Post-Trip Summary and Ratings Part 2: Oceania Panama Canal Cruise 2025
A good, not great cruise!
Welcome to Part 2 of my post-trip summary and ratings for our just-completed Florida and Oceania Cruise Lines Panama Canal cruise. Part 1 covered our pre-trip planning and the five days in Florida. This part will look at the various aspects of our 16-day cruise.
Background on Our Cruising, Oceania Cruise Lines, Cruise Itinerary
Background on our cruise travel and this cruise:
This was our 39th cruise overall (including three river cruises in the US)
This was our 10th cruise on Oceania Cruise Lines.
This was our second Panama Canal Transit (the first was on the Royal Princess in November, 1996).
We now have had 385 days on boats and ships in our travel lives, which is quite strange considering that we live in doubly-landlocked and rather dry Colorado. We both like being on a vessel that is on a river, a lake or the ocean, but we don’t necessarily want to go to a beach (go figure).
On this cruise, we received our silver level goodies in the Oceania Club for this cruise and probably will be at gold level on the next cruise. This was our first cruise on Vista, a new ship for the Oceania fleet.
We booked a concierge level stateroom on Deck 9 (cabin 9012, located forward on the port side) for this cruise on Vista. We usually like the Port side best, although there are really no advantages to a cabin on either the Port or Starboard side. However, in this case, the Port side was more advantageous for the canal transit.
Background on Oceania Cruise Lines and Vista:
Oceania Cruise Lines is one of three cruise companies under the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) group. Luxury-class Regent Cruise Lines is also part of this group. Oceania markets themselves as “the best cuisine at sea” and is considered an “light luxury” cruise line; they cater to an older crowd looking for a more sedate environment, longer cruises, and more intriguing ports of call. Oceania now has seven ships in their fleet, with an eighth coming on board this year (Allura).
Four of the Oceania ships are in the Regatta class and were originally built for the defunct Renaissance Cruise Lines in the late 1990s; these ships carry about 750-800 passengers and are in the 30,000 gross tonnage range (quite small compared to the current Leviathans of the Sea). We have been on all four ships in this class at least once (Regatta, Nautica, Insignia, Sirena).
Two of the Oceania ships are in the Oceania class and were built specifically for this cruise line in the early 2010’s. The two ships are Marina and Riviera and they carry 1250 passengers and are in the 66,000 gross tonnage range (as a comparison, the largest ship in the world, RCL’s Icon of the Seas, is at nearly 249,000 gross tons). We have been on Marina twice and have not been in Riviera.
The latest ship in the fleet, Vista, came on-line in 2023 and is part of the Allura Class. This ship is about the same size as Marina and Riviera (passenger complement and gross tonnage). A sister ship, Allura, makes its debut later this year. As I noted in part 1 of the write-up we booked this cruise on Vista in January 2023, before the ship was even in service.
Oceania Cruise Lines has ordered two new ships (class TBD) that will carry 1450 passengers, with the first coming on-line in 2027.
Oceania touts a policy of “country club casual” in most of their venues.
Vista Cruise Itinerary:
Our 16-day cruise had an initial itinerary as follows (this was what we booked). We liked the itinerary because of the days at sea and the canal transit, plus we would get two more countries in our list:
Depart Port of Miami, Florida January 8
Day at Sea January 9
Georgetown, Grand Cayman January 10 (our fourth visit to this port)
Day at Sea January 11
Cartagena, Colombia January 12 (our third visit to this port)
Panama Canal Transit (Caribbean to Pacific) January 13 (our second transit)
Day at Sea January 14
Puntarenas, Costa Rica January 15 (our second visit to this port)
Corinto, Nicaragua January 16 (our first visit to this port and country)*
Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala January 17 (our first visit to this port and country)
Day at Sea January 18
Acapulco, Mexico January 19 (our second visit to this port)
Day at Sea January 20
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico January 21 (our first visit to this port)
Day at Sea January 22
Ensenada, Mexico January 23 (our first visit to this port)
Disembark Port of Los Angeles (Long Beach) January 24
*While we were in Florida just before the cruise, we were informed that the stop in Nicaragua had been canceled. Oceania optimistically thought that this country would finally open up their ports to cruise travel, but that wasn’t the case (and they shouldn’t have scheduled it IMHO). So we didn’t get to add Nicaragua to our list of total countries (now at 60) but did get Guatemala on that list. We also elected to stay on-board in Cartagena and Acapulco (due to State Department advisories) and we canceled an excursion in Ensenada. We ended up with LOTS of great downtime on the ship!
