We have cruised twice before on Oceania: once on Marina and once before on Nautica. While the itinerary was great, the food service was lacking. We enjoyed the ports of call and took a number of ship sponsored tours and found them all to be of good quality. The ship and its cabins are nice and the personnel all provided great service. But we felt that the service and quality of the dining experience was poor.

To being, 1) the push for all to share tables becomes tedious: we are not at summer camp where we have to make new friends. 2) The itinerary took us to places where the outdoor temperatures were not conducive to outdoor dining, so the Terrace Cafe indoor seating was always packed. 3) The majority of times we went to the Terrace Cafe, we couldn't find a table (even if you were willing to share). When we complained, we were told they loose over a 100 seats due to the cold weather. 4) The Grand Dining room was our answer but they staffing has been greatly reduced and the service is slow and many times what you ordered wasn't what got delivered. 5) It seemed like much of the wait staff was new. All of the wait staff was very pleasant just overwhelmed.

The pluses for Oceania are the free water and soft drinks and the lack of cross selling. But with the pricing difference, one needs to do more price comparisons. Read more