Tour + Cruise Specialist, Kristy, sailed along the Australian coast on the Oceania Riviera.
If you are considering an Oceania cruise, this review will help you decide if the Riviera is the right fit for you. You can check out all of our Oceania cruise deals on our website or chat with one of our Tour + Cruise Specialists to start planning your Oceania cruise. We also have a review on Oceania’s ship, the Allura.
Learn more about Kristy’s experience onboard the Oceania Riviera.
First Impressions of Oceania Riviera
I recently had the opportunity to sail on the Oceania Riviera out of Sydney. Boarding in Sydney is a real treat as the dock right in the harbour. We were onboard for dinner the first night and had the Harbour Bridge as a backdrop, which was really special even as locals to Australia, and even more special for the overseas visitors.
A great option that Oceania offers is that even though we weren’t planning on boarding until 2pm we got there a little earlier, around 12pm, and were able to leave our luggage with the Oceania porters which is great for people that have earlier flights or trains and want to take advantage of a bit of sightseeing time before they board. Being in a Concierge cabin we could have boarded earlier, but wanted to have a stroll around the harbour first, so we found this a great service.
The check in process was very efficient and easy. We had dropped our luggage off earlier so we simply strolled into the check in area where there was a selection of counters staffed by the friendly Oceania staff. A quick check of the passports and a few other questions and we had our cabin key cards and were heading on board. Once onboard we were directed to our muster point and from there we were free to explore at our leisure. Our cabin was ready when we boarded, but our luggage wasn’t quite in our room yet so we dropped our additional cabin baggage in our cabin and headed up to explore and get some lunch.
The Suite
Our cabin was a Concierge Veranda located on Deck 7, which when cruising on the Oceania Riviera is actually a secret bonus. Our Concierge Veranda cabin actually had many extra benefits. Little extra perks like a bottle of Bubbles on arrival, access to the Aquamar Spa terrace for relaxation away from the main pool area, priority embarkation times as well as priority reservations in the specialty restaurants earlier.
On ships like Marina, Riviera, Vista, and Allura you can also enjoy card-only entry to a private Concierge Lounge with a dedicated concierge, complimentary drinks, snacks, and newspapers. These ships also have an extra bonus on level 7 cabins, offering an extended deck area due to the design of the ship, enough room for a table and chairs as well as a private sun lounger each, but get in quick as these book up.
Our cabin itself was well equipped with plenty of storage room, along with adequate space for two people, even when set up as twin bedding. The bathroom was well equipped with a large shower and vanity, luxurious toiletries and complimentary non alcoholic mini bar. Our cabin stewards were amazing, so happy and helpful, working with our schedule with ease, not only that but after the first day they noticed our preference for soda water and Diet Coke and made sure we had extra in our mini bar in the remaining days of the cruise. You also get free water bottles for every passenger, which is a great keepsake of your cruise.
Dining, Food and Bars
While on board the Oceania Riviera we chose to enjoy the HIA (House Select) drinks package, which meant that we had beer and wine included within meal times. This is an option on most cruise fares, but for the non drinkers or people who may not find value in this they can opt for an onboard credit instead.
One thing I enjoyed was that it was valid for drinks within the meal service times, not just while you are actually eating. So you can access this in any of the bars or restaurants between 12:30pm – 2:00pm for the lunch time service and 6:30pm – 8:30pm for the evening service. It’s also worth noting that if you have left it a little late to book in your specialty restaurant (of which I was guilty) and end up with a 9pm reservation the drinks are still included for the duration of your meal.
All of the restaurants are included as part of your cruise fare, with the only exception being Privée, which is a private dining room (seating up to 10 people) using menus from Polo Grill and Toscana. This is charged for the room reservation only, not for the actual menu. For the other specialty restaurants you can make bookings online until up to 7 days before the cruise, and then once onboard you can potentially get additional bookings.
As we were quite a late booking on the cruise when we went to book into the specialty restaurants there was only later times left (8.30pm/9pm) however that was as we preferred a table just for the two of us. Even at this late stage there were earlier bookings available if we were happy to share a table with other passengers. This is a great option for solo traveller and groups that like to socialise with other guests. In addition to this you can also head to the restaurants directly on the night and see if they are able to seat you earlier, this was an available option both times we inquired about it.
Seeing as the specialty restaurants are all included at no additional cost I wasn’t expecting such a high quality of offerings, with my personal favorite being Red Ginger, which was the Asian Fusion restaurant and had a mouth watering menu. A few little touches I particularly enjoyed were the Chopstick menu, of which they bring over a selection of different chopsticks and you can choose what you like, as well as serving green tea with the meal, which is traditional in Chinese restaurants but added an extra air of occasion to the evening.
While having a wide variety of Asian Fusion dishes as you would expect, we did also notice a few more Western themed dishes still with a bit of Asian flair, they also advised that they were able to adjust the level of spice with nearly all of their dishes, so great for couples or parties with different tastes.
Other highlights for the specialty restaurants were the cheese souffle at Jacques (French themed), the wide variety of olive oils and balsamic vinegars at Toscana (Italian), amazing quality offerings from all over Italy, great for dipping the homemade crusty bread, as well as the Polo Quartet in the Polo Grill, which was a selection of 4 different desserts as a share plate, perfect for the guests that want to try everything. Other than the specialty restaurants there is also the Main Dining room, with a daily changing menu of international offerings, as well as the Terrace Cafe, which offers a buffet style selection for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
For a more casual option there is also Waves on the pool deck, offering a selection of burgers and sandwiches, great for a light meal or snack around the pool. In all of the restaurants we found the staff friendly and attentive and found the portion sizes more than enough, leading us to then check out the fitness track to work off the extra calories.
All of the bars also offer a nightly “Happy Hour”, and at some point during the cruise they generally host a Captains Cocktail party with cocktails and canapes, this was a great opportunity to meet the crew and officers.
Onboard Facilities Oceania Riviera
Once we were settled in our cabin we set out to explore the rest of the Oceania Riviera, taking in the little nooks like the library and games room, along with the various fitness options like the gym, aerobics/yoga area and fitness track and table tennis table, along with the golf putting green, which was a lot larger than I expected. We also popped our heads into the spa area and had a complimentary head and shoulder massage, they were also offering free seminars on various health topics like acupuncture.
The Aquamar Spa has all the regular inclusions, but there is also an exclusive spa terrace area at the front of the ship set up with luxury sun loungers as well as a hydrotherapy pool, this deck is accessible for spa clients, along with guests in Concierge and above suites. You can take a daily pass for this terrace for $25 if you want to take advantage of the peace and quiet which is great when the main pool area gets busy on sea days. The main pool was a good size for the ship, with lots of sun loungers available, but as mentioned it did get busy on the sea days.
Other things to enjoy whilst onboard are the onboard entertainment, ranging from musical options to guest speakers and even a comedian while we were on there. They also of course have the boutiques and styling salon, as well as a few extra spaces like the Artist Loft, that ran classes on activities like pendant and earring making, along with the Culinary Centre, offering cooking classes at an extra cost. We also very much enjoyed the traditional cruising activity, Bingo, and while we lost every round we had a great time doing it.
Final Thoughts on Oceania Riviera
Overall we had a great time sailing on the Oceania Riviera, whilst we were a little younger than the normal demographic, the theme of the cruise for us was very much relaxation and we found we got plenty of that. Being a domestic cruise we had both experienced most of the options that were offered for shore excursions, so we didn’t take advantage of any of the options offered, but in both ports we did head sore to have a look around and found the shuttles etc to be easy and well organised. The staff, ship and facilities onboard were all of very high quality, and we would happily sail with Oceania again.
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