 Durant
& Cheryl Imboden'sEurope for Cruisers europeforcruisers.com |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
Oceania Cruises
ABOVE: Oceania's Regatta. INSET BELOW: Stern view, an outside balcony stateroom, and the Library with its English country-house decor.
Transatlantic repositioning cruises are also on Oceania's 2008 cruise calendar, with several cruises beginning or ending in Rio de Janeiro. Cruise line's Web site:Cruise review:Oceania Regatta: Dover to Barcelona Top photo copyright © Oceania Cruises. Used by permission.
|
|
|
Oceania
Cruises is the brainchild of Joe Watters and Frank Del Rio, two 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 five-star 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. A third Regatta-class
vessel, Nautica, joined the fleet 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. 
The
company's 2008 European season runs from April through mid-November, with 54
"port-intensive" cruises to 70 destinations in Northern Europe, the Western Mediterranean, and the Eastern
Mediterranean and Greek Islands. Cruises range from 10 to 16 days in length.