old style cruise ships
 

I've been on Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas and HAL's Maasdam within the last year and both were very nice, but next time I think I'd like to go on one of the older ships because I hear they're very elegant, and the food is more gourmet or a notch above, because the ships are smaller and have fewer people to serve. I know the cabins aren't as large or as plush and there will be fewer activities and amenities. Any suggestions?

Sue

Check into the Oceania Cruise line...they are exactly what you want....we do too..They are the old Ren. ships..they have qa Regatta and Insignia...There is also the Orient a subsidiary of NCL which we will be booking with a little bit of luck for a trans-Atlantic in January

Oceania is not recommended

In the 70's, I sailed the Alexander Pushkin, at the time being operated by one of the Soviet bloc countries (forget which). Lovely ship but awful food and service. That said, she has been sold, extensively refurbished and is now operating in Europe as the upscale Marco Polo. Reviews are good.

In my experience, however, you cannot beat Seabourn for elegance and a gourmet experience. The ships are small (only about 200 passengers) and the service is superb (just about a 1:1 ratio between passengers and crew).

I have sailed Princess and will never do it again.

To Manycruiser,

The Regatta is one of the ships I am considering for my next cruise. Therefore, I am wondering what you don't like about this cruise line. The more info I have the better my decision will hopefully be. Thanks

Mandy, just do a search under Oceania and Regatta......rather than rehash the whole thing, there is plenty of information and differing opinions. I really dislike that cruise line, and it's staff. I find it hard to believe that they will stay in business for any length of time. Remember this is my opinion.........It was our 18th cruise, and we were looking forward to it ending.........two weeks, was about 13 days too long.

'manycruiser" you must be one of the few that dislike Oceania.. Conde Naste has it rated as #3. One of the reasons I have not chosen Oceania for our "special" cruise is that it is in March or April and I've been told it's sold out, plus as one person told me of the "country club atmosphere". I also receive daily (including today) a digest of postings and most are about corkage fees,, items that are not of interest. The itineraries for the two itineraries that I've compared with Orient are very similiar, but Orient is going at a more convenient time for us. On our one trip on RCI I hated almost the entire experience of massive check in lines, mediocre food, indifferent service, but the sh8ip was gorgeous. There is an Oceania forum..

In 2002, we took a Med. cruise on Orient's Marco Polo. Smaller ship, great ports. We'll do it again. Don't know your age group but it is a more "mature" crowd.

ParrotMom:
I am looking at the 2004 Conde Nast November issue.

And I quote

"In their fourth annual readers' survey, readers rate the best experiences cruising has to offer?from 70-passenger adventure ships to Vegas-like liners."

These are in three categories

Large Ships
1500 or more passengers
Constellation
Celebrity, 89.1 overall
Summit
Celebrity, 89.0 overall
Radiance of the Seas
Royal Caribbean, 88.1 overall

Medium Ships( No mention of Oceania at all)
Between 500 to 1500 passengers
Crystal Symphony
Crystal, 92.2 overall
Crystal Harmony
Crystal, 89.5 overall
Seven Seas Mariner
Radisson Seven Seas, 88.5 overall

Small Ships
500 passengers or less
Paul Gauguin
Radisson Seven Seas, 97.7 overall
Seven Seas Navigator
Radisson Seven Seas, 95.3 overall
Silver Cloud
Silversea, 93.1 overall

You can cut and paste this link to see all of the ships in each category. Oceania, is nowhere to be seen.

http://www.cruisedirectonline.com/70bestcruiseships.htm

I am not sure where you got that information, but all ratings are done by number of passengers, and Oceania isn't there.

It is probably sold out, because of all of advertising hype. What really counts are the repeat customers.

Our non-Oceania South America cruise has been sold out for 5 months except for the very expensive top suites.

My sincere apologies MANYCRUISER... I subscribe to at least four travel magazines and I quoted the wrong magazine...http://www.travelandleisure.com/worl...=otherccruises
As for a "mature crowd".. well sadly or happily we are retired, but very young at heart..and I won't hold it against the other retirees..

