We had never been to the Adriatic and a small ship seemed the best way to go. Having been on Oceania the year before, we knew that the food would be amazing and we certainly weren't disappointed. The itinerary was excellent with more to see than we could possibly fit into 10 days. The sense of history is incredible. Highly recommend Venice, Ancona, Dubrovnik and Kotor if you have never been there. Rhodes and the Greek Coast were also enjoyable. Other stops were Santorini and Rhodes both of which we needed more time to explore. We had very rough weather in Santorini which made embarkation an adventure, but the crew were very diligent in keeping everyone safe. We highly recommend the old towns in Dubrovnik and Rhodes as the is literally dozens of things to see. Kotor is stunningly beautiful as is the Croation coast line. Everywhere we went, the people were friendly and helpful. As usual, the food was absolutely the best we have enjoyed at sea, whether in the MDR, Horizons, or the 2 specialty restaurants - Toscana and Polo Grill. Only regret is that Red Ginger is not found on the 4 smaller ships. Read Less

Nautica was an elegant ship, nice layout, super easy/fast embarkation and debarkation. We love Oceania’s relaxed attitude on alcohol – we brought a bottle or two on from multiple ports, and got jokes about how heavy our bag was, with the wine handed back to us. The 2-for-1 daily happy hour is straightforward, and a nice way to take advantage of pre-dinner drinks in a lounge. Itinerary & Excursions We chose the cruise due to the itinerary, so we obviously loved it. Venice to Athens, with ports every day. Ancona, Italy was a nice surprise; Split, Croatia was disappointing. All of the cities were very walkable with tons of information available, and we did our own planning and excursions. Stateroom and Ship in General Given the time of year, we didn’t want a balcony. Instead, we had an oceanview, and the lack of a balcony plus a GIANT window translated into a spacious stateroom – we loved it. Tons of space for all of our things. The bathroom was tired, and I hope it’s included in the upcoming refit. The ship overall is elegant and tastefully appointed, with beautiful art. Lovely. Food Our biggest disappointment of the cruise. Oceania is known as a ‘foodie’ cruise line. On a previous cruise, we were SO impressed by the baked goods that we were drooling just thinking of getting to eat them again. But the food – even in the specialty restaurants – was just good, not great. The baked goods (other than the amazing sticky buns) were consistently stale whether in the buffet or the restaurants, and were just okay. There was no wow factor, at all. What happened, Oceania? Entertainment & Enrichment The production staff were just okay. We also had an amazing pianist but playing sonatas for an hour is pretty low energy for a cruise. A saxophonist, Oli Nez, who was quite talented and smooth. Our cruise director had been a jazz singer in a former life so she sang one night. Overall, pretty good, but you didn’t feel bad if you missed a night’s show. The daily string quartet was fantastic. Disappointed that there wasn’t any enrichment on board as we’d have liked to hear about some local history, etc. but we were in port every day so I suspect that was the cause. Staff Amazing. Truly the most content, gracious, friendly, helpful, funny, sweet staff we’ve encountered on any cruise – a true testament to how Oceania and Nautica in particular treats people. Very impressed. Canyon Spa & Fitness Centre The Fitness Centre is quite well equipped and a good size. It was easy to pop in, find whatever equipment you wanted/needed, and spend some time offsetting the food! The spa itself was gorgeous – beautifully designed, with cucumber and lemon ice water always available. If you were concierge level and above, you could use the back deck and giant hot tub. However, all passengers could use the facilities and the steam room (just hand over your room card to get a locker key) for free – as on most cruises – which was a lovely bonus that we took advantage of almost daily. My husband did have a spa treatment on his birthday to use up some of our shipboard credits, and it was wonderful. Spa staff are also great. WiFi and Computer lab Wifi seems to be included now (in use on 1 device at a time), though we didn’t really want it as we enjoy the forced withdrawal from life of a cruise. Wifi was a decent speed…until you got to the computer lab. The computer lab is ridiculous – saran-wrapped keyboards (!) and the most painfully awfully slow internet I’ve experienced (and that includes dialup). It was virtually impossible to accomplish any task. I don’t understand why there was such a difference, given that we logged into wifi on both our phones and the computer lab with the same account, but there it was. Read Less

