Riviera Review

Gems of Antiquity inc. review of special diets

Review for the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Riviera
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Tinkerbell1963
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Jul 2014

This was our first cruise on Oceania (we have previously cruised with Disney, Silversea, P&O, Regent Seven Seas, Celebrity and Princess) and we were so looking forward to it, having seen such positive reviews.

Embarkation ran very smoothly and it was good to be able to get on to the ship as early as 11am and have the suite ready at this time. We stayed in Athens the previous night and booked this ourselves, along with transfers from the airport and to the ship.

Accommodation

Cabin Review

Cabin Owners Suite

We were celebrating our 30th Wedding Anniversary so treated ourselves to one of the three Owners Suites, which span across the whole back of the ship. The suite is huge and beautifully decorated, albeit with a few slight signs of wear and tear. We personally did not feel comfortable having a real zebra skin rug on the floor and asked for it to be removed for the duration of our cruise. The suite comprises of an entrance hall with a door to a shower room, bar (stocked with 6 full size bottles of your choice of spirits or wine, along with champagne on embarkation) and electronic grand piano. There are also floor to ceiling windows which split the balcony in two. There is a main bathroom with Jacuzzi bath, twin sinks and doors to a shower and separate toilet. The balcony can also be accessed through the bathroom, which we found very handy. There is a huge walk-in wardrobe between the bathroom and bedroom, as well as another of the same size off the bedroom. Both have safes. The bedroom has a very large bed with a selection of your choice of pillows from the ‘Pillow Menu’, and also access to the balcony. There is a large lounge with dining table for 8, a huge corner sofa and access to the second balcony. Both balconies wrap around the side of the ship (bathroom side has a second Jacuzzi bath with TV and the other side a sofa and chairs. The balcony itself isn’t very deep and when the sun loungers are being used, it’s a struggle to get past them. A real shame that it wasn’t made another metre deep and the inside space made slightly smaller, as we personally use our balcony a great deal. The furniture (whilst fairly comfortable) is a very heavy wooden design with very thick arm rests and due to the difficulties with having to climb over it to get past, this resulted in both of us having quite a selection of bruises where we bashed into it numerous times. We found the air conditioning was far too cold at night and despite turning it up to the warmest setting, still resulted in me sleeping in 2 robes and socks one particularly chilly night. After this we slept with the balcony doors open to let some warm air in. Everything was kept very clean and ice, soft drinks etc. replenished regularly. We had the services of the Head Butler who was extremely efficient and delivered everything with a smile. Nothing was too much trouble and we really valued his help.

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