Size Matters: Why We Prefer Oceania Cruises Larger Ships

Introduction:  Our Panama Canal Cruise on Oceania Sirena

How to Save Money on an Oceania Cruises Sailing

Oceania Cruises Fleet Explained

Delta First Class Review Atlanta (ATL) to Panama City (PTY)

Westin Playa Bonita Panama Pre-Cruise Hotel Review

Panama Canal Marriott Bonvoy Hotel Options Ranked

Panama Canal New Cruise Terminal Still a Work in Progress

Boarding a Cruise Ship During a Norovirus Outbreak

Oceania Cruises Sirena Vista Suite 6003 Review

What Does Oceania Cruises’ Country Club Casual Dress Code Really Mean?

Oceania Cruises Wine and Spirits Tasting Experiences

What to Expect on a Panama Canal Full Transit

Oceania Cruises Sirena Dining Review

Great Stirrup Cay, Oceania Cruises Private Island???

What Happens When Oceania Cruises Skips a Port Due to Weather?

The Pros and Cons of Sailing on Oceania’s Smallest R-Class Ships

Size Matters, Why We Prefer Oceania Cruises Larger Ships

Introduction

In this, our last post on our Panama Canal sailing aboard Oceania Cruises’ Sirena, we’d like to provide our final thoughts.  Ultimately, because Sirena is one of four nearly identical R-Class ships, we thought that it would be helpful to frame these thoughts around why we enjoyed our cruise on Sirena but would have likely enjoyed it more on one of the larger ships – Marina, Riviera, Vista, or the upcoming Allura.  So with that we’ll begin explaining why,  size matters, why we prefer Oceania Cruises larger ships.

Movement

I’m very fortunate to have never suffered seasickness or really motion sickness of any kind.  My better half cannot say the same.  She very much feels the motion of the ocean and it can impact her enjoyment of our cruising vacations.  We have generally been fortunate that she hasn’t experienced much seasickness until that last three cruises.  What all three of these cruises have in common is that we were not in our preferred mid-ship location being at the very front in the Vista Suite on Sirena, at the very back in the Galapagos aboard Celebrity Flora, and at the very top of Norwegian Jewel in Alaska.  NCL’s Jewel is a much larger ship than the others and even though the weather was much rougher than what we experienced on Sirena or Flora, my wife really experienced more issues on the smaller ships in calmer seas.  On smaller ships this is always going to be more of a challenge as they’re not as stable in rough seas and more prone to the type of movement that causes her problems.  For this reason alone smaller ships have become a harder sell in our house.

Amenities

The larger ships just have more amenities.  These are less important to us on port-intensive itineraries.  But on our Sirena cruise we had a Panama Canal cruise we had a few scheduled sea days and picked up an “extra” with a cancelled port stop.  We found ourselves missing the Artist Loft, the Culinary Center, and the larger fitness facilities and casinos on these days.  Heck, we even missed having larger retail shops to stroll through.

Our Fellow Passengers

Let me start by saying we made a lot of friends on this cruise and really enjoyed our time with them on board and on excursions.  But we did notice that on a longer sailing on a smaller ship and visiting the Panama Canal that the average age on board was probably 10 years older than on the larger ships on shorter sailings.  We’re in our mid-40s and we’d venture to guess that the average age on board started with a 7.  On board the larger ships this tends to be in the early 60s and on shorter, port-intensive sailings, can drift down into the high 50s.  On the larger ships we just find that we have more in common with our fellow passengers and don’t have to make as much of an effort to seek out the young and young at heart as it just happens naturally. 

Dining

We missed having the separate Toscano and Polo Grill as well as the absence of Jacques.  For us, the dining options aboard Marina and Riviera, the O-Class twins, is the best in the fleet.  This includes the wine-pairing dinners offered at La Reserve.  We will say that the food in the Grand Dining Room aboard Sirena was excellent and on par with what we receive on the bigger ships.  We also had some of our most memorable meals at Reg Ginger on Sirena and put it at or even slightly above what we’ve experienced on the bigger ships.  While Terrace Cafe is rarely our top choice for meals, we do prefer the buffet set-up on the larger ships over the R-Class ships.  It just flows better with a true mirror-image set-up of the buffet lines.

Entertainment

We aren’t the ones waiting in line every night waiting for the doors to the theater to open, but we do occasionally like to take in one of the shows.  This isn’t confirmed by Oceania Cruises, but it’s our strong suspicion that not only do the larger ships get more performers they also get better, more seasoned, performers.  This isn’t universally true, but on the average we have found this to be the case.

Final Approach

As we’ve mentioned previously, one of the ways we like to save money on Oceania Cruises is by booking our next one while on board.  Proof is in the pudding, and on our last two cruises aboard Vista and Sirena we booked a second cruise on Vista and another on Marina the newest and the “oldest” of Oceania’s larger ships.  It’s going to require a very special itinerary before we book another cruise on one of the small R-Class ships, like a circumnavigation of Japan during cherry blossom season or a Norwegian Fjords cruise (both are on our cruise wish list).

With that we conclude this post on how size matters, why we prefer Oceania Cruises larger ships as well as the end of this trip report on our Sirena cruise.  For all those NCL fans out there our next series is about or Alaska cruise in NCL’s largest suite at sea, the 3-Bedroom Garden Villa.  We hope you’ll join us on board! – Michael