Regatta Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We had a great time on the ship and in the ports of call. There was and exceptional string quartet that performed several times a day. My only regret is that there were no CDs available of their music - Oceania, you're missing a marketing opportunity. Our first cruise - we definitely started at the top.

The Oceania Regatta is a nice sized ship -- just under 700 passengers. The food is excellent (Jacques Pepin consults). The furnishings are a little dated but nice. Excellent service and the staff were calling me by name within two days. Highly recommended for the price point. We'll likely be back for another cruise.

The Regatta is the perfect sized ship! The staff is amazing, led by the best cruise director, Dottie. We attended every show and the entertainment was top notch! Everything about this cruise was spectacular!

First cruise for my husband (my first cruise was 50+ years ago). Costly, but worth it. I applaud all the staff aboard, most especially our room steward and stewardess. The food was outstanding and service great. Hope one day to be able to go again on this cruise line, but to another place.

This was a complete stress free cruise from flying to Seattle, embarking on ship to disembarking fast and easy

We had a group of 17 people traveling together and from the feedback I received, they all had a wonderful time!! I organized the trip and specifically chose Oceania Regatta, a small ship, since it was my first cruise ever. Several other members were also on their first cruise and enjoyed it as much as I did! The boat was the perfect size, furnishings were elegant, staff was AMAZING, food was fabulous, entertainment & activities were quite enjoyable. We had incredible weather and enjoyed Alaska so much, I cannot wait to go back!

medical evacuation forced us to miss this stop at st kitts. Oceania did NOTHING for us... no substitute island NOR ship credit. San juan was great !

This is a small ship...so you feel movement more than on larger boats. But the decor is beautiful and layout is nice. The pool was small but refreshing and the water was refilled frequently. The food was excellent overall and the two specialty restaurants were very good. I preferred the Polo Grill over Toscana. The entertainment was enjoyable. Two thumbs up from my wife and I

I will not sail with Oceania, again. They market perks which they don't deliver and came away from this trip feeling as if Oceania does not welcome single travelers. I wrote to Oceania and their response was not friendly or customer focus. Oceania appeared to be living on old glory based on an outdated brand.

Perfect cruise, perfect cruise line, and traveling with friends is always a blessing! We love Oceania! Can’t wait to book our next one we’re looking at Northern Europe next.

Our first cruise and we are officially converts. The Regatta was lovely, the service was amazing, and the food was fantastic. Most of the passengers were Baby Boomers so we were a little younger than the average but we enjoyed it. We stayed in a PH3 suite which was great. We loved having the butler service although not sure if we would do it again since we didn't really use his services all that much. The bathroom was fine, our balcony had plenty of room, and the bed was really comfy. My favorite place on the boat was Horizons in the morning. Watching the sun rise from the bow with the amazing view was a great way to start the day. Toscana was my favorite restaurant on board by far, but all the food was delicious and none of the restaurants ever got so crowded that you noticed. We will definitely cruise again on Oceania.

Other than smaller size, this was our best of three cruises. Beautiful scenery throughout the cruise. The food and entertainment aboard ship was exceptional. Plenty of opportunities to explore the ports we visited.

Shore excursions overpriced.  

We took "city highlight" tours of Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta.

Each cost $99 for an approximately 4 hour tour.  In each case we were taken to a jewelry store.  Not exactly a highlight of any city.  In Mazatlan other tour guides escorted their groups to places and gave talks about the location.  Ours just pointed to where places were & we walked there ourselves.  In Puerto Vallarta our guide was very difficult to understand with her heavy accent.  Granted these issues don't reflect on Oceania but they were part of our experience.

Staff was generally very friendly and helpful.

Food was mediocre at best.  I don't know how they can call themselves a foodie lovers cruise.  

The buffet was extremely disorganized.  There were many different 'stations' where the staff would serve you.  There were no trays to carry your dishes and limited space to put your plate down while being served something else.  People didn't know where to stand to ask for food.  Some items weren't labeled so if it had a cover over it you didn't know what it was.  As people passed thru the area they had difficulty getting by the groups of people waiting to be served.  Once you got your food it tended to get cold before you could find a seat.

The dining room service was good.  Our waiter (Eugene from the Phillipines) was easy to understand and made some very helpful suggestions for additions to our meal that weren't on the menu.  We always asked for a table with him.

Afternoon tea was another food opportunity.  There was one day they had strudel but where we were sitting we didn't see it and we weren't offered any by the servers.  Another day they had cheesecakes.  There were 5 different kinds.  None were to our liking.

Specialty restaurants were reservation only.  We couldn't get one when we tried.

They offered what was supposed to be gelato but it was grainy and low quality.

They had a free specialty coffe bar (free as long as you didn't want liquor in it) which made good lattes and iced coffees.

