This was our 7th cruise with Oceania. They are still an excellent cruise line but we feel that the service and overall cruise experience is not as good as we have previously experienced.
It was very nice to be remembered by so many of the crew when we were on board. The general manager - Dominic has been on other cruises that we've been on and he remembered us.
We found the food in the speciality restaurants to be very good and actually truly memorable. The hostess in the Red Ginger is really exceptional and offered to let us taste items that we had not ordered so we would know about other options for future evenings. We also enjoyed dining at the Terrace Cafe in the evening and even although it is a buffet we found the service to be very good. The dining venue that really needs a great deal of work is the main dining room. I had made a comment about the poor service in the main dining room on my mid cruise comment card and although the staff does try very hard the service is very slow. One evening we were at the table almost 3 hours and sat with dirty dishes from our entrees in front of us for 20 minutes. 2 people left before dessert because they had other plans for the evening. The service in the specialty restaurants is far better and you can finish a nice 4 or 5 course meal in less than 2 hours without feeling rushed.
The cabin was great. We enjoyed the large verandah and lying on the lounge chairs.
We did Alicante on our own. We got a map from the information desk on board ship and walked and explored on our own. We did everything that was on the ship's tour including the castle and we probably spent 8 EU. Their is a reduced fee for the castle if you're a senior but even without the discount it is very reasonable
Walked around and explored on our own
We've been to Puerto Rico before. Walked into the old town