As my title suggests, I am an experienced cruiser having been on 40+ cruises. I have been on the "mainstream" ships, mostly with my kids, and the premium and luxury brands from Silver Seas and Crystal to Paul Gauguin to Celebrity and many in between. With that, I'd like to give you my perspective on Oceania first in an overview and then more specific information. I also took copies of their cruise planner called the currents and will upload them at a later time as I couldn't find any recent ones and I personally like to see them to understand what's available to do on sea days in particular.
Before I start I will say that after being on so many cruises, reading so many boards, and speaking with many fellow cruisers that so much of cruising is really a matter of personal perspective/opinion. There is no "right" answer for everyone, instead you really have to decide what is important to you, what you want in a cruise ship, and of course, price points. I have counseled many on cruises as I spend way too much time on cruise critic, and having been on almost every cruise line at this point and 40+ cruises, I do have a perspective and find it interesting how many people just want me to tell them what ship to go on and instead I ask a whole bunch of questions to try to figure out which one would be best for them. One of the things I like the best about cruising is there is something out there for everyone. There is no such thing as "just go on this ship", you really need to decide what you are looking for in choosing a line and a ship.
A perfect case in point is Paul Gauguin which I went on for the first time two years ago. It's the smallest ship I have ever been on, max 300 people and our ship had under 200. The big pros....the staff started calling every passenger on a first name basis within days, very good food, more of a luxury yacht than a cruise ship. The fellow passengers were incredibly nice, and many were die hard Paul Gauguin fans. The cons....night life consisted of dinner and going to bed for the most part, and if you are prone to sea sickness this ship is not for you. I had a friend that wanted to go on this ship badly because of all they read, but they are VERY prone to seasickness and I strongly cautioned them against it. They didn't listen to me...and you got it....they spent their entire cruise sick and nauseous. Another friend loves nightlife and things to do and decided against Paul Gauguin as clearly that wasn't a fit for them. I met people on the ship who have ONLY gone on Paul Gauguin for years and I completely understand why...they loved the personal attention, the south pacific is incredibly beautiful, alot of the same crew which they know by name and see time and again, etc,, all of which I completely get. So it really is a matter of personal taste/likes.
So first my summary of the cruise. I was on the Marina sailing of 1/22 which interestingly enough was written about by someone else. I very much enjoyed the Oceania cruise line and I would definitely go on it again.
There were pros and cons, just like there are for all cruise ships and lines, and so much of it is a matter of personal opinion and experiences. I will try to give you my views on this.
First of all, I was very intrigued to understand what "upper premium" meant. I have been on many ships defined as luxury, and some premium brands. I didn't quite get what made Oceania upper premium but not quite luxury. After being on the ship, I THINK I get the difference..but again this is personal perspective.
The biggest difference was the space per person on the ship. If you look on line, you will see these numbers and the luxury cruise lines have much more space per passenger. Did I notice this difference? Yes I did, especially on sea days when you couldn't as easily get multiple lounges by the pool, or if you went to the buffet for lunch on sea days you had difficulty finding a table if you went during prime times. Others no issues at all. It was way better than the mainstream lines and Celebrity---which all have lower space per passenger---but I don't recall having any of those issues on Silver Seas, Paul Gauguin or Crystal. A little on Regent. A part of it may be that the average age on Oceania seemed a little younger...more in the 60's on my cruise...so many more were still looking to go by the pool then a cruise where the average age was older. Again, I really only felt this on sea days...so if you go on a port intensive cruise this becomes less of an issue.
The second difference was in some service levels in the main spaces. Now don't misunderstand me here...overall I found the service on Marina to be very very good. But as the other reviewer mentioned, there were some issues in the grand dining room in particular. Conversely, the specialty restaurants probably had even better service than the luxury lines so go figure. I was in a penthouse and didn't have a good butler either, but other passengers commented that that theirs was very good, so I just think I received a subpar one, and it wasn't a reflection on the whole line.
The third difference is the luxury lines try to have all inclusive...including drinks and excursions. Oceania does not include alcohol or excursions. personally, I prefer this as I do not drink alcohol and I prefer to book my own excursions, not through a cruise line. I will say that I did not feel nickel and dimed AT ALL on Oceania. Walking off of the ship they had bottles of water(all free) readily available. If I ordered any non alcoholic drink in a bar or wherever all free. Free coffee at Baristas(good too I might add). My bill at the end consisted of gratuities(not included on Oceania vs lux too), spa appts, some laundry and some drinks my spouse had. That was it.
