Outback Byways from Sydney, 2 December 2026 (14 nights)

Riviera is showing its age. Overall a nice ship. Food is excellent in all the restaurants and the staff are fabulous. We found the excursions were very well organised (but expensive). We had the House beverage package so wine or champagne by the glass (no limit) or beers. Coffee, soft drinks and water were all included which was a nice touch. On the downside, the entertainment was not to our taste. We are 67 years old and felt the music (including a string quartet) was aimed at an older audience. The most modern song that we heard the house band play was from 1982. Generally it was Frank Sinatra, the Carpenters etc. Would have liked some more modern music other than in the disco slot after 11pm. We were disappointed that the policy of not reserving loungers was never enforced. I have added pictures to show how the loungers were all reserved early in the day and were never relinquished. The ship accounting was poor. When we boarded we were given $750 on board spend. When we checked our on board account on entering our cabin it showed I was in debt to the tune of $350! We were told it was a mix up and we had been charged again for excursions we had booked pre cruise. We would have liked an on board App like the sister company NCL. Indeed, most lines have n App. We found the booking for the speciality restaurants was confusing. We booked 4 nights before we boarded in line with what the web site advised we were entitled to. On boarding we happened to see the desk where additional bookings were being made and we got a further 2 nights booked. We had a concierge cabin and asked our concierge to see if we could get any other nights in the speciality restaurants but with no success. Indeed we didn’t get any benefit of having the concierge. I guess that 6 nights out of an 18 night cruise might not be too bad but we still don’t really know what we were actually entitled to. Although this was our first Oceania cruise we have taken 34 cruises in all and 14 of those were with NCL so our issues mentioned above were not based on a first time experience of cruising. So in conclusion, would we cruise with Oceania again? Yes, but we would choose a newer ship such as Vista or Allura. We doubt that we would book Riviera again unless the itinerary was particularly unusual or unique.

Nice ship, although a little tired in places. Good facilities - Library, games/card room, art room Cabin good and fairly spacious

Overall enjoyable experience. However lack of communication re cancelled visit to Malacca was very disappointing. Friendly & helpful staff. Food although delicious was sometimes not served hot enough. Excursions were expensive and did not represent good value. Pool area good. Stateroom disappointingly small. . Air con very cold in some areas. No notification of cruise port change in Singapore led to inconvenience and long delay over one hour as transfer taxi at wrong centre.

A lovely small to medium ship and despite its age it was in immaculate condition. The cabin was spacious and the bathroom the vest I've experienced on a cruise ship. As for the food. . . outstanding. All in all a wonderful experience and I've been on many cruises.