Oceania Cruises’ Riviera, sister ship of Marina delivered in January 2011, was christened in Barcelona on Friday, May 11. At 66,084 tons, she would have been one of the largest in the world two decades ago, but is now just a footnote in an age where cruise ships have exceeded 225,000 tons and carry more than 6,000 passengers. In fact, more than 100 cruise ships exceed the size of these two sisters. But those big ships, with all their children’s attractions (and we all know that some adults are just grown up children), are much more like fun fairs than the cruise ships we used to know.
Riviera and her sister ship, however, are built to a more human scale, retaining their attachment to the sea. They are not, like the big ships, travelling engineering marvels. But they are sophisticated.
As in days of yore, these ships exude quality on board and offer a quality cruising experience, reminscent of the style New Yorkers used to experience in Home Lines’ Oceanic, the first large purpose-built cruise ship, and Holland America Line’s once Transatlantic liner Rotterdam in the 1960s and 70s, and Brits knew with P&O’s traditional Canberra and Oriana after they went cruising, while both sides shared the same experience in Cunard Line’s Caronia. Riviera and Marina are very similar in dimensions if not in tonnage to these well-remembered ships, much as if this style of ship has returned after half a century:
Ship Built Gross tons Dimensions Lower Berths
Caronia 1949 34,183 715 x 91’ 932
Rotterdam 1959 38,645 748 x 94’ 1,150
Oriana 1960 41,920 804 x 98’ 1,350
Canberra 1961 44,807 818 x 103’ 1,399
Oceanic 1965 39,241 782 x 97’ 1,200
Riviera 2012 66,048 777 x 105’ 1,250
Oceania Cruises has furthermore pulled a brilliant coup by positioning their ships as upper premium rather than ultra-luxury. This means that it is easier to exceed passengers’ expectations when the ships’ position in the market is understated.
This formula has won the day for Oceania and the proof of it is in the 2012 issue of the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships. Not only has Marina, the first of the twins, scored highly, achieving a full five stars and 1701 points out of 2000, but she has eclipsed her own supposedly more upmarket stablemates over at Regent Seven Seas Cruises, the all-inclusive arm of Prestige Cruise Holdings. Ironically, and I’m sure this is not what Prestige intended, the three Regent ships have received only four stars plus and an average of 1633 points out of 2000.
The reviews for both of the new ships have been consistently good, with the only criticism being that unlike the traditional cruise ships named above the new sisters have no walkaround promenade deck. However, the new Oceania sisters measure an impressive 52.8 tons per passenger, offering about a third more space per passenger compared to the average of about 40 on most contemporary ships.
The Riviera will offer a total of twenty Mediterranean cruises before heading for her new home port of Miami in November. Meanwhile, with two new ships now delivered to Oceania, it was reported that the top executives from both Prestige Cruise Holdings and the Italian shipbuilders Fincantieri who built the latest pair, were back on board Riviera negotiating the next newbuilding for Regent Seven Seas. And in the UK market, Oceania last week introduced free flights from London.
For details on any Oceania or Regent cruise please call Gay Scruton at The Cruise People Ltd in London on 020 7723 2450 or e-mail cruise@cruisepeople.co.uk.
THE CRUISE EXAMINER at Cybercruises.com
As May 26, 1992, saw the initial departure of the Radisson Diamond, so this Saturday marked the twentieth anniversary of what is now Regent Seven Seas Cruises. We take a brief look this week at the important events that have shaped that line over the past two decades. Also this weekend, Sophia Loren baptised the new MSC Divina in Marseilles and the ms Hamburg departed Nice on her inaugural voyage for Plantours & Partner. She will be officially introduced to the German market at an event to be held in Hamburg in early June. Finally, the Cruise Examiner is on board Croisières de France’s new Horizon, the latest product of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and replacement for the Bleu de France, and will report on the latest French cruise ship next week.