Overview of the Amenities on Vista
This section includes a list of the amenities and services that are found on Vista. A gallery of some of those amenities is also included. No opinions are given (yet), so keep reading! You can go to this link to see the deck plans.
General Dining:
Grand Dining Room (aft Deck 6) - serves breakfast on most days, lunch usually on days at sea and dinner every evening starting at 6:30 pm. No reservations required, but you might have to share a table.
Terrace Buffet (aft Deck 12, indoor and outdoor seating) - This large buffet restaurant has many stations with a ridiculous variety of self-serve and server-provided items for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Waves Grill (starboard side near the pool Deck 12, outdoor but sheltered seating) - Casual lunches and pizza in the evenings! (The pizza is only on Vista).
Aquamar (only on Vista, opposite the Waves Grill location on deck 12 on port side) - “Healthy” breakfast and lunch options. We never tried it, being decidedly unhealthy in our cruise eating habits.
Baristas and Bakery - Deck 14 above the pool and in front of the library - Light breakfasts and lunches, coffee drink specialities (no additional fee)
Room Service is available 24/7
The Concierge lounge near our cabin had breakfast makings every day, cookies, sodas and other amenities.
Photos Copyright © 2025 Steven and Barbara Sande
Specialty Dining - all specialty restaurants require a reservation, but there are no additional fees imposed except for Privee:
Red Ginger (deck 5 port side aft) - Asian-fusion bistro, with many dishes inspired by the cuisines of China, Japan and other Asian countries.
Ember (deck 5 starboard side aft) - Eclectic menu with a variety of different dishes (steaks, chops, fish & chips, burgers). It will be replaced later this year with Jacques (more on this in the ratings)
Polo Grill (deck 14 starboard side aft) - Elegant steak and seafood venue.
Toscana (deck 14 port side aft) - Italian specialties.
Privee (deck 14 aft) - This is a fee-based reservation restaurant with a small number of seats. Pricy tasting menus with wine pairings (we didn’t try it).
Lounges and Bars:
Horizons (Deck 14 forward) - A large bar venue with windows on three sides. This is a popular hangout before dinner (happy hour prices) and they usually have entertainment in the evenings.
Martini’s (Deck 6 mid-ship) - A more intimate lounge with piano entertainment and a martini specialty menu.
Grand Lounge (Deck 6 near Grand Dining Room) - Another smaller lounge
Founder’s Bar (Deck 6 near the Casino) - Another smaller lounge
Waves Bar (Deck 12 near pool) - Outdoor bar used during the day for people around the pool.
Vista Lounge (Deck 5 forward) - The theater venue for this ship. We rarely or never see shows, so we only saw this waiting for shore excursions.
Other amenities:
Culinary Center (Deck 14 forward port side) - Cooking classes (booked in advance for a fee) are held in this well-stocked area with many cooking stations.
Art Center (Deck 14 forward starboard side) - Art classes are featured in this center.
Lync Digital center (Deck 14 forward next to art center) - Help with internet and classes for smart phone users.
Casino (deck 6 mid-ships) - A place to waste money if you want (we don’t).
Spa and Wellness Center (Deck 15 forward) - Big spa area, a therapy pool some workout equipment (we didn’t use this).
