94 (your cost about $6.40 per bottle).  The wine ratings from multiple reviews ranged from 81 to 88 points with an average of 84.3 points.  This is pretty poor for “specially selected wines”

It takes a large amount of courage, or a pre-planned decision to gouge your customers, to mark up the average wine from $6.50 cost to $42.50, that’s over 650%.  How can you justify this ??

We took the Nautica Black Sea Cruise in Aug2013. We spent 2 weeks driving through Turkey including Selcuk (Ephesus) before embarking in Athens.  Oceana’s small group full day tour of Ephesus (12 persons max) was over $250 pp.  We took the same Ephesus tour in Turkey for $65 pp using the same tour supplier.  On our Marina  cruise, in Easter Island, we took a professionally led small group 2 day tour for the same price as the half day tour by Oceana.

So much for our warm and fuzzy feelings about Oceana’s pricing tactics.

The staff was outstanding, the ship was beautuful and we had a wonderful time on our excursions. One of the best trips we have taken. Would recommend this for any couple. Caters to adults which was wonderful.

The schedule is made for those who like a stop everyday, if you want relaxation you need to stop every other day. That being said we enjoyed our stops, even the ones that got changed due to weather.

I loved the spacious balcony cabin.

Sorry to say our great expectations for our cruise with Oceania were not met. By catering to an older passenger, on board activities while at sea were non-existent (Bingo and needlepoint not very entertaining). The entertainment was at best a nice college production and the shows were repetitive. Most of the ports visited required either a pricey cruise excursion or pre-arranged tours. Left to our own adventure proved to be another visit to a nice place to stroll and shop. Changing the schedule to our stop at Dover to 3 pm precluded the chance to visit London. The visit to La Coruna, Spain on a Sunday was a waste of time since virtually everything was closed. Limiting the visit to Lisbon to a 3 pm departure left little time to explore and see this wonderful city.