Will never again cruise on Oceania; so many disappointments
Riviera Cruise Review to Europe - Eastern Mediterranean
10 Night Black Sea Brilliance (Istanbul To Athens)
Sail date: July 17, 2022
Ship: Riviera
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 10068
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 1 year ago
Review summary
For the $8000 per person we paid for this cruise (cost of trip plus all the nickel and dime-ing that was done, including paying for drinks because we wanted a drink at happy hour, paying for excursions, etc) it was definitely not worth the price. We expected an up-scale cruise and it was run like a mass-market cruise. Also, we went on a 7-1/2 hour excur.sion that was supposed to include lunch. It didn't, and by the time we got back to the ship, the dining room was closed. Very disappointed with the way the cruise was run, everything was an additional cost. We paid extra for a "Concierge" room but all it gave you was a room you could go to for coffee and pastries. The Concierge was rarely in the room. It was an absurd waste of money. Oceania cancelled 2 ports of call and cancelled one of our excursions at another port, but didn't seem to care. Don't waste your money on their drink package. For $400 for a 9 day cruise, all you'll get is house wine and beer, but ONLY at lunch and dinner. For an additional $200 ($600 total) you will be able to drink at other times during the day. Viking Cruise Lines includes wine and beer at lunch and dinner at no additional cost. We purchased their Spirits package on Viking for a 15-day cruise for $279. I contacted Oceania after the cruise and the impression I got was that they couldn't care less that we were disappointed. They brushed off my all concerns. Because of the way we were treated, I will never go on another Oceania cruise again. They have a lot to learn about treating their customers right. I would have expected that kind of treatment on one of the mass-marketed cruise lines but never on Oceania. Several months before this trip, we cruised on Viking. They issued us a credit for future because they had to change a couple port-of-calls. Even though they gave us credit, they added other ports of call. All Oceania did was traveled slower to the next port of call so they could save fuel. Oceania allowed passengers with Covid to remain in their staterooms instead of moving them to a different section of the ship. The people in the stateroom next to ours (we had a shared alcove theirs) had covid. At first we were curious as to why they were getting room service at every meal, but when we saw staff members with hazmat suits, masks and gloves washing the wall outside their stateroom, we figured it out. Needless to say, my husband caught covid on the 7th day of the trip. Oceania NEVER notified us of the danger, and quite frankly, put our lives at risk. The food, though good, was nothing even close to their advertised "best food at sea." I thought the food on our Viking cruise was far superior. We had one outstanding dinner on the ship, but it was a $100 per person wine dinner. Other than that, the food was good, but not outstanding. Oceania needs to have a policy about unattended & unruly children. They scream in the pool area, do "cannonballs" as they jump in the pool, and splash water all over the place. They also congregate on the pool ladders and you have to constantly ask them to get out of the way so you can use the ladders or the steps to get out of the water. We were extremely disappointed with almost everything about Oceania, and for the price, we felt ripped off. We will never go on an Oceania cruise again.Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Don't waste your money on the drink package. It was almost $400 and only included beer and house wine at lunch and dinner. If you want other drinks or wine at any other time of the day, you would have had to pay an additional $200, bringing the drink package cost to $600 for a 9 day trip. The underhanded part of this was that they didn't tell you in advance that the $400 drink package only included bar wine and beer with meals.
Ports of call
Istanbul, Turkey Did not visit port
Nesebur (Nessebar), Bulgaria Did not visit port
Constanta, Romania Did not visit port
Cruise Dardanelles Did not visit port
Piraeus (Athens), Greece Did not visit port