Hello Oceania!

Some of you who follow our travels may think we’ve cruised on all the cruise lines. We haven’t. Hearing some good things about Oceania and seeing their itinerary that had three stops in Cuba with an overnight in Havana, we decided it was time to give them a try. So far we are so glad we did. As I write this we are half way through our cruise and enjoying the Sirena, one of the smaller ships of Oceania.

Minutes after stepping aboard, we were wide eyed and in wonder. The main atrium area is absolutely beautiful. Carpeting throughout the ship in the public areas resembles lavish Oriental rugs and compliments the deep wood paneling of the halls and open areas. Several lounges have fireplaces and cozy sitting areas with comfortable couches and chairs.

Service has been outstanding from the initial embarkation to our room stewards and dining staff. Somewhere I read that there is 1.7 passengers to each crew member. I haven’t seen any .7 persons though. (Joking!)

The food has been what you would expect from a quality cruise line. A little salty for my taste though in most cases but I’ll forgive their eagerness to season. For Halloween night they served a cute little dessert shaped like a spider. Very clever. Our favorite meals so far have been standing rib and the Dover sole. Delicious!

The dining room is classic and we take most of our meals in there. I’m not fond of the area they have for the buffet on Deck Nine. It’s a narrow passageway between two counter areas where the food is displayed and served. It can get jammed up during busy times. On embarkation day it was impossible to find a seat anywhere and we wandered for a while, checking out the grill area outdoors which was too warm to enjoy lunch. Finally one of the dining staff quickly directed us to a table that had just been vacated but again, trying to see what was available to eat and dodging people in the serving area with plates was a little trying.

Our room is very nice. We are on the concierge level which gets us a balcony but not a bigger bathroom. The bathrooms are small and the shower is one of those that gives you an intimate relationship with the shower curtain. The room steward we have is a hoot and along with her assistant have not only given us a beautifully cleaned room but also some laughs along the way.

Sadly we heard that the ship will be refurbished soon and updated making it more modern. That’s exactly what they did to many of the Holland America ships and took away much of the old world charm. I hope that will still be intact here when they get done. Actually, we couldn’t understand why they would do it. The ship appears to be in excellent condition. The one improvement they did talk of that will be nice is that they are replacing the shower curtains with glass doors. How that’s gonna work is beyond me but at least you won’t be wrapped in a curtain before you’re done showering.

One last observation. There are no professional photographers onboard. Yay! No one to stop you and beg you to pose for a picture. Finally a cruise line has realized that no one buys those pictures anymore. We’ve all gone digital.