I think I've finally decided on a trip for our 25th wedding anniversary. 10 day southern Caribbean cruise. The line that offers most of the ports I am interested in seeing is Holland America on the Oosterdam.
Rivieras on cruise critic or trip advisor are not great. Any advice? I have cruised norwegian epic and it was great. I want this one to be special for our 25th

We cruised on the Oosterdam earlier this year and really enjoyed it. It's not a party ship but if you are celebrating your 25th, then you probably don't want a party ship. The cabin (balcony cabin) was good, good service throughout the ship, swimming pool with removable roof, good entertainment plus a range of teaching sessions on cameras, computers etc.
On sea days, we spent a lot of time in the Crows Nest which includes the library, computers, coffee shop, bar and lots of comfortable seating areas.

Hi Hoo,

We took the Oosterdaam from Vancouver to Seward this past August.

Excellent all the way, except that we thought the food was sort of bland.

Have a great trip.

If you viewed N Epic as great. You may need to define great for us in order to a better response. You do recognize that you comparing two very different ships. The Epic has 4100 passengers is consider a mega ship. The Oosterdam with 1900 is a different experience. Big difference in size of ship, activities, etc. You may have different expectations that the Oosterdam cannot match. You are not doing a true apple to apple comparison.

....Rivieras on cruise critic or trip advisor are not great....

Not great ??? I just read the cruise critic staff's review. Four out of five is not bad and the majority of the 600+ reviews from passengers give high marks, 4/5. What are you looking for? If looking for a perfect 5 out of 5, you probably are not going to get 5/5 for any ship.

The Epic also received a 4 out of five from the cruise critic but only 3/5 from 1700+ passengers. The cruise critic call it, " Norwegian Epic is big, brassy, bold and ballsy."

If that is why you thought it was great, you will be disappointed in the Oosterdam. It is a much calmer ship.

As I posted earlier, you are compare to really different ships.

Let me clarify I'm not looking for a 5 out of 5 and I am very aware of the differences between the epic and oosterdam. All of the reviews for 2015 were 2.5 to 3 and not 4.5. Maybe we are not looking at the same reviews. The things I liked about the epic were good food, entertainment in the duelling piano bar, great balcony cabin. For my first cruise experience, we had a great time with friend so n the epic. I just want this trip to be special.