Other then that, I have to say the ship itself was beautiful. It was refurbed in 2016 and it looked fantastic. I would compare the furnishings and the ship itself to most of luxury lines in a heartbeat. I was surprised that I didn't see any part of the ship showing any kind of wear. Having four choices of restaurants and the ability to get at least one reservation in each and more while on ship was very nice. The food in the specialty restaurants was as good as any of the luxury lines. Oceania likes to think of itself as a "foodie" line. This one is especially subjective. Like every cruise line, there were hits and misses, way more hits happy to say. I would say they are in the same league as the luxury lines for quality of food, not better or worse. But where they are clearly better is in choices of entrees and food. With four specialty restaurants, plus a grand dining room and 2 casual venues, there were lots of options and the menus in each were nice sized. The ship is a bit larger than most of the luxury line fleets so that helps them there
Other big positives about Oceania Marina to me:
1) Tea Time at 4 pm in Horizons. I go to tea time on every ship. I love scones, tea, and everything involved. Oceania's tea time was especially good. The scones were very good, the service came RIGHT over to you and brought you tea, hot water, and there were servers with food. There was also a table you could go to and have them serve you food while a string quartet played. VERY nice,...nicer still that it followed Oceania's policy of country club casual so you could go in shorts. The changed the sandwiches and sweets every day, and the food there was EXCEPTIONALLY good. I would actually say they had my favorite tea time on any ship, and I would give them all high marks on that one, Oceania just edged out.
2) Country Club Casual. This should be #1 lol. I loved dressing how ever I wanted to every night. You just couldn't wear shorts at dinner except in the buffet. This was especially nice. There were some people dressed in cocktail attire, some more casual, no one cared and you could dress how you want when you wanted to.
3) Four specialty restaurants each with good food and fantastic service. I see people ranking these four all the time, and that's really a personal opinion of course. I had dinner with 4 to 8 people each night. Each specialty restaurant had food people thought was outstanding and others that were just ok. Nothing bad.
4) My room...the penthouse was VERY nice. Really pretty perfect. The bedding was great. You can buy it afterwards for many thousands lol! 1000 count sheets, great duvet and mattress, etc,,. Bulgari bath products. Two things I'd change...for a room with great bedding, I was surprised that the towels were not nicer. They were that ribbed towel. THey were ok, but not more Second one is VERY personal opinion and it's interesting because there's a thread now in Oceania about the tubs in the penthouse bathrooms being removed in their smaller ships. While the showers were not small, they were just adequate. My room had a big tub in it that was never used and personally I'd prefer a larger shower. Maybe they should offer the choice of some rooms with tubs and some with larger showers to appeal to more lol? Didn't love two chairs and a table at the foot of the bed, but that's nit picky. CLoset was very nice and large, umbrella, shoe horn and numerous little items. Laptop for your use in the room. Good and recent movies and tv shows believe it or not readily available for no fee. The list goes on and on, lots of little things. Fridge with your favorite drinks refilled free of charge.
5) Cooking classes. So for full disclosure I am not a cook. I took a class with other people. The resident chef was fantastic. Over 2 hours and I was very interested the whole time. He was just very good. There is also an artists loft but I didn't go there
6) Gym Very nice. A unit with all kinds of cold drinks readily available. The treadmill had tv, radio and even games on it to keep you distracted. Full floor to ceiling windows with great views of the ocean. I think the nicest of any lux ship I'd been on.
7) No nickel and diming, I know I said this before, but have to say this again. I really liked that. I was concerned that since not a 'luxury" line it would be more like Celebrity with the nickel and diming and it definitely was not.
So why would I go on Oceania again? For me, I prefer to do my own excursions and paying for alcohol I am not going to consumer is not on the top of my to do list lol. The extra money can go to penthouse suite for some perks, and as long as it was a port intensive cruise I'd go.
Are there other drawbacks? Of course there are. Entertainment isn't great, but I'd compare them to other luxury lines there. Too many old shows and older entertainers. There wasn't a comedian. Their singers and dancers were actually very talented, but doing a show dedicated to Peggy Lee is too old fashioned. Not as much to do on sea days as on a larger ship, and the place with live music after 10 30 was always empty. But again, typical things on the smaller more adult oriented cruises
I will post more later...and try to include the currents as I have a business appt to get to right now, I am in my 50's, not retired as an aside. As always on these boards, feel free to post any questions.