The main shows in the evening generally started at 9:30 P.M.  Too late for us so we never went to any.  They showed highlights of them on the cabin TV.  What we saw made us glad we missed them.

Wee had cabin 3029 on the lowest passenger deck.  It was an average size ocean view with a small porthole.  No complaints about it.  Our cabin steward was Sandip and he did a very good job taking care of things.

This was our first (and probably the last) time we'll cruise with Oceania.

The boarding luggage procedure at Rio was a disaster. No available porters and when we found the place were we could give our bags they told us we couldn't drop them because they were to big. Really?

the gangway were stairs so if you needed assistance, too bad. 

The ship is well mantained but it's showing it age. Our room is spacious but there are no electrical outlets on the bedside unless you call engineering to install a transformer to I could connect the Cpap machine. Refrigerator is stocked with water and soft drinks and are

complimentary. Bathroom has shower curtain with tends to drip water

to the bathroom floor. Hair drier in bathroom is from the 90tys but

there is another portable one. Our was broken but the steward

promptly replaced it. Room is quiet and the air conditioner is great. 

Beds are great and we got good night sleeps

internet cost 600 dollars for 20 days and worst than dial up. RCCL is the way to go if that is important. 

Do NOT serve yourself at the buffet lines. That's a no-no with Oceania. I'm ok with that because you don't handle the serving spoons other guest have used before you and avoid catching viruses. It also keeps you in check in putting too much food on your plate

Free water available before going on an excursion not like some cruise lines that charge 4.95 a bottle. ( RCCL)

The daily Current has good info and you also get a daily 4 page newsletter with the world news sports and weather. Tv has 3 channels with up to day free movies and change everyday. Nice touch and also a list is provided of an extensive video CDs to check out and watch in your room. Room service is 24 hours and great menu and is also free.

Turn down every night includes chocolate on the bed and ice in the bucket. Towels are fluffy and  

The Mayan Mystique itinerary focused on port locations that allow one to visit some ruins of the great Mayan people. Their locations and access to many sights is physically challenging; (essentially impossible if you have mobility issues.) Even a bus ride will traverse through some rather rough roadways before you'll then have to hike a bit on dirt trails to the ruins. I'm sure in years to come the roadways and access to those amazing Mayan sites will become easier for the less athletic traveler.

A fellow guest I met was an archaeological professor and he was enthralled having the experience of a lifetime actually visiting places like Tikal. We also heard from a couple on-board that are dive enthusiasts. They said the reef dive experiences (off Belize) was extraordinary. Bottom line is you need to be in pretty decent physical shape to go on a lot of the unique excursions available on the Mayan Mystique cruise itinerary.

Since we are mature and experienced cruisers through the Caribbean, not taking those vigorous excursions was perfectly OK and was a good time to relax on the beautiful Regatta. The boat did dock in ports that some larger ships couldn't possibly visit; another plus for the Regatta and for the Mayan Mystique itinerary.

We chose Oceania's Regatta to experience small(er) ship cruising. Our previous Oceania cruise was aboard Riviera and we absolutely loved that experience ( too). Being a smaller ship the Regatta had fewer “specialty” dining venue options but we didn't mind. One perk in our Penthouse Suite was having our butler serve us dinners from virtually any restaurant, including the Polo Grill and from Toscana, the two premium “Fine Dining” options. What a delicious indulgence.

In fact every meal was pure delight; from breakfast in suite, to lunch on the casual Terrace; to exploring the ever changing buffet lines to service in the Grand Dining Room. All were Excellent.

We have travelled on the Regatta four times and the Ship , the Crew and the outstanding food are always outstanding. We have travelled Crystal and we were certainly impressed with that Ship and thought that a smaller Ship like Regatta would not be able to compete. We were dead wrong about those impressions and within 24 hours of being on Regatta we were overwhelmed by the warmth of the staff, the relaxed atmosphere, the outstanding food and just the general feeling of being home that Regatta provided. There was not the "stuufy" attitude of the larger Ships and Regatta's ..Your world -Your way says it ALL. Just FABU:OUS !

We sailed the Regatta and had a great experience.  The food,the service and the facilities were all first rate.

 Our view of Alaska is that it's an adventure type vacation and booked excusions each day. The Oceania package was reasonably priced ( we compared against Shore Excursions). We never felt restricted with food availability.  In fact most times we ate outside in the buffet area. The variety of quality choices was impressive: sushi and lobster tails every night as well as many entre choices. 

Entertainment was fine - no big shows but entertaining enough. We booked the cruise for the ports. Port times were excellent compared to any other ship. This is a key advantage of the Regatta.  Also we were able to get much closer to Hubbard glacier than other larger ships which was awesome. 

