Riviera Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Sailed Rome to Venice then onto Athens on Riviera. Wonderful ship. Great food. Entertainment each night by ships entertainers plus plenty of external entertainers on alternate nights. Had a balcony suite, mid ship. Missed on two ports, Sorrento and Mykonos because of bad weather, both supposedly tender days. Enjoyed pool time instead as weather exceptional in this part of the world. Thoroughly recommend any Oceania ship. Mostly middle aged guests, kids not encouraged nor catered for.

Everything was made very simple by the cruise line and our travel agent. A wonderful and unforgettable experience! We were often frustrated by the Internet connection, occasionally desired some between meal snacks, and did not pay close enough attention to when the ship's boutiques were operational so we missed out on purchasing some clothing items that we wanted. They are closed while the ship is in port. Otherwise, everything about the cruise creates a comfortable, relaxing atmosphere. The room refrigerator was always well-stocked and there was always plenty of drinking water. Comfort and cleanliness are a priority for me and my expectations were exceeded.

I don't know if it is just this particular sailing, but this ship is not for the under 55 crowd. I knew from the passenger profile, that it wasn't for the young, but was surprised to see how elderly most people were. No interesting on-board activities or entertainment. The staff in general, did not seem too eager to please. Had better experience in other cruise ships, so it is not likely that my husband and I will return to Oceania.

We have cruised with Crystal, Silver sea, Seabourn and many others looking to promote "luxury cruises".  Oceania promotes itself as the "foodie cruise".

The ship was very nice and well done, but that is the easy part isnt it.

The service and attention to detail is where a cruise line can do well to separate itself from the others.... Oceania does not!  Although the dinner options and the food served there IS better than standard cruise lines like Royal Carb. It is only slightly above the quality of those such as Azamara and Seabourn. But that is only concerning dinner.  The Lunch, and Breakfast offerings are Par with Royal Carb at best, and the room service and offerings ( none ) between meal times is far "below" par!!  I have not cruised with a higher end line before and had such poor room service, or options available .

Nor on any other line have we been Pushed out of dining areas during afternoon hours.  I have never written a review before, but felt the value of this cruise was poor enough that I would provide this one. For the cost of the Oceania option, spend the same with Silver Sea or Crystal and enjoy far better service and higher quality cruise over all.     

The ship is beautiful and very very well maintained.  The food and the restaurant staff are all incredible. Overall we had a very nice vacation.

However, because of the numerous customer service issues we encountered, I would not sail on the Rivera again. I don't need to be dealing with incompetence on my vacation - a theme which was consistent between many of the guests we met during the cruise.  I feel the customer service management on this ship needs to improve significantly.  A few tips from Marina would help!

The cruise was amazing! Food was as eating at a four star restaurant every evening, but wonderful due to no jacket required for the guys.   Was wonderful waking up at a new destination every morning.  The ship with its amazing spa and work out facilities were amazing as well. My first cruise the staff on board was very friendly and efficient.  Only thing I would say was the air travel could be improved. Would probably look into booking on my own next time.  But my wonderful travel agent Glen walked me through everything, being my first time had no idea what to do, couldn't have done it without him.  Will definitely be calling on Glen again for future bookings.  Trip of a lifetime 😎🍸

The cruise was amazing! Food was as eating at a four star restaurant every evening, but wonderful due to no jacket required for the guys.   Was wonderful waking up at a new destination every morning.  The ship with its amazing spa and work out facilities were amazing as well. My first cruise the staff on board was very friendly and efficient.  Only thing I would say was the air travel could be improved. Would probably look into booking on my own next time.  But my wonderful travel agent Glen walked me through everything, being my first time had no idea what to do, couldn't have done it without him.  Will definitely be calling on Glen again for future bookings.  Trip of a lifetime 😎🍸

What can I say.  The boat was luxurious, the staff was exceptional, and the food was the best I have ever had on a cruise ship.  Wonderful ports.  There could have been more shipboard activities.  They do not actually have a shuttle bus to the center of town as advertised in the brochures.  This only happens when town center is far away enough that the town/city itself provides one (only happened twice on this cruise).  This resulted in my 92 year old mother walking for quite a distance to some areas.  As such, prepare to pay for taxis if you have any trouble walking.  Still, it was the best cruise I have ever taken.  

