Marina Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We had a great time on the Oceania, Marina.  This was our second cruise on the Marina last year we did a 7 day cruise Rome to Barcelona.  We enjoyed that cruise so much that we did a 10 day Rome to Venice.  I would rate the Oceania Marina  AAA+++ food an staff were great. 

We were on the Marina which is a lovely ship it was sold out but never feels crowded in the public areas.  Service is always first rate and the food very good.

My only complaint is the excursions, they are sometimes wonderful and sometimes the worst, and very pricey.

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.

it was different experience for the better, it was well organized and well cared for. staff was good, everyone was smiling, restaurants were good, food was excellent, and warm always, variety and veg. food was always available. excursions were well prepared, guides were well informed and always helpful.

We were very impressed with the ship, staff and service.  We had heard great things about Oceania, and our experience was consistent with those recommendations.   St. Petersburg was fantastic, but other ports of call, such as  Tallinn, Gdansk and Riga, were more interesting and beautiful than anticipated.  The variety of tours offered makes for some difficult choices, but we were pleased for the most part with our selections.  By the time we reached Amsterdam and Bruges, we were ready to explore on our own and sample the local fare. 

The evening entertainment and after-hours dancing in Horizons was great fun, and an unexpected bonus. 

We had high expectations for the food and overall were satisfied.  A few dishes were unsatisfactory, but quickly replaced by the attentive staff.   Don't miss the Sea Bass at Red Ginger - outstanding!

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.

Beautiful ship, staterooms roomy and well appointed. Great service and food. Excellent itinerary. Entertainment better than expected. Everything well organized.

Excursions expensive but worth it if you choose the ones that matter like St.Petersburg and Berlin-which would be challenging to do on your own. Smaller ports are fine to do without the excursions if you can read a map. We enjoyed doing the other ports on our own. 

This is a high end luxurious ship if that is what you are looking for. 

We took our first Oceania cruise 10 years ago for our 25th and decided to repeat the experience for our 35th.  This ship was almost double the people of the other we were on and we definitely liked the smaller one better, but this was totally fine as it was still so much smaller than the large ships.  The cabin was very roomy and the beds and pillows were VERY comfortable!  The staff is  and so kind and friendly and all needs are met right away.  The best thing thing is that Oceania is a very land intensive cruise line so even though days at sea are nice, days on shore are even better and there were plenty of those.  The specialty restaurants are delicious, although the Polo Grill was not so good.  We love the open seating for dinner and the choice of the grand dining room or the Terrace Grill.  The variety was very good.  It was not a "sit on the deck" cruise because it was often too cool on deck in this area, but we didn't miss that at all.  The Horizons Lounge was wonderful to sit in and socialize and high tea was AMAZING!  The massages at the spa were blissful as well and we never expected them to be so wonderful.  We came back, not rested, which meant it was a great trip, but happy and satisfied full of great memories. We highly recommend this cruise and this cruise line.

We have cruised several times on various cruise lines including QEII, a Holyland cruise with Royal Caribbean and several princess cruises.  The QE II is incomparable for style and class; the Holy Land, Baltic Sea cruises had far superior excursions for less money than Oceania

The Marina experience was disappointing mainly because of the excursions offered by Oceania.  They were expensive and boring and in several cases misleading.  For example we went on a 3.5 hour tour of Explore St John City... spent 13 minutes in the city without stopping for even a photo stop after spending two hours riding in a bus to two other sites.  Folks were so upset that they exited the bus prior to returning to the pier so that they could see St John.

The stateroom was as described EXCEPT we paid extra for concierge level and never saw or heard from a concierge.  When we dialed Concierge on the phone we got housekeeping!  We did receive a form letter upon embarkation welcoming us to concierge level.  This very annoying.

We did experience unforeseen happenings such as norovirus outbreak, gale winds forcing an itinerary change (did not go to two ports) etc but understand these to be unavoidable and part of cruise life.

The food on Marina was very good with four specialty dining rooms in addition to the main Grand Dining Room.  The staff were friendly, helpful and very pleasant to deal with... in every part of the ship.  The ship was clean and tastefully decorated.

We were looking forward to this because we had thought that Oceania was a luxury cruise line.... we did not find that to be the case.  Would not cruise with them again and if we did recommend would advise not to go unless they had a penthouse suite and did all excursions independent of Oceania, including to and from airport transportation (our coach had an accident by running a car off the road on the way to the airport... no injuries fortunately)

Internet charges for this cruise were ridiculous. 

I did not particularly like the ship and encountered quite a few problems.  Most of the staff were good but had 5 rude employees.  There is not much to do on some of the stop.  I prefer to go on a cruise with alcohol included.  It felt as if they nickel ed and dime you the whole trip.  $1 for laundry.   Why not just up all fares by $1.  A bit ridiculous.  The tours and transportation were a ridiculous cost.  We hired private drivers and it was 1/4 cost of their tours.  Overall not so good for me.

