Simi Cruise Review

As some of you may or may not know I am a avid crusie snobb. I frequent the boards of cruisecritics.com, cruisemates.com, and cruiseaddicts.com - recently I was asked to refelct upon my past cruise and well here you go - a direct copy of my responces to various quesitons about my cruise aboard Oceania's Insignia!

Sorry all - I forgot to check the email notification on replies - so here goes to all the questions!


Deck Chairs - the best pool inviroment ever! no chair hogging what so ever. Very comfortable with towels and blankets - if you get the wooden ones with blue pillows be prepared to be a sleep in under 3min. The potted spruce trees and little details made all the difference.


Laundry - I did not fully experience the laundry room, however my parents did and oh the stores they told...... you have to go to the purser to get tokens which pay for everything.... if your lucky one of the three washers will be free and once its done you better pray you get it into a dryer cause it will be thrown out, same goes for getting your dry and clean clothes out on time. One evening during peek capacity my parents told a story of a crewmember coming in to close down the laundry room 9pm, one woman cussed him out and called his supervisor for him - he was just doing his job - my parents noted the next time they went to do laundry it was open much later.


Cabin TV's - horrible! yes there were movies but nothing "on-demand" variety was bad and they played at odd times. I don't know how many episodes of CSI, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Lucy I saw over and over and over again.... Expect the normal CNN Europe "depending where you are in the world," music channels, bridge view, and the map channel.

Embarcation - our flight got into Gatwick at 7am and with our own pre-arranged tansfers "Central Ex. Travel" we were to Dover by 10am! They let us check in our baggage and some cary-on items. Great facility brand new - where we had something to eat. We then went up to Dover Castle and came back to the ship at 1pm. There was a fairly long line but moved very quickly - check in was a snap but security took for ever - once in the terminal and once getting onto the ship - relay slowed things down - I was not impressed with what happens once your on board. Celebrity for instance escorts you to your state room with a glass of champainge but that didn't happen. This may have been because the rooms where not ready yet and we were told to go up to the lido. My parents and sister layed down for a nap on one of the deck chairs and I took off to our rooms. I inspected them and they were clean - I went back to get them and we were settled in our rooms by 2pm.


Room service - My sister and I relay got into this.... I ordered breakfast on serveral occasions.. Perfect. Lunch once... Perfect. Then we began to indulge before bed with ice cream - a wonderful treat but do make sure to tip the steward who delivers it - it looked as if we woke them from a deep slumber at 11pm, they were not happy.


Cabins - My sister and I were in a Cat G 6010 while the parents were across the hall in a cat B 6008. Both were fantastic! A lot more room than advertised and we had plenty of storage for 12 nights - granted we only packed for 7 and did laundry half way. The phone was ok nothing special and kind of awkward to operate. Watch out for those Tranquility beds - you may never want to get out! If you've had the Westin heavenly bed, its the same thing but with the suttle rocking motion of a ship. Bathrooms were ok nothing fancy - great tolitries and towels. The towels have a sneaky way of wanting jump into your suit cases the last night of the cruise ;-) I love the balcony in my parents room - I think I spent more time on it than they did. I do believe that our room was bigger, its as if when the ship was designed the pre-fab cabins were all the same and ours instead of a balcony just got more space. One specific issue every one cruising on this class of ship should watch out for is the location of your room. Ours were directly above the Insigina Lounge - we experience every thing in that room if we wanted to or not, very loud and very annoying! Our room inparticular was very bad - the stewards prep room is behind it so you heard everything that went on in there as well. One evening druing rough seas a stewards cart rolled back and forth baning against the walls - we called reception at 3am and it was promptly fixed. All in all the best standard rooms we have ever had except for on the Ocean Princess.


Dining - A subject of much debate - I'll rank in order of best to worst.

