Oceania Cruises

From: European Cruise Guide

ABOVE: Oceania's Regatta. INSET BELOW: Stern view, an outside balcony stateroom, and the Library with its English country-house decor.

Oceania Cruises is the brainchild of Joe Watters and Frank Del Rio, two former top executives from Crystal Cruises and the late Renaissance Cruises. Their idea was to create a boutique or "upper premium" cruise line with midsize ships that would offer outstanding cuisine and service at fares below those of the luxury lines.

Oceania's first ship, Regatta, entered service in 2002; its sister ship, Insignia, followed in 2003. (In 2012, Insignia is being chartered to Hapag-Lloyd for two years.)

A third Regatta-class vessel, Nautica, was added in 2005. All three ships are relatively intimate by today's megaship standards, carrying a maximum of 684 passengers and a crew of 400 each. Accomodations range from inside cabins to one-bedroom owner's suites, and 73 percent of the outside cabins have private balconies.

In 2011, Oceania introduced the Marina, which was was built at a cost of US $600 million. The newv ship has berths for 1,238 passengers, or nearly double the capacity of Oceania's existing vessels but still mid-size by the standards of today's 3,000- and 4,000-passenger megaships. A sister ship, the Riviera, joins the fleet in April, 2012.

Oceania's 2012 European season has several dozen "port-intensive" cruises to destinations in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean--including "boutique ports" that aren't accessible to the megaships of mass-market cruise lines. Itineraries include more overnight stays and evening departures than in past years, and Oceana is introducing its first 7-night cruises in November of 2012.

For a firsthand account and photo gallery of an Oceania voyage, see the "Cruise review" link below.

Cruise line's Web site:

Oceania Cruises

Cruise review:

Oceania Regatta: Dover to Barcelona

Cruise video:

Insignia in Venice, Italy

Top photo copyright © Oceania Cruises.

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