We recently returned from a cruise around Italy. We traveled with friends who made the arrangements using Oceania Cruise lines. The ship we traveled on is named Nautica. My wife and I have cruised with several different cruise lines on ten prior occasions. The Nautica is a small ship – 684 total passengers with a staff of 400. We came away feeling that the overall experience was at the bottom of our list. There were a few good points – a) The crew is well trained to be very friendly; b) Cabin and public spaces were kept very clean. c) There was an ample choice of shore excursions. d) The breakfast and lunch buffet always had a large assortment of food choices. Unfortunately, there were far more bad points – a) Any cabin below deck 8 is too small to be comfortably habitable. Below the 8th deck, the largest cabin is 216 square feet. Bathroom is so tiny it was difficult to shower. There was not enough proper space to put away clothing or store suitcases. b) Main dining room: Poor to fair. About five or six main course choices available at each meal – several were the same every night. c) Specialty dining rooms (2): Very nice. Problem is that reservations must be made well in advance of the cruise. Otherwise, tables are not available. d) Entertainment: poor to fair. A comedian performed twice. He was very ‘off color’ and not very funny. Entertainment director sang one night – just okay performance. A group of five very young, inexperienced people performed on all other nights. Would expect a better performance from high school students. e) Excursions: All guides apparently local to area. Many were very well versed and provided a lot of information. Some walked too quickly, not allowing for anyone to take in local sites. On most occasions, the bus windows were filthy. There was plenty of time for the driver to clean the windows while waiting for passengers to assemble and board. To summarize – I have no idea how much better Oceania’s other boats might be, or if the above negative points flow throughout their fleet. That being said, based on our experience I cannot recommend this cruise line, or at least not this particular boat. Read Less

We chose this cruise primarily for the ports included in the itinerary. In addition we wanted to try a smaller ship. We had sailed twice on the Oceania Riviera and in both instances had excellent experiences. We hoped that on a smaller ship the service wold be even one notch higher. Overall we enjoyed the cruise. However we were a little disappointed with our experience on the Nautica. We thought the service on our previous cruises on the Riviera was more personal and friendly, the staterooms were nicer, there was a better selection of facilities and entertainment and even the food was better. For this cruise on the Nautica there were a number of things we liked, however, as well as some things we didn't like. The main positives and negatives were.... Positives: - ports (overall) - being on a smaller ship generally gives you direct access to smaller ports without having to tender - travelling in low season, at the end of the Fall in Europe - often we were the only ship in port, which meant smaller crowds everywhere. The weather is obviously more of a risk, however..... - embarkation & disembarkation were wonderful - we were on & off the ship in under 15 minutes. - transfers from the airport to the ship & back from the ship to the airport, which we took with Oceania, were well organized & efficient - of the 3 excursions we took with Oceania, 2 were very good - our room stewards were excellent - the folks at Destination Services, who had to scramble because of missed and changed ports at the beginning of the cruise, were cheerful and helpful. - overall the ship was immaculately maintained even if the decor is dated & the ship is due for a major reno - the High Teas at 4 pm each day were very enjoyable & the string quartet was very good - we had excellent meals at Toscana, the Italian specialty restaurant - the presentation of dishes in general was excellent and the quality of the dinners in the Grand Dining Room was generally very good; we had a couple of exceptional/memorable dishes during the cruise but a few disappointments as well - eating al fresco on the terrace of the Terrace Café at lunch time on sunny days when we were in port was lovely - I can't think of a nicer setting - salads and hamburgers at Waves Grill were great - specialty coffees from Baristas Bar (in front of the Grand Dining Room) were excellent. - even though the Internet was slow & balky, at least it was free - on cruises we took on other cruise lines it was also slow & balky but you had to pay for it! Negatives: - port of Durrès - no idea why we stopped in Albania as there was very little of interest to see and do in this port and the surrounding area. - one of the 3 excursions we took with Oceania (Secret Corners of Venice) was a complete waste of time - entertainment choices are limited and geared to a much older crowd - we had a poor dining experience in the Polo Grill, the steakhouse specialty restaurant, which was very disappointing - servers in the Grand Dining Room (GDR) seemed under pressure at dinner time, were having difficulty dealing with the large number of guests at peak times - even though we were "concierge", our friends and us were given less-than-desirable tables at dinner in the GDR on a number of occasions (e.g. next to the noisy waiter sections) even when there were tables available nearer to the windows. In one instance our friends specifically asked for a table in a better location and we were assigned a table next to a waiter station, even though there were numerous better tables available. Grrrrrr..... - lack of variety of dishes at the Terrace Café for breakfast and particularly at lunch (as compared to the Terrace Café on the Riviera) - service in the Terrace Café was hit and miss; there were some nice servers but others seemed glum and disinterested in serving guests - Concierge Services - we asked the Concierge once for help making a change to dinner reservations at a specialty restaurant and were told to call Dining Services ourselves later - we found that "concierge" verandah on the Nautica was not good value for money - the things we appreciated the most as "concierge" guests on the Riviera, i.e. the concierge lounge, help from the concierge, access to a nice area at the front of the ship (with cold non-alcoholic drinks) were either unavailable or limited on the Nautica. - Oceania (the captain & crew) did nothing to acknowledge the rough start to the cruise - we missed the key port on the 1st day (Amalfi) and had to change the port on the 2nd day as we experienced very rough seas and bad weather during the 1st 2 days of the cruise. We had missed ports occasionally on other cruises but this was pretty exceptional. Nothing was said about this, nothing was offered to the guests - a small token/acknowledgement would have been appreciated. If this cruise on the Nautica had been our first Oceania cruise I am not sure we would sail with Oceania again. However, given our earlier morte positive experiences on the Riviera, we had already booked a cruise on the Marina next Fall and we are looking forward to that. Read Less

