Excellent Adriatic cruise
Oceana Cruise Review to Europe
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 52
Croatia and Italy
Sail date: August 29, 2019
Ship: Oceana
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
Embarkation
Excellent, quick and pleasant experience
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Apart from the first evening when it was unallocated seating in the dining room, which was slightly chaotic, the dining room experience was a good one. The food served in the dining room was of a high standard and the menu choice was extensive.
We were on a drinks package and in general around the ship the drink waiters were attentive, my only comment would be that four of us ordering drinks ended up with eight receipts being printed, four for us to sign and return and four for us to keep, the ones for us to keep are pointless as on the final invoice the drinks are not itemised therefore you cannot reconcile these if you wanted to.
We used the Garden restaurant for breakfast a few times, which was a nice option, less choice but a nice environment
We only used the buffet on a couple of occasions, but unlike on other PO cruise ships I have been on we were able to find seating easily
Onboard Activities
As ever on cruises they cater for most needs with onboard activities and it is down to individuals if they want to take part or not
Entertainment
A good variety across the ship and as usual the theatre show were of a good standard and also the length of the shows is just about right
Service and Staff
Excellent, The staff are very friendly and considering they have such a turnaround of customers most weeks remain very cheerful and helpful, if I am being honest there were probably two drinks waiter who were slightly awkward and appeared not very friendly, but this is two crew member among eight hundred so was not a problem
Ship Quality
I always get lost on cruise ships, so I think there is nothing wrong with the layout or design but more to do with my ability to navigate it, our cabin balcony door was difficult to open and looked old and tired but it was not a problem
Cabin / Stateroom
No complaints at all
Ports of call
Valletta is a beautiful place and will be returning at some point.
Point to note is that there are a lot of steps and hills in Valletta
Thumbs Up
1
Wow wow wow
We got up at 5:30 for the sail in and it was certainly worth it. We had a Tuk Tuk tour arrange which was excellent taking us along the coastline and then up and around the mountain with great views of Kotor. When we returned to Kotor we visited the old town which was vey quaint and great to spend a few hours exploring.
I am not sure, having been blown away by Kotor if this review is fair.
First impressions was that we were in the middle of a very bust ferry port and so I was not very impressed.
We were booked on the cycle tour, which I have to say was the worst tour I have ever been on from a cruise ship.
Firstly we were told we had to walk for 10 minutes to get to our bikes, it took 25 minutes to walk to our bikes, when we arrived we were given high vis jackets and cycle helmets but not much attention was given to make sure the bikes fitted us properly, both the front and back tyre on my bike needed air in them. We had two guides with us and seventeen guests so nineteen in total. The guides neither of which wore the high vis or helmets, the big problem was that the group became very stretched out and at one point were in the middle of the group and the guide at the front had shot of and the one at the back was along way behind that we had no clue which direction to go.
After the cycle ride we explored Split on foot, it was very busy but we enjoyed the market
We had visited Venice before, but the sail in was magnificent and spending the day in Venice was lovely revisiting some favourites part of Venice.
My only other comment was that the ship was charging £15 for the water transport from the dock to St Marks square, why when we pay a large amount of money for the cruise don’t they add £15 onto the cruise and provided the service as an included service
This was a hidden jewel, the sea organ is very impressive and the old town is very clean an a great place to explore by yourself
Disembarkation
No problems, left the ship after having had breakfast