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Nautica Down Under |
| Reviewed By: blay, great missenden on 2nd Mar 2008 |
| Cruise Line: Oceania Cruises |
Times cruised before: 10+ |
| Cruise Ship: Nautica |
Sailed:
January,
2008 |
| Destination: Australasia |
Age: 65+ |
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First impressions are not always the best, thank goodness. After having to queue for 90 minutes to pass Australian Customs in Sydneywe then had to wait for a similar length of time on board ship to get photographed and issued with cabin keys by which time passengers were getting rather distraught.
We had not sailed with Oceania Cruises before but Nautica was very similar to Swan Hellenic’s Minerva ll apart from the addition of a casino. This is not surprising since both ships, including Regatta and Insignia, were both part of the original Renaissance fleet of 6 ships. Cabins were comfortable and adequate apart from the bathrooms which are best described as pokey. We had a forward facing cabin with a balcony which on one occasion leaked water in heavy rain and on another the balcony door got blown off its bottom runners on opening in heavy wind (my fault).
The Dining Experience was one of the best we have experienced on a cruise ship including Silversea and Seabourn. Dining was single seating in the Grand Dining Room and there always seemed to be tables for two readily available. The two supplementary dining areas, The Polo Grill and Toscana were both excellent as was The Terrace Cafe. One thing that impressed was the very high level of professionalism and courtesy shown by the waiting staff in all locations. The wine list was extensive but an 18% gratuity added made wines expensive by UK standards, with House wines at approximately $34 a bottle.
Afternoon Tea, served in the Horizons Bar was a delight to the accompaniment of a string quartet. Dining was also very relaxed since smart casual “Country Club Attire” was only required. This was generally interpreted as short sleeve shirts and, on rare occasions, base ball hats.
At the entrance to each dining area, and the gangway, a voluntary hand sanitizer dispenser was located. In my opinion, now that norovirus is a scourge of cruising these dispensers should not be voluntary but made mandatory. This could be implemented by having a crew member at each of these locations with a hand held dispenser. Those people who take no notice of the existing system, and from experience there are quite a few, are more than likely to be ones entering dining areas with contaminated hands!
The library was excellent and very well stocked including a small paper back section. E-mail access was excellent with approximately 12-15 PC’s available. The system was such that you were only charged $2 to send and $2 to receive, charges were not levied as soon as you started typing as they are on some ships.
The excursion programme was extensive and excursions were quite expensive. Excursions can be pre-booked on line and several weeks prior to the cruise we were sent 19 pages of A4 giving detailed summaries of each excursion and prices. On booking on line we found that for some reason there had been a carte blanche increase of $10 in the price of every excursion.
The entertainment was typical cruise ship style, but one puppet act by the British Cruise Director (Ray Solaire) was well above average. The lecture programme was of an extremely high standard and Oceania Cruises are to be congratulated on their choice of lecturers. On-board activities also included shuffleboard, table tennis and golf putting, well organised and run by the entertainment staff.
Finally, although some of this review is adverse, we would be more than happy to cruise again with Oceania
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| All | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
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