We chose this cruise as a way to see many ports that we had not visited, but in particular, Easter Island, Lima (Peru), Belfast and Dublin.  We were not disappointed in the itinerary.  As we have sailed on Oceania many times, we anticipated that the service would be friendly and efficient and the food terrific.  Once again, Oceania came through with a great cruise experience.

I had a wonderful time, met amazing people (passengers and crew); it was a fun experience. Because this is a small ship, quickly it became a small community where conversations began easily over tea or dinner at one of the many dinner options. I returned disappointed with the Easter Island experience. On the arrival day, disembarkation was delayed for several hours, staff did not provide any information on how the delay affected scheduled excursions, so confusion and claims of discrimination were voiced related to the staff attitude. The excursions on Easter Island arranged by Marina are not recommended; they are too expensive and guides are not knowledgeable. Passengers who arranged their own excursions had the best time with experts from the island.

The French Polynesia is the most amazing place to visit; people were friendly and eager to share about their island. Nature is breath taking everywhere I went. I will love to go back again.

Unfortunately, there was a virus floating around the ship and was passed around by passengers/crew. I became sick just when we departed the French Polynesia, sore throat, cough and congestion. I spent 2 days in my cabin with sore throat, cough and fever. I have been home a few days and I am still having symptoms from the virus.

The itinerary was wonderful and the Marina is a beautiful ship. We had a Penthouse Suite and it was very roomy and comfortable. There was more than enough storage space for our belongings. Our butler was attentive and the appetizers offered were very nice. Unfortunately, we didn't order the appetizers very often as they were served after 5PM and we wanted to enjoy Happy Hour from 5 to 6.

We arrived in Papeete by ferry from Moorea along with quite a few other passengers. The Marina was very close, but it was extremely difficult trying to get our luggage down the road from the ferry dock to the ship. The road was so rough our bags would not roll. It was also very hot. We had two in our group who have difficulty walking and it was almost impossible for them to roll their bags. It would have been nice if the ship's crew would have met the ferry with a luggage cart to assist us. It would not have taken long and it would have made the embarkation process so much better.

We did have a negative experience in the Grand Dining Room. Perhaps our expectations were too high, but the food and service in the GDR was spotty. The first time we visited, the waiter originally brought me the wrong entrée and the maître d' spent way too much time trying to assign blame. Our companion ordered the broccoli slaw and when it was served, there was no broccoli to be seen. They then brought a dish covered in broccoli and the maître d' seemed sarcastic when he said he had personally added the broccoli. Our companions ordered a fish dish that was cold when served. Our second try was much better, with excellent service and food. At our third and final visit, we found the service acceptable, but the food mediocre and fairly bland.

The service and food in Toscana was superb. Maria, the maître d', Vincent, the assistant maître d', Max our waiter, and Alexandra, the sommelier, all made us feel special and welcome. We wanted to try everything on the menu and everything we did try was wonderful both in presentation and taste.

We ate several times in the Veranda Café for dinner. Although I am not too fond of buffets, we found the atmosphere and the food superior to the GDR. It was rarely crowded and there was a large selection of food available and the food was delicious and either hot or cold as appropriate.

We ate in the other specialty dining rooms and found them to be very good. We did feel that since we had booked a penthouse suite, we should have had more opportunity to eat in the specialty dining rooms. We were given four reservations. It would have been nice to have the opportunity to eat in each restaurant twice at least.

Oceania should have been more honest about the stop at Pitcairn Island. It obviously was not a good place to go ashore and the alternative of having the islanders come on the Marina was a good one. It should have been advertised as such, not giving an excuse three weeks ahead that bad weather precluded us going ashore.

Kudos to the Captain for finding an alternative tender site on Easter Island when the swells made it too dangerous at Hanga Roa. The tender staff were excellent in making sure everyone transferred to and from the tenders safely. The tender ticket system was terrible and the Destination Services staff allowed themselves to get very frustrated as the passengers became very frustrated. Again, on other ships, if we were in a suite or above, we had a chance to get tender tickets without waiting in the lounge with the other 1200 people. At Easter Island, I was in line 45 minutes before the tickets were to be given out. By the time I got our tickets, we were in the second to last group before open tickets.  Some people were getting 50+ tickets! The second day wasn't any better. When I asked the schedule for the colors so we could anticipate when our group would be called, the staff member said I didn't need to know that. I later asked another staff who disclosed the color before ours so our group of 4 knew when we could proceed to the elevator as we had 2 people who have difficulty with stairs.

The disembarkation in Lima was very difficult. It seemed like everyone wanted to get off at the same time and the shuttles could not cope with the number of people. There was a very long line and it seems like there has to be a better way to control the crowds and make the process less stressful.

Our negative comments are presented with the idea to improve service on the ship. All in all, however, it was a wonderful cruise and the crew and ship were excellent.

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.