Main pool and spas (Deck 12 midships)
Walking track (Deck 14 above the pool)
Boutiques (Deck 5 midships) - a few shops
Guest Services and Destination Services (Deck 5 midships)
Putting course, Bocce ball, etc. (Decks 15 and 16)
Our stateroom amenities (Concierge veranda cabin 9012):
Queen bed
Seating area with desk, couch and chair
Outdoor veranda with chairs and table
Large flatscreen TV (never turned on in our room)
Storage space in closets and drawers
Large bathroom with huge walk-in shower
Ok, enough of the tour guide stuff. Now let’s get to the ratings!
Overall Rating for this Cruise: 4.0/5.0
Best Experiences:
Excursions and Ports:
Panama Canal Transit - Always a very interesting experience! We took many pictures and enjoyed our second transit right from our comfy chairs on our veranda on the port side (Steve did get a few pictures from the decks).
Excursion in Guatemala - This excursion, named “Guatemala Gastronomy and Antigua” was superb. We traveled to the historic city of Antigua Guatemala (a former capital) and had yummy food treats in two places, an excellent overview of the city and a great guide and driver.
Shipboard Amenities, Dining, Service
Best meals
Toscana - Steve had the yummy pasta trio and I had a special entree created by Giada De Laurentis for this venue. The entree had grilled shrimp with a lemon cream/mascarpone sauce on spaghetti and I ate it ALL. The salads and soups were also good, as was the dessert.
Polo Grill - We both had an 8-oz New York Strip with sides and it was very good (in fact, this was the best Polo Grill on all of the ships so far).
Ember - I had the fish and chips and Steve had a thick pork chop. We enjoyed this venue that is unique to Vista and are sorry to see that the naysayers are forcing them to replace it with Jacques, the French restaurant already on Marina and Riviera.
Pizza in Waves (we did this FOUR times) and lunchtime sandwiches in Waves (especially the Cuban). Always good!
Afternoon Tea in Horizons - Lots of yummy sweet and savory snacks, good enough for dinner. Served with many varieties of tea.
Best Lounges
Horizons is the best lounge on-board, with plenty of comfortable seating (including tables) and great views although the sightlines are interrupted by big columns.
Best Amenities in the Stateroom (one BIG negative and another lesser complaint later)
The bathroom was wonderful, with the huge shower and two shower heads (handheld, rain shower).
Comfortable bed with linens changed frequently
Comfortable (and at the right height) table that we could both use with me sitting on the couch and Steve in the desk chair.
Lighting feature for nighttime toilet visits (low blue lighting, low lighting in restroom)
Best Entertainment - Cooking Class
We took one cooking class (Cocina Mexicana) and had a great time preparing some yummy items (with lots of help).
Best Hangout Spot
We sat in Baristas and the Bakery area almost every morning to have a light breakfast and catch up on games, writing and scrolling.
Internet Service
Vista uses Starlink service and it was great. We paid for premium service and rarely, if ever, had a problem with downloads and uploads except for my idiotic Comcast email problem because of a moving IP address.
Best Shipboard Service
Room Attendants did a fantastic job every day.
One bar waiter (Artem from Kyrgyzstan) was very attentive and even comped us a couple of drinks. There were other really good bar personnel, too.
The servers in Baristas were awesome (quite friendly).
Service in Polo Grill and Red Ginger was excellent.
The Cruise Director Silas was a great announcer and very friendly individual.
Other:
We had the six days at sea and also did not get off the ship in Cartagena, Acapulco or Ensenada, resulting in a very relaxing journey!
Average or So-So Experiences:
Shore Excursions:
Grand Cayman - this was merely ok, a tour that stopped at “Hell” (rock formations), at a store selling Rumcakes and at the Turtle Conservation Center.
Costa Rica - This tour had a stop at a big tourist store and then a strange boat trip on a river with some animal sightings (the boat stayed pretty much in the same small area of the river because it is the dry season).
Dining:
Grand Dining Room - We ate here three times. The food was decent, service was very indifferent. The space is too brightly lit, IMHO.
Red Ginger - Steve liked his selections, but mine were marred by a Miso soup that was inedible (tasted like a French perfume) and an entree (Udon beef) that was merely ok but too big.