We are in our 50's and found the crowd to be older.  And no question on board activities were limited. For us that's not s problem- we were in the ports as much as possible hiking,kayaking,whale or sea otter or Orca watching etc. When on board we ate, slept, worked out in gym or relaxed in spa in steam room or whirlpool.  Loved it. 

Some other pros:  Beds were super comfortable. We liked that the staff all knew our names.  We liked meeting and talking to the entertainers.  The size of the ship meant no lines ever; even disembarkation was easy.  Some cons: sometimes getting water was slow at meals, cocktails were expensive, staff English skills not always the best.  

We've done lots of river cruises and we believe this ship is very comparable experience.  Overall a great trip. 

Friendly, efficient, and caring staff most of which took the time to learn our names and faces.  Well appointed and maintained ship and cabins with wonderful restaurant choices.  Nice to be in ports almost every day and always ahead of schedule.  Staff was prepared to deal with almost any request.  Enjoyed the tours and activities at the ports, but would avoid the ST Maartin shopping and sightseeing trip which included a trip to the French side which was a waste of time.

great ship, loved that it was only 600 passengers. very well maintained.

We chose Oceania because it was supposed to be more upscale and luxurious.  They boast about their 2014 renovations but I found the ship to be tired and outdated.  We upgraded to a penthouse suite expecting new and beautiful accommodations but instead we found a tired room with very old closets and dresser which were scratched, worn and dented.  The bathroom did not appear to be renovated either; it looked as if it were straight out of the 1990's. We were on an Alaskan cruise with cold, rainy weather which Oceania does not have control over, but they do have control over the heating system in the room.  Our heater was not properly working and had to have maintenance repair.  Even after the repair the room still wasn't toasty warm.  The shower was lack luster as well.  In seven days the only warm shower I was able to get was in the spa after my massage.  Apparently, something within the faucet wasn't working because the water should be supplied directly from the boiler.  Other parts of the ship looked old, worn and not very well maintained (peeling paint, rust and more scratched wood).  If Oceania is going to use their renovation as a selling point, then implement a full and total renovation.  Otherwise, advertise their efforts as a partial renovation.  We spoke to several people who have sailed on the Regatta prior to Oceania owning the vessel and they stated the only changes they saw was most of the furniture.  There is a lot more than furniture on a ship.

If you are a bit younger (65 or below, we are mid and late 40’s) you will probably be very bored on this ship.  The activities while at sea and in the evenings were few and geared towards an older population.  I cannot make this stuff up... bingo and needlepoint were some of the activities on board.  Now, we are not wild night clubbers but when we are on vacation we would like to have the option to have a cocktail in a lounge past 11:30 or midnight without the cleaning staff vacuuming under our chairs.  The casino is managed by another company and was only open a couple of hours a day.  I am not a gambler but out of sheer boredom I was willing to give it a go... this wasn't possible most of the time.  When the casino was open, only two or three of their five or six tables were open.

The food quality was very good but we had to eat when they allowed us to eat unless we ordered room service.  Most ships have a full time buffet available if you would like to eat during off hours.  Breakfast ended at 10 A and if I wanted to work out in the morning I would have to forego breakfast.  The one morning we arrived towards the end of serving hours (10 min to spare) and wanted some simple items to take back to our room, eggs, yogurt and fruit.  The manager argued with us and we were told breakfast was over.  We pointed out the time and I can assure you, we received our breakfast items as we were already frustrated with the entire situation.

The ports of call are very small and do not have much to offer.  We booked excursions at each port through Oceania but had plenty of time to spare.  One stop, Prince Rupert, didn't even have a town to explore, all residential.  Don't expect to book an outside excursion in Prince Rupert; they do not have this option available.

To add to my frustrations, on our last day in the morning I return to my room to find all of our luggage haphazardly thrown onto our bed.  It projected an image of "we are done with you, go home".  Don't get me wrong, I was counting the hours until I could get off of the Regatta.  I believe I am capable of retrieving my own luggage from under my bed when I am ready to pack, I do not appreciate the "hint" they were giving and the luggage was in our way throughout the day.  I understand if it was later in the evening and our luggage was still not prepared for departure to meet their deadlines, but this was during breakfast.

I could go on for several pages but I will only mention one last item, our last day was the only sunny warm day.  The pool area was quite nice to utilize since we had been stuck inside due to the cold weather and rain.  Around 5 P they gathered and stacked all of the poolside deck chairs essentially closing this area.  I believe I am still paying (top dollar I might add) for my cruise until I disembark in the morning.   I would have enjoyed having an evening cocktail before dinner poolside.

Any travelers we met under the age of 60 - 65 seemed to be bored and disappointed with the Alaskan cruise through Oceania.  If I knew then what I know now, I would have chose a different cruise line.