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Review summary
Oceania Cruises has room for improvement based on customer feedback. Customers particularly appreciate service, though some mention concerns about customer service and expensive.
I’m not someone who usually posts online, but I feel compelled to share my story in hopes it helps others make an informed decision before booking with Oceania Cruises.
I had booked what was meant to be the trip of a lifetime—a $30,000 cruise with Oceania. I was excited, grateful, and looking forward to an unforgettable experience. Then, everything changed. I was diagnosed with cancer and had to begin immediate treatment. My world turned upside down, and I had no choice but to cancel the trip.
When I contacted Oceania to explain the situation, I expected some level of understanding or compassion. Instead, I received a polite but ultimately cold message from Guest Relations Administrator Sana O’Brien. She offered her condolences—and then told me there was “nothing they could do,” because giving me a refund “wouldn’t be fair to other customers.”
Let me be clear: Oceania is going to re-sell that cabin. They will earn full revenue from a new passenger while keeping every cent I paid. So in the end, they profit twice—while I, in the middle of cancer treatment, am left with nothing.
No refund. No credit. Not even a gesture of goodwill. Just a boilerplate response and a closed door.
I understand that companies have policies. But I also believe that policies should have room for humanity. What happened to empathy? To basic decency?
I am devastated—not just by the diagnosis, but by the way I was treated by a company I once admired. If you’re considering booking with Oceania, I urge you to think carefully. Ask yourself what would happen if you had to cancel due to a personal emergency or health crisis. Based on my experience, you can expect no compassion and no help.
This has left a lasting impression on me—not just financially, but emotionally. Oceania had an opportunity to do the right thing. They chose not to.
For our Christmas & new year cruise in 2025 Oceania downgraded its offering. Having enjoyed 12 previous Oceania cruises we were disappointed at the deterioration in food quality. The chef explained that head office now arranges menus & the ship has no real control on what is offered. We sat on a shared table in the speciality restaurant on the 2nd night. Three out of 4 main courses were returned as inedible. Service throughout the ship was not up to standard. Looked like there was a shortage of staff. This was most apparent in the main dining room. Shortly before the sailing date we were advised that a stop in Australia had been substituted for an extra day in Indonesia. Two other stops in Australia were cancelled without substitution. Maintenance in parts of the ship was neglected although our penthouse cabin was in good order. We understand that the economies have been applied across the fleet. Means that we will be looking elsewhere in future.
It is very difficult to get such a low TrustPilot number. This says so much about this US co. They do not understand UK law.
We booked through ROL. They are agents but did their best to help when we had queries. However I would question the large discounts shown.
The problem is you are then inundated with two lots of info. As 20 year cruisers we did not go through the many attachments to e-mails. It was only when we were 10 days from our cruise that ROL highlighted in a letter we needed 6 months on our passport. Oceania's defence is rediculous. In what circumstances would you need such a long time?
Fortunately UK travellers have other choices. This is not a premium co. The Penthouse Suite is thousands more than Fred Olsen and Marella. They charge 20% for non-existent service . Do staff get this?
Trips are extortionate. $300/400 for many. UK cos charge less than £100.
You cannot get served drinks in restaurants and theatres. They use cartons for cocktails
There is no freshly squeezed juice.
FREE restaurants are restricted to one each one. Otherwise you have to queue at 8am .
Spa was £200 including a 20% service charge. Staff were trying to upsell which was not a nice experience. Do they get this excessive charge?
Shuttle buses are a joke. No clear info and many ports have no taxis
We were going to San Sebastian but it was cancelled about a week before . Bilbao is only an hour. They could have done more
The customer service is very poor.
I tried to book a Med cruise in July. The person I was dealing was not today and nobody took over there appointments. I rang to find out what was happening and got cut off. They didn't even ring back. Very rude.
I won't be using Oceania cruises again. There is plenty of cruise companies to choose from thankfully.
