This was our first time sailing on Oceania. We were concerned about going on this cruise given the Nautica is badly in need of renovations. And these renovations are not to occur until June of this year, when the ship is scheduled to go into dry dock for a couple of weeks. However, considering the 30-day itinerary from Dubai to Cape Town, including the various stops in Oman, India, the Maldives, the Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion Island and several ports in South Africa, an itinerary that we really liked, we decided to overlook the ship’s tired physical condition.

A second factor that swayed our decision was Oceania’s ‘reported’ longstanding reputation for serving some of the finest food of any of the cruise companies. Weighing these factors, we decided to proceed with booking this cruise.

Our sailing experience on the Nautica clearly DID NOT measure up to Oceania’s longstanding high quality culinary reputation, nor our overall high expectations for this specific cruise. The cruise frankly was a sad disappointment for us. Read more