This was an college alumni organized cruise and I had a group of friends that went with me on a cruise of the Mediterranean (Spain, France and Italy). The ship service and food was very good. Our cabin was kept spotless. The crew was extremely well-trained and helpful. However, I was very disappointed in the shore excursions. They were very touristy, and lacking in depth. I have cruised with Seabourne, Silversea and Windstar, and their shore excursions were much more in depth and immersive--with VIP special arrangements for getting around the crowds and into the sights around all of the other tourists. The descriptions were often not in keeping with the actual excursion. Oceania also nickels and dimes for everything--beverage packages, service charges added to the fare, etc. Competitor cruises charge a higher flat fee, but then you are not charged for anything else, the fare is all-inclusive. Also, the internet service offered by the ship was low-grade, and the crew member assigned to assist with this was unhelpful. I don't think I will said with Oceania again, having had better experiences with competitors. Read Less

Many people told us about the great food and service on Oceania. The service was very good. The staff, for the most part, went out of their way to say hello and help in any way they could. This was the best part of the service. Unfortunately, the rest of the cruise was quite bland, including the food. We had one really great dinner in the steakhouse. Most of the other dinners were quite forgettable. More emphasis was put on the "presentation" instead of on the "substance". Buffet breakfast was okay, but they didn't seem to have enough servers to efficiently dish out the food during the buffet breakfast and lunch. I do have to admit that the hot cinnamon buns are incredibly addictive. Breakfast in the dining room was very good. Buffet lunches were very disappointing. We were fortunate to be off the ship for most lunches. "Tea time" was actually very nice to come back to the ship for after touring at 4:00. The string quartet music was very pleasant and the snacks were very nice. Entertainment in the evening was actually quite good. It only lasted about 45 minutes each night and this was fine, considering that we'd been touring during the day and likely had another early morning the next day. The entertainment was usually musical and humorous . Cabins were okay. We had a balcony cabin with about 215 square feet of space. Space was well used. We have been on a number of other cruise lines. This experience was not really any better overall than the others (Celebrity, Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean). Oceania promotes itself as an upscale cruise line. I pity the poor soul who paid full price for any of their cruises, considering they are almost always advertising 2 for 1 pricing. That practice in itself should be outlawed. This is just misleading advertising. In summary, the cruise was nice. Nothing special. Read Less

I have to laugh when I see other reviews of cruises. This is NOT your typical gargantuan ship with entertainment to please everyone. It is a "small ship" experience. The restrooms are tight and it's not trying to be opulent. We selected the upgrade to the concierge level veranda rooms and got a great cabin near the back...most of the remaining doors in the hallway went to much larger suites. We rarely ran into any other guests in the hallway. The boat is scheduled for an overhaul soon, so I think it's not as flashy right now, the bathroom and closets were not luxurious in any way, but we didn't really care. A super comfortable large bed, comfy couch, desk and private veranda were our requirements and it was great. Best features of the upgrade...3 days of free laundry service, 24 hour free room service, access to the canyon spa private deck area. We would order room service for a cheese and fruit tray to be delivered about the time we'd be returning to the ship. We'd buy local wines in port and drink a bottle nightly as we pulled out of port! The spa deck had a salt water jetted water spa kept at body temperature. I relaxed in it daily after touring and only once had another guest make use of it as well. I liked the fact that no one else was walking around looking at people sunbathing or in the hot tub! Read Less

