Oceania Riviera // Byzantine Antiquity: Trieste to Istanbul // Oceania Cruises July 2022

Oceania Seminar at Sea – by Loni Goettig, CTC

Oceania Riviera – Byzantine Antiquity – Trieste to Istanbul 10 nights – July 7-17, 2022

Hosted by Jodi Danyluk, Business Development Manager for Carrousel Travel

This was my first experience sailing with Oceania Cruises. I was excited to experience it first hand as I have loyal Oceania clients, including round-the-world clients. It did not disappoint. Oceania is labeled a “Premium” cruise line, but I would label it Premium Plus! I appreciated not having the constant chatter to buy, upgrade, add-on that is common on some other cruise lines. It was much more similar to a Regent or Silversea experience. Of course, shore excursions and alcoholic beverages are additional costs, but otherwise soda’s, specialty

coffees and teas, “virgin” drinks are complimentary. The coffee shop, Baristas, had an amazing barrister that served tasty coffee’s and it was never over crowded.

The ship’s guest capacity is 1238 guests and our cruise had about 750 guests. We still needed to provide a negative Covid-19 test result at the pier. As Venice banned cruise ships this season, Trieste was a new departure port. We took a simple train ride from Venice to Trieste (2 hours) and then a short taxi ride to the pier.

Stateroom: I was in a concierge veranda stateroom- Deck 9. 291 square feet with the veranda. It had a sitting area with loveseat size couch and desk. The bathroom had a separate tub and small walk-in shower. In drydock later in 2022, most bathrooms will be reconfigured with a larger walk-in shower and no tub. There was ample drawer and closet space (not walk-in). Filtered water in glass bottles replenished often. A small fridge in the cabin stocked with soft drinks of your choice. The Concierge Level has added benefits of a Concierge Lounge on Deck 9, complimentary laundry service, access to the Aquamar Spa Terrace (an area off the spa at front of ship with outdoor loungers and hot tub. Penthouse and Suites are located on the higher levels. The ship also has self-service launderette on each deck, all complimentary even including the soap. Be sure to share with clients in these times of airline luggage disasters.

Dining: The Finest Cuisine at Sea – Wow – our dining experiences were varied and amazing. The specialty restaurants on board Oceania do not have a surcharge (except for Privee and La Reserve). The Riviera and Marina – and soon the Vista – are larger ships with more restaurants. All had an intimate, fine restaurant feel, and not hurried in anyway. Jodi hosted her agent group, 11 of us, in Privee. A private room at the back of the ship- next to Toscana.

It has a $300 fee to reserve the room, and then you craft your menu with the chef once on board. A very special experience and good to offer our smaller groups. We enjoyed the Terrace Café – an indoor/outdoor restaurant aft — it has the various food stations that servers place on your plate- and then you or server will carry to your table. We enjoyed outdoor dining often for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. The Greek night was an amazing feast – beautifully done.

Shore Excursions: Oceania is known for its port intensive itineraries and their shore excursions also offer great variety. We had the opportunity to experience a “Go Local” tour in Split—be sure to point out these unique touring options to your clients. It is smaller group and a more local immersion experience. Oceania prices shore excursions with an option to purchase Unlimited Passport Collection Package -one price and then as many regular tours as you want OR Your World Collection Package with a minimum number of purchased tours, a 25% discount off normal pricing. Oceania Select (more unique tours) and Oceania Exclusive (small groups of 16 or less) are discounted with these packages as well for best pricing, have clients book all tours at the same time to decide which package pricing is best.

Entertainment: The ship does have a lounge/showroom that had nightly entertainment about 9:30 PM. Either a production show, a singer, comedian. Also, there was a lecturer onboard that hosted sessions by day – during our cruise it was featuring ancient history. (OLIfe Enrichment Speaker). Also, piano player, string quartet at various bars and Horizons cocktail lounge had a live band nightly with happy hour late hours.

Staff: The staff always were masked They are very friendly – in all venue’s- and also very helpful with questions or concerns. But our room steward was never intrusive. Room service was timely – menu was a normal smaller selection for room service (no charge).

Aquamar Spa & Vitality Center—the fitness room was large with ample machines, weights – separate room for classes. Spa was large with many treatment rooms, relaxation lounge.

Also, an enjoyable experience.

Internet: complimentary WIFI is offered – one device at a time – -it is rather slow. You can upgrade to a faster service – approximately $10 per day but again 1 device at a time (unless separate package purchased for 2nd person in your stateroom).

– Loni