Ik was met Oc voor een cruise rond Australie en Nieuw Zeeland van 221324 tm 120225. Met de Regatta,een klein en oud cruiseschip
Mijn ervaring is dat als je een lange cruise maakt dat niet op een te klein schip moet maken ivm entertainment en mogelijkheden! Teveel dagen op zee. Ook een negatief punt was dat Oceania Russische musici had uitgenodigd voor muziekuitvoeringen. Men is blijkbaar niet op de hoogte van wat er in Oekraine afspeelt! Schande!
De verzorging was goed maar niet bijzonder. Ik was eerder met de Regall Princess voor een cruise en ik moet zeggen dat Princess cruises beter voor de dag komen dan Oceania cruises.
The cabin and our cabin steward were great.
However, the food quality was very poor and it was mostly warm at best, with little change to menus Most of the staff seemed disinterested and the wine waiters lost interest when we did not purchase bottles of overpriced wine.
Too few shuttles at ports meaning long waits and less time to explore.
Changes to schedule meant that we passed one of the highlights of our trip at around 2.00 am.j
Very disappointed!!
Worse cruise experience. The management team was cold and the whole experience felt transactional. We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and decided to do something special by doing a 50 day voyage. We were hoping this line would exceed our expectations and deliver the ultimate luxury experience. Unfortunately it was a big disappointment. From the food, to dirty utensils, terrible drinks, to seen an infestation of bugs at some of the desks, just to mentioned a few. I feel bad for all the seniors who get brain washed during the Captains Cocktails party especial for club members. Where the sales consultant tries to do her sales pitch, making guess feeling jealous about trying to keep up with the status. Unfortunately , that didn’t work with us. This is a pressure sales tactics that seems to work for seniors who apparently have lost their taste and cognition as to what Luxury and service is all about. Avoid. Avoid. Better off going with Azamara.
Booked 6 excursions to get 25% discount, Oceania cancelled an excursion and cancelled the discount leaving us with a bill of $400+.
We had a gratuity package yet we were still charged 20% on some already expensive drinks.
We had to chase Oceania to get an account credit back to our credit card, it was not done automatically.
These nasty underhand issues left a bad taste after the cruise so we will not be returning, a shame because the food, wine and service was excellent
Currently on Marina for or first experience of Oceania cruises and regret to say it will be our last.
The catering and service is great, some of the best I've experienced on any cruise ship, and the communal areas are all updated and well managed.
The cabins are the complete opposite, tatty, well used and in desperate need of a refit.
The bathroom in our cabin has a mixture of black and white sealant around shower cubicle and sink along with mould stains on enclosed cubicle.
Some issues raised on day one resolved and finally a cabin move offered on day 7 which we declined as exchange cabin equally tired.
Definitely not a 5* cruise, cabin doesn't warrant any star.
Could be nice ship if updated, but best avoided in it's current state.
Finally worth noting that senior management on board are strangely evident and available socially, but seems to be lost overboard when there's an issue.
Oceania pretends to be a”premier” cruise line- it’s actually a floating assisted living ship with the same type of food that you would expect to eat at such a place. The majority of the passengers are in their 80’s and their age is showing. They are grumpy and decrepit- not a fun crowd. The few that were slightly younger are basically sedentary- the lines for the elevator are ridiculous considering that there are plenty of stairways! Everything is sub par from the smoothies made from sugar concentrate- no fresh food is even used - to the vibe of the ship to the service- even the servers are lackluster, unenthusiastic and not happy to be onboard. I was not expecting Silversea or Regents quality but it doesn’t even come close to them or to Windstar- you’ll dish out way too much money for a meh experience. Save yourself the money, the trouble and the time. Go elsewhere!
Mayhem and chaos are the words to describe disembarkation in Singapore on March 10 2025
We disembarked at 8.30 and cases arrived not in colour or number order at 10.30. No information updates give . People were still on ship at 10.30 as there was too much chaos for them to be allowed off
It was truly horrendous
Shame on Oceania riviera
This cruise company falls below expectations and its self promotion. Riviera is badly in need of better and simplified management and refurbishment.
There were some lovely staff but the management of the ship is poor. It’s too hierarchical but no one outside of Head Office can make decisions. For example,
1 The stops were very mixed. For two days moored in Jakarta only a few yards from noisy cranes and trucks through the night. So couldn’t sleep.