Aquamar - This place (breakfast and lunch) seems popular but we would look at the menu every day and decide to move on. Too much stuff with avocado and they served lots of those veggie “Buddha bowls”, which are not in my wheelhouse. Anyplace that makes omelets using fake “vegan” cheeses is not going to get my business.
Stateroom:
Not enough storage space - there is one closet and many drawers, but the drawers are quite shallow.
Ship Decor:
The ship decor left us cold. There were lots of boring abstract modern art pieces (with a few exceptions) and a completely wasted space for the fancy atrium area. The Founder’s Bar looked like a waiting room in a Doctor’s office and Martini’s resembled an airport lounge. The color tones are ok, but rather bland. The Vista Lounge was very uncomfortable (hard seats with weird pink cushions) and had strange sightlines (we didn’t see any shows). Some cheap materials were used for paneling.
Seating:
Seats are too close together in most venues, causing some concern for people falling and trying to find a path out of the venue.
Entertainment:
The shipboard lounge entertainers played a lot of the same things over and over again and not that well (House bands, pianist, string quartet).
Ship Crew:
Other than Silas, we barely met or saw any of the crew members, including the Captain who skipped our returning cruiser reception for those in the higher categories.
Debarkation:
The debarkation process in Los Angeles was poorly handled, with many passengers creating lines and blocking areas instead of sitting and waiting for their announcements as requested.
Worst Experiences:
Shore Excursions:
The shore excursion in Cabo San Lucas was pretty bad (see Steve’s write-up on the blog for the full story).
Dining:
Terrace Buffet - We ended up hating the buffet restaurant on this ship. It has been a favorite on other Oceania ships. The food was bland, at best, some of the goodies that we knew from past cruises are now gone, and people are serving themselves at some of the stations (a sure way to spread ailments through the passengers and crew). We ate two breakfasts there and only one real dinner.
Drink costs:
There are no reasonably priced drink packages and Oceania eliminated one package that was a fairly good option (wine and beer at lunch and dinner). Steve drinks at most one alcoholic drink a day and would like a variety of N/A beers (no such luck - he drank probably all of the Heineken Zero on board). Wine was priced from $12 to $17 a glass. All drinks have a 20% surcharge added. I guess the positive outcome is that I probably drank less wine than normal on a cruise. Happy Hour (two-for-one) was quite popular.
Stateroom:
We could not believe it, but we could hear normal conversations in the cabin next door! Other people complained about this startling phenomenon and also about hearing TVs. I have not experienced that sound issue since cruises in the 1980s! Apparently, there is a common utility wall where the TV is installed that is open behind right to the next room. Unfortunately for us, we had a couple from the UK next door who had the annoying habit of calling home to their daughter and using speaker phones at 5:30 am EVERY DAY and they also talked non-stop when they were in the room. We forgot to bring our white noise generator and there was no ability to turn on a fan in the room to cover noise. I know this is a first-world problem, but Oceania needs to fix this ASAP on this ship and on Allura.
Sundries in the Boutique shop:
The boutiques are a forgotten part of this ship and the main shop had no sundries that we needed (nail clippers, eye drops). On other ships, you can get most of those things. The shops are on deck 5, which has no reason for people to venture there except to go to Ember’s and Red Ginger or to visit Guest Services.
So one more gallery for those who love visual images:
Well, that’s it then. We are doing another Oceania cruise in 2026 on Marina from Copenhagen to Reykjavik (to see the 2026 total solar eclipse). Other travel plans this year (2025) include a long RV trip to Florida, a short RV trip to Santa Fe and our long-anticipated Band of Brothers trip in Europe. After that, who knows if we go on Oceania again? I bet we do, but we’ll see. If anyone wants to know the fares we paid for this cruise, please leave a comment.
Enjoy your trip writeups!! I keep them for ideas for future trips for me!
Would like to know about your itinerary for your Band of Brothers trip at some point too. Thanks Barb & Steve.