1.  We were very displeased with the concierge service.  The concierge was not helpful at all.  We felt that we paid for a service that was not really provided. 

2. We were also very disappointed with the quality of food and service available in the Grand Dining Room.  Breakfast and dinner service and food were the worst we have ever had on any cruise.  Would not choose Oceania again for that reason alone.  3.  The food and service in the specialty restaurants was much better but in my opinion, it fell short of spectacular and was not as advertised "the best cuisine at sea". 4.  Lastly, the cruise line failed to confirm a specialty restaurant reservation for the night requested to celebrate my birthday.  At 5PM on May 26, we returned to our state room and did not have a confirmation for the restaurant as we had requested on the first day of our cruise.  After calling the concierge and reservation desk, we were provided accommodations in one of the specialty restaurants, not the one I requested originally.  The restaurant was not prepared to acknowledge my birthday that evening and no special acknowledgement was made.  We notified the ship of my birthday on several occasions before we sailed and at least twice during the cruise.  5.  The ship has no customer service representative that is always available to resolve complaints and I fell that Oceania is a very inferior cruise line for that reason.

Great service.  We had our room cleaned or looked at a few times a day.  Spotless work.  All areas of the ship were very clean and maintained constantly.  Food and service at the four special restaurants was excellent. Same great food and service at  the Grand Dining room and Terrace Café. The 9:30 PM entertainment in the main lounge was excellent.  Very hard working and talented performers.

I enjoyed an amazing 10 night cruise aboard the Oceania Riviera!  The ship exceeded my expectations.  The crew was amazing and did a fantastic job in cleaniness and service.  

 

The Shore Excursions are well organized and in small groups of less than 20 guests.  We had a history lesson in each port and were able to meet the local people in each country.  Our itinerary kept us quite busy but so much to learn and experience on this itinerary.

 

Let's talk about the dining... oh my!  Superb!!!  Delicious and service was right on.  The staff knew what you wanted before you asked.  

 

Entertainment was very good.  One show in particular topped all others.. Kaitlyn Carr.  She is fantastic.  She is from Ireland.  In her show she sings and plays a few instruments with lots of energy!  You come out worn out if you had to perform as Kaitlyn did.  She puts her heart and soul into her show.

 

I highly recommend Oceania and especially the Riviera!

 

Butler and housekeeping service was wonderful along with the food. Entertainment and tours were awful. Toilet overflowed twice tours were completely unorganized.

The Oceania Riviera is a casual yet a beautifully designed and elegant ship. It never felt crowded at 1250 passengers. We used tenders for most of the ports of call but they ran efficiently and frequently. Dining on Oceania ships is meant to be the highlight of your experience onboard. It was evident when you step on board and immediately see a line for guests wishing to make or change reservations at one of their 6 specialty restaurants including a food/wine pairing experience. The food was very good! And there are fantastic cooking classes on board to enhance not only your dining experience but also the destinations you are traveling to. Staterooms are well appointed and spacious when it came to storage. The bathroom in a standard stateroom was a bit small but very nice and again sufficient space for toiletries. The entertainment was adequate but I never rushed in to get a seat. The Horizons Lounge did have a very good duo singer /keyboardist every night. This lounge was The main meeting place in the evenings and where they also had a wonderful afternoon tea time on the day at sea. Overall I would say the service was great and the staff was very attentive. The ship is very clean and food is only handled by the staff on to your plate. I believe that Oceania can be for most travelers as there were couples, singles and families with their adult children. I look forward to another voyage with Oceana cruises!

The crew and ship were excellent.  I need to SPEAK and not email to an Oceania rep who would have the courtesy to help me with the problems we encountered

The Riviera ship is beautiful! Oceania delivered on the fine cuisine they are known for which is outstanding! The service is also outstanding! But I'm only giving them 4 stars because of the following:

 

The entertainment needs a lot of help and it doesn't start until 9:30 pm which is late for most people, including us. May I suggest that they have two shows? One for the early diners and one for the late diners. 

 

The free internet package is also a joke because it is soo slow and intermittent and only allows one device at a time to sign on. This made communicating with my husband a little difficult if we were in different parts of the ship. 

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.