We decided on this particular cruise as my friend had not been to Spain. The ports were wonderful! As always, everything about Oceania was terrific. Meals, service accommodations - just EVERYTHING! Embarkation took less than 30 minutes. Our room was ready on schedule, after we enjoyed a lovely buffet lunch in the Terrace Cafe. Every interaction with crew and staff was a pleasant experience. Beds in our cabin were too comfortable and we really wanted to take the pillows with us as they were so wonderful. Oceania never fails to exceed expectations with their cuisine. The variety is amazing. My friend has a strange allergy and their efforts to accommodate her were terrific. Most of our shore excursions were arranged privately as we prefer the smaller groups that are available through cruise critic. We had a stop in Guernsey which was interesting as I had read the "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society". Unfortunately, most of the WWII emplacements were no longer available. All in all, a wonderful cruise with Oceania! Read Less

We chose this cruise with friends, as they wanted to see the British Isles. Scheduled ports in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales. This particular itinerary included Liverpool, which interested us as we are big Beatles fans. Well....... They give you the embarkation berth number, but not the GATE at Southampton. Our driver had to ask around and take 20 extra minutes or more to get us to the ship. Embarkation was fairly easy. Immediately disappointed by the SIZE of the cabin. Paid extra for Concierge Level suite. Ha Ha, it is exactly the same as less expensive cabins on other decks, it's just on deck 7. What advantage does that give you??? NONE! No concierge service, no great perks, just a tiny cabin with a tiny bathroom that costs a lot of money. The food that they rave about as being BEST of any cruise line did not prove to be outstanding. Most dinners were good, a couple were POOR----tough meat, or extreme lack of seasoning. We liked Toscana much better than Polo Grill. Entertainment was pretty good. The singers had great voices. Service: hit and miss. Some good, some average, some poor. Shore Excursions: two good ones, two POOR ones, all expensive. One cancelled because we lost two ports due to bad weather! We had been on Oceania before. But we are not sure we will go with them again. Not a good value for the money. Read Less

Destination, ports and season always win out over cruiseline loyalty. 12 days Stockholm to Southampton. 3 days in St. Petersburg was the highlight. Booked 3 day small group tour with Russian agent. Elisabeth of TJ Tours was outstanding! Recommend Nautica overnights in Stockholm Amsterdam and Copenhagen and to include a port in Norway to see the fjords.. Oceania does offer best cuisine at sea. Carlos the Maitre'D from Portugal and his gracious assistant from Thailand always greeted us by name and remembered our seating preferences in the Grand Dining Room, Breakfast Buffet Service and choices were well presented and tastefully prepared. Fine dining excelled in the specialty restaurant venues although reserving a time before 8:30 was difficult. Disappointed that Polo Grill had run out of prime rib, however the ribeye steak substituted was delicious. Adolfo from Milan was charming in Toscana. Off hours we appreciated 24/hr limited room service menu and/ casual Waves. Loved the small ship, but Nautica does need a QM2 solarium/ covered outside pool . Like verandas, outdoor pool was useless for Baltic/North Seas. Nautica band, vocalists and dancers were talented. Horizon happy hours and afternoon tea were wonderful. Having customs agent for UK on board for passport control was expeditious. It was delightful not to be pursued by omnipresent ship photographers. Overall/service attentive staff were excellent, gracious and accommodating. Except for challenges convincing Lisiam to accept our time preferences. Bundled laundry service was terrible, he returned clothes dirty and wet so I ended up redoing all in Deck 7 guest laundry. Ship excursions promotions on TV were $$$$$, inferior, laden w disclaimers. Dr. Roger Cartwright's port talks were anecdotal, boring, off topic. We used local onboard agent to plan our port visits with great independent guide experiences. Shore excursion staff was helpful, but Oceanic Club Ambassador was curt. Cruise director marketed ship activities zealously. Free internet was nearly useless despite the best effort of the IT professional on staff who was often confronted by unhappy frustrated guests. Email messages could be received but not sent. Read Less