Mature crowd.........that must be those 90 and above........

I'll still go with Conde Nast.........

The Conde Nast "surveys" are about as biased as they come. First of all, they are only filled out by people who subscribe to the Conde Nast travel magazine and are probably little more than a popularity contest amongst the people who even bother to respond (something I never do for example) AND you have to realize the demographics of the responders involved.

I think you'll get a much more unbiased view if you ALSO read reviews of ships, etc., at cruise sites such as cruisecritic.com and cruise-addicts.com

Read these CAREFULLY and discount the unsubstantiated opinions such as , "the staff was rude" or "the ship was dirty" or "the cabin was small."

And YOu are already behind the power curve if you actually believe what you have "heard" in terms of the so-called elegance on some of these older ships...you have a lot of research ahead of you and hopefully your efforts will pay off. one man's "elegance" is another man's "tacky." Good luck!

We took a tour of the new Amsterdam of H.A. when it was in Boston and went through their specialty restaurant and the only thing I could think with the heavy gold trimming, red and gold trim was a "house of ill-repute".. As for the "over 90" group...on our very first cruise perhaps 17 or 18 years .ago we were seated with some very, very old seniors.. We wanted to change tables, but nothing was available. The oldest couple were the hit of the ship....he sang to his "sweet Alice" and was such a darling man, an interesting man... On another cruise I met an elderly gentleman involved in "clock company".. after the cruise and I realized what he had been talking about I could kick myself...he knew all about the famous Chelsea Clocks and it just didn't dawn on me.. he was the present owner.... I was younger then..but talk to me... I've been places where other people dream of going before they became tourist traps...Age is only in the mind...your mind.

We cruised on the Marco Polo last year, and Oceania's Insignia this month. In our opinion, the Insignia was far superior, and we can't wait to cruise Oceania again.

The cabins are significantly larger, the ship is more elegant, the food is much better, as was the service.

We usually select a cruise based solely on itinerary, but this was the first time we liked a ship so much that we would sail almost anywhere it's going.

Abram, you just made my day. We are booked on the Insignia and all I can find are old posts re this ship. Some of them are less than complimentary about this cruise line. So pleased to hear that you were happy and so was Parrotmom - even 2 years down the line.

We've been on another Oceania cruise in 2005 and were just as pleased. There's an Oceania board at cruisecritic, and yopu'll find lots of inormation (and fans) over there.

We are in our mid 40's, not big partiers, and are considering Oceania because of the itinerary. We have heard it is an older crowd. Will we be bored, feel like we our vacationing with a group of senior citizens? It is an expensive trip, and want to make a good decision.

Much has changed since I first wrote. We have sailed Celebrity Century trans-atlantic last y ear and just love the ship.. It's not a mega sized ship and has been rehabbed.. For next year we are looking at all three of the Celebrity ships trans-atlantic.. the Century, the Millineum and the Galaxy.. Sadly my friend who was on the Marco Polo TWICE this year and absolutely loves the ship..said the food had gone downhill..From what a woman has written about HA.. they are for "the nearly in the ground"..lol.. Oceania I've told is very upscale and country clubish.. I did find a difference the Celebrity Century....actually from the late 30's to u p..lo with believe it or not a few well behaved children on board.

Have you checked out Cunard's QE2?

PM...HI!! Hey I have as usual been chatting with my TA, everything and anything. He got all excited back in June when 2 couples booked the 35th Anniversay trips for well right now....Nautica, Istanbul to Athens, Balcony about $8K each cabin...Then on October 12, he got to his office and had a voicemail from Oceania offering full refund plus $3K CASH-O-LA!! They had oversold the cruise!! Now, the cruise lines may do this deriguer, but he was astounded that Oceania would do that.The cruisers went on as scheduled and he heard nothing from them so he is relieved.But now, I am leary.Not that I'm ready to book, I really wouldnt do more than a 7-day cruise anyways.But one never knows...Hope you and PP are fine....:D