Intriguing Indian Ocean with 1nt Cape Town Stay, 16 February 2025 (36 nights)

It was a really good cruise despite some strong winds. The food has to be amongst the best that I have had on a cruise ship. The staff were as usual very attentive and looked after us very well. The decor was excellent and the ship had only completed a refurbishment 2 weeks before. Fantastic. The entertainment was not up to standard; one of the speakers was poor and the other's subject matter was not of much interest. There needed to be more speakers particularly as we had 6 sea days. The guest entertainers lacked variety. The 2 who joined the ship half way through, one was a ventriloquist and the other a magician and OK for one performance but not 2.

End of October is not a time to do a fall cruise. 4 out of the 8 stops were cancelled due to various weather conditions and whilst this is not the cruise lines fault their response is. The line provided free drinks for 2 evenings to compensate passengers, as I had bought a premium drinks package this was of no benefit to me. When I asked at reception how I was to be compensated I was told " it was the luck of the draw" and I was not to receive anything! In relation to the cruise itself I found the selection of tours disappointing. The entertainment was acceptable and much better than 5 years ago when I last used oceania ( although this is not a high bar). Food is good and service is like most cruises, good in parts. Outside of the cruise you had provided accommodation and transfers all of which worked well except for the transfer from hotel in new York to cruise terminal. We had to wait one and a half hours make 4 phone calls and listen to excuse after excuse - very poor

Ship in need of refurb . Variety of food and d rink very good but always Luke warm not hot. Entertainment mediocre.pool not a swimming pool a plunge pool . Ship very clean staff excellent in every way . The hotel on day and night prior to cruise although central for everything was poor .Room very small difficult for my husband who is severely sight impaired it was on the 15 th floor lifts worked intermittently.Breakfast included had very little variety. The tours off ship - 3were cancelled we were given option of other tours or money back to on board spend only .Some of the option tour were good some were not so good. When disembarking as we got though customs it was absolute chaos nobody there to tell us were to go to get taxis or go on tour as flight late evening .

Concierge balcony cabin was in poor condition, did not appear to be any benefits of concierge on this 10 day cruise. The panels on the balcony dividers had paint peeling off and the sliding balcony door black dirt and rust.The food was good, but not as claimed by Oceania to be exceptional. The service of the staff was very good, plenty of them and they were attentive. Entertainment was poor, just like a lot of small cruise ships, six singers and dancers, we did not think we're very good. We have cruised seventy times with several different cruise companies,this cruise line we would not use again.