Tapas On the Terrace - superb dining, very casual, best service on board, the food was fresh, fun, and delicious. One could always find something new. Thanks to Eddie!
Polo Grill - again a superb dining experience - food was good service was ok. Our first night was execelent thanks to David and Warwick. Very comfortable atmosphere, the seats were wide and tables not so cramped. The second was bad. Our waitress was slow, rude, and self absorbed. She ran into another waiter in front of our table and cause him to spill every thing - she immediately blamed it all on him "when it was clearly her fault" then complained to us for the rest of the evening about what had happened.
Waves - the best pool side grill ever, expect the normal hamburgers and hotdogs combined with grilled orange soule or cuban melts - perfect service and great atmosphere. If you want your food from there but wish to sit else where simply tell one of the waiters your order and they will come find you with your food. For you pizza lovers out there steer clear of the pizzaria - basickly bread with some chease and tomato sause if your lucky you might find a toping mixed in... save your self the greif and just dont try it.
High Tea - a treat not to be missed! Oceania does it the best. Perfect service and sinful treats. The string quartet from Russia was impeccable and often gave me cold chills.
The Terrace - Very typical lido buffet style food with some special suprises. Great service but often very crowded. Hard to find a table for 4 forget trying for a table to 2 it just wont happen. Servace just like during all aspects of the Terrace dining is perfect - truly enjoyed not carrying trays and sivlerwear - all drinks are ordered from the table and all seconds are too.
Toscana - A confusing venue. Service was nothing special and the atmosphere was very cramped. Close tables and tight chairs. A newly refurbished room - yet not eye appealing - from what I can tell they should have left it alone. Menu looked good but was difficult to read and understand. I would rather have spent my other two alternative nights at the Polo.
Grand Dining Room - Last and certainty least.... Service was ok and food was ok, nothing special here. Very close tables and very cramped seating. Attempt to figure out which tables are more comfortable and then request them every evening - we finale gave up on this dining venue and stuck with the Tappas.


Sevace - as far as dining you can re-read above, for the rest of the ship expect nothing but the best, from the photographers to the bar tenders - they will know your name by night 3 and become your family. I was truly sad to leave them. We had the special occasion of having the captian and his wife on one of our shore tours. We were at Donrobin a I offored to take their picture for them - truly wonderful people. We got to know them in the short time on the tour. The last night of the cruise the Captians wife sought us out and thanked us again - giving all of us Italian kisses!


Entertainment - Patheic! I hate to say it but the worst of any line I have ever been on. Shows are sad and seems as if no ones trying. Expect to hear the same ol same ol "Celebration, Phantom, Patriotic Music, Danny Boy, ect..." They brought in a volalist who honestly made me sick to my stomach - he did not know how to hit high notes and ran around kissing woman's hands and insulting the men.... not classy at all. A magician-comedian was the worst I have ever seen - I truly felt sorry for this man, 3 out of 5 tricks would not work and it didn't help him one bit that is assistant was his 65yo wife in a bathing suit. One strong point for entertainment was local groups that were brought on board. One troop from Aberdeen and another at Invergorden. Great festive nights and truly made you want to get up and dance with them - infact my 12yo sister did! Another special treat occurred at 4 of our 8 ports and that was live music. In Edinburg, and Waterfod bag pipers played during disembarcation and in Aberdeen and Invergorden full Scottish Military Tatoos marched and serenaded the ship as she left port. Truly special memories that will last a life time.

Well every one I think that about does it for this round of Q&A - I enjoy doing it and thank you for reading though my horrible spelling and grammar. Again I apologies for forgetting to implement the email notification or I would have responded before now.

Don't hesitate to ask more questions and I'll do my best to answer them in a through and quick manner!

Bonvoyage!
Seth
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"The one step from the sublime to the redicilous is never taken with such alacarcy as in..... a sea voyage!" - Harrett Beacher Stoe

June 04: Insignia
July 03: Summit
April 03: Carnival Spirit
May 02: Radiance of the Seas
June 01: Grand Princess
April 00: Ocean Princess
July 99: Cranival Triumph
July 98: Mercury
July 97: Zenith
July 94: Dreamward
April 91: Fantasy