Riviera Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We had a glorious vacation as a family with lots of sea time for the family sailors and lots of cooking lessons, spa time, wine sampling for the ladies in our group. The ports were interesting and in several we arranged for private tours as one of our group has limited mobility. The weather was perfect - not too hot or cool and at the end of our journey we spent a great day seeing Barcelona and Monserrat with a fabulous English-speaking guide. We enjoyed our trip to the extent that we booked the reverse tour for November of 2018 on the same ship.

This is our 7th cruise with Oceania and the service is still top line. The dining has been more stream lined meaning somewhat less quality but still far better than most cruise lines. Saving money in this area could be a problem should they continue this practice, this is what Oceania is known for and any changes not to the better will be noticed by past cruise customers and not reflected upon favorably as this is a big part of why we cruise with Oceania. We only ran into one receptionist with an attitude otherwise all crew staff were exceptional.

The food was by far the most important thing to us, and the Oceania Riviera delivered beyond all expectations.  The OLife package was a fantastic deal which provided everything we needed.

The ship itself was a great first impression when embarking. It was very nicely laid out and easy to maneuver.  The food was excellent and presented beautifully with a very attentive crew in all the dining venues.  Had a very bad experience in the specialty restaurant Toscano with a forgetful waiter and some disappointing food.  

Spoke with the Chef about it and he was apologetic and offered to redo, but didn't want him to bother.     Entertainment was bad.  Terribly uncomfortable seats in the Riviera lounge. A very senior group of passengers - mostly 70-80-90 year old group. Wonderful people to visit with listening to lifetime stories. 

There was no one favorite part of the cruise. Concierge Level was great.  Room size and storage was very comfortable.  Staff was great, very helpful, and  cheerful throughout.  Quality of food and diversity of menu was great. My wife and I had a great time and would highly recommend Oceania to anyone who asked and definitely choose them for our next cruise. One note, piano player in the lounge could have been friendlier with the guests.  I heard comments from a number of people regarding requests etc.

Loved the dining room and specialty restaurants.  The café for breakfast and lunch was barely controlled chaos with some good choices but little variety from day to day. Spa personnel/services great.  Typical issue with pool-side chairs/lounges often empty but "saved" all day with books and towels.  Getting off/on at ports easy and efficient.  The décor of the public spaces was very nice.  

Oceania rarely disappoints.  The crew always has a smile and greeting to make you feel welcome.  The dining and amenities no matter what category you choose are wonderful. Ships sponsored tours are well run.  The cooking classes are professional and informative for the novice as well as the seasoned cook.  All in all a positive experience.

Everything about the cruise was wonderful - the service, the itinerary, the food, and the weather.  The passengers were very friendly, as was all the staff.  The croissants were outstanding.  They got rave reviews.

My wife and I both enjoyed the wonderful Caribbean Islands and the great weather.   

But the best part of the cruise was the excellent quality of the food served on board 

the ship.  Whether it was the specialty restaurants, the main dining room, or the buffet all were some of the best food we have ever been served.  Also the staff were all top quality. What's a wonderful cruise.

The Oceania ship was perfect.  The service, the food and the professionalism could not be better.  The reason I rated the overall trip 4 stars was that the ports were somewhat disappointing.  They all seemed so similar.

I had been using United for several years to book cruises.  The bonus points are nice.  We  booked our last cruise, a Penthouse on Oceania.    We had very limited seating options for dining at the special venues.   This was primarily  a result of the Travel Agent  dropping the ball.  The United agent I normally  dealt with apparently quit the company;  I was not informed; nor was a new agent assigned to my account.  No one from United contacted me to remind me  of the time-frame which would have permitted me to " pre-book" special eating venues at times and seating options I really wanted.

My Butler on Oceania did what he could to get us reservations but we had to settle for times and often had to share a table when we rather had been private.  Oceania gets high grades; Travel Agent... not so much.

Enjoyed the trip.  We were impressed by the huge Punta Cana resort.  The beach is miles in length, the lounge chairs are plentiful and the shade canopies are outstanding.  Our ship was the first cruise ship to ever visit the resort.  Loved taking a trip - within the 10,000 acre resort - the cave and underground freshwater pool.  Hopefully Oceania will return again.

Best new discovery on the ship (our second time in a row) is deck 12 Terrace restaurant at night.  Better (buffet) than the grand ballroom on deck five, or any of the specialty restaurants, other than Red Ginger, which is super.

At the buffet you have wonderful sushi, steak and lobster, pasta, meat or fowl fresh carved.  And not many people realize that it's available.  Most, like us previously, automatically went down to big restaurant if not in specialty.

the Riviera is a good, if not great, cruise experience.  BTW, the casino dealers were very friendly.

Overall, a wonderful cruise experience. Oceania has a reputation for fine food and they, absolutely, did not disappoint. From the buffet and grill to the main dining room and specialty restaurants, the food and service were exceptional. In the food category, there is one area which could be improved - providing egg dishes for breakfast. The Waves Bar is, by and far, the fun bar on the ship. On the negative side, entertainment was lacking and mainly average. The schedule for the piano player, Bobby, should be examined. He started and played through early dining. Then he was on break until 10:15 PM which conflicted with the main show of the evening. The cooking class was a great experience.

This was a great repositioning cruise. We had 5 straight days at sea and it was very relaxing.  The food was great, as always. You could not say enough about the staff. They were absolutely wonderful! Our butler Larson went out of his way to insure that everything was perfect. He seemed disappointed that we didn't use him more often. Our room steward Sonia  kept our room in tip top shape without ever disturbing us. I can't think of one negative.

Oceania Cruises provides an Outstanding sailing experience. From the moment you embark until you disembark, the ship's staff treats you special. It is evident that the crew truly enjoys serving their guests. The available excursions in Venice were superb. In fact the excursions in each of the ports were varied so that guests could choose from very different set of experiences.

No matter where you are cruising on an Oceania vessel, it will be outstanding. Our latest "bucket list" location was Venice, Italy. This cruise was from Rome to Venice; and since we stayed on the ship for the next leg (Venice to Barcelona) we had two full days in Venice using the ship as the hotel. Rome then stops in Sicily, Greece, Croatia, and Slovenia prior to arriving in Venice. Everything about Oceania is way above what you might expect; culinary staff, entertainment, house keeping staff, ship's maintenance, excursion experience and variety all contribute to a truly wonderful adventure.

This was our first Oceania cruise everything about it was amazing! The service, staterooms and cuisine exceeded our expectations in every way!

the only area of improvement was the entertainment onboard. There needed to be a greater variety of shows, not just musical performances. Also the casino was disappointing, a few slot machines were inoperable.

Awesome!!! Loved everything about it. The only thing that I feel needed a little improvement is that everything shut down a bit early (if you consider 1 am early)

Beautiful ship, great food and service, outstanding staff.  Really enjoyed the time on board.  Very smooth sailing.  Easy on/off experience.  Great destinations.  Just found the excursions to be pricey and they need to use transmitters and headphones or decrease the size of tour groups.  The guides were knowledgeable and friendly and spoke excellent English.  It was just difficult to hear them at times.  They need to be sure ports have adequate rest room facilities and restaurants that are open when they set you free for lunch (Vernazza).  Given the price of theses excursions, I was a little surprised that certain tours required additional purchase of entrance tickets (the garden at Eze, the castle at Carcassone). Theses should already be purchased and included.  Also, the on board wifi was very poor.  Difficult to connect and very unreliable.  It was "free" on our trip but really not useful.