2 internet rarely worked and digital staff acknowledged this. This meant filling the various forms required to disembark took ages to complete and we did not get e mails for three weeks.
3 The air conditioning is so cold that many people caught coughs and colds when returning from the hot humid conditions on shore and were then ripped off by the Medical Officer with exorbitant charges.(eg 5000 dollars per person).
4 maintenance and painting is going on all the time so our balcony was frequently dirty.
5. The food is meant to be the main attraction but in the grand dining room and Terrace was appalling; cold and tasteless. The speciality restaurants were better but access is limited to these. Red Ginger is very good.
6 The tours are way overpriced and very mixed. One tour was due to last four hours and we were back in three hours having not gained entry to a single site. When we complained we were told it was our problem!!
7 Ran out of orange juice and English breakfast tea for a week.
8. Apart from a very good operatic singer, the entertainment was poor.
9. We will never cruise on Norwegian Cruise Company again. They have just changed CEO so perhaps the Board is aware. Many passengers on board said standards had dropped dramatically!
Without going into great detail this is a very short version of our dreadful experience, there is a lot more to write however it would require a couple more pages.
There was an outbreak about 5 days after embarkation of a nasty respiratory infection which was totally ignored by Oceania and began infecting healthy guests. Many people had developed a deep wet throaty infectious cough which was highly contagious and spreading quickly unfortunately they were not asked to isolate or kindly wear a mask to protect other guests and crew. The deep wet cough was heard everywhere, in the tenders, coaches, gymnasium, restaurants and around the open food buffet where people were spreading the infection and droplets going over the food.
After numerous and continuous complaints the only response Oceania had given was a week prior to disembarkation when they put a note in the daily currents paper and a few announcements to ask guests if they would consider wearing a mask and added a few more sanitiser stations however way too little too late. We felt absolutely helpless because it was just ignored by Oceania whom were meant to pride themselves in health and safety, several guests were taken away by ambulance some of which we knew had the respiratory infection.
We met an entertainment couple toward the end of our cruise who said they had never experienced feeling so uncomfortable with hearing continuous infectious coughs whilst performing in the Riviera lounge, they were very concerned about the spread they had been subjected to to and also the lack of response from Oceania.
My husband and I boarded in peak health and fitness and got quite sick about 10 days into the cruise and isolated in our stateroom and totally missed Christmas Day and New Year Eve. We even had to ask our butlers to wear a mask whilst cleaning our room to protect themselves and others onboard along with asking them to ensure clean cleaning cloths be used as staterooms either side of us and not to mention all the others had infected guests and wondered why Oceania had not asked this of their crew members, guests should not have had to ask.
I wrote several detailed emails to Oceania’s head office informing them of our dreadful experience and extremely disappointed with their reply, our very expensive 32 night cruise from Cape Town to Singapore had been totally ruined due to their lack of protocol.
Staff should have been handing out masks and asking guests to kindly use sanitiser as there was an infection onboard instead they just put their heads in the sand and showed lack of concern for the health and safety of passengers, if they had tried to at least contain it in the first instance I doubt many of us would have fallen sick.
The onboard medical centre charges were absolutely outrageous so guests were not going but instead waiting until we arrived at ports to obtain antibiotics from over the counter pharmacies, luckily many had packed their own. Our medical bill for COVID. SARS and influenza swabs along with antibiotics and cough lozenges was just under AUD$3,000 and this was an inexpensive visit compared to many.
We missed 3 excursions whilst isolating and finally were able to go on our fourth, we went to the Riviera lounge and got our tender ticket for the excursion. Unfortunately there were so many guests coughing that I went up to the destinations staff to ask why they were not handing out masks and expecting healthy guests to mix with infectious guests in such confined space, we were not comfortable and ended up handing our ticket back as we did not want to get reinfected.
Shame on you Oceania for not acting promptly with protocols in place for such outbreaks as other cruise lines have. You have apologised to reviewers about not acting promptly however it did nothing for our disastrous cruise experience and you just get away with a simple apology for your mistakes meanwhile we lost thousands on a cruise we could not wait to disembark.
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